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.
The missile hit a sinking ship with deadly accuracy and the test-firing produced desired results.
The debris of the two aircraft fell in Pahargarh area in Morena, 75 kilometres from the district headquarters, while some parts also fell in Bharatpur, just across the border in neighbouring Rajasthan.
The identity of the missing pilots has not been disclosed and the worst is feared.
If the new request for 18 more fighters translates into a contract, the Sukhoi-30MKI fleet size will go up to 14 squadrons, or 290 fighters.
IAF pilots would no longer have to fly deep into heavily defended airspace to strike enemy bases, they can launch a Brahmos from as far away as 295 km.
Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari, chief of the air staff, flew a sortie in an IAF Rafale fighter while FASF Chief General Stephane Mille flew in an IAF Su-30MKI fighter.
Top HAL sources say the AMCA, which is being developed as the IAF's next-generation stealth fighter, is slated to be assembled at HAL Nashik.
There were no casualties, police said, adding both the pilots ejected safely before the plane hit ground.
If I were to explain stealth to a layperson, I'd ask them to think of the game chupan-chupai (hide and seek) we played as children, explains Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd).
HAL has integrated the ASRAAM (advanced short range air-to-air missile) for the Tejas Mark 1A. The Tejas Mark 1A will carry twin ASRAAM missiles with a range of 60 to 70 kilometres.
In the event of a war with China, AMCA deep strikes would target China's rail and road links with Tibet, isolating PLA divisions there.
We need to equip the Indian Armed Forces, not 'commercial' as Trump wants, but 'operationally' looking at growing Chinese military capabilities, asserts Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
Indian Air Force fighter jets were scrambled to intercept a foreign aircraft with its origin in Iran that was moving towards New Delhi's airspace.
A fighter aircraft's lethality in air-to-air combat is governed by the air-to-air missile that it carries. Since the Independence, the Indian Air Force has mounted French, Russian and British missiles on its fighters. On Sunday, an IAF Sukhoi-30MKI fighter conducted the first test launch of the indigenous Astra air-to-air missile, which the Defence R&D Organisation is developing at its missile cluster in Hyderabad.
IAF sources said the Sukhoi had taken off from Jodhpur at 1645 hours for a routine training sortie and it crashed around 1730 hours.
'They thought nobody would hit Bahawalpur and Muridke because they have nuclear weapons.' 'They used to think India cannot touch our military targets because we are a nuclear weapons country.' 'After Operation Sindoor we have called their bluff.'
The western media is going all out to prove that India suffered a major setback in Operation Sindoor and how China helped shoot down Indian fighter jets. One of the articles published in British newspaper Telegraph stated Operation Sindoor shattered the myth of India's air dominance over Pakistan. "The Pakistani Air Force, aided by Chinese targeting satellites and AWACS executed a sensor-fusion kill. The Rafales never got a lock, never even saw their adversary. When the missiles hit, it was already over," wrote the British Newspaper, The Telegraph.
Here are glimpses from India's biennial military exhibition.
Built by HAL with Russian technology, the frontline twin-seater Sukhoi 30MKI was rolled at the Ozar airbase in Nashik.
HAL will build each Su-30 at just Rs 4.25 billion. The IAF is paying Rs 11.25 billion per Rafale, excluding the price of weapons and logistics.
Sukhoi-30MKI fighters will be based in Thanjavur. Tejas Mark 1 aircraft will be based in Sulur. The Rafale squadron will be based in Ambala.
Several aircraft such as Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas, Sukhoi, Jaguar, Rafale, IL-76, C-130J, and Hawk displayed their skillful manoeuvres, amid a thundering applause from the gathering.
Squadron Leader D Pankaj and Flight Lieutenant S Achudev could not initiate ejection before the crash.
The "live firing" of the missile was carried out in close coordination with the Indian Navy, the IAF said.
The fleet of 40 Sukhoi jet will undergo structural modifications at the state-run aerospace major Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd for integration of the missile on them.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday flew in a Sukhoi-30MKI supersonic fighter jet of the Indian Air Force from the Halwara airbase in Punjab.
The move is seen as a gamechanger in guarding the strategically important Indian Ocean Region.
Strengthening India's presence over the Indian Ocean region, Defence Minister A K Antony on Monday inaugurated the first fighter aircraft base here in southern India where the IAF is stationing its most lethal Su-30MKI combat aircraft.
There is increasing friction between the IAF's military requirements, and the AAI's need to provide infrastructure to many more airlines.
The country's first woman defence minister sat in the rear seat behind the pilot and was wearing the pilot's G-suit.
The IAF has lost seven of the 240 Sukhoi-30MKI jets inducted till now.
The IAF has already set up a dedicated operations direction centre for coordinating various aspects of the arrangements with security agencies concerned, they said.
HAL's sustained, long-term income will come from the design, development, manufacture, overhaul, and upgrade of a family of helicopters designed for deployment on India's 21,000-foot-high Himalayan frontier with Pakistan and China.
The IAF chief and his French counterpart, General Stphane Mille, took part in a joint exercise between the two countries.
Both the pilots ejected safely.
Sources said the exercise is aimed at checking the IAF's overall combat capability and military preparedness in the region.
"By triangulation, we have located the area which is about 5-km radius circle and it has been identified based on the last contact with the air traffic control," Chavan, Union minister of state in the Prime Minister's Office, told reporters
Describing the mission as a "major milestone" in the development of BrahMos, the sources said that the air version of the missile was test-fired from supersonic fighter aircraft Sukhoi 30 MK-I at 10.30 am.
Everybody talks of China as the real threat, but we aren't even building a decisive capability against Pakistan, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
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