Thunder at 100 feet: Flying France's Rafale Superfighter

NDTV's Vishnu Som recently got a chance to fly the French Rafale - one of the most advanced fighter aircraft in the world. The superjet won then Indian Air Force's medium multirole combat aircraft competition. He talks about his incredible experience.

The Rafale can conceivably engage enemy fighters, strike ground targets and fire an anti-ship missile at a warship all in the same mission.

With air-to-air refuelling and support from airborne early warning radars, the Rafale has demonstrated its ability in being at the forefront of international campaigns.

What makes the Rafale experience different is the level of automation, the incredible man-machine interface and the highly fused sensor suite the French top gun employs. In simple terms, the Rafale does the same job with more precision and safety for the pilot.

Dassault, the manufacturers of the Rafale are presently in top-secret negotiations with the Defence Ministry to arrive at a final price among a host of details bound to accompany what has been labelled the world's biggest defence deal, easily worth more than 15 billion dollars for 126 jets.

When the Rafale eventually enters frontline squadron service with the Indian Air Force (assuming negotiations actually end up in a contract), the IAF may well become the most potent Air Force in the world this side of the United States, all within the next 15 years.

For me, the sortie on the Rafale was a dream come true, a chance to experience, first hand, a platform the Indian Air Force rates as the best fighter of its class in the world.