India celebrated its 75th Republic Day on Friday with a grand display of its women power, rich cultural heritage and military might comprising missiles, warplanes, surveillance gadgets and lethal weapon systems with French President Emmanuel Macron gracing the occasion as the chief guest. The Republic Day Parade at the Kartavya Path in the heart of the national capital commenced with President Droupadi Murmu taking the salute shortly after she and Macron, flanked by the Indian president's bodyguards, arrived in a 'traditional buggy'. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, several other Union ministers, the country's top military brass, foreign diplomats and senior officials were among those who witnessed the impressive show that also included a gravity-defying fly-past by helicopters and planes, with even a dense fog failing to dampen the spirits of the spectators. Soon after Murmu and Macron left from Kartavya Path in a traditional buggy, which made a comebac
Republic Day 2024 chief guest French President Emmanuel Macron shared a post of the French contingent marching and said, 'A great honor for France. Thank you, India'
A 95-member marching contingent and a 33-member band contingent from France will participate in the 75th Republic Day Parade in New Delhi today
PM Modi added that he is elated about the fact that Macron began his India visit from Jaipur in Rajasthan
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday met at Jantar Mantar here ahead of their roadshow. Modi reached the observatory from Jaipur airport while Macron came to the site after visiting Amber Fort. The two leaders met there and hugged each other. Later, they visited the observatory. Jantar Mantar is one of the oldest astronomical observatories featuring the world's largest stone sundial.
The defence industrial roadmap may be adopted; France eyeing 30,000 Indian students by 2030
India, France and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) carried out a mega air exercise over the Arabian Sea against the backdrop of the rising global concerns over Houthi militants targeting several commercial vessels in the strategic waterways in the region. The exercise 'Desert Knight', conducted on Tuesday, featured several frontline aerial assets and combat jets of the air forces of the three countries, officials said. The Indian Air Force (IAF) component at the drills consisted of Su-30 MKI, MiG-29 and Jaguar fighter jets besides AWACS (airborne early warning and control aircraft, C-130-J transport plane and air-to-air refuelling aircraft. "The main focus of exercise 'Desert Knight' was on enhancing synergy and interoperability between the three air forces," the Indian Air Force said. The exercise took place in the Indian FIR (Flight Information Regions) and with IAF aircraft operated from several bases in India. All airspace worldwide is divided into FIRs and each of them is manag
The Rajasthan government on Saturday said French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Jaipur on January 25 and preparations are underway to welcome him. According to an official statement, Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma chaired a high-level review meeting at his office on Friday for the proposed visit. Macron will be the Chief Guest at the Republic Day celebrations at Delhi's Kartavya Path on January 26. The chief minister said preparations to welcome the French president should be completed on time and directed officials to take special care of Macron's accommodation, security and transportation. According to the statement, Sharma said hoardings related to the art and culture of Rajasthan should also be put up at various places. Chief Secretary Sudhansh Pant, Director General of Police U R Sahoo, Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Anand Kumar and other senior officers attended the meeting.
French manufacturers have reduced the manufacturing times for some of the weapons systems they supply to Ukraine by half or more, as France increasingly switches away from its previous policy of dipping into its own military stocks to support the war effort against Russia's invasion, France's defense minister said in an interview published on Thursday. The logic of ceding materiel taken from the armies' stocks is reaching its end, the minister, Sbastien Lecornu, said in the interview with Le Parisien. From now on, the solution is to directly connect French defense industries with the Ukrainian army. He cited the Caesar self-propelled 155 mm howitzer, made in France by Nexter, as an example of how French defense contractors are adopting a war footing. Caesars are among an array of Western-supplied artillery systems that have given Ukrainian gun crews an edge, especially when paired with high-precision munitions, against Russian artillery batteries using older Soviet-designed ...
Catch all the latest updates from around the world here
The Gujarat Police have formed teams to unearth a suspected illegal immigration network involving "agents" and will coordinate with the passengers of a plane that has landed in Mumbai from France, a senior official said. Many passengers of the plane hail from Gujarat, he said. The aircraft, an Airbus A340, carrying 276 passengers, mostly Indians, was grounded in France for four days over suspected human trafficking. It landed in Mumbai in the wee hours on Tuesday. "The CID crime wants to take action against agents who had promised help to the victims to enter the US and other countries (illegally). We have formed four teams which will get information from the victims regarding promises made to them by these agents," Superintendent of Police, CID (Crime), Sanjay Kharat said. He said most of the passengers on the chartered plane that returned from France were from Banaskantha, Patan, Mehsana and Anand districts in Gujarat. "Police will coordinate with the passengers when they reach
A charter plane carrying 276 passengers, mostly Indians, which was grounded in France for four days over suspected human trafficking, landed in Mumbai on Tuesday, an official said. The Nicaragua-bound flight operated by a Romanian company was detained for four days at Vatry airport near France. The aircraft, an Airbus A340, landed in Mumbai shortly after 4 am, the official said. It had taken off from Vatry airport around 2.30 pm local time. The charter flight that carried 303 passengers had taken off from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and was grounded at the Vatry airport, 150 km east of Paris, on Thursday over suspected human trafficking. According to French authorities, the plane had 276 passengers on board when it took off for Mumbai, and 25 persons, including two minors, had expressed the wish to apply for asylum and were still on French soil. Two others, who were brought before a judge, were released and placed on assisted witness status, a French news channel said.
Emmanuel Macron's surprise R-Day visit shapes a strategic rendezvous as France becomes the linchpin in India's defence, space, and nuclear ambitions. SUBHAYAN CHAKRABORTY writes
Paris is seen as a reliable strategic partner
He will be the sixth French leader to grace the event
French President Emmanuel Macron is set to be the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations on January 26, people familiar with the development said on Friday. India had invited US President Joe Biden to grace the occasion but he expressed inability to travel to New Delhi in January. French President Macron has been invited as the Republic Day chief guest, the people cited above said.
V R Lalithambika, former Director, Directorate of the Human Spaceflight Programme, ISRO, was conferred the top French civilian honour of Lgion d'Honneur for her engagement in space cooperation between France and India. The award was given to her by Ambassador of France to India, Thierry Mathou, on behalf of the French government, here on Tuesday. Created in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, the Lgion d'Honneur (the Legion of Honour) is the highest civilian award given by the French Republic for outstanding service to France, regardless of the nationality of the recipients. A specialist in advanced launch vehicle technology, Lalithambika, a distinguished scientist of ISRO, has worked extensively on various ISRO rockets, particularly the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), according to a press release issued by the Embassy of France in India. In 2018, as Director of the Human Spaceflight Programme, she coordinated closely with the French National Space Agency (Centre national d'tudes ..
As per the proposal, the Indian Navy will get 22 single-seated Rafale Marine aircraft along with four trainer aircraft
Senior officials of India and France held a two-day military dialogue with a focus on boosting overall defence cooperation. The 21st edition of India-France Military Sub Committee (MSC) meeting was held on October 16 and 17 at the Air Force station in the national capital. India-France MSC is a forum established to advance defence cooperation through regular talks at strategic and operational levels. "The meeting was conducted in a friendly, warm and cordial atmosphere," the defence ministry said. "The discussions focussed on new initiatives under the ambit of existing bilateral defence cooperation mechanism and strengthening ongoing defence engagements," it said. The defence and strategic ties between India and France have been on an upswing in the last few years. In July, India and France announced a raft of ground-breaking defence cooperation projects including the joint development of jet and helicopter engines and construction of three Scorpene submarines for the Indian Navy
Earlier on Wednesday, Rajnath Singh visited the Safran Engine Division's R&D Centre at Gennevilliers near Paris, to see the latest developments in aero-engine technology