Defence Current Affairs And Updates 12 – 13 January 2021

Hemanth Kasturi
January 13, 2021
1435

Indian Navy to Coordinate SEA VIGIL 21

This is the second edition of the biennial pan-India coastal defence exercise.
It will be conducted from 12 to 13 January 2021.
It will be undertaken along the entire 7516 km coastline and Exclusive Economic Zone of India and will involve all the 13 coastal States and Union Territories along with other maritime stakeholders, including the fishing and coastal communities.
The exercise is being coordinated by the Indian Navy.
The entire coastal security set up was reorganised after the 26/11 Terror attack at Mumbai which was launched via the sea route.
The exercise is a build up towards the major Theatre level exercise TROPEX [Theatre-level Readiness Operational Exercise] which Indian Navy conducts every two years.
SEA VIGIL and TROPEX together will cover the entire spectrum of maritime security challenges, including transition from peace to conflict.
Assets of the Indian Navy, Coast Guard, Customs and other maritime agencies will participate in SEA VIGIL, the conduct of which is also being facilitated by the Ministries of Defence, Home Affairs, Shipping, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Fisheries, Customs, State Governments and other agencies of Centre/ State.

Webinar on Atal Tunnel inaugurated by Raksha Mantri

Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh Inaugurates Webinar on Atal Tunnel.
Border Roads Organisation organized a Webinar on Atal Tunnel on 11 January, to disseminate the experiences gained on this tunnel, for the benefit of IITs, NITs and other technical institutions.
Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh appreciated BRO engineers for building this engineering marvel despite many technical challenges amid COVID-19 restrictions.
Length of tunnel is 9.020 km
Inaugurating the Atal Tunnel, Rohtang on 3 Oct 2020, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi had suggested that such a compendium be brought out for the benefit of students and professionals of Engineering institutes.
This Webinar will enhance knowledge of all the faculty members and aspiring students, especially of final term students in tackling future challenges in tunnel construction.
The government has given high priority to the development of border areas and BRO deployed 67% of its workforce in Northern borders.

91st K9 Vajra-T Gun flagged off by Gujarat CM

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has flagged off the 91st K9 VAJRA-T Gun from L&T’s armoured system complex at Hazira.
L&T Defence is currently producing K9 VAJRA-T 155mm/52 calibre tracked, self-propelled Howitzer Guns under the largest contract awarded to an Indian Private Company by the Ministry of Defence through global competitive bidding.
As a part of Make-in-India mission, the company established a greenfield manufacturing cum integration cum testing facility armoured systems complex (ASC) at Hazira near Surat.
K9 VAJRA-T systems are being delivered with more than 80 per cent indigenous work packages and above 50 per cent indigenisation (by value) at the programme level
The VAJRA variant developed by L&T with India specific features emerged fully compliant to Indian Army’s needs during the arduous and extended field trials.
Larsen & Toubro is an Indian multinational engaged in engineering, procurement and construction projects, manufacturing, defence and services with over USD 21 billion in revenue. It operates in over 30 countries.

Kakrapar Nuclear Plant Unit-3 synchronized to grid

India’s first 700 MWe pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR) was synchronized with grid on 10 January 2021.
Moreover, 15 more such units will follow in fleet mode.
The first 700 MW PHWR, KAPP-3 at Kakrapar achieved criticality (controlled self-sustaining nuclear fission chain reaction for the first time) on 22 July 2020.
Kakrapar also has two PHWRs of 220 MW each. The fourth nuclear power reactor of 700 MW is also coming up.
There will be simulated attacks on vital installations and assets along the coastline. Indian Navy’s Sea Vigil-21: To ensure maritime security and keep the vast coastline safe
The first 700 MW Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor at Kakrapar, Gujarat, KAPP-3 achieved criticality (controlled self-sustaining nuclear fission chain reaction for the first time) on July 22.
True example of indigenous technology developed and built in India with with fifteen more such units to follow in fleet mode. ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.

India Considers Lease Options to Upgrade Army

India’s new defence acquisition programme describes leasing as follows:
A means to own and function (an army) asset without proudly owning the asset
A helpful method to substitute enormous preliminary capital outlays with periodical rental funds.
Consultants see this alteration in coverage as a short-term measure to plug gaps in India’s forces.army upgrades come as a part of the nation’s Defence Procurement Plan, which got here into impact in October 2020.
India’s new defence acquisition programme describes leasing as a “means to own and function (a army) asset without proudly owning the asset,” including that it offers a helpful method “to substitute enormous preliminary capital outlays with periodical rental funds.
India has rented drones and naval weapons from Washington.
the Indian Air Pressure is going through a scarcity of round 200 fighter jets as its present fleet is all the way down to 30 squadrons.
leasing may also help to beat the growing scarcity of fighter plane within the Indian Air Pressure (IAF).

India could boost military assistance to Afghanistan

Talks between the Asian nation’s administration and the Taliban resume in Doha, Qatar.
Afghanistan now actively seeks to forge national as well as international consensus on the Taliban peace talks.
India has played a key role in the restoration of peace and stability in Afghanistan.
New Delhi is believed to have assured Kabul of greater military assistance in times to come as the US begins the process to bring down its troop presence to 2,500 by February, from about 5,000 troops at present.
As Afghanistan now actively seeks to forge national as well as international consensus on the Taliban peace talks, it wants to reassure itself of the support it can seek from some of its “age-old friends” like India.
Jaishankar and Atmar also discussed reduction of violence, the need for the establishment of a meaningful ceasefire, preserving the gains of the past 19 years, addressing issues related to the Afghan refugees in India, and expansion of bilateral cooperation.

ADE Steps into New Decade with Planeloads of Critical Project

The Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) is warming up to undertake a series of missions in the year 2021.
ADE which celebrated its 62nd Raising Day recently has been given the mandate of developing variants of subsonic missiles and unmanned platforms.
ADE scientists are now gearing up for the second test of the Nirbhay variant – the Indigenous Technology Cruise Missile (ITCM).
ADE is also poised to hand over the first Full Mission Simulator (FMS) for Light Combat Aircraft Tejas to the Indian Air Force (IAF).
The missile can be launched from multiple platforms and can carry conventional and nuclear warheads.
It is a two-stage missile powered by Solid rocket motor booster.
It can carry warheads of up to 300kg at a speed of 0.6 to 0.7 Mach (sub-sonic).
It has an operational range of 1000 km (long range).
The Nirbhay cruise missile is an Indian version of the American Tomahawk.

Indigenously developed landing gear systems for UAVs

Retractable landing gear systems for unmanned aerial vehicles, indigenously built by the Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment here, a unit of the DRDO, were handed over to the Navy.
The CVRDE, engaged in design and development of armoured vehicles and combat systems.
The gear systems were developed at CVRDE facility in suburban Avadi.
a one tonne landing gear system to the SWiFT UAV under the Centre’s ‘Atmanirbhar’ programme.
it was an important achievement and extended his congratulations to the CVRDE. Besides the landing gear systems, as many as 18 types of state-of-the-art indigenously developed hydraulic lubrication and fuel filters were also handed over to the Navy at the event.
The filters, also designed and developed at CVRDE, were manufactured with support from industries under the Centre’s ‘Make in India’ initiative while the funding was from the DRDO and the Navy.

The First-Look of ‘Xian’ H-20 Stealth Bomber

The Chinese Air Force (PLAAF) has released its 2021 recruitment video that offers a sneak peek at its next-generation ‘Xian’ H-20 stealth bomber.
the H-20 bombers will carry 10 tons of munitions and have a maximum unrefueled range of around 5,000 miles.
This will enable the bomber to have a substantially greater reach than any variant of the PLAAF’s H-6 bomber, especially if the new bomber is armed with long-range land-attack cruise missiles.
The H-20 aircraft shows a distinct resemblance to the US Air Force’s B-2 Spirit and the future B-21 Raider bomber.
The recruitment video first appeared on YouTube on Tuesday, with a disclaimer saying, “CCTV (China Central Television) is funded in whole or in part by the Chinese government”.
The video titled ‘Dream of Youth’, shows the journey of a single individual, who along with other candidates joins the PLAAF to become a fighter pilot.
The outline suggests that the aircraft has a flying wing with two intakes on the back of the plane, with no visible tail wings and no winglets on the tips of the wings.

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