Heena Sharma Blog

French Ambassador Alexandre Ziegler on Thursday dismissed as "fake news" reports that a batch of Pakistani pilots were trained on Rafale fighter jets being procured by Qatari Air Force. American aviation industry website ainonline.com reported that the first batch of pilots trained on the Rafale fighter jet for Qatar in November 2017 were Pakistani exchange officers. "I can confirm that it is fake news," Ziegler tweeted. French diplomatic sources said no Pakistani pilots ever trained on Rafale jets in France. There were concerns in the Indian military establishment after the report by the US-based website. The report came in the midst of a simmering political slugfest over procurement of Rafale jets by the Modi government from France. India is procuring a batch of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France at a cost of Rs 58,000 crore. The Congress has been alleging massive irregularities in the deal while the government has strongly rejected the charges.

Airlines in Brazil, Singapore, China and Indonesia have grounded Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft after an Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed, killing 157 passengers and crew members on board Sunday. This happened months after a Lion Air jet of the same model crashed in Indonesia killing 189. Indian carriers Jet Airways and Spicejet own 5 and 13 models of the aircraft respectively, according to an earlier Business Standard report. The former has ordered another 225 and the latter 155. According to a New York Times report, at least 18 airlines around the world have grounded their 737 MAX 8 planes. "But at least 18 carriers, including American Airlines and Southwest Airlines, which are heavy users of the MAX 8, continued to fly them on Monday." The Boeing website shows a list of not less than 60 airlines that use the model. Ryanair, Air Europa, Air Canada, Qatar Airways are some of the big names among them. Jet Airways said Tuesday morning that it is not currently operat

Congress president Rahul Gandhi Tuesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of acting as a middleman of Anil Ambani in the Rafale jet deal , as he cited an e-mail to claim the businessman was aware of the MoU before India and France signed it. Ambani's knowledge of a defence deal under preparation, which even the then defence minister had said he was not aware of, is in violation of the Official Secrets Act, Gandhi alleged at a press conference, and said this "puts Modi in jail". Only Modi could have told Ambani about the deal in advance, he alleged. "This is treason. He (Modi) is doing what spies do," Gandhi said. Ambani had met the French defence minister days before the signing of the deal during Modi's visit to France in 2015, Gandhi said, quoting from an e-mail written by an Airbus executive to a French official. Read More Article Source -> Business Standard