Defense

The mammoth dock will facilitate the much needed underwater repairs quickly and efficiently. Touted as the ‘edifice of modern India’ by the Indian Navy, the gigantic dry dock has been constructed over 40 lakh man days. According to a video released by the Navy, the megastructure has been constructed using 80,000 metric tons of steel — equivalent to that used to build the Eiffel tower.

India has “forward deployed” some warships, submarines, maritime patrol aircraft and fighter jets to keep track of a major naval exercise by Pakistan in the north Arabian Sea Top defence establishment sources on Wednesday said “close tabs” are being kept on the unfolding Pakistani exercise, with the Indian armed forces also being kept operationally ready “to prevent any misadventure” by the neighbouring country during it.

During the nine-day exercise, the three navies will conduct complex maritime operations in the surface, sub-surface and air domains with a particular focus on anti-submarine warfare, officials said. A significant number of aircraft, naval ships and submarines of the three navies will be part of the annual exercise, considered a major war game in the region.

India has fully paid for the Project 11356 missile frigates, which Russia’s Yantar Shipyard in the Kaliningrad Region is building for the Indian Navy, President of the United Shipbuilding Corporation Alexei Rakhmanov told reporters on Tuesday. Russia and India signed contracts in November 2018 on the delivery of four Project 11356 frigates. Under the deal, two frigates will be built at Russia’s Yantar Shipyard on the Baltic coast (part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation) and the other two will be constructed at India’s Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL).

The OPV is part of the contract awarded to Larsen and Toubro to build seven offshore patrol vessels at the Kattuppalli Port near Chennai. This is the fourth in the series of seven 98-m vessel awarded to Larsen and Toubro. ‘Varaha’ refers to the third incarnation of Lord Vishnu who took the form of a boar to rescue Goddess Earth from the ocean by lifting her on his tusks. ‘Varaha’ is the projection of the Coast Guard’s will and commitment “to serve and protect” the maritime interest of the country.

The 23rd edition of the top-notch “Malabar” naval exercise among India, the US and Japan kicks off Sasebo in Japan on Wednesday, with Australia being the sole “Quad” member not involved in the 10-day wargames.Indian defence establishment sources say India has separately cranked up military ties with Australia, which saw the two countries conduct their biggest-ever naval exercise called “AusIndEx” to “build inter-operability” off the Visakhapatnam coast in April this year.

The project estimated to cost ₹400 crore, when in place, will give India its own capability in space situational awareness (SSA) like the other space powers — which is used to ‘predict’ threats from debris to Indian satellites. It also goes so far as to serve as an unstated warning against missile or space attack for the country, experts say.

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval’s office is actively monitoring the content on social media and “a very big effort” is going on to counter anti-India propaganda in the cyber space. Fake Twitter handles masquerading that of retired Indian Army officers and serving Indian Army Chief too have been created for the agenda and security officials said a concerted effort is going on from Pakistan where thousands of accounts, many of which had ceded long back have suddenly got active. Many have Indian names as well.

“Yes, we are discussing the localisation of S-400 production with India,” diplomatic sources said. However, they refused to specify which components of the S-400 could be produced in India. A similar agreement over local production exists between Russia and Turkey, which also is buying the systems from Russia.

The system, which has already gone through few trials, has sensors which will trigger relay to a missile warhead to destroy the “intruder” after it has crossed the border. The system will have thermal cameras besides a seismic and an acoustic sensor. “Seismic sensors shall be buried deep into the ground to sense the vibrations of any movement. Whether the object is to be taken or not, would depend on the signature of vibrations produced,” said a TBRL scientist.