Ahmedabad plane crash: Ex-CM Rupani's mortal remains handed over to kin
Rupani who was the chief minister from August 2016 to September 2021, steered Gujarat through a critical post-Covid recovery phase. He was among the 242 passengers and crew members on board the London-bound Air India flight AI-171 that crashed in Ahmedabad on June 12.
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Economic Times
an hour ago
- Economic Times
Blind radar, blistering speed: How Israeli jets crippled Iran's air defence in 48 hours, something Russia couldn't do in 3 years
TIL Creatives Representative AI Image Within just 48 hours of launching its campaign, Israel claimed air superiority over western Iran—including the capital Tehran. Israeli jets now drop bombs from inside Iranian skies instead of relying on expensive long-range missiles. This marks a major strategic gain, especially when compared to Russia's enduring failure to control Ukrainian skies after more than three years of control over Iranian airspace is not just about planes—it's about precision, coordination, and speed. It's what Russia hoped to achieve in Ukraine but could not. Russia's air force—one of the world's largest—has been unable to gain full air control over Ukraine since February 2022. Instead, the conflict devolved into slow, costly trench warfare. Israel's campaign against Iran has gone in the opposite direction.'The two campaigns are showing the fundamental importance of air superiority in order to succeed in your overall military objectives,' said retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula. 'In the case of the Israel-Iran war, it allows them unhindered freedom to attack where they possess air superiority over segments of Iran.'The difference, experts say, lies in planning and execution. Israel's air force is smaller but far more agile, better integrated with intelligence and cyber capabilities, and equipped with modified fifth-generation F-35 jets. 'Over the past 24 hours, we completed an aerial route to Tehran and conducted an aerial breaching battle,' said Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, Israeli Chief of General Staff. 'IAF pilots are flying at great risk to their lives, hundreds of kilometres away from Israel, striking hundreds of different targets with precision.'With Iran's air defences largely disabled, older Israeli aircraft like the F-15 and F-16 have joined the fight. These now deploy short-range JDAM and Spice-guided bombs—cheap, widely available, and analysts agree that Iran's air defences were easier to defeat than Ukraine's. 'Israel achieved surprise and overmatch over Iran's air defences, which represented a much easier target set than Ukraine's,' said Michael Kofman of the Carnegie Endowment. 'The asymmetry in qualitative capability between Israel's air force and Russia is also vast.' Retired British Air Marshal Edward Stringer points to culture and training. 'All the Russians have is pilots. They grow these pilots to drive flying artillery, and that's it,' he said. In contrast, Israel's military integrates cyber, air, and intelligence capabilities with tight cohesion. Unlike Ukraine, which was warned of an impending Russian invasion and dispersed its air-defence systems in early 2022, Iran was deceived. Israeli threats were timed around U.S.-Iran talks scheduled for 15 June. Instead, war began on the 13th. Covert Israeli operations destroyed Iranian air-defence nodes with short-range drones. Intelligence teams assassinated senior IRGC leaders. Michael Horowitz, an Israeli geopolitical analyst, said, 'Basically, what Israel did with Iran is what Russia wanted to do with Ukraine... but Iranian regime unpopularity made infiltration easier.' Despite maintaining air superiority, Israel continues to face ballistic missile attacks from Iran. Many of these have been intercepted, but some have reached Tel Aviv and other cities. The Israeli military confirmed it intercepted 'the vast majority of the missiles' while acknowledging 'a few impacts on buildings.'Israel's air defence system comprises several layers: Iron Dome: Designed to intercept short-range rockets, operational since 2011, with over 90% success rate. Arrow-2 and Arrow-3: Long-range interceptors targeting ballistic missiles even outside the atmosphere. Built with U.S. support. David's Sling: Targets medium-range threats. Built by Rafael and U.S. firm Raytheon. Iron Beam: A laser-based system still under development. Promising low-cost interception, but not yet operational. U.S. THAAD system: Deployed in Israel and used by the U.S. to intercept incoming Iranian missiles. Air-to-air defences: Israeli jets and helicopters have intercepted drones. Jordan's air force also downed projectiles entering its airspace. Iran relied on a fragmented mix of Russian S-300s, Chinese batteries, and local systems—none of which were adequately integrated. Crucially, Iran invested more in its missile capabilities and regional proxies than in defending its own skies. 'Iran never relied on air defences alone to ward off attacks like this. The idea was always to use deterrence,' said Fabian Hinz of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. But that deterrence—primarily Hezbollah—was crippled last year and physically cut off from Iran. Syrian air-defence systems had already been bombed by Israel, effectively opening a corridor for Israeli jets into Iran. Tehran's underinvestment now appears to have been a costly next move is clear: prevent more missile strikes by targeting launchers on the ground. 'The best way to shoot a missile is on the ground while it's in a container,' said retired U.S. Air Force Gen. Timothy Ray. 'What the Israelis are doing is just steadily leveraging an advantage.'Civilian casualties continue to mount on both sides. But from a strategic standpoint, time now appears to be on Israel's unfolding air war is being closely watched. From Washington to New Delhi, defence planners are studying it in detail. As British Air Marshal Martin Sampson put it, 'From Israel's side, the campaign objective is to destroy and degrade—and Iran doesn't have that ability.'The Israel-Iran conflict, like the Ukraine war, offers hard truths about modern warfare. The biggest among them? The side that controls the skies, controls the war.
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Business Standard
an hour ago
- Business Standard
Airbus wins major jet orders as France-Israel row hits Paris airshow
Airbus bagged multibillion-dollar plane orders from Saudi Arabia and Poland on the opening day of the Paris Airshow clouded by a separate diplomatic dispute over France's decision to shut down some Israeli stands for displaying deadly weapons. Delegates expect this year's iteration of the world's biggest aviation trade show to see less business than usual, partly due to last week's fatal crash of an Air India Boeing 787 and also because Boeing racked up huge deals during USPresident Donald Trump's recent tour of the Middle East. But Airbus looks set to close a series of sales on its home turf, and interest in the defence side of the show is high as Europe ramps up military spending and conflict between Israel and Iran escalates. Tensions between long-standing allies France and Israel flared up as the show was getting underway, when Paris ordered the main Israeli company stands to be closed down when they refused to remove attack weapons from display. Israel's ministry of defence condemned the move as "outrageous and unprecedented" and accused France of trying to shield its companies from Israeli competition. Speaking to reporters by the black partitions erected to block off the Israeli stands, US Republican Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders described the French move as "pretty absurd". Show organisers said they were holding talks to try to "find a favourable outcome". The office of French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said all exhibitors had been told ahead of the show that attack weapons would be prohibited from display and that the companies could resume their exhibits if they complied with this requirement. Bayrou told reporters that given France's diplomatic stance, and "in particular its ... very great concern about Gaza", the government had felt it unacceptable for such weapons to be on show. SAUDI AMBITIONS, POLISH PLANS Boeing's CEO Kelly Ortberg and Commercial Airplanes boss Stephanie Pope have cancelled their trip to Paris and the US company is scaling back its schedule at the event as it focuses on supporting the probe into last week's Air India crash that killed more than 240 people in the first fatal 787 accident. But Airbus was busy at the show working on deals. Saudi leasing company AviLease said on Monday it had ordered 30 Airbus A320neo single-aisle jets and 10 A350 freighters in its first direct deal with the European planemaker. That would be worth around $3.5 billion, according to estimated prices from analysts Cirium Ascend. Saudi Arabia is spending big on becoming a new regional aviation hub, seeking to catch up with Dubai and Qatar by launching new airline Riyadh Air and announcing a massive six-runway airport. Riyadh Air also signed a deal with Airbus for 25 A350-1000 long-haul jets worth an estimated $4.6 billion. Both Saudi firms are units of the Public Investment Fund, whose leaders attended the show as part of a large Saudi delegation as the kingdom attempts to grow its tourism and cargo infrastructure and challenge the airline kingpins of the Gulf, Emirates and Qatar Airways, for a share of growing traffic. European politics and realignments in security relationships were also driving one of the most political shows in years. Polish national airline LOT announced an order for 40 Airbus A220s plus options for a further 44, confirming an earlier Reuters story and seen as a part of a broader reset of relations with France. The 40 jets are worth roughly $1.6 billion. The deal followed a hard-fought contest between France-based Airbus and Brazil's Embraer. The competition attracted strong political attention as Warsaw moves to improve sometimes patchy relations with France amid questions over security pledges from the United States, according to European aviation and defence sources. In May, France and Poland signed a treaty to increase cooperation on defence, nuclear energy and other measures, in a sign of growing alliances between European nations. In other business, Japanese airline ANA finalised a previously announced Airbus order and industry sources have said Egyptair is close to an order for six more Airbus A350s. Bloomberg News reported that Taiwanese carrier Starlux was also close to ordering more Airbus A350 planes. US arms firms were also pushing their wares as European rivals debate how to respond to higher spending, though there were few major announcements. "Paris is traditionally a civil show but a lot of investors, especially those new to aerospace and defence, are coming this year, with perhaps overly high expectations with regards to defence news flow," Agency Partners analyst Sash Tusa said.
Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
Govt's high-level panel on Air India plane crash holds first meeting; possible causes, necessary SOPs, previous accidents' records discussed
The government's high-level multi-disciplinary committee on Thursday's crash of Air India flight AI 171 in Ahmedabad held its first meeting on Monday and discussed various possible causes and theories pertaining to the deadly aviation accident, the worst for an Indian airline in four decades. Deliberations were also focussed on identifying areas of improvement and creating a roadmap to formulate standard operating procedures (SOPs) to prevent such disasters. Records pertaining to earlier aviation disasters in India, like the 2010 Mangaluru crash and 2020 Kozhikode accident of Air India Express aircraft, and how they were handled by various stakeholders were also shared in the meeting that lasted around two hours, it is learnt. The committee is headed by the Home Secretary Govind Mohan and includes senior officials from the civil aviation ministry, home ministry, Gujarat government, the Indian Air Force, and various other departments and agencies including the Intelligence Bureau, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, and Directorate General of Civil Aviation, among others. It is expected to submit its report within three months. The technical investigation into the crash of Air India's Boeing 787-8 aircraft operating flight AI-171 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick is being conducted by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB). On being asked why a government committee has been constituted when the AAIB-led probe is already on, Naidu had said on Saturday that the AAIB investigation is technical and specific to the tragic plane crash in Ahmedabad, while the government's high-level committee will take a more holistic approach and look at further strengthening of the aviation safety ecosystem. 'The Committee will examine the existing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and guidelines issued to prevent and handle such occurrences and suggest comprehensive guidelines for dealing with such instances in the future. The Committee will not be a substitute to other enquiries being conducted by relevant organisations but will focus on formulating SOPs for preventing and handling such occurrences in the future,' the civil aviation ministry had said late Friday while notifying the constitution of the high-level committee. The objective and scope of the government's high-level committee also includes ascertaining the root cause of the crash, including assessment of possible contributory factors like mechanical failure, human error, weather conditions, and regulatory compliance-related issues, among others. It is also tasked with assessing the emergency response of various stakeholders—both Central and State governments—including rescue operations, and the coordination between them. The committee will formulate comprehensive SOPs and suggest the roles of various Central and State government organisations to deal with post-crash incident handling and management. It will also suggest policy changes, operational improvements, and training enhancements required to prevent such accidents in future, and handle the situation in the event of a crash. Thursday's crash claimed the lives of 241 of the 242 people on board the Boeing 787-8 aircrfat—bearing registration VT-ANB. Lives were also lost on the ground as the plane crashed into a medical college hostel mess close to the Ahmedabad airport. As for the technical probe into the accident, the AAIB is being assisted in the probe by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) given that the aircraft was manufactured by an American company—Boeing—and was made in the US. A UK AAIB team is also going to help with the investigation, and so are Boeing and other major component manufacturers like GE (engine manufacturer). According to aircraft accident investigation protocol, the probe report should be finalised within a year. The world has its eyes set on the probe as scores of Boeing 787 aircraft are operating all over the globe, and this was the first-ever crash involving the 787. According to flight tracking data, the signal from the aircraft was lost at an altitude of just 625 feet, moments after take-off. It then descended with a vertical speed of 475 feet per minute and crashed. According to aviation safety regulator DGCA, the pilots gave a Mayday call—signalling severe distress—to the Ahmedabad airport air traffic control (ATC) upon take-off, after which it crashed outside the airport perimeter. Sukalp Sharma is a Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express and writes on a host of subjects and sectors, notably energy and aviation. He has over 13 years of experience in journalism with a body of work spanning areas like politics, development, equity markets, corporates, trade, and economic policy. He considers himself an above-average photographer, which goes well with his love for travel. ... Read More
