His background as an Indian Institute of Technology graduate and as a chief minister with an excellent track record as an administrator equipped him to initiate defence industry and policy reforms that are only now beginning to bear fruit.
Rostec, a Russian state corporation set up to promote development, production and export of hi-tech industrial products for civil and defence sectors, has strongly backed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' pitch.
Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Russia, defence ministry's top acquisition council on Thursday cleared the purchase of an estimated Rs 40,000 crore Russian S-400 Triumf air defence missile systems, besides giving the go-ahead to other projects worth over Rs 25,000 crore.
United States Defence Secretary Lloyd J Austin arrived in India on Friday on a three-day visit, aimed at further boosting bilateral defence and security ties in the wake of China's growing military assertiveness in the region including the Indo-Pacific.
India and Egypt on Wednesday decided to elevate their ties to the level of strategic partnership with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi vowing to expand ties in areas of defence and security, trade and counter-terror cooperation.
The legislative amendment was passed on Thursday by voice vote as part of an en bloc (all together as a single unit) amendment during floor consideration of the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA).
In a boost to the sagging defence relationship between India and Russia, the two nations on Friday signed a contract for supply of 80 MI-17V-5 medium lift helicopters for the Indian Air Force. Valued at $1 billion, the agreement between the two sides comes at a time when New Delhi and Moscow are squabbling over several defence related deals signed earlier.
Pointing out at the 'cooperation' and 'trust' shared between both India and France, Ambassador of France to India Alexandre Ziegler asked people to look at the facts.
The govt hiked defence budget by 7.81 per cent over last year's Rs 2.74 lakh crore.
As the military standoff between India and China drags on along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the talks between the two sides are going on well and indicated hope for a resolution of the lingering row.
Prime Minister Modi's visit saw India and the US signing several major deals to boost cooperation in key areas such as defence, space and trade.
Over the years, India has enjoyed bipartisan support in the US and this asset must be kept intact and nurtured through across the board political and civil society engagement, suggests former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
The sources said evolving public opinion in favour of the agreement would not be difficult in France, unlike that of the US.
'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.'
Tata Group-owned Air India will buy 250 aircraft, including 40 wide-body planes, from Airbus as the airline expands its fleet and operations. This is the first time in more than 17 years that Air India has placed an aircraft order. It is also the first order placed by the carrier under the ownership of Tata Group. On Tuesday, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran said Air India has signed a letter of intent to acquire 250 aircraft from Airbus.
Foreign policy is always a work in progress and ups and downs are built into foreign policy process. What is permanent is national interest. Hopefully, this year, which will also witness general elections in the country, will also clear clouds in the foreign policy horizon, observes Rup Narayan Das.
India has encashed a guarantee of over Rs 250 crore deposited by AgustaWestland in a bank in New Delhi even as it is preparing to file an appeal against an Italian court's stay on its move to encash another guarantee deposited in an Italian bank.
The capital outlay for the three services, for modernisation, stood at Rs 78,586.68 crore
Australian Deputy PM Marles to watch India-Australia World Cup cricket final in Ahmedabad
The CDS will be a four-star general and his salary will be equivalent to that of service chiefs.
Sources said India and US do not want to rush in finalising a trade deal and both sides will take a decision on it considering a long-term view.
The new minister must commit himself to supporting long-term defence plans or else defence modernisation will continue to lag and the growing military capabilities gap with China will assume ominous proportions, warns Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
CBI sources said a case has been registered against UK-based NRI Vipin Khanna, whose named had also figured in another defence deal probed by the agency. They said the kickbacks were allegedly paid in 2009 through subsidiaries of Embraer via a Singapore based company which is owned by the middleman.
Anwar Ali, his current side East Bengal, and parent club Delhi FC on Thursday moved the Delhi High Court and sought a stay on the suspension imposed on the player.
Modi hailed the close defence cooperation between the two countries and welcomed the completion of the logistics agreement between the two navies.
In reflection of their growing congruence in areas of defence and security, the two sides, following the Modi-Mitsotakis talks, agreed to set up an institutional dialogue at the level of national security advisors, and boost defence industrial cooperation.
'They were very vocal on the defence of the Constitution, reservation, SC/ST Act and democratic rights.'
'Given China's past behaviour and their territorial claims, should we be sceptical regarding China's willingness to adhere to these agreements fully? The answer is yes.' 'As Ronald Reagan famously said in the context of the SALT talks, 'Trust, but verify!' India should also do the same.' 'This has already begun with foot patrolling, drones, satellite imagery and so on. India's military deployment did mirror China's and will continue to do so in the future.'
Piqued over Japan's warm ties with India, an influential Chinese daily on Tuesday said New Delhi's wisdom lies in dealing with its disputes with Beijing calmly undisturbed by "internal and international provocateurs".
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and United States President Joe Biden are expected to deliberate on ways to bolster bilateral ties in trade, investment and defence and security in their in-person talks in Washington, DC, on September 24, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said on Tuesday.
A high-level team from France is expected to arrive in New Delhi next month to firm up the order for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft by India.
The principal director of plans, policy, and resources management for the Maldives National Defence Force, Colonel Ahmed Mujuthaba Mohamed said that discussions are underway for withdrawing Indian troops from the Maldives.
"The open-ended nature of Section 6A has, with the passage time, become more prone to abuse due to the advent of forged documents to establish, inter-alia (among other things), wrong date of entry into Assam, inaccurate lineage, falsified government records created by corrupt officials, dishonest corroboration of the date of entry by other relatives so as to aid illegal immigrants who are otherwise not eligible under Section 6A by virtue of having entered into Assam after March 24,1971," he noted in a separate 127-page dissenting judgment.
The deal was announced in April under which French manufacturer Dassault Aviation will sell 35 of these jets to India in a deal estimated at over $5.5 billion.
No one really knows what proportion of the nation's wealth and income are available for defence
Armed with fresh details on the alleged kickbacks, India has initiated steps to cancel the Rs 3,600 crore-chopper deal with Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland by issuing a show cause notice to it in this regard.
A strong partnership with US would deter China from making any aggressive posture against India, said Puneet Ahluwalia, a member of the Trump's Advisory Committee on Asian Americans.
"I want to know from the Congress as to why it is agitated and telling lies repeatedly. Is it because there is no Quattrocchi mama or Christian Michel in defence deals done by the BJP government," Modi said.
Excluding the pension outgo, the allocation in the Union Budget for the armed forces stands at Rs 3.62 lakh crore.
In an unprecedented verdict, the top court said the criminal jurisprudence required courts to apply judicial mind to the facts of a case before granting police custody if it was "genuinely required".
