The French defense company MBDA is planning to display a wide range of weapons systems from its product line at DefExpo, including the Mistral VSHORAD, the Mistral ATAM for the Indian Army’s Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv Mk IV WSI (Weapons System Integrated), as well as their PARS 3 LR anti-tank guided missile system, which is also being considered for the Dhruv.
Your correspondent was invited to visit an army aviation squadron in Jammu and Kashmir, to get a first hand feel of their functioning. Take a look at the operating routine of the 202 Army Aviation Squadron (UH), which operates the Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH).
Asked if he would indeed resign, Singh retorted: “Please leave it to my judgement on what I want to do. It concerns me and I may decide on my action after thinking over it whenever I get the time.” Soon, another question popped up: Is this your last Army Day press conference as army chief? General Singh’s enigmatic reply: “I don’t know.”
“What happened at that time, we have a report of that. It has been made available to authorities. I don’t think there was an inquiry carried out at that time. Because in all such encounters, it is left to the civil police to investigate,” Singh said when asked about the controversy involving Lieutenant General Bikram Singh, present Eastern Army Commander.
“The procurement game is a version of snakes and ladders where there is no ladder but only snakes, and if the snakes bite you somewhere, the whole thing comes back to zero,” Singh said.
In the background of these challenges and the defence ministry’s inaction on a decision to blacklist the Singapore-based company, the OFB mandate should not become an excuse for lack of movement on the procurement of artillery by the army. Already, the ministry has been reported to have indicated it cannot move on the procurement as the matter is sub judice. At the same time, it has not decided the issue either, as is evident from the observations of the court. This has held up the acquisition of crucial types of artillery again, after the multiple cancellation of tenders since the Bofors buy.
In a clarification issued here after it was reported that Former Punjab chief minister, Amarinder Singh had favored correcting the birth records of the army chief in a letter to letter he wrote to Defense Minister Arackaparambil Kurian Antony, the state Congress president said he had written the letter about a month ago putting forth his “opinion on the issue” only in his “personal capacity”.
The complaint’s 90-day mandatory period for a response ended a month ago, but Antony has maintained that he was not bound by the Army Act under which the statutory plea had been made by General Singh.
The fourth round of ADD, held after nearly two years, was led by India’s Defense Secretary Shashikant Sharma and Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Deputy Chief of General Staff General Ma Xiaotian. The two sides also discussed defense exchanges for 2012 and agreed to “gradually enhance” the range and scope of their interaction, according to Indian defense ministry officials.
Army to Supreme Court: Promotions for women officers whose services were restored on the court’s direction under consideration. The women officers, discharged from their service in 2009 when they were due to be promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, are now, upon the restoration of their service, working under the officers who were junior to them.
Lieutenant General Shri Krishna Singh, the Indian Army’s second senior-most officer, Tuesday took over as the new vice chief, heralding a generational change in the top brass. He is the first officer commissioned after India’s 1971 war with Pakistan to rise to the post.
India’s cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Olympian gold medalist shooter Abhinav Bindra Tuesday officially became honorary Lieutenant Colonels in the Territorial Army with the army chief, General Vijay Kumar Singh, pipping their ranks on their shoulders.
Defense Minister Arackaparambil Kurian Antony Tuesday left for Japan on a daylong visit where he is expected to explore opportunities for furthering the bilateral military relations in global and regional security matters, maritime security, anti-piracy operations, counter-terrorism and humanitarian assistance.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday warned that nuclear security and proliferation in India’s neighborhood remained “a serious threat” and called for the country’s policy-makers to factor in the deterioration in the international strategic and political environment while drawing up India’s future policies.
These plans are now being validated in combat exercises, including the one happening in the Rajasthan desert, according to the army chief, General Vijay Kumar Singh.
