Defense

While the respective headquarters of the three services are studying each other’s governing Acts, passed by Parliament, they are also looking at international practices, including the American Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986 that made sweeping changes to the Department of Defense by reworking the command structure of the US military, defence sources told ThePrint.

According to Defence PRO, Rajasthan, Colonel Sombit Ghosh, the tactical exercise involved integrated employment and firing of all arms including artillery guns, rockets, tanks, helicopters and air resources. The Army aptly demonstrated the ability to hit hard and swiftly with precision, with the accuracy of multiple rocket launch systems and K-9 Vajra 155 mm Howitzer being particularly noteworthy.

The defence minister was in Ladakh, along with Army chief Gen. Bipin Rawat, to inaugurate a strategically located bridge across the Shyok River which will provide easy connectivity with the Daulat Beg Oldi sector along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China. “Ladakh has tremendous potential in tourism. Better connectivity in Ladakh would certainly bring tourists in large numbers. The Siachen area is now open for tourists and tourism.

The proposal to acquire two regiments of the Akash Prime missiles which can be deployed in high altitude areas to counter China and Pakistan would be discussed at the meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council scheduled to be held today. The Akash missile system has been developed in India by DRDO and has proven to be highly successful in the defence forces.

Work on the radar stations to plug the Maldives into India’s coastal radar chain is progressing fast. “Two of the stations are functional and the third is in an advanced stage. It should be fully linked by January,” the sources added. Sources pointed out that the two Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) given by India were of “great service”. They were flying round the clock for medical evacuation and search and rescue.

According to the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, DTTI came about to expedite the scope of cooperation on defence technology that become narrow due to the presence of differing bureaucratic processes and legal requirements. Essentially, DTTI is an initiative to provide “increased US senior level oversight and engagement to get beyond these obstacles.”

Existing intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) re-entry vehicles also travel at those superfast speeds, but the hypersonic glide vehicles now in development are far more manoeuvrable, making their tracking and interception nearly impossible. Hypersonic weapons are specifically designed for increased survivability against modern ballistic missile defence systems. These missiles are capable of delivering conventional or nuclear payloads at speeds not imagined hitertoo over long ranges.

The technology might sound like the stuff of science fiction, except that it is just around the corner, according to Group Captain Harsh Vardan Thakur of HAL’s Flight Operations Unit. He was speaking about the project at a conference organised by the Synergia Foundation in Bengaluru on Saturday. The programme, being run at HAL’s flight testing facilities in Bengaluru and in New Delhi, aspires to develop three distinct classes of drones.

“As a result calibrated escalation of area weapons was undertaken by the Indian side in which terrorist launch pads and several Pakistan Army posts giving incidental protection to these launch pads and certain gun positions were hit,” the official said.

“In the first year, we were supposed to supply 36,000 jackets but we are ahead of time and we have supplied 40,000 jackets to Indian Army,” he said talking to ANI here on Friday.
“We have to complete this order by 2021, but we are hopeful to complete it by the end of 2020,” he said.