The Indian Defence Ministry has approved the procurement of 114 Rafale fighter jets from France, a significant step towards bolstering the Indian Air Force's combat capabilities. The decision comes ahead of French President Emmanuel Macron's visit to India.
At least a dozen Pakistani military aircraft including F-16 jets were destroyed or damaged in Indian strikes during Operation Sindoor, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal A P Singh said on Friday while describing Islamabad's claim of India's losses as "fanciful stories".
In his report released recently titled 'Dogfight! India's Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft Decision,' Ashley J Tellis -- Senior Associate with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace -- pilloried the Russian aircraft saying it was the "weakest of the contenders" for the IAF's MMRCA deal.
Will Aero India 2013, the aeronautical jamboree that kicks off in Bangalore on Wednesday, be relatively subdued?
Overcoming tough competition from Eurofighter Typhoon, French aviation company Dassault's Rafale fighter jet has won Indian Air Force's mammoth deal for 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft worth Rs 52,000 crore.
Hoping to get a bigger slice in the pie of massive Indian defence modernisation efforts, the US has said the level of its willingness to share defence technologies with India has never been higher than it is now.
There is seething anger among the senior administration officials -- at State, Commerce and the Pentagon -- and representatives of business and industry that New Delhi's decision was wholly political and much of the finger-pointing was at Defence Minister A K Antony and the Defence Research and Development Organisation.
Clearing the air over why India has preferred Europe to the United States in the process of acquiring medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA), top government sources said on Wednesday that it was to obtain the finest armaments for Indian armed forces.
For years, India's proposed purchase of 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft has been valued at Rs 42,000 crore. Now that valuation is set to rise dramatically
Plummeting European currencies, battered by the euro zone financial crisis, are providing European aerospace corporations an opportunity to undercut their American rivals, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, in the contest to sell India 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) for a price that has been estimated at $11 billion, or about Rs 44,000 crore.
India plans to sign the $11 billion Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft deal with French Rafale by the end of August and September, a senior Indian Air Force official said on Saturday. "I find no reason why it shouldn't be signed by the end of this month or next month", said Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Training Command, IAF, Air Marshal Rajinder Singh.
A report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has reinforced the Obama administration's campaign to lobby the Indian government to award the $11 billion contract for 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft to US manufacturers.
One factor which could have gone against the MiG-35 in the Indian deal is that the IAF's 62-odd MiG-29s coming up for upgradation to the UPG standard, will have features close to the MiG-35 or even better.
Ending months of speculation, India has finally selected Rafale as the best aircraft tailor-made to meet its requirements for at least the next decade and replace its ageing fleet of MiGs. But is it what India needs now to safeguard its skies?
The Barack Obama administration has launched a concerted and aggressive campaign on behalf of United States's fighter aircraft manufacturers to push for the 'mother of all deals'-- the $11 billion medium multi-role combat aircraft deal for 126 fighter aircraft for the Indian Air Force. The deal could give the ailing US economy a major boost in terms of both exports and thousands of jobs.
"We are calculating very hard. There is a lot of work going on. I expect (in) another four weeks, we should be able to wrap it up", Browne told media persons amid intense flurry among the two remaining contenders Eurofighter and Dassault's Rafale.
European military consortium EADS Defence and Security on Tuesday said it will open a research and development centre in Bangalore within two years that will provide employment to 200 Indian engineers.
India may go beyond the purchase of 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft.
As the race for bagging the US$ 10-billion Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft order from India hots up, US aerospace major Lockheed Martin raised its sales pitch on Monday saying its fighter plane, F-16IN, is tailored exclusively to meet the Indian Air Force's requirements.
Business Standard has learned that the ministry of defence (MoD) has already received letters from all four inquiring why their fighters were found unfit.
Boeing is one of the six competitors bidding for the 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft deal touted to be valued at $10 billion from the Indian Air Force.
Six companies from five countries are competing to sell India military hardware, and the winners will indicate the directions of India's strategic vision.
Indian information technology companies are eyeing the $10-billion medium multi-role combat aircraft deal, up for grabs from the Indian Air Force.Of this, about $1-1.5 billion (Rs 4,600-6,900 crore) is the size of the total IT integrated services pie, that would include engineering services and IT services, said industry sources.Six global vendors -- Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Mirage, Russian Aircraft Corp's MiG, Saab and Eurocopter -- have been shortlisted.
The most important changes in DPP-2008 relate to the new offset policy, which will immediately impact offset proposals for India's Rs 47,000-crore purchase of 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA).
The new fighters will replace the IAF's ageing MiG-21 jets, the bulk of which are expected to be phased out by 2009.
The political row had erupted after the National Democratic Alliance government inked the Rs 59,000-crore deal on September 23, 2016 to procure 36 Rafale jets from French aerospace major Dassault Aviation after a nearly seven-year exercise to procure 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft for the Indian Air Force did not fructify during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance regime.
The government is looking into the complaints about the procedure to determine the winner of the multi-billion dollar combat aircraft deal, Defence Minister A K Antony said on Thursday while admitting that there was no money to sign such a big deal in this fiscal.
French investigative journal Mediapart has made fresh claims that alleged bogus invoices were used that enabled French aircraft maker Dassault Aviation to pay at least 7.5 million euros in secret commissions to a middleman to help it secure the Rafale deal with India.
The Rafale jet deal, signed on September 23, 2016, in the frame of an Inter-Governmental Agreement between India and France, has been in news over the last few months.
The top court had rejected the objections raised by the Centre that those documents were not admissible as evidence under Section 123 of the Indian Evidence Act, and no one can produce them in court without the permission of the department concerned as they are also protected under the Official Secrets Act.
Gandhi said he had made the statements in the heat of political campaigning which have been misused by his opponents.
The Congress urged Modi to come forward and order a JPC probe into the Rafale deal.
Notably, the IAF recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the IIT-Madras to develop indigenous solutions to maintain various weapon systems.
The plea also seeks details of comparative prices during UPA and NDA rule.
The BJP MP in her plea alleged that Gandhi has attributed his personal remarks to the top court and tried to create prejudice.
The first batch of four Rafale aircraft will arrive in India by May 2020.
Expected to offer Gripen NG fighter aircraft or a possible joint collaboration in manufacturing single engine light combat planes.
A Court of Inquiry into the incident has been ordered.
Swedish defence major Saab has offered to manufacture its fifth generation Gripen fighter aircraft in New Delhi with technology transfer to India.
In his PIL, Sharma alleged discrepancies in the fighter jet deal with France and sought stay on it.
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