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SOURCE: ENS
A day after six civilians were killed after an explosive went off at an encounter site in Kulgam district of South Kashmir, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan“condemned the killings of innocent Kashmiris”. Taking to Twitter, Khan said, “Strongly condemn the new cycle of killings of innocent Kashmiris by Indian security forces. It is time India realised it must move to resolve the Kashmir dispute through dialogue in accordance with the UN SC resolutions & the wishes of the Kashmiri people.”
On Sunday, seven civilians were killed in an explosion at an unsanitised encounter site at Laroo in the south Kashmir district. Prior to this, three militants were gunned down by the security forces during the encounter. Continue reading
SOURCE: AFP
The Maldives’ top court Sunday ended weeks of uncertainty by rejecting President Abdulla Yameen’s controversial bid to annul last month’s election results, upholding his landslide defeat to an opposition candidate. The five-judge Supreme Court bench unanimously ruled that Yameen had failed to prove his claim that the election was rigged and a fresh poll was necessary in the Indian Ocean archipelago.
Under international pressure, Yameen initially conceded defeat after Ibrahim Mohamed Solih emerged the winner in the September 23 poll.But the strongman ruler then filed an appeal this month, throwing the island nation into turmoil and attracting warnings from the United States and regional superpower India to respect the outcome. Continue reading
SOURCE: ENS
A day after armed intruders from Pakistan crossed the Line of Control and attacked an Indian army patrol killing three soldiers, Army has issued a stern warning to its Pakistani counterpart to restrain terrorists operating from its soil.
Referring to reports about concentration of a large number of terrorists on launch pads desperate to infiltrate from across the LoC, Indian army in a statement issued here said that “a stern warning has been conveyed to Pakistan army to restrain terrorists operating from its soil’’. It further said that “Pakistan army has been informed through established communication channels to take over the bodies of the hostile Pakistani nationals’’. Continue reading
SOURCE: THE HINDU
Tejas Networks, a maker of networking product, has received an ?111 crore purchase order from Sterlite Technologies to implement Indian Navy’s country-wide next-generation digital communications network.
Tejas Networks will supply its terabit capacity Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) systems and high-performance layer-3 multi-gigabit ethernet switches for Navy’s pan-India network, according to a company statement. Continue reading
SOURCE: Tribune News Service
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has told the Ministry of Defence (MoD) that getting more of the existing version of Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jets is not an option to bolster numbers to the dwindling jet fleet.
The Sukhoi-30MKI, in its present version, is not an option for the future — next 20 years or so — as its avionics, protection suite, engine and radar is now a generation previous to what is currently available, the IAF has informed the MoD, sources told The Tribune. The Russian origin twin-engined, Sukhoi-30MKI — a frontline jet of the IAF — is produced by public sector undertaking Hindustan Aeronautics Limited under licence from Russia. At present, the IAF has 247 Sukhoi jets in its fleet and another 25 are expected to be added over the next 24 months, taking the total to 272. Continue reading
SOURCE: ATIMES
India is aiming to modernize its strategic arsenal with the introduction of advanced US and Russian defense systems. However, some military experts say that while the South Asian giant needs foreign technologies to become a self-sufficient arms manufacturer – and autonomous global geopolitical player – technical problems could limit their coexistence.
The Indian government finalized the acquisition of Russia’s S-400 air defense missile system earlier this month and is said to be considering the purchase of the National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System-II (NASAMS-II) from the United States. Continue reading
SOURCE: Lt-Gen Kamal Davar (retd) / The Tribune
Down the ages, even when its empires and ruling dispensations suffered inglorious defeats or political ignominy, China consistently managed to display uncanny steadfastness in its goals and ambitions. That a rare amalgam of strategic patience, statecraft, deep pockets and resoluteness in the pursuit of its long-term objectives, characterises the Dragon’s ever-growing footprint across Asia, Africa and the oceans, lapping the increasingly strategic region from the Strait of Hormuz to the bottleneck of the Strait of Malacca.
That China has successfully kept at bay, in its area of operational interest, specifically in the South China and East China Seas even the world’s sole superpower’s naval might, speaks volumes of China’s military ascendancy in the Indo-Pacific expanse. Continue reading
SOURCE: TNN
The Indian Army may get advanced hand-held thermal imagers for effective surveillance of targets and night operations in high conflict zones such as Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast. The ministry of defence is in the process of procuring 12,389 hand-held thermal imagers (HHTIs) to be equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS), digital and magnetic compass, inclinometer and day and night channel binoculars to reduce the number of separate equipment a soldier carries at present.
The Directorate-General of Artillery recently issued a Request for Information (RFI) to this effect to Indian vendors mentioning its operational and technical requirements. Continue reading
SOURCE: THE HINDU
Ten years ago to the day, on October 22, 2008, India’s space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), shot a rocket into space carrying a satellite, Chandrayaan. The spacecraft, which entered the moon’s orbit 17 days later, provided India a dose of pride— among its many tasks, it also landed the Indian tricolour on the lunar surface.
In the next one year, the Chandrayaan conducted many scientific experiments and significantly established the presence of water on the Moon before it went out of contact on August 29, 2009. In the last ten years, ISRO has generated a respectable performance record. It has flown the PSLV (the rocket that carried the Chandrayaan) 31 more times, making a total of 42 flights of the rocket, of which only two – the 1st and the 39th were failures. Continue reading
SOURCE: THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE PK
India’s voracious appetite for possessing military hardware remains insatiable. It keeps spending billions of dollars on purchases of weapons system, all with an eye on its arch foes, China and Pakistan. Some deals, such as the one it cut last year with a South Korean defence contractor for the supply of 100 self-propelled howitzers, are meant to implement its so-called Cold Start Doctrine of a limited conventional war with Pakistan.
Its obsession with arms build-up knows no bounds. Small wonder then that New Delhi emerged as the largest buyer of Israeli arms in 2017. Tel Aviv’s exports are principally made up of aerial defence, radar systems and ammunition which New Delhi is ever so eager to pounce upon. It even lifted a ban on two Israeli arms companies, Aerospace Industries and Rafael Advanced Defence System Ltd, it had blacklisted over graft charges in 2006, to allow for a $2 billion deal with the former. Continue reading
SOURCE: The Telegraph
Progress is predicated on reform. Curiously, in the case of the army — India’s most valorous and secular institution — the idea of reform has, more often than not, come to imply structural modernisation. For instance, in what is being reported to be an instance of ‘radical reform’, the army top brass is said to be working on initiating measures that seek to cut flab, modernise fire-power as well as turn the army bureaucracy nimble so that officers could be allotted a larger share of field assignments. These suggestions should meet with the approval of the cabinet. Given the shifting dynamics in the nature of conflict, India must be protected by an army that is, as the adage goes, ‘lean and mean’.
But reform, in the truest sense, also hinges on transformations in the culture of institutions. Over the years, a view has gained ground — the reasons are not flimsy — that the army has been rather opaque in character. Hearteningly, things seem to be changing for the better in this context. Continue reading
SOURCE: TIMES NOW
Security for Chinese leader Xi Jinping may need strengthening and a VIP security team from Beijing arrives for discussions with India’s SPG or special protection group next month.
This is the first meeting between the SPG and the Chinese VIP security team and the two sides will look at each other’s security measures to improve functioning. The VIP security team is responsible for safeguarding XI and six other top Chinese leaders. The meeting comes in the wake of an agreement that home minister Rajnath Singh and his Chinese counterpart, Zhao Kezhi, arrive next month. The agreement on cooperation on security measures will be the first between the two countries. In the past, there have been MoUs, but no agreement. Continue reading
SOURCE: PTI
More than 56 years after India’s war with China, villagers of Arunachal Pradesh have received nearly Rs. 38 crore as compensation for the land acquired by the Army to set up its bases, bunkers and barracks.
At a special function the Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju and Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu distributed the cheques to the villagers of West Kameng district on Friday.”A total of Rs. 37.73 crore has been given to the villagers. Those were community land. So the huge amount they received will be distributed amongst the villagers,” Mr Rijiju told PTI. Continue reading
SOURCE: Express News Service
Central paramilitary forces are facing an acute shortage of staff. More than 61,000 posts of personnel are lying vacant in six paramilitary forces in the country, according to Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) data.
While the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has 18,460 vacancies, 10,738 posts are lying vacant in the Border Security Force (BSF). The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) has the highest number of vacancies at 18,942. The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has 5,786 posts lying vacant. There are 3,840 vacancies in the Assam Rifles and 3,812 in the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). Continue reading
SOURCE: PTI
An SSB jawan was killed inside a CRPF camp on Sunday night by militants who used sniper rifles, possibly armed with night-vision devices, in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.
The incident happened in Midoora area when constable Vijay Kumar was talking to his family inside the camp. He was shot by militants from nearby hills, they said. This is possibly the first time that militants have used sniper fires on security forces. Continue reading