Defense

Safety and security is one of the priority areas by Indian Railways. Apart from safety and security of passengers, Railway Protection Force (RPF) has contributed in a big way during Covid-19 in Indian Railways efforts to sustain its fight against the virus. During the pandemic, RPF remained on the forefront of Indian Railway’s efforts like security of parked rolling stock, providing food to the needy, escorting all Shramik Special trains, handling 45 deliveries and about 34 medical emergencies in Shramik Specials.

The Raksha Mantri inspected the ongoing works at the Naval Base and received on-site briefings including capability demonstration at the Shiplift Tower. He also undertook a tour of the Naval Harbour and reviewed the marine works/infrastructure being developed as part of Project Seabird Phase II A as also operationalisation of Piers.

The India Army is going to acquire 1,750 futuristic infantry combat vehicles (FICVs) under the Make in India project.The Army plans to deploy these FICVs in places like Eastern Ladakh and in the desert and amphibious terrain.

The CSS provides safe passage by pre-weakening or severing the canopy (the transparent enclosure over the cockpit of fighter planes) to help the pilot escape in the shortest possible time. Pune-based DRDO facilities Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) and High Energy Material Research Laboratory (HEMRL) developed CSS for indigenous aircraft including LCA Tejas, HJT-36 and HTT-40.

The acquisition is under ‘Buy Indian – Indigenously Designed Developed & Manufactured (Buy Indian-IDDM)’, the highest priority category for defence capital procurements. The acquisition will significantly augment the capability of ICG to respond to Oil spill disasters at sea and also enhance Pollution Response (PR) efficiency. These two vessels are scheduled for delivery by November 2024 and May 2025 respectively.

Continuing the development of Artillery Rocket Systems, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully test fired extended range version of indigenously developed Pinaka rocket from a Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) on 24th and 25th June 2021 at Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur off the coast of Odisha.

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully test fired enhanced range versions of indigenously developed 122mm Caliber Rocket from a Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) on June 25, 2021 at Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur off the coast of Odisha. Four enhanced range version of 122mm rockets were test fired with full instrumentation and they met the complete mission objectives. These rockets have been developed for Army applications and can destroy targets up to 40 km.

The second Rafale squadron at Hasimara is meant to counter threats on the eastern front with China. Rafales’ deployment on the eastern front is expected to boost capabilities of the IAF, which has already placed multirole air superiority fighter Sukhoi-30MKIs at Tezpur and Chabua.

Over 6 Ex-Air India Airbus A320 that are being planned to be converted into Netra 2.0 AWACS platform using new upgraded Desi AESA Radar developed in India by DRDO. Three ERJ145 based Netra AEW&CS were procured by India and two are flying with IAF and one is still retained by DRDO to be used as Test Bed for the future program, which eventually might join IAF at a later stage.