SOURCE: THE HINDU

The process of the final approval followed by a formal ordering process for the indigenous Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) is expected to gather steam in the coming months, according to Bharat Forge, one of the two gun manufacturers for the Indian Army.

The Pune-based auto parts maker is ready to supply 100 ATAGS in the first year before doubling its capacity at later stages, said a senior executive of Bharat Forge to analysts. Tata Advanced Systems (TASL) is the other manufacturing entity in this venture. ATAGS are a part of the list of weapons which are banned from imports. This was done to boost local manufacturing of such critical defence goods.

SOURCE: INDIA TIMES

The Indian space agency is getting ready to test a scaled-down version of what can be described as the ‘Swadeshi Space Shuttle’. According to ISRO, it is called the ‘Reusable Launch Vehicle’ or RLV. 

If all goes well, it will be seen flying over the Science City in Challakere, Karnataka, where the first landing experiment is being planned.  S Somanath, Chairman, ISRO says “We are working silently on reusable rocket technology, with a very low budget, low cost and low investment.” 

SOURCE: TNN

Serious data security concerns over Chinese drones have landed Indian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) manufacturers in a sweet spot. Their made-in-India drones have started getting export orders from rest of the world. Japan’s largest sectoral player, ACSL, has tied up with an Indian company to make here for the world. An increasing number of countries is uncomfortable with many Chinese drone majors having their servers back home while the faith in India is very high. The US, for instance, had last year imposed restrictions on Chinese major DJI and some other companies from there.

“There is tremendous faith in Indian technology and trust in India. We are making in India for the world now and orders have started pouring in from Japan, Asia and the Gulf, among other places. There is a clear intent to eliminate the traditional drone supply chain (read from China),” Arjun Aggarwal, MD of drone major Aerodyne India group, told TOI.

SOURCE: IANS

B. R. Ambedkar was critical of Nehru’s friendly approach to Communist China and taking a non-alignment position preventing India to develop close ties with the democratic US.

Given the track record of China and its expansionist approach, Ambedkar had pointed out that India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s policy of engagement with Communist China was a mistake, instead India could have better allied its foreign policy with the US as both the countries are democratic.

SOURCE: NEWS18S

India has notched two notable diplomatic successes at the Tokyo Quad summit. It was speculated that India will come under pressure by the US on its carefully crafted position of neutrality on the Ukraine conflict. President Biden had referred some time ago to India’s position on Ukraine amongst the Quad members as being “shaky”. In the event, India could not be shaken from its well-considered position at Tokyo.

The Ministry of External Affairs has claimed publicly that our stance on Ukraine is well-appreciated and well-understood by our partners, but that has not precluded many voices in the West criticising India for fence-sitting when as a democracy it had the moral responsibility to condemn Russia’s Ukraine invasion.

SOURCE: PTI

Describing the Kashmir issue as “the elephant in the room”, Pakistan Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has said any efforts to integrate South Asia and boost trade would be futile without resolving the “70-year-old dispute”.

Her remarks, on May 24, came at a session on ‘Strategic outlook on South Asia’ at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2022, in replies to suggestions about boosting ties and facilitating people’s movement across borders while keeping aside the differences between India and Pakistan.

SOURCE: IANS

The Indian Navy’s oldest guided-missile frigate, INS Gomati, will be decommissioned on May 28 after 34 years of glorious service to the nation, an official said here on Monday. After decommissioning, some parts of the warship shall be taken to Lucknow where the Uttar Pradesh government plans to set up an open air museum, near the Gomti River which traverses through the city.

INS Gomati (F21) a ship of the Godavari Class, was built at the Mazagaon Docks Ltd here and commissioned on April 16, 1988.

SOURCE: THE WEEK

The special NIA court’s order on Wednesday giving life sentence to senior separatist leader Yasin Malik and imposing a fine of Rs 10 lakh on him under various sections of the IPC and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) is major blow to the separatist movement in Jammu and Kashmir.

Malik was convicted on May 19 but the decision on the quantum of sentence was deferred till May 25. Malik was awarded two life imprisonments and five imprisonments of ten years, each of which will run concurrently, under section 121 of IPC and section 21 of UAPA. 

SOURCE: KASHMIR LIFE

Jammu and Kashmir Police on Thursday informed that as many as 78 militants have been killed in 50 encounters that took place across kashmir since the beginning of this year. Quoting top police officials privy to the figures news agency KNO reported that since January this year, a series of anti-militancy operations were launched by the security forces,  on the basis of credible leads about the presence of militants.

They said that security forces have killed 78 militants in 50 encounters across Kashmir.

SOURCE: NAVAL RECOGNATION

According to information published by the Indian Navy on May 25, 2022, the Indian Navy’s indigenously built warships guided-missile Corvette INS Kora and Offshore Patrol Vessel INS Sumedha, are at Mongla Port Bangladesh to participate in the third edition of India – Bangladesh Bilateral Naval Exercise Bongosagar.

INS Kora is the lead ship of the Kora-Class of 1,350-tonne guided missile Corvettes in active service with the Indian Navy. The vessel was built at Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) and outfitted at Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL).

SOURCE: PTI

The security forces today stopped an infiltration attempt in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir and shot dead three Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists, the police said.

“Based on a specific input developed by police regarding an infiltration attempt by terrorists in Jumagund village in Kupwara, the terrorists were intercepted by the Army and police,” a police spokesperson said. He said an encounter broke out between the terrorists and security forces in which three terrorists were killed.

SOURCE: ANI

US special envoy for Afghanistan Thomas West on Thursday commended India for bringing “enormous” capability in helping the people of Afghanistan with humanitarian assistance. West praised India for working towards protecting the Afghan people with aid to the country. The special representative expressed his will to stand with India and other nations who are striving towards this shared goal of supporting the Afghan people.

He also thanked Joint Secretary J.P. Singh for hosting the ambassador and his team for detailed discussions on Afghanistan policy in New Delhi on Wednesday.

SOURCE: REUTERS

India will continue to buy “cheap oil” from Russia but has not finalised terms of the discount, a senior government official familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The average price at which the world’s third largest oil importer buys crude is above $100 a barrel, the government official said.

SOURCE: GEO

All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) headed by incarcerated Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Thursday condemned the conviction and sentence of life imprisonment for Hurriyat leader Mohammad Yasin Malik by the court in New Delhi.

In a statement issued here, APHC said, “Yasin Malik since 1994 pursued peaceful and democratic means of conflict resolution. A strong votary of dialogue and negotiations between the concerned parties to the Kashmir conflict i.e people of J&K, India and Pakistan, he has been relentlessly and selflessly seeking its resolution.”

SOURCE: NDTV

The Indian Navy shared on Thursday a video of its surface-to-air (SAM) system engaging a low-flying object from one of its frigates in the Indian waters and hitting it with absolute accuracy. The video showed the SAM system reaching the target with incredible speed after being launched from a guided-missile anti-submarine stealth frigate. The missile then hits the object just above the surface.

The video begins with a missile coming out of its silo and taking position to hit its target. Once launched, the missile heads to its target and there’s a blast just above the waters, confirming that the missile was able to hit the low-flying object.