India receives first Rafale fighter jet from France

France’s Dassault Aviation on Tuesday formally handed over the first of the 36 Rafale medium role fighter jets ordered for the Indian Air Force.

• Defence minister Rajnath Singh formally received the first Rafale fighter jet from his French counterpart Florence Parly at aircraft maker Dassault Aviation facility in Merignac, southwestern France.
• The minister performed a brief Shastra Puja on the new aircraft as he emblazoned it with an 'Om' tilak and laid flowers and a coconut, just before taking off in it for a sortie. He was joined by senior representatives of the Indian Armed Forces to mark the induction ceremony.
• "Our Air Force is the fourth-largest in the world and I believe that the Rafale Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft will make us even stronger and will give a boost to India's air dominance exponentially to ensure peace and security in the region," Singh said, addressing the gathering in Hindi.
• Rafale is a twin-jet fighter aircraft able to operate from both an aircraft carrier and a shore base.
• "I have been told that the French word Rafale means andhi in Hindi or gust of wind. I am sure that the aircraft will live up to its name,” he said.
• The RB001 Rafale, denoting the initials of Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Bhadauria who played a key role in striking the deal for the jets in his previous role as IAF deputy chief, was unveiled just moments ago behind him, with the Indian tricolour as its backdrop.
• "Today marks a new milestone in the Indo-French strategic partnership and indeed a new high in the bilateral defence cooperation. Such achievements encourage us to do more and that will be on my agenda when I meet minister Parly today," Singh said, in reference to the annual Indo-French Defence Dialgoue scheduled for later on Tuesday in Paris.
• "This is a historic and landmark day for the Indian Armed forces, which reflects the depth of strategic partnership between India and France. Today marks Vijayadashami – the victory of good over evil – as also the 87th Indian Air Force Day. And therefore a symbolic day in so many ways," he added.
• Parly described the Rafale as a symbol of the best France has to offer India to protect its sovereignty and also of the French commitment to the 'Make in India' initiative.
• "It is no coincidence that this ceremony falls on Dussehra and also the Indian Air Force's 87th anniversary. It is a reflection of the paramount importance we give to our cooperation with India,” said Parly.
• "This is just the first step of a long journey, as we are committed to meet all needs of the Indian Army. It marks a big day in the history of our industrial cooperation and we remain fully committed to the Make in India initiative,” she said.
• This range of Rafale fighter jets have been specially designed to meet the needs of the IAF, which its manufacturer described as a new step in the company's long-standing relationship with India.
• "The history of our relationship started in 1953 with delivery of Toofani for the Indian Air Force and since then we have had a continuous and unfailing commitment to this country, supported by successive French governments," said Eric Trappier, CEO of Dassault Aviation.
• "These aircraft, which are on course to be delivered on scheduled as per the agreement signed in September 2016, have been created to meet the highly demanding needs of the Indian Air Force, which operates in a very sensitive geopolitical environment," he said. Source: https://www.domain-b.com/: 

Read More........ → July 12, 2020

US aviation watchdog orders review of Boeing 787s

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ordered a review of electrical systems in Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner in the wake of a series of incidents such as a battery fire involving a Japanese airline earlier this week in Boston. A year after the FAA completed evaluation of the technologically advanced aircraft, the authority today said it would now review on the 787's design, manufacturing and assembly to examine critical electrical systems as well as other quality-control issues. ''We are concerned about recent events involving the Boeing 787,'' Ray LaHood, the transportation secretary, told a press conference in Washington. ''We will look for the root causes of the recent events and do everything we can to ensure these events don't happen again.'' FAA administrator Michael P Huerta said the review would focus on the electrical systems of the airplane, including the batteries and power distribution systems. The news comes after airlines eager to fly an airplane that promises significant fuel savings waited for years and have now started operating the aircraft. Boeing has delivered 50 of the airplanes since November 2011 and eight airlines, including All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines, Air India, Ethiopian Airlines, Chile's LAN Airlines, Poland's LOT, Qatar Airways and United Airlines, are flying the 787s. This week's incidents involving battery and electrical connections comes on top of last month's inspection of the 787's fuel lines by FAA and has given rise to doubts that a combination of electrical and fuel line faults could cause serious problems. In December, the FAA ordered inspection of fuel line connectors on all 787s, warning of a risk of fuel leaks and fires. That coincided with the failure of one of the six electric generators of a United Airlines 787, forcing it to divert the Houston to Newark flight to New Orleans at mid-night. FAA said the review would not require the grounding of the 787 fleet. In a statement released today, Boeing expressed confidence in the design and performance of the 787. ''It is a safe and efficient airplane that brings tremendous value to our customers and an improved flying experience to their passengers. ''The airplane has logged 50,000 hours of flight and there are more than 150 flights occurring daily. Its in-service performance is on par with the industry's best-ever introduction into service – the Boeing 777. Like the 777, at 15 months of service, we are seeing the 787's fleet wide dispatch reliability well above 90 per cent,'' the company said. Boeing said the 787 completed the most robust and rigorous certification process in the history of the FAA over a year ago. ''We remain fully confident in the airplane's design and production system. Regular reviews of program and technical progress are an important part of the validation and oversight process that has created today's safe and efficient air transportation system. However, Boeing said: ''While the 787's reliability is on par with the best in class, we have experienced in-service issues in recent months and we are never satisfied while there is room for improvement. For that reason, today we jointly announced with the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) the start of a review of the 787's recent issues and critical systems.'' ''Just as we are confident in the airplane, we are equally confident in the regulatory process that has been applied to the 787 since its design inception. With this airplane, the FAA conducted its most robust certification process ever. We expect that this review will complement that effort,'' it added. Source: Domain-B

Read More........ → January 17, 2013

India to allow 'air bubble' flight ops from US, France

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday said India will allow limited flight operations from US and France under the 'Air Bubble' arrangements made with these countries. Accordingly, these flight services will be operated under certain pre-conditions.

Besides these, operations of Lufthansa flights to India under the arrangement with Germany will commence.

He said that similar arrangement are under advance stages of negotiations with the UK.

In aviation parlance, 'Air Bubble' travel arrangements are established between two countries under a certain set of safety and travelling conditions such as high demand, legal entry and exit norms and airlines' willingness to operate on these sectors.

Puri said that India has allowed Air France to operate 28 flights to Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai from July 18 to August 1.

Similarly, US-based United Airlines has been allowed to operate 18 flights between July 17-31st.

At present, the civil aviation authorities of India and the UAE have agreed to allow operations of special repatriation flights between the two countries during July 12-26.

As per the arrangement, chartered flights operated by UAE carriers to fly out Indians from the UAE will be allowed to carry ICA (Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship) approved UAE residents to their native country on their return leg.

Further, Indian carriers operating repatriation flights to bring back Indians from the UAE will be allowed to carry the ICA-approved UAE residents on their onward journey from India to the Gulf country.

Currently, the suspension on scheduled commercial international flight operations to and from India have been extended till July 31.

In repatriation operations under the Vande Bharat Mission, Puri said that till July 15, 687,467 passengers have been brought back to India.

On domestic operations, the minister said that passenger traffic is still under 33 per cent of capacity which comes to 100,000 passengers per day.

However, he exuded optimism that this number might rise to 55-60 per cent by November.(IANS) Source: https://southasiamonitor.org/

Read More........ → July 17, 2020

British Airways misplaces Amjad Ali Khan’s 45-year-old sarod

In 2010, Air India damaged a 25-year-old sarod, following which the then civil aviation minister apologized to Khan.

On June 22, when Ustad Amjad Ali Khan played Tagore’s immortal Ekla cholo re at Dartington Hall in Devon, he could not have imagined that it might just be the last time he was putting his hands to his “priceless, precious and almost half-a-century-old” sarod. British Airways misplaced the instrument while the musician was flying back to Delhi on Saturday, and was unable to restore it to him until late on Monday evening. “The harassment has been immense. After I returned to Delhi, I was made to stay at the airport for close to five hours, figuring out all the paperwork to get the instrument back. After that I was told that the instrument would arrive on the next flight. It has been more than 50 hours since then, and there is no sign of the instrument,” the maestro told The Indian Express over the phone. British Airways has apologised, and said it was working round-the-clock to retrieve the sarod. “We are very sorry that this process is taking longer than anticipated, and we fully understand the frustration that this is causing,” the airline said in a statement. “Heathrow Airport’s baggage system in Terminal 5 has experienced a number of problems since Thursday. This has resulted in fewer than expected bags being transported each day. The process of getting the delayed bags onto the next available flight has also been affected.” This is not the first time that the Ustad has suffered with BA. Almost 17 years ago, BA broke one of his sarods during a transfer, he said. “I also lost three bags which still haven’t come back to me. The airline is not in touch with us, but is issuing statements to the media,” Khan said. In 2010, Air India damaged a 25-year-old sarod, following which the then civil aviation minister apologised to Khan. The master said he had never claimed damages. “Even now I am not looking for compensation. I just need the instrument back. There is a lot of work that goes into the craftsmanship of such an intricate instrument. Airlines need to make a conscious effort to handle them with care,” Khan said. The misplaced sarod was created by the legendary lutemaker Hemendra Chandra Sen, whose craftsmanship made an inconspicuous shop in Kolkata’s Deshapriya Park a revered musical destination for many icons of Indian classical music. Hemenda, as Sen was popularly known, also carved George Harrison’s sitar. He passed away in 2010. “It takes a fine musician and many days to create a fine instrument. It is hard to replicate that finesse,” Khan said. He said the thought that the sarod might be gone forever was scary, but “ummeed pe duniya kayam hai. I’m hoping that they understand the value of the instrument and figure this out soon”. While flying for his concerts in July at London’s Wigmore Hall and Charlton Park in Wiltshire, meanwhile, Khan has decided to give BA a miss. Source: Indian Express

Read More........ → July 01, 2014

India, Singapore ink strategic partnership

Nine deals signed, Modi pays homage at INA memorial SINGAPORE, Nov 24: India and Singapore signed a joint declaration on strategic partnership and nine bilateral accords on Tuesday, the second day of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to this city state. Modi and Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong signed the joint declaration on strategic partnership to elevate bilateral relations to a “strategic partnership to deepen and broaden engagement in existing areas of cooperation and catalyse new ones ranging from political, defence and security cooperation to economic, cultural and people to people contact”, an official statement said. “The strategic partnership is also a framework to contribute to greater regional stability and growth,” it added. Besides this, two agreements on defence cooperation and loan of artifacts from India to Singapore, two executive programme/operationalisation documents on arts and culture, and white-shipping, and five memorandums of agreement (MoUs) on cyber security, civil aviation, knowledge exchange in the field of planning, urban planning, and combating drug trafficking were also signed. The agreement on defence cooperation enhances cooperation in the field by providing for defence ministers’ dialogue, joint exercises between armed forces, and cooperation between defence industries to identify areas of co-production and co-development, the statement said. The second agreement “extends the loan of Indian artifacts to the Asian Civilisations Museum of Singapore”. The operationalisation document on arts and culture is on an “executive programme on cooperation in the fields of the arts, heritage, archives and library” between the Indian and Singaporean governments for the years 2015-2018. The second operationalisation document has been signed following the technical agreement on sharing white-shipping or commercial shipping information about movement of cargo ships between the Indian and Singapore navies signed on July 21, 2015. “Following the signing of technical agreement between the two navies on sharing white-shipping information in July 2015, both navies have established a two-way linkage. This has enhanced bilateral cooperation in the area of maritime security,” the statement said. The MoU on cyber security was signed between the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and the Singapore Computer Emergency Response Team (SingCERT). “The MoU promotes closer cooperation and exchange of information pertaining to cyber security between the computer emergency response teams of the two countries by establishment of a broader framework for future dialogue; exchange of information on
such  cyber-attacks; research collaboration in smart technologies; exchange of information on prevalent cyber security policies and best practices as well as professional exchanges,” the statement said. The MoU on civil aviation “facilitates mutual cooperation in a number of mutually agreed areas of civil aviation services and airport management beginning with Jaipur and Ahmedabad airports”. The third MoU promotes knowledge and information exchange in areas as urban planning, waste water management, solid waste management and public-private partnerships between India’s NITI Aayog and the Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE). The MoU on combating drug “facilitates and enhances cooperation by exchange of information on trends in the illicit manufacture and those arrested on drug trafficking charges and establishes direct contact points” between the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) of India and the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) of Singapore. “Capacity building, skill upgrading and knowledge development are also identified as areas of cooperation,” the statement said. The fifth MoU was signed between the Town and Country Planning Organisation of India and the Singapore Cooperation Enterprise in Capacity Building in the field of urban planning and governance. It provides for participation of government officials from India in capacity-building programmes in areas such as urban planning and management. The documents were signed following bilateral talks between Modi and Lee here. After the signing of the documents, External Affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted that the two prime ministers noted the importance of culture between the two countries and encouraged more exhibitions, exchanges and interactions. Modi and Lee noted their shared interest in furthering cooperation in the areas of science and technology, particularly in space, biomedicine and ayurveda, the spokesperson added. The two prime ministers also released two postal stamps showing Rashtrapati Bhavan and Istana, the Singaporean presidential palace, to mark 50 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Earlier on Tuesday, Modi was accorded a ceremonial welcome at Istana following which he met Singapore President Tony Tan Keng Yam and Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong. Modi arrived in Singapore from Malaysia on Monday on a bilateral visit in the second and last leg of his four-day visit to southeast Asia. On Tuesday, he paid his respects at the INA memorial here. (IANS). Source: The Sentinel, Image: flickr.com

Read More........ → November 25, 2015