General Awareness

DEFENCE - October 2019

Oct 2019

Dec 25, 2019

India Develops Air Defence Gun for Army

The development provides a big relief to the army, as most of its air defence inventory is "obsolete" and the army chief had to push an emergency button to acquire more such guns after the Pulwama attack in February this year, when the Pakistan Air Force retaliated for an Indian attack in Balakot.
India's state-funded Ordnance Board Factory (OFB) – which administers 42 armament and ammunition factories across the country – developed a high rate of fire gun to defend strategic assets in the border region. The initial firing trial has been done internally by the Ordnance Factory Board. The India-made guns will have an effective range of 4,000 metres or more against aerial targets.

Dec 24, 2019

Army Tech Seminar 'ARTECH 2019' for 'Make in India' Defence Industry Begins in Delhi

ARTECH Seminar was launched in 2016 as part of overall vision of 'Make in India' and is conducted every year as a part of events leading up to Army Day celebrations. The seminar is the flagship event of Indian Army which sets the agenda for focus areas of harvesting indigenous capabilities in the defence sector.
The ARTECH platform provides an opportunity to practitioners of military operations, policy makers in the Ministry of Defence, industry, and academia to put forth their contemporary Defence related capabilities. It is also a forum for innovators in uniform to showcase their products and offer these to industry to refine & productionise.
The 5th edition of ARTECH is organised by Indian Army on 'Technologies for Non-Contact, at Manekshaw Centre, Delhi Cantonment.

Dec 22, 2019

UK Approved £4bn US Takeover of Defence Company Cobham

The government approved a US private equity firm's takeover of UK defence and aerospace company Cobham.
Advent International made a £4bn offer to buy Cobham in July, but it was delayed when the government intervened over national security concerns.
The government announced its approval of the deal, which the firm's founding family said was "timed to avoid scrutiny".
Cobham, which employs 10,000 people, has extensive contracts with the British military and is seen as a world leader in air-to-air refuelling technology.
The firm, based in Wimborne, Dorset, also makes electronic warfare systems and communications for military vehicles.

Army Studies Extension of Service

The Indian Army is scrutinising a proposal that seeks to employ its specialised manpower for longer periods by granting soldiers from some of its select wings a service extension of 10 to 18 years — a move that could benefit more than 400,000 jawans.
The army is in the process of identifying cadres — ranging from the Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers and Army Air Defence to Army Aviation and Army Medical Corps — where soldiers can discharge their duties and responsibilities efficiently till the ages of 50, 54 and even 58 instead of retiring at 40.
The proposed service extension, backed by army Chief General Bipin Rawat, is different from another scheme being implemented by the army to increase the retirement age of jawans by two years.
The army headquarters asked all seven commands across the country to identify arms and services where soldiers could serve longer but the initial response was not encouraging. The feedback indicated that only about 10% jawans could be eligible for the proposed extended tenure.

US Builds a Force for Space Wars

The United States launched the Space Force with President Donald Trump signing into law the 2020 defence budget that will fund the newest and the sixth branch of US military, to counter increasing threats chiefly from Russia and China to American assets in space.
The US Space Force has been assigned a $40 billion budget and will be staffed with 16,000 personnel. It will be charged with protecting America's navigation and communications satellites from being jammed, blinded and disabled by adversaries, which also include Iran and North Korea.
The Space Force will be the sixth branch of US military after Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guards. The last branch, the Air Force, was created 70 years ago.

Dec 21, 2019

US Restarts Military Training Programme with Pakistan

The US state department approved a resumption of Pakistan's participation in a coveted US military training and educational program more than a year after it was suspended.
The resumption which is subject to approval by Congress. allows Islamabad's participation in the International Military Education and Training Program. The programme provides an opportunity to increase bilateral cooperation between our countries on shared priorities. Local analysts say that the resumption suggests warming of ties between the Pakistani government and the Trump administration.

India Set to Sign Deal for Apache Copters

India is all set to hammer out a deal with the United States for six Apache attack helicopters for the army. The army will deploy attack helicopters for the first time.
The Boeing-manufactured helicopters and associated equipment cleared by the council are expected to cost around $930 million. The Apache purchase is before the cabinet committee on security for final clearance. The deal will be inked in early 2020.
The AH-64E Apache multi-role combat helicopters are being bought under the US foreign military sales programme, Washington's government-to-government method for selling US-built platforms. The deliveries of the helicopters will begin in 2022.

Dec 20, 2019

QRSAM Successfully Test-Fired

India successfully test-fired a Quick Reaction Surface-to-Air Missile (QRSAM) off the coast of Balasore in Odisha.
The missile was test-fired from the launch pad-3 at the Interim Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur.
Developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the missile has a strike range of 25 km to 30 km. It uses solid-fuel propellant and has the capability of engaging multiple targets.
The all-weather and all-terrain missile, which can be mounted on a truck and stored in a canister, is equipped with electronic counter measures against jamming by aircraft radars.
The first trial of the QRSAM was conducted on June 4, 2017.

India Successfully Test-fires Upgraded Version of Pinaka Guided Rocket System

In a boost to the artillery power of Indian Army, an upgraded version of indigenously developed Pinaka guided rocket system was successfully test-fired from Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, off the Odisha coast.
Developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Pinaka is an Artillery Missile System capable of striking into enemy territory up to a range of 75 km with high precision.
In March, India had successfully conducted the third trial of the Pinaka guided missile in Rajasthan's Pokharan.

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