Pande: About 340 indigenous arms producers across the country have been awarded defence contracts worth Rs 2.6 lakh crore   By Ajai Shukla Business Standard, 24 April 2024   Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Manoj Pande, stated on Tuesday that the Indian Army is changing from being a buyer of weapons to becoming a partner of Indian industry in development and production.   The concept of “national champions” has been adopted in order to build up weapons suppliers with national and global scale, he said.   Pande’s remarks came while he was addressing the national leade ..read more

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visiting the Siachen Glacier Memorial today Addressing the troops on the 40th anniversary of the Indian military's arrival there, Rajnath Singh said: "Just as Delhi is India’s national capital, Mumbai is the financial capital and Bengaluru is the technology capital; Siachen is the capital of courage, grit and determination ..read more

Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) is a 42-nation naval partnership that upholds the international rules-based order on the world’s busiesmost important shipping lanes   By Ajai Shukla Business Standard, 17th Apr 24   Indian Navy Ship (INS) Talwar, operating in the Arabian Sea in support of the Canadian-led Combined Task Force (CTF) 150, seized 940 kg of illicit drugs on Saturday, its first interdiction of illegal narcotics.   “INS Talwar, a Talwar-class frigate, seized 453 kg of methamphetamines, 416 kg of hash and 71 kg of heroin from a dhow as part of Focused Operation Crimson ..read more

The enormous cost paid by India to gain the advantage in Siachen and Saltoro Ridge must translate into benefits elsewhere   By Ajai Shukla Business Standard, 13th April 24   Forty years ago, on April 13, 1984, a fleet of Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters flew an Indian Army platoon, one soldier at a time, to the Bilafondla Pass on the Saltoro Ridge, towering over the Siachen Glacier at an altitude of 5,450 metres (17,880 feet).   Led by Captain Sanjay Kulkarni (who retired in 2016 as a lieutenant general), the platoon of hardy Kumaoni soldiers quickly occupied the area around ..read more

The total number of Tejas fighters on order are set to exceed 200   By Ajai Shukla Business Standard, 13th April 24   In what could be the government’s largest ever purchase of indigenously-built military equipment, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has issued Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) a request for proposals (RfP) for 97 Tejas Mark 1A fighter aircraft worth an estimated Rs 65,000 crore.   A HAL spokesperson has confirmed that the defence public sector undertaking (DPSU) has been given three months to respond to the MoD’s RfP with a detailed proposal.   HAL is close to ..read more

The fleet support ships will enhance the navy's strategic reach and, in a secondary role, enable HADR missions   By Ajai Shukla Business Standard, 11th Apr 24   In a ceremony redolent with the spirit of “atmanirbhar bharat” (self-reliant India), Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL), Visakhapatnam held a “steel cutting ceremony” on Wednesday for the first of five Fleet Support Ships (FSS) it is building for the Indian Navy.   These five 44,000-tonne vessels will be the first-of-their kind to be built in India by an Indian Shipyard. This project is expected to generate emp ..read more

Last November, TASL and Satellogic announced their collaboration for developing local space technology in India By Ajai Shukla Business Standard, 9th April 24   Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL), India’s leading private firm for aerospace and defence solutions, and Satellogic Inc, the US-based leader in sub-metre resolution earth observation (EO) data collection, announced on Monday the successful launch into space of TASL’s TSAT-1A satellite aboard the Bandwagon-1 mission.   The Bandwagon-1 mission was launched on Sunday aboard SpaceX’s Falcon-9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Ce ..read more

The conference takes place with the backdrop of the three services combining to set up integrated theatre commands By Ajai Shukla Business Standard, 8th April 24   The heads of all tri-service military institutions – containing elements of the army, navy and air force – will gather on Monday, April 8, in New Delhi, for the first ever tri-service planning conference called the “Parivartan Chintan.”   The conference takes place with the backdrop of the three services combining to set up integrated theatre commands, containing elements of the army, navy, and air force.   “This pi ..read more

India has too often lost the opening battles of the wars it fought. Planners in New Delhi must ensure that doesn’t ever happen again   By Ajai Shukla  Business Standard, April 4, 2024    On October 27 each year the Indian Army celebrates Infantry Day, commemorating the bravura contributions of the foot-soldiers, the army’s largest fighting arm. On this day in 1947, with Pakistani tribal invaders raping and pillaging their way into the Kashmir valley, Indian infantry-men from such storied battalions as 1st SIKH and 4th KUMAON were airlifted in old Dakota transport ..read more

Indian ballistic missile flight tested by Strategic Forces Command and DRDO   By Ajai Shukla Business Standard, April 4, 2024   The Strategic Forces Command (SFC), along with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), conducted a successful flight-test of the new-generation ballistic missile – the Agni-Prime, or Agni-P – on Wednesday evening.   “The test met all the trial objectives validating its reliable performance, as confirmed from the data captured by a number of range sensors deployed at different locations, including two downrange ships placed at the ..read more