'We failed as a country because those who should have been there to say goodbye did not show up.'
It is the first warship to have been named after a city from the Northeastern region, the approval for which was accorded by the President in April 2019.
Gen Pande, who was serving as the vice chief, became the first officer from the Corps of Engineers to helm the force.
If the government of the day would like to set in place a smooth and well-planned changeover and facilitate the incoming chief to chalk out his action plan well in advance, the announcement of a successor needs to be done early, observes Colonel K Thammayya Udupa (retd).
The fleet landed at Al Dhafra airbase on Monday in the United Arab Emirates after flying for over seven hours from the Merignac airbase. It was the only stopover by the jets while flying from France to India.
'China would rather tie us down; and bleed us as much as it can so that we aren't able to lift our heads to face them.'
Russia said on Monday that the Vostok 2022 military exercises will be held from September 1 to 7 in different locations in the Far East and the Sea of Japan and involve more than 50,000 troops from China, India and several other countries.
Major General Sujan Singh Uban, a legendary veteran of the Second World War, was a natural choice to raise, train and command the Special Frontier Force and mould them into a well oiled fighting machine, recalls his son Inspector General Gurdip Singh Uban (retd), who led SFF troops during the Kargil War.
In the early part of the Kargil operations, the army opted to more or less go it alone, sacrificing large numbers of men and officers in almost superhuman struggles against an enemy on higher ground. Some generals seem to think their predecessors would have succeeded better if they had had air resources at their disposal, points out David Devadas.
With the focus now shifting from disaster mitigation of cyclone to flood relief, the defence ministry on Monday said it has pressed four helicopters into service to evacuate the marooned local population as well as to drop relief materials to Phailin hit areas.
'My understanding is that by the time President Xi Jinping came for the Chennai summit [2019], he had already instructed his army to undertake the action in Galwan in the summer of 2020.'
16 Indian Army divisions face China, 20 face Pakistan and two divisions are reserves. This powerful signal can hardly be missed in China or Pakistan, notes Ajai Shukla.
People familiar with the development said Chief of Army Staff General M M Naravane and the top commanders will review the country's combat readiness in eastern Ladakh where Indian and Chinese troops have been locked in a bitter standoff for 17 months.
"The IAF chief flew a MiG-21 Bison fighter aircraft during the visit where he interacted with the aircrew and reviewed the operational preparedness," IAF officials said.
'My adrenalin kicked in and the happiness returned! It was time to go in for the kill again.' IAF Veterans Group Captain Dilip Kumar Dass tells Air Commodore Nitin Sathe about how the IAF decimated tanks in the famous Battle of Longewala.
Rajnath appreciated the proactive response by the IAF in bolstering its operational capabilities over the past few months.
In a projection of India's growing maritime prowess, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday addressed the top naval commanders onboard the country's first indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant in the Arabian Sea and witnessed a mega wargame, amid China's increasing military posturing in the Indian Ocean region.
On December 10, Kissinger began to encourage the Chinese to take action against India: 'If the People's Republic were to consider the situation on the Indian subcontinent a threat to security, and if it took measures to protect its security, the US would oppose efforts of others to interfere with the People's Republic.' On the 50th anniversary of India's greatest military victory, Claude Arpi recalls how the US suggested that China intervene militarily on Pakistan's side.
The Indian troops guarding the nearly 3,500-km Line of Actual Control (LAC) maintained an assertive approach in sync with the broader national security doctrine and procured a variety of military platforms and weapons to enhance their combat capabilities.
December 3, 2021 marks 50 years since the beginning of the 1971 War which ended in a decisive military victory for India and the liberation of Bangladesh. Most analysts of the 1971 War agree that the IV Corps dash across the mighty Meghna river led by the brilliant General Sagat Singh was the turning point in the war, recalls military historian Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The authorities have launched a search operation to trace the missing pilot identified as Flight Lieutenant Tahmid.
The Chinese military on Thursday said it has conducted precision strikes over the Taiwan Strait and 'expected results' were achieved, in apparent retaliation to the United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taipei disregarding Beijing's vociferous warnings.
Taiwan says it detected multiple Chinese aircraft and naval vessels taking part in military drills around the Taiwan Strait on Saturday, in what could be a possible simulated attack against the island.
Lt Gen Bakshi announced 'full support' to the new chief and made it clear that he won't resign.
Two pilots on board a Cheetah helicopter of the Army were killed when it crashed near Mandala in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday morning, a defence spokesperson said.
'Naval Aviation has contributed through numerous humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations during which it has provided relief to fellow citizens like the recently conducted rescue operations off Mumbai during Cyclone Tauktae in May 2021.'
December 16, 1971. A Day Never To Be Forgotten.
The Chinese military, on the last day of its largest-ever military exercises to vent out its anger over United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, carried out island saturation attack drills in the Taiwan Straits, amid global concerns of a full-scale attack to annex the breakaway island which Beijing claims is part of its territory.
In all likelihood, the next conventional Chinese attack on India would be preceded by a massive cyber attack designed to cripple Indian networks and interfere with our disaster-relief programmes.
The IAF is also in the process of finalising a Rs 8,000-crore comprehensive security proposal for its 54 main flying bases in the country.
A United States fighter jet Friday shot down an object, the size of a small car, flying with payloads at a height of about 40,000 feet off the northern coast of Alaska on the direction of President Joe Biden, officials said.
In an army that favours officers who have spent the bulk of their service years doing counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir, General Anil Chauhan is that rarity: A China specialist who has logged plenty of service years along the Line of Actual Control and the McMahon Line with China.
The two sides held talks on Tuesday as well but it could not produce any tangible outcome, the sources said.
The Chinese army's Eastern Theatre Command stated in a terse statement that it had conducted 'combined combat readiness patrols and joint firepower strike drills' surrounding Taiwan.
Gen Naravane reviewed the overall security situation in the region with Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Yogesh Kumar Joshi, commander of the 14 Corps Lt Gen Harinder Singh and other senior Army officials.
The IAF commanders held detailed deliberations on the border row with China in eastern Ladakh, key short-term and long-term security challenges facing the nation and on the complex geo-political power play in India's neighbourhood.
In the confrontation in Doklam, where Indian and Chinese soldiers were lined up eyeball-to-eyeball, senior Indian commanders recount they could sense the uncertainty in the Chinese. While Indian soldiers had to be restrained from pushing the Chinese troops back, our chief interpreter heard the Chinese officers threatening to open fire on PLA soldiers who wavered or withdrew, reveals Ajai Shukla.
The Indian Army is effecting a major "reorientation" and "rebalancing" of its troops in the strategically sensitive areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh, with a top general saying its overall combat readiness in the region is of a "very high order."
The visit comes a week after 20 Indian Army personnel were killed in a brutal assault by the Chinese military in Galwan Valley which escalated the border tension.
As per the plan, each of the theatre commands will have units of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, and all of them will work as a single entity looking after security challenges in a specified geographical territory under an operational commander.
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