Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer on Friday said it has signed an agreement with the Indian government for the sale of five 'Legacy' executive jets for VVIP use.
'With butterflies in our stomachs, but confident of our mission, we took off for Jaffna on the morning of 24 July 1987.' IAF Veteran Air Commodore Nitin Sathe recalls a conversation with Air Vice Marshal Harpal Singh Ahluwalia (retd), then a wing commander and mission leader for the clandestine operation.
After three decades of glorious service, the Sea Harrier jets of the Indian Air Force will fly into the sunset on Wednesday.
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.
The missile will allow combat pilots to engage ground targets from a standoff range of up to 60 km.
It is learnt that the Aeronautical Development Agency, which oversees the development of Tejas, has put together a flying routine that 'significantly surpasses any aerobatics display the fighter has presented earlier'.
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to retire on December 31, also rued that the tender for the much needed "force multiplier" mid air refuellers had to be withdrawn.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.
So far, only the US, Russia, Israel, China, United Kingdom, France and Australia have the system operational in their air forces, and its induction has propelled IAF into that major league.
The IAF has lost seven of the 240 Sukhoi-30MKI jets inducted till now.
Squadron Leader Meet Kumar died in the accident. A Court of Inquiry has been ordered.
The Indian Air Force is planning to procure more Embraer business jets for its Delhi-based communication Squadron for ferrying VIPs.
In a heart-warming gesture, the Indian Air Force made an 11-year-old boy suffering from Thalassemia the "youngest honorary pilot" for its Sulur-based squadron in Coimbatore, fulfilling his wish.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday visited the Palam airbase in New Delhi and paid his last respects to Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat and other 11 armed force personnel who lost their lives in a chopper crash in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.
The 13 IAF personnel have been identified as Wing Commander G M Charles, Squadron Leader H Vinod, Flight Lieutenants L R Thapa, M K Garg, Ashish Tanwar and Sumit Mohanty, Warrant officer K K Mishra, Sergeant Anoop Kumar, Corporal Sherin, LAC (leading aircraft man) S K Singh, LAC Pankaj, and non-combatants Rajesh Kumar and Putali.
Indian Air Force Commander claims Su30-MKIs beat the British Royal Air Force's Typhoon FGR4s 12-0 during Indradhanush 2015. The opponents dismisses it 'clouded recollection'. What really happened, we will never know and do we really need to?
The situation that developed in eastern Ladakh last year required acclimatisation of a large number of IAF personnel and stretching of equipment to limits, but the force is "much better prepared" now in case there is a "long haul", Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari said on Thursday.
Disciplinary action is being taken against two officers in the shooting down of the chopper.
The IAF is down to 34 squadrons. This will dip to 30 squadrons by the end of this decade, as nine squadrons of MiG-21 and MiG-27s retire.
Squadron Leader Samir Abrol's brother Sushant, who brought back his older sibling's coffin draped in the Tricolour, tells Archana Masih why life will never be the same again.
Members of the search operation are yet to reach the spot.
'We airlifted army personnel wearing lungis to generally unused landing grounds.' 'We were told to keep quiet about what we did or saw.'
Women pilots will soon fly fighter jets of the Indian Air Force, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha said on Thursday.
Territorial Army Honorary Lieutenant Colonel Mahendra Singh Dhoni couldn't hide his excitement after five Rafale fighter jets were formally inducted into the Indian Air Force.
The missile hit a sinking ship with deadly accuracy and the test-firing produced desired results.
"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.
"They probably ran the Defence Ministry with a lot of brokers and 'dalals' in between," she said.
The Sri Lanka Air Force and Egypt has also shown some interest in procuring the Tejas.
A US-made C-130J military transport plane, one of the most modern aircraft acquired recently by the Indian Air Force, crashed on Friday near Gwalior, killing all the five crew members, including four officers.
'Those 10 years in the IAF has made me what I am today.'
His demise marks an end of a glorious era of the Indian Air Force.
Joginder Tuteja looks at upcoming movies featuring stars in uniform.
The plaintive strains of bugles sounding the last post broke through the hush, men in uniform clicked their heels and a 17-gun salute rang out as Gen Bipin Rawat and his wife were cremated on Friday evening -- the sun setting on a day written into India's military history and on the life of its most senior military officer.
'I realised what a great leader he was by the way he took decisions to undertake the most-risky of missions.'
Chabua is a key base of the IAF and it has the latest airplanes including the Sukhoi-30 MKi and Chetak helicopters.
The pilots, identified as Squadron Leader S Basu and Flight Lieutenant A Sharma, are missing.
The real value of the Tejas Mark 1 is the role it will now play in the development of India's next generation of fighter aircraft that will be more technologically advanced and lethal.
A 1,000 kg handwoven khadi tricolour, the largest in the country, was unfurled atop a high mountain overlooking the Leh valley on Saturday to commemorate Gandhi Jayanti and the 75th anniversary of India's Independence.
The deal to upgrade the MiG-29s comes after three of the jets crashed in India this year.
On a journey to recreate history, and to script a new one, British aviator Tracey Curtis Taylor, on a stopover in Delhi on her way to Australia to relive a flight made 85 years ago, said her mission is to inspire young girls to strive to achieve their dreams.
'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.'
