The Air Force Day is celebrated to mark the day the IAF was established in 1932. The force will celebrate its 88th anniversary this year with the annual parade at the Hindon airbase in Ghaziabad which includes air display of various aircraft.
With the arrival of the three jets, the size of the Rafale fleet has increased to 14.
In his PIL, Sharma alleged discrepancies in the fighter jet deal with France and sought stay on it.
Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa said that no country in the world is facing the kind of grave threat that India is confronted with.
A third batch of three more Rafale fighter jets on Wednesday landed in India from France after a non-stop flight, in a further boost to the strike capability of the Indian Air Force.
The Congress chief also described Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's 3-day trip to France as part of a 'huge cover-up' by the government.
The upgraded Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft will be installed with India-made multi-function displays under an Indo-French partnership, as part of a programme to enhance the operational life of multi-role fighters by around 20 years.
Pointing out at the 'cooperation' and 'trust' shared between both India and France, Ambassador of France to India Alexandre Ziegler asked people to look at the facts.
We are going to deliver 36 aircraft. If the government of India wants more aircraft, we will be pleased to deliver, he said.
All the items identified for procurement from domestic defence manufacturers are used in shipbuilding. So far, the defence ministry has notified 127 items where purchase preference is given to local suppliers.
Identifying Hindustan Aeronautics Limited as its "'main partner' in the multirole combat aircraft deal, France's Dassault Aviation today said it will set up a joint venture company with Reliance Industries to work on the $10 billion Rafale project.
The MoD panel had submitted its report in March 2015, weeks before Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India would procure 36 jets.
It asserted that the jets are 'good' both in terms of quality and price.
The Indian Navy has decided that the twin-seat Rafale will not be disqualified on the basis of its inability to operate from an aircraft carrier.
Amid fears of delay in the 126 combat aircraft deal, defence ministry and French Dassault Rafale will hold talks on Friday to iron out differences between them over the responsibilities to be given to the state-run HAL in the contract estimated to be worth USD 15 billion.
With the arrival of the new batch, the number of Rafale aircraft has increased to eight. The first batch of five Rafale jets arrived in India on July 29, nearly four years after India signed an inter-governmental agreement with France to procure 36 aircraft at a cost of Rs 59,000 crore.
Swedish defence major Saab has offered to manufacture its fifth generation Gripen fighter aircraft in New Delhi with technology transfer to India.
While reserving the verdict, the apex court had said that the pricing details of Rafale jets could only be discussed after it decides on whether to make it public.
'Rafale is an open and shut case and there is only one man who has done corruption'
Reliance Industries has been eyeing the relatively closed field of defence manufacturing and homeland security for the past year or so. In fact Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani handpicked Dr Vivek Lall, a former top executive with Boeing last year to lead the company's foray into the sector
The negotiations over the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets have entered the "final stages" as both India and France have managed to narrow down their differences over the pricing.
Which of the two aircraft will India chose? Let's take a closer look at the two aircraft.
The Indian Air Force on Friday received the first two upgraded Mirage-2000 aircraft from France under a Rs 10,000 crore deal.
A high-level team from France is expected to arrive in New Delhi next month to firm up the order for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft by India.
Five Rafale fighter aircraft arrived in India from France on July 29 and have started extensive training within 24 hours of touching down in the country. The French-origin fighter aircraft are part of the 17 Golden Arrows squadron of the Indian Air Force.
India may go beyond the purchase of 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft.
"Swagatam" (welcome), he said with the hash tag "RafaleInIndia".
France is ready to transfer the technology of its surface-to-air missile to the Defence Research and Development Organisation of India so that this country can build its own version, French Minister of State for Defence Jean-Marie Bockel said on Wednesday. He evaded a direct reply when asked if France would stop sales of weapons to Pakistan in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks.
The first batch of five Rafale jets arrived in India on July 29, nearly four years after India signed an inter-governmental agreement with France to procure 36 of the aircraft at a cost of Rs 59,000 crore.
The only reason for the new deal is to give Rs 30,000 crore to industrialist Anil Ambani, the Congress chief alleged.
Hollande said only Dassault can comment on whether India had put pressure on Reliance and Dassault to work together.
The Rafale jet deal, signed on September 23, 2016, in the frame of an Inter-Governmental Agreement between India and France, has been in news over the last few months.
The top court had rejected the objections raised by the Centre that those documents were not admissible as evidence under Section 123 of the Indian Evidence Act, and no one can produce them in court without the permission of the department concerned as they are also protected under the Official Secrets Act.
Gandhi said he had made the statements in the heat of political campaigning which have been misused by his opponents.
The Congress has been attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party government on the defence deal, accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of causing loss to the state exchequer by buying the fighter jets at inflated rate.
In a tweet, the IAF welcomed the "new bird" into its arsenal.
Macron, who assumed the presidency in May 2017, emphasised that this is a government-to-government discussion and "this contract is part of a broader framework which is military and defence" coalition between India and France.
Meanwhile, Congress president Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at the Modi government and Anil Ambani over the Rafale issue, saying that in order to bag India's biggest defence contracts one has to be a "defaulter of Rs 45,000 crore" and have "no relevant experience".
The BJP said, in a statement, that its workers held protests in district headquarters across the country, with its national general secretary Arun Singh leading the stir in Bhubaneswar, Maharashtra party chief Chandrakant Patil in Mumbai and Bihar unit president Sanjay Jaiswal in Patna, among other places.
The plea said that Gandhi's statements had hurt the sentiments of prime minister's supporters.
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