July 2021

Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) has signed a contract worth about Rs.499 Crore with Ministry of Defence for manufacture and supply of Akash Missiles to the Indian Air Force.

The contract was signed by Air Commodore Ajay Singhal, Air Commodore, Guided Weapons Maintenance on behalf of Indian Air Force and Commodore T N Kaul (Retd), Executive Director (Marketing) on behalf of BDL in the presence of Shri P. Radhakrishna, Director (Production), BDL at New Delhi today.

As part of the ongoing deployment to the Mediterranean, INS Tabar entered the Port of Naples, Italy on 03 Jul 21. The ship was accorded a warm welcome by the Italian Navy.

It was quite disconcerting to hear and read about the twin drone attack at the Indian Air force Station, Jammu on the midnight of June 27-28. The nation woke up to a feeling of anger, anguish and despair. The probe into this attack is still on but the vital clues are still evading our intelligence agencies as no debris of these drones has been located at the blast site. It seems likely that the drones were pulled back by the handlers on completing their mission.

The Jammu airport located at Satwari was attacked by Drones on night 26/27 July. There were two blasts around 2 AM at the IAF premises co-located with the airport. The blasts occurred at the area where a Helicopter Squadron of the Indian Air force is located. No equipment was harmed even as some buildings were damaged and two Air Force personnel on duty sustained minor injuries. 

The 7th edition of Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), a biennial event, was hosted by the French Navy at La Réunion from 28 June to 01 July 2021. Admiral Karambir Singh, Chief of the Naval Staff, Indian Navy, participated virtually in the inaugural session of the event and provided his congratulatory remarks to the Outgoing and Incoming Chairmen.

Air Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari PVSM AVSM VM took over as the Vice Chief of the Air Staff on 01 Jul 21. The Air Marshal was commissioned in the Fighter stream of the IAF on 29 Dec 82. The Air Officer has a flying experience of more than 3800 hrs on a wide variety of fighter and trainer aircraft, including missions flown during Op-Meghdoot and Op-Safed Sagar. 

He is an alumnus of National Defence Academy and Defence Services Staff College, Wellington.