Pilots Killed As Air Force's Jaguar Fighter Crashes In Rajasthan's Churu

JAIPUR, July 9: Two Air Force pilots were killed after a twin-seater Jaguar fighter jet crashed near Bhanoda village in Rajasthan's Churu district at 1.25 pm Wednesday. The plane was on a routine training mission.

There was no damage to civilian properties. An inquiry has been ordered, the Air Force said, adding it deeply regrets the loss of lives and stands "firmly with the bereaved families in this time of grief".

This is the third Jaguar fighter jet crash this year; the first was in Haryana's Panchkula on March 7 and the second was near Jamnagar in Gujarat on April 2.

This particular plane took off from Rajasthan's Suratgarh Air Force base.

The Jaguar is a twin-engine fighter-bomber in single and twin-seat variants. Widely used by the Air Force despite its vintage status, these planes have been heavily upgraded over the years.

India's Homegrown Mobile Artillery To Be Deployed From Desert To Siachen

NEW DELHI, July 7: India is set to test a homegrown mobile artillery gun that can be deployed anywhere, from Rajasthan's desert to Siachen's icy heights. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has named it Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS).

Foreseeing a futuristic requirement, a project for design and development of the 155 mm x 52 calibre ATAGS was sanctioned to DRDO's Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) in 2012.

The ATAGS has been envisaged with a high degree of excellence in range, accuracy, consistency of operations, superior rate of fire, and all-weather and terrain deployability, ARDE Director A Raju said.

The ATAGS is compatible to fire existing in-service ammunition, and can integrate seamlessly with the Indian Army's Artillery Combat Command and Control System (ACCCS), which seeks to automate field artillery in the areas of trajectory computation and communication with secrecy.

The ATAGS comprises two major sub-assemblies - upper carriage and undercarriage. The upper carriage has ordinance assembly (gun barrel, breech and muzzle brake), recoil system, cradle, saddle, elevating and traversing mechanism, layer station, loader station and ammunition handling system. The undercarriage consists of structural, automotive, and auxiliary systems.

The system is configured with an all-electric drive to ensure maintenance-free and reliable field operations. This ensures automatic operation of laying, shell and charge loading, ramming and gun deployment. The automation also enables a higher rate of fire, the DRDO said in an in-house bulletin.

The ATAGS has self-propulsion capability which has been achieved through an auxiliary power unit (APU) consisting of an automotive system, hydraulic transmission, and actuation mechanisms. It was imperative for the ATAGS to adopt a new strategy to enhance mobility, deployability, and powering the complete drive system including the gun automation, the DRDO said.

The ATAGS is designed to engage targets in both direct and indirect fire modes. For this, it is equipped with various sighting systems. In direct fire mode using an optronic sight, the gun can engage targets up to 1.5 km away. The optronic sight comprises a day camera, thermal imaging, and a laser range finder with identification range up to 2 km and detection range up to 10 km.

The design and reliability of the recoil system were validated by carrying out at least 100 cycles of continuous recoil and run out cycles. The testing of the recoil system was carried out on a specially designed static and hydraulic test bench, simulating dynamic conditions under which the gun will eventually operate.

The ATAGS can fire 10 high-explosive shells on a target in a very short span of 2.5 minutes, or five rounds in 60 seconds in burst fire mode. Depending on the type of ammunition, it can fire shells up to 48 km.

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has given acceptance of necessity (AoN) for 307 pieces of ATAGS for the Indian Army. It was first publicly showcased at the 68th Republic Day Parade on January 26, 2017.

1 Border, 3 Enemies: Army Says Pak Was Not The Only Adversary In Op Sindoor

NEW DELHI, July 4: An overwhelming 81 per cent of Pakistan's military hardware is of Chinese origin, with China using the country like a "live lab" to test its military tech, the army said.

Army's Deputy Chief of Army Staff (Capability Development and Sustenance), Lieutenant General Rahul R Singh provided a breakdown of the recent cross-border escalation with Pakistan.

Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated following a terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam on April 22, which claimed 26 lives. India responded with Operation Sindoor, targeting nine terror-related sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The Indian response resulted in the deaths of over 100 terrorists associated with groups including Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Hizbul Mujahideen.

"There are a few lessons from Operation Sindoor. The strategic messaging by leadership was unambiguous. There is no scope of absorbing the pain the way we did a few years ago. The planning and selection of targets was based on a lot of data that was collected using technology and human intelligence. So a total of 21 targets were actually identified, out of which nine targets we thought would be prudent to engage. It was only the final day or the final hour that the decision was taken that these nine targets would be engaged," Lt Gen Singh said.

According to Lt Gen Singh, the China-Pakistan defence relationship has evolved beyond conventional arms transfers amid concerns that China is treating its close ties with Pakistan as an opportunity for experimentation, including the deployment of advanced platforms and surveillance systems in real-world conflict scenarios.

"We had one border and two adversaries, actually three. Pakistan was in the front. China was providing all possible support. 81 per cent of the military hardware with Pakistan is Chinese. China is able to test its weapons against other weapons, so it's like a live lab available to them. Turkey also played an important role in providing the type of support it did. When DGMO-level talks were on, Pakistan had the live updates of our important vectors, from China. We need a robust air defence system," he said.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), China has sold arms worth $8.2 billion to Pakistan since 2015. Between 2020 and 2024, China ranked as the world's fourth-largest arms exporter. Nearly two-thirds or 63 per cent of these exports went to Pakistan, making Islamabad China's biggest weapons client.

This supply chain includes over half of Pakistan's fighter fleet, dominated by the JF-17 Thunder co-developed with China, and the more advanced J-10C multirole fighter aircraft. Reports suggest that Pakistan is now set to induct 40 Shenyang J-35 fifth-generation stealth fighters from China, placing it among a limited group of nations with stealth combat capability.

A recent report by the US Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) for 2025 states that India perceives China as its "primary adversary," while Pakistan is seen as more of an "ancillary security problem to be managed."