Government

Continuing with the trend of showing confidence in Russian weapons, India, reportedly, on Monday agreed to procure 464 T-90MS tanks. The new batch is expected to be manufactured in India through the extension of the production license, Russian news agency TASS reported.

Supreme Court has passed an order dated 10 April 2019 on 36 Rafale Procurement Case.

A special interaction session was organized by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), here today to present first-hand account of the mission details, development milestones including technological aspects of Mission Shakti.

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) today successfully conducted an Anti-Satellite (A-SAT) missile test ‘Mission Shakti’ from the Dr AP J Abdul Kalam Island in Odisha. A DRDO-developed Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) Interceptor Missile successfully engaged an Indian orbiting target satellite in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) in a ‘Hit to Kill’ mode. The interceptor missile was a three-stage missile with two solid rocket boosters. Tracking data from range sensors has confirmed that the mission met all its objectives.

In a major boost for Army, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully test fired indigenously developed, low weight, fire and forget Man Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile (MPATGM) for the second time today in the ranges of Rajasthan desert. MPATGM is incorporated with advanced features including state-of-the-art Imaging Infrared Radar (IIR) Seeker with integrated avionics. The first test was conducted on 13th March 2019. In both the missions, the missiles hit the designated targets precisely at different ranges. All the mission objectives have been met.

Defence Research and Defence Organisation (DRDO) today successfully test fired the Guided PINAKA from Pokhran ranges. The weapon system is equipped with state-of-the-art guidance kit comprising of an advanced navigation and control system. In both the missions, the weapon systems impacted the intended targets with high precision and achieved desired accuracies. Telemetry Systems tracked and monitored the vehicle all through the flight path.

The Secretary Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Shekar C. Mande, February 21, visited the CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories stall at Aero India 2019 and expressed satisfaction at the development of Saras aircraft for military and civilian purposes and also on the regional transport aircraft (RTA) which it has been talking about for quite some time.

20th February 2019 is a significant day in the journey of Light Combat Aircraft Tejas MK I for Indian Air Force (IAF), when the formal declaration of Final Operational Clearance (FOC) of the aircraft was made by Secretary Defence R&D and Chairman DRDO Dr G Satheesh Reddy.

With elections round the corner, the Minister of Defence, Nirmala Sitharaman used the platform of the 12th edition of Aero India, which got underway in Bengaluru, to make a point on how in these past four years, the government had made enormous strides in aerospace and defence sectors. In line with tagline of Aero India, ‘The Runway to a billion opportunities’, she indicated how thousands of crores of contracts in defence had been signed between 2014-15 till 2018.

The stealthy Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) project which the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) is working on ‘definitely needs a new engine’ for the features the aircraft is likely to have, announced Dr Satheesh Reddy, Scientific Adviser to Raksha Mantri and Chairman, DRDO. 

Speaking on the sidelines of the DRDO International Conference on future of aerospace here in Bengaluru, Dr Reddy said till the new engine is developed ‘we will have to look for an existing engine.’ He did not mention any engine. 

In the background of the Pulwama terrorist strike, the former Scientific Adviser to Minister of Defence and presently a member of NITI Aayog, Dr V.K.Saraswat, urgently called for a major push to manufacture and equip the armed forces with ‘low-intensity conflict equipment’. In non-contact warfare, we need to deploy directed energy weapons for which there has to be a substantial contribution from industry, national laboratories and academia.

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully flight tested the second indigenously developed ‘Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet (SFDR)’ propulsion based missile system from ITR, Chandipur, Odisha today. Ground booster, separation of ground booster and Nozzle-less-booster performance were found satisfactory. Missile was guided to high altitude to simulate aircraft release conditions and subsequently nozzle-less-booster was ignited. SFDR based missile accelerated to achieve ramjet Mach number successfully. The trajectory was tracked by telemetry and radar stations till touchdown.

Union Government, on February 1, in its budget for the current financial year 2019-20, has allocated over Rs 3, 18, 000 crore for the defence needs excluding the defence pension. This is for the first time that the allocation for the defence has exceeded three lakh crore mark.

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), in a landmark decision today, also approved indigenous construction of six submarines for the Indian Navy at a cost of over Rs. 40,000 crores. This is the second project under the MoD’s ambitious Strategic Partnership (SP) model that aims at providing a significant fillip to the Government’s ‘Make in India’ programme. SP model envisages indigenous manufacturing of major defence platforms by an Indian Strategic Partner, who will collaborate with foreign OEM to set up production facilities in the country.

“Russian SU-30 and indigenously manufactured SU-30MKI are not the same. Hence, one to one comparison of cost may not be appropriate,” said Union Minister of State Dr Subhash Ramrao Bhamre in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha on January 2.

It was an eventful year for Ministry of Defence. Government of India took policy decision to set up two Defence Production Corridors, one each in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Tamil Nadu. These would go a long way in making India self-reliant in defence production through ‘Make in India’ initiatives. It was also a year of another milestone for women empowerment in the country when the first-ever all-women crew circumnavigated the globe in an indigenously built 56-foot Indian Navy Sailing Vessel, ‘INSV Tarini’.

Government is pursuing initiatives to achieve higher levels of indigenization and self-reliance in the defence sector by harnessing the capabilities of the public and private sector industries in the countries.  These measures include according priority and preference to procurement from Indian vendors and liberalization of the licensing regime.  Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) accords the highest priority to Buy Indian (Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured) (IDDM).  The ‘Make’ procedure has been simplified with provisions for earmarking projects not exceeding development c

The recently concluded 18th India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC), chaired by the defence ministers of the two countries,  discussed various ongoing projects including the joint manufacturing of the Kamov-226 helicopters.

The 18th meeting of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC) was held here today. The meeting was co-chaired by Raksha Mantri Smt Nirmala Sitharaman and Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation General Sergei Shoigu.

For the next two days, the Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission is going to sit together to discuss various bilateral issues including strategic, military and payment related challenges. Post-CAATSA India is facing tremendous challenges in making payment to Russia for the import of weapon systems. To solve this problem, the two sides, reportedly, are exploring various options including Rupee-Ruble route.

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by Raksha Mantri Smt Nirmala Sitharaman met today and accorded approval for acquisition of defence equipment for about Rs 3,000 crore.

As a follow up of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) decision in October 2018 for procurement of four P1135.6 Follow-on Ships, the DAC granted approval for procurement of indigenous BrahMos Missile for two Indian Navy ships to be built in Russia. The indigenously designed BrahMos Missile is a tested and proven supersonic cruise missile and will form the primary weapon on-board these Ships.

A series of flight trials of Astra Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVR-AAM) was conducted by Indian Air Force during September 26 to October 03, 2018 at Integrated Test Range (ITR), Balasore as part of final development trials of the missile.

India is hosting the 12th edition of “Aero India 2019” at Air Force Station, Yelahanka, Bengaluru, (Karnataka) from 20 to 24 February, 2019

Prahar, a novel, highly manoeuvrable precision strike, Surface-to-Surface tactical missile capable of being fired in salvo mode is all set to extend the reach of our artillery fire to over 150 Km. The totally indigenous state of the art weapon system will enhance the potential of our artillery punch by supplementing the gun systems like Dhanush, K9, ultralight howitzers, the indigenous ATAGS and the indigenous PINAKA rocket systems (MkI and MkII) and replacing Prithvi-I, the very first indigenous 150 km range tactical ballistic missile. 

As expected, India and Russia, during the ongoing Russian President’s visit to India for the Annual Bilateral Summit October 4-5, signed the S-400 long-range-surface-to-air-missile deal for $5.43 billion. India is purchasing 5 squadrons of the missiles system which will begin arriving in 24 months.

The deal which saw last moment to and fro was clinched by the personal decision of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Astra, the indigenously developed Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM), was successfully test fired by the Indian Air Force from Su-30 aircraft, today from Air Force Station, Kalaikunda. The missile successfully engaged a manoeuvring target with high precision meeting the mission objectives. In the series of trials held to date, Astra has been launched in the complete Su-30 flight envelope. The flight test assumes significance as it was part of the series of final pre-induction trials.

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully flight tested the indigenously developed surface-to-surface tactical missile ‘Prahar’, from Launch Complex-III, ITR, Balasore, today. Range stations and electro optical systems tracked the missile throughout its flight. ‘Prahar’ is a contemporary weapon system capable of carrying multiple types of warheads and neutralizing a wide variety of targets.

Indigenously developed Man Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile (MPATGM), was successfully flight tested for the second time from the Ahmednagar range today. All the mission objectives have been met. The two missions on 15 and 16 September 2018 have been successfully flight tested for different ranges including the maximum range capability.

Raksha Mantri Nirmala Sitharaman congratulated the team DRDO, Indian Army and associated Industries for the twin success of MPATGM weapon system.

Pic - PIB

In the Budget Speech 2018, Government has announced that it will bring out an industry friendly Defence Production Policy 2018 to promote domestic production by public sector, private sector and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Consequent to this, a draft Defence Production Policy 2018 has been prepared which provides a focused, structured and significant thrust to development of defence design and production capabilities in the country. The draft policy has been shared with all concerned stakeholders for their views before notification.