New Delhi: Indian Air Force (IAF) will deploy one each squadron of the most modern fighter Rafale aircraft at its airbases in Ambala in Haryana and Hashimara in West Bengal.

A senior official said that the first Rafale would be handed over to the Indian Air Force in September 2019 but it will undergo intensive 1,500 hours of testing to validate the India Specific Enhancements on it, therefore, the first batch of the four Rafale fighter planes would arrive at Ambala around May 2020.

Earlier, In September 2016, India signed a deal with the French government and Dassault Aviation to acquire 36 Rafale fighter jets for over Euro 7.8 billion to arrest the fall of combat squadrons and meet need on the eastern and western fronts.

West Bengal’s The Hashimara air base is near to the China border and was home to the MiG 27 fighters which are being phased out now.

.Talking about the capability of Rafale plane, the Air Force rates the Rafale much higher than the Su-30MKIs in terms of capabilities and has been making a case for the increased number of Rafale type multirole fighters. Once inducted, the Rafales would be the most potent fighters of the Air Force but the mainstay would be the Su-30MKIs-272.