General Awareness

DEFENCE - October 2019

Oct 2019

Dec 21, 2020

Taiwan Building Submarine Fleet to Mitigate Chinese Threat

In order to bolster its defensive capabilities, Taiwan is building a submarine fleet to mitigate Chinese nefarious designs to invade the island or install a naval blockade. The construction of eight new state-of-art submarines kicked off last month at the southern port city of Kaohsiung with expected sea trials in 2025.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen called it a "historic milestone" which "demonstrates Taiwan's strong will to the world" at a ceremony marking the beginning of the programme.

Chennai to Host Defence Expo Empowering MSME

More than 400 large, medium, small and micro (MSMEs) units are expected to participate in the defence industry related expo-empowering MSMEs to be held here from March 19 to 21, 2021.
The Defence Ministry has given approval to the city-based Swatantra Foundation to host the expo at the Chennai Trade Centre.
The Aerospace Industry Development Association of Tamil Nadu (AIDAT) and Tamil Nadu Small and Tiny Industries Association (TANSTIA) will be the co-organisers of the expo.
The main aim of the expo is to connect the Indian MSME sector companies who have the capacity and the capability to carter to the defence sector.

Army to Test Indigenous Artillery System

The Army will soon begin testing an indigenously-developed artillery system, which the DRDO contends is the best in its class in the world with a record-breaking strike range of 48 km. If the big gun passes muster, it can fulfil the Army's requirement for 1,580 such guns worth over Rs. 25,000 crore.
The 155 mm/52 calibre advanced towed artillery gun system (ATAGS) is set to undergo winter user trials by the Army in Sikkim in January-February, which will be followed by the mobility trials and then the summer trials in May-June.
With the development of ATAGS, which has Bharat Forge (Kalyani Group) and Tata Advanced Systems as the production partners, DRDO officials contend the Army has no need to import such guns from Israel or other countries.

Dec 20, 2020

Japan to Develop Longer-range Anti-ship Missiles

Japan said that it will develop new "stand-off" anti-ship missiles that can target warships at greater distances around its southwestern Okinawa Island chain, including near disputed islets in the East China Sea that China also claims.
The missiles would allow Japan to expand a strategy known as anti-access area denial (A2AD), that is meant to stop foreign forces from operating freely in waters close to its home territory.
The first major defence policy decision by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga comes as Japan acquires air-launched missiles that could be used to hit missile sites in North Korea and is considering other strike weapons such as cruise missiles that could reach ground targets in China.

Dec 19, 2020

China and Russia Extend Notification Agreement for Ballistic Missile

Chinese State Councilor and Defence Minister General Wei Fenghe and Russian Defence Minister Sergi Shoigu signed a Protocol to extend the 'Agreement between Russia and China on Notification on Launches of Ballistic Missiles and Space Missile Carriers'. The Agreement was signed in 2009 and is expiring in December 2020. The countries thus renewed the agreement extending its validity by ten more years. This protocol is expected to further deepen the comprehensive strategic coordination between the two countries.
According to the agreement both the countries should notify each other before conducting ballistic missile test or space rocket launches. This is done to express deep trust between the countries. The end result of the agreement is that it ensures strategic stability in the Eurasian supercontinent. This makes the international relations peaceful.

Rajnath Singh Hands over Three Important DRDO Developed Systems to Army, Navy and Air Force

Rajnath Singh handed over the Indian Maritime Situational Awareness System (IMSAS) to the Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh, ASTRA Mk-I Missile to Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria and Border Surveillance System (BOSS) to the Chief of Army Staff General M. M. Naravane.
An all-weather electronic surveillance system has been designed and developed by Instruments Research & Development Establishment (IRDE), Dehradun. The system has been deployed at Ladakh border area for day and night surveillance.
The IMSAS is state-of-the-art, fully indigenous, high performance intelligent software system that provide Global Maritime Situational Picture, Marine planning tools and Analytical capabilities to Indian Navy. The system provides Maritime Operational Picture from Naval HQ to each individual ship in sea to enable Naval Command and control (C2).
The ASTRA Mk-I is the indigenously developed first Beyond Visual Range (BVR) Missile, which can be launched from Sukhoi-30, Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), Mig-29 and Mig-29K.

Dec 18, 2020

Defence Ministry Approves Acquisition of Military Hardware

The defence ministry has given its nod for the acquisition of weapon systems worth Rs. 28,000 crore, including an indigenous programme to develop a large Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AWACS) and next generation offshore patrol vessels.
The go ahead was given by the Rajnath Singh-led Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), with Rs. 27,000 crore worth of systems to be developed indigenously.
This is the first meeting of the DAC under the new regime of Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020 and these are the first set of Acceptance of Necessity (AoNs) accorded, with majority AoNs being accorded in the highest categorization of Buy Indian (IDDM), six out of the seven proposals cleared are under the Make in India initiative.
Acquisition proposals approved include the DRDO designed and developed Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) Systems for the Indian Air Force, next generation offshore patrol vessels for the Indian Navy and modular bridges for the Indian Army.

Dec 17, 2020

DRDO to Build Six New 'Airborne Early Warning and Control Planes' on Air India Planes

India is going to make six new Airborne Early Warning and Control planes to be developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on aircraft from Air India to further improve Air Force's surveillance capabilities along borders with China and Pakistan.
The move is likely to give a major boost to the indigenous defence industry. The project has reportedly been planned in a way to promote Make in India in defence and Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
As per the discussions on the AEW&C Block 2 aircraft to be developed by the DRDO under a Rs. 10,500 crore project, these aircraft would be acquired from the Air India fleet and modified to fly with a radar that will give 360-degree surveillance capability to the defence forces.

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