General Awareness

DEFENCE - June 2020

Jun 2020

Sep 27, 2020

India and Israel to Co-develop Hi-tech Weapon Systems

India and Israel now plan to further crank up their already expansive defence partnership by going in more co-development and co-production projects of high-tech weapon systems and exporting them to other friendly countries.
A new sub-group to promote such joint projects, under the overarching joint working group on defence cooperation headed by Indian defence secretary and his Israeli counterpart, was set up.
The main focus of the sub-working group (SWG) on defence industrial cooperation will be on transfer of technology, co-development and co-production, technology security, Artificial Intelligence, innovation and joint export to third countries.
Israel has been among the top four arms suppliers to India for almost two decades now, notching military sales worth around $1 billion every year. With the Indian defence industry now also becoming stronger, the need was felt for the two countries to establish more R&D, co-development and co-production projects.
Israel is a world leader in missiles, sensors, cyber-security and various defence sub-systems. The SWG will be headed by Sanjay Jaju, joint secretary (defence industries production) in the Indian defence ministry and Eyal Calif, director Asia & Pacific from the Israeli one.
This comes at a time when the Indian armed forces are inducting the next-generation Barak-8 surface-to-air missile systems under three joint DRDO-Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) projects worth over Rs. 30,000 crore.

Sep 26, 2020

India-Japan Maritime Bilateral Exercise- JIMEX 2020 Commences

The fourth edition of India-Japan Maritime bilateral exercise (JIMEX) began in North Arabian Sea from September 26, 2020. It will be conducted for three days. In the light of COVID-19 restrictions, the exercise is being conducted in a 'non-contact at-sea-only format' this year.
JIMEX 2020 will showcase high degree of inter-operability and joint operational skills.
The Navies will conduct several advanced exercises, across the spectrum of maritime operations.
The two navies will conduct a multi-faceted tactical exercises that will involve weapon firings, cross deck helicopter operations, anti-submarine and air warfare drills.
The exercise was commenced in 2012. It is conducted biennially between the Indian Navy and Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF). It emphasizes on maritime security cooperation. The last edition of JIMEX was conducted in October 2018 along the Visakhapatnam coast.

Czechs Republic to Acquire Israeli Air Defense System

The Czech Republic wants to buy a new air defense system for its military from the Israeli government.
The Czechs want to acquire the SPYDER system, which is made by the Israeli state-run company Rafael Advanced Defence Systems Limited and is capable of providing protection against aircraft, helicopters, bombers, cruise missiles and other weapons.
It would replace an obsolete ant-aircraft Soviet-era 2K12 KUB system to defend military and civilian centers such as industrial hubs, nuclear power plants, airports and other important facilities.
The Czech military had analysed nine systems from seven producers before deciding on the Israeli one.
The defence ministry expects a deal worth some USD 430 million to be signed early in 2021 with the delivery two years later.

Sep 25, 2020

Indigenously Developed Nuclear Capable Prithvi-II Missile Testfired from ITR

India conducted a successful night testfire of its indigenously developed nuclear capable surface-to-surface Prithvi-II missile as part of a user trial by the Army from a base in Odisha.
The state-of-the-art missile was testfired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur near here in darkness and the trial was successful in meeting all the parameters, they said. The trial of the missile, which has a strike range of 350 km, was carried out from a mobile launcher from launch complex-3 of the ITR.
The missile was randomly chosen from the production stock and the entire launch activity was carried out by Strategic Force Command (SFC) of the Army and monitored by scientists of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) as part of the training exercise.
The downrange teams on board a ship deployed near the designated impact point in the Bay of Bengal monitored the terminal events and splashdown.
The last night time testfire of Prithvi-II was conducted successfully from the ITR on November 20, 2019.
Prithvi-II is capable of carrying 500 to 1,000 kg of warheads and is powered by liquid propulsion twin engines, thewarheads and is powered by liquid propulsion twin engines, the sources said. The state-of-the-art missile uses an advanced inertial guidance system with maneuvering trajectory to hit its target, they said.Already inducted into the armoury of the defence forces in 2003, nine-metre long 'Prithvi' was the first missile to have been developed by DRDO under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP).

First Female Army Pilots Trained by Chinese PLA Ground Force to Graduate in 2021

The Chinese People's Liberation Army Ground Force said that first 10 female flight students trained by the PLA Ground Force would graduate and join operational units in 2021.
The statement added that the female trainees were selected in 2017 from high school graduates across the country as part of a recruitment drive launched to recruit women for flight training. These female trainees are currently studying at the PLA Ground Force Aviation Institute.

Sep 24, 2020

Shivangi Singh, Commissioned in 2017, to be First Rafale Woman Fighter Pilot

From the country's oldest fighter jets to the newest, Flight Lieutenant Shivangi Singh is getting set to graduate to flying the omni-role Rafale after becoming fully-operational on the ageing MiG-21 'Bison'.
Flt. Lt. Singh, who hails from Varanasi, will formally join the 17 'Golden Arrows' Squadron of the 4.5-generation Rafales at the Ambala airbase after she finishes her "conversion training", which is required when a combat pilot switches from one fighter to another.
But it should be a breeze for Flt Lt Singh after flying the highly-demanding and ageing MiG-21s, which have virtually the highest landing and take-off speed in the world at 340 kmph.
Flt. Lt. Singh, who studied at the Banaras Hindu University, was among the second batch of women fighter pilots who were commissioned in 2017. IAF currently has 10 women fighter pilots, who have undergone the arduous training to fly supersonic jets. It takes around Rs 15 crore to train a single fighter pilot.

Kazakhstan Proposes Global Agency to Control Threat of Biological Weapons

Central Asia's biggest state Kazakhstan has proposed to establish a special multilateral body – the International Agency for Biological Safety to control threat of biological weapons. It has further proposed to establish a food reserves initiative to meet global food security.
These proposals were put forward by Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev while addressing UNGA.
According to the Kazakh President, the greatest challenge remains the coronavirus pandemic, which is causing deep suffering among the people around the world and has seriously affected the global economy.

Sep 23, 2020

Indian and Australian Navies to Undertake Two-day PASSEX Exercises

The Indian and the Australian navies will undertake Passage Exercise or PASSEX exercises on September 23-24 in the Indian Ocean. From the Indian side, Indian Naval Ships Sahyadri and Karmuk will be present and Australia will be represented by HMAS Hobart.
Australia is the third country, since June, with which India will conduct the exercises. The first was with US Navy's USS Nimitz and the second was the Russian Navy.
India and Australia in the last few months have increased cooperation, especially defence engagement. An Indian Navy statement said, the exercises, "reflect the growing strength of Indo-Australian bilateral relations as comprehensive strategic partners, particularly in defence cooperation in the maritime domain.

Successful Test of ABHYAS Flight

In a major boost for Indian armed forces, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) conducted the successful flight test of ABHYAS--High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT). The flight test was done from the Interim Test Range, Balasore in Odisha.
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh called the the successful flight test of ABHYAS a milestone and said that ABHYAS can be used as a target for evaluation of various missile systems.
ABHYAS is designed and developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), DRDO and it is launched using twin underslung booster.

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