'This strike has certainly enhanced your image.' 'Otherwise, people would have called you a damp squib, capable of doing nothing except talking big.'
The aircraft deal worth around Euro 5.5 billion was cleared by the defence acquisition council just before the visit of the Indian Prime Minister to France as the state guest for their Bastille Day parade this year in July.
The triennial exercise will take place for two hours and fifteen minutes during the day, dusk and night, he said.
It involves India spending an estimated Rs 40,000 crores to Rs 50,000 crores and will take 10 to 15 years to develop.
'If they aim to remain aligned with the public sentiment, as any democratic government should, then they must respond. Why else would the prime minister have cut short his visit to Saudi Arabia? And why would he have instructed the home minister himself to travel to Srinagar to assess the situation firsthand? This suggests that something is indeed being planned. I am quite certain of that, although the exact form it will take remains to be seen.'
India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar countered a US senator's claim that democracy does not put food on the table, citing India's PMGKAY program which provides food to 800 million people. Jaishankar argued that different parts of the world have different experiences with democracy and that the model of globalization has contributed to issues with democracy in some regions. He emphasized that India's democratic system effectively delivers food security, highlighting the PMGKAY program as an example.
In a major development, India is planning to buy 26 Rafale fighter aircraft and three Scorpene class conventional submarines from France.
Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala has raised concerns about the Indian government's decision to potentially acquire F-35 fighter jets from the US, questioning whether the decision was made in the national interest and if security experts were consulted. He highlighted the high cost of the F-35, its operational flaws, and the potential impact on the Indian Air Force's existing fleet and maintenance infrastructure. Surjewala's comments come after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump unveiled plans for a 10-year defense partnership between India and the US, including potential F-35 sales.
The government has approved the construction of two indigenously designed nuclear attack submarines and is expected to ink contracts next month to procure 26 naval variant of Rafale jets and three Scorpene submarines, Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh Tripathi said on Monday.
Referring to Abdullah's comments, Saamana claimed that Congress actively contributed to AAP's defeat in at least 14 seats in Delhi, which could have been avoided.
Four Rafale fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force carried out a "strategic" mission over the Indian Ocean region for over six hours, in a significant demonstration of their long-range combat capabilities, people familiar with the operation said on Wednesday.
The negotiations on cost and techno-commercial details relating to India's proposed procurement of 26 Rafale-M fighter jets and three Scorpene submarines from France are not yet concluded, sources said on Tuesday.
The indigenously designed and developed Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH-Dhruv) and the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas will not be part of the upcoming Republic Day flypast in India due to the grounding of the entire fleet of ALH-Dhruv helicopters following a crash earlier this month. The grounding of the helicopters is a result of a Coast Guard ALH crash in Porbandar, Gujarat on January 5, which claimed the lives of two pilots and an aircrew diver. The decision to exclude the ALH-Dhruv and Tejas from the flypast comes as a high-level probe panel investigates the cause of the crash.
Jaishankar said that India is a democratic society and gives nutrition support to 800 million people. He noted that there are parts where democracy is working well and there could be parts where it is not. However, he underscored that it is should not considered a universal phenomenon.
On Friday, September 9, 2022, Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari, chief of the air staff, flew a sortie on a Rafale aircraft with his fighter pilot son Squadron Leader Mihir V Chaudhari as part of a training mission at the Air Force Station in Hasimara, West Bengal.
India on Thursday approved proposals for purchasing 26 Naval variant of Rafale jets from France and procuring three French-designed Scorpene class submarines, a day ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's wide-ranging talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.
The Made in France Rafales are clearly not the best advertisement for Modi's Atmanirbhar agenda, but as long as none of its parts have Made in China embossed on them, we guess it is chaal se as the Amadavadis would say.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and S Ravindra Bhat considered lawyer ML Sharma's submission that a direction for issuing a letters rogatory to collect fresh evidence relating to the deal be issued.
The French minister also referred to India's planned induction of a second aircraft carrier and indicated that France will be interested in supplying the carrier-based jets.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has seen a reduction in fighter squadrons due to the phasing out of ageing MiG-21, MiG-23 and MiG-27 aircraft. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence acknowledged the "shortage" and highlighted the multi-pronged approach being taken to address it. This includes the induction of indigenous Tejas fighters and the procurement of additional LCA Mk-1A aircraft. The report also addresses concerns over "incidences of spying" within the IAF and details the action taken against those involved.
The Rafale maritime fighter aircraft on Monday demonstrated its operational capability at a naval facility in Goa as the Navy plans to acquire a fleet of combat jets for its indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC) Vikrant, people familiar with the development said.
Everybody talks of China as the real threat, but we aren't even building a decisive capability against Pakistan, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
So far, 14 Rafale jets are operating in the IAF and the number will go up to 18 after the arrival of the new batch.
Shivangi Singh is part of the IAF's Golden Arrows squadron based out of Ambala in Punjab.
Following the arrival of the new batch, the number of Rafale jets with the IAF went up to 24.
The Congress urged Modi to come forward and order a JPC probe into the Rafale deal.
The Indian Navy has decided that the twin-seat Rafale will not be disqualified on the basis of its inability to operate from an aircraft carrier.
With the arrival of the three jets, the size of the Rafale fleet has increased to 14.
The 101 Squadron is the second IAF squadron to be equipped with the Rafale fighter jets. In September last year, the Rafale aircraft were inducted into the 17 'Golden Arrows' Squadron.
Several persons fainted and emergency workers carried them in stretches and provided care in shelters. Over 30 people were rushed to nearby government hospitals with symptoms of dehydration.
No single individual, institution, or action is to blame for this. The BJP is responding in kind -- definitely not without checking with its government. And they wait for Mr Trump, notes Shekhar Gupta.
In a tweet, the IAF welcomed the "new bird" into its arsenal.
If Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai bought it in 2015, did he get prior approval from the Union home ministry, and did he include it in his annual wealth returns, sections of the media want to know. N Sathiya Moorthy on the curious case of the 'Rafale' watch.
"We don't deny the deaths, which were all related to heat conditions as the people remained under the hot sun from 11 am till 1 pm. Let me make it clear, we made arrangements anticipating 15 lakh people for the IAF's 92nd Day celebrations and even provided more than what the IAF had sought," the minister told reporters in Chennai.
The marine version of the French-made Rafale fighter jet has been successfully flight-tested at a shore-based facility in Goa where conditions similar to that on the indigenously-developed aircraft carrier INS Vikrant were simulated, a top diplomat said.
'It was Parrikar's sharp insights into finance and international systems that stood out when India --at his suggestion -- decided to procure the Rafale combat jets from France.'
The French Air and Space Force is carrying out a major long-range mission in the Indo-Pacific, code-named Pegase 22, from August 10 to September 18.
The Air Force Day is celebrated to mark the day the IAF was established in 1932. The force will celebrate its 88th anniversary this year with the annual parade at the Hindon airbase in Ghaziabad which includes air display of various aircraft.
The sources said the second Rafale squadron being raised at the next main operating base at Hasimara in mid-April this year. India is expected to get more Rafale jets from France in the next couple of months.
A fresh political war of words erupted on Tuesday over the Rafale issue as the Bharatiya Janata Party accused the Congress leadership of corruption citing claims of a French media report on 'commissions' being paid during the United Progressive Alliance rule and said the Indian National Congress should be renamed 'I Need Commission' party.
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