Cavalier India Defence Training Academy

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has indigenously developed Thermal Imaging and Day Sight equipment to arm the tanks in Indian Army’s inventory with a sharper night vision, ThePrint has learnt. The night vision equipment, to be installed in the T-72 and T-90 tanks, is meant for a clearer night vision even in pitch darkness. It will have a higher range of sight as compared to the existing technology, said a DRDO official. It can be used for both day and night operations, and also boasts of superior image processing features at any given time of the day. Further, it will serve the same purpose on both varieties of tanks, only the mechanics would be different, added the official who didn’t wish to be named. Out of an order of about 1,000 units of the night vision equipment for the T-72 tanks, nearly 300 have already been delivered to the Army, said the official. For these tanks, the equipment will have a 3-km range for tank targets. The night vision equipment being...

Russia's state-run TASS news agency reported on Wednesday that the country has developed a variant of the Oniks supersonic cruise missile with a range of 800km. The Indo-Russian BrahMos cruise missile was developed on the basis of the Oniks. TASS quoted sources from the Research and Production Association of Machine-Building (known as NPO Mashinostroyeniya) that had developed the Oniks-M sea-launched missile. The new weapons can hit both naval and land targets. Tests of the Oniks-M will begin in the coming months. The original Oniks missile is thought to have a range of around 300km and could travel at a speed of over Mach 2.5 (2.5 times the speed of sound). The missile uses a radar seeker and satellite navigation for guidance. TASS reported “The missile is outfitted with the improved control system and will be capable of striking both naval and ground targets with greater accuracy." The new missile also has improved protection against electronic countermeasures that seek to h...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a standing ovation to Donald Trump as the United States president raised the radical Islamic terrorism issue while addressing close to 50,000 Indian-Americans at the 'Howdy, Modi' event in Houston. As Donald Trump said that the United States is "committed to protecting innocent Indian-Americans from the threat of radical Islamic terrorism", the 50,000 Indian-Americans attending the 'Howdy, Modi' and PM Narendra Modi gave him a standing ovation and clapped. Donald Trump joined PM Modi at the mega event as a "special gesture" by him to underscore the special bond between the two countries. It is for the first time that Donald Trump and PM Narendra Modi shared a stage together. He said, "In November, the United States in India will demonstrate tremendous progress of our defence relationship, holding the first-ever tri-service military exercise between the two nations called Tiger Triumph. We are committed to protec...

Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister, has said the government is committed to work towards achieving a $26 billion defence industry by 2025. Addressing the second annual session of Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers, he said the Defence sector has been identified as one of the most prominent sectors under Make in India initiative to realise $5 trillion economy by 2024. Underlining the need to reduce dependency on arms imports, Defence Minister said several steps have been taken under the Make in India initiative to make the country a major defence manufacturing hub and net defence exporter. The government would not hesitate to initiate more measures, if required, he added. He said that the defence production policy reflects the resolve of the government to achieve $26 billion defence industry with an anticipated investment of $10 billion in aerospace and defence goods and services by 2025. This will also provide employment to about 2-3 million people. He said, the government has introd...

India’s Defence Planning Committee (DPC), headed by national security adviser Ajit Doval, is expected to submit the National Security Strategy (NSS), effectively the country’s military doctrine, to the government in October, focusing on future war fronts, the requirement (if any) of naval expeditionary forces, and the projection of comprehensive national power. The much-awaited report has been mostly completed and some finishing touches are being put to it before its submission next month, three senior officials involved in the exercise said on condition of anonymity. The unclassified part of the report will be made public after the Narendra Modi government or the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) accepts the fundamental document defining the Indian military posture. The DPC was formed in April 2018, but the report was held up pending the announcement of a new post of chief of defence staff (CDS), the single point military adviser to the government. The announcement of the creation o...

The Indian Navy on Tuesday said it will request the government for a higher budget and is aiming at increasing its share of the defence budget to 18%, in light of major acquisitions, including advanced submarines and fighter aircraft. Navy Vice Chief Vice Admiral G Ashok Kumar said for the current financial year, the Navy’s share of the defence budget is 13.66%. He said the Navy will ask the government for additional funds during the revised estimates later this year. “We will certainly seek more money. One of the challenges is meeting our aspirations. Our endeavour is to ask for a higher share of the capital budget within the defence services budget, which has also dropped in the last seven years. The navy’s share was about 18% of the defence budget in 2012-13,” said Kumar. The current state of navy’s budget comes in the backdrop of three major acquisitions. On September 28,defence minister Rajnath Singh will be in Mumbai to commission the second Scorpene-class submarine, ‘Khanderi’, ...

Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has threatened to blow up railway stations and temples across six states in a new threat letter received by the security agencies. According to the letter, the terror organisation has threatened to target at least 11 railway stations and six temples across six states during the upcoming festival of Dussehra in October. Besides Rohtak, railway stations in Rewari, Hisar, Kurukshetra, Mumbai City, Bengaluru, Chennai, Jaipur, Bhopal, Kota and Itarsi, and temples in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, MP, UP and Haryana have been targeted in the threat letter. In Haryana, the terror outfit has threatened to target the Rewari railway station by October 8. The letter was received by Rohtak Junction Station Superintendent's office around 3 PM on Saturday by ordinary post. The letter bears the name of one Masood Ahmad allegedly from Karachi, Pakistan. The Haryana Police have confirmed the receipt of a threat letter allegedly issued by Jaish-e-...

Nine-year-old Hilal Ahmed Chopan begins crying as his father shows around the gutted cluster of houses that has left hundreds homeless near the Line of Control in Gurez sector of Jammu and Kashmir after Pakistan's aggression using artillery guns targeting civilians. Hilal like many other kids in the Junglee village of Kanzalwan area are in shock after their homes were reduced to ashes on August 27. Pakistan Army used heavy artillery to target civilian areas leaving the residents gripped in fear in Gurez. Chopan consoles his son every time the little boy starts sobbing haunted by the memory of the horror. Young Hilal continuously pleads to be taken to a place of safety. Chopan tells Hilal that things will be fine, though he is uncertain himself. "We elders have seen these things before but it's impossible to explain the same to kids. All the children in the area keep repeating what happened that day and are scared," he said. Seventeen homes, in which more than 150 peop...

India finally approved a deal with Russia on the world’s most dangerous defense missile system, bypassing the American ban warning. The $ 5 billion deal was confirmed in a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday afternoon. There were agreements between the two countries on mutual cooperation from nuclear to inter-state. In its first reaction after the deal, the US said that it does not want its allies or partner countries’ military capability to suffer. After a bilateral meeting with Putin, PM Modi said – Russia has always stood with India and it has played an important role in India’s development. In a joint statement with Putin, PM Modi said – “Our relationship is rapidly growing in a rapidly changing world. Our relationship between the two countries has strengthened over time. “ Ignoring the American warning, New Delhi went ahead with the deal and did not announce it aggressively. The Air Force chief told reporters – when the gover...

Pakistan’s Minister for Science and Technology, Fawad Chaudhary, said Indian and Pakistani scientists were “very capable” but that the Indian leadership had endangered space through its recently failed lunar missions. The latest, $145 million space mission, Chandrayaan, Sanskrit for “moon craft,” was launched in July this year, poised to make India the first country in the world to probe the unexplored lunar south pole. On Saturday, India’s space agency said it had lost contact with its spacecraft just as it was about to touch down. The cause of the failure is not yet known. In March, India intentionally destroyed one of its satellites called ‘Shakti’ with a missile, in a move NASA described as “unacceptable” as the resulting debris posed a significant risk to the safety of astronauts on board the International Space Station. “With the irresponsible attitude India have shown towards space, (India) is actually playing havoc with... humanity,” Chaudhary told Arab News. “Once powered desc...

Forty-seven days after it left Earth, Chandrayaan-2 lander Vikram will decide on the exact landing spot on Moon when it would be 100m above the lunar surface between 1.30am and 2.30am on Saturday. If all goes well, it'll touch down 78 seconds later. Isro had chosen a primary landing site and a secondary one, now Vikram will approach the primary landing site, which in turn has two landing zones. "Vikram will be selecting one of these landing zones at the primary site after analysing data at that moment," said an Isro scientist. Chandrayaan-2's preferred landing site is between two craters, Manzinus and Simpelius, about 350km north of Moon's south pole. At a height of 100m, Vikram will hover for a few seconds before the final descent. "Within each landing site, two zones are identified of size 500m x 500m, separated by 1.6km. The prime target will be the first zone," says an ISRO paper. Isro considered that both the primary and backup site should have Sun...

Both India and Pakistan have seen the importance of battle tanks in the wars of 1965 and 1971. Indian Army has a total of over 3,500 battle tanks as compared to 2,496 tanks of the Pakistan Army. India TV Newsdesk brings to you a comparison of the Main Battle tanks (MBT) of the Indian and the Pakistani Army. One of the most important factors of any military power is the might of its tanks. Wars in history have taught us the importance of armoured tanks. In World War 2, Hitler's Germany cut through France like a knife through butter, all thanks to its superior Tiger Tanks. India and Pakistan have also seen the importance of battle tanks in the wars of 1965 and 1971. Indian Army has a total of over 3,500 battle tanks as compared to 2,496 tanks of the Pakistan Army. Indian Army has over 1000 tanks more than the Pakistani Army. But numbers are not everything, let's look at how the Indian Army and Pakistani Army's Main Battle Tanks (MBT) stack up against each other. India's M...