General Awareness

DEFENCE - June 2020

Jun 2020

Nov 14, 2020

India's QRSAM Achieves Major Milestone, Hits Pilotless Target Aircraft

India's Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missile (QRSAM) System achieved a major milestone by a direct hit on to a Banshee Pilotless target aircraft at medium range and medium altitude. The missile launch took place from ITR Chandipur off the Odisha coast.
The missile is propelled by a single-stage solid-propellant rocket motor and uses all indigenous subsystems. The missile is canisterised for transportation and launch using a mobile launcher capable of carrying six canisterised missiles.
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Secretary DD R&D and Chairman DRDO Dr. G. Satheesh Reddy congratulated DRDO Scientists for the achievement.
All QRSAM weapon system elements like Battery Multifunction Radar, Battery Surveillance Radar, Battery Command Post Vehicle and Mobile Launcher were deployed in the flight test. The system is capable of detecting and tracking targets on the move and engaging target with short halts. The system is designed to give air defence coverage against strike columns of Indian Army.

Nov 13, 2020

BrahMos to be Exported to Third Countries Starting with Philippines

India and Russia are planning to export the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile to the Philippines and several other countries. The BrahMos missile is produced by an Indo-Russian joint venture and it can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or from land platforms.
In the last few weeks, several tests of the new version of missile were carried out in multiple locations. The range of the new version of the missile has been extended to 400 km from the original 290 km.

Launch of Navy's Fifth Scorpene-class Submarine Vagir

Navy's fifth Scorpene-class submarine Vagir, having superior stealth features like the advanced acoustic absorption technique, was launched at the Mazagon Dock in south Mumbai.
Vijaya, wife of Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik, launched the submarine through video-conferencing. The minister was the chief guest at the event and attended it via video link from Goa.
Vagir is part of the six Kalvari-class submarines being built in India. The submarines, designed by French naval defence and energy company DCNS, are being built as part of the Navy's Project-75.
These submarines can undertake missions like anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, intelligence gathering, mine laying, and area surveillance.

Nov 12, 2020

Unified Maritime Command Will have IAF's Strike Elements, Army's Amphibious Units

The Maritime Theatre Command, comprising all the naval assets, will come up soon after the unified Air Defence Command is set up. An ongoing study on the maritime command is currently at an advanced stage.
The Air Defence Command, responsible for guarding the Indian airspace from hostile air elements, was initially reported to be set up by October. A new date, however, is yet to be formally announced. The study on the Maritime Theatre Command has been under way for the last several months.
As per reports, the command is more likely to be headquartered at Karwar in Karnataka. Hyderabad is also under consideration. It will likely be headed by an Indian Navy officer of vice-admiral or admiral rank.

Nov 11, 2020

Development of Guided Pinaka Nears Completion

From the announcement of raising its six regiments in August to the successful test of Enhanced Pinaka Mk-1 last week, a lot has happened in the long-running development of Pinaka rocket systems and its upgrades. Now, the development of the Guided version of Pinaka, with almost double the original range, is nearing completion, said an official of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
In the conventional battle space, long-range artillery systems like Pinaka are used for attacking adversary targets prior to close-quarter battles, which involve smaller-range artillery, armoured elements and the infantry.
The DRDO started developing Pinaka in the late 1980s, as an alternative the multi-barrel rocket launching systems of Russian make, called the 'Grad' and 'Smerch', which are still in use. After successful tests of Pinaka Mark-1 in the late 1990s, it was successfully used during the 1999 Kargil war. Over the next few years, multiple regiments of the system came up along India's border areas with China and Pakistan.

OFB Gets order from the US to Supply Ammunition

India's state-run Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) got an order from the US to supply ammunition. The OFB, one of the country's oldest defence establishments, has received an export order for 5.56 X 45 mm NATO M193 Ball bullets from the US.
The ammunition will be manufactured at Ordnance Factory Varangaon in Maharashtra and will be supplied in the current fiscal year.
The ordnance factories have been exporting ammunition to foreign nations and have been fulfilling the commitments within the given time.
India had inherited 18 ordnance factories established by the British at the time of Independence. Currently, the OFB oversees 41 factories, 13 development centres and nine institutes of learning.

Nov 10, 2020

Russian Firm Looks to Buy Reliance Naval

Most shipbuilding firms are backing away from purchasing Anil Ambani's Reliance Naval and Engineering Ltd (RNaval), which is being sold to pay its debts. However, Russia's state-owned United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) remains interested.
RNaval is under the hammer under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) to recover debts that have mounted to almost Rs. 10,000 crore. Besides USC, two large Indian companies – Chowgule and APM Terminals Management BV – were in the fray, along with a number of asset reconstruction companies. RNaval's primary asset is the Pipavav Shipyard in Gujarat.
Stating that USC had passed the accreditation procedure to obtain access to RNaval's electronic account, the Embassy stated that USC is currently conducting the due diligence of RNaval's condition and assessing parameters of the possible investments.

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