India to lease one A330 MRTT from France

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has approached the French government to lease one Airbus A330 multi-role tanker transport aircraft for training purposes as a precursor to lease five more mid-air refuellers for increasing the combat capability and radius of its multi-role fighters.The leasing will be done on government-to-government basis with the IAF already issuing a request for information (RFI) for a single aircraft while a request for proposals route will be used for the additional five refuellers on lease. The issue was discussed during Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria’s visit to France last week.

“With IAF looking towards A330 refuellers for its future, it is only natural that its pilots are trained in advance to handle the aircraft as mid-air refuelling is a precision process with zero margin of error and huge stakes,” said an IAF official.

The A330 refuellers of France and UAE air force have been used to ferry as many as 17 Rafale omni-role fighters to India from Merignac-Bordeaux air base since July 2020. Another seven fighters are due to arrive in India in May with a batch being deployed at the new Hashimara air base in West Bengal with Ambala being the first base.

from Asian Defence News https://ift.tt/3gOdkqn
via IFTTT

Comments

US And Russian Chiefs Of Staff Discuss Ukraine In Rare Phone Call

U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley (left) and his Russian counterpart Valery Gerasimov (file photo) The Hill: Milley speaks with Russian counterpart for first time since start of war Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley spoke with his Russian counterpart on Thursday, the first such conversation between the two since the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine began in late February, according to the Pentagon. Milley spoke by phone with Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian general staff, and they “discussed several security-related issues of concern and agreed to keep the lines of communication open,” Joint Staff spokesperson Col. Dave Butler said in a readout of the conversation. The Pentagon did not provide further information on the conversation. Read more .... WNU Editor: So much for the reports last week that Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia Valery Gerasimov was fired b...

Is Putin's Inner Circle Already In Discussions On Who Is Going To Replace Him?

Russian President Vladimir Putin leads a meeting on economic issues in Moscow on Monday. (Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) Daily Beast: Putin’s Own Men Are Already Discussing Who Will Replace Him Three months into Vladimir Putin’s bloody “special operation” in Ukraine, his own men in the Kremlin are reportedly discussing who will replace him. That’s according to new reporting by the independent news outlet Meduza, which cited several sources close to the Russian presidential administration who said officials are increasingly fed up with Putin personally. Some of Putin’s own allies within the Kremlin walls have reportedly floated the idea of Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin becoming his successor, or former President Dmitry Medvedev, who is now the deputy chairman of the Security Council. Sergei Kirienko, the first deputy chief of staff of the presidential administration, was also said to have been discussed as a contender. Read mor...

China's shipyard CSSC launches 1st Pakistani Hangor class submarine PNS Hangor

According to information published by the Pakistani MoD on April 26, 2024, the Hangor class submarine PNS Hangor was launched by the Chinese shipyard CSSC. This submarine is a part of the Hangor-class, which itself is based on the Yuan-class Type 039B submarines provided by China. Read full news at this link Hangor class submarine PNS Hangor. (Picture source: Pakistani MoD) Read more from World Defence News https://ift.tt/dgQWhs7 via IFTTT

MTQ News

Search This Blog