ghostrider883

With MiG 25’s gone, Sukhois to become eye in the sky A new MKI Sqdn

Indeed. The first of the IL-76 Phalcon AWACS shall arrive in India from Israel later this year or early next year. The Su-30s are being modified for Reconaissance role, which was earlier taken care of by No.35/102 Sqdn's MiG-25Rs. From the article: We all know by now that our MiG-25Rs were invloved in PR missions high and deep inside Pakistan and China. The Su-30s can't fly as high or as fast as the MiG-25Rs. To offest the lack of relative speed and service celing of the Su's, these special reconaissance pods are being acquired.

Nice. Is this for AD's Hunter F.6 or WoE's Hunter FGA.9?

Finally.... 126 MRCA Tender Floated by the IAF

This is what Mush wants the world to believe, that he(and the previous governments) has control over the terrorists who infliltrate into India from Pakistan. But the fact of the matter is it is Pakistan which actively supports these terrorists.Have yo useen the movie "Vertical Limit", where the Paki Army commander starts Arty shelling by saying "Oh well its 3'o clock, time to wake up the Indians". This is what they actually do in real life as well. Begin Arty shelling and firing on Indian positions to divert attention of the Indian Army and cover the terrorists who inflitrate into India. Just read how and why the 1965 Indo-Pak war started and you will know. There is a deep nexus between Pakistan's Inteliigence Agency, ISI and the Al-Mosquitoes and Lashkar-e-wekillinfidels of the world, most of whom are based in Pakistan. There are terrorist training camps in Pakistan occupied Kashmir, which have been photographed by satellites and UAVs. Mush and the Paki government are untrustworthy. Look at what we got for the peace initiatives that the India government took in 1998. Our PM went to Lahore in a bus and in 1999 we had those pesky Pakis occupying our land n Kargil.They of course , were kicked out, but not before the loss of many Indian lives.

IAF Maritime Jaguars ‘sink’ USS Nimitz, F-18s return the favour to INS Viraat

flew around 8 strike missions with the tornado, no CTDs for me.

Sadly, on the last day of the exercise, the Navy lost a Sea Harrier FRS.51. Lt Cdr A. Jain’s aircraft was “being recovered” — about to land — after a sortie with US aircraft during a drill on the last day of the war games. Lt Cdr Jain felt a loss of power in the aircraft even as he was poised for landing. He managed to veer away from above the flight deck of the Viraat and ejected as the aircraft plunged into the sea. Jain was picked up by a Sea King helicopter within minutes. The incident is an embarrassment for the Indian Navy because it happened in the presence of contingents from the navies of Japan, Australia, Singapore and the US. Sea Harriers from Viraat's 300 'White Tigers' squadron took part in a wide range of airborne maneouvres such as air defence, air strikes, interceptions and maritime surveillance alongside the F/A-18 Super Hornets catapulting off the decks of supercarriers USS Nimitz and Kitty Hawk. The Super Hornets refuelled the Sea Harriers in-flight.

Would love to know more about this incident. Got any links?

Well Said :yes:

The Pakis may be good friends of the US but still US can't influence Pakistan's decision of going to war against India. In the 1965 and 71 war, Paki dictator generals were good friends of the US, yet the US wasn't able to do anything when Pakis crossed the border and attacked Indian land and airbases. So if Musharraf gets up on the wrong side of the bed and decides to attack India either covertly or openly, the US will not be able to anything.

Not really. In 2002, after the attack on the Indian parliament, the centre-piece of our freedom and democracy, by Pak terrorists, we almost went to war with Pakistan. Army division were moved close to the border. Fighters moved to forward air bases.Navy was put on alert and the whole operation was named "Operation Parakram". Pakistan did the same. It was almost like 1971 war situation. Sadly, we did not go to war with Pakistan as i felt that we had a valid reason to strike them and avenge the loss of lives of so many fine young men of the Army & Air Force during the Kargil War. IF war would have taken place, it would have meant the debut of the Su-30 in a full scale war. The No. 24 Sqdn flying Su-30K/MKs was put on standby as well. The point is the MiG-21, 23s and to some extent 27s are outdated in today's threat environment and these fighters form the backbone of the IAF. The loss of the MiG-21 and MiG-27 in the 1999 Indo-Pak Kargil War back this up. The MiG-21 pilot lost his life after being executed by Pakis on the ground sadly. The MiG-29s, Mirage 2000s and Su-30s form a small part of the IAF fleet. The fact that Pakistan is modernising rapidly by acquiring 55+ F-16s from the US and 100+ JF-17s from China should give IAF reasons to worry. Bulk of Air Defence is still being perfomed by MiG-21s Hey, Mannie, do you know about this? Acc. to Pakistanis and some Indian sources, Israel had requested refuelling and landing permission for its F-16s in India after a planned strike on the Kahuta Nuclear Plant in Pakistan in the 1980s.

Its turning out to be a fiasco because its been been more than eight years since the IAF notified the government about the urgent requirement of 126 jets to replace the ageing fleet of MiGs. The BJP government at that time assured the IAF that as soon as they get elected in the next elections, they would order 126 Mirage 2000s from France. But in the elections, they lost, new government came in and the whole "dance" began. It won't be until 2012-13 till the new jets arrive, whichever jet is selected. The govt seems least bothered, the country's air defence can be shot to hell.

The Sea Hawk was underpowered for sure but was an excellent rocketting and strafing platform as its performance in the 1971 Indo-Pak War would testify.Indian Navy Sea Hawks flew from the deck of INS Vikrant and bombarded targets in East Pakistan(now Bangladesh) with amazing accuracy. Also the pilot of an Indian Navy Sea Hawk holds the distinction of being the only pilot in the world to perform a successful underwater ejection. Aircraft Underwater

India wins the cricket Twenty 20 Cricket world cup and are the champions. In the final. we beat our arch-rivals , the Pakistanis. The match was close, we won an absolute hummdinger, a roller coaster of a match, one of te hbest Indian victories I have ever seen. The whole nation is celebrating this fantastic win over Pakistan Result : India won by 5 runs India 157/5 (20 overs) Pakistan 152 (19.3 ov) Scorecard

Yeah, the match was a classic. In the last three overs, it looked like Pakistan would steal the match from India specially after Sreesanth and Harbhajan got hammered for sixes and fours. But in the final over, Pak's Misbah ul-Haq played a foolish shot to give India the victory Just looking at these images sends my pulse racing . R P Singh sends off Pakistan's Kamran Akmal out for a duck. Man of the match, Irfan Pathan after taking his third wicket: Fatal Scoop :Misbah-ul-Haq scooped Joginder Sharma off what was the final ball of the match. Hearts skipped a beat as the ball was airborne and seemed to be headed to the boundary... The celebrations begin.....

Album now up at BR Malabar 07 Pics

INS Viraat(R22) is the former RN carrier HMS Hermes(R12),a Centaur Class aircraft carrier. She was sold to the Indian Navy in 1987 and was meant to replace/compliment the ageing INS Vikrant, which again was a former Royal Navy Majestic class aircraft carrier. The Viraat is due for retiremnt in 2015 and may be replaced by the Indigenous Aircraft carrier called Air Defence Ship(to be named INS Vikrant) Air Group: Fleet Defense: Sea Harrier FRS.Mk.51/T.Mk.60 (Capacity for 30) Airborne Early Warning: Ka-31 Helix-B ASW/ASV: Sea King Mk.42B and Ka-28 Helix-A Cdo. Assault: Sea King Mk.42C

cross posting from BR forums :

Yeah, considering that India was the first export customer of the Mirage 2000 and eventually many nations ordered the Mirage 2000. The Su-30's success with the IAF also prompted many nations to order the Su-30 ina configuration similar to the MKI's. The French will be hoping for something similar to happen with the Rafale. When the IAF first floated the idea of acquiring new fighters to replace the MiG-21s and 23s, IAF pilots showed a clear and specific preference for the Mirage 2000. Meanwhile interesting news coming in.... India begins talk with Russia for 2nd nuclear submarine According to this,it is confirmed that a Akula class submarine is being built for the Indian Navy. Still no news of three Tu-22M3 bombers that were supposed to have been leased to the Indian Navy "soon".

Can't believe I missed this thread. A big, hearfelt Thank you to you ,Marcelo It was a pleasure and an honour to be working with you on these two birds :) Chasing Paki F-86s, to be more specific

India's Air Force has been known as the IAF since 1932. The Force was bestowed with the prefix "Royal" after IAF's contribution in the Burma campaign and was known as the Royal Indian Air Force uptil 1950 . Not sure If the US will agree for complete ToT for the F-16 or F-18. Who knows what sort of sanctions they might impose later. After India's nuclar tests in 1998, US sanctions forced a large number of Indian Navy Sea King helicopters and some Sea Harriers to be grounded. The Russians have done complete ToT and license production in the past and the French will willing to do so in the 80s when the Mirage 2000 was selected by the IAF to counter PAF F-16s. I wouldn't be surprised if the MiG-35 is selected with the Israeli EL/M-2052 AESA radar. It is rumoured that the first batch of India's home grown LCA will be fitted with Israeli Radars. With new MiG-29Ks due to arrive in India later this year, a comprehensive Upgrade for IAF's MiG-29s and Russia's flexibility with the MiG-35 productions, I would say MiG has a great chance of winning this contract , or atleast a part of it. The French too have proposed to upgrade India's Mirage 2000 to 2000-5 standards at favourable terms.

The contract going to a US comapny(Boeing/LM) depends a lot upon the Indo-US nuclear deal. The Indian government is facing a lot of flack from the Indian Commie parties and the opposition over the deal. I would like to see the contract being split between the MiG-35 and Rafale.

true, but both nations have a common enemy..a neighbouring Islamic nation hell bent on destruction of our countries.

India’s Sukhois turn it on in UK skies, turn off radars