The aircraft deal worth around Euro 5.5 billion was cleared by the defence acquisition council just before the visit of the Indian Prime Minister to France as the state guest for their Bastille Day parade this year in July.

Of the 156 choppers, 66 would be inducted by the Indian Air Force while the rest 90 would be acquired by the Indian Army.

The talks are following up the outcome of the 19th round of Corps Commander-level talks held between the two sides on August 13-14 at the Chushul Moldo border meeting point.

The four new Heron Mark-2 drones, which can be equipped with long-range missiles and other weapons systems, have been deployed at a forward air base in the northern sector, where Team ANI witnessed their operations.

The Tridents squadron which is now also known as the "Defender of the North" has replaced the MiG-21 squadron at the Srinagar air base which has traditionally been responsible for taking care of the threat from Pakistan.

The last meeting between the two sides at the Corps Commander level was held in December last year.

In the wake of the accident off the Mumbai coast two days ago, the defence forces have halted the operations of the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv till the time investigators find the reason for the incident and precautionary checks are carried out.

At present, the Pralay ballistic missiles can take out targets from 150 to 500 km and are extremely difficult to intercept for the enemy through interceptor missiles.

The proposal is also important as it comes at a time when the Indian forces are working on the creation of a rocket force which has been in discussion at the highest levels in the Defence Ministry.

The Chinese aircraft have been regularly flying close to the LAC in the last three to four weeks which is seen as an attempt to probe the Indian defence mechanism in the area.

A Chinese Air Force aircraft flew very close to a friction point in the eastern Ladakh sector on the Line of Actual Control in the last week of June, after which the Indian Air Force responded swiftly as per standard operating procedures.

Amid a big push for the Aatmanirbhar Bharat scheme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government, the Indian Air Force is planning to acquire 114 fighter jets of which 96 would be built in India, and rest 18 would be imported from the foreign vendor chosen for the project.

At a time when the process to appoint the new chief of defence staff is on, the government has sought the names of senior serving and retired officers from the Army, Navy and Air Force.

In what could be a lesson learnt from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war where anti-tank missiles have played a big role, the Indian Air Force is arming its Russian-origin helicopters with the Israeli 'Non-Line of Sight (NLOS) ATGMs' which can hit ground targets from distances up to 30 km.

Responding to an ANI query on the cyber security breach issue, defence sources said: "The military and intelligence agencies have unearthed a cyber security breach by some military officials, which is likely to be linked to espionage-related activities by a neighbouring country."

The inquiry into the March 9 incident was done by Assistant Chief of Air Staff Operations (Offensive) Air Vice Marshal R K Sinha where during routine maintenance and inspection, a BrahMos missile got fired accidentally and landed up in the Mian Channu area of Pakistan.

Government sources told ANI that the detailed probe by the Air Force officer (equivalent to Major General in the Army) is still going on but prima facie, a Group Captain-rank officer is being seen as blameworthy.

The missile earlier had the capability of hitting targets at around 300 km after being released from a Su-30MKI combat aircraft.

"The first squadron is being deployed in the Punjab sector. The batteries of the first squadron would be capable of taking care of aerial threats from both Pakistan and China," government sources told ANI.

"The HAMMER missiles are in the process of being integrated with the LCA Tejas and it will significantly enhance its capability to take out hardened targets from stand-off distances," government sources told ANI.