The visiting Indian Navy warship, INS TARKASH, has concluded a naval manoeuvre with Nigerian Navy frigate NNS UNITY and three other patrol vessels – NNS KARADUA, NNS SAGBAMA and NNS NGURU – as part of scheduled activities to mark the end of her visit to Lagos.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued with his thrust on “participatory development” by giving a call to people to shun single-use plastic and keep their families small, he said, noting that the PM had made cleanliness the centrepiece of his agenda during the first term.
INS Khanderi displaces 1,615 tonnes on surface and 1,775 tonnes when submerged. The 67.5 metres long INS Khanderi is powered by four MTU 12V 396 SE84 diesel engines and 360 battery cells and can remain on patrol for 50 days at a stretch at a depth of 350m. The submarine will have eight officers and 35 sailors. It will be armed with 18 SUT torpedoes which can be fired from six tubes, sea-skimming Exocet anti-ship missiles. It can also carry 30 anti-ship mines in place of torpedoes.
Official sources said the government has decided on a broad plan to speed up modernisation of the Army, Navy and the Air Force under which a range of critical weapons, missiles, fighter jets, submarines and warships will be procured in the next few years. The armed forces have been pushing for adequate allocation of funds so that they are well prepared to deal with the possibility of a “two-front” war on both northern and western borders.
IAF Chief B S Dhanoa will resurrect the 17 squadron at an event on Tuesday at the Ambala Air Force Station as it prepares to receive the Rafale jets, official sources said. The ‘Golden Arrows’ 17 Squadron was commanded by Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa during the Kargil war in 1999. The squadron was formed in 1951, and initially it flew de Havilland Vampire F Mk 52 fighters.
The grenade is being developed by the Armament Research and Development Establishment. At present, the Army is using two calibers of weapon-launched grenades. The 30 mm, which is fired from a heavy, tripod-mounted automatic grenade launcher, and the 40 mm variant that is fired from a UBL or MGL. Two types of UBLs—one designed by the DRDO is integrated with the rifle’s firing mechanism and a Russian variant that has its own trigger—are in use.
The nano-chip fabricated by team of scientists from the Indian Institute of Technology-Guwahati is enzyme-free and can be used for hydrogen peroxide detection. Researchers used peroxidase activity of gold to detect hydrogen peroxide, and plated gold on indium tin oxide plate which is used for performing scanning electron microscopy in laboratories but discarded after one use.
The IAF’s helicopter fleet has steadily been increasing over the past few years and the highlight, of course, is the recent addition of Boeing-made Apache AH-64E attack helicopters. Apart from these, the Indian Air Force also has medium and heavy lift helis that not only transport the Prime Minister of the country but also helps in rescue operations during natural disasters.
The tribal affairs ministry is working on a model where over 100 units across the country will work on extracting the environment-friendly coal, while employing people from tribal communities.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a conference focussed on the security for the healthcare sector here, Stephan said India, actually, was considered as a top-2 prospective location for APAC’s first Transparency Centre. “We recently set it up in Kaula Lumpur (Malayasia). But the new upcoming Indian policy on cyber security would require us to invest on a facility to store and process the data that we generate locally,” he said.
