Defense

This is important as more than 60 percent of the platforms and weapons being used by the Indian armed forces are from Russia, to ensure that there are no delays in getting the spares, the plan is to now manufacture it here with the help of Russia.

Sashastra Seema Bal has built 22 Border Out Posts (BoPs) allowing SSB to position at key locations near India-Bhutan Border. Now, SSB has multiple BoPs which are at more than 12,000 feet above the sea level.

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) achieved a major milestone today with the maiden launch of Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MRSAM), Army Version from Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, off the Coast of Odisha around 1600 hrs. The missile completely destroyed a high speed unmanned aerial target which was mimicking an aircraft with a direct hit.

The bigger, improved and better-armed Arighat is in the final stages of sea trials and is likely to be commissioned into service early next year. After teething troubles, India’s nuclear submarine programme — the country’s costliest defence project, monitored directly by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval — has made big strides in recent years.

As part of efforts to further expand the coastal radar chain network meant to enable real time monitoring of the high seas for threats as also expand India’s assistance for capacity building to Indian Ocean littoral states, efforts are in advanced stages to set up coastal radar stations in Maldives, Myanmar and Bangladesh, according to defence sources.

The Army will soon begin testing an indigenously-developed artillery system, which the DRDO contends is the best in its class in the world with a record-breaking strike range of 48-km. If the big gun passes muster, it can fulfill the Army’s requirement for 1,580 such guns worth over Rs 25,000 crore.

The state-of-the-art HWT Test facility is pressure vacuum driven enclosed free jet facility having nozzle exit diameter of 1 meter and will simulate Mach No 5 to 12 (Mach represents the multiplication factor to the speed of sound). After USA and Russia, India is the third country to have such a large facility in terms of size and operating capability.

In what is a clear indication of grudging acceptance, the ruling Chinese Communist Party via its mouthpiece Global Times has accepted that India has “unique geographical advantages” in the Indian ocean.