Defense

Accompanied by several Indian businesspersons, Singh will co-chair the 19th India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military and Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-M&MTC) in Moscow. India and Russia will also focus on firming up the Agreement on Reciprocal Logistics Support (ARLS), allowing both nations to access each other’s military bases and facilities for logistics support, including fuel and supplies.

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Sunday said the Army and the Air Force will give all support to the Uttarakhand government in its efforts to boost connectivity, infrastructure and telecom facilities in areas close to the border with China. “We are constantly in touch with the state government and steps are underway to create advance landing facilities or airfields as proposed by the chief minister in high altitude areas of the state close to the China border,” the Army Chief said.

The bid for the refit was won by HSL on competitive basis and refit commenced from August 16, 2019. HSL has undertaken all jobs on a war-footing along with Patel Engineering works as prime contractor, and the refit was completed ahead of schedule with the active support of Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam.

The Russia-based NIKIRET (branch of a production company called Start, a subsidiary of Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation) and the Indian CORE Energy Systems Pvt. Ltd. recently signed a cooperation agreement that will let CORE buy Technical Security Equipment (TSE) from NIKIRET and subsequently promote it in India.

The border force has procured an unspecified number of Israeli tether drones for the Dhubri sector that stretches from Meghalaya to Cooch Behar in West Bengal. Tethered to a base for continuous supply of power, these drones — worth ₹37 lakh each — are equipped with day-and-night vision cameras that can capture images within a range of 2 km.

The weapon systems slated for tests are submarine-launched long-range ballistic missile K-4, supersonic cruise missile BrahMos, intermediate-range ballistic missile Agni-II and short range ballistic missile Prithvi. Though four nuclear-capable missiles being lined up for tests in one month amidst heightened tension along border sends a clear signal of the country’s strategic preparedness, a defence official tried to cover it up stating that India sticks to its ‘no first use’ doctrine.

India-Uzbekistan signed three MoUs in the field of Military Medicine and Military Education to further strengthen the Defence cooperation between both the countries.

“The Indian Army or the IAF will give all its support to the state government to boost air, rail or road connectivity in remote border areas in higher altitudes,” Gen Rawat said in his address at the second edition of Raibar, a state government-sponsored programme to deliberate on measures for development of the state with focus on remote hilly areas.

A 50-member industry delegation will visit Moscow on November 5-6 to explore ways to jointly manufacture spares and components with Russia”s original equipments manufacturers (OEMs) under the Make in India initiative, the industry body stated. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), jointly with the Ministry of Defence, will be leading a 50-member industry delegation to Russia for the Conference.