The Congress, which was voted out of power in 1989 over its alleged involvement in the Bofors scandal, is looking to make Rafale the BJP's Bofors-scandal equivalent. The purchase of the 36 Rafale jets, which are to be inducted into the Indian Air Force from September 2019, has been in the eye of a storm with the Congress party questioning the price and the selection of the local partner for making parts.

India floated a global tender for 126 fighter jets a decade ago after it lost more than 170 Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots in MiG-21 accidents since 1970 and the count of the IAF’s fighter squadrons reduced to 33 compared to an optimum strength of 42-plus units required to fight a two-front war. Aiming at lowering its dependence on Russia for advanced military weapons and maintain combat readiness against nuclear-armed Pakistan and China, India decided to go for the French Rafale to maintain its qualitative edge over its adversaries.

Currently, Beijing is selling Islamabad its increasingly sophisticated fighter aircraft (J-10 and J-17), warships and ground systems and building up Pakistan as its cat’s paw in South Asia to corner India.

However, the Congress, which was voted out of power in 1989 over its alleged involvement in the Bofors scandal, is looking to make Rafale the BJP’s Bofors-scandal equivalent. The purchase of the 36 Rafale jets, which are to be inducted into the Indian Air Force from September 2019, has been in the eye of a storm with the Congress party questioning the price and the selection of the local partner for making parts. Though the Narendra Modi-led NDA government claims that the Rafale packs a punch against China’s Su-30MKK and Pakistan J-17, it ducks the Congress’ questions on the pretext of national security.

China’s Su-30 MKK lags behind IAF’s Su-30MKI because the Sukhois operated by India are equipped with French and Israeli avionics. So, Russia’s ambassador in India, Alexander Kadakin’s comment on Rafale that “Chinese-made Sukhoi-27s would be able to swat the Rafales like “mosquitoes on an August night” holds no water.

The French fighter is better than the Russian warbird in many aspects. Here are the reasons:

1) The Mirage 2000 was the dependable workhorse during the Kargil war. India preferred Rafale over Typhoon and SAAB Gripen because the IAF pilots were using French manufactured Dassault Mirage 2000 and SEPECAT Jaguar fighter jets since 1980’s and are familiar with their avionics and weapons suite. According to reports, during Operation Safed Sagar from June–July 1999, two Mirage squadrons flew a total of 514 sorties and dropped 55,000 kg of ordnance.

2) Rafael is a world-class fighter jet which has proved its mettle in Afghanistan and Syria and it is equipped with top of the line technology including its own stealth suite while Su-30MKI has never seen real combat and is not combat-proven. The French Rafales have been engaged in countless combat missions where they demonstrated a very high proficiency.

3) India’s Rafales will come equipped with Meteor BVRAAM and MBDA SCALP cruise missile which will give the IAF an unprecedented standoff air-to-air and air-to-surface capability in conflicts on either front with Pakistan and China. Reports say that the fighter jets will also deploy the in-development BrahMos NG missile when the system is ready from 2021. The MBDA Scalp and BrahMos will provide planners with unique subsonic/supersonic stand-off attack options available to no other air force in the world.

4) Rafale’s SPECTRA electronic warfare system (EWS) is immune to enemy radar jamming and provides outstanding survivability against the latest airborne and ground threats. The outstanding capability of SPECTRA regarding airborne threat localisation is one of the keys of the Rafale’s superior situational awareness. Developed by Thales, the Front Sector Optronics’s (FSO)s powerful TV sensor is truly valuable to positively identify targets in situations where a visual contact is required by the rules of engagement.

5) The Rafale is easier to maintain. For ground attack missions, Su-35’s cost of operating per flight hour is expensive compared to that of the Rafale. Also, India already operates 272 Su-30MKI which are similar in Performance capabilities to the Su-35.

6) India already operates the high-end Su-30MKIs and is also going to induct the Light Spectrum LCAs. It needs to fill in the intermediate role for a combat aircraft which has both Air-to-Air and Air-to-Ground capabilities. Rafale has a lower RCS compared to the Su-35 which means it can undertake both Air-to-Air and Air-to-Ground missions.

7) The Rafale has low-wing loading capability when compared with the Su-35 and even with Typhoon, this results in good turn performance. The French aircraft has an optimised airframe and it can be flown with rapid reversals of flight directions instead of rolling pulls due to the placement of canards. This feature helps the pilot to control the flight easily at a high angle of attack.

8) According to reports, Su-30MKI has a PESA Radar which is far less powerful than Rafale’s AESA Radar. In a beyond-visual-range (BVR) combat, a Rafale will have an advantage of the first look-first shot as it will detect a Su-30MKI first before a Su-30MKI detects it.

9) Rafale has groundbreaking EW Suite in form of SPECTRA system which carries out reliable long-range detection, identification and localisation of threats, allowing the pilot to instantly select the most effective defensive measures. Reports say SPECTRA gives Rafale firing solution with 1* precision at 200 km. The outstanding capability of SPECTRA regarding airborne threat localisation is one of the keys of the Rafale’s superior situational awareness. The SPECTRA now includes a new generation missile warning system that offers increased detection performance against the latest threats.

10) According to Dassault engineer, the minimal Radar Cross Section of Rafale should be 0.05 to 0.1 m2 class while Su-30MKI lets out a huge RCS of 10-meter square (unarmed ) and 20-meter square (armed) due to its larger size. Apart from that, Rafale makes extensive use of radar-absorbent material (RAM) in the form of paints and other materials to avoid radar detection while Su-30MKI does not make use of RAM or RCS Reduction measures.