Category: Transport

Breaking new ground in skies! Dad, daughter fly fighter planes in formation

The Indian Air Force has just broken new ground with a father and his daughter flying in formation on a combat proficiency mission.

Air Commodore Sanjay Sharma and Flying Officer Ananya Sharma created the record on May 30, when they flew in the same formation of Hawk-132s at the Air Force Station in  Bidar, where Ananya is undergoing training. 

IAF spokesperson Wing Commander Ashish Moghe said, “There has not been any previous instance in the IAF where a father and his daughter were part of the same fighter formation for a mission.” Since a very early age, Ananya wanted to be a fighter pilot. But, at that time the stream was not open for women. Whenever she would bug her dad about it, he would reassure, “Don’t worry you will be one.”

“Ananya after getting commissioned as fighter pilot came and saluted me. It made me really proud,” beamed Air Commodore Sharma. “It was the biggest day of my life when I flew with Ananya,” he added in a video put out by the IAF.

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India gifts 75 ambulances, 17 school buses to Nepal

India on Sunday gifted 75 ambulances and 17 school buses to Nepal as part of its ongoing efforts to build on the “robust and longstanding” partnership between the two countries and help the Himalayan nation bolster its infrastructure in healthcare and education sectors.

India’s newly-appointed Ambassador Naveen Srivastava handed over the keys of the vehicles in the presence of Devendra Paudel, Nepal’s Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

The gifting of 75 ambulances also marks 75 years of India’s Independence, the Indian Embassy here said.

“The gifting of ambulances and school buses is part of the very robust and strong development partnership between the two countries,” Srivastava said.

This initiative has been one of the long-standing traditions of the Indian government under the Nepal-India Development Partnership Programme to bolster efforts of the Nepal government to strengthen its infrastructure in health and education, he added.

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India’s newest airline Akasa Air’s first aircraft lands at Delhi airport after long ride from Seattle

Flying all the way from Seattle in the United States, India’s newest airline Akasa Air’s first Boeing 737 MAX aircraft touched down at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi on Tuesday.(June 21).

“The arrival of our first aircraft is a very happy moment for all of us & marks an important milestone, bringing us closer to our vision of building India’s greenest, most dependable, and most affordable airline,” said Vinay Dube, founder, managing director & chief executive officer, Akasa Air.

It was only last week the airline took delivery of its first 737 Max aircraft from Boeing in Seattle. In November 2021, Akasa had inked a $9 billion deal with the US-based aircraft major to purchase 72 MAX planes, which includes an initial delivery of 18 aircraft by March 2023 and the remaining 54 aeroplanes in the next four years. These planes will be powered by the fuel-efficient CFM LEAP B engine.

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Defence ties: India hands over 12 guard boats to Vietnam

On Wednesday, Singh and his Vietnamese counterpart, Gen. Phan Van Giang, agreed for early finalisation of the $ 500 million Defence Line of Credit extended to Vietnam.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday handed over 12 high-speed guard boats to Vietnam during his visit to Hong Ha Shipyard in Hai Phong. The boats have been constructed under the India’s $ 100 million Defence Line of Credit to Vietnam.

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India and Vietnam sign mutual logistics agreement

The defence minister and his Vietnam counterpart General Phan Van Giang signed a joint vision statement

India and Vietnam on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on mutual logistics support in presence of the two Defence Ministers during the ongoing visit of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to the Southeast Asian nation.

“In these times of increasing cooperative engagements between the defence forces of the two countries, this is a major step towards simplifying procedures for mutually beneficial logistic support and is the first such major agreement which Vietnam has signed with any country,” the statement said on the logistics agreement.

India has signed several logistics agreements including all Quad countries, France, Singapore and South Korea beginning with the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement with the U.S. in 2016.

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NHAI enters Guinness World Record for laying 75 km highway in 105 hours: Nitin Gadkari

Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari announced that the 75 km stretch of the Amravati-Akola highway in Maharashtra was laid in 105 hours and 33 minutes, setting a Guinness World Record

State-owned NHAI has created a Guinness World Record for the longest continuously laid bituminous lane of 75 kilometres in 105 hours and 33 minutes on the national highway between Amravati and Akola districts in Maharashtra.

Mentioning about the record, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said the project was implemented by 720 workers including a team of independent consultants who worked day and night.

The total length of the 75 kilometres of single lane continuous bituminous concrete road is equivalent to 37.5 kilometres of two-lane paved shoulder road and the work started on June 3, at 7:27 am and was completed on June 7, at 5 pm, the minister said in a video message.

The previous Guinness World Record for the longest continuously laid bituminous was for building 25.275 kilometres of road that was achieved in Doha, Qatar in February 2019 and that task was completed in 10 days, Mr. Gadkari said.

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Ananth Technologies opens spacecraft manufacturing unit at Aerospace Park in City

Ananth Technologies which designs and produces systems for Indian aerospace has set up a 15,000 square metre spacecraft manufacturing unit at KIADB Aerospace Park, Bengaluru, said to be the country’s first such facility in the private sector.

The manufacturing unit would be able to conduct assembly, integration and testing of four large spacecraft simultaneously, the company said in a statement.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Subba Rao Pavuluri, Chairman & Managing Director, Ananth Technologies, said, “India is on the cusp of revolutionising the spacecraft industry. As a nation, we are capable of manufacturing world-class spacecrafts.’‘

“Over the years, Ananth Technologies has successfully contributed to major launches of ISRO. Our technology acumen is such that none of the sub-systems supplied by Ananth Technologies has ever failed in orbit,’‘ he claimed.

Since its inception in 1992, Ananth Technologies has contributed to the manufacturing of 89 satellites and 69 launch vehicles built/launched by ISRO, including two satellites for European customers that ISRO had built in collaboration with Airbus, France.

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Bannari Amman College students team selected for final event of RoboBoat 2022

Organised by RoboNation, RoboBoat invites participants to tackle simplified versions of challenges facing the modern maritime industry

A 35-member team of students from Bannari Amman Institute of Technology in Sathyamangalam, who developed an Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV), has been shortlisted for the final event of RoboBoat 2022, an international student competition, which will be held in Florida, U. S., on June 20, 2022.

Organised by RoboNation, the competition invites participants to tackle simplified versions of challenges facing the modern maritime industry like coastal surveillance, port security and oceanographic exploration. The boats are designed to take on tasks that are similar to those faced by the maritime industry in the real world.

The students team “Vyuha ASV” from the institute is the only team representing India in the 15 th RoboBoat 2022 Worldwide Autonomous Surface Vehicle Development competition.

Team leaders for their respective teams were Thiruvarulselvan Karunanithi (Team Management), Saravanan Elangovan (Hull design), Krishnan Murugan (Failsafe system), Srisanthosh (Propulsion system), Puviyarasu Sakthivel (Control system) and Tharakeshvar Padmanaphan (Computer vision). The faculty mentors were D. Selvamuthu Kumaran, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering and V. Baranidharan, Assistant Professor, ECE. Both the faculties were UUV lab in charge and facilitated the team.

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India, Bangladesh flag off New Jalpaiguri-Dhaka Mitali Express

Three days after restarting two cross-border trains stopped amid Covid-19 pandemic, India and Bangladesh jointly flagged off a new passenger train – Mitali Express – on Wednesday.

The new bi-weekly Mitali Express will connect New Jalpaiguri in North Bengal with Dhaka in Bangladesh through Haldibari in India and then Chilahati in Northern Bangladesh. The train will travel the 513 km distance in about 9-10 hours twice a week from India and back.

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** India sends one more consignment of 40,000 MT of diesel to crisis-hit Sri Lanka

In keeping with India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy, New Delhi has extended this year alone support worth over USD 3.5 billion to the people of Sri Lanka for helping them overcome their current difficulties.

India on Tuesday said it has delivered one more consignment of 40,000 metric tonnes of diesel to Sri Lanka to help ease the acute fuel shortage in the debt-ridden island nation which is grappling with its worst economic crisis.

India extended an additional USD 500 million credit line to Sri Lanka last month to help the neighbouring country import fuel as it has been struggling to pay for imports after its foreign exchange reserves plummeted sharply in recent times, causing a devaluation of its currency and spiralling inflation.

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