With the IAF having rejected variants of 4 of the contending aircraft -- the Super Hornet, F-16, Gripen C/D and MiG-35 -- in flight trials carried out between 2009-2011 in the MMRCA tender, are the current contenders improved enough to pass flight trials conducted to the same standards?
Two B-1B Lancer supersonic heavy bomber jets of the US Air Force on Tuesday joined the American exhibits at Aero India at the Yelahanka air base, in a reflection of the deeper strategic ties between the two countries.
'The future is about autonomy and tanking.'
India on Thursday approved proposals for purchasing 26 Naval variant of Rafale jets from France and procuring three French-designed Scorpene class submarines, a day ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's wide-ranging talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.
India's historical focus on its continental borders has overshadowed its maritime ambitions, but that is changing quickly, notes Ajai Shukla.
Boeing has pitched its FA-18 aircraft, while Dassault is building case for its Rafale jet.
For the defence ministry, Aero India 2021 is an opportunity to show its commitment to the prime minister's 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' initiative.
The defence ministry took the decision to hold the biennial event as scheduled following inputs from major stakeholders including the domestic defence industry and global aerospace majors, official sources said.
Superheroes have been embedded in our daily lives through comics and movies.
'It is hard to justify $225 million a plane for an increasingly obsolete mission.' The purchase of the 36 Rafales has changed little for the IAF.
In 2010, Ratan Tata had spoken of how he had to abandon plans to launch an airline because he refused to pay bribes to secure the necessary approvals.
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.
The IAF has just 33 squadrons, 9 short of the 42 squadrons needed to tackle China and Pakistan together, says Ajai Shukla.
MI became the first team in IPL history to lose its first seven matches in a season.
Costing Rs 500 billion, the INS Vishal will be the Indian military's single most expensive defence platform.
General Mattis has been the most steadfast champion in Trump's cabinet of the US-India defence relationship. If Trump chooses a more pliable successor, the Pentagon's attention could go off India.
The Raksha Mantri was unable to address media queries about how much the Modi government was paying for 36 Rafales compared to what the UPA government had negotiated.
Beyond the British and Russian strands interwoven into the Indian Navy's equipment profile and the strong drive towards indigenisation evident today, its future in aircraft carriers appears increasingly linked with America.
Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan on Wednesday dismissed match-fixing allegations against the Pakistani team in the Champions Trophy but felt the players were over-confident.
Malabar 2016 -- a trilateral maritime exercise involving the Indian Navy, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and the US naval forces in the Indo-Asia-Pacific -- concluded on June 17.
Production in India would be open for companies other than HAL
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".
SAAB's Sea Gripen constitutes a new option as the INS Vikrant's light fighter
Defeats at Manchester City and Brighton & Hove Albion had left Arsenal down in 11th place but their victory on the south coast lifted them to ninth with 43 points from 31 games -- eight behind fourth-placed Chelsea who were playing City later.
Union Minister of Commerce and Textiles Piyush Goyal has stirred up a hornet's nest by taking on India Inc, specifically the Tata group, which is among the companies that lobbied against the Modi government's pro-consumer draft e-commerce policies. While Goyal's comments, made at a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) event, were streamed live on YouTube, the industry lobbying body later edited the video and subsequently withdrew the entire speech. Goyal had said the Tata group and other Indian companies often lobbied for their interest, while ignoring national interest.
Charlotte Hornets and owner and former NBA great Michael Jordan and golfer Tiger Woods, who rarely speak out on social issues, have also called for change.
'The days are gone when we only deal with India as the other side of the Pakistan coin or Pakistan as the other side of the India coin.'
News of all that transpired on and off the football field.
In the light of India's increasingly 'darkening' threat environment and the convergence of strategic interests between China and Pakistan, the IAF's declining combat capabilities are a cause for concern, says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
Images from Sunday's English Premier League matches.
New Delhi remains a priggish suitor to Washington's overtures, but it has begun appreciating potential tech benefits to ties with the US.
'Super Cop', K P S Gill has stirred the proverbial hornet's nest with his comment that the first martyr of the Assam agitation against illegal migrants, Khargeswar Talukdar, was not killed because of police action but drowned in a pond.
'It would be a travesty if the Malaysian air force likes the Tejas, but decides against it because it sees the IAF reluctance to back the fighter.'
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
Bollywood has taught us a lot this year. Sukanya Verma picks the most important lessons.
'It was almost as though there was widespread relief that the defence bureaucracy, and the minister, could find someone willing to shoulder the blame for everything that had gone wrong with the services under Antony's charge -- the poor preparedness of the forces, slow acquisitions caused by indecision, cancellation of contracts and whimsical blacklisting of defence contractors over the tiniest suspicion that they may have paid speed money or kickbacks.'
'The threat that India faces and the threat the United States faces is not just to the homeland, but to our people and to our institutions wherever they may be.' In an exclusive conversation with Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com, US Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Desai Biswal outlines the importance of Prime Minister Modi's visit for America.
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