Defence Current Affairs And Updates 24 December 2020

Maiden Launch of MRSAM Army Version Successful

Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MRSAM) Army Version was launched from Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, off the Coast of Odisha at about 1600 hrs.
The missile destroyed the high speed unmanned aerial target which was mimicking an aircraft with a direct hit.
A contract for the MRSAM programme was signed in February 2009. The IAF will buy 450 MRSAMs and 18 firing units at a value of more than $2bn.
The IAF ordered one MRSAM regiment including 16 firing units and associated fire control systems and surveillance systems.
IAI and DRDO conducted three flight tests of the MRSAM weapon system at the Integrated Test Range off Odisha Coast, India, in July 2016, to validate all missile components. The missile successfully intercepted a moving aerial target in all the three tests.
MRSAM/LRSAM were exhibited by IAI at the Aero India 2017 held in February 2017. IAI received approximately $2bn contract for providing advanced MRSAMs for the Indian Army in April 2017. It will also supply additional LRSAMs for the Indian Navy.
In January 2019, IAI entered a $93m agreement with the Indian Navy and Cochin Shipyard for providing Naval MRSAM. It will mainly offer maintenance and other services for various MSRAM sub-systems.

Indian Army signed MoU with Bank of Baroda for new ‘Baroda Military Salary Package’

Indian Army and Bank of Baroda have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for ‘Baroda Military Salary Package’.
The MoU was signed by Lt Gen Ravin Khosla, DG(MP&PS) and Shri Vikramaditya Singh Khichi, Executive Director, Bank of Baroda in presence of Lt Gen Harsha Gupta, Adjutant General, Indian Army who also chaired the meeting.
The MoU lays down the basis on which banking services would be provided by Bank of Baroda to serving and retired personnel of Indian Army.
Services under ‘Baroda Military Salary Package’ will be offered to serving and retired personnel of Indian Army through the Bank’s network of over 8,200 domestic branches and around 20,000 business correspondent touchpoints.
The package offers incredibly attractive benefits including free Personal Accidental Insurance cover, Permanent Total Disability cover, Partial disability Cover and Air Accident Insurance Cover of sizeable amounts, as well as Higher Education Cover and Girl Child Marriage Cover on death in case of serving personnel.
Other offerings under the package include unlimited free ATM transactions at all bank ATMs, waivers or concessions on various service charges in retail loans, free remittance facility through RTGS/NEFT, free Demand Draft/Banker’s Cheque, substantial discount in locker rentals, and various additional benefits in usage of Cards.

Army chief inspects defences around Rechin La in Ladakh occupied by Indian Army

Army Chief undertook on the spot inspection of the state of habitat of troops.
He also visited forward base Tara and interacted with the local commanders and troops.

Odisha Ministers, Legislators Witness Naval Operations During ‘Day-At-Sea’

A total of 90 MLAs, one MP along with officials from the State and District administration embarked four major combatant ships of the Eastern Fleet under the command of Rear Admiral Sanjay Vatsayan, the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet.
The event was organised by the Eastern Naval Command (ENC) as part of the Fifty Glorious Years of victory of the 1971 Indo-Pak War.

22 December – 2^nd Anniversary of Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR)

Vision: Strengthening maritime security by building a common coherent maritime situation picture and acting as a maritime information hub for the region.
Location: Navy’s Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC) in Gurugram. It is the single point centre linking all the coastal radar chains to generate a seamless real-time picture of the nearly 7,500-km coastline.
Through this Centre, information on “white shipping”, or commercial shipping, will be exchanged with countries in the region to improve maritime domain awareness in the Indian Ocean.
The centre is actively interacting with the maritime community and has already built linkages with 18 countries and 15 multinational/maritime security centres.

Operation Tantray Pora launched and was successful

Under the orders of Army Northern Command, a joint search operation was launched on the night of 21st December 2020 based on Jammu & Kashmir Police inputs. Cordon was laid. On spot interrogation confirmed presence of two local terrorists in a house. Cordon was readjusted.

Japan sets record $52 billion military budget with stealth jets, long-range missiles

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s government approved a ninth consecutive rise in military spending on Monday, funding the development of an advanced stealth fighter and longer-range anti-ship missile to counter China’s growing military power.
The Ministry of Defense will get a record 5.34 trillion yen ($51.7 billion) for the year starting in April, up 1.1% from this year. With Suga’s large majority in parliament, enactment of the budget is all but certain.
Suga is continuing the controversial military expansion pursued by his predecessor, Shinzo Abe, to give Japan’s forces new planes, missiles and aircraft carriers with greater range and potency against potential foes including neighbouring China.

India, Japan discuss free sea routes

India and Japan has reaffirmed their strong opposition to any attempts to unilaterally change the status quo in the region by coercion and have agreed to work together for a free and open maritime order based on the rule of law.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh called his newly-appointed Japanese counterpart Kishi Nobuo and expressed satisfaction at the ongoing defence cooperation between the two countries in spite of the limitations imposed by Covid-19, officials said.
The two ministers exchanged views on security situation in the region and reviewed progress on various bilateral defence cooperation initiatives.
“The two ministers also exchanged views on regional situations, including the East China Sea and the South China Sea, and reaffirmed their continued close cooperation,” said a Japanese government release.

QUICK REVIEW

ANSWER: A

Which state’s MLAs have recently witnessed the naval operations during ‘Day-At-Sea’?
Punjab
Andhra Pradesh
Haryana
Odisha

ANSWER: D

Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) works under Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC) which is located in
Ambala
Gurugram
Bangalore
Hyderabad

ANSWER: B