Here's a glimpse of all that happened around the world last week, in 10 images.
Squadron Leader Meet Kumar died in the accident. A Court of Inquiry has been ordered.
'Putin is just flexing his muscles. He is not going to do anything. He is not that crazy.'
'In the name of God I ask you: Stop this massacre!' Pope Francis told thousands of worshippers at St Peter's Square on Sunday, alluding to Vladimir Putin's brutal invasion of Ukraine.
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
Putin warned other countries that any attempt to interfere with the Russian action would lead to 'consequences'.
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
"The IAF chief flew a MiG-21 Bison fighter aircraft during the visit where he interacted with the aircrew and reviewed the operational preparedness," IAF officials said.
Four Indian Air Force fighter pilots are currently under training in Moscow, and are likely to be potential candidates for the Gaganyaan project.
'There has been no help that has come from the Indian embassy till date. We have no idea when we all will be evacuated.'
As he continues to live his dream, Novak Djokovic is also staking his claim to the mantle of greatest tennis player of all time.
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.
A round-up of our favourite photographs from the week gone by.
'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.'
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.
'We know that our Indian partners are committed to that rules-based international order. There are any number of tenets in that order. One of them is that borders cannot be redrawn by force'
Kyiv is no stranger to official visits, but this one is different. The fact the US President is meeting Ukraine's leader in the heart of the capital in the middle of a full-scale conflict is significant and symbolic.
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.
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.
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.
The US has already imposed sanctions on Turkey for the purchase of a batch of S-400 missile defence systems.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
Russia has almost completed the delivery of major components of the second regiment of the weapon systems.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
'The IAF has flown more than 100 hours in search operations. No effort is being spared to locate the missing aircraft,' the statement added.
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 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.
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."
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances