BoB Signs MoU with Defence Forces for New Baroda Military Salary Package
Public sector lender Bank of Baroda (BoB) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard under which the bank would offer customised services along with a host of facilities to account holders. The bank has also renewed its existing MoU with the Indian Army to offer specially customised banking services through 'Baroda Military Salary Package'.
Services under 'Baroda Military Salary Package' will be offered to serving and retired personnel of Indian Armed Forces through the Bank's network of over 8,200 domestic branches and around 20,000 business correspondent touch points.
The package offers very attractive benefits including free Personal Accidental Insurance cover, Permanent Total Disability cover, Partial disability Cover and Air Accident Insurance Cover of sizeable amounts, as well as Higher Education Cover and Girl Child Marriage Cover on death in case of serving personnel.
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.