Defence Services (Air,Land,Sea) – Page 6

Historic day for India as Cochin Shipyard delivers first Indigenous aircraft carrier to Navy

Scripting history, the Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) handed over India’s first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) to the Indian Navy on Thursday. The aircraft carrier, which was designed by the Navy’s in-house Directorate of Naval Design and built by the CSL, will be christened after INS Vikrant, India’s first aircraft carrier, which played a crucial role in 1971 war against Pakistan. With the delivery of Vikrant, India has joined a select group of nations having the niche capability to indigenously design and build an Aircraft Carrier.

Sources said the vessel will be commissioned and formally inducted into the Indian Navy by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after Independence day. The Navy is planning to make the induction ceremony a mega event to commemorate the 75th anniversary of India’s independence.

The 262 m long aircraft carrier has a full displacement of close to 45,000 tonnes which is much larger and more advanced than her predecessor. The ship is powered by four gas turbines totalling 88 MW power and has a maximum speed of 28 Knots. Built at an overall cost of Rs. 20,000 crores, the IAC has been built in three phases of a contract between the Ministry of Defence and the CSL, concluded in May 2007, December 2014 and October 2019 respectively.

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Pratt and Whitney to set up engineering centre in Bengaluru

To be operational in 2023, facility will be fifth globally

Aircraft engine maker Pratt & Whitney (PW) on Monday said it will set up an engineering centre in Bengaluru, that is slated to commence operations in January 2023.

The centre, which will be its first facility in Asia Pacific and fifth globally, will enable the firm to offer engineering services on contract to its domestic and international customers, a spokesperson said.

PW’s integrated global engineering operations currently has centres in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and Poland.

India’s missile woman Tessy Thomas to receive APJ Award 2022

The selection committee, headed by AP Majeed Khan, Chancellor of Noorul Islam University in association with NINS Medicity, announced the award recently.

Dr Tessy Thomas, Scientist and Director General (Aero Systems) at Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), also known as India’s missile woman, will be awarded APJ Award 2022.

A release said that Noorul Islam Centre for Higher Education at Kumarakovil in Kanniyakumari district and NIMS Medicity have been jointly organising the award since 2019 to recognise government officials who have achieved excellence and achievements in their respective field of work.

Governor of Kerala Arif Mohammad Khan will present the award at a ceremony which will be held at NIMS Medicity, Neyyartinkarai on Tuesday (July 19) at 11 am.

The awardee will be receiving a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh, a certificate of appreciation and a commemorative trophy, the release added. It is to be noted that Tessy Thomas is the first woman scientist to head India’s missile programme.

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France has delivered all 36 Rafale jets to India: French envoy

35 jets have arrived in India, while one remains in France

France has delivered all 36 Rafale fighter jets to India, said the French Envoy in India, Emmanuel Lenain, speaking on the sidelines of the French National Day celebrations on Thursday.

However, while 35 jets have arrived in India, one jet still remains in France, official sources said.

One Rafale jet, which is the instrumented aircraft on which the 13 India specific enhancements (ISE) are being tested, is still in France, an official source said on Friday.

This is also the Rafale built for India and designated RB008. RB stands for former Indian Air Force (IAF) Chief Air Chief Marshal R.K.S. Bhadauria who, as then Deputy Chief of IAF, led the Indian negotiation team and had a major role in the contract negotiations.

The last batch of three Rafale jets had arrived in India in February, taking the total Rafales in inventory of the Indian Air Force to 35. As reported by The Hindu earlier, work on upgrading all the Rafale jets in service to the Indian standard configuration with the 13 ISE is currently underway in India. All ISE have already been qualified and certified.

Breaking new ground in skies! Dad, daughter fly fighter planes in formation

The Indian Air Force has just broken new ground with a father and his daughter flying in formation on a combat proficiency mission.

Air Commodore Sanjay Sharma and Flying Officer Ananya Sharma created the record on May 30, when they flew in the same formation of Hawk-132s at the Air Force Station in Bidar, where Ananya is undergoing training.

IAF spokesperson Wing Commander Ashish Moghe said, “There has not been any previous instance in the IAF where a father and his daughter were part of the same fighter formation for a mission.” Since a very early age, Ananya wanted to be a fighter pilot. But, at that time the stream was not open for women. Whenever she would bug her dad about it, he would reassure, “Don’t worry you will be one.”

“Ananya after getting commissioned as fighter pilot came and saluted me. It made me really proud,” beamed Air Commodore Sharma. “It was the biggest day of my life when I flew with Ananya,” he added in a video put out by the IAF.

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India successfully tests high-speed expendable aerial target ABHYAS

ABHYAS is designed and developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment of DRDO

India on Wednesday successfully flight-tested the indigenously developed high-speed expendable aerial target (HEAT), ABHYAS, from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Chandipur off the Odisha coast, as per a statement.

The performance of the aircraft at low altitude, including sustained level and high maneuverability, was demonstrated during the test flight, it said.

The target aircraft was flown from a ground-based controller in a pre-designated low-altitude flight path, which was monitored by various tracking sensors deployed by the ITR, including radar and an electro-optical targeting system, it added.

ABHYAS is designed and developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The air vehicle was launched using twin under-slung boosters, which provide the initial acceleration to the vehicle. It is powered by a small gas turbine engine to sustain a long endurance flight at high subsonic speed, the statement said.

Battle scars fail to deter Indian Army’s para-rowers from winning medals

Both of them lost their left foot to a landmine during counter-insurgency operations in Nowshera, Jammu. It meant they had to change their respective sports. Narayana K was a canoeist while Kuldeep Singh used to play volleyball before the injuries were sustained.

Both switched to rowing on the advice of Colonel Gaurav Dutta, chairman of the Para-Rowing Commission, Rowing Federation of India (RFI). Since the switch, the army duo has never looked back.

They started with a bronze at the PR3 M2- (men’s coxless pair) at the World Rowing Cup 2 in Poznan, Poland in 2019. They followed it up with another bronze at the Asian Rowing Championships in Chungju, South Korea in the same year in PR3 Mixed4+ with Jyoti and Kritika.

Narayana and Kuldeep returned to Poznan to compete in the 2022 edition of the World Cup and they made sure that they finished on the podium. The duo finished third behind rowers from France and Ukraine in PR3 M2- with the timing of 7:33.35.

Besides, the Indian Men’s Eight (M8+) and Women’s Eight (W8+) also entered Finals A and finished fifth in their respective races.

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Centre clears ‘Agnipath’ scheme for recruitment of youth in armed forces for four years

‘Agniveers’ can apply for regular employment after four years, may get priority for jobs in other govt. departments

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday announced the “Agnipath” scheme, as approved by the Union Cabinet, for recruitment of youth in the armed forces for four years. The process of recruitment will commence in 90 days with a planned intake of about 46,000 young men and women this year. This will be the only form of recruitment of soldiers into the three defence services hereon.

Mr. Singh said the scheme was aimed at strengthening national security and also for providing an opportunity to the youth to serve in the armed forces. Recruits under the scheme will be known as “Agniveers”. After completing their four-year service, they can apply for regular employment in the armed forces. They may be given priority over others for various jobs in other government departments.

Defence ties: India hands over 12 guard boats to Vietnam

On Wednesday, Singh and his Vietnamese counterpart, Gen. Phan Van Giang, agreed for early finalisation of the $ 500 million Defence Line of Credit extended to Vietnam.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday handed over 12 high-speed guard boats to Vietnam during his visit to Hong Ha Shipyard in Hai Phong. The boats have been constructed under the India’s $ 100 million Defence Line of Credit to Vietnam.

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India and Vietnam sign mutual logistics agreement

The defence minister and his Vietnam counterpart General Phan Van Giang signed a joint vision statement

India and Vietnam on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on mutual logistics support in presence of the two Defence Ministers during the ongoing visit of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to the Southeast Asian nation.

“In these times of increasing cooperative engagements between the defence forces of the two countries, this is a major step towards simplifying procedures for mutually beneficial logistic support and is the first such major agreement which Vietnam has signed with any country,” the statement said on the logistics agreement.

India has signed several logistics agreements including all Quad countries, France, Singapore and South Korea beginning with the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement with the U.S. in 2016.