Defense

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 The ministry said that it had withdrawn the global tender to purchase a missile system from foreign countries.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.

India’s federal Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the government has approved forming a Defence Cyber Agency to mitigate any possible online threats. He told the Indian Parliament on Wednesday that all the three Services have established their respective Cyber Emergency Response Teams.

It said the Coast Guard Commander (Eastern Seaboard) also informed the Lt Governor that the coast guardhad a proposal to set up a helicopter base in Puducherry to enable it to have enhanced search and rescue operations and also address coastal security concerns here. The role of enhanced security and increased surveillance of the Puducherry and Karaikal coasts came in for discussion during the meeting.

The current budget allocation has little scope for a leap as far as modernization of armed forces is concerned as capital expenditure meant for big ticket procurement did not increase to match the requirements to transform the forces with modern equipment.

With the green signal from the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the task force Commander at sea was given the go ahead to intercept the suspicious vessel masquerading as Mega Rama. By late afternoon, signals from the Western Fleet confirmed that Mega Rama had been successfully intercepted almost 800 kilometres from the Indian coast.

The underwater locator beacon provides an electronic signal at a particular frequency for up to a month. This locator feature was not equipped in the AN-32 transport aircraft that went missing over the Bay of Bengal in 2016. The Indian Air Force (IAF) has equipped all of its aircraft and helicopters with basic search equipment to better trace missing aircraft.

Admiral Kumar had authored a book named ‘A Prime Minister to Remember — Memories of a Military Chief’ which highlighted the key defence-related decisions taken by Late PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He credited Vajpayee for turning the strategic tactical loss into a massive victory. Known for his strategic thinking, the Admiral had pushed for significantly expanding Indian Navy’s presence in the Indian Ocean Region. He was also part of the high-level group devising strategy during the Kargil war in 1999.