Page 7 - Defence Ministry

Andhra CM Naidu meets Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in Delhi today

The meeting comes ahead of the much-awaited full budget of the central government for 2024-25

India logs all-time high defence production value at over Rs 1.26 trillion

According to an official press release by the defence ministry, 79.2 per cent of the production was undertaken by the DPSUs and the other PSUs while 20.8 per cent by the private players

Five soldiers including JCO swept away while crossing river in Ladakh

Five soldiers of the Army are feared drowned after they were swept away while crossing a river in a T-72 tank near the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Nyoma-Chushul area in Ladakh early Saturday, officials said. They said the incident occurred near Mandir Morh, 148 kilometres from here, during an exercise around 1 am. The T-72 tank with five soldiers on board sank due to flash floods while they were crossing the river, the officials said. A rescue operation has been launched. Further details are awaited.

Indian Navy bids farewell to UH-3H helicopter after 17 years of service

The Indian Navy on Friday bid adieu to UH-3H helicopter -- a versatile platform that has played a crucial role in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations -- after 17 years of glorious service, officials said. The de-induction ceremony was held at INS Dega, Visakhapatnam. The event was presided by Vice Admiral Sameer Saxena, Chief of Staff, Eastern Naval Command. Veteran officers and sailors of the UH3H squadron graced the event with families reminiscing the yeoman service of the helicopter. The UH-3H helicopter will be replaced by Sea King 42C helicopter at INAS 350 to continue and deliver operational power and capability, a spokesperson of the Navy said in a statement. The de-induction ceremony of UH-3H helicopter marks the end of a remarkable era that introduced innovative capabilities in special operations and search and rescue (SAR) missions, the officials said. The operational role of the UH-3H in the constantly evolving and dynamic maritime environment will .

Budget 2024: How can India achieve Rs 3 trillion defence production goal?

Centre has set annual defence production target of Rs 3 trillion by FY29, which would be an over three-fold jump from current levels

'Enormous damage': China probing two ex-defence ministers at the same time

In the first time in its history, the People's Republic of China has made public corruption probes against two former defence ministers on the same day

MoD approves survey to expand Pune airport's runway to boost int'l ops

The Pune airport is a defence airport wherein commercial aircraft operations are allowed at certain periods of time under the management of the AAI

India, US release fact sheet on MQ-9B deal, co-production initiatives

The drone deal is part of the broader efforts to strengthen defence ties between the United States and India

Restoration of road connectivity to North Sikkim underway, says BRO

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) on Saturday said it has mobilised huge manpower and machinery to restore road connectivity to North Sikkim. At least six people have been killed as landslides and heavy rain impacted the Himalayan state severely, damaging properties and disrupting road connectivity, power and food supplies and mobile networks in several areas. Multiple landslides at various stretches, including Dikchu-Sanklang-Toong, Mangan-Sanklang, Singtham-Rangrang and Rangrang-Toong, besides collapse of the vital Sanklang suspension bridge, resulted in the severing of connectivity to North Sikkim, leaving around 1,200-1,500 tourists stranded. "The BRO under Project SWASTIK has swung into restoration efforts by mobilising huge manpower and machinery to restore connectivity to North Sikkim at the earliest," it said in a statement. Heavy earth-moving equipment has been deployed on the Dikchu-Sanklang-Toong Road to restore connectivity, with 10 km of road already being cleared fr

Rajnath Singh takes charge as defence minister; MoD's 100-day plan on track

Welfare of serving and retired soldiers and increased self-reliance in producing weapons and defence systems to be major focus areas of the Ministry of Defence's 100-day action plan

Army again promotes counter-insurgency specialist as chief of staff

Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi will take over as the next chief of army staff on June 30, 2024, continuing the trend of promoting counter-insurgency specialists in the Indian Army

Rajnath is gearing up to deal with Agnipath, reform of theatre command

Under the previous Modi government, Rajnath Singh had assumed the office of the defence minister in June 2019. Prior to that, Singh had been the minister of home affairs since May 2014

MoD inks MoUs with 4 banks to onboard them as 'SPARSH' service centres

The Defence Accounts Department (DAD) of the Ministry of Defence has signed MoUs with four banks to onboard them as SPARSH service centres across 1,128 branches of these banks in the country, officials said. The System for Pension Administration (RAKSHA) or SPARSH is a web-based system for processing pension claims and crediting the pension directly into the bank accounts of defence pensioners without any external intermediary. DAD has signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with the Bank of India, Canara Bank, Central Bank of India and Utkarsh Small Finance Bank in New Delhi to onboard them as SPARSH service centres across 1,128 branches of the four banks, the defence ministry said in a statement. The MoUs will provide last-mile connectivity to pensioners, especially in remote areas where they do not have the technical wherewithal to log on to SPARSH. These service centres will become an interface for pensioners for SPARSH, providing an effective medium to update their profile;

India-France negotiations for Rs 50k-cr 26 navy Rafales to start next week

France had submitted its response to India's tender for buying 26 Rafale Marine jets for the Indian Navy's aircraft carriers - INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya in December itself

Defence ministry tightens control on exports, increases equipment oversight

Governments of countries purchasing arms must declare that they will not send the defence exports from India to any other country

India would have progressed much faster with safer borders: Ajit Doval

India would have progressed at a much faster pace if its borders had been more secure, defined and not in "adversarial dispossession", National Security Advisor Ajit Doval said, underlining that the country's power has grown immensely in the last 10 years. Delivering the Rustamji Memorial Lecture organised by the Border Security Force (BSF) on its 21st investiture ceremony, Doval said India's economic progress would have been much faster if "we had more secure borders". "In the foreseeable future, I don't think our borders are going to be as secure as we will require for our fast economic growth. So, the responsibility on border guarding forces has become very, very heavy. They have got to remain on alert 24X7 in perpetuity. They have got to see that our national interests and country are protected," he said. Borders are important because that is the limit which "defines our sovereignty", he said. "Jameen par jo kabja hai wo apna hai, baki to sab adalat aur kachehri ka kaam hai, us

'Misleading': Defence ministry on reports of Chinook Chopper model missing

The defence ministry on Saturday trashed reports that a model of a Chinook chopper installed by the DRDO at the 2020 edition of DefExpo went missing. Defence Ministry spokesperson A Bharat Bhushan Babu said the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) never installed any helicopter model in Lucknow. "The news circulating about a DRDO installed Chinook Helicopter Model at Lucknow during DefExpo 2020 missing is misleading," he said in a brief statement. "Chinook is made by Boeing and DRDO has never installed any helicopter model at Lucknow anytime. DefExpo2020 was an incident-free exhibition and no product or model went missing during its conduct," Babu said. The DRDO also described the reports as "misleading". "There is news circulating that DRDO had installed Chinook helicopter model at Lucknow during DefExpo 2020 and model is now missing," it said on 'X'. "This information is misleading as DRDO has never installed any Helicopter Model at Lucknow anytime," it ...

Indian Army ammo imports down significantly due to indigenisation: Official

Senior defence officials said the rise of the private sector industry in the field of ammunition has helped the force in a big way to achieve this

Indian Coast Guard detains Iranian fishing vessel with 6 Indian crew

The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has detained an Iranian fishing vessel with six Indian crew off the coast of Kerala, the defence ministry said on Monday. The vessel was detained on Sunday following a swift "sea-air" coordinated operation by the ICG, it said. The ministry said the crew alleged that the "Iranian sponsor" of the vessel ill-treated and deprived them of basic living conditions and confiscated their passports. Initial investigation revealed that the owner of the boat was an Iranian national who had contracted the Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu, it said. "The Indian Coast Guard detained an Iranian fishing vessel, with six Indian crew, west of Beypore off the coast of Kerala late on May 5. The swift sea-air coordinated operation involved the ships and aircraft of the ICG," the ministry said in a statement. "After intercepting the boat, an ICG team boarded the vessel and thoroughly investigated it to check the involvement of any anti-national activity," it said. "Initial .

India flight tests missile-assisted torpedo release system off Odisha coast

India on Wednesday successfully flight tested the supersonic missile-assisted release of torpedo (SMART) system from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the Odisha coast, a defence official said. The system was launched around 8.30 am from the ground mobile launcher. Several state-of-the-art mechanisms such as symmetric separation, ejection and velocity control have been validated in this test, the defence official said. SMART is a next-generation missile-based light-weight torpedo delivery system, designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to enhance the anti-submarine warfare capability of the Indian Navy far beyond the conventional range of lightweight torpedo, he added.