Admiral Karambir Singh reviews operational preparedness of the Indian Navy’s warships deployed at sea ahead of upcoming Malabar maritime exercise. New Delhi: As tensions with China at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) continue, Indian Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh Thursday reviewed the operational preparedness and combat-readiness of the Indian Navy’s principal combatants. Principal combatants refer to warships deployed at sea for operations. The review comes just days after India announced Australia’s participation in the upcoming Malabar maritime exercise next month as part of the Qua ..read more

India has finally extended an invitation to Australia to join the Malabar Exercise 2020 which also includes the US and Japan. Australia will join the Malabar exercise after 13 years – Canberra last participated in the Naval drills in 2007. This year the exercise is expected to be held in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea and is scheduled to be held in November. “As India seeks to increase cooperation with other countries in the maritime security domain and in the light of increased defence cooperation with Australia, Malabar 2020 will see the participation of the Australian Navy,” Minist ..read more

India’s first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC-1) Vikrant is going for Basin Trials this month, with reports stating that the sea trials will follow in December. The 40,000-tonne warship will be tested for propulsion, transmission and shafting systems during the trials, which were earlier scheduled for September but were delayed due to the pandemic. It will now take a year more before the mega-ship is commissioned into the Indian Navy, after which the flight trials will make it ready for battle. The delay in the induction of the carrier now seems to extend until early 2022 – something the cou ..read more

With no signs of disengagement on the ground in Ladakh, where India and China have been locked in a stand-off since April, both sides will stay dug in during the region’s bitter winter too. New Delhi: India has made it clear to China that its soldiers will open fire to defend themselves, and Chinese tactics of “using mass” — or seeking to outnumber Indian soldiers, like in the 15 June Galwan Valley clash — will not be tolerated, top government sources said. With no signs of disengagement on the ground in Ladakh, where India and China have been locked in a stand-off since April, both sides w ..read more

With a resolution to the stand-off far away, New Delhi must study how Beijing has handled its other boundary disputes The mystic, celestial snow lion, ‘Gang Seng Ge’ in local lore, derives its name from the Sanskrit Simha. It is the emblem of Tibet showcasing its eternally snow-covered mountains and glaciers, even as it symbolises power, strength, fearlessness and the joy of living. It is also the symbol and the flag of the intrepid, fearless warriors of the ‘Special Frontier Force’, or the SFF, which has figured so prominently in the recent clashes in eastern Ladakh. Standoff in the h ..read more

As LAC Standoff Forces Deployment of More Troops, Winter Presents a Daunting Challenge Chandigarh: The Indian Army’s upcoming winter deployment along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh against China’s hegemonic military is projected to adversely impact the physical and psychological wellbeing of its personnel as well as their weaponry, according to defence analysts and senior serving and retired officers. Over the decades, most people have taken for granted the Army’s annual high altitude winter deployments at places like the 17,000 feet high Siachen Glacier – definitively ..read more

Army sources said the period until at least the first week of November, after which snow becomes a hurdle from an operational perspective, is crucial. New Delhi: Suspicious of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the Indian Army continues to maintain a strict vigil all along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh. Sources in the defence and security establishment told ThePrint that the Army cannot leave anything to chance, and the period until at least the first week of November is crucial. This is because while the winter starts setting in from October, it is only by mid November t ..read more

India’s 6th Gen-Fighter Jet: Will India Ink Pact To Co-Develop ‘Tempest’ Sixth-Gen Aircraft With The UK? In 2007, India and Russia had agreed to jointly build a fifth-generation fighter jet called Sukhoi/HAL Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) or Perspective Multi-role Fighter (PMF). However, with India later pulled out from the project. In a bid to acquire latest, state-of-art stealth fighter jets, will India join the Tempest, the British-led project to develop a new sixth-generation fighter jet with Italy and Sweden? As reported last year, India had been invited by the United Kingdo ..read more

India and China issued a joint statement after senior Army officials of the two sides held commander-level talks as part of the countries’ first military-diplomatic dialogue. New Delhi: India and China have agreed to stop sending more troops to the frontlines in Ladakh, refrain from unilaterally changing the situation on the ground, and avoid taking any actions that may complicate the situation, the countries said in a joint statement Tuesday. The statement was issued after senior Army officials of the two sides held the 6th round of commander-level talks Monday as part of the countries’ f ..read more

A case for the purchase of 30 MQ-9B Guardians will shortly be put up before the Defence Acquisition Council, headed by defence minister Rajnath Singh. Six drones will be delivered soon after contract signing The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is preparing to acquire 30 General Atomics MQ-9B Guardian drones from the United States, in a deal valued at approximately $3 billion (Rs 22,000 crore). A recent series of meetings within the MoD have cleared the way for the procurement of an initial lot of six Reaper Medium Altitude Long Endurance drones. These six drones—two each for the army, navy and a ..read more