SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG.
French Navy-owned Rafale-M which is in INS Hansa in Goa for the last two weeks to carry out flight-testing at the shore-based test facility (SBTF) has successfully demonstrated take off with 4 MBDA MICA IR/ EM, 2 2300 L Drop tanks, and 1 Exocet AM39 anti-ship missile.
If results are found satisfactory next round of trials might take place onboard INS Vikramaditya, where it will not only able to demonstrate regular take-offs and landing but also take down to hangar using lifts and perform engine swapping. Boeing re-commenced its F-18 E/F trials on the ski-jump facility in the states and similar trials will likely begin in March at SBTF in Goa said officials familiar with the matter to idrw.org.
Continue readingSOURCE: THE WEEK
The Indian Air Force is working to deploy its brand-new S-400 air defence system, acquired from Russia. Hindustan Times recently reported that the first Indian S-400 unit would be operational in April and would be deployed in “depth areas to tackle the threat from China”.
The Indian Air Force has previously described the S-400 as a ‘game changer’ given the air defence system’s advanced sensors and array of missiles. The S-400 uses four types of surface-to-air missiles, with ranges from 40km to 400km. The missiles can shoot down multiple types of targets such as aircraft, cruise missiles, bombs and some types of ballistic missiles.
Continue readingSOURCE: THE WEEK
Writing about Delhi’s crazy cocktail circuit once, I described an arty-farty party where I had seen a lanky wine-drunk lady lighting a huge Havana. “She lit a miniature Tomahawk,” I wrote. A day later, I got a call from India’s second-most famous missile scientist (after you-know-who) Dr A. Sivathanu Pillai. “I liked your article. But why did you compare the cigar to a Tomahawk?”
“Why not?” I countered. “It looked ludicrous.” To my Hollywood-dulled mind, it had looked even grotesque. As grotesque as it would have been, if Audrey Hepburn had been shown in that iconic poster of Breakfast at Tiffany’s holding a huge Havana, instead of a cigarette in an elegantly slim holder. But since I did not want to discuss Hollywood posters with a missile scientist, I said sheepishly: “Isn’t Tomahawk the most famous cruise missile?”
Continue readingSOURCE: THE WEEK
He is a film buff, and has offered to sit for a session dedicated only to discussing film dialogues—be they from potboilers or classics, Akira Kurosawa or Adoor Gopalakrishnan. S. Somanath, 58, the chief of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) himself has a cine star flamboyance about him, with his thick mop of hair, dark moustache and stylish mannerisms. Unlike the stereotypical scientist, he is an excellent, if breathlessly fast-paced, communicator, who can convince not just top decision makers about a proposal, but explain rocket science to school students in a way that they see themselves flying out in a spaceship.
The rock-star personality hides the keen mind of a rocket scientist and aerospace engineer that has made him ISRO’s go-to trouble-shooter. Whether it was fixing a last minute issue with the first PSLV launch in 1994 or detecting the helium leak in the GSLV Mk III rocket for Chandrayaan-2 in 2019, Somanath was part of the team.
Continue readingSOURCE: PTI
The blind pursuit of “absolute national security” coupled with excessive defence spending can lead to the Soviet-style collapse, China’s top foreign policy advisor has warned the ruling Communist Party headed by President Xi Jinping. The pursuit of “absolute national security” can extract a heavy price, Jia Qingguo, member of China’s top political advisory body – the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) – has said, citing the collapse of the Soviet Union as proof of the pitfalls of putting military expansion over long-term security.
The collapse of the Soviet Union, officially known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or USSR, ruled by the Soviet Communist Party has become a major lesson being taught in top Communist Party of China (CPC) schools across the country to avert decisions that lead to its fall.
Continue readingSOURCE: THE PRINT
Weapons and equipment used in the 1965 and 1971 India-Pakistan wars will be paraded down the Rajpath this Republic Day Parade, as part of the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ celebratations of 75 years of independence.
This year, on 26 January, these armoured vehicles and artillery pieces will symbolise the battles fought by the Indian armed forces over the past decades. On show will be one of the most prominent mechanised equipment of those bygone conflicts — the iconic Centurion, the British-origin main battle tank of the Indian Army in the 1965 and 1971 wars.
Continue readingSOURCE: REPUBIC
Ahead of the Republic Day parade, Major General Alok Kakkar enumerated various new elements involving the Indian Army and forces in the upcoming celebrations. Listing out the hierarchy of the much-awaited parade by the Indian Army, he mentioned there will be a segment on laser projection too.
During an Indian Army press briefing, Major General Kakkar stated, “AVSM GOC Gen VK Sharma and myself Major General Alok Kakkar will lead the parade, Chief of staff Delhi area will be second in command. We will be followed by two Param Vir Chakra recipients Captain Joginder Singh and Subedar Ashok Kumar.”
Continue readingSOURCE: PTI
Amiya Bose, freedom icon Subhas Bose’s nephew, was tasked by his uncle to carry a secret letter seeking Soviet help in India’s liberation, which was to be delivered to agents in Britain in October 1939, barely a month into the Second World War.
The freedom fighter’s nephew, who was searched on landing in Britain by officers from New Scotland Yard, managed to smuggle in the letters one of which was handed over to British Communist leader of Indian origin Rajani Palme Dutt and another to a Soviet agent.
Continue readingSOURCE: THE PRINT
The Uttarakhand Police’s Special Task Force (STF) has arrested four people for allegedly providing shelter to one of the alleged conspirators behind the Pathankot blast in Punjab in November 2021. The police linked the four to “pro-Khalistan” organisations based outside India.
The arrested men have been identified as Shamsher Singh alias ‘Shera’ or ‘Sabi’, his brother Harpreet Singh alias ‘Happy’, Ajmer Singh alias ‘Ladi’, and Gurpreet Singh, also known as ‘Gurri Dhillon’. The Uttarakhand Police also said that Sukhpreet Singh alias ‘Sukh’ — the alleged conspirator the four are accused of sheltering — had already been arrested by the Punjab Police.
Continue readingSOURCE: PTI
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said ? 50,000 crore investments will come to Jammu and Kashmir in the next few years and agreements have already been signed for ? 12,000 crore.
Virtually launching the District Good Governance Index (DGGI) in Jammu Kashmir, he said all investments together will generate employment opportunities for five lakh youths. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made the best industrial policy ever for Jammu and Kashmir, under which investments of about ? 50,000 crore is going to come in Jammu and Kashmir and that will provide employment to five lakh youths,” he said.
Continue readingSOURCE: IANS
ABritish lawmaker of Pakistani origin on Sunday alleged that she was sacked from a ministerial role in the Conservative Party government in February 2020 because of her ”Muslimness”. Nusrat Ghani, 49, was appointed to a junior ministerial post at the UK’s Department for Transport in 2018 under former Prime Minister Theresa May. But she lost that job in a reshuffle by Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government in February 2020, a move she told ‘The Sunday Times’ was attributed to her Muslim faith.
”At the post-reshuffle meeting with the whips I asked what the thinking was behind the decision to fire me… I was told that at the reshuffle meeting in Downing Street ‘Muslimness’ was raised as an ‘issue’, that my ‘Muslim woman minister’ status was making colleagues uncomfortable and that there were concerns ‘that I wasn’t loyal to the party as I didn’t do enough to defend the party against Islamophobia allegations’,” Ghani told the newspaper.
Continue readingSOURCE: NDTV
The 17-year-old boy who had gone missing near the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh has been located by the Chinese Army and due procedure is being followed to bring him back to the country, news agency ANI reported quoting the Indian Army.
“The Chinese Army has communicated to us that they have found a missing boy from Arunachal Pradesh and the due procedure is being followed,” PRO Defence, Tezpur Lt Col Harshvardhan Pandey, was quoted as saying by the news agency.
Continue readingSOURCE: WION
Taiwan has offered to open its national archives and database to ‘rediscover’ the legacy of illustrious Indian freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose. Taiwan, which was under Japanese occupation in 1940s, was the last country that he was seen alive in. While consensus is that he died in a crash in Taiwan in 1945, controversy refuses to die.
“We have national archives and several databases. We can help Indian friends rediscover that will give more information about Netaji and also his legacy, which has huge influence over Taiwan in 1930s, 1940s,” Mumin Chen, deputy representative, Taipei Economic and Cultural Center or Taiwan Embassy in Delhi said at a virtual event organised by FICCI.
Continue readingSOURCE: PTI
How Indian Army uniforms and rifles have evolved over the decades will be on display at this year’s Republic Day parade, Major General Alok Kakkar said on Sunday. Three marching contingents of the Indian Army will wear uniforms and carry rifles from previous decades, while one contingent will wear the new combat uniform and carry the latest Tavor rifles at Republic Day Parade-2022 (RDP-2022) as a part of ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ celebrating the 75th year of India’s independence, he said.
There will be a total of six marching contingents of the Indian Army at RDP-22, he said at a press conference. Each marching contingent at RDP-22 will comprise 96 soldiers instead of the usual 144 so that proper attention can be given to COVID-19 protocol.
Continue readingSOURCE: TIMES NOW
There has been a reduction in terrorist-related incidents as a result of the tireless efforts of security forces and the people of Jammu and Kashmir, General Officer-Commanding-in-Chief, northern command, Lt Gen YK Joshi said on Saturday.
The Army Commander was speaking at the northern command investiture ceremony at its headquarters in J&K’s Udhampur. Calling 2021 a watershed year for the armed forces, Lt General Joshi said that the troops at the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir and at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh displayed boldness in standing up to the aggressive designs.
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