Indian Navy approaches defence ministry for Predator drone acquisition
The Indian Navy is set to approach the defence ministry for the acquisition of 30 Predator armed drones from the US for the three services to counter the challenge posed by Chinese Wing Loong II drone with precision strike capabilities. The Chinese weaponized drone has been acquired by Pakistan and has plans to jointly produce the same with parent manufacturer Chengdu Aircraft Corporation.
The Indian Navy, which has been designated as lead by both
Army and Air Force in the acquisition of MQ-9 drones, has asked the Defence
Ministry for early convening of Defence Procurement Board meeting get the
project.
The Navy and the other two services are most satisfied with
the performance of the two unarmed Predator drones on lease from the US as it
has developed maritime domain awareness. The Indian Navy, Army and Air Force
will get 10 MQ-9 Predator drones each, fitted with guided bombs and Hell-Fire
missiles.
The proposal for lease is pending with the Defence Ministry,
the upgradation work has already begun to meet the challenge posed by the
People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on-going deployment in East Ladakh as well as in
the Xinjiang region across Karakoram Pass.
Indian Navy’s Hydrographic Survey Ship Sandhayak
Decommissioned After 40 Years of Service
After having served the Indian Navy for two decades, finally
INS Sandhayak will was relieved of her service on Friday. Built by Garden Reach
Shipbuilders & Engineers and commissioned into the Indian Navy’s Eastern
naval Command at Visakhapatnam in 2001,
INS Sandhayak (J18) is the lead ship of its class.
She is the Indian Navy’s fifth hydrographic survey ship in
that series which was indigenously designed and constructed with her wide range
of surveying equipment she was able to meet the ISO 9002 digital survey
standards.
A hydrographic survey vessel of displacement 1929 long tons,
she is 87.8 metre long and 12.8 metre wide. Operating at the design draft of
3.3 metre, she could hit decent speeds of 16 knots. At a speed of 10 knots, she
has a range of about 26000 km. She is home to 18 officers and 160 enlisted
crew. She has a 40 mm Bofors gun for self defence and also has a deck helipad
for HAL Chetak. She is also equipped with four survey motor boats and two small
boats. She is powered by two diesel engines.
She is also equipped with ROV, AUV and USVs to carry out
surveys.
Using these systems, she carried out hydrographic surveys,
nautical chart preparation, with cartography and training. In 2013, she updated
the charts of the islands of Andaman & Nicobar island after the drastic
hydrological changes post 2004 tsunami.
She was also successful in detecting the beacon signals and
locating the missing Dornier 228 aircraft. Her survey in 2016 off the coast of
Rameshwaram helped find a new seaway that allows larger ships to traverse the
narrow
DAC also approves Air Defence guns and ammunition for Army
worth Rs 6,000 crore
There was a long pending need of the Indian Army for
modernisation of its Air Defence guns. These had been earlier procured only
from foreign sources. With the continued thrust of Ministry of Defence towards
‘ÁtmaNirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Make in India’, an enthusiastic response from about a
dozen Indian companies was received.
All of them have expressed their willingness and commitment
to manufacture this complex gun system and associated equipment by ensuring
technology assimilation in India.
Accordingly, the DAC accorded approval of procurement of Air
Defence Guns and Ammunition at an approx. cost of Rs 6,000 crore under the Buy
& Make (Indian) category.
Further to better equip the Armed Forces to meet the
operational challenges and facilitate faster induction of required arms and
ammunition, the DAC extended the timelines for progressing urgent Capital
Acquisitions under the delegated powers to the Armed Forces up to August 31,
2021.
This will enable the Armed Forces to complete their emergent
and critical acquisitions.
Indian Army To Get Six Heron Drones From Israel On Lease For
Deployment In Ladakh
The Indian Army, which is locked in a standoff with China’s
People’s Liberation Army in eastern Ladakh, could soon get six Heron Medium
Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) on lease from
Israel.
The multi-role drones, which has a mission endurance of around 30 hours and a range of over 1,000 kilometer, will be deployed along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to monitor Chinese activities in areas along the frontier.
The platform can perform various strategic missions,
including intelligence gathering, surveillance, target acquisition and
reconnaissance. It is equipped with Satellite Communications for Beyond Line of
Sight ranges.
Indian Army and the Indian Air Force already operate a large
fleet of Heron drones, which are currently being upgraded with the latest
systems, including new communication links. As the existing fleet of Heron
drones lacks satellite communication links, two of these drones are launched
with a time gap to ensure that surveillance data collected by the first one is
relayed back to base through the second drone in case of long-range missions.
This is the first time the Indian Army will be leasing a
platform. The development comes just months after the new Defence Acquisition
Procedure was unveiled by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in September 2020.
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