The Indian Air Force held on September 10 a high-profile entry ceremony for the first batch of 5 Dassault Rafale fighters at its Ambala Air Force Base. These fighters formally joined the 17th Golden Arrow Squadron.
India’s arms purchase agreement of Dassault Rafale fighters with France totals more than US$8.8 billion. This means that the average price of each Rafale fighter jet is as high as 240 million US dollars. Such a high cost has caused considerable controversy in India. Furthermore, the expensive maintenance costs of the Rafale fighter jets may drag down the Indian Air Force.
French fighter jets have always been known for their high maintenance costs, and the Rafale is no exception. To make matters worse, the arrival of the Rafale fighter jets required the Indian Air Force to maintain up to 7 different types of aircraft at the same time. This greatly increased the overall logistics and maintenance costs for forces that were already financially tight.
According to Chinese military expert Du Wenlong, French weapons and equipment are very sophisticated. As far as the current level of maintenance and support is concerned, the Indian Air Force does not yet have the ability to maintain high-end weapons.
Du Wenlong also said that the standards, principles, and adaptability of multiple fighters to various environments are different, and it is extremely difficult for them to conduct joint operations. If there is no way to share information and joint operations in air combat operations, they would be all fighting alone, and there would be no way to form a joint force in combat operations.
