Defense

As part of efforts to improve overall management of defence land, for the first time a Land Management System (LMS) has been developed by Department of Defence in conjunction with DGDE and Armed forces. The portal was formally launched by Shri Rajnath Singh, Hon’ble Raksha Mantri today in presence of officials from Indian Army, DGDE and Department of Defence.

The Prime Minister tweeted that “Neutralising of 4 terrorists belonging to Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed and the presence of large cache of weapons and explosives with them indicates that their efforts to wreak major havoc and destruction have once again been thwarted.”

The 30th edition of India-Thailand Coordinated Patrol (Indo-Thai CORPAT) between the Indian Navy and the Royal Thai Navy is being conducted from 18 – 20 November 2020. Indian Naval Ship (INS) Karmuk, an indigenously built Missile Corvette and His Majesty’s Thailand Ship (HTMS) Kraburi, a Chao Phraya Class Frigate along with Dornier Maritime Patrol Aircraft from both the navies are participating in the CORPAT.

The Navy on Wednesday received the first of the four new P-8I long-range maritime patrol aircraft, which are packed with sensors and weapons to hunt submarines, at its air station in Goa from the US.
The other three P-8I, under the $1.1 billion contract signed with the US in July 2016, will be delivered next year.

As the border standoff with China in eastern Ladakh shows no signs of immediate resolution, the Indian Army has created modern habitats with all required facilities for thousands of troops deployed in the high-altitude region which is under the grip of harsh winter, government sources said on Wednesday.

Indian Army celebrated the 240th Corps of Engineers Day on 18 Nov 2020. In a solemn ceremony organized at ‘National War Memorial’, Lt Gen SK Shrivastava, Engineer-in-Chief along with other serving officers, JCOs and other ranks laid wreaths and paid homage to the brave soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the country.

In yet another flight test, the Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missile (QRSAM) System tracked the target accurately and successfully neutralised the airborne target. The flight test, second in the series was conducted today at around 1542 hrs from the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, off the coast of Odisha. The test was carried out once again, against the high performance Jet Unmanned Aerial Target called Banshee, which simulates an aircraft.

India now has a dedicated Drones Directorate that will solely focus on managing the drones ecosystem in the country. The civil aviation regulator, DGCA, obtained the permission to set up the Directorate from the Finance Ministry, and the department — to begin with — will have eight officials from the DGCA, but will be expanded over time, Amber Dubey, joint secretary at the Civil Aviation Ministry said on Monday.

The configuration of the aircraft expected to arrive soon will be of the same configuration as the previous eight that are in service in the Indian Navy. Also, as reported by Financial Express Online earlier, there are plans of installing encrypted communications systems which have been delivered earlier.

The second phase of Exercise Malabar 2020 will be conducted in the Northern Arabian Sea from 17 to 20 November 2020. Taking forward the synergy achieved in the recently concluded Phase 1 of Exercise Malabar 2020, which was conducted in the Bay of Bengal from 03 to 06 November 2020, this phase will involve coordinated operations of increasing complexity between the navies of Australia, India, Japan and the United States.