Archive For March, 2014

Night trial of Agni-I missile put off

The first night trial of Agni-I ballistic missile has been postponed indefinitely for the second time, a defence official said. The missile was to be tested for the first time for night launch by the Strategic Forces Command as part of user trial from the Wheeler Island off the coast near Dhamra in Bhadrak district […]

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Carriers to add 700 aircraft by March 2015

Airlines in India are likely to add 700 new aircraft in their fleet by March 2015 but an aviation thinktank has warned that financing may be challenging for some carriers. According to the India Aviation Outlook Report for 2014-15 of Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation (CAPA) , at the end of 2013, Indian carriers had approximately […]

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HAL to spearhead effort to set up aerospace university

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. has announced that it has set the ball rolling for the country’s first full-fledged aerospace university. HAL would spearhead the effort to meet the long-felt and future needs of the growing aeronautical sector, a company release said. The Mr B.K. Chaturvedi committee on restructuring HAL had recommended such a move either on […]

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Human space flight mission off ISRO priority list

half of the last decade is off the priority list of ISRO, with the mission being ruled out before 2017. The ambitious venture that could have electrified the entire space programme and given New Delhi a vantage position as a human space transportation provider after Russia and China does not figure in the Space Department’s […]

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’6 DRDO Projects Delayed’

Union Defence Minister Mr A K Antony told the Rajya Sabha that six major projects, including Light Combat Aircraft ‘Tejas’ and a couple of missile programmes, had been delayed. In a written reply, Mr Antony said the LCA phase-II, which was to be ready by December 2008, is now expected to be completed by December […]

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Russia keen to sell anti-missile defence system to India

Even as the Indian Army has entered the global market to buy short-range surface-to-air missile defence systems, Russia is keen to offer its anti-missile system Tor-M2KM to India, with the latter slated to undergo a series of tests.  Exhibited outside of Russia for the first time, a fully operational combat model of the Tor-M2KM anti […]

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Life of Kiran aircraft to be extended up to 2017-18

In the absence of an intermediate jet trainer, the Indian Air Force (IAF) will have to extend the life of ageing Kiran Mk-I trainers up to 2017-18 to prevent any disruption in the pilot training programme. “After the study of the fatigue life spectrum of Kiran Mk-I aircraft, the Regional Centre for Military Airworthiness (Aircraft) has […]

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Mars orbiter completes 100 days

‘Probe in good health and has to travel 490 million km more’ The Mars Orbiter spacecraft completes 100 days in space on Wednesday (Feb. 12), or roughly a third of its journey towards the Red Planet.  The country’s first interplanetary probe, launched on November 5, 2013, is in good health during its curved travel of […]

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Inept DGCA’s disregard for safety norms

The absence of an accident doesn’t mean your flight operation is safe. That’s yesterday’s thinking” –Mr Kevin Hiatt, President and CEO,  Flight Safety Foundation For the past 10 years, civil aviation in India operated on the assumption that if we have no accidents, we are safe. The death of 158 passengers and crew in Mangalore […]

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India woos world-renowned scientists to boost research

Bereft of front line research, India now woos Nobel laureates and Fellows of Royal Society with a lucrative financial offer to mentor Indian students and spur fundamental research in Indian institutions hoping to rise up in global scientific achievement scale. Five of the world’s top scholars—all Fellows of the Royal Society—have accepted India’s offer and […]

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