Defense

India’s long-range anti-submarine, reconnaissance, surveillance and electronic jamming capabilities in the Indian Ocean Region are going to get a further boost with the induction of four more P-8I multi-mission aircraft from the US next year. India has the option of buying another six from Boeing to be negotiated later in 2021, people familiar with the developments in New Delhi and Seattle said.

“The IAF’s air and ground crews have undergone comprehensive training on the aircraft, including its highly-advanced weapons systems and are fully operational now. Efforts will focus on operationalisation of the aircraft at the earliest,” said Wing Commander Indranil Nandi. A formal induction ceremony will take place next month, he said.

With an aim to boost ‘Make in India’ initiative of the Government, with the approval of Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh, Acquisition Wing of Ministry of Defence (MoD), has today signed a Contract with Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) for procurement of 1,512 Mine Plough (MP) for Tank T-90 S/SK at an approximate cost of Rs 557 crore. The contract has Buy and Make (Indian) categorisation with a minimum of 50 per cent indigenous content in make portion of the contract.

The PASSEX (passing exercise) between the two navies, which have built “interoperability” through a series of “Malabar” and other exercises, comes after the mammoth nuclear-powered USS Nimitz and her accompanying warships entered the Indian Ocean by crossing the Malacca Strait on Saturday.

The course completion ceremony of the 89th batch of the marine engineering specialisation course (MESC) was held on Saturday. The officers turned out in ceremonials while donning white masks. They also followed precautionary protocols of Covid-19 during the ceremony.

Security forces have stepped up offensive against terrorists in the Kashmir Valley. In June, forces killed 48 terrorists in various encounters; most of them in south Kashmir. Since January, 136 militants have been killed in different encounters across Kashmir. The J&K Police neutralised 162 terrorists in 2019.

Sources on Friday said several Indian warships, including destroyers, frigates and submarines as well as maritime patrol aircraft, are conducting the exercise near the A&N archipelago, which dominates China’s critical sea lanes transporting the bulk of its energy and other trade through the Malacca Strait.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh left for Leh on Friday morning as part of his two-day visit to Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir. While he will be in Ladakh on the first day of his visit today, the defence minister will go to Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday.Singh’s visit comes at a time when there is military tension between India and China in the sensitive sector.

This system is fully indigenous and being manufactured by L&T who makes the platform system, parachutes manufactured by Ordnance Factory, DRDO said. This system has been made under the Make in India programme. The system would be a force multiplier for armed forces, while enabling the rapid delivery of combat store in the far flung inaccessible areas.

The ANI report added that India has also placed an order to buy Spice-2000 bombs, assault rifles and ammunition as the tensions at the LAC continues despite both sides taking steps to disengage after clashes on June 15 in which 20 Indian soldiers had died, although the PLA had suffered casualties as well as reported by China’s state-run Global Times but the Chinese foreign ministry has denied the reports.