The intergovernmental agreement between India and France was signed for the acquisition by the India of 26 Rafale aircraft to equip the Indian Navy. The agreement was concluded in the presence of the president and CEO of Dassault Aviation, Éric Trappier and follows the announcement made in July 2023 with which Dehli announced that he wanted to become the first foreign customer to adopt the French airplane. The Frenchman was declared: “This new acquisition testifies to the importance of strategic relations between India and France and the recognition of Dassault Rafale as an essential carrier of national sovereignty.
The agreement honors the company’s commitment to meet the operational needs of the Indian armed forces for seventy years to date And the determination, through its significant contribution to the “make in India” policy and the “Skill India” initiative, to make its presence in India a success at the service of local interests. In fact, the introduction of the marine rafale will provide the Indian Navy for cutting -edge operational capabilities borrowed from those of the national marine that already uses this aircraft. These aircraft will join the 36 specimens of rafale not embarked already in service at the Indian military aeronautics, allowing economy of scale for spare parts and maintenance training. From a tactical point of view, the Marine Rafale will play an active role in guaranteeing national sovereignty and consolidating the role of India as an important actor in the Asian region. But above all they move the nation from the Russian military market just as this tries to reaffirm. Trappier: “On behalf of Dassault Aviation and its partners, I would like to thank the Indian authorities with whom we have been collaborating for over 70 years, for the trust they put in us. And to reiterate our unwavering determination to stay by their side to contribute to the expression of the sovereignty of India, to its strategic challenges and its ambitious vision of the future”.
From a technical point of view, the “M” variant of the Rafale, Precisely the one made to make it embarked, differs from the terrestrial one for the reinforced main landing cart, built in steel and titanium from Messier-Dowty (Safran Group, France), in order to absorb the energy that develops during the outings. In addition, due to the presence of the tow bar to be hooked to the catapult and shock absorbers equipped with the jump-stut device, or with a elasticity such as to the energy of the catapult and return it at the end of the flight bridge to facilitate the take-off. The front trolley technology includes a variation of greater size of the possibility of rotation of the wheels on 360 ° § from Fermo and +/- 75º in motion, to facilitate the operations on the bridge. Given that engineering is the art of compromise, these changes have led to the reduction of the hooking points of weapons from 14 to 13.
Finally, the embarked aircraft are equipped with the tail arrest hook for landing operationselement different from the emergency one on all terrestrial aircraft (C-01 version). Other changes concern the staircase to facilitate the pilot climb, the increased capacity of the electrical system and the inertial-gps mixed navigation system made by Sagem. The contract will allow the Indian military to replace the 45 MIGs owned (33 MIG-29K and 12 MIG-29kub) ordered in two lots in 2004 and 2010, of which different have already been withdrawn by service while others have been lost in different accidents. This entails the abandonment of the latest Russian construction combat aircraft while an unspecified number of Kamov helicopters remain in service.
