Out of 36 Rafale jets, 30 will be fighter jets and six will be trainers.
It said the final induction ceremony will take place in second half of August. 'The first batch of five Indian Air Force Rafale is likely to arrive in India by end of July.The aircraft will be inducted at Air Force Station Ambala on July 29 subject to weather,' the IAF said.
Military officials, on the condition of anonymity, said the arrival of the Rafale jets will significantly enhance the IAF's overall combat capability and will send a clear message to India's 'adversaries'.
IAF Chief Dhanoa and Abhinandan took a sortie on the MiG 21 jet from the Pathankot air base.
A galaxy of dignitaries including Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, his French counterpart Florence Parly, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria and Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar will attend the ceremony.
Flight Lieutenant Adivitiya Bal was killed in the line of duty along with Wing Commander Mohit Rana in last week's MiG-21 crash in Barmer. His school in Nagrota, Jammu, gave a final salute to a worthy ex-student.
The IAF has been maintaining that the Rafale jets would significantly enhance its combat capability.
50 terrorists had been killed this year while 12 security forces personnel lost their lives.
According to officials, the list of 101 items includes towed artillery guns, short range surface to air missiles, cruise missiles, offshore patrol vessels, electronic warfare systems, next generation missile vessels, floating dock, anti-submarine rocket launchers and short range maritime reconnaissance aircraft.
Hemant Shivsaran lists the number of projects the Modi government has announced since August to woo Gujarat voters.
Meanwhile, Congress president Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at the Modi government and Anil Ambani over the Rafale issue, saying that in order to bag India's biggest defence contracts one has to be a "defaulter of Rs 45,000 crore" and have "no relevant experience".
Everyone at the camp was sleeping and Pakistani defence establishment had no clue that the attack was coming so deep into their country.
According to the IAF official, 41 aircraft would participate in the flight display on the inaugural day while there would be 63 aircraft on static display.
It came under severe criticism from the CAG on Friday as it pointed out that its Mark-I version has 53 'significant shortfalls'.
With the Rafale contract in limbo, the upgrade of IAF's Mirage 2000 and Jaguar fighters has become vitally important.
'Anyone who should be worried about or critical about this new capability of the Indian Air Force, it should be those who want to threaten our territorial integrity'
The missile will allow combat pilots to engage ground targets from a standoff range of up to 60 km.
The first batch of five Rafale jets arrived in India on July 29, nearly four years after India signed an inter-governmental agreement with France to procure 36 of the aircraft at a cost of Rs 59,000 crore.
The Indian Air Force's on Friday conducted day-night demonstration of its combat and fire power in Pokhran, which was witnessed by President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Sri Lanka Air Force and Egypt has also shown some interest in procuring the Tejas.
"Few shots from 30,000 feet! Mid air refuelling of #RafaleJets on their way to #India," the Indian Embassy in France tweeted
The aircraft flew out from the airbase in the French port city of Bordeaux and will cover a distance of nearly 7,000 km with air-to-air refuelling and a single stop in the United Arab Emirates before arriving at Ambala airbase on Wednesday, officials said.
In a tweet, the IAF welcomed the "new bird" into its arsenal.
'It would be a travesty if the Malaysian air force likes the Tejas, but decides against it because it sees the IAF reluctance to back the fighter.'
In a fresh bid to break the Bofors jinx, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday cleared proposal to acquire 814 artillery guns for Rs 15,750 crore.
In memory and honour of Wing Commander Sahil Gandhi who lost his life in the crash, the HAL-built aircraft will fly the missing man formation.
The HAL wants the IAF to buy 80 Tejas Mark I-A to keep the production line occupied from 2020 to 2023-24
Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman of the Indian Air Force who shot down a Pakistan air force F-16 during a dogfight on February 27 earlier this year, flew a MiG-21 Bison aircraft during the Air Force Day parade at Hindon Air Base. Three Mirage 2000 aircraft and two Su-30MKI fighter aircraft also flew in the 'Avenger formation'. The planes are being flown by pilots who took part in Balakot airstrike. Here are highlights from the parade.
Even as three Rafale fighters line up in Bengaluru for eye-popping aerobatics displays at the Aero India 2015 exhibition this week, senior ministry of defence sources say the proposal to buy the French fighter is "effectively dead".
'The JF-17 is the aircraft of today and the Tejas is the aircraft of tomorrow.'
The fleet landed at Al Dhafra airbase on Monday in the United Arab Emirates after flying for over seven hours from the Merignac airbase. It was the only stopover by the jets while flying from France to India.
Defence Minister A K Antony is flying down to Bangalore to award the Tejas its initial operational certificate on Friday. The Sitara's success in intensive flight-testing this year means that he could soon be making another trip to award an identical certification to the Sitara.
The contract has been signed with Pipistrel for 'Virus FW80'. The Indian version of the aircraft will be known as 'Garur'. The deal is valued at Rs 105.5 crore, defence sources said.
Though Singh will receive the first of the 36 Rafale jets on Tuesday, the first batch of four aircraft will come to India only by May next year.
There's a need to train 40,000 pilots over the next year-and-a-half.
With the induction, the IAF would become the 19th Air Force in the world to use Hawks as its trainer frontline aircraft.
The Indian Air Force put its might on display at the full dress rehearsal on Tuesday, ahead of the 83rd Air Force Day on October 8, at the Hindon air base in Ghaziabad.
Nirmala Sitharaman's messaging was clear when she presented a well-balanced Budget with an eye on state elections in nine states followed by a general election next year, observes Ramesh Menon.
Wearing a G suit, the minister buckled himself in the seat behind the pilot in the aircraft.
