Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) announced it has entered this week agreements worth $93 million for provision of Naval MRSAM (Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missile) systems. The contracts were entered with the Indian Navy and Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL). Under the contracts, IAI will provide complementary systems for the air defense system (ADS).
The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), in a landmark decision today, also approved indigenous construction of six submarines for the Indian Navy at a cost of over Rs. 40,000 crores. This is the second project under the MoD’s ambitious Strategic Partnership (SP) model that aims at providing a significant fillip to the Government’s ‘Make in India’ programme. SP model envisages indigenous manufacturing of major defence platforms by an Indian Strategic Partner, who will collaborate with foreign OEM to set up production facilities in the country.
An Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) between the Government of Republic of India and Government of Russian Federation was concluded on 15 Oct 2016, for construction of additional Project 1135.6 Follow-on ships in India, at M/s Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL). In line with the IGA, the Government signed a contract for construction of two ships with Goa Shipyard Ltd, Goa to-date, with scheduled delivery in June 2026 and December 2026 respectively.
Vice Admiral MS Pawar, AVSM, VSM has assumed charge as Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff today, 30 Jan 19. An alumnus of Sainik School Korukonda and the 60th course of National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla, Pune, he was commissioned on 01 Jul 1982. During the ab initio training he was adjudged ‘Best all round Cadet’ and also stood first overall in the year long Sub Lieutenant Technical Courses. He later specialised in Navigation and Direction topping the coveted and highly competitive course.
Vice Admiral G Ashok Kumar, AVSM, VSM has assumed charge as Vice Chief of the Naval Staff today, on 30 Jan 2019. An alumnus of Sainik School, Amaravathi Nagar and National Defence Academy, Khadakvasla, Pune, he was commissioned into the Executive Branch of the Indian Navy on 01 Jul 1982.
The Land Warfare Doctrine -2018 of the Indian Army is a comprehensive document that covers national threat perception in its entirety and offers a detailed outline of the vision to address the same. It speaks of safeguarding the “sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity of India against external threats and internal subversion by deterrence or by waging war.” By and large, it covers all challenges that would be posed in meeting the stated objective.
In a bizarre twist of tale, a leading defence website with focus on Middle East and North Africa, on Monday, quoting a face book page reported crash of Egyptian Rafale fighter jet in leading to the death of the pilot of the aircraft.
“According to the Facebook account @DefensAero, the crash occurred today in Egypt and involved a Rafale. The pilot, one of the first trained in France says the publication, would have died in the accident,” menadefense.net reported.
India-Russia defence ties, a critical pillar of Indo-Russian strategic partnership, have come under scrutiny and some stress in recent times. Despite some irritants, the Indo-Russian partnership is time tested and rests on very strong strategic foundations. It is a relationship that is based on mutual trust, and a long history of strategic interdependency that has been strengthened by people to people interactions in social, cultural, scientific, economic, and technological domains.
Why not go for MiG-35?
By Rohit Srivastava
Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) certified the increase in take-off/landing altitude of Ansat helicopter to 3,500 m. Major change approval is issued on the basis of trials conducted in summer 2018 at Mount Elbrus. The document allows Ansat to operate in high-altitude conditions.
