Defense

“Met India’s former Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa (retired). He has served our nation with utmost valour, diligence and professionalism. He has made a rich contribution to our Air Force. My best wishes to him for his future endeavours,” the Prime Minister tweeted.

As part of Indian Navy’s Overseas Deployment, ships of Indian Navy’s First Training Squadron – Indian Naval Ships Tir, Sujata and Indian Coast Guard Ship Sarathi – arrived at Antsiranana, Madagascar, on October 1, for a three-day visit. Indian Navy ships are regularly deployed overseas as part of Indian Navy’s mission of building ‘bridges of friendship’ and strengthening international cooperation with friendly countries.

“We have no plans for importing a FGFA. The indigenous AMCA (advanced medium combat aircraft) has already been initiated…We are putting all our energy into it. IAF remains committed to indigenous development in consonance with the PM’s ‘Make in India’ initiative,” said Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria, who took over as the chief on September 30.

The move will enable the IAF to operate the Russian-made world’s largest heavy-lift helicopters together with the American Chinook choppers that are being currently inducted, giving it an unprecedented tactical lift capability.Once the process is complete, India will become the first country to have a simultaneous inventory of both Mi-26s and Chinooks.

Mr Singh reaffirmed the Government’s aim of inclusive growth and making India a $5 trillion economy by 2025, adding that the defence sector will play a pivotal role in achieving this goal.
“Our aim is to make a world class domestic defence industry that is self-reliant and less dependent on imports”, he added.

“The technological and infrastructural facilities that India has been able to build up, we would like to throw open and make it available for the best use of the countries of the region,” Ajit Doval said, pointing out that India had provided navigational warnings, and hydrographic surveys to the neighbouring countries.

This is the second edition of the conclave and this year’s theme is “Common Maritime Priorities in Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and need for Regional Maritime Strategy”. According to the Indian Navy, representatives from Indian Ocean littoral countries – from South East Asian countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand; close neighbours like Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka and the island nations of Seychelles, Mauritius and Maldives are present.

Sources on Thursday said the “first lot” of the 210 Spike missiles, with a dozen launchers, “arrived in India about 10 days ago” as part of the “Army vice chief’s emergency procurement powers” exercised by the force amidst the ongoing heightened tensions with Pakistan. The Army moved to buy the initial amount of the fire-and-forget Spike ATGMs, which have a strike range of up to 4-km, for around Rs 280 crore after the Jaish-e-Muhammed training facility at Balakot in Pakistan was bombed by Indian Mirage-2000 fighters on February 26.

According to the Indian Navy, for the first time ever the two navies will hold their bilateral joint naval exercise and also their second coordinated patrol. The Bangladesh government has expressed its keenness on doing HADR exercise with the Indian Navy. As far regional cooperation is concerned neighbouring Bangladesh is the Vice-Chair of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) and is expected to take over as the Chair in 2021.

The biggest UAV procurements for the JK police has already been approved Union home ministry. The UAVs will help the police to keep an eye on protesters and militant movements. Officials privy to details of the procurements told Hindustan Times that tenders have already been floated by the procurement wing of the JK police and the process could be completed by this month which would give cops more eyes in the sky.