Kautilya

“Cost negotiations for the C-295 deal have been completed. It is now being processed to put it up for clearance from the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS). It is expected to be signed in the next few months,” a senior Defence official said. As part of the deal, 16 aircraft will be built by Airbus at its manufacturing facility and delivered in fly away condition and the remaining will be built locally by the Tata-Airbus joint venture under transfer of technology.

Code-named AK-203, the gun has been designed by the Kalashnikov Concern and is thus one of the new generations of the AK family, the descendants of the famed AK-47. Press reports declare that as many as 750,000 rifles are to be produced this way, a vast majority of which are to be provided to the Indian Armed Forces. If these numbers are correct, the AK-203 is poised to become one of the main weapons of the Indian Army.

India will fund at least 250 defence startups over the next five years as it seeks new give a cutting edge to the armed forces. The plan is to achieve at least 50 ‘tangible innovations’ by the startups that can be inducted over the coming years.

The landing at 1845 hours was to demonstrate the ease of handling and confidence achieved in arrested landing technologies of the indigenous aircraft being made at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The LCA which is made in India and designed and developed by Indians has been showing success at critical tests which are being carried out for the Indian navy.

India ordered 145 howitzers from the US for $750 million in November 2016. As part of the deal, M777 manufacturer BAE Systems will supply 25 ready-built howitzers and the remaining 120 guns are being built locally in collaboration with Mahindra Defence Systems Limited under the Modi government’s Make in India initiative.