New Delhi: Indian Air Force (IAF) has signed a contract with Swiss firm Pilatus for procurement of 75 Basic Trainer Aircraft (BTA) to train its rookie pilots and the delivery of these planes is scheduled between February 2013 to August 2012, the Lok Sabha was informed on Monday. "A contract for procurement of 75 Basic Trainer Aircraft was signed with Pilatus Aircraft Ltd, Switzerland on May 24...The delivery of these...
05:14 PM, Aug 27, 2012
Kamra's Minhas air force base is one of Pakistan's most prized installations - part of a string of bases that guard the country's north, it ...
03:52 PM, Aug 23, 2012
New Delhi: The initial version of a fighter plane, being jointly developed by India and Russia and tipped to be one of the most-advanced in the world, will be unveiled in India in 2014. The Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) with stealth features is slated to be inducted in the Indian Air Force by 2022. The two sides are close to signing a key contract expected to be worth over...
05:38 AM, Aug 20, 2012
Islamabad: A fortnight before Thursday's terrorist assault on a key airbase, Pakistani security agencies had issued two specific warnings about possible attacks on air force installations following the escape from prison of dreaded terrorist Adnan Rasheed. The National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) of the Interior Ministry issued an alert to officials in all four provinces which specifically warned that terrorists could target military installations, especially Pakistan Air Force facilities, using...
11:34 PM, Aug 16, 2012
Islamabad: Eight armed terrorists forced their way into one of Pakistan's largest air bases, the Minhas air base in Kamra, 85 km from Islamabad. All eight terrorists and one security officer were killed after a five-hour long gun battle. The attackers reportedly broke through three checkposts at 2.30 am on Thursday morning and climbed a nine feet wall strung with barbed wire to break into the base. The airbase was...
02:16 PM, Aug 16, 2012
Islamabad: A group of terrorists on Thursday stormed a key Pakistan Air Force base at Kamra in Punjab province, triggering an intense gun battle with the security forces that lasted over four hours. Pakistani officials said there were eight terrorists, out of whom seven had been killed. Officials said the bodies of five terrorists have been recovered. Sources also suggest that the dead body of one suicide bomber strapped with...
05:29 AM, Aug 16, 2012
New Delhi: On the occasion of India's 66th Independence Day, President Pranab Mukherjee approved 62 Gallantry Awards to Armed Forces Personnel and members of Paramilitary Forces which included 15 Shaurya Chakras, 1 Bar to Sena Medal (Gallantry), 42 Sena Medal (Gallantry), 3 NaoSena Medal (Gallantry) and 1 VayuSena Medal (Gallantry). Among the 15 officers from the Army and the Air Force who have been awarded the Shaurya Chakra - the...
11:01 AM, Aug 15, 2012
Houston: The US Air Force removed a top training commander at a Texas base on Saturday after a series of investigations of sexual misconduct by instructors at the base. Col Glenn Palmer, who has commanded Air Force basic training at Lackland Air Force Base for a little over a year, will be removed from that position immediately and will be reassigned, said Colleen McGee, chief of public affairs for the...
12:08 AM, Aug 12, 2012
Pune: Air Chief NAK Browne on Saturday said the IAF has identified a "design flaw" with the Russian-made supersonic fighter aircraft Sukhoi-30 though nothing is wrong with its "airworthiness". "We have identified a Fly-By-Wire problem with the aircraft. It is a design issue and we have taken it up with the designing agency," he told reporters on the sidelines of a function held to mark Golden Jubilee celebrations of Armed...
08:46 PM, Aug 04, 2012
New Delhi: An Indian Air Force mountaineering team has scaled three newly opened peaks in Ladakh region with an aim to propose that they be named after IAF's three 'heroes', including Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh. IAF is now planning to approach Indian Mountaineering Federation (IMF) for naming these peaks after Flying Officer Nirmaljit Singh, the sole Paramvir Chakra awardee in the force, Marshal of the Air Force...
09:04 PM, Jul 27, 2012
New Delhi: The Defence Ministry on Monday cleared a proposal worth over Rs 12,000 crore to procure 56 transport aircraft for the Air Force to replace its fleet of vintage Avro planes. In a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) headed by Defence Minister AK Antony, the IAF proposal to issue a global tender for procuring these aircraft was cleared, Defence Ministry sources said. The first 16 aircraft will...
02:41 AM, Jul 24, 2012
New Delhi: Even as the Indian Air Force continues to debate the seriousness of the leak of its weapons procurement programme, the Defence Ministry on Saturday said it had ordered a CBI probe into the matter. "We have referred it to the CBI... The CBI is enquiring the whole thing," said Defence Minister AK Antony. He added, "We are very serious about it." The top brass of the Indian Air...
02:32 PM, Jul 21, 2012
New Delhi: The Delhi airspace will be closed between 1 and 3 pm on Saturday for defence radar calibration, Air Force sources said. The airlines were reportedly informed at the last minute because of which many flights were affected. Most flights are expected to be delayed. Air Force sources say the exercise will be completed early to facilitate landing of the Defence Minister's aircraft at 2 pm. ...
12:41 PM, Jul 21, 2012
San Antonio: An Air Force instructor implicated in a sweeping sex scandal at one of the nation's busiest military training bases was convicted in military court on Friday of raping one female recruit and sexually assaulting several others. Staff Sgt. Luis Walker, the first Lackland Air Force Base instructor to stand trial in the scandal, was found guilty by a jury of seven military personnel on all 28 counts he...
08:16 AM, Jul 21, 2012
New Delhi: The US has accepted India's request for supplying six more C-130J special operations transport aircraft to the IAF and a communication in this regard was given to the Defence Ministry recently. India had sent a Letter of Request (LoR) to the US government in September last year for procuring six additional C-130J aircraft. The US government submitted a Letter of Acceptance on April 10 to the Indian Defence...
06:49 PM, Jul 20, 2012
Bangalore: The proposed second runway at the Bangalore International Airport (BIA) is likely to have an adverse impact on the Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots training activities at its Yelahanka airbase here. The IAF and BIA operate in close proximity and the distance between their existing runways is around 5.3 nautical miles (NM), where 1 NM equals to 1.86 km. The proposed runway at the airport will bring them even...
11:56 AM, Jul 16, 2012
Guwahati: The Indian Air Force has evacuated over 400 flood-affected persons across Assam in the past 20 days as relief helicopters and transport planes are on round-the-clock standby. Air Commodore PE Patange of the Eastern Air Command said besides airlifting 400 marooned persons from various parts of the state, the IAF also airlifted dozens of tonnes of relief materials for distribition. Patange told reporters that a disaster management cell was...
02:32 PM, Jul 12, 2012
Hyderabad: Hyderabad is poised to become a blip on the worlds defence map soon when the Tata Advanced Systems unit will start rolling out spare parts for the C-130J, the special operations aircraft made by the US that is presently in service in 15 countries. The Hyderabad factory will become operational over the next year now that Tata Advanced Systems has entered into a joint venture with Lockheed Martin. The...
11:03 AM, Jul 10, 2012
Arlington: It was Christmas Eve 1965 when the Air Force plane nicknamed "Spooky" took off from Vietnam for a combat mission. The crew sent out a "mayday" signal while flying over Laos, and after that, all contact was lost. Two days of searches turned up nothing. For years, that was all the families knew about what happened to the six servicemen aboard the plane. Now, nearly 50 years after the...
03:31 PM, Jul 09, 2012
New Delhi: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa seems to have forced the Centre to toe its line. The Ministry of Defence on Friday decided to send back the Sri Lankan Air Force personnel from the Tambaram Air Force base in Chennai, where they were undergoing training. The Sri Lankan Air Force personnel will be sent back on Friday as per the Defence Ministry notification. Jayalalithaa had slammed the Centre...
03:15 PM, Jul 06, 2012
