The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were in talks with the Buckingham Palace team handling their transition away from frontline royal duties, with some complications around the use of Sussex Royal as the phrase to be associated with their charitable work and other causes going forward.
Indian Air Force on Friday raised its first squadron of the home-grown Light Combat Aircraft Tejas with the induction of two aircraft into the force at the Aircraft System Testing Establishment in Bengaluru.
The missile system can target aircraft up to 30 km away, at altitudes up to 18,000 metres. It has the capability to neutralise aerial targets like fighter jets, cruise missiles and air-to-surface missiles.
India's frontline combat aircraft Sukhoi-30 fleet was on Friday cleared for flying after being grounded for nearly a month following a crash near Pune.
'The Chinese navy is large and expanding both in numbers and capability by the day.' 'India too must take measures to safeguard its own interests, now and in the future.'
Prince William's role as a RAF Sea King pilot may end as Britain's search-and-rescue helicopter service which he is part of will be taken over by a US firm after privatisation.
'The air force continues to be short of planes.' 'So, more than a decade after the last selection round got under way, the same process is about to start again for the same kind of aircraft, naturally with the same likely bidders,' points out T N Ninan.
"Rafale's induction in the air force is an important and historical moment and it is a matter of pride for us to be witness to this moment. I congratulate the Armed Forces, and all countrymen on this occasion. The induction of Rafale in IAF's fleet shows the strong relations between India and France. India and France have been economic, cultural and strategic partners since long. Our faith in strong democracy and a wish for world peace are the basis of our relation," Singh said at the induction ceremony being held at the IAF airbase in Ambala.
The Indian Air Force is planning to procure more Embraer business jets for its Delhi-based communication Squadron for ferrying VIPs.
Less than a fortnight after the alleged suicide by a woman Squadron Leader of the Indian Air Force in Jodhpur, another IAF officer was found hanging in his room on Sunday.
29-year-old squadron leader Anandita Das, hailing from Kolkata, was posted at the Jodhpur Air Force Station and living in the officers' quarters with her husband, who is also an IAF officer.
'We must look at the entire question of military preparedness anew, taking into account the new realities,' says Vice Admiral Premvir Das (retd).
Thousands observed a moment of silence and watched jets streak across the clear blue sky at a ceremony at Pearl Harbor marking the 75th anniversary of the attack that plunged the United States into World War II and left more than 2,400 service people dead.
Will the IAF pay $2.4 billion to refit 80 Jaguars with powerful Honeywell engines?
The indigenously developed light combat aircraft 'Tejas' would officially replace the MiG-21 FL fighter jet, Chief of Air Staff of the Indian Air Force, Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne said on Thursday.
'There was plenty of pushing, pulling and jostling going on as everyone wanted to see what was going on at the table.'
'Those 10 years in the IAF has made me what I am today.'
The report authored by Ashley Tellis, the top American expert on India and South Asia, states that the IAF's fighter force is weaker than numbers suggest.
'At 1.58% of GDP, the defence budget is one of the lowest since the Chinese aggression of 1962.' 'The government of the day has lost sight of the fact that defence of the country is as important as its growth,' says Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
India's national security strategy needs to be revised periodically since the global and regional geopolitical situation is dynamic, points out Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
'So far there is no clear money trail nor an indisputable smoking gun.' 'But that doesn't mean there aren't disturbing questions and a strange resistance by the government to reveal the price, which only adds suspicion to concern,' observes Karan Thapar.
It was indeed a poignant moment to see an uniformed Arjan Singh rising out of his wheelchair and using a walking stick to march up to President APJ Abdul Kalam's coffin
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.
'There is much to glean from such exercises. And make it known that we are ready to take them on together!', says Air Commodore Nition Sathe (retd).
The retreating Pakistani troops were heading towards Dacca and they had to be stopped at all costs. The Eastern Army Commander, in his orders to General Sagat Singh, had reiterated that he did not want the troops of 4 Corps to cross the Meghna river. But General Sagat had other plans to threaten Dacca and ensure that the pressure would make the Pakistani commanders capitulate. This is where the IAF helicopters came in.
'The greatest loss from replacing the 126 Rafale proposal with the 2016 contract for 36 Rafales might not be the extra money paid, but the opportunity that India's aerospace industry lost of obtaining access to critical aviation technologies and manufacturing skills.'
The Sri Lanka Air Force and Egypt has also shown some interest in procuring the Tejas.
More than nine months after a MiG-29 crashed in the mountainous Lahaul-Spiti area of Himachal Pradesh, the Indian Air Force has found some body parts, believed to be of its pilot, in glaciers.
The government has recently turned down Indian Air Force's request to take part in the India-United States bilateral naval exercise Malabar.
The black box of the C-130J transport aircraft that crashed near Gwalior on Friday has suffered damage and the Indian Air Force has sent it to the United States to seek the assistance of its manufacturer Lockheed Martin in decoding the data, officials said on Sunday.
The identity of the missing pilots has not been disclosed and the worst is feared.
The flight data recorder (FDR), commonly known as blackbox, of the Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft which crashed in Pune earlier this week, has been retrieved.
There were no casualties, police said, adding both the pilots ejected safely before the plane hit ground.
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.
Ending months of speculation, India has finally selected Rafale as the best aircraft tailor-made to meet its requirements for at least the next decade and replace its ageing fleet of MiGs. But is it what India needs now to safeguard its skies?
If BCCI helps them then the blind, deaf and wheelchair cricketers will all get benefited.
Air Chief Marshal said his force is ready for a full spectrum operation but added that any decision on surgical strike involving the IAF has to be taken by the government.
Lt Col Raja "Grinder" Chari, 39 is in the batch of 2017.
The Air Chief Marshal took off from Lohegaon air base and was accompanied by Wing Commander Anurag Sharma, Commanding Officer of the SU-30 MKI squadron, based in Pune.
Among the handful of countries with large defence budgets and armed forces, India is matched only by Saudi Arabia in the level of its import dependence. For revenge to be served cold, go beyond import bans and correct these long-term failures -- if we're up to it, notes T N Ninan.
