India successfully flight tested a locally made anti-radiation missile from its air force’s Sukhoi combat jet that has the capability to suppress enemy air defence effectively, amidst a border conflict with China in the Ladakh region. The key, new generational weapon system was successfully flight tested to attack a radiation target, located on the Wheeler Island of the Odisha coast.
India’s defense preparedness has never been on war footing since the year 2014, as it is planning day and night, like a galloping horse ready to leave a marked impression in the minds of the word powers in all the 3 wings of the defense forces as on date.
Defence Minister unveiled a new version of the procurement manual of the premier military research institute DRDO featuring simplified procedures for involvement of the private sector in the various research and development. Kalyani Forge is developing a gun for the world. The ammunitions used will be Indian too!
Indian defence procurement was notoriously slow and was worst during the 10 long years of the UPA misrule, when nothing moved and procurement of Rafale was kept pending in loops, till the Modi Government came to power and now within a short period 4 air bases are being upgraded to base them, to control China, Pakistan and the Indian Ocean Region, right for India’s new enemy Malaysia, which plans a new nexus along with Pakistan and the Turkey.
Modi government encouraged its PSU’s to dream big and now it wants to corporatise the Ordinance Factory Board (OFB) to be more professional and trustworthy and other than that it encouraged the private sector to build guns, ammunitions, ships and other avionics to make India a global power and make arms not only for the nation but for export to make it a US$ 5 Billion market to supply small arms for the conflicts, which is occurring all over the universe big or medium or small.
India‘s lone submarine builder had a dream-like debut on the stock market recently, finishing the opening trading day at Rs 173, a cool 19% above its Initial Public Offering (IPO) price of Rs 145, strongly aided by its above par financial performance over the years and the military face-off with nuclear-armed rival China.
Mumbai-based Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited had opened the day on the Bombay Stock Exchange at Rs 216.25, up 49% from its IPO price, but some profit – taking happened during the day’s session, ending the day with a market capitalisation of Rs 3,490 crore (US$ 476 million) in a short span of days.
The state-run company’s Rs 444 crore (US$ 61 million) IPO was oversubscribed 157.4 times between September 29 and October 1, the highest demand in 2020. “The resounding welcome of the company’s shares reflects investor confidence in the company’s shipbuilding capabilities as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s ‘Make In India ‘initiative”.
GRSE delivered the corvette MCGS Barracuda to Mauritius on 20th December 2014. The contract was worth US$ 58.5 million. With this, India joined the elite club of warship exporters. The Mauritius offshore patrol vessel has an integrated bridge system and cutting edge controls and main engines and can support 83 member crew.
It measures 74.10 metres (243.1 ft.) in length and 11.40 metres (37.4 ft.) in breadth and will be capable of moving at a maximum speed of 22 knots (41 km/h) with an approximate displacement of 1,350 tonnes. GRSE has been short – listed for a patrol boat project for Vietnam worth Rs. 600 crore (US$ 84 million) and is also bidding for an order of two frigates for Philippines.
Philippines expressed gratitude to India for repairing Philippine Navy ship free of cost, providing best care to injured Filipino sailors in India. Philippines Navy Chief Giovanni Carlo J. Bacordo has expressed gratitude to the Indian Navy for its “invaluable assistance” for helping out one of its navy ship after a fire broke out in the engine room which injured two Philippines navy personnel. Fire had broken in Philippines’ ship BRP Ramon Alcaraz on May 7th which gravely injured two of its navy personnel with second – degree burns.
India not only repaired the ship free of cost at the Naval Shipyard in Kochi but took care of both the personnel in Indian Naval hospital. The two Filipino Navy personnel were rushed to INHS Sanjivani Naval Hospital, Kochi for immediate treatment. One of them was later taken to Bangalore hospitals where he is still recuperating.
The Philippine Navy Chief Rear Admiral Giovanni Carlo J. Bacordo in a letter to Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh said, “Your support in this unfortunate accident is way beyond our expectations and it is a testament of your sincerity in deepening our Navy to Navy partnership. Rest assured that the Philippine Navy remains committed to this Partnership”. Adding, “We hope to expand this relationship as we seek better ways to make our seas safer and more secure for everyone … fervent wishes for your continuing success in leading the Indian Navy’s sustained resolve to be a global maritime force”.
Gen Filemon Santos, Chief of Staff Armed Forces of the Philippines also wrote a letter to India’s Chief of the Defense Staff (CDS) Gen Bipin Rawat thanking him for New Delhi’s help. Indian Navy’s Technical teams from Naval Ship Repair Yard (Kochi) in close coordination with the Philippine crew undertook repairs and rendered the ship seaworthy within 10 days. When the fire broke last month, the ship contacted the Philippines Defence Attache Colonel Ronaldo V Juan in Delhi who reached out to Navy headquarters and thereafter the Indian Southern Naval command immediately sprang into action.
Two Indian Navy ships were dispatched to escort the Philippines ship at the high seas and it was later repaired in Kochi with all locally sourced items. Philippines envoy to India Ramon S Bagatsing Jr. told, “We are extremely grateful for the support by the Indian navy to the Philippines Navy ships and the personnel in terms of providing us approval to dock and to board stranded Philippines & fire incident happened in one of the ships.
Indian Navy took care of repairs at its expense, but also took care of the physical aspect of taking care of 2 Philipino navy men and brought them to hospitals. So we are extremely grateful for what they have done for us. Moving forward we look for stronger relations between our 2 countries, more specifically in the field humanitarian services within our armed forces”. The Philippines Navy ship left Kochi after 20 days on May 27. The damage happened to its main propulsion, auxiliary systems and Generators which the Indian Navy helped repair.
GRSE was the lowest bidder to supply two light frigates to Philippines and hopes to receive the contract worth more than US$ 321 million shortly. A total of four firms joined the bidding for the Philippine Navy project: GRSE; Hyundai Heavy Industries Inc. and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. Ltd., both from South Korea; and Navantia S.A. of Spain.
GRSE’s light frigate will be a design based on the Indian Navy’s Kamorta-class anti-submarine corvette and will be capable of withstanding Sea State 7, which means it can withstand a wave height of up to 9 metres. By such small well times gestures, India is sending a message to form an anti-China front and would like to enhance the number of nations in the Quad and Quad plus grouping.
India successfully flight tested a locally made anti-radiation missile from its air force’s Sukhoi combat jet that has the capability to suppress enemy air defence effectively, amidst a border conflict with China in the Ladakh region. The key, new generational weapon system was successfully flight tested to attack a radiation target, located on the Wheeler Island of the Odisha coast.
Launched from an Indian Air Force‘s Su-30MKI combat aircraft, the Anti-Radiation Missile, christened RUDRAM, is the first indigenous weapon system of this kind developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
Two years after its commissioning, Indian Navy‘s newest destroyer INS Chennai validated its arming with the world’s first supersonic cruise missile with a successful test – firing of the Indo – Russian joint venture BrahMos. The missile, fired from on board the 7,500 – tonne warship, hit its intended surface target with test-book accuracy. The missile’s gravity – defying manoeuvre enables it to cruise sea – skimming as low as three to four meters at supersonic speeds, fooling enemy radar and surveillance.
INS Chennai will be a key naval platform for India to enforce a blockade of the sea lanes of communication in the Indian Ocean Region if its current land border military conflict with Imperialist China in Ladakh escalates to the maritime domain. “BRAHMOS, the supersonic cruise missile was successfully test fired today…from Indian Navy’s indigenously – built stealth destroyer INS Chennai, hitting a target in the Arabian Sea. The missile hit the target successfully with pin – point accuracy after performing high – level and extremely complex manoeuvre.” I feel so proud and happy.
If the annual SIPRI data consistently showing India among the top few arms importing nations in the world is a depressing commentary on the state of India’s military-industrial capability and capacity, the 2020 figures bring some cheer. Although India is second only to Saudi Arabia in terms of imports, her defence exports for the previous year cracked the global top 25. From struggling to acquire specialised weapon locating radars (WLRs) from the USA and Israel in the 1990s, India is now exporting them to Armenia in a deal worth some US$ 40 million. The Indian Defence Ministry’s own figures show that India managed to double the value of exports between FY 2018 and FY2019, from Rs 4,682 crore (US$ 620 million) to Rs 10,745 crore (US$ 1.4 billion). At the DefExpo trade show in February, 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for an export target of Rs 35,000 crore (US$ 5 billion) annually within five years.
After dithering for nearly three years on the fate of a Rs. 20,000 crore (US$ 2.65 billion) programme for building four amphibious warships for the India navy, which had bidders from enemy nation Turkey, India has retracted the tender issued in 2013, deciding to rewrite the project requirements to meet the modern threat perceptions and technological advancements, the Narendra Modi government has preferred to go in for a fresh tender in the capital acquisition programme instead of awarding the contract to the lone bidder left in the fray, after the only other bidder got into an insolvency proceeding over bad debts.
“The 2013 tender for building four Landing Pontoon Docks (LPDs) has been retracted in late September, 2020. This has been done primarily to update the project’s staff, qualitative requirements that are outdated now, as already a decade has lapsed since the last one was written for the 2013 tender.”
Amid the ongoing tensions between India and China at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Eastern Ladakh, Defence Minister inaugurated eight major bridges in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh each along with 28 other bridges located across different border sectors. The 44 major bridges are located at strategic locations along the western, northern and north-eastern borders.
The defence minister also laid the foundation stone for Neciphu tunnel in Arunachal Pradesh. The prestigious Atal Tunnel will be additional turning point for the Indian army with all weather road. The bridges across seven states and UTs have been constructed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) functioning under the MoD. The BRO built close to 10 bridges last year in eastern Ladakh alone. Out of the 44 bridges, eight are in Ladakh, 10 in J&K, two in Himachal Pradesh, four in Punjab, eight each in Uttrakhand and Arunachal Pradesh and four in Sikkim.
Their lengths range from 30 metres to 484 metres. They were constructed under challenging conditions such as steep slopes, difficult approaches and little working space. The speed at which the infrastructure has been built by our nation has unnerved the Chinese army top brass and internal uprising is brewing in China, over the leadership President Xi
Russian State owned United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) has been linked with a move to acquire troubled Reliance Naval and Engineering Ltd. The Russian Group, which has a long standing aim to expand its profile in the Indian naval shipbuilding market, was reportedly one of the several investors to express interest in acquiring RNEL during a round of bidding for the company that ended late June, 2020.
India is ready to sign a key geospatial cooperation agreement with the United States later this month that will firmly set their strategic relationship in the Indo-Pacific region, where both are threatened by a common rival in China.
India is likely to put a seal of approval on the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement on Geospatial Cooperation, or simply BECA, during the ‘2+2’ dialogue with the US on October 26 and 27, 2020. BECA signing will come just ahead of the MALABAR naval exercise in the Indian Ocean Region, to be held in two phases from November 3 to 6 in the Bay of Bengal near Andaman and Nicobar Islands and again from November 17 to 20 in the Arabian Sea.
Australia, the fourth member of the QUAD, will join the naval exercise with other three members India, US and Japan, indicating that the otherwise diplomacy grouping is turning military, to counter China’s aggressive expansionism in the Indo – Pacific. BECA, the fourth and final bilateral foundational military agreement, will enable the US to share with India advanced satellite and topographical data for long-range navigation and missile-targeting, which will help India to pin pointed target Chinese strategic locations.
India attempted to test its 10th missile on Monday in just 35 days. The 800 – km range Nirbhay cruise missile test, however, did not go as planned. The launch had to be aborted after the missile was about eight minutes already in the air, but this has not deterred the nation in moving forward. Failures leads to success.
India signing a deal for 93,895 Close Quarter Battle carbines will be a key milestone for United Arab Emirates CARACAL to invest 49% in a Joint Venture with a domestic manufacturer with full technology transfer. The pitch under the ‘Make in India‘ programme is the Emirati company’s bid to save the Indian Army carbine contract, a deal that has been hanging fire for the last two years and one that will mark CARACAL’s entry into the Indian market for the long term. These will be made in India and can be exported.
The eye to eye contact with China and Modi government’s strong message and counter attacks and its move to occupy high viewing hills has unnerved China. India has gifted a submarine to Myanmar, gifted helicopters to Male have given hopes to many of its neighbours a strong message that China’s hegemony and bullying will not be accepted lying low and India can give reply ‘tooth to tooth’ and ‘eye to eye’ will pave the way for India to be respected world over.
The vaccine diplomacy of China is also getting refused by many nations and they look towards India to supply them the vaccine, which will not further complicate their nation’s sovereignty with a new Virus. Well China is quite capable of carrying out such ‘abracadabra’.
