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Time of India
19 hours ago
- Sport
- Time of India
DPS Azad Nagar gets champion trophy in Youth Olympic
Kanpur: DPS Azad Nagar clinched the champion trophy in Youth Olympic, which concluded here on Thursday. DPS Kalyanpur and Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Sanatan Dharam Vidyalaya were adjudged as the first and second runners-ups, respectively. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Seth Motilal Khedia Inter College received recognition for maximum participation in sports and sportsmanship, while Nandlal Khanna Vidyalaya was awarded for excellent sports performance. GD Goenka School was specially honoured for its disciplined performance. The yoga players presented an excellent show during the concluding ceremony at the The Sportz Hub followed by display of martial arts using Naan knife. MLCs Arun Pathak, Angad Singh and member of All India Krida Bharti attended presented trophies and medals to the winners. The Kanpur Olympic association also felicitated the directors and principals of the participating schools for providing their campus for sports events.
Time of India
3 days ago
- General
- Time of India
MiG-21 retires after 62 yrs in service: IAF bids farewell to ‘flying coffin'; why it's a big deal
NEW DELHI: After serving for over six decades and participating in all major conflicts, the MiG-21 fighter jet is set to retire from the , with a ceremonial farewell scheduled for September. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The final MiG-21 jets, belonging to number 23 Squadron, known as the Panthers, will be retired on September 19 during a ceremony at the Chandigarh airbase. The aircraft leave behind a mixed legacy, once India's first supersonic jets that provided a strategic edge in the 1960s and '70s, they were later marred by frequent accidents, earning the nickname 'flying coffin'. With the retirement of Squadron 23, the Indian Air Force's combat strength will drop to just 29 squadrons, its lowest since the 1960s. Even during the 1965 war, the IAF maintained 32 fighter squadrons. Inducted in 1963, the MiG-21 fighter jets have served the Air Force for 62 years in various versions. They played key roles in the 1965 war with Pakistan, the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war, the 1999 Kargil conflict, and the 2019 Balakot airstrikes. Even during the ongoing Operation Sindoor, the last active MiG-21 squadron has remained on operational alert. "No other fighter has been associated with the IAF for as long as the MiG-21 - an incredible two-thirds of the IAF's 93-year history is inextricably linked to this jet. It has served in every combat action since 1965, through to Op Sindoor, and has touched the career of nearly every Indian fighter pilot alive today, in some form or another. There is no doubt this will be an emotional farewell to a legend of Indian skies," aviation expert Angad Singh was quoted as saying by the ET. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Sources quoted by ET said ceremony will be attended by senior air force officials and veterans who have been associated with the MiG-21 fleet over the years. The event will feature flypasts and static displays to commemorate the occasion. In addition to holding the record for the longest service in the Indian Air Force, the MiG-21 fleet was also the largest ever operated by the country. India acquired over 850 MiG-21 aircraft, including trainer variants, with nearly 600 built domestically by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). Although the MiG-21's operational life was considered long over, the Air Force continued extending the fleet's service due to delays in acquiring sufficient modern fighter jets. The remaining squadrons were originally set to be replaced by the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA Mk1A), but repeated delays in deliveries have pushed back the transition. With inputs from Manu Pubby
Time of India
4 days ago
- General
- Time of India
From warhorse to legend: MiG-21 to bow out after 62 years in Indian skies
ET Bureau Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel After more than six decades of service, which saw the combat aircraft taking part in all major Indian conflicts, the MiG 21 fighter jet is finally set to fly into the sunset, with a ceremonial farewell planned for last aircraft are part of the 23 squadron, also known as the Panthers, and will be sent off on September 19 at a ceremony planned at the Chandigarh airbase. The fighters will leave with a mixed legacy -- from being the first supersonic jets that gave India an edge in the 1960s and '70s to being plagued with accidents in later years that earned it the 'Flying Coffin' its departure -- Sq 23 is being number plated -- the Air Force will fall to a historic low of only 29 combat squadrons. This is the lowest combat strength the Air Force has since the 1960s -- even during the 1965 war, the Air Force had 32 fighter jet in 1963, the fighter jets in its many variants have been in service with the Indian Air Force for 62 years and has taken part in the 1965 war against Pakistan, the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971, Kargil operations of 1999 and the Balakot strikes in 2019. Even during the ongoing Operation Sindoor, the last remaining MiG 21 squadron has been on operational alert."No other fighter has been associated with the IAF for as long as the MiG-21 - an incredible two-thirds of the IAF's 93-year history is inextricably linked to this jet. It has served in every combat action since 1965, through to Op Sindoor, and has touched the career of nearly every Indian fighter pilot alive today, in some form or another. There is no doubt this will be an emotional farewell to a legend of Indian skies," aviation expert Angad Singh said the farewell will see the senior Air Force leadership and veterans who have been associated with the fleet over the years, with flypasts and static displays planned to mark the holding the record for the longest-ever service in the Air Force, the MiG 21 fleet was also the biggest to be ever operated by India. In all, India acquired more than 850 aircraft of the MiG 21 family, including trainers. Almost 600 of these were made in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).While the operational life of the fighters has long been deemed to be over, the Air Force has been giving the remaining fleet life extensions as adequate modern fighter jets have not been ordered or made available to make up squadron numbers. Originally, the last few MiG 21 squadrons were supposed to be replaced by the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA Mk1A) but deliveries of the indigenous fighter jets have been delayed over the years.
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Yahoo
Indian Naval Collaborative Drone Concept Unveiled
Indian drone maker NewSpace Research and Technologies has officially unveiled a new jet-powered drone concept being pitched as a loyal wingman called Abhimanyu. The Indian Navy is now investing in the design as the basis for a future Naval Collaborative Combat Air Vehicle (N-CCAV), which it hopes to team with the service's existing carrier-based MiG-29K Fulcrums, Rafale-Ms expected to arrive in the coming years, and future domestically-developed fighters. A model of the current iteration of the Abhimanyu drone design is on display at the Aeroindia 2025 exhibition, which opened in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru earlier today. Angad Singh was generous enough to share pictures of the model, as well as renders the company has shared with journalists, with TWZ. Abhimanyu has been funded in part to date through the Indian Ministry of Defense's Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) initiative, as well as internal company funding, according to Singh. iDEX has launched multiple rounds of Acing Development of Innovative Technologies (ADITI) innovation challenges since it was launched in 2018, including one centered on the Navy's N-CCAV needs. Indian defense outlet Livefist first reported over the weekend about Abhimanyu and the N-CCAV effort. Details about the Abhimanyu drone itself are still very limited. The model at Aeroindia 2025, as well as the company renders, show a design with swept wings, horizontal stabilizers, and a single vertical tail. There are a pair of narrow air intakes for the drone's single jet engine, one on either side of the rear fuselage. Livefist says Abhimanyu was designed to have a low radar cross-section. A continuous chine-line that wraps around the fuselage is visible on the model and in the renders, which is a typical radar cross-section-reducting design feature. A main engine tucked away in the rear fuselage behind the low-profile air intakes would also help in this regard. As seen below, NewSpace's renderings also show what look to be trapezoidal-shaped main landing gear doors, another typical feature of stealth designs. No door for a nose wheel or weapons bays are readily visible. While the design clearly has features that reduce the aircraft's radar signature, it is not a low-observable design. Placards that NewSpace has on display at Aeroindia 2025 along with the Abhimanyu model say the company is targeting a top speed of almost 300 knots (550 kilometers per hour), a 620-mile (1,000-kilometer) operational range, and a service ceiling of close to 19,700 feet (6,000 meters). This is relatively slow, short-range, and low-ceiling for a loyal wingman-type design, which does raise questions about the extent to which it will be able to directly operate together with faster-moving crewed combat jets. With proper planning, lower-performance drones can still enjoy teaming benefits, but with far less persistence and direct tactical cohesion with their high-performance fighter counterparts. It is worth noting that NewSpace has been working on the Abhimanyu project since at least 2023 and the current design differs completely from concepts the company has shown in the past. There has been talk previously of Abhimanyu being more of a group of designs rather than a single drone. The Indian Navy is now interested in a family of different versions of the Abhimanyu with increasingly diverse capabilities achieved through iterative development cycles, Angad Singh told TWZ. New design of NSRT Abhimanyu. Instead of external podded engines, the new design incorporates internally mounted engines with trapezoidal side intakes.@alpha_defense — Frontliner (@FrontlinerUV) June 25, 2024 Abhimanyu drones with a mixture of capabilities might offer India's carrier air wings valuable added offensive and defensive capacity in cooperation with other crewed aircraft and forces down below. The pilotless planes could also help extend the sensor reach of a carrier strike group, including to provide better situational awareness and tactical flexibility. Depending on their exact capabilities, the Indian Navy might also be able to deploy N-CCAVs to locations ashore to support operations, which could also help make up for range and other limitations. NewSpace also promises a high degree of autonomy for Abhimanyu leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) technology. The company has already been testing AI/ML-driven autonomous capabilities as part of work on swarming technologies for much smaller drones. NewSpace also unveiled a new line of smaller uncrewed aerial systems with swarming capabilities, including kamikaze types, called Sheshnaag at this year's Aeroindia event. The company has done work in the past on so-called air-launched effects (ALE) type uncrewed systems in collaboration with the U.S. Air Force, as well. What unit cost NewSpace is targeting for Abhimanyu is unknown. 'Documents reviewed by Livefist suggest that NRT is developing the N-CCAV to be both cost-effective and expendable, with an emphasis on rapid production,' that outlet reported. That is certainly in line with the potential decoy role. There are some broad strokes similarities to the U.S. Navy's vision for 'consumable' carrier-capable Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drones that could be expended as munitions or targets for training or testing purposes after short service lives measured in hundreds of flight hours rather than years. From what is known about it now, Abhimanyu is a notably lower-end concept compared to many other loyal wingman or CCA-like drone efforts globally, even those focused on lower costs and rapid production with capabilities balanced against those requirements. This includes the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Warrior under development for the Indian Air Force's Combat Air Teaming System program. The twin-engine Warrior, a demonstrator or mockup thereof of which is also being shown at Aeroindia 2025, is understood to be much larger and heavier than the Abhimanyu. The demonstrator design, which HAL previously unveiled, also differs significantly from models and renders that had been shown in the past, especially the less stealthy configuration of the top-mounted air intake. HAL's CATS Warrior wingman UCAV first flight later this year. — Livefist (@livefist) February 10, 2025 Finally HAL unveiled CATS evolution pic 1 in 2021 -> pic 2 in 2023 -> pic 3 finally a reality today This is our equivalent of USAF CCAs(Pic 4) and by American figures will cost around $25 million/pop perfect for mass production. — Aman Kashyap (@AmanKashyap89) January 11, 2025 The Indian military has been working on a more advanced stealthy flying wing-type unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV), as well. In 2021, it emerged that a subscale UCAV demonstrator, the Stealth Wing Flying Testbed, had flown at least once. China, India's top competitor, has also been very actively developing stealthy flying wing UCAVs. A number of other countries, including Russia, Turkey, and France, are doing the same. The U.S. military, at least publicly, very pointed abandoned work in this vein decades ago, as you can read more about here. Just stunning to see the Swift being developed As reminded by DRDO officials at their Aero India stand, this is not to be mistaken with the Ghatak!! — Vayu Aerospace Review (@ReviewVayu) February 10, 2025 China and the United States, and now India, are among a growing number of countries with uncrewed naval aviation ambitions more specifically, efforts that also reflect the differing views on the future of uncrewed collaborative airpower. The Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) looks increasingly set to operate UCAVs from the decks of at least some of its aircraft carriers, as well as its new monster Type 076 amphibious assault ship, while the U.S. Navy remains more focused on its disposal CCA vision. For the Indian Navy, progress on the N-CCAV effort comes amid talk of scaling back its aircraft carrier plans. Indian media reported earlier this month that a proposed second domestically-produced flattop could ultimately replace the existing INS Vikramaditya, a heavily modified Soviet-era ship, rather than supplement it as had originally been expected. India has two carriers in service today, the other being the domestically-developed INS Vikrant. The Indian military, overall, does have a long history of upsets and resets on major defense procurement programs. It remains to be seen when any Abhimanyu drones actually begin to enter service regardless of what the country's carrier force might look like in the future. The current funding ceiling for Abhimanyu through iDEX is just around $2.85 million, according to Angad Singh. Much more funding is expected to be necessary to complete the design's initial development, as well as that of future variants with new capabilities. Abhimanyu has certainly now gotten another important vote of confidence from the Indian Navy. Special thanks again to Angad Singh for sharing the pictures of the Abhimanyu model and the renders, as well as information gleaned about the drone from Aeroindia 2025. Contact the author: joe@
