Defense

Vice Admiral Vinay Badhwar has been presented the 2019 Alexander Dalrymple Award in recognition of his “outstanding contribution” to Indian hydrography and across the wider Indian Ocean region, official sources said here on Monday. Recipients are selected for their efforts in raising the standards of hydrography, cartography and navigation around the world.

Speaking to ANI, the Air Force Chief said the force is also expecting to finalise a contract worth around Rs 39,000 crore for 83 LCA Mark 1A Aircraft in the next quarter. “The first squadron is already operationalised. We were to operationalise the second squadron in April, we have resurrected the squadron. But due to COVID-19, it got delayed.

In a conversation with a limited group of journalists Thursday on integration plans of the Services, Rawat said the process to set up the theatre commands should begin by mid- or late-2021. However, their exact number at the northern and western borders will be based on ongoing threat assessments.

Government has accepted and implemented three important recommendations of Committee of Experts (CoE) under the Chairmanship of Lt General D B Shekatkar (Retd) relating to border Infrastructure. These were related to speeding up road construction, leading to socio economic development in the border areas.

Yantar Shipyard (Kaliningrad, Russia) holds on completion of two Project 11356 Burevestnik-class ships. The yard reports on the online public procurement portal that the matter is outfitting work on two frigates, hull numbers 01457 and 01458.

Pentagon’s No.1 weapons supplier Lockheed Martin Corp. received a $904,8 contract modification from the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command for the production of and delivery of MH-60R Seahawk maritime helicopters. The award, announced by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) on 14 May, covers the production and delivery of three MH-60R Seahawk maritime helicopters for the Navy and 21 MH-60Rs for the government of India.

The Army is planning to convert the iconic 61st Cavalry, its only mounted cavalry unit, into an armoured regiment, sources said on Friday. The 61st Cavalry, largely a ceremonial unit, was raised in 1953 by amalgamating mounted elements of cavalry regiments of the erstwhile princely states of India.

Lieutenant General PS Rajeshwar, PVSM, AVSM, VSM, ADC, Commander-in-Chief A&N Command, commissioned INLCU L57 into the Indian Navy on 15 May 2020 at Port Blair.INLCU L57 is the seventh Landing Craft Utility (LCU) MK-IV class to be inducted into the Indian Navy. The ship has been indigenously designed and built by M/s Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata. The commissioning of INLCU L57 is yet another manifestation of the country’s indigenous design and ship building capability.

The Myanmar military handed over a group of 22 northeast insurgents to the Indian government on Friday afternoon. The insurgents, wanted in Manipur and Assam, have been brought back by a special plane, people familiar with the development told Hindustan Times.

In order to give a boost to domestic defence and aerospace manufacturing, Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh has approved the launch of Defence Testing Infrastructure Scheme (DTIS) with an outlay of Rs 400 crore for creating state of the art testing infrastructure for this sector. The Scheme would run for the duration of five years and envisages to setup six to eight new test facilities in partnership with private industry.