In any conflict with China, the unmanned BrahMos could be advantageously used in the opening stages for pinpoint strikes on heavily defended targets -- such as air bases, headquarters, key roads and railways or logistics dumps -- which are too dangerous for manned fighter aircraft to attack.
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.
But private Indian defence firms prefer to do business with the West. Indian CEOs say they encounter difficulties in obtaining full and timely payment from Russian partners.
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
The IAF can fire Brahmos missiles from several hundred kilometres away. The BrahMos flies supersonic, at speeds up to Mach 2.5, giving the enemy little time to react
Search operation by IAF and Indian Army helicopters was adversely affected by weather during the day today
American armaments dominated the defence services's show of weaponry.
IAF is focused on Rafale; argues the fifth generation fighter aircraft would not meet Indian expectations
Some of the key fighter jet acquisitions over the years and the combat capabilities they possess that made India's airmen a force to reckon with are.
A Russian fund submitted its interest to the resolution professional on February 14 and also hired a consultancy firm to help them with the bidding process.
The fresh negotiations with Israeli authorities concerned for procurement of the two Phalcon AWACS come in the midst of India's bitter border row with China in high-altitude eastern Ladakh.
Under the deal signed in Moscow last month during Indian Defence Minister A K Antony's visit, HAL will supply large components to Russia's Irkut Corporation for assembling the airframes of Su-30MK fighters. The Russian firm is working on Indian, Malaysian and Algerian export orders.
According to officials in the Defence Production department, the deal for joint production of the multi-role transport aircraft would be split on fifty-fifty basis.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh left Moscow for home on Saturday after concluding a three-day visit during which he attended the 12th annual Indo-Russian summit and witnessed the inking of five agreements, including one for technical assistance in joint production of 42 more frontline Sukhoi-MKI 30 jets. Dr Singh, who held talks with President Dmitry Medvedev, cleared the uncertainty over the Kudankulam nuclear power project on Friday.
India has already deployed a sizeable number of the original BrahMos missiles and other key assets in several strategic locations along the de-facto border with China in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh.
'The two countries are committed to maintaining and consolidating bilateral strategic partnership,' he said.
India must develop structured multilateralism to its defence buys
A batch of frontline IAF fighters and pilots will leave for the United States on Monday to prove their mettle during the multinational air exercise, "Ex-Red Flag 08", at the USAF's Nellis Air Force Base.
The visit of the team assumes significance with Defence Minister AK Antony admitting that New Delhi was facing 'problems' in acquisition of the carrier Gorshkov.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's is attempting to put his nation back on the military -- and particularly, military aviation -- map of the world.
The two countries are also likely to ink a deal for a joint venture to build a multi-role transport aircraft and further discuss Moscow's offer to New Delhi to invest in the joint development of a fifth generation fighter.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has voiced his concern at Dassault's reported reluctance to meet the terms of the IAF tender, which required the French company to guarantee the 108 fighters that HAL would build in India, after the first 18 were supplied fully-built in France.
"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.
'So far, Pakistan leads India in subsonic cruise missile development, having tested and operationally deployed the Babur cruise missile that has a range of 700 km, significantly less than the Nirbhay's.'
The 2.5 tonne air-to-surface missile has a range of around 300 km, and it will significantly enhance the IAF's combat capability, military officials said.
Around 200 military personnel from the two sides would take part in the joint military exercises.
The successful test will result in huge savings of replacement cost of missiles held in the inventory of the Indian Armed Forces.
'Despite frequent high-level interactions there has been little traction on substantive issues between India and France,' says Mohan Guruswamy.
'We spent Rs 59,000 crore on acquiring 36 Rafales and we do not know if we will ever use them. The chances are that we never will,' argues Aakar Patel.
Russia has blamed "human factor" for the crash of a Sukhoi 30 MKI fighter aircraft in October last year that led to the grounding of the entire fleet of India's frontline fighter plane for a month, a charge denied by the Indian Air Force.
The $10.5 billion arms and equipment deal helped to arrest the recent drift in the 'special and privileged' strategic partnership, observes Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
The air strike was launched after the Russian forces in Syria received intelligence that a meeting of Islamic State leaders was being planned, the defence ministry said.
What the new defence minister does with the Rafale fighter jet deal will decide if India wants to build genuine, long-term defence capability through an indigenous product that slashes life-cycle costs, or opt for glitzy signing ceremony with foreign vendors that would please the public, says Ajai Shukla.
A P J Abdul Kalam, 83, was a daring President who undertook a submarine sortie, flew Sukhoi jet, visited Siachen glacier.
Even as three Rafale fighters line up in Bengaluru for eye-popping aerobatics displays at the Aero India 2015 exhibition this week, senior ministry of defence sources say the proposal to buy the French fighter is "effectively dead".
MiG-27 ML had proved its worth in various operations, including in Kargil and earned rich accolades in numerous international exercises held in India.
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.
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.
