Vice Admiral K Swaminathan highlights concerns over Pakistan's arms procurement and China's growing assertiveness in the Indian Ocean Region.
The Indian Air Force will carry out a two-day mega military exercise along the border with Pakistan from Wednesday that will involve all the frontline fighter jets including Rafale, Su-30 and Jaguar aircraft. The exercise is taking place amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan over the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people. India's civil aviation authorities have already issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) for the major air exercise that will largely take place along the southern and western section of the Indo-Pakistan border. India's frontline fighter jets including the Rafale, Su-30 MKI, MiG-29, Mirage-2000, Tejas and AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) aircraft are set to feature in the exercise.
The 76th Republic Day Parade concluded with a memorable display of aerial acrobatics, including a stunning victory roll by Rafale aircraft and daring maneuvers by Sukhoi-30 fighter jets. The flypast, featuring over 40 aircraft, captivated the large crowd gathered along Kartavya Path, including President Droupadi Murmu, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The parade showcased the strength and skill of the Indian Air Force and provided a spectacular visual experience for the audience.
The AWACS is set to redefine battlefield surveillance, and will totally revolutionise the way IAF operates.
Germany will compensate for its non-participation in the United States-led military operation in Libya by sending around 300 additional troops to Afghanistan to relieve its NATO partners involved in airborne surveillance there for similar operations in the war-torn North African nation.
The missile will be capable of shooting down enemy ballistic missiles, aircraft, helicopters, drones, surveillance aircraft and AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control Systems) aircraft from a range of around 70 km.
As crowds gather to watch this year's Olympic opening ceremony in London, highly trained eyes on the ground and in the sky will be keeping tabs on every aircraft over the southeast of Britain.
Indian Air Force's frontline Su-30 MKI fighter jets and Eurofighter Typhoons of the Royal Air Force on Wednesday began 17 days of war games codenamed Ex-Indradhanush at the Kalaikunda airbase in West Bengal.
Pakistan has become the second country in South Asia after India to have inducted the sophisticated surveillance aircraft, Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) in its Air Force.
India will get its first 'eye in the sky', the Phalcon Airborne Warning and Control Systems aircraft on May 18, which will provide the Indian Air Force means to track incoming missiles and look deep into the neighbouring countries without violating any air space.
In a big boost to India's surveillance capability, the Air Force is likely to receive the first of the three Israeli Phalcon Airborne Warning and Control Systems in the second half of May this year, almost a year and a half behind schedule."Indian Air Force officials have been regularly checking the system. The final details are being worked out which will enable the delivery of the system by the second half of May," defence sources said.
India may have created history by inducting its first Airborne Warning and Control System in New Delhi on Thursday but the IAF is planning to replace the Russian IL-76 aircraft with some other 'modern aircraft' as the platform for the system in future.
The Indian Air Force wants to buy unspecified numbers of Phalcon Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft from Israel in addition to the three already contracted in 2004 for $370 million each, it was reported. The air force request is near finalisation at the Ministry of Defence, sources said, but the price of the additional AWACS planes is yet to be negotiated.
This is following India's decision to acquire the latest Israeli Phalcon system.
As economic challenges, trade and energy security take precedence over peninsular issues, the role of armed forces in protecting nation's interests became crucial, he said.
The fresh negotiations with Israeli authorities concerned for procurement of the two Phalcon AWACS come in the midst of India's bitter border row with China in high-altitude eastern Ladakh.
The Chinese navy's growing aggression in the Western Pacific is bringing together a range of allies.
In all likelihood, the next conventional Chinese attack on India would be preceded by a massive cyber attack designed to cripple Indian networks and interfere with our disaster-relief programmes.
The US has deployed its naval carrier strike group, led by the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, as well as a fleet of F-18 fighter jets and E-2C Hawkeye all-weather aircraft for the exercise, officials said. The Indian assets at the exercise included Jaguar and Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jets, IL-78 air-to-air refuelling tanker aircraft, Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft and warships Kochi and Teg. The Indian Navy has also deployed a fleet of P8I maritime surveillance aircraft and MiG 29K jets, apart from other platforms.
In a tweet, Pakistani military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor said, "Repetitions don't make truth of a lie. Despite claiming possession of evidence on shooting F16, IAF still short of presenting it."
For the first time, Airborne Warning and Control System are likely to be deployed in New Delhi on Republic Day for vigil from the skies during the parade where US President Barack Obama will be the chief guest.
They have been exposed again by the IAF's ability to strike 80 km into Pakistan without being intercepted or incurring casualties.
'Unlike on the western and eastern borders where there is an enemy at the gate, here there is an invisible enemy which is building its own capability and can come into play at a time and place of his choosing.'
Another proposal of the army and the IAF for the procurement of 55 low level light weight radars was also cleared by the DAC for Rs 419 crore.
The Indian Air Force put its might on display at the full dress rehearsal on Tuesday, ahead of the 83rd Air Force Day on October 8, at the Hindon air base in Ghaziabad.
"Speaking of Pakistan, the first word that comes to my mind is 'Iron Pak'," Col Wu Qian told a media briefing
'During the aerial engagement, one MiG 21 Bison of the IAF shot down an F-16 in Nowshera sector,' the IAF said in a statement.
The Indian Air Force on Monday reiterated that it shot down an F-16 jet of Pakistan Air Force during the February 27 aerial combat and showed radar images of the engagement to assert that it has 'irrefutable evidence' of downing the enemy jet.
Out of its 47 operational satellites, India currently has six to eight satellites which are used entirely for military purposes.
The parade began after President Ram Nath Kovind conferred the Ashoka Chakra -- India's highest peacetime gallantry award -- to Lance Naik Nazir Ahmad Wani, a militant-turned-soldier who laid down his life fighting a group of terrorists in Shopian in Kashmir in November.
The pre-dawn operation, described as "non-military" and "preemptive" struck a five-star resort style camp on a hilltop forest and caught the terrorists in their sleep.
The IAF faces a 'fighter gap' of 13 squadrons. The IAF would be caught seriously short in a two-front war -- the worst-case planning contingency in which China and Pakistan attack India simultaneously, points out Ajai Shukla.
'While fighter pilots must not be sent into combat in inferior aircraft, an obsessive quest for outright combat superiority will leave an air force short of numbers,' says Ajai Shukla.
40,000 security personnel guard every nook and corner of New Delhi as US President Barack Obama arrives.
The IAF has just 33 squadrons, 9 short of the 42 squadrons needed to tackle China and Pakistan together, says Ajai Shukla.
'The range of purchases throw a light on India's threat perception as also its perceived role of being a stabilising influence in the region,' says Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
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