The enduring relationship between the two countries have survived the disintegration of the erstwhile USSR in 1991, the end of the Cold War and the regime change in both countries, points out Rup Narayan Das.
HAL executives said deliveries of the Tejas Mk1A to the IAF would begin within this year, but only after the successful completion of the weapons-firing trials currently underway.
HAL has assured the IAF that 12 Mk1A aircraft will be delivered by the end of 2025-2026.
Glimpses from Day 1 at Aero India 2025 at the Yelahanka air base in Bengaluru, India, February 10, 2025.
Videos from the scene, shot by locals in Morena, showed debris of the aircraft on the ground.
The debris of the two aircraft fell in Pahargarh area in Morena, 75 kilometres from the district headquarters, while some parts also fell in Bharatpur, just across the border in neighbouring Rajasthan.
French officials believe the campaign against Rafale was part of a coordinated disinformation drive by China and Pakistan, although their State involvement has not been established.
Top HAL sources say the AMCA, which is being developed as the IAF's next-generation stealth fighter, is slated to be assembled at HAL Nashik.
If the new request for 18 more fighters translates into a contract, the Sukhoi-30MKI fleet size will go up to 14 squadrons, or 290 fighters.
The MiG-21's sharp silhouette and supersonic roar will live on in the memories of those who flew it, those who maintained it, and those who watched it streak across the sky as a symbol of India's strength, asserts IAF veteran Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd).
There were no casualties, police said, adding both the pilots ejected safely before the plane hit ground.
One of the pilots suffered injury in his leg.
IAF sources said the Sukhoi had taken off from Jodhpur at 1645 hours for a routine training sortie and it crashed around 1730 hours.
The country's first woman defence minister sat in the rear seat behind the pilot and was wearing the pilot's G-suit.
The first batch of women cadets joined the NDA's 148th course in 2022 after the UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) allowed women to apply to the defence academy following a Supreme Court direction in 2021.
Sukhoi fighter jet planes resumed flying on Monday after being grounded for a week following a crash involving one of the aircraft in the fleet in Jaisalmer on November 30."The Sukhoi aircraft has started flying again and the first flight of the fighter jet, after being grounded for a week, took place this afternoon at Lohegaon airbase near Pune," said an officer of the Indian Air Force.
The performance of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for 2024-25 (FY25) was driven by improved margins and lower provisions. The order book as of March was of Rs 1.8 trillion, with inflows of Rs 1 trillion during FY25.
Here are glimpses from India's biennial military exhibition.
HAL will build each Su-30 at just Rs 4.25 billion. The IAF is paying Rs 11.25 billion per Rafale, excluding the price of weapons and logistics.
Describing the mission as a "major milestone" in the development of BrahMos, the sources said that the air version of the missile was test-fired from supersonic fighter aircraft Sukhoi 30 MK-I at 10.30 am.
With its eyes on Indian and South-East Asian markets, the Sukhoi Superjet 100 medium-haul aircraft has been brought to the Aero India.
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 fleet of 40 Sukhoi jet will undergo structural modifications at the state-run aerospace major Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd for integration of the missile on them.
A Sukhoi fighter plane used for the training purpose crashed at Kolwadi near Pune in the Tuesday evening.
Both the pilots ejected safely.
'They thought nobody would hit Bahawalpur and Muridke because they have nuclear weapons.' 'They used to think India cannot touch our military targets because we are a nuclear weapons country.' 'After Operation Sindoor we have called their bluff.'
The western media is going all out to prove that India suffered a major setback in Operation Sindoor and how China helped shoot down Indian fighter jets. One of the articles published in British newspaper Telegraph stated Operation Sindoor shattered the myth of India's air dominance over Pakistan. "The Pakistani Air Force, aided by Chinese targeting satellites and AWACS executed a sensor-fusion kill. The Rafales never got a lock, never even saw their adversary. When the missiles hit, it was already over," wrote the British Newspaper, The Telegraph.
"The Sukhoi will invest Euro 2 billion (Rs 13,600 crore) for manufacturing about 25 to 50 super jets initially and later 100 aircraft at full capacity," Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Vilas Muttemwar said on Friday.
The 12 SU-30MKI jets for the Indian Air Force would be licensed manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited at its Nashik facility and cost around Rs 13,000 crore.
This will be the largest claim in the aviation sector for Indian insurers in the last three years
The Sukhoi crash on April 30 in Rajasthan today caused an uproar in the Rajya Sabha, forcing Defence Minister A K Antony to come out in favour of the air superiority of the IAF's fighter jet.
India has grounded its entire Sukhoi-30 fleet and each aircraft is undergoing a thorough technical check following a recent crash near Pune.
If I were to explain stealth to a layperson, I'd ask them to think of the game chupan-chupai (hide and seek) we played as children, explains Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd).
Squadron Leader D Pankaj and Flight Lieutenant S Achudev could not initiate ejection before the crash.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday flew in a Sukhoi-30MKI supersonic fighter jet of the Indian Air Force from the Halwara airbase in Punjab.
Sukhoi Su-30MKI is a twin-jet multi-role air superiority aircraft developed by Russia's Sukhoi and built under licence by India's Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
The 76th Republic Day Parade concluded with a memorable display of aerial acrobatics, including a stunning victory roll by Rafale aircraft and daring maneuvers by Sukhoi-30 fighter jets. The flypast, featuring over 40 aircraft, captivated the large crowd gathered along Kartavya Path, including President Droupadi Murmu, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The parade showcased the strength and skill of the Indian Air Force and provided a spectacular visual experience for the audience.
Two Elon Musk from November 2024 surfaced online over the weekend in which he can be seen criticising the US' F-35 fighter aircraft which President Donald J Trump offered to sell India during Prime Minister Narendra D Modi's visit to the White House on Thursday.
Two days after a Sukhoi fighter jet crashed, the second this year, the Indian Air Force has grounded its entire fleet of 100 SU-30 aircraft.
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.
