Army to acquire eight landing attack craft for operations in creek areas

The Indian Army has initiated the process to acquire eight landing attack craft for carrying out search and rescue operations in the creek areas and river basins in different parts of the country, said the army officials.

The Army wants the crafts to be able to come in and out of water bodies without using a jetty. It is also moving ahead with a plan to buy six fast patrol boats under the Make in India in Defence programme, the officials added.

Meanwhile, the Indian Army is planning to start a dialogue series named the Chanakya Defence Dialogue.As per sources, the curtain raiser of the event is planned for October 25 or 26, where Chief of Army Staff General Manoj Pande is likely to participate in a talk.

The first edition of the dialogue series is tentatively scheduled for the first or second week of November.Officials said that it will be a regular forum that will aim to get together the finest minds across the global defence and strategic arena under one roof, forging a nexus where insights will spark and philosophies will intertwine.

The Army is collaborating with the prominent think tank, Centre for Land and Warfare Studies (CLAWS), for the conduct of this event.

It will be a congregation of participants from a vast array of nations, including Australia, France, Japan, and the US.It will be a two-day gathering of eminent speakers, military strategists, ambassadors, and leading thinkers from the realms of defence and strategic affairs. It will deliberate on the wide range of security challenges and strategies in the pivotal regions of South Asia and the Indo-Pacific.

This will be a pioneering effort by the Indian Army to amalgamate wisdom, strategy, and expertise, reflecting on themes like Neighbourhood Forces, the decisive Indo-Pacific frontier, and the palpable impact of emerging technologies on defence and security.