After a long string of delays, India will soon receive its second aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya, as Russia completed all its sea trials earlier this month. The 45,000-ton, 284-meter (932-ft.) long INS Vikramaditya, formerly the Russian Kiev-class Admiral Gorshkov, served in the Russian navy from 1987 to 1995. India agreed to buy it for $2.3 billion. The ship underwent a series of aviation trials over the last two months in the Barents Sea and the White Sea in Russia.

India is likely to sign a deal to purchase six additional C-130J air lifters from the U.S. in the current financial year, which ends March 31, 2014. The Defense Acquisition Council, under the Ministry of Defense, has cleared the purchase of the Lockheed Martin-built medium transport aircraft under a government-to-government foreign military sale agreement worth more than $1 billion.

The Tata Group, which in recent months has made some bold moves into India's aviation industry, is in talks with the country’s airport regulator to establish an aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) unit. “Currently, the group is trying to get space for the MRO operations and is in discussion with the Airport Authority of India, which manages the majority of the country’s airports to secure its permission,” a government spokesman says.