SOURCE: TIMES NOW
Nine days ahead of the induction of Rafale fighter jets, Air Marshal Manavendra Singh has written to the Haryana Chief Secretary saying that bird activity at Ambala should be monitored otherwise it will be harmful to the newly brought Rafale jets.
The Air Marshal has shown concern that there is a high concentration of birds in the area where the Rafale jets have been stationed.
It has been learnt that the local municipal corporation has also written to the local people to watch after the birds. They will also try to move the birds from the area to another. Rafale fighter aircraft that arrived in India last month, will officially be inducted into the Indian Air Force by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at the Ambala airbase in Haryana in a ceremony on September 10. French Defence Minister Florence Parly has been invited to attend the event to mark the strategic friendship between India and France.
The induction ceremony would be held after the return of the Defence Minister from Russia where he is scheduled to attend the meeting of the Defence Ministers of the member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation from September 4 to 6, news agency ANI quoted defence sources as saying.
The French-origin fighter aircraft are part of the 17 Golden Arrows squadron of the Air Force. The jets that landed in Ambala on July 29 are part of the first batch of 36 jets that are set to arrive in India as part of a Rs 58,000 crore deal with France.
