Daily Defence Current Affairs And Updates 22 December 2022 [DOWNLOAD PDF]

Divyanshu Pandey
December 22, 2022
1,918

Today’s 22nd December 2022 Defence Current Affairs and Updates will show us the latest defence-related news about national and international current events. These current events and questions will be very helpful for your upcoming NDA, CDS, CDS OTA, AFCAT, TA, Agiveer Army, Agniveer Navy, Agniveer Air force, Women Military Police, INET, MNS, ACC exams, SCO, PCSL, CAPF, and SSB interviews, and direct entries for Army, Navy, and Air force like SSC Tech, TGC, JAG, NCC, TES, 10+2 Cadet. Download a PDF file about current events at the end of this article.

Defence Current Affairs 22 December 2022

iDEX-DIO Signs 150^th Contract For Defence Innovation

Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX), the flagship initiative of Department of Defence Production, has reached a milestone with the signing of its 150th contract. The contract relates to an Indian Navy project of the Defence India Start-up Challenge (DISC 7) SPRINT edition. The challenge was titled ‘Expendable Mobile Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Training Target (EMATT) capable of simulating the sound and movement of a submarine’ and the winner was Altair Infrasec Pvt Ltd, Pune.
The Challenge envisaged development of a training target capable of being deployed from P8I aircraft, MH60R helicopters, ships doing speed up to 10 knots and other Remotely Piloted Aircraft without undertaking any modification on the platform from which the EMATT is required to be launched.
The contract was signed by Joint Secretary (Defence Industries Production) & Additional CEO/DIO Shri Anurag Bajpai with CEO, Altair Infrasec Pvt Ltd Shri Anil Anand in the presence of Defence Secretary Shri Giridhar Aramane and other senior civil & military officials of Ministry of Defence in New Delhi on December 21, 2022. The iDEX achieved the milestone within five months of the signing of its 100th contract on July 26, 2022.
In his address, the Defence Secretary elaborated on the conducive environment created due to the initiatives taken by the Government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, wherein new private sector companies are being provided with opportunities to grow and contribute to Nation Building. He expressed hope that more companies would take advantage of this ecosystem and help achieve the vision of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’. He congratulated Altair Infrasec Pvt Ltd and assured the support of Ministry of Defence for the completion of the project.
The iDEX framework was launched by the Prime Minister in 2018 with the objective to provide a platform of co-creation and co-development in the defence sector, engage start-ups and develop defence and aerospace set up in the country. The iDEX is being implemented by Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO), established under Department of Defence Production.
Within a short span of time iDEX, which has also been awarded the prestigious Prime Minister Award for Public Policy in Innovation Category for the year 2021, has emerged as a game changer in the defence eco-system through its flagship programmes like DISC, Prime and Open Challenges (OC). iDEX has been able to build the required momentum and generate a critical mass of start-ups in the defence sector.
Till date, iDEX has received more than 6,500 applications from individual innovators, MSMEs and start-ups under DISC, Prime and OC. It has also been able to generate thousands of jobs and attract India’s talent back to the country.
During DefExpo 2022 held in October, the Prime Minister had launched Mission DefSpace, including DISC 8 to develop innovative solutions for the Armed Forces in the space domain through industry and start-ups. The last date to apply is January 02, 2023.
The iDEX, in association with Tri-Services, DPSUs, MSMEs & start-ups, is striving to develop cutting-edge technology products to make India ‘Aatmanirbhar’ and achieve the export target of USD $5 billion i.e. Rs 40,000 crore with the objective of transforming India into a global defence manufacturing hub in the next 25 years.
The iDEX is working at path-breaking pace to ensure that its agreements with the start-ups and innovators reach logical conclusions timely, eventually opening a myriad of options for the budding soon-to-be-unicorns and at the same time, addressing the requirement of the Services.

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Garud Special Forces Deployed From Ladakh To Arunachal Pradesh Along China Border

Having proven their mettle in the counter-terrorism operations in the Kashmir valley and air base security, the Garud Special Forces of the Indian Air Force have been deployed in high-altitude positions along the China border for specialist operations on the Line of Actual Control since May 2020.
Using their Special Forces in these operations, the Indian Air Force has also equipped them with the latest weapons like the American Sig Sauer assault rifles along with the latest AK-103 whose latest version AK-203 would be produced in the country under the Make India scheme.
The deployment of these troops on the LAC has been there since 2020 soon after the Indian Air Force deployed itself in an aggressive manner to counter the Chinese aggression in the region.
In Garud Regimental Training Centre the new weapons and equipment being provided by the Air Force to its Garud commandos.
“The latest weapons like Sig Sauer, AK-series assault rifles along with the Israeli Tavor rifles and their different variants,” the officials said.
The troops also have the Negev light machine guns along with the Galil sniper rifles which can take out enemy troops from a range of 800-1000 metres.

Pakistani Plans For More J-10CE Might Reduce JF-17 Intakes

Pakistan Air force had plans to procure nearly 250 JF-17 fighter jets to form the backbone of its fleet but with persistent technical issues with the type, PAF is now considering ordering 50+40 J10-CE in multiple batches to balance its budgetary issues that might force them to reduce the intake of JF-17 Block-III.
PAF already has inducted nearly 150 JF-17 with non-upgraded JF-17 Block-1/Block-2s making up a large fleet of the type. PAF is weighting on its options to go for more than 50 J-10CE immediately and 40 at a later stage or procure more than 100 JF-17 Block-III types but this will overshoot its budget and likely JF-17 fleet might be curtailed at 200 units to make space for J-10CE procurement.
PAF has plans to start retiring its F-7P and Mirage III/5s fighter fleet from 2024-25 onwards which will be completely phased out and replaced with a mix of JF-17 Block-III and J-10CE types by 2030. F-7P and Mirage III/5s type make up nearly 200 units and PAF is trying to procure more used F-16s to make up for this downfall in numbers.
Post-2031-35, PAF plans to procure a 5th generation fighter jet either from Turkey or China to replace its legacy F-16 Block-15 MLU that might be nearing its airframe life by then.

India Discusses Opium Poppy Cultivation, Taliban-al-Qaida Relations At UNSC

Indian Ambassador to UN, Ruchira Kamboj, the chair of UNSC’s 1988 sanctions committee, also known as the Taliban Sanctions committee, said, ” In its latest report to the 1988 Committee of May 22, the Monitoring Team noted that 41 United Nations-sanctioned individuals occupied cabinet and senior positions in the Taliban administration. This number is now believed to be over 60.”
She reiterated that the 1988 Committee can, and will, support creation of an environment conducive to forming a peaceful and stable Afghanistan, free of terrorism and drugs.
The Monitoring Team report also reiterated the relations between the Taliban and Al- Qaida. She said the relations remained close and are underscored by the presence, both in Afghanistan and the region, of Al-Qaida core leadership and affiliated groups such as the Al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).
On August 1, the United States had announced that the leader of Al-Qaida was killed in a Kabul compound at the end of July. However, the same has not yet been confirmed by the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
Kamboj also raised concern over further erosion of human rights, including the rights of women and girls, as well as the lack of progress on inclusive governance in the country.
The administration in Kabul remains overwhelmingly Taliban, she said, adding, “Since taking power, concerns have been expressed that the group has reversed policies and gone back on commitments made prior to assuming power.”
On the production of narcotics in Afghanistan, Kamboj said, “Despite a decree issued by Taliban in April, banning the cultivation, use and trafficking of narcotics, including the fanning of opium poppy, UN reported a 32 per cent increase during 2021 in opium cultivation with 2022 opium prices have soared due to cultivation ban announcement.”

Russia Proposes 30% Increase In Size Of Armed Forces

Russian President Vladimir Putin gave his backing on Wednesday to a plan to boost the size of the armed forces by more than 30% as he said Moscow needed to learn from and fix the problems it had suffered in Ukraine.
At an end-of-year conference of Russia’s top military brass, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu proposed beefing up the armed forces to 1.5 million combat personnel from 1.15 million.
Under the current system, Russians aged between 18-27 can be called up for mandatory military service – though Shoigu and Putin have repeatedly said that conscripts are not being sent to fight in Ukraine.
The United States and western military analysts say tens of thousands of Russian soldiers have died in the 10 months since Moscow invaded Ukraine. On Sept. 21 – the last time an official tally was shared publicly – Shoigu said 5,937 Russian soldiers had been killed there.