Defense

“Two Prithvi-2 missiles were test fired consecutively and both tests met all parameters,” the official said from the Interim Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur. The trial of the missile, which has a strike range of 350 km, was carried out from a mobile launcher from launch complex-3 of the ITR between 7 pm to 7.15 pm, he said.

India has become one of the few countries that the US decided to sell its latest version (Mod 4) of its naval guns. The other countries to have been sold these include Australia, Japan and South Korea.
US Clears Sale of $1 Billion Worth of Naval Guns to India for Use against Warships, Anti-aircraft Warfare. The proposed foreign military sale of up to 13 MK-45 5inch/62 caliber (MOD 4) naval guns and related equipment is at an estimated cost of $1.0210 billion, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in its notification to the Congress on Tuesday.

It is being conducted as the partner countries have resolved to take the international counter-terror offensive, preparedness, mitigation and synergy to the next level and therefore the table-top exercise would be attended by CT (counter-terrorism) officials and security experts of the Quad countries, they said.

India and UAE share historic political, economic and cultural ties that have evolved and expanded considerably over the years. India remains UAE’s second-largest trading partner with bilateral non-oil trade amounting to $18.2 billion in the first half of 2019, marking a 20 per cent year-over-year increase. Bilateral trade between the two countries is expected to cross $100 billion by 2020 from over $57 billion at present.

The task force on ‘DRDO-Academia Interaction for achieving leadership in futuristic technologies’ was set up last week to identify niche domains and dual use technologies for current and futuristic requirements of defence and security, as well as to identify higher education Institutions that can work on developing these, people aware of the development said.

With a 7516.6 km coastline, 12 major ports, 184 minor ports involving 13 coastal States/UTs and 1197 island territories, these need protection at all times by Indian Navy with support from Indian Coast Guard. As part of the coastal defence against attack from the seaward side, a new strategy has been adopted with the shipbuilding programme focussed at smaller but faster, highly manoeuvrable agile crafts with better designed capability to operate in littoral waters.

The digital data recorded by Survey ships and units are put through a rigorous verification for Quality Control before being provided to the Mariners in the form of Nautical Charts. Real-time dissemination of marine safety information is very essential for all ships underway at sea for their route planning. And for this NHO promulgates maritime safety information as Navigational Warnings round the clock through Global Maritime Distress and Safety Services (GMDSS) using International Maritime Satellites.

This is the third in the series-of-five Fast Patrol Vessel (FPV) that the miniratna-category-1 warship building company under the Ministry of Defence is building. Earlier, GRSE delivered its 101st Warship ICGS Annie Besant, second in the series to the Indian Coast Guard, in November 05, 2019.

Mr Singh, who arrived in Singapore on Monday night on a two-day visit, will attend the India-Singapore Defence Ministers’ dialogue and also call on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. On Tuesday morning, Mr Singh visited Sembawang Air Base and later took the helicopter sortie. On Wednesday, Mr Singh will visit Kranji War memorial, which honours the largest number of Indian soldiers who died in the war.

“The government plans to establish two defence corridors in Tamil Nadu and UP. A Defence Innovation Hub is functioning in Coimbatore. A Defence Planning Committee has been formed. In this regard, the UP government plans to build a defence manufacturing corridor along with the proposed Bundelkhand Expressway, which will help in making India self-reliant in defence production,” the Defence Minister said, adds the IANS report.