SOURCE: API

The Indian Air Force has launched a search for a new transport aircraft to replace its current AN-32 fleet. They have released a Request for Information (RFI) seeking procurement of a Medium Transport Aircraft (MTA) with the ability to carry between 18 and 30 tons.

Because C-295 is in the 5-10 tones category, it no longer fits the 18 to 30 tones load carrying bracket. Essentially, the IAF is looking to replace the AN-32s with a larger carrying capacity aircraft. However, the aircraft they are seeking means that even the IAF’s existing C-130J Super Hercules could qualify, and if that is the case, Defence Analysts Ranesh Rajan has called for the procurement of the same transporter if it fits the bill rather than investing in new transporter aircraft.

SOURCE: API

It was reported in June 2020 that a nearly identical Chinese surveillance balloon that was shot down by an F-22 over the water off the coast of South Carolina in US airspace was also spotted over an Indian Naval base in India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

In January 2022, an identical Chinese surveillance balloon was also seen over Port Blair in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, near a strategically located Indian Navy base, with the same antenna-like structure as seen in the above image. Back then, this incident barely made its way into mainstream Indian media reports, and many were unsure whether it was a stratospheric balloon used for data collection for weather patterns or something else.

SOURCE: API

An F-22 Raptor fighter aircraft utilized an AIM-9X missile to bring down a Chinese surveillance balloon equipped with cameras, sensors, and radars. On Saturday, a $200 million jet took off from the Langley Air Force base and successfully shot down the balloon at 2:38 PM. This caused the balloon’s surveillance payload to detach and fall into the ocean near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

A similar incident occurred in 2016 when a meteorological balloon coming from the Pakistani side was detected by radars in the Barmer district of Rajasthan, and a pair of Sukhoi-30MKI aircraft took off immediately to investigate the matter at around 10:30 a.m.

SOURCE: BLOOMBERG

India is playing an increasingly important role in global oil markets, buying more and more cheap Russian oil and refining it into fuel for Europe and the US.

Yet New Delhi has faced little public blowback because it’s meeting the West’s twin goals of crimping Moscow’s energy revenue while preventing an oil supply shock. And as Europe ramps up sanctions, India is only going to become more central to a global oil map that’s been redrawn by Vladimir Putin’s year-long war in Ukraine.

SOURCE: UNI

The Army has decided to conduct an online test followed by a physical test as it is a major change in the recruitment procedure for the next Agniveer batch under the Agnipathi system. Currently a physical test is conducted first followed by a written test.

Indian Air Force and Navy have already launched online test as the first stage of recruitment. The Army is conducting its Common Entrance Test (CEE) online starting this year, with the first test scheduled for April at 200 locations nationwide. The new procedure aims to reduce the large crowds seen in previous recruitment events.

SOURCE: PTI

The government has blocked 232 apps operated by overseas entities, including Chinese for being involved in betting, gambling and unauthorised loan service, according to an official source. Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) has issued orders to block these apps following instructions from Ministry of Home Affairs.

“The order to block 138 apps that were involved in betting, gambling and money laundering were issued last evening. Separately, an order to block 94 apps engaged in unauthorised loan service has also been issued. These apps were being operated from offshore entities, including Chinese. They were posing a threat to the economic stability of the country,” the official, who did not wish to be named , told PTI.

SOURCE: PTI

Pakistan’s former military ruler General (retd.) Pervez Musharraf, the architect of the Kargil War in 1999, died on Sunday in Dubai after a prolonged illness, according to media reports. Musharraf, 79, was suffering from amyloidosis, a rare disease caused by a build-up of an abnormal protein called amyloid in organs and tissues throughout the body, according to his family.

General (retd) Musharraf died at a hospital in Dubai, Geo News quoted his family as saying.

SOURCE: PTI

Pakistan’s former military dictator General Pervez Musharraf, the architect of the Kargil War, toppled the democratically-elected government in a bloodless military coup in 1999 and ruled the country for nine years during which he survived numerous assassination bids.

Born in a middle-class family of Urdu-speaking Mohajir parents in Delhi in 1943, Musharraf migrated to Pakistan with his family after the Partition in 1947. Pakistan’s last military dictator died on Sunday as a forgotten man in politics after spending his final years in self-exile in the UAE to avoid criminal charges against him in his country.

SOURCE: IANS

Despite being in a prolonged economic crisis, Pakistan is not seen deterring from its anti-India antics. Indian intelligence agencies have recently revealed Pakistan’s conspiracy to spread a false narrative on Kashmir with the help of a toolkit.

According to sources, the fake narrative will be shared on social media and demonstrations will be organised by Pakistan’s agents present across the world. On the occasion of Kashmir Solidarity day, which is observed as a holiday in Pakistan on February 5, the country has plans to defame India at the international level.

SOURCE: PTI

Weeks after scripting history by becoming the first woman fighter pilot of the Indian Air Force (IAF) to take part in an aerial wargame abroad, Squadron Leader Avani Chaturvedi says flying combat aircraft is exciting and the sky is the limit for young people wanting to pursue a career in the force.

Chaturvedi, a Su-30MKI pilot, was part of the IAF contingent that participated in a 16-day mega air combat exercise with the Japan Air Self Defence Force (JASDF) at the Japanese airbase of Hyakuri from January 12 to 26.

SOURCE: PTI

A top Indian Air Force officer on Saturday underlined the need to maintain strict vigil to ensure airfield security and urged people to provide timely information on any suspicious activities, according to a defence spokesperson.

Air Officer Commanding (AOC), Air Force Station Jammu, Air Commodore G S Bhullar said this while chairing an airfield security review meeting here, the spokesperson said. Village heads from areas in the immediate vicinity of the Jammu airfield, officials of concerned civic agencies and key officials of the Airport Authority of India attended the meeting at the Air Force Station here.

SOURCE: UNB

Bangladesh has said Pakistan “should formally apologize” for the atrocities perpetrated against unarmed Bengalis in 1971. Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen conveyed this to Pakistani State Minister for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar when they met in Sri Lanka’s Colombo Saturday.

Momen is now in Sri Lanka as a guest for the country’s low-key 75th Independence Day celebrations, for which the guest list was filled up mostly by neighbouring countries at the foreign minister level.

SOURCE: PTI

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in a “special gesture” briefly joined a meeting here between India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and his UK counterpart Tim Barrow and assured his government’s full support to deepen bilateral strategic partnership in sectors like trade and defence.

Doval and Barrow met at the UK Cabinet Office, a department responsible for supporting the Prime Minister. “A special gesture by PM @rishisunak to join for a while India-UK dialogue between Sir Tim Barrow & Mr Doval at @cabinetofficeuk,” the Indian High Commission tweeted on Saturday.

SOURCE: PTI

The Madhya Pradesh Police have arrested three members of the banned outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) on charges of conspiring against the government and indulging in unlawful activities, an official said on Sunday.

With this, the police have taken into custody four members of the banned outfit in the last couple of days. In the latest action, two PFI members were arrested in Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal on Saturday while the third one was arrested after being brought on production warrant from Aurangabad (in Maharashtra) in connection with a case registered by the MP Police’s Special Task Force last year, the official said.

SOURCE: PTI

Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be on a two-day Gujarat visit from Sunday and participate in programmes of the Self-Empowered Women’s Association (SEWA) founded by social worker and Gandhian Ela Bhatt.

Clinton will pay tribute to Bhatt, who died at the age of 89 in November last year, and interact with SEWA members at its office in Ahmedabad on Sunday.