Defense

Following the death of General Bipin Rawat, the country’s first Chief of Defence Staff, in a helicopter crash on December 8, Army chief General M M Naravane has taken over some of the responsibilities of the CDS as Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC). The committee, which includes the chiefs of the Army, Navy and the Air Force, is the main body to decide military issues.

On 16th December, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said that Bangladesh would soon import defense-related commodities from India under the US$ 500 million Line of Credit offered by New Delhi, as certain identified items are being fast tracked.

Products handed over to the Armed Forces & Ministry of Home Affairs are Anti-Drone system, Modular Bridge, Smart Anti Airfield Weapon, Chaff Variants and the Light Weight Fire Fighting Suit. The counter drone systems, developed by DRDO for detection, deterrence and destruction of incoming drones was handed over to the CISC by the Raksha Mantri. He also handed over the Modular Bridge to the Chief of Army Staff General M M Naravane. Modular bridge developed by R&DE (Engineers) is a single span, mechanically launched assault bridge of military load class MLC-70, and can be launched in different spans.

Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) has developed tethered Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) which are ideally suited for applications that require more endurance. It is designed to secure airbases which, the officials pointed out, could prevent attacks like the one that took place at Pathankot Air Force Station in 2016. The UAV system can be used for aerial reconnaissance and intelligence gathering as well.

The SRCG is what experts refer to as a remote weapon system (RWS). In a maritime context, a remote weapon system is more than just a gun fired by remote control. Its computerised targeting system also factors in the roll and pitch of the ship and makes adjustments to its elevation and traverse settings to minimise errors in accuracy. A manually operated weapon cannot achieve minute adjustments on a moving ship.

This canister-based missile system consists of advanced technologies viz. two stage solid propulsion, electro-mechanical actuators and precision inertial navigation. The missile is launched from ground mobile launcher and it can cover a range of distances. 

An impressive valedictory function was held at Basic Flying Training School (BFTS) at Air Force Station, Bamrauli, to mark the successful completion of flying training of 26 army aviators of the 208 Army Pilots Course on Saturday.

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Air Force (IAF) flight-tested the indigenously designed and developed Helicopter launched Stand-off Anti-tank (SANT) Missile from Pokhran ranges on December 11, 2021. The flight-test was successful in meeting all its mission objectives. The release mechanism, advanced guidance and tracking algorithms, all avionics with integrated software, performed satisfactorily and tracking systems monitored all mission events. The missile is equipped with a state-of-the-art MMW seeker which provides high precision strike capability from a safe distance. The weapon can neutralise targets in a range up to 10 kms. 

Successful tests of Pinaka Extended Range (Pinaka-ER), Area Denial Munitions (ADM) and indigenously developed fuzes have been carried out at various test ranges. The Pinaka-ER Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher System was successfully tested at Pokharan range. The system is jointly designed by laboratories of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) – Armament Research & Development Establishment (ARDE), Pune and High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL), Pune.