An induction ceremony was organised in the hangar of the Tezpur airbase in Assam in the presence of Eastern Air Commander Air Marshal S K Bhan, sources in IAF headquarters in New Delhi said.
Members of the search operation are yet to reach the spot.
Sitharaman said keeping morale of forces at the highest level was among the priorities of the government.
France has offered to upgrade India's 51 frontline Mirage 2000 fighters in a "compressed delivery time-frame", which could prove a boon to New Delhi in the backdrop of Indian Air Forces' force levels depleting to an alarming all time low of 32 Squadrons.
'Till date there have been 482 accidents on account of failure of this aircraft and 171 IAF pilots have lost their lives.'
The maharajas may no longer occupy these gracious palaces, but guests who stay in them enjoy enough comforts and amenities to feel like royalty.
Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa calling the FOC a 'major milestone'.
The Indian Air Force's plans to induct upgraded MiG-29 by March next year has been hit due to delay at the Russian end with the first lot of six aircraft likely to come in only by early 2011.
The United States military has conducted a humanitarian air drop in the besieged Iraqi town of Amrili, home to thousands of Shia Turkomen who have been cut off from receiving food, water, and medical supplies for two months by the militants of the Islamic State, the Pentagon said.
Airline officials contend that following the recent air-raids by the LTTE, Sri Lanka's air traffic controllers were no longer in full control of the country's airspace.
The government is also planning to replace the current ageing Air India One or Boeing 747 with Boeing 777s. Arup Roychoudhury and Archis Mohan report.
With alertness very high post the surgical strikes on terrorist camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and the Uri attack, Indian Air Force is aggressively upgrading infrastructure in the eastern sector specially in Arunachal Pradesh.
Two training ships of the 1st Training Squadron of the Indian Navy -- INS Krishna, a frigate, and INS Tir, with about 300 cadets, sailors and officers onboard were participating in the exercise. Capt N N Rao, the Commander of INS Tir, will be the overall supervisor on the Indian side. On the German side, three visiting warships belonging to the 2nd Flotilla -- with Captain Michael Budde as the Commander Task Force -- are taking part.
Lt Col S D Goswami said the helicopter with two pilots -- Major Padmanabhan and Major S Ganapathy of the Army Aviation Squadron at Leh -- had taken off on Friday to evacuate an injured jawan. The helicopter lost contact with the air traffic control while returning to Leh in bad weather. The wreckage was found near a mountain pass in the eastern Ladakh.
Officials at the air station said the 34-year-old Squadron Leader Vikas Sharma died soon after landing the aircraft, which he flew on a training sortie along with a trainee pilot.
The US government has formally issued permission to Lockeed Martin, the makers of F-16, to install 18 sniper advanced targeting pods in the aircrafts, the Pakistan Observer quoted officials in Islamabad as saying.
'China would rather tie us down; and bleed us as much as it can so that we aren't able to lift our heads to face them.'
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 Indian Air Force has given the go ahead for induction of the indigenous surface-to-air Akash missile.
Co-pilot Squadron Leader Priye Sharma (32) died when the Dhruv advanced light helicopter crashed near a runway.
A proposal for new Air Force Aerospace Museum was cleared by defence ministry and a final financial sanction on the Detailed Project Report is awaited.
Two aircraft carried out the attacks on oil storage facilities near Colombo.
The IAF has been proposing to the government that its assets could be used in low-intensity warfare.
'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.
The tender for purchase of 126 multi-role combat aircraft-- a deal which will run up to a staggering Rs 42,000 crore.
Chabua is a key base of the IAF and it has the latest airplanes including the Sukhoi-30 MKi and Chetak helicopters.
"Though falling squadron strength is a cause of worry," Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Air Command Air Marshal P S Ahluwalia said that IAF had the resources and platforms to get the better of any threat from the western sector.
The successful test will result in huge savings of replacement cost of missiles held in the inventory of the Indian Armed Forces.
An IAF helicopter located the wreckage but the fate of the pilot, Squadron Leader V Sinha, was not known.
The PM flew to Moscow on one aircraft, then to Kabul and Lahore on another.
In rebranding the F-16 into the F-21, Lockheed Martin appears to have accepted what many have warned it for years: That the IAF would never buy a fighter whose very name is associated across India with the Pakistan Air Force which has operated the F-16 since the 1980s.
'No aeroplane in the world has been designed to switch off its engines above 14,500 feet.' 'Thanks to a lot of practice, we were able to execute a flawless landing at DBO at 0900 hours on 31st May, creating history.'
Jaitley can make his innings -- notwithstanding its likely length -- to be a watershed tenure, or just add to the image of the MoD drifting rudderless, says Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
The pilots, identified as Squadron Leader S Basu and Flight Lieutenant A Sharma, are missing.
The IAF has paid French aerospace firms Dassault and Thales about Euro 350 million for 'performance-based logistics'. This requires the vendors to ensure that 75 per cent of the Rafale fleet is combat-ready at all times, notes Ajai Shukla.
The document titled 'Details of the steps in the decision making process leading to the award of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft order' stated that the process as laid down in the Defence Procurement Procedure-2013 has been followed in procurement of the Rafale aircraft.
While the IAF will field the Su-30s, the RAF will use its Tornado, Hawk and Typhoon combat jets, VC-10 tankers and AWACS in the exercise.
Six aviation majors are bidding for the Indian deal, which according to defence experts could run up to anything between six to eight billion dollars.
The IAF fighter strength would plunge to an all-time low of 29 squadrons by 2007 as more and more of the ageing MiG-21, the IAF's mainstay, are phased out.
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