“There has been no aerial intrusion by our Chinese counterparts in the recent past and both of us respect the McMahon Line,” Air Commodore S. Harpal Singh, Commander of the Chabua Air Force station has said. He ruled out any imminent air threat from China.
He, however, said, “India need not worry in the case of an air threat from China as the Indian Air Force is strengthening its fleet and crew in the northeast.”
Located at a strategic position from where the Chinese border is — 180 km away — and the Myanmar border (80 km east), the Chabua station lies within a 500-km diameter of four Chinese airbases on the other side of the border.
The Panorama TV programme tracked down Chinese army lorries in the Sudanese province that came from a batch exported from China to Sudan in 2005.
The BBC was also told that China was training fighter pilots who fly Chinese A5 Fantan fighter jets in Darfur.
China's government has declined to comment on the BBC's findings, which contravene a UN arms embargo on Darfur.
The embargo requires foreign nations to take measures to ensure they do not militarily assist anyone in the conflict in Darfur, in which the UN estimates that about 300,000 people have died.
In 2005, Chinese diplomacy promised great flexibility and suggestions of compromise in resolving longstanding border issues with India. During his 2005 trip to New Delhi, Premier Wen Jiabao talked of sponsoring a permanent seat for India on the U.N. Security Council. Fast forwarding to 2008, China's position on the border issues shows no flexibility, and there is no meaningful discussion of supporting an Indian seat on the council.
The border issues revolve around Arunchal Pradesh, an Indian state the size of Portugal in Northeast India, bordering China's Tibet Autonomous Region, and Aksai Chin, a 16,000-square-mile region bordered by India's northernmost state Jammu and Kashmir and both China's Tibet and Xinjiang Autonomous Regions. Arunchal Pradesh is controlled by India but claimed by China; Aksai Chin is controlled by China and claimed by India.
The Indian Air Force is all set to get the Israel Aerospace Industries' (IAI) Griffin 3 laser-guided bomb.
Made by IAI's MBT division, the Griffin 3 is said to be the most advanced version of a combat-proven guidance kit that effectively converts "dumb" bombs into precise weapons, claiming a circular error of probability of less than 2 metres (6.5ft).
The Griffin 3 conversion kit is compatible with the Mk82/83/84 general purpose bomb series.
The kit comprises a front guidance section and a rear section that has steering fins. It provides a 12 kilometre (6.5 nautical miles) stand-off range against ground targets, and allows its flight trajectory and impact angle to be pre-programmed.
Dassault Aviation, Snecma and Thales announce that the contract with the Brazilian Ministry of Defence to maintain the Mirage 2000 aircraft operated by the Brazilian Air Force is now effective. In close partnership with end users the three manufacturers provide repair and support services from the Annapolis airbase in Brazil where the Mirage 2000 fleet is located. These added value “door-to-door” services encompass the platform and the whole aircraft equipment maintenance. This type of contract significantly reduces turnaround times. The Brazilian Air Force thus benefits from higher levels of service performance, l
The General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 alternate engine for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has completed a round of short-take-off vertical-landing (STOVL) testing. According to Jean Lydon-Rodgers, president of the GE/R-R fighter engine team, the programme will be ready to deliver a production-configurarion engine "in a matter of months".
The F136 has past the midpoint of a five-year, $2.4 billion system development and
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has installed a black box-like instrument in the indigenous main battle tank (MBT) Arjun, under development for nearly 36 years, following attempts to “sabotage” its engine. The instrument was installed after the Indian Army termed the winter trial of the Arjun tank a “failure”. Attempts to sabotage the trials of the Arjun tank have failed after the black box was installed, said authorities.
“The German company Renk AG supplying the engines for the Arjun tank stumbled upon the tinkering with its engines after a complaint from the Indian Army that the tank’s gear box failed during its winter trials in Pokhran and Mahajan field range,” a DRDO official told IANS, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Eighteen years after it was first tested, the meandering saga of the indigenous Nag anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) is finally entering the climax phase after an expenditure of over Rs 300 crore.
Or so it seems, with Defence Research and Development Organisation planning the "final developmental flight trials" of Nag at Pokhran on July 27-28, which will be followed by the "user-trials" in mid-September, say sources.
Having placed an order for 443 Nag missiles and 13 Namicas (Nag missile tracked carriers) for induction over three years, the Army is keeping its fingers firmly crossed.
The urgent need for ATGMs can be gauged from the fact that after ordering 4,000 Konkurs-M missiles, the Army is now looking for 4,100 "advanced" ATGMs with tandem warheads for "better kill probability" of enemy tanks.
Malaysia does not feel threatened by its neighbour's plan to purchase new and modern fighter jets, Air Force Chief General Tan Sri Azizan Ariffin said.
"I'm not surprise with the report. This is a competition to acquire modern and sophisticated assets," he said.
He was asked to comment on newsreports that Singapore was planning to buy up to 100 units of the world's most advanced fighter jet, the supersonic F-35, which uses stealth technology to avoid radar detection.
Joint venture Samtel HAL Display Systems has secured a Rs.2.2-billion ($50 million) order to develop display systems for fighter aircraft such as Sukhoi (Su-30 MKI) and Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), the company said Wednesday. The joint venture between state-run behemoth Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) and high-tech equipment maker Samtel Display Systems was formed in 2006 as India’s first public-private partnership in the defence sector.
In the first phase, the indigenous display systems will be fitted in the Sukhoi fleet to be produced by HAL over the next decade for the Indian Air Force (IAF).
The liquid crystal display (LCD) systems have been tested by state-run Defence Avionics Research Establishment (DARE) for flight worthiness after they were cleared by the regional centre for military airworthiness.
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