Amid ongoing tension with China, the Modi government has reportedly used "emergency powers" to allow Army to procure HAMMAR missiles from France. The missiles will be used to further boost the capabilities of Rafale fighter jets.
The HAMMERs would give India the capability to take out any bunkers or hardened shelters in any type of terrain, including the mountainous locations such as Eastern Ladakh, news agency ANI quoted its sources as saying.
The report stated that in view of the "urgent requirement" for these missiles by the Air Force, the French authorities would be "delivering the systems to India from the existing stock meant for some other customer".
HAMMER (Highly Agile Modular Munition Extended Range) is a medium-range air-to-ground weapon designed and manufactured for the French Air Force and Navy initially. It has the capability to take out any types of targets at the range of around 60-70 km.
Five Rafale would be arriving in India from France on July 29 and their advanced weaponry including the long-range SCALP and Meteor missiles would have reached India before their touchdown, the report further stated.
The first five Rafale fighter aircraft would start arriving in India by July 29 flown, by pilots of the 17 Golden Arrows commanding officer. The delivery of the aircraft was earlier supposed to have been done by May end but this was postponed by two months in view of the Covid-19 situation in both India and France.
The trainers will have the tail numbers of the RB series in honour of the Air Force Chief RKS Bhadauria who played a pivotal role in finalising India's largest-ever defence deal for 36 Rafale combat aircraft.
The aircraft on their way from France to India would be refuelled by a French Air Force tanker aircraft in the air around Israel or Greece before they make a stopover in the Middle East. India had signed a deal worth over Rs 60,000 crore with France in September 2016 for 36 Rafales to meet the emergency requirements of the Indian Air Force.
Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria was the Deputy Chief of Air Staff at that time and headed the Indian negotiation team for the deal which is the biggest ever in monetary terms in India.
Armed with the long-range Meteor air to air missiles and SCALP, the Rafales would give India an edge over both Pakistan and China in terms of air strike capability.
The ANI report further quoted its sources as saying that the air-to-air and the air-to-ground strike capabilities of the Rafale cannot be matched by both China and Pakistan and the aircraft would give India an edge over both the rivals.
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