Indian Military

[PIB] A case under section 120B of the IPC read with sections 3(1) (c) and 5 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923 has been registered on 20.3.2006 against certain dismissed officers of the Indian Navy and Indian Air Force including Lt. (Retd.) Ravi Shankaran in the "Naval War Room Leak" case and presently trial is pending. The accused Lt. (Retd.) Ravi Shankaran is absconding and is outside the country and evading the process of law. His passport has been revoked by Ministry of External Affairs and a red corner notice has also been issued against him on 12.5.2006. An extradition request was sent to the United Kingdom on 14.6.2007 and Head of NCB, International Criminal Police Organisation, London on 19.2.2008.

The Naval War Room leak in 2005 was the only such case in the past 10 years. In order to avoid such situations stringent IT security measures have been put in place in the Directorate of Naval Operations (including the Naval War-room). In addition, the Indian Navy has an elaborate Counter-Intelligence set up to provide cover to all ships/units/establishments.

NEW DELHI: India and the United Kingdom will embark on their annual joint naval exercise 'Konkan' off the coast of Goa starting Saturday keeping the focus on submarine operations including nuclear underwater vessels.
India will field its Shishumar Class INS Shankush HDW submarine and the British will have one of their Trafalgar Class nuclear submarines on show during the week-long exercise, Navy officials said today.
Though India has held a number of joint exercises with other countries where nuclear submarines were involved this would be the first time when the focus would be on operation of submarines, they said.
The exercise will help the Navy to hone its skills in operating nuclear submarines as it is expected to get the Nerpa K 152 nuclear submarine on lease from Russia and is also planning to induct the indigenous INS Arihant submarine in the near future.
During the exercise, the Indian crew will also get to visit on board the British nuclear submarine.
The British vessel will be supported by 'RFA Diligence', a dedicated nuclear submarine support vessel.

London: Britain will stop sharing military information with Russia over Moscow's decision to freeze compliance with the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), a minister said Friday.

The treaty imposes ceilings on the build-up of troops from the Atlantic to the Urals.
"For as long as the Russian Federation fails to fulfill its obligations towards the United Kingdom under the CFE Treaty, we will cease fulfillment of our key obligations towards the Russian Federation," Europe Minister David Lidington said in a written statement to parliament.
The original CFE Treaty was signed in 1990 by 16 NATO countries and six Warsaw Pact members and came into force in 1992.
The treaty set ceilings on five key categories of conventional armaments, including tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, assault helicopters and warplanes.
The CFE Treaty played a crucial stabilizing role during the breakup of the Soviet Union and its satellite states in Eastern Europe.
However, later the document became outdated and irrelevant amid large-scale changes in the military and political environment.

NEW DELHI: Air Marshal D C Kumaria will take over as the new vice-chief of the Indian Air Force succeeding Air Marshal K K Nohwar, who is superannuating on May 31.
In other important change, Air Marshal Arup Raha, who is currently commanding the Allahabad-based Central Air Command and is the likely successor of Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne, will replace Kumaria in the Western Air Command (WAC).
Kumaria, who at present is the Western Air Commander, was commissioned as a fighter pilot on July 2 1973 and is a graduate of Defence Services Staff College (DSSC).
He is a Qualified Weapon Instructor, having undergone the QWI course in the United Kingdom and a Fighter Combat Leader, who also served as a Directing Staff at the Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment (TACDE).
Kumaria has held many important Field and Staff appointments in his career. He has been Assistant Advisor (Air) at the Indian High Commission in Dhaka and has served as Defence Attache at the Indian Embassy in Italy with concurrent accreditation to the Iberian countries.