In a culture where children take up the profession of their father, her becoming a politician was seen as natural and acceptable.
Returning to the Brahmaputra for Vijay Diwas was not just a journey across geography, but across memory of war, service, sacrifice, and the enduring bond between the Indian Air Force and the north east, asserts Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd).
Mrs Gandhi's power ebbed and peaked with the times. Mr Modi's has almost been constant, barring the few months of hard dip after the 240 seats of 2024, points out Shekhar Gupta.
According to recent media reports, a portrait capturing what one general called India's greatest military achievement in 1,000 years -- Pakistan's surrender on December 16, 1971 -- has been removed from the army chief's lounge and been replaced by another painting.
Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh, an accomplished fighter pilot with more than 5,000 hours of flying experience, on Monday assumed charge as new chief of the Indian Air Force, succeeding incumbent Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari.
Air Marshal Amar Preet Singh has been appointed as the next Chief of the Air Staff.
Former vice chief of Indian Air Force Air Marshal P K Barbora (retd), known to be an outstanding air warrior who was instrumental in reactivation of the Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) air strip in eastern Ladakh, passed away at a military hospital in New Delhi on Monday. He was 72.
Eastern Air Commander Air Marshal Dilip Kumar Patnaik visited the Vijaynagar Advanced Landing Ground in Arunachal Pradesh to review operational preparedness and interacted with Indian Army troops deployed in the theatre.
The Indian Air Force will carry out a mega exercise covering the Northeastern region early next month to check its combat readiness, amid a fresh spike in tension with China along the Line of Actual Control in Arunachal Pradesh.
The two-day mega exercise is involving almost all its frontline fighter jets and other assets deployed in the region, people familiar with the drill said.
With the announcement of the new Air Force chief, a massive reshuffle is taking place in the service as new vice chief and two Commanders-in-Chief have been announced on Friday.
The 101 Squadron is the second IAF squadron to be equipped with the Rafale fighter jets. In September last year, the Rafale aircraft were inducted into the 17 'Golden Arrows' Squadron.
Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria asked the air warriors to maintain a very high-level of alertness considering the evolving situation in Pangong lake region in eastern Ladakh following China's unsuccessful attempts to occupy certain strategic points in the area, the officials said on Thursday.
Besides his strategic and tactical acumen, it was his amazing personality, quick wit and ability to remain unflustered under any circumstances that stood him apart from almost any leader one has read about or known, recalls Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
Sources said the exercise is aimed at checking the IAF's overall combat capability and military preparedness in the region.
'...they were shocked to learn that just 352 Indian soldiers had made 3 brigadiers, 2 colonels, 170 officers, 290 JCOs and 8,000 troops surrender to the Indian Army.'
In a bid to promote archery among its ranks and groom the unharnessed talent within the region, the Eastern Air Command has come up with the first Centre of Excellence for the sport in IAF.
'The IAF has flown more than 100 hours in search operations. No effort is being spared to locate the missing aircraft,' the statement added.
With alertness very high post the surgical strikes on terrorist camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and the Uri attack, Indian Air Force is aggressively upgrading infrastructure in the eastern sector specially in Arunachal Pradesh.
'The 1971 War was our greatest military victory.' 'It had so many stories of exceptional valour and leadership.'
'Unless India ups the ante, Beijing will continue to believe its transgressions are cost free and will feel encouraged to do more of the same.'
The Indian Air Force has evacuated over 400 flood-affected people across Assam in the past 20 days as relief helicopters and transport planes are on round-the-clock standby. Air Commodore P E Patange of the Eastern Air Command said besides airlifting 400 marooned persons from various parts of the state, the IAF also airlifted dozens of tonnes of relief material for distribution.
An Indian Air Force advanced landing ground at Vijaynagar, country's easternmost tip in Arunachal Pradesh, was re-opened on Friday by Governor General (Retd) J J Singh in presence of Air Marshal S Varthaman, air officer commanding-in-chief, eastern air command, Lieutenant General Rameshwar Roy, director general Assam Rifles, Air Vice Marshal KS Gill among other senior officials from Arunachal Pradesh, Assam Rifles and the IAF.
The Indian Air Force has now decided to deploy its additional six C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft at Panagarh in West Bengal-- the likely location of a proposed Army Mountain Corps headquarter--, and not in Odisha.
The indigenously developed light combat aircraft 'Tejas' would officially replace the MiG-21 FL fighter jet, Chief of Air Staff of the Indian Air Force, Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne said on Thursday.
The Sukhoi-30 Mki was formally inducted at the Air Force Station at Chabua base in Assam on Tuesday. The induction was done through a ceremony with the inaugural flight of the SU 30 MKI taking off which also performed a overshoot before landing, according to a defence source.
'We are ready to surrender,' Lieutenant General A A K Niazi said over the phone from Dhaka.
"A number of older generation aircraft like MiG-21 are operating since early sixties. We have problems with the ageing fleets and their maintenance," Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Indian Air Force's (IAF) Eastern Air Command, Air Marshal Kishan Kumar Nohwar told a press conference in Shillong.
The Air Force official from Nagaland had gone to Coimbatore in the first week of October from Mohanbari Air Force Base in Dibrugarh district of Assam to participate in a 21-day training course at the IAF administrative college in the textile city of western Tamil Nadu.
An induction ceremony was organised in the hangar of the Tezpur airbase in Assam in the presence of Eastern Air Commander Air Marshal S K Bhan, sources in IAF headquarters in New Delhi said.
Conceding that people in the bordering areas do move into the neighbouring nation's territory at times, he termed it a common phenomenon on borders and said, "There is no danger from such movement."
Interacting with visiting reporters recently at the command's headquarters in Shillong, Barbora, the first officer from the northeast to head an IAF command, recollected the Chinese agression in the north-east in 1962.
He became the first helicopter pilot to be named chief of the Indian Air Force.
Tezpur is the last of the IAF bases in the country to phase out the MiG 21.
The first joint theatre command would be responsible for the border against Pakistan in what the military refers to as the "western theatre"; while a second command -- the northern theatre command -- would be responsible for the border with China. A third, navy-heavy theatre, called the "maritime command" will be responsible for the security of the Indian Ocean Region (IOR); and an island command, already functional and called the Andaman & Nicobar Command (ANC), would project power into the eastern Indian Ocean.
The US would deploy its F-16s and other sophisticated combat aircraft for the exercise christened 'Cope India'
The radar will help in monitoring movement of low-flying aircraft.
'Beyond the 'sir' and the 'salute', there was a man who cared about his soldiers and that's what made him a great leader.' Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw's grandson Jehan remembers the man who was the soldier's soldier.
The area is thickly forested and has been receiving heavy rains since the last three days
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