Defense

This is the first step towards inducting women in the Army’s rank and file. A total of 1,700 women military police will be inducted over a period of 17 years, the Ministry of Defence said here on Friday. All military police are trained at the Bengaluru CMP school.

The government is in the process of replacing the old fence in the India-Bangladesh border areas. According to sources, the new fencing is advanced and hard to cut which will make it hard for infiltrators to cross the border.

The naval utility helicopter project, being processed under the strategic partnership model, is now set to go to the next stage, with the navy shortlisting four domestic companies that would be eligible to tie up with three shortlisted foreign vendors for a competition to manufacture 111 choppers in India.

The new department, under CDS General Bipin Rawat, is an addition to the four existing verticals in the defence ministry: the departments of defence, defence production, defence research and development, and ex-service welfare. As CDS, Rawat is the principal military adviser to the defence minister on all matters related to the tri-services.

DRDO’s Defence Research Laboratory (DRL) in Tezpur has now come up with a range of devices that can be used in different situations of low intensity conflict. From chilli spray, which can be kept in a woman’s purse for self defence to grenades that can be lobbed to control crowds or manage hostage situations, there are now a range of products—a mirchi bomb for every situation.

The first batch will be delivered to the Navy soon and will be fitted onto Sindhu class submarines and other navy ships. This will make India one of the eight countries to have such indigenously-designed and built system. Varunastra is capable to destroy any target, including ships and submarines, up to the range of 40 kilometres in waters.

“Currently, phase three of the construction of Vikrant is under progress, which involves setting to work of machinery and equipment, like power generation and propulsion machinery. The carrier is likely to be commissioned by early 2021,” a source told PTI. This carrier is being built at the Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) in Kochi.

The assessment within the Indian establishment is that engine technologies needed for future aircraft are available with nations like France, UK and the US. The Indian side is also keen not to repeat a deficiency in the Chinese weapons development programme where the lack of a reliable aero engine programme is seen as an impediment.

The landing makes the LCA the first Indian made jet to land on an aircraft carrier — making it a significant milestone for the indigenization plans of the Indian military and the LCA programme in particular, according to defence ministry officials.

For providing speedy and focused repair to vital assemblies of the indigenous Arjun main battle tank (MBT), Arjun Hub was inaugurated on Thursday at Jaisalmer Military Station by lieutenant general V S Sreenivas, General Officer Commanding Konark Corps.