The Indian Air Force is preparing to buy 114 new Rafales from France to fulfill the shortage of fighter jets in its fleet. The Defense Ministry is engaged in deep brainstorming regarding this. There is speculation that this deal may be sealed during French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to India next month. Meanwhile, India has taken important steps towards strengthening its defense capabilities.
India is preparing to equip its fleet of fighter jets purchased from France with indigenous air-to-air Astra MK1 and Astra MK2 Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missiles (BVRAM). Testing regarding this will start in the next two years i.e. by 2028.

Su-30MKI and Tejas fighter jets also equipped with Astra

According to defense news website Defense.in, this initiative is an important part of the Indian Air Force’s roadmap to increase operational flexibility while promoting self-reliance in defense technology. Let us tell you that Astra MK1, which is already equipped in fighter jets like Sukhoi-30MKI and LCA Tejas, provides a strike range of more than 100 kilometers.

Astra MK2 will increase firepower

Not only this, in the coming time, Rafale and Sukhoi-30 will also be upgraded with Astra MK2, due to which their range will increase from 100 km to 160 km. Along with this, this missile will compete with missiles like Meteor made by European countries. According to defense sources, the fighter jet and its manufacturers Dassault Aviation and Thales have agreed to provide necessary technical support for this programme.

Their participation is crucial to develop specific software upgrades that enable Indian missiles to effectively coordinate with Rafale’s advanced RBE2 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar and its combat management system. This cooperation ensures that the fighter jet can fully utilize the guidance and targeting capabilities of the Astra missiles. It will have to go through many stages before going into a war-like situation.

Tension between China and Pakistan will increase!

As soon as the news of upgrade of Rafale fighter jets is heard, the tension of Pakistan as well as China is going to increase. In fact, the way India is equipping its fighter jets with missiles like Astra, such technology is also used by European countries and America. Therefore, upgrading Indian indigenous missiles will make Rafale even more dangerous.

In South Asia, China and Pakistan together are preparing to do a new diplomatic game. China and Pakistan together are preparing to create such a new faction in this region, which can replace the South Asian countries’ organization SAARC. If China is the brain behind this project, then Pakistan and Bangladesh are supporting it.

According to reports, Pakistan and Bangladesh were also involved in a meeting held on June 19 in Kunming, China. In this meeting, the entire plan was prepared regarding the new group. The meeting was held after a tripartite meeting held in May, which talked about expanding the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and increasing regional cooperation in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
SAARC organization is inactive since 2016

The South Asian Regional Cooperation Organization (SAARC) was established on 8 December 1985 in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. It had 7 founding members, while Afghanistan joined the group in 2007. However, this organization is inactive since 2016. Its last meeting was held in Kathmandu in the year 2014. The meeting of the 19th SAARC Summit was to be held in Islamabad in November 2016, but after the Uri attack, India had booked Pakistan. 17 Indian soldiers were martyred in this attack.

China and Pakistan agree to create a new group

Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan also withdrew their names from the summit citing concerns of terrorism and regional intervention. The conference was canceled and after that it has not been scheduled again. The Express Tribune report states that both Pakistan and China are convinced that a new organization is a demand for time for regional integration and contact.

Bangladesh rejected the plan of new faction

The report said that SAARC members, including Sri Lanka, Maldives and Afghanistan, are expected to be part of the new group. However, Bangladesh has rejected the idea of ​​any emerging coalition between Dhaka, Beijing and Islamabad and said that there was no ‘political’ meeting between the three countries in China’s Kunming.

Bangladesh’s Foreign Affairs Advisor M Tauheed Hussain said after a meeting held on June 19 in Kunming that we are not going to form a new alliance. He said, ‘This was an official level meeting, not political level. In this, “there was no talk about the formation of an alliance.”

What does India want?

The report quoted diplomatic sources as saying that India will be invited to join the new group, but ‘given its different interests, it is unlikely to give positive response from it.’ Whereas India has tried to use SAARC for better regional cooperation and contact.

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