Explore Business Standard
The Indian Navy will commission its second MH-60R helicopter squadron -- INAS 335 (Ospreys) -- on December 17, boosting its aviation capabilities, officials said on Sunday. The advanced weapons, sensors and avionics suite make the helicopter a versatile and capable asset for the Navy, offering enhanced capabilities to address conventional as well as asymmetric threats, they said. Accordingly, the Navy's second MH-60R helicopter squadron -- INAS 335 (Ospreys) -- will be commissioned on December 17 at INS Hansa, Goa, in the presence of Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, a Navy spokesman said. The occasion will mark a pivotal moment in the Navy's continued efforts towards modernisation and capability enhancement, he said. The MH-60R helicopter has been fully integrated with fleet operations and has proven its worth on numerous occasions. The Navy will receive a significant fillip in its integral aviation capabilities with the commissioning of the squadron, the official
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said India is witnessing a paradigm shift in defence manufacturing, from being an import-dependent nation to an emerging producer-exporter. He said the country once lacked a robust system to manufacture arms and equipment domestically, but sustained efforts over the last decade have reversed that situation. "Due to our hard work in the last 10 years, our defence production, which was approximately Rs 46,000 crore in 2014, has now grown to a record Rs 1.51 lakh crore. Our defence exports, which were less than Rs 1,000 crore 10 years ago, have now reached nearly Rs 24,000 crore," Singh said after inaugurating 125 strategically significant infrastructure projects of Border Roads Organisation (BRO) here. Spread across the Union Territories of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir, and seven states including Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Mizoram, these projects -- 28 roads, 93 bridges and four ...
India will continue to consider the terrorists and their supporters alike, and it will respond firmly to terrorism, Chief of Army Staff Gen Upendra Dwivedi said on Monday, in a firm message to Pakistan. In an interactive session, the Army Chief also broadly said that there has been improvement in India's relations with China in the last one year following talks between the leadership of the two countries. On cross-border terrorism from Pakistan, Gen Dwivedi said New Delhi has been following a policy of new normal in dealing with Pakistan, and it will be a challenge for the neighbouring country if it continues to support terror groups targeting India. "India focuses on progress and prosperity. If someone creates obstacles in our course, then we will have to take some action against them," he said. "We have said that talks and terror can't go together; blood and water cannot follow together. We are for a peaceful process, which we will cooperate with. Until then, we will treat ...