India on Saturday successfully conducted two rounds of trials of its indigenously developed surface-to-air Akash missile as part of a user trial by the Indian Air Force from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur near Balasore in Odisha.
"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.
Group Captain Murli Menon (retd) reveals how India can neutralise the Pakistan air force's combat capabilities without firing a shot.
The Chinese aircraft have been regularly flying close to the LAC in the last three to four weeks which is seen as an attempt to probe the Indian defence mechanism in the area.
The Indian Air Force is operating with "much less" aircraft than its authorised strength of 42 combat squadrons and in case of any further delay in the proposed 126 fighter jet deal, the force levels in the service will "go down rapidly", its chief NAK Browne said on Friday.
The Indian Air Force carried out intensive night operations involving its fighter aircraft including the MiG-29 and Sukhoi-30MKI along with its Apache attack helicopters and the Chinook heavy-lift helicopters.
Indian Air Force's 115 Helicopter unit and 26 Squadron, both doing yeoman's services in rescue operations and war have been awarded with the President's Standard award, an official said on Friday.
Vapid banalities like 'We will provide our brave jawans with the best equipment in the world' encourage IAF buying sprees such as the Rafale and the Pilatus. Ajai Shukla reports
On challenges being faced in the search operations, Bargotra said the weather which was bad had improved since Sunday.
Against the backdrop of efforts to increase indigenisation to avoid defence scams, Defence Minister A K Antony on Tuesday asked the Indian Air Force to reduce its dependence on imports and work towards achieving self reliance in military weapon systems.
With warning of rainfall in the next two days in flood-hit Uttarakhand, Indian Air Force has pressed into service C-130J Super Hercules aircraft, which are customised for covert special operations and are capable of landing at makeshift and short runways, to evacuate stranded people from the state.
A Jaguar deep penetration strike aircraft of the Indian Air Force on Wednesday crashed in Khalilabad village near Gorakhpur air base minutes after take off, killing the pilot Flight Lieutenant A Singh and injuring three women on the ground.
To secure the capital from aerial terror attacks following an intelligence alert, the Indian Air Force will maintain a three-fighter aircraft detachment at the Hindan air base in Ghaziabad near the capital till the Republic Day parade on January 26.
Joining the rescue operations, the Indian Air Force pressed a Chetak and two medium-lift MI-17 helicopters from Kalikunda air base on Friday to assist relief work at the site of the train derailment in Jhargram in West Bengal.
The deal is estimated to be worth Rs 12,000 crore.
"IAF used the expertise of its air warriors to retrieve the most vital element sought after any air crash -- the Flight Data Recorder (FDR)-cum-Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) or black box in common parlance -- to help provide clues to the air crash," IAF spokesperson Wg Cdr T K Singha said in New Delhi.
The government is expecting to connect small towns with main metros through its Regional Connectivity Scheme
The synergised demonstration of indigenous defence capabilities during 'Bharat Shakti' is a "testimony to its commitment towards modernisation through indigenisation," the sources said.
From 2018-19 onwards, 16 'Standard of Preparation-18' Tejas fighters, which involves four major upgrades, will roll off the line each year.
An Indian Air Force fighter pilot on a training sortie was killed when a Surya Kiran trainer aircraft crashed near Bidar in Karnataka on Wednesday morning. The pilot, who had joined the Surya Kiran Aerobatics team recently, was on the Kiran Mk II trainer aircraft, when the mishap occurred at 8.45 hours, IAF sources said.
The massive exercise code-named Iron First 2016 would involve the participation of 181 aircraft departing from multiple bases, and demonstrate a synchronized aerial ballet that would showcase its deadly combat capability over the entire spectrum of aerial operations.
The IAF 'evidence' shows that the S-2000 laser-guided munition hit the intended targets causing significant 'internal damage', sources said.
The prowess of IAF's frontline fighter aircraft Su-30MKI is set to get a boost with plans to equip them with missiles having a strike range of around 300 kilometres.
Air chief S S Tyagi, in Russia on an official visit, was witness to a demonstration of the Mig-35s and came off impressed.
The Indian Air Force is expected to fly an IL-76 aircraft, which can ferry 300 people, to Libya on Thursday to evacuate Indian citizens stranded there. "An IL-76 is at the Palam airport and is expected to fly out to Cairo on Thursday morning on its way to Libya," IAF officials said. However, the destination of the aircraft is not being disclosed keeping in mind the safety of the evacuees, they added.
The Indian Air Force will now have to wait till March end for Israeli airborne early warning system, whose induction has already been delayed by 16 months. "The Israeli Phalcon airborne early warning and control system (AWACS), which will provide the IAF an eye in the skies to perform surveillance and reconnaissance roles, will arrive in India only by March end," a senior IAF officer told PTI in New Delhi on Friday.
The successful test firing of medium range surface-to-air missiles is welcome news for the IAF.
It came under severe criticism from the CAG on Friday as it pointed out that its Mark-I version has 53 'significant shortfalls'.
The senior diplomat said that all 36 Rafale jets will be delivered to the Indian Air Force within the next two years. Calling it an excellent aircraft, he said it would add a lot to the capacity of the Indian Air Force.
This means that the search and rescue team has no exact idea about where the plane could have gone down on July 22.
President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday took her maiden sortie in a fighter aircraft at Tezpur air base in Assam.
A Korean couple and a retired Army Major General were among 310 people rescued by Chandigarh-based 12 Wing of the Indian Air Force, which has been conducting non-stop sorties during the past three days to evacuate people from flooded areas of Srinagar.
Flight Lieutenant Srikant Sharma said that getting into the armed forces was a dream come true and this opportunity is an "icing on the cake".
It is rare for an Air Force Chief to fly solo.
The 17 squadron, which operated from Bhatinda air base, was disbanded in 2016 after the IAF started gradual phasing out of Russian-origin MIG-21 jets. It was formed in 1951 and initially flew de Havilland Vampire F Mk 52 fighters.
The flight, carrying 20.5 tonnes of relief supplies, will arrive at Little Rock Air Force Base in the Southern United States on September 12, the Indian Embassy said in Washington.
Air Commodore Nitin Sathe reveals what he learnt from the Indian Air Force, which he served for 35 years. An Air Force Day Special.
An air ambulance ofIndian Air Force successfully evacuated eight persons, injured in a fire at Kumbh Mela, for emergency medical attention in the national capital.
The Indian Air Force scrambled its MiG 29 fighter jets to intercept an Air France flight entering India from Pakistan over Amritsar as the aircraft had switched on wrong Identify Friend or Foe (IFF) code, on Thursday.
United States Ambassador to India Timothy J Roemer on Saturday said that induction of C-130J 'Super Hercules' aircraft in the Indian Air Force on time is a win-win situation for both the countries.
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