Faced with the prospect of the nixing of its Rs 3,600 crore deal for the supply of 12 VVIP choppers, AgustaWestland today denied it had violated any contractual obligations in the pact for the same with IAF.
With crucial Indian defence and nuclear establishments and vital infrastructure facilities open to an enemy air strike, many in India's military consider the shortage of anti-aircraft guns, missiles and radars as our single greatest security vulnerability. But now India's first modern air defence system is ready to roll off the assembly line.
'India is ahead only of Pakistan in the amount spent on each soldier a year.' 'The Indian military is a manpower-heavy throng that is poorly armed, equipped, and trained,' observes Ajai Shukla.
Defence Ministry says the report is being verified, maintaining that neither Indian nor French government had any say in the decision.
The approved proposals included "procurement of night sight (image intensifier), light vehicles GS 4X4, air defence fire control radar (light) and GSAT-7B satellite," it mentioned.
The two ships are part of the series of eight anti-submarine warfare shallow water crafts which are under construction in CSL.
The Army chief is likely to visit Jammu and discuss the recent and ongoing counter-terrorist operations and the casualties that have been suffered in the recent terror attacks there, defence sources said.
Each plant will have a capacity to produce 40 litres of oxygen per minute and 2,400 litres per hour.
The ministry of defence in September 2021 signed a Rs 21,935-crore contract with Airbus Defense and Space SA, Spain for supply of 56 aircraft.
As India and the United States are set to begin negotiations on two transformational deals -- Security of Supply Arrangement (SOSA) and Reciprocal Defence Procurement Agreement (RDP) -- the Pentagon has said that the defence industries of the two nations will come together once the negotiations conclude.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has ordered a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into allegations of Pakistan links of Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi's British wife Elizabeth Colburn. Sarma alleged that Colburn had visited Pakistan after her marriage and that there are apprehensions of ISI infiltration into the Chief Minister's Office when Gogoi's father, the late Tarun Gogoi, was the chief minister. Sarma also shared screenshots of social media posts by Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, an advisor of the Pakistan Planning Commission and a former colleague of Colburn, claiming that the relationship between the Gogois and Sheikh appeared to be "deeply rooted." Sarma's allegations have been rejected by the Congress as "laughable and entertaining."
The Indian Army will showcase the main battle tank T-90 Bhishma, infantry combat vehicle BMP-II-Sarath, mobile autonomous launcher of the Brahmos missile system, multi-launcher rocket system Pinaka, electronic warfare system Samvijay among others during the parade on Tuesday, the Defence ministry noted.
The capital outlay for the three services, for modernisation, stood at Rs 78,586.68 crore
In a brief statement, the defence ministry said the "training launch" of the missile was carried out at around 7:30 pm.
Defence experts want defence expenditure to be at 3% of GDP, which they consider minimum to counter the two-front threat from China and Pakistan, internal insurgencies, and dominating a 7,500 km coastline and the Indian Ocean beyond. What Arun Jaitley has given India this Budget is 2.16% of GDP, observes Ajai Shukla.
A defence ministry public relation officer from Tezpur on Sunday said the Chinese army has communicated to India that they have found a missing boy from Arunachal Pradesh.
India and the United States have signed an agreement for cooperation in the development of Air-Launched Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (ALUAV), in yet another step to further expand bilateral defence and military cooperation.
The Anglo-Italian firm said that the defence ministry had no right to unilaterally suspend the contract for the 12 VVIP choppers. The firm added that it has since April been requesting the ministry to hold discussions on the issue, but there has been no response from the government
In a huge relief, an appellate court in Qatar has commuted the death sentence of eight former Indian Navy personnel, arrested in an alleged case of espionage in August 2022.
"Today there is a government in the country which cannot compromise even on one inch of the country's borders," the prime minister added.
Jaitley's tenure as defence minister saw clearance of a number of big ticket reform measures and simplification of military acquisition process.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation has developed a lightweight bullet-proof jacket that weighs nine kilogram and meets the qualitative requirements of the Indian Army, the defence ministry said on Thursday.
In its chargesheet filed before a special court in New Delhi, the CBI has named Raghuvanshi and Pathak as accused in the alleged violation of the Official Secrets Act and related offences, they said.
'This was a decision taken and executed by Prabhakaran and his intelligence chief Pottu Amman. Both were convinced that the assassination would not be linked to them.'
Pranab's earlier fear of Sonia relying too heavily on a coterie due to her lack of experience turned out to be unfounded. As per Pranab, Sonia had her close advisers but she did not follow anyone's advice blindly. A fascinating excerpt from Sharmistha Mukherjee's Pranab, My Father: A Daughter Remembers.
A panel led by the secretaries of the DEA and the DIPP would conduct a quarterly review on the pending proposals.
Tan said that China has always stressed that military cooperation of relevant countries, especially on exercises and training activities, should not be targeted at any third party, but rather serve to help maintain regional peace and stability.
The decision to procure the fleet was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said.
The Defence Ministry on Friday inked a nearly Rs 20,000 crore contract with Airbus Defence and Space of Spain to procure 56 C-295 medium transport aircraft which will replace Avro-748 planes of the Indian Air Force.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is in Vietnam, meeting with his counterpart in Hanoi.
France is conducting a high-level inquiry into the killing of two Indian nationals by its troops in the Central African Republic, French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told his Indian counterpart A K Antony on Tuesday.
President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday approved 412 gallantry awards and other defence decorations to Armed Forces personnel and others on the eve of 74th Republic Day.
The 'request for proposal' for the indigenous construction of the six submarines will be issued soon, they added.
All the items identified for procurement from domestic defence manufacturers are used in shipbuilding. So far, the defence ministry has notified 127 items where purchase preference is given to local suppliers.
The QRSAM system is unique in its ability to operate on the move, searching for and tracking enemy targets; and then fire on a short halt.
The defence ministry has issued a request to original equipment manufacturers and vendors for information on such bombs, which could be used by Navy's fixed-wing aircraft.
Gen Rawat is due for retirement on December 31 and top government sources said, if everything goes according to plan, then the government would name him as the country's first CDS before he hangs up his boots.
In a first, a grand drone show will dazzle the sky above the national capital during the Beating the Retreat ceremony to be held at Vijay Chowk on Saturday as part of the country's 73rd Republic Day celebrations.
The defence ministry has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology under which the armed forces will immediately release 10 MHz of 3G spectrum and 5 MHz of 2G spectrum.
Reviewing security along the Line of Actual Control and the preparedness of the armed forces deployed there, A K Antony became the first Indian defence minister to land at the Advanced Landing Ground of the Indian Air Force at Nyoma, which is close to the border with China.
