Break-in bid at IAF’s office handling Rafale

New Delhi, May 22 

In a suspected case of espionage, there was an attempted break-in on Sunday at the Indian Air Force’s Paris office, which is overseeing production of 36 Rafale fighter jets for India, military sources said.

A group of unidentified persons tried to break into the office of IAF’s Rafale project management team in the suburbs of Paris and the police are probing whether the attempt was to steal classified data.

“As per initial assessment, no data or hardware has been stolen,” sources said, adding that the IAF has briefed the Ministry of Defence about the incident.

The IAF’s office of Rafale project management is located at the complex of Dassault Aviation, the makers of the Rafale jets.

There was no official reaction from either the MoD or the IAF. 

The IAF project management team is headed by a Group Captain and it comprises two fighter pilots, one logistics officer and a number of weapons experts and engineers.

The team is coordinating with Dassault Aviation on manufacture of Rafale jets as well as on weapons package onboard the aircraft.

India had signed a government-to-government deal in September 2016 with France for procuring 36 Rafale jets at a cost of Rs 58,000 crore.

The first Rafale fighter jet is scheduled to be delivered to India in September this year. — PTI