Defence Current Affairs And Updates 9 December 2020

08 December – Raising Day of Army Service Corps Indian Army celebrated the 260th Corps Day of the Army Service Corps on Tuesday, 08 December 2020. The day was marked...

Hemanth Kasturi
December 9, 2020
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08 December – Raising Day of Army Service Corps

Indian Army celebrated the 260th Corps Day of the Army Service Corps on Tuesday, 08 December 2020. The day was marked by Lt Gen MKS Yadav, Director General Supplies & Transport and Senior Colonel Commandant laying wreath at National War Memorial, Delhi along with similar events at various ASC establishments across the country.
To commemorate this occasion, a 260-kilometre Ultra Run, themed ‘Run for Martyrs’ was organised from War Memorial, Chandimandir to National War Memorial, Delhi from 04 to 08 December 2020. The thirteen-member team led by Lt Col Inderjit Singh covered the distance in four days to promote the spirit of “Fit India Movement”. The run, which was flagged off by Lt Gen RP Singh, Army Commander Western Command paid homage to our fallen heroes at various War Memorials enroute at Ambala, Kunjpura and Motilal Nehru Sports School, Rai before they were flagging in by the Director General Supplies &Transport on 08 December 2020 at the National War Memorial.

COAS visits UAE and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

General MM Naravane, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) has proceeded on a visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 09 to 14 December 2020. During the visit, he will be meeting his counterparts and senior military leadership of these countries. The visit is historic in the sense that it will be the first time an Indian Army Chief is visiting the UAE and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The Army Chief is visiting the UAE from 09 to 10 December 2020. He is scheduled call on senior military officials where he will discuss avenues for enhancing India-UAE defence relations.
The Army Chief will then travel to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the second leg of his tour from 13 to 14 December 2020. He will take forward the excellent defence cooperation between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and India through multiple meetings with senior functionaries of security establishment and exchange views on various defence related issues.
The Army Chief will visit the Headquarters of Royal Saudi Land Force, the Joint Force Command Headquarters and King Abdul Aziz Military Academy. The COAS is also scheduled to visit the National Defence University and address the students and faculty at the institution.

Webinar with Brazil on Defence Industry Global Outreach for Collaborative Partnership and Expo held

A webinar between India and Brazil was held today. The Theme of webinar was “Indian Defence Industry Global Outreach for Collaborative Partnership: Webinar and Expo”. It was organized under the aegis of Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence through SIDM.
This webinar which is the first being organized with the South American Country is a part of the series of webinars which are being organized with friendly foreign countries in order to boost defence exports and achieve defence export target of $5 billion in the next five years.
High Commissioners of both the countries, Secretary SEPROD Brazil and senior MoD officials from both side participated in the webinar and spoke about multifaceted relationship and strategic partnership between two countries. Shri Anurag Bajpai, Joint Secretary DIP / (P&C), Ministry of Defence, Govt. of India stated that broad-based bilateral defence cooperation is important in enhancing the strategic partnership. Further he mentioned that partnership between industries of both the countries through Joint Ventures, Co-Development and Collaboration in sharing advanced technologies will be a win-win situation for both the nations to achieve their objective of self-reliance in Defence. The new year 2021 appears promising for India – Brazil defence cooperation as many MoUs and JVs are likely to show results.
Indian companies Tata Aerospace and Defence, SSS Springs, SMPP, MKU Ltd, MDL, Mahindra Defence Systems, L&T, Jindal Steel, HAL, GSL, BEL and Ashok Leyland made company and product presentations on major platforms.
From Brazilian industries ATECH, CBC, DGS Defence and PINETREE made company presentations.
The webinar was attended by more than 150 delegates and more than 100 virtual exhibition stalls from Indian companies were setup in the Expo.

China dispatches warplanes, troops for Pak drill at base close to India border

China has dispatched fighter aircraft and troops to a Pakistani air base close to the Gujarat border to take part in the latest edition of a bilateral military exercise, Chinese military announced on Monday, saying the air force drill was aimed at improving “actual combat training” of the two forces.
“The Chinese air force’s troops set off on December 7 for the Pakistani Air Force’s air base in Bholari at Thatta District in Sindh, northeast of Pakistan’s Karachi to participate in the China-Pakistan Joint Air Force Exercise Shaheen (Eagle) – IX’”, a statement from the People’s Liberation Army said.
The latest edition of the drill will take place in the backdrop of the ongoing India-China border friction along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.
The brief Chinese statement on Shaheen-IX did not give details of the deployment of PLA Air Force (PLAAF) for the exercise with Pakistan but said it will conclude late December.
“The joint air force exercise, which will conclude in late December, is a project within the 2020 cooperation plan of the two militaries,” it said.
“It will promote the development of China-Pakistan mil-to-mil

relationships, deepen practical cooperation between the two air forces and improve the actual-combat training level of the two sides,” the statement added.

The last edition of the Shaheen drill, which was held in China’s Xinjiang in September 2019, was the largest with nearly 50 warplanes from the two countries taking part in it.
The PLAAF is said to have deployed fighter jets close to the LAC with India.
A state media report last week said a large number of Chinese fighter aircraft recently conducted a series of intensive exercises around a Western Theatre Command – which oversees China’s disputed border with India — Air Force base, which is located at an important strategic point in Northwest China.
“The drills honed and demonstrated the Chinese military’s capability to safeguard the country’s western air defence border,” the state media report added.
Pakistan air force’s Bholari airbase was inaugurated in December 2017.
Calling the Bholari project of “strategic significance,” then Pakistan air force chief, Sohail Aman had said: “Indeed, PAF Base Bholari is a project of strategic significance for capacity enhancement of Pakistan Air Force in operational domain both overland as well as at sea”.
Aman was quoted by Pakistani media as saying at the inauguration that the Bholari base would also augment and supplement the very important maritime operations carried out by Pak Navy besides playing a “key role in safeguarding the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.”
In the last edition of the Shaheen exercise held in Xinjiang close to the LAC, dozens of fighter aircraft from the two countries had taken part in mock battles, the PLA Air Force statement had then said.
The state media had called the 2019 Shaheen edition as “unprecedented”.

Navy to receive SMASH innovative Fire Control Systems from Israeli – Based Smart Shooter company

Israeli-based Smart Shooter company has announced that it was awarded a contract by the Indian Ministry of Defence for the supply of its SMASH Fire Control Systems to the Indian Navy.
According to a company news release, the contract award from the Indian Navy enables the company to supply the new sighting device, called the SMASH 2000 Plus, attaches to the weapon and locks on then fires to neutralize its target with or without movement.
The contract calls for the supply of Smart Shooter’s SMASH 2000 Plus fire control systems, which will be installed mainly on AK-47/103 rifles.
As noted by the company, Smart Shooter’s SMASH 2000 Plus fully complies with the Indian needs and shall significantly improve soldiers’ accuracy and speed of hitting targets and shooting down threats, hence dramatically increasing each soldier’s confidence in any combat scenario and maximizing operational effectiveness.
SMASH is a combat-proven Fire Control solution that ensures each round finds its target. With a unique “One Shot – One Hit” capability, SMASH allows the operator to neutralize any ground or airborne target quickly and effectively, manned or unmanned.
SMASH 2000 Plus includes the SMASH fire control solution’s full feature set, with an additional advanced Counter-UAS mode which provides accurate Hard Kill capability against drones or any static or moving ground targets.
Designed to give soldiers a decisive tactical edge in almost every operational scenario, SMASH 2000 Plus is ideal for border security, bases and strategic facilities protection.

Passing Out Parades on 12^th December 2020

Indian Military Academy, Dehra Dun, POP Live Coverage at 0900 hours.
Officers’ Training Academy, Gaya, POP Live Coverage at 0730 hours.
Cadets’ Training Wing, MCEME, Secunderabad, POP Live Coverage at 0730 hours.
Cadets’ Training Wing, College of Military Engineering, Pune, POP Live at 0730 hrs.

QUICK REVIEW

On 8 December 1967 the first colours of the Army Service Corps were presented by which President?
Zakir Husain Khan
Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam
Dr. S Radhakrishnan
V V Giri

ANSWER: A