91 Young Parachute Regiment Soldiers Successfully Completed Training

• 91 Young Parachute Regiment Soldier Recruits were attested after the successful completion of their training at Parachute Regiment Training Centre, Bangalore yesterday i.e. on 30^th August 2020.
• Parachute Regiment consists of PARA and PARA (SF) Battalions, which are the elite volunteer force of Indian Army. The Regiment has the honour of being conferred the ‘Bravest of the Brave’ distinction.

India not to participate in multilateral war game in Russia next month

• India has decided to withdraw from a multilateral war game in Russia next month, government sources said on Saturday, a week after New Delhi had confirmed its participation in the exercise that is also expected to be attended by the Chinese and Pakistani troops.
• Last week India had conveyed to Russia that it will participate in the strategic command-post exercise to be held in the Astrakhan region in southern Russia from September 15 to 26.
• Though no reason has been cited officially about India reversing its decision, people familiar with the development said that China’s participation in the exercise was a major factor behind the review.
• “A decision has been taken to not participate in the exercise,” said a source.
• It is learnt that the decision was taken following deliberations between the top brass of the military and the ministry of external affairs.
• Indian and Chinese troops have been engaged in a bitter standoff in several areas along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh for over three-and-half months. Both the countries are holding talks at military and diplomatic levels to resolve the dispute.
• Around 20 countries including all member-nations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) including China and Pakistan are expected to participate in the Kavkaz exercise.
• India’s reconsideration on its participation in the military drill comes ahead of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s scheduled visit to Russia next week to attend a crucial meeting of the SCO.
• The SCO defence ministers’ meeting is expected to deliberate on regional security scenario and geo-strategic developments.
• India had earlier planned to send around 150 Indian Army troops, 45 Indian Air Force personnel and a number of Navy officers to the multilateral military exercise.
• Russia has been a major partner of India in the defence sector and the cooperation has been steadily growing further.
• In June, a tri-services contingent from India participated at the Victory Day Parade at the iconic Red Square in Moscow to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in the Second World War. A contingent from China had also attended it.
• Both India and China are members of the SCO, an influential regional grouping.
• The SCO, seen as a counterweight to NATO, has emerged as one of the largest transregional international organisations which accounts for almost 44 per cent of the world population stretching from the Arctic Ocean to the Indian Ocean and from the Pacific Ocean to the Baltic Sea.

US to hold high-level talks with Australia, Japan and India

• The United States plans high-level talks with “Quad” security partners from India, Australia and Japan in September and October, President Donald Trump’s national security adviser said on Friday, while criticizing “very aggressive” behaviour by China.
• Robert O’Brien told the Atlantic Council think tank he would likely meet his opposite numbers from those countries in Hawaii in October, while secretary of state Mike Pompeo would meet his counterparts from the so-called Quad in September and October.
• O’Brien said the United States had an “amazing amount of stake” in the India-Pacific region.
• “It’s really the engine of the world economy going forward and America’s going to play a big role there. One of the ways that we can do that is providing for a safe and secure Indo-Pacific through our defense partnerships and our diplomatic partnerships with our allies,” he said.
• O’Brien said the Quad relationship, which has been denounced by China, was coming into its own and likely to pay huge dividends.
• “We’re seeing a very assertive, a very aggressive China and the United States is not going to back down from its long-held principles that the world’s ocean ways and international waters should be free for navigation, and the same with space and with air rights and international airspace,” he said.
• US-China tension has risen in the run-up to the US election in November and the countries’ military forces have stepped up activities in the Indo-Pacific region.
• On Thursday, the Pentagon expressed concern about China’s recent military exercises, including the firing of medium-range ballistic missiles in the South China Sea.
• China criticized a U.S. warship operation near the Paracel Islands, which China claims, along with most of the sea.
• The Quad engagement was revived in 2017 to deepen security cooperation and coordinate alternatives for regional infrastructure financing offered by China.

China building missile sites near Doklam, Naku La ‘clash zones’, satellite images show

• China has been developing two air defence positions that will cover the 2017 Doklam stand-off area and also Naku La in Sikkim, which witnessed a clash between Indian and Chinese soldiers this year, new satellite imagery suggested Friday. The Chinese efforts to build air defence positions on the eastern section of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) come even as tensions with India continue in the western sector in Ladakh.
• Information about the Chinese air defence positions came to light as a prominent Twitter handle that consistently posts satellite imagery — @Detresfa_ — made a fresh post Friday. Putting out the images as part of a joint study with Sim Tack of the geopolitical intelligence platform Stratfor, @Detresfa_ said the location is near the China, Bhutan and India tri-junction at Doklam, where New Delhi and Beijing were locked in an-over-two-month stand-off in 2017.
• The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) air defence infrastructure, the user added, is being constructed roughly 50 km from the 2017 stand-off site, and the location of the May 2020 scuffles.
• The user said the positions, identified by @Detresfa_ and Tack as “surface-to-air missile sites”, will close the existing air defence gaps around the clash zones.
• It is pertinent to note that India has been regularly flying surveillance missions in this area to keep an eye on Chinese activities, both in Doklam and in the Northeast.

‘Pressure tactic’

• Even though India and China had disengaged in Doklam in 2017 after a 73-day stand-off, the PLA continues to dominate the areas it had crossed into.
• China has been pressuring Bhutan to strike a deal on the Doklam boundary dispute, under which Beijing wants the Chinese holding line in the contentious region to become the working boundary between the two.
• The Chinese have also continued with their construction activities on their side of the LAC in the western sector as well even though there has been no forward movement in disengagement talks since July. According to sources in the security and defence establishment, the construction is meant to provide back-up for the thousands of troops China has moved forward near Ladakh, and also into the Indian side, and may also be a possible pressure tactic.
• China’s withdrawal in July from near the Y Junction in the Galwan Valley, which is on the Indian side, is seen more as a fallout of the Galwan river’s rising water level, which made their stay untenable, rather than any sincere effort to disengage, sources had told earlier.

IAF to formally induct Rafale jets on September 10

• The Indian Air Force (IAF) will formally induct Rafale fighters at the Ambala air base on September 10 in presence of defence minister Rajnath Singh, officials familiar with the matter said on Friday. India has also invited Singh’s French counterpart, Florence Parly, to attend the ceremony, they added.
• Five Rafale fighters of the 36 ordered arrived at the airbase on July 29, ending IAF’s wait for new fighter jets to sharpen its combat potential.
• IAF chief Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria and other senior air force officers were present when the jets arrived, but a formal induction ceremony was reserved for another day.
• The arrival of the jets coincided with the ongoing India-China border tensions in Ladakh. Shortly after they landed last month, the defence minister said the fighters would enhance the IAF’s capabilities and deter any threat to the country. He said those who want to threaten India’s territorial integrity should be worried about the new capability.
• Singh, who had travelled to France last year to formally receive the first fighter jet, showered praises on the multi-role aircraft for its capabilities, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the decision to buy 36 fighter jets.
• The Rafale fighters will significantly enhance IAF’s offensive capabilities and be a game changer with their advanced weaponry, high-tech sensors, superior radar for detection and tracking of targets and ability to carry an impressive payload.
• The jet is capable of carrying out a variety of missions — ground and sea attack, air defence and air superiority, reconnaissance and nuclear strike deterrence.
• “I would like to add, if it is anyone who should be worried about or critical about this new capability of the Indian Air Force, it should be those who want to threaten our territorial integrity,” Rajnath had tweeted and posted in a video of the Rafale jets landing at the Ambala base.
• They are part of the IAF’s 17 Squadron also known as the Golden Arrows. The aircrew that brought them to India was headed by Group Captain Harkirat Singh, a decorated fighter pilot, who is the commanding officer of the squadron.
• The aircraft covered a distance of nearly 8,500 km from France to India. The first stage of the flight covered a distance of 5,800 km from Merignac to Al Dhafra (UAE). The second covered over 2,700 km from Al Dhafra to Ambala.
• The new fighters are the first imported jets to be inducted into the IAF in 23 years after the Russian Sukhoi-30 jets entered service in June 1997.
• The IAF ordered 36 Rafale jets from France as part of a government-to-government deal worth ~59,000 crore in September 2016. They have been specially tailored for IAF.
• The Rafale weaponry includes Meteor beyond visual range air-to-air missiles, Mica multi-mission air-to-air missiles and Scalp deep-strike cruise missiles. The weapons allow fighter pilots to attack air and ground targets from standoff ranges and fill a significant capability gap.

Russian navy conducts major manoeuvres near Alaska involving dozens of ships and aircraft

• The Russian navy conducted major war games near Alaska involving dozens of ships and aircraft, the military said Friday, the biggest such drills in the area since Soviet times.
• Russia’s navy chief, Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov, said that more than 50 warships and about 40 aircraft were taking part in the exercise in the Bering Sea, which involved multiple practice missile launches.
• “We are holding such massive drills there for the first time ever,” Yevmenov said in a statement released by the Russian Defense Ministry.
• It wasn’t immediately clear when the exercises began or if they had finished. Yevmenov emphasized that the war games are part of Russia’s efforts to boost its presence in the Arctic region and protect its resources.
• “We are building up our forces to ensure the economic development of the region,” he said. “We are getting used to the Arctic spaces.”
• The Russian military has rebuilt and expanded numerous facilities across the polar region in recent years, revamping runways and deploying additional air defense assets.
• Russia has prioritised boosting its military presence in the Arctic region, which is believed to hold up to one-quarter of the Earth’s undiscovered oil and gas. Russian President Vladimir Putin has cited estimates that put the value of Arctic mineral riches at USD 30 trillion.
• Russia’s Pacific Fleet, whose assets were taking part in the manoeuvres, said the Omsk nuclear submarine and the Varyag missile cruiser launched cruise missiles at a practice target in the Bering Sea as part of the exercise.
• The manoeuvres also saw Onyx cruise missiles being fired at a practice target in the Gulf of Anadyr from the coast of the Chukchi Peninsula, it added.
• As the exercise was ongoing, US military monitored a Russian submarine surfacing near Alaska on Thursday. US Northern Command spokesman Bill Lewis noted that the Russian military exercise is taking place in international waters, well outside US territory.
• The presence of Russian military assets in the area caused a stir for US commercial fishing vessels in the Bering Sea on Wednesday.
• “We were notified by multiple fishing vessels that were operating out the Bering Sea that they had come across these vessels and were concerned,” US Coast Guard spokesman Kip Wadlow said Thursday.
• The Coast Guard contacted the Alaskan Command at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, which confirmed the ships were there as part of a pre-planned Russian military exercise that was known to some US military officials, he said.
• The Russian military has expanded the number and the scope of its war games in recent years as Russia-West relations have sunk to their lowest level since the Cold War after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, and other crises.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. Parachute Regiment Training Centre is located at:
2. Bengaluru
3. New Delhi
4. Kolkata
5. Ladakh

ANSWER: A

• Around 20 countries including all member-nations of ­­­­_____ (except India), including China and Pakistan are expected to participate in the Kavkaz exercise.
• Shanghai Cooperation Organization
• World Trade Organization
• United Nations Security Council
• North Atlantic Treaty Organization

ANSWER: A

• The 5 Dassault Rafale aircrafts that arrived Ambala Air Base formerly will have their induction ceremony conducted on
• September 10, 2020
• September 11, 2021
• September 12, 2020
• September 13, 2021

ANSWER: A

• Which among the following is not a member of the term “Quad”?
• India
• Australia
• New Zealand
• Japan

ANSWER: C