The Indian Air Force is now scrambling to find a new base for its newly-acquired Rafale fighters after it was determined that the preferred Sarsawa air base does not have sufficient space to bed down those fighters.
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By Tim Felce (Airwolfhound) (Rafale – RIAT 2013) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Another 540 acres of land are required for expansion of the base and the service has to talk to 3,200 surrounding landowners to acquire their plots. It is impossible to complete the negotiations in time for the Dassault fighters to enter service in 2019.