The Russian origin aircraft, now capable of effecting mid-air refuelling, is compatible with latest missiles and can launch multi-dimensional attacks.
Six medals from a 117-strong contingent is not ideal but India had its moments of joy, hope, frustration, and heartache.
Pakistan is trying to get more F-16s from the US as well as looking towards countries like Russia and France for new aircraft to replace old ones to match India's defence purchases.
Shivangi Singh is part of the IAF's Golden Arrows squadron based out of Ambala in Punjab.
Gen Pande was to retire from service on May 31.
Today, he lies in an unknown grave in a corner of a farmer's field in Pakistan, having given his all for his country. A riveting excerpt from Ian Cardozo's Beyond Fear: True Stories on Life in the Indian Armed Forces.
'The Pathankot episode shows that the security forces handled the attack well after the initial setback, although there is no denying that there are shortcomings in India's security grid that need urgent correction,' says national security expert Nitin Gokhale, founder, BharatShakti.in
"The United States will support Pakistan's efforts to develop fruitful links with its neighbours and with the community of responsible nations," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said accepting her first first honorary degree at Air University, Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base in her home state of Alabama.
Suspected militants stormed an airbase in Karachi late on Sunday night, rocking one of Pakistan's heavily guarded military installations with fiery explosions and leaving at least 10 people dead just three-weeks after the death of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
President George W Bush on Friday night left Delhi for Pakistan.
"We have asked the US to come back to us with whatever assurances they require," he said.
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 chief of air staff said Chinese actions along the frontier including in the Ladakh sector are being monitored constantly and the IAF's overall preparations are part of continuing efforts irrespective of challenges from China.
Pakistani officials handed over Varthaman to Indian officials, including from the IAF, at the Attari-Wagah Border.
He further said that the JeM claim of responsibility for the Pulwama attack had not been made from inside Pakistan.
'My adrenalin kicked in and the happiness returned! It was time to go in for the kill again.' IAF Veterans Group Captain Dilip Kumar Dass tells Air Commodore Nitin Sathe about how the IAF decimated tanks in the famous Battle of Longewala.
A step away from nuclear weapons being used in conflicts, warns Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
An amused former Air Force chief of Pakistan Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed on Sunday reacted with surprise over appearance of his photograph in an Indian government advertisement along with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh but described it as an "innocent mistake".
'For Pakistan, the comfortable old calculations and certainties are no longer valid.' 'Strikes on Indian targets now carry a high risk of retaliation and escalation,' notes Ajai Shukla.
"India rejects irresponsible statement by Pakistan foreign minister with objective of whipping up war hysteria in the region," the MEA said.
'Jihad is one of the important factors when you fight. It is a greater motivation,' says Pakistan General (retd) Muhammad Nasir Akhtar.
The US had also said there was an "urgent need" for dialogue among all actors to reduce tensions and to avoid a potential military escalation in South Asia.
Out of its 47 operational satellites, India currently has six to eight satellites which are used entirely for military purposes.
The US government has formally issued permission to Lockeed Martin, the makers of F-16, to install 18 sniper advanced targeting pods in the aircrafts, the Pakistan Observer quoted officials in Islamabad as saying.
"Very soon we will have enough systems and we will target.. we will find ways to tackle this threat," the Air Chief Marshal said.
The defence minister said that the expenditure has been highest in 2017-18. In the same manner, it was second highest in 2016-17 and third highest in 2015-16. The fourth highest defence expenditure since 2004-05 was in 2014-15.
The first joint theatre command would be responsible for the border against Pakistan in what the military refers to as the "western theatre"; while a second command -- the northern theatre command -- would be responsible for the border with China. A third, navy-heavy theatre, called the "maritime command" will be responsible for the security of the Indian Ocean Region (IOR); and an island command, already functional and called the Andaman & Nicobar Command (ANC), would project power into the eastern Indian Ocean.
The terrorists who attacked a key Pakistan Air Force base had been trained in the Waziristan tribal region where plans for the raid could be traced, Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said.
'Instead of shouting at cricket matches, why don't we raise our voices for the release of the Indian Navy veterans in Qatar?'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday laid the foundation stone of a new airbase coming up in north Gujarat near India-Pakistan border and said it will emerge as an effective centre for the country's security.
Rather, it was the Indian media and social media where the unconfirmed figures of terrorist killed were being circulated, he said.
Militants have stepped up attacks against security forces in Pakistan, mostly in the troubled tribal regions and parts of the NWFP, in recent months.
Pakistani officials on Tuesday alleged that two Indian fighter jets entered seven km into the country's airspace over Punjab province. They said the incident occurred over Pakpattan district, 200 km from the provincial capital of Lahore.
Benazir Bhutto had too many elements against her -- anti-US, pro-Al Qaeda jihadi elements, the Zia-ul Haq loyalists, junior members of the Pakistan army and, possibly, the Pakistan air force.
'The COVID-19 pandemic must push the military into a long-term reconsideration of its primary challenges.' 'There must be greater emphasis on humanitarian aid and disaster relief including the management of contagious illnesses and impending crises caused by climate change,' notes Ajai Shukla.
Before assuming charge of the CDS, Gen Chauhan paid tributes to India's fallen soldiers at the National War Memorial in the India Gate complex.
The maiden flight of a revolutionary United States-made drone aircraft that can stay in the air for up to four days at 65,000 feet, prying at terror safe havens in countries like Pakistan, is just days away.
During the 1971 war, he flew several "active attack missions" to heavily defended targets like the Governor House in Dhaka, which became instrumental in forcing Pakistan's surrender, a former colleague said.
How many cricket legends have been elected prime ministers of their countries?
"Around Republic Day every year, the IAF puts its airbases around Delhi on a routine alert," IAF spokesman T K Singha said in New Delhi. The alert coincides with terror warning by the government about possible threats from Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayiba following reports that the terror outfit has procured 50 paragliders for air-borne suicide attacks.
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