The Indian Air Force (IAF) official on September 30 said that Rafale fighter jets India ordered would not be ready to fly at the Bengaluru air show in February 2019.
Air Marshal R.K. Singh Bhadauria, deputy chief of Air Staff, said, “Rafale for India will not be ready by February. We expect Dassault to fly some other Rafale at the Aero India show here on February 20-24, 2019.”
French aerospace Dassault Aviation is set to deliver 36 Rafale multi-role medium combat aircraft to the IAF in fly-away condition from September 2019 onwards.
Air Marshal Bhadauria further added, “We hope Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate it though the Ministry of Defence will take a call on it.”
Bhadauria added that the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited will play a major role in organising the air show 2019, instead of the Defence Exhibition Organisation which has been hosting the event over the years.
In the air show the advanced fourth generation fighter Rafale will partly replace the ageing Russian-built MiG-21 jets.
