Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday handed over to the Army a raft of home-grown military hardware including unmanned aerial systems, quick reaction fighting vehicles, patrol boats and surveillance equipment for boosting its overall combat capability in eastern Ladakh.
The Rafale aircraft which have already arrived in Ambala would start ferrying to the Hashimara air base in next few days and the squadron would get operational by July 26, government sources told ANI in New Delhi.
The defence ministry on Thursday accorded its approval to procure 30 MQ-9B Predator drones from the US to crank up the surveillance apparatus of the armed forces, especially along the frontier with China, people familiar with the development said.
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.
The Indian Navy has inducted two more Poseidon 8I maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft, in a boost to its surveillance capabilities in the Indian Ocean in the face of China's increasing forays into the region.
Robin K Dhowan on Thursday took over as chief of the Indian Navy nearly two months after D K Joshi quit the post in the wake of a series of mishaps.
The air force has moved its critical frontline assets including the Sukhoi-30MKI, Mirage 2000 and Jaguar fighter aircraft fleet to advanced positions where they can fly in at a very short notice to carry out operations.
'The Chinese navy is large and expanding both in numbers and capability by the day.' 'India too must take measures to safeguard its own interests, now and in the future.'
During an interaction at a conclave in New Delhi, he also said that the Indian Navy is seized of the docking of various PLA Navy ships at ports in Pakistan, and it is 'keeping a watch on it'.
The Indian and Chinese troops are locked in an over-three-year confrontation in certain friction points in eastern Ladakh even as the two sides completed disengagement from several areas following extensive diplomatic and military talks.
The commanders are also expected to specifically deliberate on deployment of first batch of around six Rafale fighter jets which are expected to join the IAF's fighter fleet later this month, they said.
'There is a view that there is a Pakistan angle to this.' 'Pakistan has a large presence in Qatar and would want India to be blacklisted.'
Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria said the recent induction of Rafale jets along with previous acquisitions of C-17 Globemaster aircraft as well as Chinook and Apache helicopters have provided the IAF with substantial tactical and strategic capability enhancement.
It said that the transit was "ongoing" and that there had been "no interference from foreign military forces so far."
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There is little appetite among combat aircraft engine makers to share the IP that results from a co-creation project. But Rolls-Royce is willing to walk the Aatmanirbhar talk.
Four navy personnel, including an officer, remained missing on Friday after a vessel sank off the Vishakhapatnam coast on Thursday night and a full scale search is underway to trace them besides.
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.
Four frontline warships of the Indian Navy participated in the 'PASSEX' exercise when the US carrier strike group was transiting through the Indian Ocean Region on its way from the South China Sea, the officials said.
The IAF has deployed almost all its frontline fighter jets like Sukhoi 30 MKI, Jaguar and Mirage 2000 aircraft in the key frontier air bases in eastern Ladakh and elsewhere along the Line of Actual Control.
A wide spectrum of drills including surface and anti-aircraft drills, helicopter operations, maneuvers and cross-deck flying was carried out for the second consecutive day as part of the 11th edition of the biennial Indo-Russian exercise Indra Navy.
Although the Malabar is a routine exercise which has been carried out for several years now, security experts attach a lot of traction to it in view of China's assertive behaviour in the South China Sea, observes Rup Narayan Das.
As part of the mega plan, around 20 bridges, a number of tunnels, airbases and several key roads are being developed in strategically key areas in Arunachal Pradesh to bolster the overall military preparedness, officials said on Monday.
Meanwhile, with China switching its trading partners due to geo-political issues, increased trade with South Africa for bauxite and with the US for coal is also auguring well for vessels with tonne miles going up.
The 5.8-tonne twin-engine gunship chopper is armed with air-to-air missiles, 20 mm turret guns, rocket systems and other weapons.
The American platforms at the exercise 'Cope India' that started off Kalaikunda will also include a fleet of F-15 E fighter jets, C-130 and C-17 transport aircraft.
A joint statement was issued by US Secretary of State Tony Blinken, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, and Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa after their in-person meeting in Phnom Penh on the margins of the 55th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting.
The Heron unmanned aerial vehicles are already in the Air Force, Navy, and the Army and are being used extensively at the moment by both Army surveillance and Target acquisition batteries and Air Force in the Ladakh sector.
These missiles have a range of two to five km and they are capable of bringing down low flying helicopters and aircraft, they added.
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.
"Rafale's induction in the air force is an important and historical moment and it is a matter of pride for us to be witness to this moment. I congratulate the Armed Forces, and all countrymen on this occasion. The induction of Rafale in IAF's fleet shows the strong relations between India and France. India and France have been economic, cultural and strategic partners since long. Our faith in strong democracy and a wish for world peace are the basis of our relation," Singh said at the induction ceremony being held at the IAF airbase in Ambala.
The Chinese fighter aircraft activities took place from its bases including the Hotan, Gar Gunsa and Kashgar airfields which have been upgraded recently to enable operations by all types of fighters along with concrete structures to hide away the presence of the number of fighters present at its different airbases, the sources said.
The sources said the talks are focused on sorting out certain issues relating to cost component, weapons package and technology sharing.
With the arrival of the new batch, the number of Rafale aircraft has increased to eight. The first batch of five Rafale jets arrived in India on July 29, nearly four years after India signed an inter-governmental agreement with France to procure 36 aircraft at a cost of Rs 59,000 crore.
In his remarks, Admiral Singh complimented his force for continuously maintaining 'peak combat-readiness' and 'high tempo' of operations over the past few months, they said.
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.
A day after Dhaka was liberated on December 16, 1971, then US President Richard Nixon was told by his strategic advisor Henry Kissinger that he had 'saved West Pakistan,' according to confidential papers since declassified by the US department of state.
Aircraft carriers of India, the United States, Japan and Australia are set to take part in the second phase of Exercise Malabar that is scheduled to take place from November 17 to 20 in the Indian Ocean region, the Navy said on Monday.
With the Indian Navy's requirement of conventional submarines standing at 24, there is critical need to expedite the planned acquisition of six more conventional submarines.
The sources said the military brass is considering deploying Indian Navy's MiG-29K fighter jets in a couple of air bases in the northern sector as part of efforts to bring in tri-services synergy in dealing with national security challenges.
