In a subtle show of strength to China, the Indian Air Force on Tuesday landed its C-130J Super Hercules transport plane at the world's highest and recently-activated Daulat Beg Oldie airstrip in Ladakh near the Line of Actual Control, the scene of a stand-off with Chinese troops in April.
Has the army confronted China, equipping itself with emergency purchases that have been largely paid for by pensioners, asks Ajai Shukla.
"It is my first sortie in Tejas, it is a good aircraft for induction into IAF operations," Raha was quoted as saying by the aircraft maker Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
Former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had sought American assistance and wrote to the then US president John F Kennedy to provide India jet fighters to stem the Chinese tide of aggression during the 1962 Sino-India war, according to a new book.
The annual 'People's Choice' for Royal Air Force image of the year has opened for public voting.
The unique BrahMos weapon system on numerous occasions has established its supremacy in the world of supersonic cruise missile, a statement by the BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture of India and Russia, said.
The French government has rejected Indian negotiators' demand for a 50 per cent offset clause citing sharp cost escalation but offered to participate in 'Make in India' projects to carry forward the talks for 36 Rafale fighter jets that have hit turbulence.
'IAF is expanding at a rapid pace'
HAL's HTT-40 aircraft have outperformed both Swiss Pilatus planes and the IAF's performance criteria. Why then does the IAF prefer the Pilatus to the HTT-40?
'Make in India is one of the priorities identified by Minister Sitharaman and this is our great weakness,' warns Vice Admiral Premvir Das.
Bush's remains will lie in state in the US Capitol Rotunda till Wednesday, when he will be honoured with state funeral at the Washington National Cathedral.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has voiced his concern at Dassault's reported reluctance to meet the terms of the IAF tender, which required the French company to guarantee the 108 fighters that HAL would build in India, after the first 18 were supplied fully-built in France.
Nobody bothered to articulate the upsides; instead, the four-year tour of duty and denial of life-long pensions got played up.
Job-seekers for government and related opportunities found that their future was at risk, points out Shreekant Sambrani.
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.
China will use airpower to support Pakistan from the start of a war. China will use the opportunity to at least take Ladakh. Its growing navy will prevent India from blockading or attacking the Makran Coast. And thanks to Chinese weapons, Pakistan keeps expanding its forces, observes Ravi Rikhye.
The RSS chief's comment that if war broke out, the military would not be ready for at least six to seven months is correct as it faces a shortfall in training and alertness and an even greater lack of funds for defence preparedness, notes Ajai Shukla.
'The situation is quite bad. We are trying to rescue people. Right now we are giving them food and water so that they can at least survive until the water recedes,' says Squadron leader V Joshi.
For all those auto enthusiasts who thought Mahindra have only been manufacturing Jeeps and trucks in the '90s, Timeless Mahindra offers plenty of interesting surprises, discovers Rajesh Kareka/Rediff.com.
The black box of the C-130J transport aircraft that crashed near Gwalior on Friday has suffered damage and the Indian Air Force has sent it to the United States to seek the assistance of its manufacturer Lockheed Martin in decoding the data, officials said on Sunday.
Its advanced Longbow radar picks up enemy armoured vehicles and then destroys them with anti-tank missiles, air-to-surface rockets or a chain gun that sends 625 rounds per minute ripping into the targets.
'Notwithstanding the realisation among the Indian leadership to build up its navy for the force's expanding role, the Indian Navy was allocated only 15% of the interim defence budget presented in Parliament in February 2019.' 'The outlay for the navy's capital acquisition is not even adequate to meet its committed liabilities,' points out Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
Production in India would be open for companies other than HAL
In a record time of 13 years, the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier Vikrant is now ready for formal induction into the Indian Navy.
'At 1.58% of GDP, the defence budget is one of the lowest since the Chinese aggression of 1962.' 'The government of the day has lost sight of the fact that defence of the country is as important as its growth,' says Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
'... To ensure that the vast Indian Ocean Region remain peaceful.'
The mishap occurred during a sortie as part of the rehearsal for AeroIndia.
With the Rafale contract in limbo, the upgrade of IAF's Mirage 2000 and Jaguar fighters has become vitally important.
With both aircraft likely to meet the IAF's performance requirements, the winning bid could be the one that offers the lowest cost and the best industrial proposal.
'If the other side knows you are coming, then you are the guy who is going to be dead.'
We salute the Mi-8 today on the occasion of the 32nd anniversary of Operation Cactus. Through its glorious service career, the Mi-8 left an indelible mark on the future by providing the IAF with a lineage of professional helicopter aircrew, says Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd).
The two countries are interested in the current version of the Tejas and not the upgraded one which will be rolled out later.
As a percentage of the military budget, the navy's share has fallen from 19 per cent in 2010-2011 to just 15.5 per cent this year. With the Indian Navy's annual budget declining steadily, security planners are reluctant to green light crucial projects, discovers Ajai Shukla.
'The simultaneous fire from so many guns rained down on the enemy and pulverised them, a sight I can never forget till my last breath.'
Chidambaram said he feels that Dassault 'is laughing all the way to the bank', as the NDA government gave a 'gift'.
Will the IAF pay $2.4 billion to refit 80 Jaguars with powerful Honeywell engines?
The successful test will result in huge savings of replacement cost of missiles held in the inventory of the Indian Armed Forces.
The successful test firing of medium range surface-to-air missiles is welcome news for the IAF.
Curtains will fall on the Rim of the Pacific 2016, the world's largest international maritime exercise, on August 4.
Among the handful of countries with large defence budgets and armed forces, India is matched only by Saudi Arabia in the level of its import dependence. For revenge to be served cold, go beyond import bans and correct these long-term failures -- if we're up to it, notes T N Ninan.
Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa calling the FOC a 'major milestone'.
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