Defense

Air Marshal RKS Bhadauria : Traditionally, service chiefs have been appointed on the basis of seniority – the officer who is senior-most officer on the day a chief retires is named his successor. “Air Marshal RKS Bhadauria was commissioned into the fighter stream of the IAF in June 1980, and has held various command, staff and instructional appointments at various levels,” a defence ministry statement said.

“Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will spend the afternoon of September 28 and the forenoon of September 29 on the sea. During the stay, he will witness all naval actions including the firing of missiles,” said Vice Admiral Kumar. The INS Khanderi, India’s second Scorpene-class attack submarine, will be commissioned into the Indian Navy along with the first P-17 Shivalik class frigate and the aircraft carrier drydock on September 28.

The US administration is aware that the request for the drones by the Indian Army and the Navy have been clubbed –which means each will buy 10 each and it is different than the one that the IAF is seeking. India is looking at 30 UAVs for all its three services.

The much-awaited report has been mostly completed and some finishing touches are being put to it before its submission next month, three senior officials involved in the exercise said on condition of anonymity. The unclassified part of the report will be made public after the Narendra Modi government or the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) accepts the fundamental document defining the Indian military posture.

MBDA, which also makes the entire weapons package for the Rafale fighter jet, has said that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on September 12 in London with Commodore Siddharth Mishra, the Chairman and Managing Director of BDL. The company has announced that the new pact with BDL is for the final assembly, integration and test of its Mistral and ASRAAM missiles in India.

Indra-2019, the 11th edition of the wargame, is a tri-service exercise involving the army, air force and navy of both the countries. Russian military aircraft will provide aerial support to its army soldiers and navy during the exercise. TASS also reported that the Russian Navy will send two warships, a sea tanker, a helicopter and two or three motorboats for Indra-2019. The Russian military contingent will include 300 soldiers from the Eastern Military District.

Officials added that a woman navy officer will be posted as the assistant naval attache to the Indian embassy in Moscow this year. The navy is in the process of shortlisting officers for the post. For choosing an officer as a defence attache or assistant defence attache, besides shortlisting, it also identifies the missions where they can be posted. Clearance of the governments of India and the country where the officer will be posted, is taken. When the post becomes vacant, the officer is posted. Presently, no woman navy officer is posted as a defence attache.

The HTT-40 is currently undergoing a string of elaborate tests at HAL to demonstrate that it is safe for rookie pilots and meets IAF’s exacting standards for trainer planes. Test pilots have wrapped up intensive flight tests but some brutal trials are yet to be conducted, said a second official.

“The SCALP is highly combat proven. It can carry out high destruction against high value assets, bridges, railroads, power plants, airfields, buried bunkers and command and control centres. It can evade enemy air defence units with its ground hugging trajectory,” a senior MBDA executive – which is the manufacturer of the system – says.

According to an order issued by the PMO, Principal Secretary Mishra will look into policy issues and matters relating to ministries of Personnel, Law, Appointments Committee of Cabinet and other appointments. Ajit Doval will look into all matters relating to national security and policy matters, except appointments. Principal Advisor PK Sinha will oversee policy issues and matters relating to all ministries/departments/agencies/bodies