Defense

The Defence Acquisition Council cleared the proposal for medium refit of four Russia-made Sindhughosh class submarines in 2014, for which the HSL was the only qualified domestic bidder to submit a proposal to take it up at a cost of around ₹1,500 crore. The HSL had successfully completed the refit of INS Sindhukirti. The work began in August, 2017.

India is the world’s second-largest arms importer, according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The country accounts for 9.5% of the global total and is only behind Saudi Arabia. The Modi government has sought to change these statistics by giving a boost to the domestic defence manufacturing sector.

Indian Navy’s Tactical Data Link will be the immediate beneficiary of this indigenous SDR Technology which is very critical as it will help for achieving better transfer rates for a large volume of Real Time data, with a reduced Network latency.

At present, the retirement age of officers of the rank of the commandant and below in Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), or paramilitary forces, is fixed at 57 years while officers of the rank of Deputy Inspector General and above retire on attaining the age of 60.

Among the nations that India could approach with the upgrade solution is Malaysia that is already interested in collaboration for maintenance and upkeep of its fleet of 18 Su-30 fighters. India plans to help Malaysia set up a Maintenance Repair and Overhaul unit there and train its technicians as part of bilateral cooperation pacts. Other potential partners for the program could be Vietnam which operates 46 fighters of the type.

The Army chief informed the government about preparedness of his force when it was considering various options, including carrying out an aerial raid, to punish Pakistan for the Pulwama terror attack.
Gen. Rawat, at a closed door interaction with a group of retiring Army officials on Monday, said the force was combat ready for any hostilities from Pakistan Army after the Balakot strikes, the sources said.

The port call by INS Tarkash at Cadiz is a demonstration of India’s warm ties with Spain and its commitment to enhancing operational reach, maritime security and its solidarity with friendly nations.

The Indian Air Force which had earlier planned to go for an engine upgrade of the Jaguar deep penetration strike aircraft has now rather decided to go for additional procurement of Sukhoi Su-30 MKIs. The plan is to replace the grounded Jaguar fighters with new Sukhoi Su-30 MKI fighters

The JWG meeting coincided with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s visit to China to prepare for the second informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in October this year. The JWG meeting was held on August 13 and 14.