Defense

The Indian Army has set up a free of cost GSM-based PCO for the villagers of Mago-Chuna in distant areas of East Kameng district in Arunachal Pradesh.

As the stand-off between the armed forces of India and China continues at the LAC, the government has taken a slew of measures including creation of additional border outposts (BoPs), sanction of battalions, filling up of vacancies and modernising weaponry, said officials.

DRDO is rearing double-humped camels which will be deployed at DBO and Depsang in eastern Ladakh to be used by the Indian Army for patrolling and transportation.

Defence sources on Sunday said the five Rafales, which were formally inducted into service at the Ambala airbase on September 10, have conducted some “familiarization sorties” in Ladakh in recent days. “Rafale pilots have flown the jets from Ambala to Ladakh to familiarize themselves with the operational environment there,” said a source.

South Africa’s Paramount and Namibia’s Windhoeker Maschinenfabrik (WMF) are currently engaged in armoured vehicle trials in India. Bharat Forge and Paramount at the February DefExpo in India displayed the Kalyani M4/Mbombe 4 and Kalyani Maverick.

“The Indian Army has occupied six new heights between August 29 and the second week of September. The new hill features being occupied by our troops include the Magar hill, Gurung Hill, Recehen La, Rezang La, Mokhpari and the dominating height over Chinese positions near Finger 4,” top government sources told ANI.

“India’s first Coast Guard academy to come up at Mangaluru. 158 acres KIADB land taken over for setting up #ICGAcademy. A milestone towards professional maritime training to ICG officers & men & stakeholders,” said Defence Spokesperson (PRO) Bengaluru in a tweet.

Preparing for a long winter ahead facing the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in East Ladakh, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has decided to allowed Srinagar-Zoji La-Kargil Leh axis to be closed only for 45 days from past average 95 days due to snow this year and will strengthen all the bridges on Darbuk-Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) road to bear the load of tank plus truck trailer by next month.

The 10th Defense Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) Group Meeting was held virtually on September 15, 2020. The meeting was co-chaired by Mr. Raj Kumar, Secretary, Defence Production, from the Indian Ministry of Defence and Ms. Ellen M. Lord, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, from the U.S. Department of Defense.

During the last three financial year (2017-18 to 2019-20) and current year (upto July, 2020), 183 capital contracts have been signed with Indian vendors and foreign vendors for procurement of defence equipment for Armed Forces.