French Defence minister Florence Parly on Thursday said India will have an edge over the entire region in defending its people with the induction of Rafale fighter jets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking at the induction of five Rafale aircraft into the Indian Air Force, she said India and France are writing a new chapter in defence ties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said the programme to deliver the 36 aircraft to India meant a lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn military terms, it means that India will acquire a world class capability, truly among the best in the world that would give your air force an incredible sovereign tool,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn strategic terms, it means India will have an edge over the entire region to defend itself and protect its people,\u201d Parly added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Five Rafale fighter jets were formally inducted into the Indian Air Force at a ceremony at the Ambala airbase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Parly said `Rafale\u2019 literally means a \u201cgust of wind\u201d or a \u201cburst of fire\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/ins><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBoth meanings express an incredible strength,\u201d she said, adding, \u201cIt is also a symbol of the strong ties between two countries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She expressed French support for Delhi\u2019s Make in India plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are fully committed to the Make in India initiative as well as to the further integration of Indian manufactures into our global supply chains,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She added that Make in India has been a reality for the French industry for several years, particularly for defence equipment like submarines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMany French companies and design offices are now established in India and now I hope that others will come to offer their support and services,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/ins><\/p>\n\n\n\n Earlier, a traditional \u2018sarva dharma puja\u2019 was performed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/ins><\/p>\n\n\n\n A ceremonial water cannon salute to the new France-made jets and an aerial display by the aircraft also marked their induction into the 17 Squadron of the IAF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat, Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria, Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar, and Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij were also present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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 them at a cost of \u20b959,000 crore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Rafale jets, produced by French aerospace major Dassault Aviation, are known for air superiority and precision strikes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" French Defence minister Florence Parly on Thursday said India will have an edge over the entire region in defending its people with the induction of Rafale…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8771","post","has-post-thumbnail","category-latest-news","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}