Come 2022, France will be delivering all 36 Rafale fighters to India and that would be a mjor game changer in India's defence sector. Rafale fighters have a state-of- art 150-km range Meteor air-to-air missiles and this will definitely be some edge over Pakistan's F-16 .

The deal signed on Friday is a much awaited one for the IAF, and the delivery would of the first Rafale would start in three years from now. Till then, in the event of a conflict, India will have to deploy two Sukhoi-30MKIs to tackle each Pakistani F-16 due to the latter's superior weapons package, including 80-km range missiles. But once the Rafales are inducted, Pakistan will have to deploy two F-16s for each of them.

"Rafale is a very potent fighter that will add to the IAF's airpower and deep-strike capabilities," India's defence minister Manohar Parrikar told the Economic Times. Le Drian added, "The Rafale is really the best fighter jet in the world. It is an omni-role aircraft capable of all kinds of missions."