BY : PTI



Two NSG personnel, including an officer, were today martyred and six other commandos injured during operations against terrorists in Mumbai, the first casualties suffered by the elite force during the siege.

Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, 31, was martyred while engaging terrorists this morning at the Taj hotel, an NSG spokesperson said.

BY : PTI

The terror war on Mumbai is on the verge of ending with security forces securing the 5-star Oberoi hotel and a Jewish Centre(Nariman
House) but gunmen (numbers unclear) continued to hold out inside the Taj hotel at the end of pitched combat that left 30 hostages dead.

At the Centre (Nariman House), a residential complex housing a prayer hall, commandos were air dropped from helicopters in a first such operation ever. Two terrorists were killed but not before five of the hostages were eliminated by them.

A clean-up operation was still on late tonight at the Centre where the victims reportedly included the Rabbi and his wife.

BY: THE HINDU

Having overcome the vexing issue of sourcing material for the landing gear of the indigenous naval variant of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas, the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) has slated the inaugural flight for late 2009.

The procurement of the material for the landing gear of the naval variant, which is being designed to withstand G-forces of up to 4.5G, had hit a hurdle when the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), the aircraft maker was unable to secure it from the global market. However with two Indian companies — Mishra Dhatu Nigam and Bharat Forge — delivering the required material, the landing gear is being designed and manufactured at the HAL, Nasik.
Similar to PV-5

Officials at the ADA told The Hindu that the naval fighter aircraft — a twin-seater variant with the nomenclature NP1 (naval prototype one) — would look similar to PV-5 (prototype vehicle five) of the LCA being developed for the Indian Air Force (IAF). But the similarities are only external: the naval aircraft will structurally be

BY: IANS

The sinking by the Indian Navy of a Somali pirate "mother ship" in the international waters off the Gulf of Aden took a curious turn on Tuesday with a Thai company claiming the vessel that went down was a trawler it owned.

The Indian Navy, however, stuck to its guns, saying that its stealth frigate INS Tabar patrolling the region sunk the vessel in retaliatory fire after it was first fired upon November 18.

The huge fireball that erupted from the vessel after INS Tabar hit it action clearly proved that a large amount of ammunition was on board, Indian Navy spokesman Commander Nirad Sinha maintained.

Wicharn Sirichaiekawat, the owner of the Ekawat Nava 5, however, had a different story to tell.

BY : REUTERS

Pakistan's air force is fully capable of stopping missile strikes by pilotless U.S. drones but it is up to the government to decide whether to do that, the air force chief said on Tuesday.

U.S. forces in Afghanistan have carried out at least 26 air strikes by unmanned aircraft on militant targets in northwest Pakistan this year, according to a Reuters tally, more than half since the start of September.

Pakistan supports the U.S.-led campaign against militancy but does not allow foreign troops or strikes inside its territory. It says the attacks violate its sovereignty and undermine efforts to deal with militancy by inflaming public anger.

The attacks put pressure on the civilian government to stand up to the United States and opposition parties have been critical of the government's failure to stop the strikes.

BY : JANES



The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) will formally induct unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) into service for the first time in 2009, the chief of the PAF has told Jane's.

This comes five years after the PAF launched a programme to acquire UAVs for intelligence-gathering and reconnaissance operations.

In addition to the Bravo+ UAV, which, according to PAF Chief Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed, has been built indigenously, the air force will also receive the Falco UAV produced by Selex Galileo of Italy. The two systems will be used mainly for aerial reconnaissance and information gathering, although the PAF will

BY : TNN

India's first indigenous dedicated attack chopper, the Light Combat Helicopter (LCH), is finally slated to take to the skies in March
next year after a few false starts over the last couple of years.

"After the first prototype's maiden flight
in March 2009, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) says LCH should be ready for the initial operational clearance (IOC) by December 2010," a senior defence ministry official told TOI.

BY : PTI

The Indian Air Force (IAF) is working on a project to resurrect a squadron of its vintage aircraft to showcase its journey down the years.

Under the programme, the IAF is planning to form a squadron comprising of one aircraft each from its past inventory, making it one of the few select air forces in the world to do so.

"We are planning to include most of the aircraft from our vintage strike force. These include the Hurricane, Wapiti, Spitfire, Ajeet, HF-24 'Marut', Tigermoth and Hunter aircraft," a senior IAF officer told PTI in New Delhi on Sunday.

With a flying squadron of vintage aircraft, the IAF wants to be among the select air forces, who still fly and maintain their old aircraft.

BY : Express News Service

When they flew over the enemy lines they had no fear as they were confident of gunning down any rival aircraft and felt nothing could touch them.

Thirty-seven years after they earned the reputation of being part of one of the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) most potent air warriors flying the most lethal combat aircraft, these men who form the ‘Gnat Brotherhood’ displayed that they are still the same proud force they were then.

As part of the Gnat Golden Jubilee celebrations held on Friday, these men, who made the Gnat earn the reputation of being a ‘Pocket rocket’, ‘Sabre killer’ and ‘ Sabre

BY : Reuters

In what is being seen as one of the biggest projections of Indian naval power since India defeated Pakistan in the 1971 war, an Indian warship has sunk a pirate ship in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian navy is now looking at deploying more warships off Somalia.

In the Asia Times, former Indian diplomat M K Bhadrakumar writes of the possibility of a new Great Game unfolding for control of the sea route in the Indian Ocean.

Pakistan has historical reasons to be sensitive about this new development. It lost control of Bangladesh in 1971, in part because the Indian navy was able to prevent it from shipping supplies and men to what was then East Pakistan.