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A Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force on Tuesday crashed near a village in an open stretch of land while on a routine mission but the two pilots flying it ejected safely.
The two sides held diplomatic talks through video conference on the border standoff in midst of fresh details emerging that China has strengthened its position in several areas in eastern Ladakh including Galwan Valley where a violent clash on June 15 left 20 Indian soldiers dead.
Chinese military has also deployed a sizeable number of its troops in Galwan Valley, the site of the violent clashes on June 15 that left 20 Indian soldiers dead.
The Chief of the Army Staff interacted with almost all the injured soldiers and complimented them for their bravery.
India has already mobilised fighter jets and sent thousands of additional army troops to forward locations along the border with China after 20 Indian Army personnel were killed in a brutal attack by Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh's Galwan Valley on June 15.
A MiG-29 fighter aircraft crashed into a mountain during a night flying exercise near Lahaul- Spiti in Himachal Pradesh and the fate of the pilot is not known.
Ajai Shukla spends a day with Tejas test pilots to find out what drives them.
The Army has also further bolstered overall surveillance mechanisms in all areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh after foiling China's fresh attempt to occupy an area on the southern bank of Pangong lake, they said.
The makes of these fighter planes were MiGs, Su-30 MKI and Jaguar. Six pilots were killed in these crashes. This includes 2 MiG-21 aircrafts that crashed during take off.
A land-attack version of the missile was test-launched from Launch Pad-3 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR). An air force variant was fired from an IAF fighter jet over Bay of Bengal.
Air Marshal N A K Browne, an ace MiG-21 and Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter pilot, will be the next chief of Indian Air Force.
The feat was achieved days after the Indian Air Force successfully did a dry run of mid-air refuelling using the Russian-built IL-78 MKI tanker.
Raha said the force has the power to punish its enemy, but a decision on using it in an offensive role will have to be taken by the government.
Indian Air Force's frontline Su-30 MKI fighter jets and Eurofighter Typhoons of the Royal Air Force on Wednesday began 17 days of war games codenamed Ex-Indradhanush at the Kalaikunda airbase in West Bengal.
The sources said the military brass is considering deploying Indian Navy's MiG-29K fighter jets in a couple of air bases in the northern sector as part of efforts to bring in tri-services synergy in dealing with national security challenges.
Showcasing its precision strike capabilities during day and night, Indian Air Force on Sunday carried out a massive fire power blitzkrieg using its frontline aircraft such as SU-30 MKI, Mirage-2000, MIG 27 and MIG 29, at the Pokhran ranges in Rajasthan.
"Rafale's induction in the air force is an important and historical moment and it is a matter of pride for us to be witness to this moment. I congratulate the Armed Forces, and all countrymen on this occasion. The induction of Rafale in IAF's fleet shows the strong relations between India and France. India and France have been economic, cultural and strategic partners since long. Our faith in strong democracy and a wish for world peace are the basis of our relation," Singh said at the induction ceremony being held at the IAF airbase in Ambala.
The focus of the deliberations was on finalising modalities for disengagement of troops in eastern Ladakh.
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 government has adopted a multi-pronged approach involving the Army, the Indian Air Force and the Navy as well as diplomacy and economic measures to send out a firm and clear message to China that its misadventure in eastern Ladakh was not acceptable at all.
President Pratibha Devisingh Patil created history on Wednesday by becoming the first serving female head of state to fly in an Indian Air Force Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft from the Lohegaon Air Force Base in Pune.
'Despite frequent high-level interactions there has been little traction on substantive issues between India and France,' says Mohan Guruswamy.
As remarkable as DRDO's contribution in containing and treating COVID-19 has been, its success over the last 15 months has been in its primary role of developing conventional defence equipment and technologies.
The sources also said another round of military talks between the two sides on Wednesday to defuse tensions in the area remained inconclusive. The talks lasted nearly seven hours.
New airbases, troops, infrastructure, development initiatives are all part of a longer strategy
Air Marshal N A K Browne, a veteran fighter pilot, took over the charge of Western Air Command, the sword arm of the Indian Air Force on Monday.
One of the most sought after exhibitions in Asia, as many as 549 companies are participating this year with 53 fighter aircraft on display.
US-India defence cooperation must not adversely affect the India-Russia interface, which has its own strategic meaning and content, asserts Vice Admiral Premvir Das (retd).
The thanks-giving activities will start with laying of wreaths at the police memorial in Delhi and in several other cities on Sunday morning to honour the police personnel deployed in enforcement of the nationwide lockdown, officials said. It will be followed by fly-pasts by fighter and transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force, covering a sizeable number of cities and towns across the country between 10 am and 11 am, officials said.
The Sukhois took on Royal Air Force Torandoes and Typhoons in intricate simulated beyond visual range combat over the skies here to ring down the curtains on the second bilateral Indo-UK air exercise.
The IAF has planned several activities at the air base to commemorate the 20 years of the war and the symbolic recreation of the Tiger Hill attack was one of them.
The decision to disengage the forces, locked in a bitter standoff for the last six weeks in eastern Ladakh, was taken at a nearly 11-hour-long meeting between senior Indian and Chinese commanders in Moldo on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on Monday.
Though ythe IAF has for the past few years been participating in bilateral exercises with foreign air forces, this will be the first exclusive IAF exercise in seven years.\n
On the shopping list: Light tanks, anti-tank guided missiles, UAVs, assault rifles, fighter aircraft.
Six Su-30MKIs and two Il-78 MKI mid-air refuelling aircraft will participate in the wargame.
While the IAF will field the Su-30s, the RAF will use its Tornado, Hawk and Typhoon combat jets, VC-10 tankers and AWACS in the exercise.
The deal is for the swapping of 18 Sukhoi fighter jets in service with the IAF for the latest version of air superiority multi-role warbirds tailored to meet Indian requirements
'It is not clear how the NDA government -- including Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, backed by senior IAF officials -- claimed that the 36 Rafale contract with Dassault in 2016 cost the IAF 20% less than Dassault's 126 Rafale offer,' notes Ajai Shukla in the first of a three-part series.
Today's development follows an unsuccessful test on April 9, when the missile had failed to hit the target.
