General Awareness

DEFENCE - June 2020

Jun 2020

Jul 25, 2020

Air Marshal Chaudhari to Take Over as Chief of Western Air Command

Air Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari was appointed as the new commander-in-chief of the Indian Air Force's Western Air Command (WAC) which looks after aerial defence of the sensitive Ladakh sector as well as various other parts of north India.
He is set to take charge of the Delhi headquartered command in August, succeeding Air Marshal B. Suresh.

Jul 24, 2020

India to Boost Rafale Capabilities with HAMMER Missiles

With the Rafales arriving in the country in the middle of a dispute with China, the Indian Air Force is further boosting the capabilities of the combat aircraft by equipping it with the HAMMER missiles from France.
The order for the HAMMER standoff missiles with the capability to take out any type of targets at the range of around 60-70 km is being processed under the emergency powers for acquisition given to the armed forces.
In view of the urgent requirement for these missiles by the Air Force, the French authorities would be delivering the systems to India from the existing stock meant for some other customer.
HAMMER (Highly Agile Modular Munition Extended Range) is a medium-range air-to-ground weapon designed and manufactured for the French Air Force and Navy initially.

Jul 23, 2020

India Successfully Test-fires Indigenous Anti-tank Guided Missile Dhruvastra

India successfully conducted three flight tests of its indigenously developed anti-tank guided missile ''Dhruvastra'' from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur in Odisha.
Developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the helicopter-launched anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) is one of the most advanced anti-tank weapons in the world.
All the three developmental trials of the state-of-the-art anti-tank guided missile, carried out in a direct and top attack mode, were successful and the data was being analysed.
It was ground tested from a launcher to evaluate some of its major parameters.
Dhruvastra is the helicopter version of 'Nag Helina' with several new features and meant to be fired from air to destroy enemy bunkers, armoured vehicles and main battle tanks.

Army Gets World's Most Agile and Lightest Surveillance Drone 'Bharat'

Amid the ongoing border dispute between India and China, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) provided its indigenously-developed drone - Bharat - to the Indian Army to conduct accurate surveillance in high altitude areas and mountainous terrain along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh.
The Bharat series of drones, developed by a Chandigarh-based laboratory of the DRDO, can be listed among world's most agile and lightest surveillance drone indigenously developed by the DRDO.
The drone is equipped with artificial intelligence that helps it to detect friends and enemies and take action accordingly.
The drone can survive in extreme cold weather temperature and is being developed further for even harsher weather.
The drone provides real-time video transmission during the entire mission and with very advanced night vision capabilities, it can detect people hidden in deep forests.
The drone has been built in a way that makes it impossible to be detected by Radar.

Jul 21, 2020

Rear Admiral Iqbal New Bangladesh Navy Chief

Rear Admiral Mohammad Shaheen Iqbal, who did his specialisation in anti-submarine warfare from India, was appointed as the next Chief of Bangladesh Navy.
Iqbal, who is currently serving as the assistant navy chief, will succeed Vice Admiral Aurangzeb Chowdhury, who is retiring later this month.
Iqbal will serve as the Chief of Navy Staff for three years till July 2023.

IAF Backs DRDO's VL-SRSAM over the American NASAMS II Air-defence System

According to a report filed by livefistdefence.com, Indian Air Force (IAF) has officially informed Indian Government that it doesn't want to induct American developed NASAMS II (a multi-layered missile defence system), which New Delhi has been negotiating with Washington $1 billion deal for NASAMS II which included Missile packages like AIM-120D and AIM-9X Air-to-Air missiles.
IAF rather preferred to procure local systems like VL-SRSAM (Vertically Launched -Short-range Surface Air to Missile ) System based on Astra beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile which is similar to NASAMS II which DRDO has started developing.
idrw.org has been informed that VL-SRSAM will be developed in two variants for Air Force and Indian Navy. The air force will get high mobility Truck-mounted canister based VL-SRSAM and Navy will get Canister based VL-SRSAM for its front-line warships which will replace aging Israeli supplied Barak-1 Point Defence interceptor missiles which were procured after India ended its Tri-service Trishul SRSAM program in 2006 due to technical issues.

Jul 20, 2020

Rafale Jets Could be Deployed in Ladakh Sector

The Indian Air Force could deploy its new Rafale fighter jets in the Ladakh sector as part of an overarching plan to strengthen India's military posture in the region, where Indian and Chinese forces are locked in a tense border confrontation, and disengagement has turned out to be a challenging process, ahead of a key IAF commanders' meeting this week.
Acting on a special request by the IAF, France is speeding up the deliveries of Rafale fighters and six jets are likely to land in Ambala on July 27 — instead of four that were originally planned. "Air and ground crews have undergone full training, over the last one year in France.

Indian Navy Conducts Naval Exercises in Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Indian Navy conducted major Naval exercise in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands led by Sanjay Vatsayan, Chief Rear Admiral of Eastern naval fleet as a display of strategic intents against China amid the current military conflicts in the Northeastern borders in Ladakh.
The exercise was conducted with warships and aircrafts from the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) and the Eastern Naval Command (ENC) headquartered in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC), is India's only theatre command with all the assets and manpower of the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force.

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