Tuesday, 21 September 2010
Written by Editor
New Delhi — The Indian Navy is currently participating in a trilateral naval exercise as part of the India-Brazil-South Africa Maritime (IBSAMAR 2010) exercise being conducted in the Indian Ocean region off Durban. IBSAMAR is conceptualised by the Joint Work Group for Defence, which is one of 16 Joint Working Groups of the three nations looking into various cooperation initiatives.
This second edition of the IBSAMAR is a two-week nautical exercise which will conclude on September 27th. IBSAMAR is being held around the South African coast and there would be visits to Durban, Cape Town, Simon’s Town and Port Elizabeth as part of the nautical exercise. This maritime exercise involves 11 ships of the navies of South Africa, which is the host country, India which is the lead country and Brazil which is the support country. Four warships including a destroyer and two frigates from the Indian Navy’s Western Fleet are participating in the biennial India-Brazil-South Africa Maritime (IBSAMAR) exercise.
Saturday, 01 October 2011
Written by Editor
AMMAN: Syrian security forces shot dead three protesters calling for the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad and clashes continued in the centre of the country between insurgents and loyalist forces, activists said.
Government troops have been battling opponents including army defectors and gunmen in the town of Rastan in the first prolonged armed confrontation since protests erupted against Assad six months ago.
The state news agency said seven soldiers and police were killed in the operation against "terrorists" in Rastan and another 32 were wounded, adding that the army had "inflicted big losses on the armed terrorist groups".
Activists reported attacks on army roadblocks in the nearby town of Talbiseh and said clashes continued in Rastan, prompting defiant calls at demonstrations where tens of thousands of people marched against Assad.
"Rastan is the bastion of free men, despite you, Bashar," proclaimed a sign carried by protesters in the northern province of Idlib.
Sunday, 13 November 2011
Written by Editor
NEW DELHI: With India and China resuming their bilateral military exchanges four months ago, the two nations are planning to revive their joint military exercise in 2012.
The planning for the exercise will be done at the next round of annual defence consultative talks that the two sides will hold in mid-December when they will also chalk out their bilateral exchanges and interactions, a top Indian Army official told IANS here.
The dates and the scope of the joint exercise will be chalked out during the talks, which are essentially to finalise their year-long bilateral programmes, he said.
If this exercise comes through, sometime late next year, it will be the first such in four years. It will also be the third such war game since the first bilateral exercise in Kunming in China in December 2007.
The second 'Hand-in-Hand' exercise, as war gaming is called by the two sides, was held at Belgaum in Karnataka in December 2008.
Since then, the joint exercise could not take place, first due to celebrations for the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China in October 2009 and second due to the suspension of bilateral exchanges by India after Lt Gen BS Jaswal, its then Northern Army Commander of troops in Jammu and Kashmir, was denied visa by China in mid-2010.
Friday, 13 April 2012
Written by Editor
MUMBAI: Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar today appeared critical of Army chief VK Singh over his allegation that he was offered bribe to clear a defence deal.
"When it is a matter of bribe, the onus on the person making the charge is to disclose it the same day and not wait for one-and-a half years," he told reporters here tonight.
The former defence minister was asked about Gen Singh's complaint he was offered a bribe of Rs 14 crore by a retired officer to clear a tranche of "sub-standard" vehicles. The CBI has registered a preliminary enquiry in this regard.
On the army chief's views on availability of critical ammunition for the armed forces, Pawar said, "I don't believe there ever was a situation when in the country's security was compromised."
Pawar expressed his displeasure over the timing of the General's observations. "The revelations came on a day when top leaders of China, Brazil, South Africa and Russia were in the national capital (for BRICS summit).
Thursday, 30 September 2010
Written by Editor
Indian Defence Online, New Delhi — After a spate of scrapped tenders and trials for the Indian Army’s artillery gun, defence public sector undertaking Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) has announced that it is ready with the indigenous 155mm, 52-calibre wheeled gun.
BEML has been made the nodal processing agency and the Indian government has permitted BEML to invite global tenders for the 155mm guns and the proposed contract for over 1,000 guns, besides other ranges of artillery guns including Howitzers. The estimated worth of these contracts is 20,000 crore.
The Indian Army has been desperately short of artillery firepower and a long-range state-of-the-art gun has been due for two decades since the Bofors gun controversy in the 1980s. The Indian Army’s 180-odd artillery gun regiments, each having 18 guns, have not received any new weaponry since the Bofors gun was bought in the late 1980s.
The selection of a suitable 155 mm, 52-calibre towed howitzer to fill this gap began only in 2002, when the Defence Ministry began evaluating three guns from BAE Systems, Israeli firm Soltam and Denel of South Africa.
Sunday, 05 December 2010
Written by Editor
TEHRAN: Iran said Sunday it has produced a first batch of uranium yellowcake, the raw material for enrichment, insisting the new step "strengthens" its position in upcoming talks with world powers on its controversial nuclear programme.
Atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi said that having previously been obliged to import yellowcake from abroad, Iran was now "self-sufficient" in the entire nuclear fuel cycle.
"The West had counted on the possibility of us being in trouble over raw material but today we had the first batch of yellowcake from Gachin mine sent to Isfahan (conversion) facility," Salehi said on state television.
Conversion is the process by which yellowcake is turned into uranium hexafluoride (UF6) for enrichment.
Analysts believe Iran has nearly exhausted 600 tonnes of yellowcake acquired from South Africa in the 1970s before the Islamic revolution, triggering speculation that a lack of raw material might halt its nuclear programme.
Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Written by Blood Wizard
[Agence France-Presse] New Delhi: India, which has built a supersonic cruise missile jointly with Russia, is holding talks with at least four countries to sell the weapons system, a senior Indian official said on Tuesday. {ln:brahmos-supersonic-cruise-missile 'BrahMos} Aerospace, a 50:50 tie-up with Russia, needs the approval of both governments to export the weapon which its makers claim is the world's fastest cruise missile, each costing up to three million dollars.
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