Meet Dassault Rafale M: Indian Navy's Fighter Jet To Operate From INS Vikrant Aircraft Carrier

The Indian Navy's 26 Rafale will join the 36 Rafale already in service with the Indian Air Force, making India the first country to make the same military choice as France.

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Dassault Aviation, the French aircraft maker, in a press release, said that the Indian government has selected the naval variant of Rafale fighter jets for the Indian Navy. While there was no mention of the procurement of Rafale jets in a document released following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, Dassault said that the Indian Government has announced the selection of the naval variant of Rafale jets. The defence ministry had on Thursday approved the purchase of 26 Rafale (marine) jets from France.

"The Indian Government announced the selection of the Navy Rafale to equip the Indian Navy with a latest-generation fighter," Dassault Aviation said in a statement. It said the decision came after a "successful trial campaign held in India, during which the Navy Rafale demonstrated that it fully met the Indian Navy's operational requirements and was perfectly suited to the specificities of its aircraft carrier".

"The Indian Navy's 26 Rafale will eventually join the 36 Rafale already in service, which are giving full satisfaction to the Indian Air Force, making India the first country to make the same military choice as France by operating both versions of the aircraft to help consolidate its superiority in the air and on the seas and guarantee its sovereignty," it said. India is procuring the Rafale jets for deployment on the indigenously built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant.

The French defence major said Rafale's selection confirms the excellence of the jet and its "exceptional quality of the link between Dassault Aviation and the Indian forces and the importance of the strategic relationship between India and France".

"As we celebrate the 70th anniversary of our partnership with the Indian Forces, I would like to thank the Indian authorities for this new mark of confidence and pledge, on behalf of Dassault Aviation, that we will fully meet the Indian Navy's expectations with the Rafale," said Eric Trappier, chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation.

Indian Navy's Jet Requirement

After the Indian Air Force buying modern fighter jets like Tejas, Rafale, the Indian Navy is now looking for an overhaul and requires a new batch of modern fighter aircraft to operate from its aircraft carriers. The Indian Navy had initiated the process to acquire 57 multi-role combat aircraft for its aircraft carrier around four years ago. However, they will induct about 30 advance fighter jets in the fleet and replace the ageing Mig-29k, the naval version of the jet.

The Indian Navy is also working on the TEDBF program which is the Twin Engine Deck Based Fighter program for made-in-India fighter jets based on the HAL Tejas LCA. Since these jets will take time to develop and will eventually replace foreign fighter jets in the fleet, Navy needs some modern machines in the interim to replace the Russian MIGs.

Recently, the navy carried out trials with the Dassault Rafale M, which is a French-made 4.5 gen fighter jet already in service with the IAF and also US-made Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet, to check the operational capabilities of these jets on aircraft carriers. Both the jets get Air Force as well as Naval versions. Now, the Navy has selected 26 Rafale M to operate from INS Vikrant. 

Dassault Rafale Marine

Rafale is a French word meaning "gust of wind" and is a twin-engine multirole 4.5 gen fighter aircraft manufactured and designed by Dassault Aviation. The Indian Air Force has placed a massive order to induct 36 Rafale jets to form two Squadrons, one in North India and another in South India. The Rafale Marine is the Naval version of the Rafale fighter jets with similar configuration.

The Dassault Rafale has a delta wing design and is capable of higher G-forces as much as 11G and is available in both single and dual seating cabin configurations. The Rafale is 15.27 metre long and a wingspan of 10.80 metre. The Rafale has GIAT 30M/719B cannon mounted on it with the capability of controlled 0.5 or 1 second bursts at 2,500 RPM.

Rafale is equipped with a primary missile as the multi-target, fire-and-forget, air to air MBDA MICA missile. In BVR(Beyond Visual Range) air-to-air missile, Rafale has MBDA Meteor. Indian Navy has selected the Dassault Rafale M over Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet.