Iran has unveiled its home-made drone, the Karrar which is capable of carrying a military payload of rockets to carry out air-to-ground strikes. It reportedly is a fast long-range UAV.
Iran has also inaugurated two domestically-built drones: The Ra’d (Thunder) and the Nazir (Harbinger) which will carry out long-range surveillance, and assault, and bombing missions (as far as the Ra’d is concerned).
Amazing rumours have spread for a couple of days regarding the MMRCA (Indian Air Force Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft) or the MRCA Tender which is an ongoing competition to supply the Indian Air Force with 126 Multi-Role Combat Aircraft maybe up to 189 fighter jets.
The Indians have considered 6 bidders so far:
Typhoon (European Eurofighter Consortium)
Rafale (French Dassault)
MiG-35 Fulcrum-F (Russian UAC subsidiary RSK-MiG)
Gripen NG/IN or JAS 39 (Swedish Saab)
Super Hornet F/A-18 E/F (US Boeing)
F-16IN Fighting Falcon (US Lockheed Martin)
As you can watch the video below, two fighter aircraft have been quoted as finalists for the last stage: The EUROFIGHTER-Typhoon and the RAFALE.
However, American and Russian media deem that such statement cannot be true. Official results should be announced soon. Well, wait and see…
Photo above: RAFALE La Ferté Alais 2010 – © Xavier Cotton PASSION pour l’AVIATION
According to some sources, more than 50 people would have died so far, almost 4,000 would be left, and the blazes keep on spreading. Foreign governments talk their citizens into avoiding travels to Russia. Airports could still operate with numerous delays due to the smog that has reduced visibility between 600 and 300 meters. However, latest news stated that it would not be possible to land on Moscow anymore. Fire hazard remains in remote areas as this smog can be breathed in, and would increase in hazard for health. Moreover, toxic elements would be in the air.
Italy and Ukraine should send aircraft in an attempt to smother fires.
