July 29, 2020 (New Delhi) Union Defense Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday welcomed the contingent of 5 Rafale aircraft that touched Ambala Airbase in a series of tweets in which he thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the French manufacturer of fighter jets Dassault and the Indian Air Force.

The five Rafale fighter jets were accompanied by two Russian-made Sukhoi SU-30, which entered the Indian airspace late morning on Wednesday and landed at Ambala around 3 pm. 

The procurement of the Rafale fighter jets is the part of 59,000 crore deal with French aviation major Dassault that will provide a batch of 36 Rafale fighter planes by next year.

‘’We took the right decision to get these aircraft through an Inter-Governmental Agreement with France after the long-pending procurement case for them could not progress. I thank PM Shri Narendra Modi for his courage & decisiveness.’’, said Rajnath Singh from his official Twitter handle.

The Rafale jets were purchased only because PM Shri @narendramodi took the right decision to get these aircrafts through an Inter-Governmental Agreement with France, after the long pending procurement case for them could not progress. I thank him for his courage & decisiveness.

— Rajnath Singh (मोदी का परिवार) (@rajnathsingh) July 29, 2020

The fighter jets took off from Merignac in southwest France on Monday, made a stopover in Al-Dhafra airbase in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and then reached to Ambala, Haryana after covering the distance of nearly 7000 km.