"Rafale contract caters for delivery time between 36 months to about 66 months if I am not wrong. So within three years time we will have the first few aircraft delivered to us and within five and a half years we will have two full squadron of aircraft in operation," Raha said at a function in Kolkata.
On challenges being faced in the search operations, Bargotra said the weather which was bad had improved since Sunday.
Women pilots will soon fly fighter jets of the Indian Air Force, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha said on Thursday.
The DARIN-III navigation attack system allows a Jaguar pilot to feed in the coordinates of targets deep inside enemy territory.
The key airbase at Panagarh in West Bengal has been renamed as 'Air Force Station Arjan Singh' in honour of the Marshal of the Air Force, who turned 97 on Friday.
Hitting out at Pakistan after four jawans were killed in Kashmir, the Shiv Sena on Tuesday said that it has accorded "independent soldiers" status to terrorists for which India is paying a heavy price and rued that there's a dearth of political will to carry out Myanmar-like strikes in Pakistan occupied Kashmir.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has asked the Indian Air Force to focus on safety and conservation of available resources as he interacted with top commanders in New Delhi just days after India decided to buy 36 Rafale jets.
India celebrates 17th Kargil Vijay Diwas on Tuesday, pays homage to martyrs of 1999 war.
Lieutenant General (retired) Jacob Farj Rafael Jacob Jacob, who played a key role in the 1971 war which liberated Bangladesh from Pakistan, was laid to rest in New Delhi on Thursday.
Football legend Pele wound up his six-day visit to the country as a big crowd turned up at the Capital's Ambedkar Stadium to have a glimpse of the Brazilian three-time World Cup winner who battled physical difficulties to give the fans an experience of a lifetime.
The ceasefire violations and firing from across the Line of Control are "quite serious" and the government wants a "quick resolution" of the problem there, IAF Chief Arup Raha said.
The first women pilots in the fighter stream of IAF will be selected from the current batch at Air Force Academy.
The IAF chief stressed on the ongoing development of advanced landing ground along the Himalayas.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said resumption of talks with Pakistan was to "try and turn the course of history" and to bring an end to terrorism, but made it clear that the neighbouring country would be judged by its commitment on terrorism.
An IAF "request for information" floated on the MoD website invites Indian companies to submit preliminary bids to supply the IAF with 106 PC-7 Mk II trainers. Ajai Shukla reports
Parrikar announced that all those seven security personnel killed during the attack will be treated as martyrs that will entitle them to all the benefits available to 'battle casualty' as in war-like situations.
If the government of the day would like to set in place a smooth and well-planned changeover and facilitate the incoming chief to chalk out his action plan well in advance, the announcement of a successor needs to be done early, observes Colonel K Thammayya Udupa (retd).
A model of Rafale jet will be showcased as part of the IAF's tableau. Models of LCA Tejas, Light Combat Helicopter (LCH), surface-to-air guided weapon Aakash missile and Astra missiles will also be part of the tableau.
The IAF is down to 34 squadrons. This will dip to 30 squadrons by the end of this decade, as nine squadrons of MiG-21 and MiG-27s retire.
The body of former President APJ Abdul Kalam, who died in Shillong on Monday evening, was carried to Delhi early Tuesday morning by a special aircraft from Guwahati.
An impressive array of warships, including nuclear capable submarines, and about 8000 men and officers of Indian Navy presented an exquisite display of operational capabilities in an exercise reviewed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi off the Kochi coast in Kerala on Tuesday.
Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh to be appointed chairman of chiefs of staff committee in January, Lt Gen Anil Chait to head army, say sources
Nitin Gokhale reports on how quick decisions saved a repeat of a Mumbai-like carnage at the key Punjab air force base.
'Aspects of escalation control and broad targeting aspects have been discussed by all and sundry.' 'Let us cut the hype for a bit and give a break to our planners and decision makers,' says Group Captain Murli Menon (retd).
The enormous structured global advertising machinery that surrounds every football game on the planet today? Pele was perhaps single-handedly responsible for all of it. By just being brilliant, captivating crowds, and behaving like a being from the future, doing things that STILL provoke oohs and aahs from watchers. Vaibhav Raghunandan salutes the Incomparable Pele.
"Whatever he (Som) spoke has been videographed. I have asked legal experts to examine his statement....the statement he made in the village and the statement he made to the media persons. If any action is needed to be taken as per law, it will be taken," the District Magistrate N P Singh said.
'We were against politicisation of the defence acquisition process. It was a question of capability of the air force'
Deborah Lee James will travel to India later this month as part of a maiden visit to four Asian countries that would also take her to Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines and will discuss the situation in the South China sea as well as the growing threat of terrorism.
'The Pakistani JIT's visit is the first ever experiment by the two South Asian neighbours to probe a terror attack 'jointly.' Well, it is not unlike the scenario wherein the thief himself is made an investigator,' says Rajeev Sharma.
'The Arunachal border is not demarcated in that way, so there can be differing perceptions (between two sides)'
The final deal may be clinched by May-end.
Tarun Vijay, MP, salutes the General whom he adored as a great friend.
Senior officers admit the BJP's revival, and the mainstreaming of the Hindutva narrative that has accompanied this political shift, have complicated communal relations within the army.
The comments came a day after Indian Air Force Chief Arup Raha said the air force has moved a proposal for inducting women as fighter aircraft pilots.
'Why can't a person who has supervised military intelligence head RA&W?' 'Why can't one who has overseen national security planning become our NSA or chair the National Security Advisory Board?' asks Vice Admiral Premvir Das (retd).
'Unlike Dr Manmohan Singh, who quailed and turned away because the darkness was too frightening, Modi has taken a leap to the other side. He deserves applause for this fearlessness,' says Aditi Phadnis.
The Indian Air Force's on Friday conducted day-night demonstration of its combat and fire power in Pokhran, which was witnessed by President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
'The ISI is bound to exploit narcoterrorism.'
The IAF has just 33 squadrons, 9 short of the 42 squadrons needed to tackle China and Pakistan together, says Ajai Shukla.
'If we had sent a few airplanes (into Tibet), we could have wiped the Chinese out.' 'And everything could have been different in the 1962 War.' 'They did not believe me there was no Chinese air force.' 'Can you imagine what would have happened if we had used the IAF at that time?' 'The Chinese would have never dared do anything down the line.'
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