New Delhi: There has reportedly been a break-in into a facility of the Indian Air Force Rafale Project Management Team in a suburb of Paris in France on Sunday night.
The break-in has raised fears whether it was an espionage attempt as Rafale is going to play an important role in India’s defence at a time when there is heightened tension with Pakistan.
The Indian office is said to be one among three offices inside a French Dassault Aviation complex and all the offices were broken into.
It is believed that the break-in could have been to steal data or file as there were no valuable in the premises. However, prima-facie there has not been any loss of document and hard disk in Indian office but French police is looking into the matter.
The Rafale Project Team has four IAF officers and headed by a Group Captain. It is in France to monitor the implementation of the Rafale deal where many modifications are to be made to the fighter aircraft as per requirement of the Indian Air Force. There are some 13 India Specific Enhancements (ISE) to be made in the Rafale jet. Indian pilots and maintenance team are also to be trained on the aircraft by French Dassault Aviation before it arrives in India. Indian Air Force (IAF) has informed the defence ministry about the incident. India is procuring a batch of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France.
