General Awareness

DEFENCE - October 2019

Oct 2019

Dec 06, 2019

IAF Places Orders for 7 Squadrons of Akash SAM System

Satisfied by the consistent and reliable performance by the indigenous Akash Missile System, Surface to Air Missile (SAM) an additional order for seven more squadrons has been placed by the Indian Air Force. This is by far the highest order placed by the service for the Akash Missile System.
The Missile System designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and produced and commissioned by Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) performed well in integrated Air Defence (AD) exercises conducted from time to time by IAF.
The number of missiles fired in Ex- Vayu Shakti 2019 or Crossbow-18, the Akash Missile System successfully intercepted and destroyed unmanned aerial targets.

Indian Army Requires 200 Armoured Fighting Vehicles

Amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan, the Indian Army is looking for close to 200 armoured fighting vehicles for deployment in different sectors in the frontier with Pakistan.
The army recently announced its plan to procure 198 wheeled armoured fighting vehicles (AFV) for reconnaissance and support to tank regiments in mechanised warfare. The vehicles are meant for replacing the army's ageing Soviet origin BRDM combat reconnaissance patrol vehicles. The requirement came out in a Request for Information issued for procuring these equipment.
The army plans to use these AFVs in the plain sectors of Punjab and Rajasthan. It wants that these AFVs should be able to operate in not only developed areas in this region, but in riverine terrain as well. The wheeled AFV should be provided with high mobility, adequate armour protection and armament configuration, suitable to destroy enemy tanks and undertake local protection.
The army is searching for AFVs that have a service life of 32 years and which can operate in temperatures reaching upto 45 degrees Celsius and as low as 0 degrees. It has also made it clear that the AFV should have a payload of at least 2 tons, which should include ammunition and four crew members. Importantly, the AFV should be transportable by IL-76 and C-17 transport aircraft and by railway, which will allow the army to quickly mobilise this specialised fleet in the regions that it wants during a contingency.

Dec 05, 2019

LA Police to Use Batman-style Device

Two hundred Los Angeles police officers will be trained to use a new gadget designed to snare a person by wrapping them in a cord.
The BolaWrap, adopted by several other forces, fires a cord that can entangle an individual's torso or legs from up to 25ft (8m) away.
The tether is intended to restrict the person's movement, allowing officers to take action without using force.
But civil rights activists have raised concerns over its potential usage.
Three devices will be carried by officers in the southern Californian city as part of a 90-day trial starting in January, 2020.

India Hands over Patrol Vessel to Maldives

India handed over a patrol vessel to the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) during a video conference between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, which also saw the two leaders jointly inaugurating four key developmental projects in the archipelago covering a wide range of sectors.
The Patrol Vessel named KAAMIYAAB will be manned by 8 MNDF personnel trained in India and will be a valuable asset for the Maldives in enhancing its maritime security, fostering its blue economy and safeguarding its tourism industry.

Dec 04, 2019

India's first maritime museum coming up at Lothal in Gujarat

Underwater or marine archaeology in India is all set to get a boost with the government deciding to establish a National Maritime Heritage Museum at Lothal, a Harappan site on the Saurashtra coast in Gujarat.
The museum will also be an independent research centre of underwater archaeology for reconstruction of maritime history, archaeology of boat building and materials traded. It will have on display salvaged material from shipwreck sites in the Indian Ocean waters. The museum is being set up with technical help from the Portuguese Maritime Heritage Museum. The central government has appointed the first Director General for the museum which will be attached to the Maritime Board of the Gujarat government. Lothal is the site of one of the oldest ports in India dating to the Bronze Age.

India successfully test-fired indigenously developed nuke-capable Prithvi-II missile AIR Pics

India successfully test-fired its indigenously developed surface-to-surface nuclear-capable Prithvi-II missile off Odisha coast. The Strategic Forces Command of the Indian Army conducted the user trial of the 350 km range missile from a mobile launcher from launch complex-3 of the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur at around 7.50 p.m. Defence sources said the missile weighs about 4,600 kg, is capable of carrying 500 to one thousand kilograms of warheads and is thrust by liquid propulsion twin engines. It also said all parameters within the stipulated time period were achieved.

India-China joint exercise on counter-terrorism from December 7

The eighth India-China joint training exercise - 'Hand-in-Hand 2019' - would commence from December 7 at Umroi in Meghalaya, a defence.
The two-week-long exercise is scheduled to focus on joint planning and counter-terrorist operations on semi-urban terrain.
A Chinese contingent from the Tibet Military command, comprising 130 personnel, and an Indian contingent of similar strength will participate in the exercise, which has counter-terrorism as theme as per the United Nations mandate.

Dec 03, 2019

Nag: The Anti-tank Missile

NAG (meaning Cobra) is an anti-tank guided missile that can destroy enemy tanks miles away. One of the world's finest in its class, the all-weather missile with day and night capabilities comes in four variants that can be launched from land and air.
The fire-and-forget missile is developed by DRDO under the integrated guided missile development programme (IGMDP), which also includes four other missiles — Agni, Akash, Trishul and Prithvi.
NAG has a minimum range of 500 metres and a maximum of 20 km, depending on the launch type. It has a top speed of 230 meter/second (or 828 km/hour).
NAG is a fire-and-forget, lock-on-before-launch missile. The missile locks target before its release. The missile operators first locate the enemy tanks with the help of thermal imaging. After identifying the target, a thermal reference image of the target is captured and locked into the Nag's seeker system.

Dec 02, 2019

Engines Fired Up, Basin Trials Next for Indigenous Aircraft Carrier

The engines on board the first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) being constructed at Kochi have been fired up and the Navy is starting on the next step of basin trials, with expectations that the warship would be ready for operations by 2022.
The long-delayed project, which was to be completed by 2018, is now back on track, with senior officers saying that the 37,500-tonne aircraft carrier will initially operate MiG-29K fighters and could also feature indigenous combat aircraft.
The carrier, the largest ever warship to be constructed in an Indian yard, is now in its final phase of construction and the Navy could consider operating a limited number of the maritime version of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) TEJAS once it gets fit for service.

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