It is the first visit abroad by a senior Union minister in four months as foreign travels were restricted in view of the coronavirus pandemic.
So keen is Moscow that India buy its helicopter -- Kamov-226T -- that President Vladimir Putin personally took up the issue with PM Narendra Modi during their summit meeting last year
Ajai Shukla gives the inside story of the controversial AW-101 helicopter deal and finds that corruption is endemic to overseas defence deals in India
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj briefed them about the operation that destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's terror training camp in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.
The navy wants to spend Rs 40,000 crore on INS Vishal, a choice the army and air force oppose. This is as much about turf as about funding. explains Ajai Shukla.
'The government has belied the hope that many harboured of change, efficiency and dismantling old practices as the defence ministry continues to pursue the same well trodden and wasteful path.'
The US has already imposed sanctions on Turkey for the purchase of a batch of S-400 missile defence systems.
A round-up of our favourite photographs from the week gone by.
Russia has almost completed the delivery of major components of the second regiment of the weapon systems.
Russia -- already India's biggest arms supplier from 2014-18, accounting for 58 per cent of India's defence imports -- eyes more, reports Ajai Shukla.
Putin is looking beyond the current regime in Kyiv. Of course, if the Western military assistance to Kyiv continues in any form, Washington knows that Russia will regard it as a hostile act and there will be severe consequences, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Alexey Fedorov, chief of the Sukhoi-making Russian company, Irkut, said at the recently concluded biennial airshow -- MAKS-2011 -- in Zhukovsky near Moscow, that the Sukhoi upgradation has two components, for which technical negotiations are on. One includes the modernisation of the aircraft to fit the BrahMos missile's air version on it, and the other is to upgrade the existing five Sukhoi-30MKI squadrons of the IAF.
India will get its first 'eye in the sky', the Phalcon Airborne Warning and Control Systems aircraft on May 18, which will provide the Indian Air Force means to track incoming missiles and look deep into the neighbouring countries without violating any air space.
The Southeast Asian nation has been focusing on modernising its military in the face of myriad security challenges as well as decades-long territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea.
Even as the army and Indian Air Force continue their operations to rescue those stranded in Srinagar, tales of heroics are emerging, providing some hope to the public.
The Air Chief Marshal, who is set to retire on December 31, also rued that the tender for the much needed "force multiplier" mid air refuellers had to be withdrawn. He said a fresh tender is in the offing and the procurement will be speeded up.
Rescuers found 30 bodies with 5 of them still strapped to their seats as multi-national teams equipped with sophisticated equipment narrowed the search to a 5 sq km area of the choppy Java Sea where some debris of the ill-fated AirAsia jet have emerged.
If India signs the deal, it would be the second customer of the prized missile system after China which had struck a $3 billion contract last year.
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.
Indian defence services are poised to induct well over 1,000 rotary wing aircraft in the coming decade, the majority of them developed and built in the country.
American defence major Boeing has won the deal to supply 15 heavy-lift helicopters to the Indian Air Force defeating its rival Russian Mi-26 in the tender expected to be worth around $1 billion.
Reliance Defence Limited and Russia's leading developer and manufacturer of Air Defence Missile Systems 'AlmazAntey' have decided to work jointly on the entire range of Air Defence Missile and Radar Systems that are required for Indian defence forces.
The issue between the Army and the Indian Air Force for controlling attack helicopters was a "family problem" and the government was in the final stages of finding a solution for it, Defence Minister A K Antony said in New Delhi on Tuesday.
The air defence command is to be rolled out by the beginning of next year and the Peninsula command by the end of 2021, Gen Rawat told a select group of journalists. The Indian Air Force will helm the air defence command and all-long range missiles as well as air defence assets will come under it, he said.
'The IAF has flown more than 100 hours in search operations. No effort is being spared to locate the missing aircraft,' the statement added.
President Ram Nath Kovind will arrive in Dhaka on Wednesday on a maiden three-day State visit during which he will hold talks with his counterpart and attend the golden jubilee celebrations of Bangladesh's 1971 independence from Pakistan.
The responsibility for peace in Ukraine now rests in the hands of the two principal belligerents, Russia and the US, and the prime victim of this great power rivalry, Ukraine, points out Nitin Desai.
'India enjoys the maneuverability of a coming big power.' 'It is this possibility that has persuaded Moscow to humour India and stayed Washington from getting punitive about India's neutrality on the Ukraine issue.'
Trials in support of the Indian Air Force's procurement of six multi-role tanker transports for around $2 billion (around Rs 10,000 crore) involving Europe's EADS and Russia's Rosonboronexport have been completed recently and the rival commercial bids are expected to be opened early in the new year.
Boeing is also exploring the possibility of manufacturing aircraft components and assembling the jets in India.
In an emotional address, Zelenskyy invoked Britain's war-time Prime Minister Winston Churchill's words, promising to fight Russian troops in the air, sea and on the streets.
'There is no such thing as ultimate survivability.'
'It's all comparative -- who outperforms, who uses tactics, who optimises technology to the best is what makes the difference.'
'... To ensure that the vast Indian Ocean Region remain peaceful.'
To a question on Pakistan's demand to China to supply the Russian-made RD-33 aero-engines for its fighter jets, he said, "The Russians have assured us that it will not go to anybody."
Which of the two aircraft will India chose? Let's take a closer look at the two aircraft.
Indian Air Force officials have held talks with Director General of Sukhoi Mikhail Pogosyan to develop and manufacture the fifth generation fighter aircraft. The Russian delegation included representatives of Rosoboronexport state-run weapons trading company ARMS-TASS reported quoting the Sukhoi press service.
Russia will field its latest nuclear capable MiG-35 fighter against US F-16 and the French Mirage 2000 in the tender to be floated for the acquisition of 125 aircraft for IAF to replace its ageing MiG-21 fleet, a top Russian official has said.
Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said all Indian nationals left Kyiv on Tuesday after the Indian embassy issued an advisory, asking them to get out of the Ukrainian capital urgently.
Zelenskyy gave a message of hope for the Ukrainian people during his address to the Congress, saying the Russians "use everything" against cities such as Bakhmut but Ukraine "never surrenders".
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