Indian Rafale jets that will take part in the Bastille Day flypast reached France a couple of days back.
It's a moment of great honour for India as three Indian Air Force Rafale fighter jets, as part of the military contingent, are poised to participate in the Bastille Day flypast over the Champs Elysees, Paris, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be the chief guest.
The first look of the Rafales was revealed on Thursday in visuals from the Evreux-Fauville Air Base in France.
Group Captain Abhishek Tripathi, Commanding Officer of 101 Squadron (Rafale) and the leader of the formation that will participate in the Bastille Day Flypast said, "It is a matter of pride for us that we have brought Rafale to France once again. The PM will be the Guest of Honour at the Bastille Day parade and we will be a part of the opening formations of the Flypast..."
Abhishek Tripathi said, "It (Rafales) has the best of the avionics which all the fighters in the world have, even better than them...To summarise, it is a very compact, extraordinary, powerful, extremely agile and very discreet machine..."
Group Captain Anindo Sur said, "It is very prestigious for us to fly so far, close to 4500 miles. Our aircraft did not land anywhere in the middle, we did air-to-air refuelling. We flew continuously for over 10 hours - for the first time ever any aircraft has flown so long from India."
The Group Caption said it is an amazing feeling for India. "We have done two practice sorties, tomorrow is the D-Day for us...We have four aircraft, all four of which will fly...," he said.
Indian Rafale jets that will take part in the Bastille Day flypast over the Champs Elysees, Paris, reached France a couple of days back.
The French traditional military parade is held annually in Paris during Bastille Day on July 14. PM Modi, at the invitation of France President Emmanuel Macron, will be the Guest of Honour on France's National Day.
PM Modi's visit will coincide with the 25th anniversary of the "strategic partnership" between France and India.
Squadron Leader Sindhu Reddy said it is a moment of tremendous pride for India since "we will be representing our country as well as our Force on foreign land in front of our PM who will be witnessing the parade...I will be commanding the Air Force's contingent which comprises 77 personnel of which 68 will be marching..." she said.
Meanwhile, Indian Ambassador to France Jawed Ashraf on Wednesday said Indian Rafale jets taking part in the Bastille Day flypast over the Champs Elysees, Paris, will send a message across the world that India-France ties are very strong and close.
In an interaction with ANI, Ashraf said that the flypast and marching by the IAF air warriors on Bastille Day follow a long association that the two nations share, especially in the field of air power.
The Indian envoy also termed Rafale being part of the Bastille Day flypast as "very important."
"Any ship could have come from India. We have many ships. What is important is that both our soldiers have a lot of inter-operability, a lot of trust and in this way, this Bastille Day parade sends a message to the whole world that the partnership between India and France is very close," he told ANI.
Ashraf also underlined that the India-France partnership is about the power of values. "The military relations that we have are to protect our values, without claiming or suppressing anyone else. We call it Prime Minister's partnership of values," he added.
On Monday, France's ambassador to India, Emmanuel Lenain tweeted: "A warm welcome to France for the Indian Rafale jets that will soar in the skies of Paris on Friday for #BastilleDay!"
Also, in a major development, India's Defence Ministry has given an initial nod to the plans to buy 26 Rafale fighter aircraft and three Scorpene class conventional submarines from France.
The proposals were approved by the Defence Procurement Board of the Defence Ministry and will now be taken up by the Defence Acquisition Council for discussion most likely on July 13, government sources told ANI.
The deals, once accorded Acceptance of Necessity by the DAC, are likely to be announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to France this week, the sources said.
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