Flight Lieutenant Tejaswi Ranga Rao -- the Indian Air Force's first woman Sukhoi Su-30 Weapon System Operator -- has been posted at the IAF's Tezpur airbase in Sonitpur, Assam.
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.
Squadron Leader D Pankaj and Flight Lieutenant S Achudev could not initiate ejection before the crash.
The identity of the missing pilots has not been disclosed and the worst is feared.
Members of the search operation are yet to reach the spot.
'I was a young pilot in the IAF and Tom Cruise (with his genuine Ray-Bans) was now an icon with his sensational performance in Top Gun.' 'The IAF, maybe influenced by the movie, decided to 'issue' pilots Ray-Bans as part of their flying kit,' remembers IAF Veteran Air Commodore Nitin Sathe.
The crash of the Mi-17 V5 took place at around 6 am when it was on a maintenance mission.
The Chinese military has been behaving aggressively over issues in the Yangtse in the vicinity of the Holydip and Parikrama area on the LAC where the Chinese side has been opposing Indian positions.
India's plans to bolster its military strength along the border with China by deploying its potent Sukhoi fighter jets in Tezpur have been badly hit due to poor infrastructure at the front line airbase.
The IAF has lost seven of the 240 Sukhoi-30MKI jets inducted till now.
New airbases, troops, infrastructure, development initiatives are all part of a longer strategy
'China is mindful of the fact that it is not confronting the Indian Army of 1962. But the sabre rattling will continue.'
Activation of this advanced landing ground would not only improve the response time for various operational situations but also the efficacy of the air operations in the eastern frontier.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances