Defense

In an unique good gesture the Indian navy extended required assistance to rectify tech snag in one of the three Sri Lankan Air Force An-32 aircraft which had made a scheduled though urgent stop in Goa. These aircraft of SL Air Force are on journey to Ukraine for servicing.

Amid border tension with China, the armed forces are pushing a case for arming their Heron UAVs with laser-guided bombs, precision-guided munitions and anti-tank missiles for taking out enemy positions and armoured regiments. The case is going to be considered by a high-level Defence Ministry body including Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar, who is now the in-charge of all capital procurements for the three services.

Twelve Maoists, five of them collectively carrying a reward of ₹ 6 lakh on their heads, surrendered in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district on Sunday, police said.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that India is now ready for the big push to the atma nirbhar or self-dependent initiative announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Earlier his office tweeted that he will make an important announcement at 10 am today.

Lockheed Martin is pursuing plans to expand offset-related engagement with Indian industry, the US corporation has said. The effort was highlighted at the company’s seventh annual suppliers’ conference in New Delhi, which was held for five days from late July.

Besides reviewing the operational preparedness at these bases, the VCAS interacted with air warriors of the combat units currently operating at these locations. He was briefed about the operational readiness of IAF assets deployed in the area. He urged all air warriors, NCs(E), DSC personnel and Civilian staff to continue discharging their duties with utmost sincerity and ensure a high state of combat readiness at all times.

The pilots of the Air India Express plane that skidded off the runway and broke into two at Kerala’s Kozhikode were among the 18 who lost their lives on Friday evening. They were Wing Commander Deepak Vasant Sathe and Captain Akhilesh Kumar. Wing Commander Deepak V Sathe was a decorated former fighter pilot with the Indian Air Force who flew planes for Air India before he went on to Air India Express flights.

An undisclosed defence source told ANI, TATA Wheeled Armoured Protection (WhAP), American Stryker Infantry Combat Vehicle and Humvee High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle are being considered for the purchase. It is expected that preference would be given to the indigenous TATA vehicle over the foreign platforms.

Under a $181.74 million contract modification from Naval Air Systems Command, announced on 4 August, 24 sonar systems will be provided to India and 7 ALFS to Denmark, in addition to 8 ALFS for the US Navy, into MH-60R Seahawk aircraft, the U.S. Department of Defense said in a statement today.

In order to provide impetus to self-reliance in defence manufacturing, multiple announcements were made under ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Package’. In implementing such framework and to position India amongst the leading countries of the world in defence and aerospace sectors, Ministry of Defence (MoD) has formulated a draft Defence Production and Export Promotion Policy 2020 (DPEPP 2020).