BY : IANS

The Indian Air Force (IAF) will conduct later this year field trials for the medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) it intends purchasing. The scrutiny of the technical bids submitted by six vendors was on, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Fali H. Major said Thursday. “MMRCA technical evaluation is going on in full flow. The six vendors have submitted technical bids, each consisting of 8,000 to 9,000 pages. It is really a nightmare to scrutinize the bids,” Major told reporters at the United Services Institution (USI) here.

The deal is worth $10 billion and 50 percent of this has to be reinvested in India as part of the offset obligations of the manufacturer that gets the IAF nod.

Three global aircraft majors Monday submitted their industrial reinvestment offer as part of their bid for an Indian Air Force (IAF) order for the 126 combat jets, with one

BY : PTI

A two-seater plane of Indian Air Force made an emergency landing on a river bed at Hamiltonganj in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal today.
The tiny aircraft with two pilots, which had taken off from Hasimara air base, developed snag in the engine a few minutes later, a senior police officer said, adding that both pilots were safe.

BY : TNN

India hopes that the first developmental flight of the stealth fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA), to be co-developed with Russia, will take place by 2015-2016.

The FGFA, as envisaged by IAF to fulfil its futuristic requirements, will have a lethal mix of super-manoeuvrability and supersonic cruising ability, long-range strike and high-endurance air defence capabilities. Apart from a ‘‘minimal’’ radar tracking signature to impart stealth, the FGFA will have ‘‘a very high degree of network centricity’’, as also multi-spectral reconnaissance and surveillance systems — optical, infra-red, laser and radar sensors.

BY : FOX NEWS



They're relics of the cold war era that a local aviation buff is re-building in his garage.

Doug Morgan is piecing together two MiG fighter jets.

A few years ago, he went to the former Czechoslavakia and bought the two MiG 23 fighter jets in Prague. He disassembled them and had them brought to the U.S. by boat.

BY : PIB

Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), a Defence Public Sector Undertaking, today handed over the first of the 3-dimensional radar ‘Rohini’ to the Indian Air Force. Shri VVR Sastry, Chairman-and-Managing Director, BEL handed over a ceremonial key to the Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major at a function in BEL, Ghaziabad marking its induction into the IAF.

The state-of-the-art Multifunction Medium Range Surveillance Radar has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) Electronics and Radar Development Establishment (LRDE), Bangalore and engineered and produced by BEL. It is capable of handling multiple targets simultaneously and also precisely calculate the height at which the projectiles are flying. Mounted on “Tetra’ mobile platform, a heavy duty modified truck built by the public sector Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) and supported by an auxiliary mobile power unit, it enables the Rohini to be easily transported to the battlefront.

Speaking on the occasion the chief guest Air Chief Marshal Major said the radar would grant the IAF better air surveillance capability, particularly at low altitudes. Operating in a range of upto 170 kilometres and an altitude of 15 kilometres, the radar can track multiple targets like fighter jets and missiles travelling at

BY : Indian Express Newspapers


The long-cherished dream of women entering the male bastion of flying fighter jets may finally come true with IAF Chief F H Major saying on Wednesday that the force is open to the idea of allowing the fairer sex donning the frontline combat role.

Major said women in the Indian Air Force were doing a "good job" and there was no reason why they would not be able to fly combat aircraft in future.

Replying to a question on whether IAF will have women fighter pilots in future like that of the US and other western armies, Major said he was "certain" that his force will have women in combat roles.

"It may happen in future, why not. The women in IAF are doing a good job," he told reporters on the sidelines of a function in New Delhi.

BY : PTI

The Air Force may deploy a fighter aircraft fitted with an advanced radar to locate the missing Ranbaxy helicopter taken on lease by Chhattisgarh government which remained untraceable three days after taking off from Hyderabad airport.

IAF Chief Fali H Major said four IAF choppers were given to the authorities in Chhattisgarh to trace missing helicopter with two pilots and an equal number of technical staff on board.

"We are now thinking of sending a fighter aircraft with a radar to pick up hot spots on the ground," the Air Chief Marshal told reporters on the sidelines of a function.

"We have given them four choppers. Yesterday, they carried out a search. Even today, they are searching," he said.
The missing copter Bell-430 took off from Hyderabad at 3pm on Sunday and was supposed to land at regional headquarters of Bastar at Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh at 4.30 pm for refueling. However, the copter never landed at Jagdalpur.

BY : Defensenews

After resolving differences on technical issues, French company Dassault and the Indian Defence Ministry inked an agreement Aug. 5 on maintenance of the Indian Air Force's Mirage aircraft fleet.

Ministry sources said a six-month stalemate between the two sides was finally broken when the Indian side acceded to the French company's demands pertaining to charges on liquidated damages.Half of the Air Force's 46 Mirage 2000-H aircraft faced grounding had the stalemate persisted, a service official said.

Dassault had insisted on renewing the maintenance contract only if liquidated

BY : THE HINDU

The third generation hit-to-kill anti-tank missile, Nag, was successfully testfired at Pokhran in Rajasthan on Tuesday. The advanced weapon system damaged the target, a stationary tank four km away.

Talking to The Hindu from the launch site, Nag’s project director S.S. Mishra said the missile achieved the maximum range and was bang on target. “We got the bull’s eye,” he said after the missile was launched around 1.20 pm. The test-firing was preceded in the last few days by pre-launch transportation trials in the desert terrain “with full combat load.”

Director, Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), P. Venugopalan said all the mission objectives were met during the testfiring he described as the

BY : RIA Novost




The Indian army has ordered an additional batch of BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles from the Russian-Indian BrahMos Aerospace joint venture, the company's CEO said Tuesday.

"The army leadership realizes that weaponry such as the BrahMos missiles will ensure victory to the country which posses it in any conflict," Sivathanu Pillai, who is also the managing director of BrahMos Aerospace, said without disclosing the exact size of the order.

The BrahMos missile has a range of 290 km (180 miles) and can carry a conventional warhead of up to 300 kg (660 pounds). It can hit ground targets flying at