The Indian Navy has decided that the twin-seat Rafale will not be disqualified on the basis of its inability to operate from an aircraft carrier.
Seven years ago, an IAF chief had ordered the HTT-40 to be removed from the Yelahanka air base. The IAF now wants HAL to build 108 HTT-40 aircraft.
'We have to cut down on manpower to make more for equipment,' Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat tells Ajai Shukla.
For the defence ministry, Aero India 2021 is an opportunity to show its commitment to the prime minister's 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' initiative.
'We found the MiG-29s to be in excellent condition. They could make an excellent addition to our fleet,' a senior air marshal tells Ajai Shukla.
Officers responsible for preparing budgets say their detailed costing projections are mostly ignored. The defence ministry simply takes the previous year's budgetary allocations for each service and adds a small percentage to those.
The military is mobilising to play a central role in holding patients exposed to the coronavirus.
India is pursuing sales to South East Asian countries that are wary of Chinese aggression, including Vietnam and the Philippines.
'The Raksha Mantri's day at sea'/
Army sources indicate the first Integrated Battle Groups would come up in the plains of Jammu, Punjab, and Rajasthan, providing New Delhi instruments of retaliation in the event of grave provocation by Pakistan, such as a 26/11-style terrorist attack.
To threaten China and Pakistan, and then to sharply cut back on military funding, bespeaks a remarkable trust in Beijing and Islamabad that is not borne out by anything they say or do, notes Ajai Shukla.
Admiral describes it as 'a path-breaking change'; defence ministry official disagrees.
Rs 111,294 crore has been allocated for army salaries. The Rs 113,278 crore allocated for army pensions surpasses that. Army planners are worried about this drain on funds that could otherwise go towards equipment modernisation.
'It is not clear how the NDA government -- including Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, backed by senior IAF officials -- claimed that the 36 Rafale contract with Dassault in 2016 cost the IAF 20% less than Dassault's 126 Rafale offer,' notes Ajai Shukla in the first of a three-part series.
An S-400 unit located near Delhi for protecting the capital would be able to shoot down Pakistani aircraft even before they cross the border to India, and Chinese aircraft while they were still in Tibetan or Nepalese air space.
Russia is reportedly angry that India allowed US officers on board the INS Chakra. But are French lobbyists trying to muddy India-Russia waters?
The P-8I, which is widely acknowledged to be the world's most deadly LRMR-ASW aircraft, is a derivative of the Boeing 737-800 airliner, onto which a plethora of sensors and weaponry has been fitted.
India's historical focus on its continental borders has overshadowed its maritime ambitions, but that is changing quickly, notes Ajai Shukla.
The biggest procurement green-lighted was the Rs 217 billion purchase of 111 naval utility helicopters.
'The committing of the SFF into operations in Ladakh is a signal from New Delhi of how seriously it takes the Chinese intrusions and the lengths India will go to in combating them.'
'The equipment that you make for us must be the best in the world so that it complements the Indian soldier who is without doubt the very best in the world.'
More than 100 BrahMos missiles are planned to be built in the next three years.
With Honeywell demanding what Indian Air Force sources term an "exorbitant" price for F-125IN engines, the IAF has told HAL that it has abandoned its plan to upgrade 80 Jaguar fighters with new Honeywell engines, reports Ajai Shukla.
'The Chinese staying put in Pangong Tso, and creating a buffer zone on Indian territory in other areas,' a senior serving general tells Ajai Shukla.
Since the June 15 clash, the PLA has inducted large numbers of troops, armoured vehicles and artillery along the LAC, from Depsang and Galwan in northern Ladakh to Hot Springs, Pangong Tso, and Chushul in central Ladakh, to Demchok and Chumar in southern Ladakh.
Each Bhabha Kavach has four hard armour plates, which protect the wearer from the front, back, and either side. It can protect CAPF personnel from 7.62 mm bullets fired from AK-47 rifles -- the chosen weapon of terrorists from Kashmir to Bastar.
Insufficient technology has been transferred during the ongoing Project 75, which involves building 6 Scorpene-class submarines.
A large Dhruv order could significantly boost Indian defence exports. These have grown from Rs 1,940 crore in 2014-2015 to Rs 10,745 crore in 2018-2019.
The warships will be armed with BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles which can reach targets 295 km away.
'India is ahead only of Pakistan in the amount spent on each soldier a year.' 'The Indian military is a manpower-heavy throng that is poorly armed, equipped, and trained,' observes Ajai Shukla.
That would result in the military under-spending about Rs 80,000 crore over the financial year.
INS Vishakapatnam's ground attack and anti-ship capabilities are achieved through a bank of BrahMos cruise missiles that can be fired at targets up to 295 km away.
The airliners will be withdrawn from Air India, sent to France to fit airborne radars, then handed over to DRDO to be integrated with the complex software that will allow these aircraft to function as 'eye-in-the-sky' controllers of air force battles.
To mark Prime Minister Modi's seventh meeting with Obama and his historic joint address to US Congress -- the sixth Indian PM to do so -- India Abroad, the newspaper published from New York and owned by rediff.com, reached out to diplomats and strategic thinkers in New Delhi and Washington, DC, to assess the current state of the US-India relationship and suggest a road map for the future.
Boeing's confirmation that the Super Hornet has flown off a ski-jump is a statement that it is ready to operate off existing Indian aircraft carriers.
IAF officers say they are keen to serve justice quickly and make an example of those found guilty of operational lapses.
20 defence ministry reforms 'is a reflection of the resolve of the government to make the defence sector stronger and more efficient.'
Despite pending payments of over Rs 20,000 crore, HAL revenue grew 6% against the previous year.
Defence already accounts for one-third of the national capital spend, the government says.
This will be the first instance since Independence that two of the three service chiefs will be the government's chosen men.
