India bought 36 Rafale for $8.7 billion, Indonesia bought 42 for $8.1 billion
Indonesia has signed a deal to buy 42 Rafale aircraft from France. The deal is worth $8.1 billion. The Defense Minister of France has announced this on February 10, 2022. Let us tell you that in 2016, India had signed a deal for 36 Rafale aircraft with France. India had signed a deal for 36 aircraft for $8.7 billion.
The French Defense Ministry official said on Thursday that the agreement was signed between the two countries. In the first phase, 6 Rafale will be handed over to Jakarta during the next few months. The remaining 36 aircraft will be transferred in the next round. Their handover can happen either by the end of this year or early next year.
On the other hand, Indonesia confirmed the signing of agreements with France in a statement. The agreement would make Indonesia the second country in the Indo-Pacific after India to rely on a jet manufactured by Dassault Aviation. After this deal, Indonesia will become the largest country in the South East Asia region to purchase arms from France. At present, its number comes after Singapore.
Air-to-surface Scalp and Hammer missiles as well as Meteor missiles have already been inducted into this fighter aircraft. These missiles are capable of evading radar. These aircraft are also adept at hitting the target at the last minute.
Keep in mind that the first batch of five Rafale aircraft reached India on 29 July 2020. These aircraft were officially inducted into the Indian Air Force at an event in Ambala. India signed a deal with France in 2016 to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets. So far, India has received a total of 26 Rafale aircraft from Dassault Aviation. The rest is to be supplied in 2022.
When there were allegations of irregularities in the purchase agreement
French aircraft maker Dassault had paid Middleman around 7.5 million euros (about Rs 650 million or Rs 65 crore) to secure a deal to sell 36 Rafale fighter jets to India. But Indian agencies, despite having documents, failed to investigate it. When the French portal ‘Mediapart’ made this allegation in its report, there was uproar in India too. According to the report, the commission was paid secretly to the middleman, Sushen Gupta. The portal says that despite the presence of these documents, the Indian agency remained silent. CBI and ED have evidence since October 2018 that Dassault bribed Sushen Gupta to secure the sale deal for Rafale jets.
Rahul Gandhi had made an issue in the 2019 elections
Before the 2019 general elections, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had fiercely targeted PM Modi, alleging irregularities in the purchase of Rafale. Rahul had made nakare like Chowkidar Chor Hai Tak from public forums. Congress kept demanding JPC probe in this matter but the government ignored it. However, the matter even reached the Supreme Court. Hearing was also held in the court, but the then CJI Ranjan Gogoi’s bench dismissed the petition and gave a clean chit to the government.
