India is allegedly cursing France for supplying sub standard Rafale jets, it is indeed shocking that after paying three times the negotiated price, India seems to have been short changed on the deal.The original contracted value was @ Rs 560 crores per aircraft. Modi traipsed over to France and bought each jet for Rs 1,760 crores in a government-to-government deal. That he got a Rs 30,000 crore offset contract for Anil Ambani, a bankrupt industrialist and whose companies have no experience of defence armaments manufacture is another story altogether. After all, nobody in the Indian establishment is willing to reveal the number of IAF jets shot down during Operation Sindoor, the CDS's recent Bloomberg interview admitting to loss of aircraft notwithstanding. Why is the ruling party not coming clean on this setback, maybe because it will tarnish Modi's 'strong leader' image. The loss of a guesstimated 5 war machines at Rs 1, 760 crores a pop (Rs 8,800 crores in total) is a rabbit punch, the depletion of the air fleet is a more worrying factor. The IAF has only 31 squadrons operational, a far cry from the sanctioned strength of 42 for a two front war. Even the Air Chief has publicly voiced concern for the inordinate delays in aircraft manufacture and procurement of aerial armaments. Will India ever get to know the truth about how the Rafale fared during Operation Sindoor? The answer as we all know is a resounding no.
