'Currently, it takes between two and three years to formulate the request for proposal for procuring specific military equipment for the armed forces. It should not be this way.'
He was subjected to a marathon 10-hour questioning on Thursday by ED investigators.
The IAF chief also said that raising the upper age limit to 23 for induction under the Agnipath scheme for the year 2022 would permit a larger section of youths to enrol under the new model of recruitment.
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited on Wednesday handed over the first LCA Tejas twin-seater aircraft to the Indian Air Force.
Wing Commander Raveendran and flight steward Sargeant Iyer, though shaken and injured, managed to open the rear door of the aircraft and shouted for Prime Minister Morarji Desai and the passengers in the forward cabin to exit in haste since they suspected that fire would engulf the aircraft.
Meanwhile, Congress president Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at the Modi government and Anil Ambani over the Rafale issue, saying that in order to bag India's biggest defence contracts one has to be a "defaulter of Rs 45,000 crore" and have "no relevant experience".
Two Indian Air Force personnel, who suffered minor injuries in two low-intensity explosions that took place at the Jammu Air Force Station earlier on Sunday, are under observation and doing fine, informed IAF officials.
Here are some of the glimpses from the celebration.
The 101 Squadron is the second IAF squadron to be equipped with the Rafale fighter jets. In September last year, the Rafale aircraft were inducted into the 17 'Golden Arrows' Squadron.
Taking to Twitter, Tendulkar thanked the Indian soldiers for their services.
The Indian Air Force will carry out a mega exercise covering the Northeastern region early next month to check its combat readiness, amid a fresh spike in tension with China along the Line of Actual Control in Arunachal Pradesh.
The Indian Air Force plans to install an Aerosat Radar capable of picking up targets at low ranges at the Southern Air Command in Thiruvananthapuram, considering the region's strategic importance.
Chinook is a heavy lift, tandem rotor helicopter which serves armed forces of 19 countries. It is a multi-role platform and is used for the transport of troops and material among other roles
Authorities continue evacuating stranded pilgrims from areas around Dharali village in Uttarkashi, focusing on air rescue and relief operations due to damaged roads. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is overseeing the efforts, with central government support.
Indian Air Force chief, Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne, has sugarcoated his bid to import 106 basic trainer aircraft from Pilatus Aircraft Co, by proposing that Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd build the trainers in Bengaluru to blueprints supplied by the Swiss company.
'For god's sake, portray the armed forces in the correct manner,' asserts IAF veteran Air Commodore Nitin Sathe after watching Tejas.
An Indian Air Force C-130 J aircraft carrying 15 tonnes of relief material, including tents, blankets, sleeping bags, food packets, hygiene kits, generators, and essential medicines, landed in Yangon on Saturday, March 29, 2025.
Enforcement Directorate on Thursday questioned former Indian Air Force Air Marshal Gautam Nayyar in connection with its money laundering probe in the multi-crore AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal.
Armed with documents from Italy, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday named former air force chief S P Tyagi in its preliminary enquiry into allegations of kickbacks in the Rs 3,600 crore VVIP chopper deal, the second former defence services chief to figure in a scam probe.
The indigenously designed and developed Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH-Dhruv) and the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas will not be part of the upcoming Republic Day flypast in India due to the grounding of the entire fleet of ALH-Dhruv helicopters following a crash earlier this month. The grounding of the helicopters is a result of a Coast Guard ALH crash in Porbandar, Gujarat on January 5, which claimed the lives of two pilots and an aircrew diver. The decision to exclude the ALH-Dhruv and Tejas from the flypast comes as a high-level probe panel investigates the cause of the crash.
The Human-rated LVM3 vehicle, the Crew Escape System and the Crew Module and Service Module are all in final stages of testing and integration.
The Indian Air force has asked the government to procure the Swiss Pilatus basic trainer aircraft to train its rookie pilots instead of a similar aircraft being indigenously developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday filed an FIR against former Indian Air Force Chief S P Tyagi and 12 others for alleged cheating and criminal conspiracy in Rs 3600-crore VVIP Helicopter deal.
The IAF commanders held detailed deliberations on the border row with China in eastern Ladakh, key short-term and long-term security challenges facing the nation and on the complex geo-political power play in India's neighbourhood.
Human Resources and Development Minister M M Pallam Raju, who was minister of state for defence when the deal for procuring 12 choppers from Italian firm Finmeccanica was signed in 2010, Wednesday said he can "vouch for the integrity" of former Indian Air Force chief S P Tyagi, whose name has surfaced in the scam.
The pilot ejected safely and a court of inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident, the IAF said in a brief statement.
Apart from 15 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and 12 teams of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), personnel of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Indian Coast Guard and Border Security Force (BSF) are deployed for relief and rescue operations, officials said.
When the IAF veterans' bail petition came up for hearing, in an unprecedented move, senior serving and retired Air Marshals and Air Vice Marshals rallied behind the accused officers and appeared before the court to give sureties for each, something that has never happened ever before.
In what was perhaps the most critical meeting before full-scale war broke out, Shastri defined India's immediate war objectives to his defence minister, army, and air force chiefs: 'To defend against Pakistan's attempts to grab Kashmir by force and to make it abundantly clear that Pakistan would never be allowed to wrest Kashmir from India; To destroy the offensive power of Pakistan's armed forces...' A fascinating excerpt from Shiv Kunal Verma's must-read 1965: A Western Sunrise India's War With Pakistan.
The commanders are also expected to specifically deliberate on deployment of first batch of around six Rafale fighter jets which are expected to join the IAF's fighter fleet later this month, they said.
Having already received around 30 Rafale combat aircraft from France, the Indian Air Force would start upgrading its fleet of French-origin fighters from January 2022, with India specific enhancements.
Glimpses from Day 1 at Aero India 2025 at the Yelahanka air base in Bengaluru, India, February 10, 2025.
The ex-IAF chief was questioned in the same case by CBI for the last three days. This is the first time that the ex-Chief of Staff of the Indian Air Force has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate.
Four IAF personnel, including a squadron leader, were killed and 22 injured on January 25, 1990, at Rawalpora on the outskirts of Srinagar.
Glimpses from India and around the world that will make you smile and cry.
10 Heroes of the 1965 War which ended on September 23 60 years ago.
Gen Pande was to retire from service on May 31.
Air Marshal S B Deo was rushed to a military hospital in Delhi where he underwent a surgery and is now stable.
The triennial exercise will take place for two hours and fifteen minutes during the day, dusk and night, he said.
After five months of a rigorous training, the Agniveervayus passed out of the Airmen Training School, impressing the audience with the skills they had acquired in just 22 weeks of training at the IAF base.
