How many members of Indian Army discovered World War II US Air Force aircraft?

An-32 transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) flew with blended bio-jet fuel produced from Jatropha oil, unlocking the possibility of gradually expanding it to the entire service at some point. This has the dual benefit of reducing the carbon footprint as well as usage of fossil fuels. It was flown by highly qualified test pilots from the Aircraft and System Testing Establishment (ASTE). The IAF intended to fly the An-32 with 10% bio-jet fuel at the Republic Day flypast on January 26, 2019. This bio-jet fuel technology was developed by the Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP) under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in 2009 and tested between 2011 and 2013.

The Indian Army has successfully built the longest suspension bridge 'Matiri Bridge' over the Indus River in the Leh-Ladakh region. Built in a record time of 40 days 'Maitri Bridge' is longest Suspension Bridge over Indus River. The 260-feet long suspension bridge was built by the combat engineers belonging to the Sahas aur Yogyata regiment of Indian Army's Fire & Fury Corps.

The Indian Navy held the 2nd edition of the bilateral maritime exercise between the Indian Navy and Vietnam Peoples' Navy, (IN - VPN BILAT EX) at Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam during 13th to 16th April, 2019.The exercise was undertaken as a part of the ongoing Overseas Deployment of Eastern Fleet ships to South East Asian countries.INS Kolkata under the command of Captain Aditya Hara and INS Shakti under the command of Captain Sriram Amur participated in the exercise.

Defence Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurated the 12th biennial edition of International Aerospace and Defence Exhibition, the Aero India 2019 on 24th February 2019 at the Air Force Station Yelahanka in Bengaluru. The theme of the event was "Runway to a Billion Opportunities". India and Singapore sign agreement for skilling Indians in aviation. Aero India 2019 observed "Technology Day" on the third day. Maiden Drone Olympics Competition held at Aero India 2019.

According to a biennial report released by the government, the Centre has identified 106 Coastal and Marine sites as Conservation Reserves under its National Wildlife Action plan for the period of 2017-2031. This was the 2nd biennial updated report which was made by the Ministry of Environment and Forests and was submitted to the UN body on Climate change in December 2018. According to the report, India has been successful to sustain the ecosystem when it is at its edge of disappearing at an alarming rate. Also, it will further conserve the coastal and marine ecosystems from the impact of climate change. Both the coastal and marine areas facilitate with food baskets and fish protein to population, and also provide a valuable foreign exchange in turn.

The eighth edition of joint military exercise 'Sampriti-2019' between the armies of India and Bangladesh was commenced on 3rd March, 2019, which aimed to increase mutual cooperation and camaraderie with an impressive ceremony in Tangail, Bangladesh.This exercise will be conducted till 15th March as a part of the ongoing India-Bangladesh defence cooperation.The motive behind this exercise is to hone their tactical and technical skills in countering insurgency, counter terrorism and aid to civil authorities for disaster management in an UN peace keeping scenario involving a combined deployment at a battalion level.

In a first, the Indian Army on April 25, 2019 began online registration of women for recruitment as soldiers into the military police. The recruitment for 'Soldier General Duty (Women Military Police)' was mooted by the Army Chief General Bipin Rawat soon after he took over the post. The approval for the creation of the post came recently by the Defence Ministry.

Pakistan Air Force announced that they will observe its retaliatory action against India against the Balakot strike of Indian Air Force as 'Operation Swift Retort'. The Indian air strikes at Balakot terror camp on February 26 was response of Pakistan based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) attack by a suicide bomber in Pulwama that killed 40 CRPF jawans. In response to Indian attack, Pakistan Air Force (PAF) retaliated and captured IAF Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman who was released by Pakistan on March 1.

The 3-day Military Literature Festival (MLF) 2018, commenced at Lake Club in Chandigarh. The festival is a joint initiative of Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Sing, Punjab Governor VP Singh Badnore and The Western Command, Indian Army. First session on 'Role of Cross Border Operations & Surgical Strikes', Second session on the 'Contribution of India towards the First World War', Third session was on sessions 'Two Battles For Survival - Ferozshah 1848 and Chilianwala 1849', and 'Indian Cavalry Charges of the First World War and the Gallipoli Campaign'.

For the 4th consecutive time, the Northern Command based in Udhampur has won the 15th edition of General J J Singh air weapon championship. Between 25th March to 3rd April, the championship was conducted at Army Marksmanship Unit, Mhow in Madhya Pradesh. The objective of the competition was to train young male and female army-officers for effective participation in national and international shooting competitions. More than 100 male and female Indian-Army shooters competed in the 10-metre air rifle and air pistol categories. The winning team bagged the overall inter command championship by clinching "Burma Shell Trophy" after competing against 9 other teams. The winning team also won the women's overall trophy with 1 gold and 3 silver medals individually.