Indian Army wastes 1747 crore buying faulty choppers: Report

September 13th, 2009 SHIMLA - Nineteen trekkers from the Indian Army have been rescued from Himachal Pradesh's tribal Lahaul and Spiti district after being stranded in high altitude slopes due to untimely snowfall last week, police said Monday. "Nineteen trekkers of the Pathankot-based AD Regiment were rescued by the Indian Army Sunday.

September 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Indian Air Force (IAF) Wednesday evening pressed into service a frontline Sukhoi SU-30MKI combat jet that has night vision capabilities to locate the missing helicopter carrying Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.

July 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Five days after a mishap at the Delhi Metro site claimed six lives, India's official auditor Friday said it had found some glaring flaws in the quality control systems adopted by the state-run company. Officials at the Comptroller and Auditor General of India's (CAG) office said there was also a departure from established norms in the bidding process to choose the contractors for the project.

July 10th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Indian Army flouted norms by placing a repeat order for artillery shells that had been found defective a decade ago, India's audit watchdog says. "Krasnopol ammunition costing Rs.375 crore ($76 million) was accepted without necessary trial evaluation.

July 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - The three Indian Air Force (IAF) choppers carrying President Pratibha Patil and her entourage had landed without clearance even as an Air India aircraft was readying for take off, an investigation into the near-collision at Mumbai airport has found. The joint investigation team constituted Feb 19 to investigate the near-collision Feb 9 at Mumbai Airport was submitted June 23, as was reported by IANS.

June 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - An Indian Air Force contingent comprising 285 personnel, who will leave for Congo Saturday for a UN peacekeeping mission, were Thursday asked to maintain "highest standards of discipline, integrity and professionalism". The Indian peacekeepers have in the past been accused of gold smuggling and sexual abuses.

June 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Acting upon the request of West Bengal Government, the Ministry of Defence has dispatched 20 medical teams of armed forces personnel to the Aila affected areas of North and South 24 Parganas district of the State. Armed forces have already pressed into service four Gemini Boats in cyclone affected areas to distribute relief material.

May 25th, 2009 NEW DELHI - With one regiment of the indigenously built Arjun main battle tank (MBT) delivered to the Indian Army, the combat vehicle is now headed for comparative trials with its Russian T-90 equivalent. This could deliver the final verdict on a platform that has been 36 years in the making and which has cost the exchequer Rs.3.5 billion ($71.7 million).

May 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Taking the Indian Navy's initiative a step further to increase maritime cooperation among navies/maritime agencies in the Indian Ocean Region, the Sri Lanka Navy is hosting IONS Technical Seminar 2009 in which delegates of thirty-four nations are participating. The IONS (Indian Ocean Naval Symposium) provides a forum for discussion of issues, both regional and global.

May 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Six members of the Indian Army team on Friday successfully summitted the seventh highest peak in the world, Mount Dhaulagiri. At 8167 meter, Mount Dhaulagiri is considered to be one of the most technical, demanding and challenging peaks.

May 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Following the attempt recently to sabotage industrialist Anil Ambani's helicopter in Mumbai, India's aviation regulator Tuesday said more security was being planned for the fleets of private choppers and aircraft in the country. With new heliports planned for cities like New Delhi and Mumbai, an enhanced safety environment will be provided to such a fleet that could go a long way in preventing incidents like the near-collision involving President Pratibha Patil's chopper Feb 9.

April 14th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Indian politician is flying high. Despite the economic slowdown, more and more candidates for the parliamentary election are hiring helicopters, spending as much as Rs.100,000 an hour.

April 6th, 2009 RAIPUR - Senior Congress leaders in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Chhattisgarh seem to be more keen to take possession of three choppers they got for campaigning than ensuring victory of the party candidates. The party has provided three choppers to the state unit to help campaign for the state's 11 Lok Sabha seats.

March 10th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Helicopters will soon get separate corridors for landing at all major airports in the country, an Airports Authority of India (AAI) official said Monday. 'This would minimise traffic chaos at the airports, where wide-bodied aircraft share their space with choppers also,' the official said.

February 10th, 2009 BANGALORE - Mumbai's Air Traffic Control (ATC) had given clearance to the three Indian Air Force (IAF) choppers carrying President Pratibha Patil's entourage that narrowly missed colliding with a passenger aircraft, Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major said Wednesday. 'The IAF choppers were not at fault and were given clearance to land on the runway by the ATC,' Major said on the sidelines of the Aero India show in Yelahanka near Bangalore.