Just after midnight on May 7, the screen in the Pakistan Air Force’s operations room lit up in red with the positions of dozens of active enemy planes across the border in India. Air Chief Mshl. Zaheer Sidhu had been sleeping on a mattress just off that room for days in anticipation of an Indian assault.
France has delivered to India its first Rafale fighter jet from a series of 36 aircraft purchased in a multi-billion dollar deal in 2016. Defence Minister Florence Parly and her Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh, who is on a three-day visit to France, attended a ceremony at aircraft maker Dassault Aviation facility in Merignac, southwestern France. The $8.78 billion deal sparked controversy in India last year.
2016-17, six Indian Air Force fighter jets, two helicopters, one transport aircraft and one trainer crashed, while in 2017-18, it lost two fighter jets and one trainer aircraft. The number rose sharply in 2018-19 to seven fighters jets, two helicopters and two trainers. IAF incurred heavy losses of approximately INR525 crore ($75 million) due to 11 crashes.