Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria was at the Leh IAF base on Wednesday where he reviewed operational preparedness of the force in effectively guarding the sensitive border areas in eastern Ladakh where Indian and Chinese armies have been on a nearly six-week standoff.
The retreating Pakistani troops were heading towards Dacca and they had to be stopped at all costs. The Eastern Army Commander, in his orders to General Sagat Singh, had reiterated that he did not want the troops of 4 Corps to cross the Meghna river. But General Sagat had other plans to threaten Dacca and ensure that the pressure would make the Pakistani commanders capitulate. This is where the IAF helicopters came in.
Indian Air Force has deployed all available resources, including Sukhoi-30 combat aircraft and C-130 Special Operations aircraft, on a search mission for locating the missing aircraft.
It said the final induction ceremony will take place in second half of August. 'The first batch of five Indian Air Force Rafale is likely to arrive in India by end of July.The aircraft will be inducted at Air Force Station Ambala on July 29 subject to weather,' the IAF said.
Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria briefed the prime minister about a dedicated 'Covid Air Support Cell' set up by the IAF to ensure faster coordination with different ministries and agencies on COVID-19 related operations.
Amid tensions over build-up by the Chinese across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh and reluctance to resolve remaining issues between the two countries, Indian Air Force (IAF) chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari is visiting forward areas in Ladakh to review the operational preparedness of troops deployed there.
Punjab Chief Electoral Officer Sibin C on Tuesday said that Congress leader Charanjit Singh Channi terming the Poonch terror attack, in which an Indian Air Force soldier was killed, a 'poll stunt' violated the model code of conduct.
The new patches given to the 51 Squadron of IAF depict a MiG21 in the foreground along with a red-coloured F-16 with 'Falcon Slayers' written on top and 'AMRAAM Dodgers' written at the bottom of it.
The actor will star in Tejas, the story of a fighter pilot.
The IAF in its letter to the censor board, and sent to Netflix and Dharma Productions, has stated that as per initial understanding, "Dharma Productions had agreed to represent Indian Air Force with authenticity and make all efforts to ensure that the film helps to inspire the next generation of IAF officers. " However, when the trailer of the movie was released recently, it was observed that "certain scenes and dialogues in the movie and its trailer, which was forwarded to this office for viewing, have been found to portray the IAF in an undue negative light."
Investigators are also examining the possible use of drones to drop the explosives at the airport that has various assets of the IAF, they said.
In what could be a lesson learnt from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war where anti-tank missiles have played a big role, the Indian Air Force is arming its Russian-origin helicopters with the Israeli 'Non-Line of Sight (NLOS) ATGMs' which can hit ground targets from distances up to 30 km.
IAF conducts the air show, Srinagar and the government is part of the ongoing 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav' celebrations
The military aircraft crashed soon after taking off on a routine mission from Gorakhpur.
The IAF plea has claimed that the 'information so sought includes details related to the entire entourage, names of Special Protection Group personnel accompanying the Prime Minister of India on foreign tours for his personal safety, and the same, if disclosed, can potentially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State'.
In his Air Force Day message, Bhadauria, who took charge as the Chief of Air Staff a little more than a week ago, said to ensure operational success in all future operations, the IAF must maintain a high serviceability of combat equipment and exceptional training standards.
The squadron, which operated from Bhatinda air base, was disbanded in 2016 after the IAF started gradual phasing out of Russian-origin Mig 21 jets.
Will the IAF pay $2.4 billion to refit 80 Jaguars with powerful Honeywell engines?
The Rafale aircraft which have already arrived in Ambala would start ferrying to the Hashimara air base in next few days and the squadron would get operational by July 26, government sources told ANI in New Delhi.
'The air force has treated the Tejas like a step child.' 'The Tejas has grown in capability, but the IAF has preferred foreign fighters like the Rafale.'
The chief was also briefed extensively about the air maintenance operations in support of the Indian Army and the paramilitary troops there.
The sources said the IAF has briefed the defence ministry about the incident and that the Indian mission in Paris has been in touch with French authorities.
Tapovan Hydro-Electric Power Dam, also known as Rishi Ganga Project was completely washed off following a glacier burst in the Chamoli district, said the Indian Air Force's initial report as Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) deployed at Joshimath has undertaken recce of affected areas.
Gen Rawat's comments about the supporting role of the Air Force came at a conference when asked about the growing perception that the Indian Air Force was not keen on setting up the proposed theatre commands integrating the capabilities of the three forces.
The officials said a massive joint search operation by the Army and the police is in progress in several areas including Shahsitar, Gursai, Sanai, Lasana and Sheendara top for the third day but there was no trace of the terrorists so far.
Noting the actions and capabilities of the Chinese side, the IAF chief said, "They had brought their J-20 fighter aircraft (to areas close to Eastern Ladakh) and they go off from there but that is the flexibility of airpower. The moment Indian Rafales were brought in, their J-20 was there. We know their actions and capabilities and we are taking the required steps."
Wing Commander Pratap Marathe's story is one of dedication, bravery, and humour, a shining example of the spirit of the Indian Air Force. Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd) salutes Wing Commander Marathe who passed into the ages last week.
'It is hard to justify $225 million a plane for an increasingly obsolete mission.' The purchase of the 36 Rafales has changed little for the IAF.
I was lucky to have support from family and IAF, Saxena said.
The Indian Air Force on Monday reiterated that it shot down an F-16 jet of Pakistan Air Force during the February 27 aerial combat and showed radar images of the engagement to assert that it has 'irrefutable evidence' of downing the enemy jet.
Dhanoa also hoped that the matter will be laid to rest saying that raking up such issues to get political gains, putting the interest of armed forces behind is not right.
'During the aerial engagement, one MiG 21 Bison of the IAF shot down an F-16 in Nowshera sector,' the IAF said in a statement.
The AH-64E Apache is one of the world's most advanced multi-role combat helicopters, and is flown by the US army.
"The target is 2022. It is absolutely on target. I mentioned earlier. Except for one or two aircraft, minor delays because of COVID related issues, but, in fact, some deliveries have been ahead of time. So, broadly, we are absolutely on target on the Rafale induction plan," he said.
The swing-wing fighter has been the backbone of ground-attack fleet of the Air Force for several decades
Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria said that the IAF is prepared to deal with a two-front war along the northern and western borders if such a scenario arises.
The IAF hit the JeM training facility using S-2000 precision-guided bombs fired from the Mirage-2000 fighter jets.
All the mangled remains of the helicopter, which crashed at Nanjapachatram near Coonoor in the Nilgiris district killing 14 including the country's first chief of defence staff Bipin Rawat have been collected from the site.
Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair have been selected for an upcoming Indo-US mission to the International Space Station (ISS), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced on Friday.
The Indian Air Force carried out a long-range precision strike against a practice target to mark the second anniversary of the Balakot Operations.
