Defence Current Affairs And Updates 4 November 2020

Hemanth Kasturi
November 4, 2020
792

Indian Coast Guard ship C-452 commissioned yesterday

Rajan Bargotra, Additional Director General (Western Seaboard), commissioned Indian Coast Guard’s (ICG) ship C-452 through video conference in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra on Tuesday.
The ship was indigenously designed and built by Larsen & Toubro, Surat complying with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of “Make in India” and “Atmanirbhar Bharat”.
“India Coast Guard ship C-452, indigenously designed and built by M/s L&T #Surat in lines with PM’s vision @makeinindia and #AatmaNirbharBharat, will be commissioned through video conference today #Ratnagiri by ADG Rajan Bargotra, CGC (WS),” ICG tweeted.
Earlier in May, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had commissioned Indian Coast Guard Ship (ICGS) Sachet and two interceptor boats (IBs) C-450 and C-451 in Goa. The ICGS Sachet, the first in the series of five offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) has been designed and built indigenously by Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) and is fitted with state-of-the-art navigation and communication equipment.

China creates world’s largest aerial launch missile, may pose threat to India, US

China made the world’s largest anti-ship ballistic missile to be launched from air into the sea, could pose a major threat to the Indian and US navies, capable of hitting up to 3000 km, the nuclear warhead can also carry Peaching.
China has put the world’s largest air-launch missile into service amid mounting tensions from India and the United States. China has deployed this missile on its H-6N strategic bomber. Recently, this Chinese aircraft was seen flying with the aerial launch version of the hypersonic anti-ship ballistic missile. Such missiles are only supplied by US and Russian forces, except China.

The US intelligence agency already knew

Since 2017, the US intelligence agency has reported that China manufactures two types of air-launched ballistic missiles. From this, the first missile that was seen recently, the United States named it CH-AS-X-13. The missile was first reported by Ankit Panda, Senior Fellow of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in April 2018.

How powerful is this missile

This anti-ship ballistic missile is powered by a two-stage engine, using solid fuel. Which has an operational range of about 3000 km. It is also claimed that the missile is capable of carrying nuclear warheads with it. This missile is also called the aerial launch variant of the DF-21D. The DF-21D missile is over 9 meters long and can reach 2,000 kilometres. Therefore, this missile can be launched from the ground.

China’s H-6N strategic bomber is dangerous

According to The Drive report, the Chinese H-6N aircraft is extremely dangerous and designed to carry fast drones to anti-ship missiles. The aircraft is also capable of firing cruise missiles. It is an improved version of the modern Chinese H-6K bomber plane. The H-6K is based on the Soviet Union’s Tu-16 bomber aircraft. China is currently building hypersonic airborne missiles for its H-6N aircraft. China recently demonstrated a massive DF-17 missile during its military parade. There is very little information on the effectiveness of this missile. However, China certainly wants to tell the world that it has a fully active hypersonic missile.

India doesn’t even have this technology

India also lacks the technology to launch anti-ship ballistic missiles from the air. However, DRDO is working on the construction of such a missile. Which can be launched from the air. So far India has been able to acquire the technology to fire the BrahMos cruise missile from its Sukhoi-30 MKI. Because ballistic missiles are heavier and longer than cruise. In such a situation, they also need a long plane to get started.

Is able to target aircraft carriers

Experts who oversee China’s defense programs said the missile was developed primarily to target U.S. aircraft carriers. Apart from that, it is also capable of targeting any warship at sea. In such a situation, this Chinese missile risks threatening the US Navy. The greatest characteristic of such a missile is that it leaves the enemy the least time to react. By launching the land and sea variant of the ballistic missile, the enemy obtains information.

Defense experts differ on missiles

Many defense experts call it the naval version of the Chinese DF-21D missile. While this missile looks like China’s DF-17 because its front part looks like a hypersonic gliding vehicle (HGV). No official information has ever been shared by China on this missile.

DF-17 missile can hit up to 2,500 km

The Chinese DF-17 missile can penetrate its target at hypersonic speeds of up to 2,500 km. The missile was first presented last year to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of China. The missile, which weighs 15,000 kg and is 11 meters long, can carry nuclear warheads in addition to conventional explosives. Simply put, this missile is also capable of nuclear attacks.

DCNS visits Army HQ Southern Command

Vice Admiral M S Pawar, DCNS visited HQ Southern Command and interacted with Lt Gen C P Mohanty, GOC-in-C Southern Command to discuss joint man ship and integration issues between Army and Navy.

Construction of over 7,700 bunkers completed along LoC, International border in Jammu division

The Jammu and Kashmir government has completed the construction of 7,777 bunkers along the Line of Control (LoC) and the International border (IB) in five districts of Jammu region, officials said on Tuesday. This was conveyed to Divisional Commissioner of Jammu Sanjeev Verma during a meeting with deputy commissioners of border districts held via video-conferencing to review the progress of construction of individual and community bunkers along the border in Jammu division.
In December 2017, the Centre sanctioned 14,460 individual and community bunkers for border residents facing Pakistani shelling along the LoC and the IB.
A total of 7,777 bunkers have been completed so far in the (Jammu) division — 6,839 individual bunkers and 938 community bunkers. The work on 334 other bunkers is on and are at different stages of construction. He said 1,569 bunkers have been completed in Samba, 1,161 in Jammu district, 1,519 in Kathua, 2,603 in Rajouri, and 925 in Poonch.
While three districts of Jammu, Samba and Kathua share borders with Pakistan along the IB, Rajouri and Poonch districts, along with a part of Jammu district, share borders with Pakistan along the LoC.
The divisional commissioner reviewed the stock position of construction material (steel and cement) and directed the deputy commissioners to closely monitor the construction work. He also directed the executing agencies to expedite the pace of work and adhere to fixed timelines.
Verma also asked the deputy commissioners to set weekly and monthly targets for completion of work on bunkers and share completion plans.
The meeting had threadbare discussion on various issues and resolved many bottlenecks which are hampering the work progress, the spokesman said.

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