Defense

The procurement of 56 C-295 from Airbus with participation of an Indian production agency for the manufacture of 40 aircraft (out of total 56) in India is at financial approval stage and the contract is likely to be signed in the near future, the defence ministry said in its year-end review.

The Air Headquarters is looking at Indian industries, research and development establishments and academic institutes that have the requisite technical expertise and financial capability as well as experience in developing and testing aviation related military grade equipment, IAF sources said.

There was a 87.13 per cent dip in incidents of stone-pelting last year as compared to 2019 in Jammu and Kashmir, according to Director General of Police Dilbag Singh. In 2019, there were 1,999 incidents of stone-pelting, of which 1,193 took place after the Centre announced abrogation of the special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir that year in August.

Defence Public Sector Undertaking (DPSU) Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) paid dividend worth Rs 5.625 crore to Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh in New Delhi today. The cheque was handed over by Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of BEML Dr Deepak Kumar Hota.

The Ministry of Home Affairs, as part of its Indo-China Border Roads (ICBR) projects, has awarded six road stretches in Arunachal Pradesh to the National Highways Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL) on a nomination basis, at an estimated cost of approximately Rs 5,000 crore.

The amphibious ships, to be based in the strategic location of Andaman and Nicobar Islands — which is close to various routes leading to the South China Sea — “are specifically designed to undertake landing operations in most difficult beaching areas”, GRSE chairman and managing director Rear Admiral (retd) V K Saxena said.

The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria PVSM AVSM VM ADC formally launched the IAF e-Governance (e-Office) portal at Air HQ, Vayu Bhavan on 31 Dec 20. The implementation undertaken as part of Digital India and the e-governance initiative will transform the entire Indian Air Force into a ‘paperless office’ workflow.

After leasing two predator drones from the US, the Indian Navy is now going to urgently acquire 10 shipborne drones for enhancing its surveillance capabilities in the Indian Ocean Region, for which it has received the government approval recently.

Today’s order will particularly provide a huge relief to young Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel like CRPF, BSF, CISF, etc since disability in performance of duties is generally reported in their case due to constraints of job requirement as well as hostile or difficult work – environment.

The Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) Ltd on Thursday commenced production of the first of the eight Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Crafts for the Indian Navy, a top official of the Defence PSU said.