Five components being made in Dassault-Reliance's Nagpur plant to be integrated with all Rafale jets

Nagpur: Five Rafale parts being manufactured in the Dassault Reliance Aerospace plant in Nagpur are sent to France to get fitted in all the Rafale jets, not just the Indian ones.

Consul General of France in Mumbai Jean-Marc Sere-Charlet and a delegation of the regional economic service of the embassy visited the two French companies Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited (DRAL) and Air Liquide present in Nagpur.

Speaking with PTI during his visit, Sere-Charlet said the visit aims to further enhance the close cooperation between France and India in many areas -- ranging from trade and investments, defence and security, energy, education, and French language teaching to civil society.

He also said that Agence Francaise Development (AFD) public development bank had contributed 130 million euros in funding for 20 years.

To a query on the manufacturing status of Rafale and Falcon 2000 in the DRAL manufacturing plant, the Consul General said that 5 pieces of Rafale are manufactured in Nagpur and then sent to the France assembly line to be assembled in all the Rafale jets, not just the Indian ones.

He also said that as regards to the manufacturing of Falcon 2000 jets, DRAL is making different segments of Falcon 2000 jets and they are sent to France to be integrated with the assembly line.

AFD is very happy with the work it did in Nagpur metro phase 1 and it is active in other metro projects in Pune and Gujarat, he added.

On whether AFD will be funding the second phase of Nagpur Metro, he informed that it was up to the Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation to decide with whom they want to partner. But, France and AFD are always interested in developing urban mobility with low carbon impact projects.

The Consul General has also held a meeting with Nagpur Municipal Commissioner Radhakrishnan B.