Tag: IAF

Indian Air Force Uttarkashi Tunnel

IAF Flies In Critical DRDO Equipment To Uttarkashi

By LokMarg

The Indian Air Force on Sunday flew in ‘critical DRDO equipment’ in an effort to accelerate the rescue of 41 workers, who are trapped inside the collapsed portion of the under-construction Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi for over two weeks now, the IAF informed through an official release.

“Responding with alacrity to the requirements of the ongoing rescue operation, late last evening the IAF flew in critical DRDO equipment to Dehradun. #HADROps,” the IAF stated in its official release.

Earlier, on Sunday, a plasma-cutting machine was flown to the tunnel site from Hyderabad to cut through the Auger drilling machine and its stuck blades from inside the tunnel.

The process of removing the auger blades from the rubble was underway even before the new machine arrived at the tunnel site in the early hours of Sunday.

Meanwhile, a safety umbrella was thrown around the Silkyara tunnel where 41 workers have been trapped for two weeks now, official sources said, adding that the umbrella ensure the protection of the rescuers.

Also, as part of efforts to relieve the stress and anxiety of the workers trapped in the Silkyara tunnel, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has stepped in to provide them with a landline through which they can talk to their families.

Kundan, a BSNL official, said they are in the process of sending a small landline phone to the stranded workers through the pipeline inserted to bring them out.

“Through this, they will be able to talk directly to their families,” he said.

After a portion of the tunnel caved in on November 12, the debris falling in the 60-metre stretch on the Silkyara side of the tunnel trapped 41 labourers inside the under-construction structure. (ANI)

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Su-30MKIs

India Plans To Equip Su-30MKIs With Indigenous ‘Virupaaksha’ Radar

By LokMarg

Working on upgrading its fleet of its Russian-origin Su-30 MKI combat aircraft, the Indian Air Force is planning to equip them with an indigenous advanced radar named ‘Virupaaksha’.

The Indian Air Force is working on the upgrade programme of the Su-30MKI fleet under a package worth over Rs 65,000 crore where 84 planes would be upgraded indigenously with advanced made in India radars and weapon systems.

“The Virupaaksha is an advanced radar being developed indigenously. This would be a strong push to the indigenisation process in military sector,” defence officials told ANI.

Virupaaksha is one of the names of god Mahadev worshipped by Hindus living across the world.

The Indian Air Force has already decided to replace the Israeli radar on the LCA Tejas Mark 1A fighter jet with the indigenous Uttam Actors Electronically Scanned Array radar along with the Angad electronic warfare suite.

The Su-30 fighter jets are the mainstay of Indian Air Force with 260 of them already in service. The jets have been inducted in different batches and have now form around 50 per cent of the fighter fleet.

The Su-30MKI fleet upgrade plan is also seen by the Indian Air Force as an opportunity for exports as many countries in the south east Asia and Africa operate the plane and can use these solutions for providing advanced capabilities to their fleets.

India is one of the largest operators of the Su-30MKI fighters and has constantly equipped the planes with new capabilities. (ANI)

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BrahMos Cruise Missile

Successful Firing Of Longer Range Air-Launched BrahMos Cruise Missile

By LokMarg

In a major success for the indigenous weapon systems, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has carried out a successful restoration of the air-launched version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile in the Bay of Bengal.

The BrahMos air-launched version missile was testfired from a Su-30MKI fighter jet which has the capability to launch the BrahMos cruise missiles that can hit enemy targets at long ranges.

“The BrahMos air-launched missile was fired from a Su-30MKI fighter jet in the last few days. The aircraft had taken off with the missile from an air base in the southern peninsula and travelled over 1,500 Km to successfully strike a target from a longer range than before,” defence officials told ANI.

The missile was the longer-range version of the supersonic weapon system which has been one of the unique weapons possessed by India in partnership with the Russian industry.

India has been working towards developing a very long-range version of the air-launched BrahMos cruise missiles which would be able to hit

The Indian Air Force had recently carried out two trials of the land attack missile system and the results were very good as missiles hit bull’s eye in the user trials, the sources said.

India is also exporting the missiles to friendly foreign countries including the Philippines which would be using them in the coastal battery role.

The BrahMos Aerospace corporation is also looking at exporting the missiles to more countries and helping achieve the export targets set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (ANI)

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IAF Seeks More Fighter Jets

IAF On Standby To Bring Back Indians From Israel

By LokMarg

The Indian Air Force has kept its aircraft on standby in case there is a requirement to bring back Indian citizens from Israel amidst the war with Hamas, Indian Air Force officials said on Thursday.

According to the officials, the IAF transport aircraft fleet includes the C-17 and IL-76 heavy-lift transport planes along with the C-130J Super Hercules Special Operations aircraft which have been used in the past for such evacuation operations.

“Operation Ajay” was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring back around 18,000 Indians in Israel amidst the war between Hamas and Israel. Registration of Indians began on Thursday.

The Indian embassy in Israel is providing assistance to Indian companies and has set up a helpline for Indian citizens in need of assistance.

“A charter flight will reach Tel Aviv today later in the evening. It is expected to get 230 passengers onboard. We have all options, but the role of IAF (in evacuation) can’t be ruled out,” the MEA spokesperson said on ‘Operation Ajay.’

Yesterday, the MEA had set up a 24-hour control room in view of the escalating conflict. The control room will help monitor the situation and provide information and assistance.

Earlier today, the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar chaired a meeting to review preparations for “Operation Ajay”.

Meanwhile, Israeli Defence Forces said that Hamas brought ISIS flags to Israel when they had infiltrated various parts of South Israel last weekend.

In a post shared on X, Israeli Defence Forces stated, “Hamas brought ISIS flags to massacre Israeli children, women and men. Hamas is a genocidal terrorist organization. Hamas is worse than ISIS.”

The death toll in Israel since the Hamas attack on October 7 has jumped to 1,300 and some 3300 have been injured, including 28 in critical condition and 350 in serious condition, The Times of Israel reported citing Hebrew media reports. The fate of an es-timated 150 people abducted and taken to the Gaza Strip during the attack by Hamas is still unclear, the report said.

Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the military has so far notified families of 97 hostag-es who were being held by terrorists in the Gaza Strip, The Times of Israel reported. (ANI)

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IAF Sikkim

Sikkim: 176 Civilians Evacuated, Says IAF

By LokMarg

The Indian Air Force evacuated 176 survivors on Tuesday, including 16 foreign nationals from the flood-hit state, an IAF official said.

The IAF also air-landed 9400 kg of relief material in the state, an official said.

The Indian Air Force has positioned its Mi-17 V5, CH-47 Chinooks, and Cheetah helicopters as part of the relief efforts in the flood-hit Sikkim to evacuate those stranded in remote areas and to drop essential supplies to areas that have been cut off, as per the IAF officials.

Sikkim suffered significant disruptions due to the recent flash floods that inflicted damage on footbridges, roads, and other infrastructure.

Amid the catastrophe in the northeastern state of Sikkim, following the Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) in South Lhonak Lake creating havoc across the Teesta basin in Sikkim and North Bengal, a total of 523 tourists were left stranded in the Lachen village out of which, two suffered casualties, an official said on Tuesday.

“The situation in Lachen is too bad. Two people suffered casualties, the rest are safe…Due to the disconnectivity of the road, we can’t travel…I would like to tell the tourists and their relatives to not worry since as per the state and central government’s directions, most of them have been airlifted with the help of the army”, said Samdup Lepcha, MLA, Lachen (Mangan) constituency. (ANI)

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Aircraft IAF

HAL To Hand Over First LCA Trainer Aircraft to IAF In Bengaluru

By LokMarg

The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will hand over the first Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) twin-seater trainer version aircraft to the Indian Air Force (IAF) in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt, and Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari, arrived at the LCA Tejas division plant. 

This historic event today will mark the achievement of a key milestone of producing the LCA Twin Seater which is designed with a strategic intent of graduating the budding pilots from the Twin Seater variants to fighter Pilots.

HAL has an order of 18 twin seater from IAF and is planning to deliver eight twin seater in FY 2023-24. Further, 10 twin seaters would be delivered progressively by 2026-27. Further orders are also expected from IAF.

LCA-Tejas is the largest R-D program ever undertaken in India that made its maiden flight in 2001 and has achieved various milestones since then.

It is going to be the backbone of the IAF fleet in years to come and is slated to be produced in high numbers by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in Bengaluru as HAL has already received an order of 123 aircraft out of which 32 fighters have been supplied to IAF and two squadrons already operational with Indian Air Force (IAF) at Sulur, AF base.

Series Production of LCA Tejas is going in full swing at HAL and balance aircraft are planned to deliver by 2027-28 progressively.

Moreover, HAL has now successfully produced the first ever twin-seater variant of LCA Tejas which has all the capabilities to support the training requirement of IAF and augment itself to the role of fighter as well in case of necessity.

LCA Tejas Twin Seater is a lightweight, all-weather multi-role 4.5 generation aircraft. It is an amalgamation of contemporary concepts and technologies such as relaxed static stability, quadruplex fly-by-wire flight control, carefree manoeuvring, advanced glass cockpit, integrated digital avionics systems and advanced composite materials for the airframe.

This adds India to the list of very few elite countries who have created such capability and have them operational in their Defence Forces, another feather on the cap of the “Atmanirbhar Bharat” initiative of the government. 

Minister of State for Defence was the chief guest during the function wherein the unveiling of the LCA Twin seater, handing over of Release to Service (RSD), and handing over of Signalling out Certificate (SOC) were conducted in the presence of the Chief of Air staff- IAF, Chairman and Managing Director HAL, Director General ADA, Chief Executive of Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CE-CEMILAC). Top echelons of IAF, MOD, HAL, ADA, DGAQA, CEMILAC, DRDO and production partners were also present during the same.

HAL is also in discussions with many foreign-friendly countries towards exporting the LCA Tejas platform and has submitted various customized Proposals for exporting LCA Tejas fighter and Twin Seater aircraft to foreign-friendly countries around the world. LCA Tejas is the best platform for India to be a flag bearer to achieve export targets set by the government. (ANI)

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IAF

IAF Holds Aerial Display To Mark Its 91st Anniv

By LokMarg

The Indian Air Force (IAF) held an aerial display over Bhojtal Lake in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal to mark its 91st anniversary, treating the city with thrilling aerobatic performances, showcasing the nation’s air prowess today.

CH-47F (I) Chinook helicopters of the Indian Air Force showcased thrilling aerobatic performances over the lake.

Apart from Governor Mangubhai Patel, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, senior officers of the Indian Air Force were present to witness the fly-past program.

Earlier this week Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari met veteran air warriors in New Delhi as part of Air Force Day celebrations.

IAF officials said, “As part of the Air Force Day celebrations, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari met veteran air warriors in New Delhi. The Air Force Chief used the occasion to discuss different issues faced by the veterans and instructed the officials concerned to address them at the earliest.”

Air Force Day marks the official induction of the Indian Air Force (IAF) in 1932. Every year, the day is celebrated in the presence of the Indian Air Force chief and senior officers.

The Air Force was officially raised as the supporting force of the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom in 1932 and the first operational squadron was created in 1933. Major operations undertaken by the IAF include Operation Vijay, Operation Meghdoot, Operation Cactus, and Operation Poomalai since 1950.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) is celebrating its 91 anniversary on October 8, 2023. (ANI)

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IAF Prachand Choppers

IAF To Buy 156 More Prachand Choppers For Deployment Along China, Pak Border

By LokMarg

In what could be termed as one of the biggest pushes for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ in the defence sector, the Indian Air Force is going to place orders for 156 more Prachand Light Combat Helicopters, with HAL, which would be deployed at both the China and Pakistan front by the IAF and the Indian Army.

The two services have already inducted 15 of these choppers in their fleet in the last 15 months after holding trials in the most extreme weather conditions and terrain in the world.

“The Indian Air Force as the lead service has moved a proposal to the government for buying 156 more Prachand choppers as a joint acquisition case which is likely to get approved soon,” senior defence officials told ANI.

Recently, Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari had announced from foreign soil about the force’s intent to buy around 100 more Light Combat Aircraft Mark 1A to push indigenisation.

The combined total of the two projects in terms of worth is over Rs 1.5 lakh crore.

Of the 156 choppers, 66 would be inducted by the Indian Air Force while the rest 90 would be acquired by the Indian Army.

Meeting the Indian Air Force requirement of being a completely Indian Designed, developed and manufactured weapon system, the Prachand has been extensively test-flown by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL).

The attack helicopter has been built as per the requirements of the Indian armed forces to operate both in desert terrains and high-altitude sectors.

Prachand is the world’s only attack helicopter that can land and take off at an altitude of 5,000 metres (16,400 ft), which makes it ideal to operate in the high-altitude areas of the Siachen glacier and Eastern Ladakh.

It is also capable of firing a range of air-to-ground and air-to-air missiles and can destroy air defence operations of the enemy.

It is also going to be equipped with newer Dhruvastra air-to-ground missiles which can destroy hardened shelters of the enemy in high altitude as well as other terrain.

The IAF is also buying a significant number of these choppers to keep the machines ready for export requirements and sale to friendly foreign countries.

The number of these choppers in the services is expected to go beyond 300 to meet full military requirements and is also expected to find buyers in the export markets soon. (ANI)

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Rajnath

Rajnath To Induct C-295 Aircraft Into IAF

By LokMarg

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will inaugurate the Bharat Drone Shakti-2023 exhibition at the Hindan Air Base in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad today.

The Defence Minister will also formally induct the C-295 transport aircraft into the Indian Air Force in the presence of top military officials, including IAF chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari.

“Today, 25th September, I shall be in Ghaziabad to attend the Bharat Drone Shakti 2023, a drone exhibition cum display event. Shall also attend the unveiling ceremony of the IAF’s first C- 295 MW transport aircraft at Hindon Airbase. Looking forward to it,” posted the Defence Minister on X.

Notably, the IAF, recognizing the potential of indigenous drone design and development, is collaborating with the Drone Federation of India to jointly host Bharat Drone Shakti 2023.

This event, scheduled for September 25 and 26, will take place at the IAF’s Hindan airbase in Ghaziabad and will feature live aerial demonstrations.

In India, the utilization of drones is on the rise, spanning across military and civilian applications.

Drone technology has rapidly transformed both civil and defence sectors, enhancing efficiency, reducing risk exposure, and elevating capabilities, said a press release.

The IAF has extensive experience in deploying Remotely Piloted Aircraft for Intelligence Surveillance and reconnaissance operations.

To harness the burgeoning drone technology sector in India, the IAF initiated the Meher Baba Swarm Drone competition, showcasing its faith in the nation’s drone capabilities, according to the release.

Now, with Bharat Drone Shakti 2023, the IAF is poised to further leverage this expertise.

Bharat Drone Shakti 2023 promises to spotlight the full potential of the Indian drone industry, with an impressive lineup of over 50 live aerial demonstrations.

These demonstrations will encompass a diverse range of drone applications, including survey drones, agriculture drones, fire suppression drones, tactical surveillance drones, heavy-lift logistics drones, loitering munition systems, drone swarms, and counter-drone solutions, said the release.

The event will also witness the active participation of more than 75 drone start-ups and corporate entities.

Anticipated to draw approximately 5,000 attendees, Bharat Drone Shakti 2023 will serve as a convergence point for a wide spectrum of stakeholders.

Representatives from central government agencies, state departments, public and private industries, armed forces, paramilitary forces, friendly foreign countries, academic institutions, students, and drone enthusiasts are expected to grace the event, said the release.

This collaboration between the Indian Air Force and the Drone Federation of India underscores the commitment to advancing drone technology and its applications in India.

The event promises to showcase the capabilities of Indian drones and provide a platform for networking, knowledge exchange, and collaboration among industry leaders, innovators, and enthusiasts.

Bharat Drone Shakti 2023 marks a step towards harnessing the full potential of this transformative technology for the nation’s benefit. (ANI)

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Fighter Jets

IAF To Buy Around 100 More Indigenous LCA Mark 1A Fighter Jets

By LokMarg

In a major announcement aimed at giving a boost to the indigenous aerospace sector, the Indian Air Force has officially announced plans to buy around 100 more made-in-India LCA Mark 1A fighter jets.

The plan to buy the indigenous plane was announced in Spain by Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari soon after receiving the first C-295 transport aircraft in Spain in an exclusive interaction with ANI.

“The LCA was developed from the ground up for replacement of the large MiG series fleet including the MiG-21, MiG 23 and MiG-27 aircraft. With the phasing out of all these aircraft, it is essential that we have adequate numbers of the LCA class aircraft in our inventory. So, apart from the 83 LCA Mark 1A that we have already contracted for, we are moving a case for around 100 more aircraft: Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari told ANI at the Airbus aircraft manufacturing facility.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) plans to buy these made-in-India aircraft to replace the MiG-series fighter jets in its fleet and the plans have been submitted to the Defence Ministry and all other stakeholders in the national security establishment.

The decision to buy around 100 more of these planes came around the time when the Indian Air Force chief held a review meeting of the indigenous fighter jet programme with all entities involved including Hindustan Aeronautics Limited last month.

The order would mean that the LCA Tejas fighters would re-enter the Indian Air Force in very large numbers. The IAF will have 40 LCA, over 180 LCA Mark-1A and at least 120 LCA Mark-2 planes in the next 15 years.

The last order for LCA Mark1A was for 83 aircraft and the first plane would be delivered around February 2024. LCA Mark 1A is the advanced version of Tejas aircraft.

The LCA Mark 1A plane has more advanced avionics and radars than the initial 40 LCAs being supplied to the Air Force.

The indigenous content in the new LCA Mark 1A is going to be more than 65 per cent.

The Indian Air Force chief in the project review meeting last month had clearly stated that the LCA has been the flag bearer of the force’s efforts towards the indigenisation of its aircraft fleet.

The programme has been the harbinger of Atmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India initiatives of the nation. More importantly, it is a flag bearer of India’s self-reliance in the aerospace sector. (ANI)

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