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DRDO successfully tests New Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System


The Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) successfully conducted proof firing tests of Armament system for 155 mm x 52 calibre New Advanced Towed Artillery Artillery Gun System (ATAGS). 
•    The tests were conducted as part of technical trials at Proof & Experimental Establishment (PXE) in Balasore, Odisha. 
•    ATAGS is fully indigenously built towed artillery gun system undertaken in mission mode by DRDO as a part of artillery modernisation programme of Indian Army. 
•    Pune based Armament Research & Development Establishment (ARDE) is the nodal laboratory of DRDO for design and development of ATAGS along with collaboration of other DRDO laboratories. 
•    The Armament system of ATAGS mainly comprises a barrel, muzzle brake, breech mechanism and recoil mechanism to fire 155 mm calibre ammunitions.
•    It has a longer firing range of 40 Kms with accuracy and precision and provides greater fire power. It is also has night firing capability in direct fire mode. 
•    ATAGS has been configured with all electric drive in order to ensure maintenance free and reliable operation over a longer period of time.

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Indian Warships visit Port Kelang, Malaysia

In a demonstration of India’s ‘Act East’ policy and Indian Navy’s increasing footprint and operational reach, Indian Naval Ships Sahyadri, Shakti and Kirch under the Command of the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet, Rear Admiral S V Bhokare, YSM, NM have arrived at Port Kelang today 15 Jul 16 on a four day visit, as part of deployment of the Eastern Fleet to the South China Sea and Western Pacific. 
•    During the visit, the IN ships will have professional interaction with the Royal Malaysian Navy towards further enhancing co-operation between the two forces. 
•    In addition, calls on senior Government and military authorities, sporting and cultural interactions and sharing of best practices, aimed at strengthening ties and mutual understanding between the two Navies, are also planned. 
•    The visiting IN ships are also likely to conduct exercises with the Royal Malaysian Navy, aimed at enhancing interoperability in communication as well as Search and Rescue procedures, post departure from Port Kelang.
•    Bilateral relations between India and Malaysia are characterised by strong bonds of friendship based on cultural, religious and economic ties between South India and the Malay Peninsula over two millennia. 
•    Economic and commercial relations are the mainstay of India-Malaysia relationship. Malaysia is the third largest trading partner of India from ASEAN. India-Malaysia defence ties dates back to the colonial days when troops of Madras Native Infantry served in Malacca, Singapore and Penang. 
•    Currently, there is considerable naval cooperation between the two countries bolstered by regular reciprocal port visits, high-level delegations and training exchanges. 
•    The Indian Navy has been a regular participant at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA) in Malaysia. The last visit by an IN ship Malaysia was in May 2015, when Saryu berthed at Penang.

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Operation Sankat Mochan launched to evacuate Indians in South Sudan

Union Government on 13 July 2016 started the operation 'Sankat Mochan' to evacuate its citizens stranded in South Sudan's capital Juba. 
•    Two C-17 military transport aircrafts have been pressed in service to make the evacuation.
•    The operation being undertaken by Indian Air Force (IAF) will be headed by Minister of State for External Affairs General (Retd.) VK Singh.
•    The Indian Ambassador in South Sudan Srikumar Menon and his team is organising this operation on the ground. 
•    Indian Embassy in Juba in an advisory had communicated that all the stranded Indian citizens should get in touch immediately with the embassy to avail the facility.
•    The evacuation flight route will be Juba-Kampala-Trivandrum- Delhi. Passengers willing to de-board at Trivandrum will be allowed to do so.
•    V.K.Singh is leading the operation.

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Indian Navy at New Delhi celebrated its 75th anniversary (Platinum Jubilee) on 13 July

INS India, the base depot ship at New Delhi, celebrated its 75th anniversary today (13th July 2016 ). 
•    Established as HMIS India in 1941 it was rechristened as INS India on 26 Jan 1950. 
•    The Base Depot ship (stone ship in naval parlance) has the privilege of being the Flagship of the Chief of the Naval Staff. 
•    Started as small unit with a complement of just a handful of officers and sailors, INS India is now a major establishment in New Delhi with a plethora of duties and responsibilities. 
•    In addition, the establishment provides administrative and logistics cover to all officers and sailors borne in Naval Headquarters and other units at Delhi.
•    As a run up to celebrate this grand occasion, a series of events were organised. A Health Run and a Dream Walk was organised on 10 Jul 16 for Naval personnel and their families. 
•    Around 350 runners of various age groups participated in the event with full enthusiasm. Cmde BK Munjal, VSM, Station Commander flagged off the event and motivated people to live a healthy life. 
•    In the evening, traditional Barakhana was organised for sailors and their families, where in children, ladies and personnel put up a patriotic cultural program.  

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Indian Navy has commissioned INS Karna, an independent base of Marine Commandos (MARCOS)

Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba on 12 July 2016 commissioned INS Karna in Vishakhapatnam.
•    INS Karma is a dedicated base for Marine Commandos (MARCOS), which is a Special Operation Forces of Indian Navy.
•    INS Karna is located on the premises of INS Kalinga near Bhimili.
•    Captain Varun Singh will be the Commanding Officer of INS Karna.
•    The Marine Commandos is the Special Forces Unit of the Indian Navy.
•    It was raised in February 1987 as the Indian Marine Special Force (IMSF).
•    It is capable of operating in all three dimensions, at sea, in air and on land.
•    It was created for conducting special operations such as Amphibious warfare, Close Quarter Combat Counter-terrorism, Special reconnaissance, Hostage rescue, Foreign internal defence, etc.
•    The unit is specially organised, trained and equipped for the conduct of special operations in a maritime environment.
•    They are specialised in maritime operations in Jammu and Kashmir through the Jhelum River and Wular Lake.

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Tejas is world's smallest multi-role aircraft, commissioned by Indian Air Force

The first squadron of home-grown Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas was inducted into Indian Air Force (IAF) at the Aircraft System Testing Establishment in Bengaluru on 1 July 2016.  The squadron has been named ‘Flying Daggers’ 45.
•    State-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) handed over the first two Tejas aircraft to the Air Force.
•    The aircraft will be operated for nearly two years by the squadron at Bengaluru before it is moved to its designated location at Sulur near Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu.
•    According to IAF, the idea is to have a total of six aircraft this financial year 2016-17 and about eight in the financial year 2017-18. Tejas will feature in combat plan of the IAF in 2017 and will be deployed in forward bases also.
•    All squadrons of Tejas will have 20 planes in total, including four in reserve. As per the plan, while 20 would be inducted under the Initial Operational Clearance, another 20 will be inducted later with Beyond Visual Range Missile (BVR) and some other features.
•    IAF plans to induct over 80 aircraft with better specifications known as Tejas 1A. The upgraded version of Tejas, with Active Electrically Scanned Array Radar, Unified Electronic Warfare Suite, mid-air refueling capacity and advanced beyond the vision range missiles, will cost between 275 crore and 300 crore rupees.
•    The Light Combat Aircraft Tejas is a supersonic, single-seat, single-engine multirole light fighter aircraft that uses fourth generation technologies.
•    It was co-developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency in cooperation with the Bengaluru-based Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
•    It is built from CFC materials and has unstable aerodynamics 
•    It is equipped with a quadruplex digital fly-by-wire flight control system to ease handling by the pilot
•    It incorporates an advanced glass cockpit that comprises all the round dialed electro-mechanical instruments
•    It is fitted with the coherent pulse-Doppler Multi Mode Radar that is designed to operate equally effectively in the Air to Air and Air to Surface domains.
•    It is fitted with Open Architecture Computer (OAC)
This induction of the two aircrafts in the IAF helped in ending the three decades long wait of induction of a homemade aircraft in forces. India in 1970s conceptualised the idea of having an indigenous fighter aircraft but the actual work on the same was started in 1980s.

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Medium range surface-to-air missile developed by India, Israel successfully test-fired


The Barak-8 missile, as it is called, was co-developed by the Defence Research Development Laboratory (DRDL) of DRDO in partnership with the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).
•    Apart from the missile, the system includes a Multi Functional Surveillance and Threat Alert Radar (MF STAR) for detection, tracking and guidance of the missile.
•    The missile, along with MF—STAR, will provide the users with the capability to neutralise any aerial threats.
•    These missiles will be produced at the Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) in Hyderabad.
•    Along with the long range surface-to-air missile (LR-SAM), it would be inducted in all the three Services once the user’s trials are completed.
•    The LR-SAM was successfully test-fired in Israel and India in November and December 2015 respectively.

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Indian navy inducted anti -submarine torpedo "Varunastra"

Indigenously developed heavyweight torpedo Varunastra was inducted in the Indian Navy on 29 June 2016. It was handed to the Indian Navy by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.With this India joined a select group of eight countries having the capability to design and develop heavyweight torpedoes.
•    The torpedo was designed and developed by Naval Science and Technological Laboratory of the DRDO for the Indian Navy. It carries 95 percent of indigenous content.
•    It weighs around 1.25 tonnes and is capable of carrying about 250 kg of explosives at a speed of around 40 nautical miles an hour.
•    Varunastra, a versatile naval weapon can be fired from the Rajput class destroyers, Delhi class and all future Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) ships capable of firing heavy weight torpedoes.
•    It is capable of targeting quiet and stealthy submarines both in deep and littoral waters even in intense countermeasure atmosphere.
•    Torpedo is a self-propelled weapon with an explosive warhead.
•    It can be launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target.
•    It is designed to detonate either on contact with its target or in proximity to it.
•    The term torpedo was originally employed for a variety of devices, most of which would today be called mines.
•    From about 1900, torpedo has been used strictly to designate an underwater self-propelled weapon.
•    The original torpedo is a kind of fish: an electric ray.Earlier, Torpedo Varunastra was showcased for the first time on the 2016 Republic Day Parade at Rajpath.

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Public sector aerospace and defence major Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has unveiled indigenous Basic Trainer

Aircraft (BTA) HTT-40 in BengaluruPublic sector aerospace Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) on 17 June 2016 unveiled indigenous Basic Trainer Aircraft (BTA) HTT-40 in Bengaluru.
•    The aircraft made its maiden flight at HAL Airport in Bengaluru and was flown by Group Captain C Subramaniam and Group Captain Venugopal for about 10 to 15 minutes.
•    Hindustan Turbo Trainer-40 (HTT-40) is two-seater aircraft designed and developed indigenously by the HAL. 
•    The aircraft weighs about 2800 kg and has Turbo Prop engine of 950 shp class. 
•    Almost 50 percent of the components on HTT-40 are manufactured by private players of the Indian aerospace manufacturers. 
•    The indigenous content on HTT-40 is close to 80 percent.
•    HTT-40 will be used for the first-stage training for all flying cadets of the three services. 
•    The programme aims to achieve its operational clearance by 2018.
•    Moreover, it will be used to meet the current requirement of the Indian Air Force with the provision for role expansion to attach weapons to the trainer aircraft.

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NATO launches biggest ever Joint Military Exercise Anaconda-16 in Poland

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members and partners have launched Anaconda-16 Exercise, the biggest ever joint military exercise in Poland.The drill is part of NATO's exercise program and is being held just weeks before NATO's summit in Warsaw that is expected to decide that significant numbers of NATO troops and equipment will be based in Poland and in the Baltic states.
The exercise was launched at the crucial time when central and eastern European nations are seeking strong security guarantees amid concerns about Russia.
• The exercise is organized and coordinated by Poland's military Operational Command.
• It will involve some 31000 troops from Poland, the US and 17 other NATO member nations and from five partner nations.
• Some 12000 of the troops are from Poland, almost 14000 from the US and some 1000 from Britain.
• Anaconda-16 will run on test ranges across Poland and will be formally closed by officials at a ceremony in Warsaw on June 17. 
• It will train, exercise and integrate Polish command and troops with those of other allied nations in responding to military, chemical and cyber threats on land, sea and in the air.
• Involved will be some 3000 vehicles, 105 airplanes and helicopters, along with 12 Navy ships.
• It includes manoeuvres such as a night-time helicopter assault and the dropping of US paratroopers to build a temporary bridge over the Vistula river.
The Anaconda exercise was first initiated by Poland in 2006 and has gradually grown to include many other NATO members till date.

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