Rafale aircraft to officially join Indian air force today; French defence minister to be the chief guest

NEW DELHI: Rafale fighter aircraft will officially become part of Indian Airforce in a ceremony to be held at airforce centre in Ambala on Thursday. Five fighter planes of the first batch will join with the airforce on Thursday. The ceremony which will be presided over by defence minister Rajnath Singh will also have his Fench counterpart Florence Parly as chief guest.

The ceremony will be also attended by Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Bipin Rawat, airforce chief, Air Chief Marshal, R K Bhadoria, defence secretary Dr Ajay Kumar and DRDO chairman G Satheesh Reddy.

Sources from the air force said that all arrangements have been made for the ceremony. After the ceremony bilateral talks will be held between the representative groups of India and France.

The first batch of five Rafale fighter aircraft arrived in India on July 29.