“First time ‘Make in India,’ Rafale outside France backed up by a government-to-government agreement, no intermediaries, full transparency in the project itself, G2G significant levels of localisation, and full authority to integrate Indian weapons and Indian systems are the highlights of this programme. It also enables us to induct fighter aircraft relatively quickly because the first of the Rafale Marines will start coming in ’28, and after that, over a period of time, you will see that about three-and-a-half years from now, the first of these Air Force Rafales will also start coming,” the Defence Secretary had told ANI after the clearance of the proposal by the DAC in February this year.
