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.
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.
The identity of the missing pilots has not been disclosed and the worst is feared.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Here are glimpses from India's biennial military exhibition.
IAF sources said the Sukhoi had taken off from Jodhpur at 1645 hours for a routine training sortie and it crashed around 1730 hours.
Built by HAL with Russian technology, the frontline twin-seater Sukhoi 30MKI was rolled at the Ozar airbase in Nashik.
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.
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.
The "live firing" of the missile was carried out in close coordination with the Indian Navy, the IAF said.
Everybody talks of China as the real threat, but we aren't even building a decisive capability against Pakistan, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
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.
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.
Squadron Leader D Pankaj and Flight Lieutenant S Achudev could not initiate ejection before the crash.
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.
The move is seen as a gamechanger in guarding the strategically important Indian Ocean Region.
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 IAF has already set up a dedicated operations direction centre for coordinating various aspects of the arrangements with security agencies concerned, they said.
There is increasing friction between the IAF's military requirements, and the AAI's need to provide infrastructure to many more airlines.
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.
The IAF chief and his French counterpart, General Stphane Mille, took part in a joint exercise between the two countries.
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.
Sources said the exercise is aimed at checking the IAF's overall combat capability and military preparedness in the region.
The two-day mega exercise is involving almost all its frontline fighter jets and other assets deployed in the region, people familiar with the drill said.
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.
Both the pilots ejected safely.
"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
The Sukhoi-30 Mki was formally inducted at the Air Force Station at Chabua base in Assam on Tuesday. The induction was done through a ceremony with the inaugural flight of the SU 30 MKI taking off which also performed a overshoot before landing, according to a defence source.
A Sukhoi fighter plane used for the training purpose crashed at Kolwadi near Pune in the Tuesday evening.
The integration of BrahMos with the Su-30MKI make the Indian Air Force the only air force in the world in procession of a supersonic cruise missile system.
In a major technology leap, Indian defence scientists are ready to go ahead with the first full test flight of its indigenously developed air to air beyond visual range missile, ASTRA. The test-flight from an IAF Sukhoi fighter aircraft could be undertaken "anytime in the next 45 days", top DRDO officials said.
India's frontline combat aircraft Sukhoi-30 fleet was on Friday cleared for flying after being grounded for nearly a month following a crash near Pune.
An induction ceremony was organised in the hangar of the Tezpur airbase in Assam in the presence of Eastern Air Commander Air Marshal S K Bhan, sources in IAF headquarters in New Delhi said.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances