The fighting capability of the French Rafale is such that it is a squadron of 18 aircraft which is equivalent to the Su-30 MKI's 2.5 squadrons (45 fighters) in terms of turn-around and maintenance.
France will deliver three Rafale fighter jets per month for the next three months, with the last of the 36 contracted Omni-role fighters all 13 India-specific enhancements to be delivered in January 2022. While 26 4.5 generation Rafale fighter jets are already operational from Ambala. In the western sector and the Hashimara in the eastern sector, three more Dassault-built fighter aircraft will land at the Jamnagar base on October 13 with the help of a UAE mid-air refueler. Three more are expected to be delivered in November and the other three are expected to join Indian Air Force (IAF) in December
However, this is the 36th Rafale fighter that will be implemented with all India-specific improvements to make the program more fatal. Already India-specific enhancements have been incorporated into the Hammer air to ground, SCALP land attack, and Meteor missiles used by Rafale with greater range, greater altitude, and greater accuracy. The 36th fighter aircraft has landed only after testing all India-specific enhancements with certain technologies of Israeli origin that the previous 35 fighters will be fitted with all the enhancements.
While India-specific enhancements remain classified, they are believed to include more powerful radio altimeters, radar warning receivers, low-band jammers, flight data recorders, high-altitude engine start-up, synthetic aperture radar, infra-red search, and track, missile approach warning system, ground moving target indicators, and tracking, helmet-mounted display, and very high-frequency range decoys.