Defense

The Indian Coast Guard programme to acquire 14 Twin Engine Heavy Helicopters (TEHH) is finally set to take off, with the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) slated to consider approval for issuance of a Buy Global tender reportedly worth 6,500 Crore ($910.8 Million) in a meeting scheduled to be chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on November 28.

The joint exercise is designed for incorporating the current dynamics of the United Nations peace keeping operations through practical and comprehensive discussions and tactical exercises. The joint effort will also focus on achieving the desired level of interoperability and cohesive operational ability of the troops from both India and Sri Lanka through mutual exchange of operational experience and best practices.

Spike LR is a fourth generation missile that can engage a target with precision at ranges up to four km. In addition to fire and forget capability, the missile also has the ability to fire, observe and update, providing substantial flexibility to the firer to pinpoint the impact point, as also the ability to switch to a different target mid-flight, should he want to do so. The firer also has the option to fire from either low or high trajectory.

BrahMos is a medium-range supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from ships, aircraft, or land.
In September this year, the missile featuring Indian propulsion system, airframe, power supply, and other major indigenous components, was successfully test-fired from ITR, Chandipur in Odisha.
In May this year, the IAF successfully fired the BrahMos air version missile from its frontline Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft.
The air-launched BrahMos missile is a 2.5-tonne supersonic air to surface cruise missile with ranges of close to 300 km, designed and developed by BAPL.

42 FDI proposals and Joint Ventures (JVs) have been approved for the manufacture of various Defence equipments, both in public and private sector, which include 3 JVs with Russia, viz. M/s Multirole Transport Aircraft Ltd, M/s Indo-Russian Helicopters Ltd and M/s Indo Russian Rifles Pvt Ltd

The joint training will allow aircrew from the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) and the Indian Air Force (IAF) to hone their operational skills and enhance interoperability through drills such as air combat and mission-oriented training, the Ministry of Defence said on Thursday (Nov 28).

India’s defence ministry has given the nod to purchase a locally-made short range surface-to-air missile to protect its airspace along the border with China and Pakistan. The ministry said that it had withdrawn the global tender to purchase a missile system from foreign countries.

India is the only country that holds exercises with all the P-5 countries (US, Russia, China, France and UK), apart from others like Australia, Japan, South Africa and Brazil as well as Asean countries like Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. “With nations grappling with global terrorism, piracy and gun-running on the high seas, violence by rebel militias and other such threats, the exercises serve to enhance military interoperability, strategic cooperation and confidence-building among nations,” said a senior defence official.

The agreement will ensure that Indian warships and air force planes, among other things, will be able to enter, refuel and pick up provisions in Japanese defence bases and vice-versa. This is another example of the growing closeness between the defence establishments of both countries. India has a similar agreement– the LEMOA– with the United States. A similar one with Russia is almost ready for signing.

While the Japan pact may be signed over the next weekend during the maiden 2+2 meet before Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s India visit in December for the annual summit, the Australian agreement is expected during Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s state visit mid-January. In the ‘2+2’ format, the foreign ministers and defence ministers of two countries have a joint meeting to discuss strategic issues.