Cavalier India Defence Training Academy

Outgoing Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat will take over as the new CDS after retiring on Tuesday. As CDS, Rawat will assume a key role where he will be the single point of contact for the government. General Bipin Rawat will serve as the CDS till March 31, 2023 General MM Naravane is the new Indian Army chief It is widely expected that the Chief of Defence Staff will be able to better synergise the operations of the three armed forces -- the Army, Navy and the Air Force -- and reduce wasteful expenditure by better coordinating the procurement plans of the three services. Source : India Today

General Bipin Rawat will serve as the CDS till March 31, 2023 General MM Naravane is the new Indian Army chief Outgoing Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat, who has been appointed as India's first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), said the Indian Army is better equipped to take on challenges from enemies and that he will now plan a new strategy for his fresh role. Rawat, who received his farewell Guard of Honour as the Army Chief today, said, "Today as I demit the office of Chief of Army staff, I wish to convey my gratitude to the soldiers, rank, and file of Indian Army who stood steadfast under challenging circumstances." When asked if the Indian Army is better equipped to take on enemies positioned in border areas, he said, "Yes, they are better prepared." Rawat also conveyed best wishes to Lieutenant General Manoj Mukund Naravane who will be assuming office as the 28th Army Chief. When asked to elaborate on his new role, Rawat said he will "sit and plan a

Thirty-four years is a long time. It makes little difference whether we are talking about a human being or a military aircraft. In the armed forces, this period is commensurate to the length of the career of a high-ranking officer. On Friday morning when the last squadron of the MiG-27 took off for its last sortie and soared into the skies of Jodhpur in Rajasthan, an era came to an end. After today's flight, all seven planes of this squadronScorpion 29will be decommissioned, following which none of them will fly anywhere in the country. Based at the at Jodhpur Air Base, Scorpion 29 was the only remaining squadron comprising seven upgraded MiG-27. Before this, two squadrons of MiG-27 had been decommissioned at the Hashimara Air Base in West Bengal. Commissioned into the Indian Air Force in 1985, the MiG-27 remained an integral part of the Indian Air Force's combat strength. It was due to the jet's heroics during the Kargil war that the aircraft earned the nickname "baha

The Indian Navy is planning to build a fleet of 18 conventional and six nuclear attack submarines as part of its plans for its underwater fleet. "Eighteen (Conventional) plus six SSN (nuclear-powered attack) submarines are planned but the existing strength is 15 and 1 SSN is available on lease," the Standing Committee on Defence said in its report tabled in the winter session of Parliament. The Indian Navy had planned to build six nuclear attack submarines along with the Arihant Class SSBNs which are nuclear-powered submarines equipped with nuclear missiles. The nuclear attack submarines are also planned to be built indigenously in partnership with private sector industries. At present, the Navy is operating Russian-origin Kilo Class, German-origin HDW class and the latest French Scorpene-class submarines in the conventional domain while in the nuclear section, it has leased one INS Chakra (Akula class) from Russia. The Navy also informed the committee that in the last 15 yea

Alert Indian Army troops on Sunday foiled an attack of the Pakistan Army's Border Action Team (BAT) on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, defence sources said. "There was an IED explosion in Kerni sector of the Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir followed by firing by Pakistani troops to facilitate a BAT attack on Indian soldiers. Our forward position retaliated effectively, forcing the intruders to withdraw back to the Pakistani side," a defence source told IANS. "The army averted a terror attack at 4 p.m. by diffusing an improvised explosive device (IED) planted on the operational track," Lieutenant Colonel Devender Anand told IANS. Had there been any movement on the track, a major blast could have happened, he added. This comes when Northern Army Commander Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh has visited and reviewed the security situation in Kashmir today. Later, he also visited forward areas in the Baramulla district where h

To strengthen its underwater fleet, the Indian Navy plans to build 24 submarines, including six nuclear attack submarines, a parliamentary panel was told. The Navy also told the panel that Medium Refit Life Certification (MRLC) of submarine Sindhuraj has been held up since the Russian side has not been able to submit bank guarantees and integrity pact due to sanctions imposed by the US. In its report tabled this month, the Navy stated that there are presently 15 conventional submarines and two nuclear submarines in its fleet The Indian Navy has two nuclear submarines INS Arihant and INS Chakra, with the latter being leased from Russia. Majority of the conventional submarines are over 25 years old. Thirteen submarines age between 17 and 32 years, it said "Eighteen (conventional) + six SSN (nuclear attack submarines) are planned...," it stated The Indian Ocean Region, the area of operations of the Indian Navy has witnessed rising activities of the Chinese Navy. On its part, the

Indian Army has foiled BAT attack along the Line of Control (LoC). A BAT (Border Action Team) comprises of operatives from Pakistan's Special Services Group. Alert Indian Army troops on Sunday foiled an attack of the Pakistan Army's Border Action Team (BAT) on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, defence sources said. "There was an IED explosion in Kerni sector of the Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir followed by firing by Pakistani troops to facilitate a BAT attack on Indian soldiers. Our forward position retaliated effectively, forcing the intruders to withdraw back to the Pakistani side," a defence source told IANS. "The army averted a terror attack at 4 p.m. by diffusing an improvised explosive device (IED) planted on the operational track," Lieutenant Colonel Devender Anand told IANS. Had there been any movement on the track, a major blast could have happened, he added. This comes when Northern Army Commander Lieute

The Indian Navy is working towards upgrading the security infrastructure of its naval airfields by planning to install systems providing continuous surveillance, real time alerting and immediate response to a threat. The matter came to light in a report of the Standing Committee on Defence which was presented to the Lok Sabha Speaker on Friday. The Navy is progressing a comprehensive case for upgrading the security infrastructure of its airfields. Six naval air stations are being addressed at a projected cost of Rs 500 crore. “This project will leverage technology to provide seamless 24x7 surveillance, physical barriers, real time incident alerting and swift response through a robust and secure command and control system,” the Committee noted. The project has been taken up with the defence ministry to progress it under the revenue to capital route. The Committee has recommended that the upgradation of naval airfields is critical from surveillance and intelligence point of view, and the

As many as 1,500 stranded tourists were rescued by the Indian Army after heavy snowfall blocked the Jawaharlal Nehru road in Sikkim. The Army carried out the rescue operation on December 27 despite poor visibility and inclement weather. The stranded tourists were provided relief including, food, shelter, warm clothing and medicines, to ensure their safety from weather and high altitude. “These tourists, travelling in nearly 300 taxis, were returning from Nathu La Pass – Tsomgo Lake on Friday evening and got stranded midway at various points along Jawaharlal Nehru road as the motorable stretch was blocked by snow,” read an official statement by Indian Army. The stranded tourists including women, children and elderly persons were accommodated at Army Camp at 17th Mile. The Army provided JCB and Dozers to clear the snow and restore road connectivity at the earliest. The evacuation process is still on and will continue till all stranded tourists are safely evacuated to the state capital Ga

A decade of relentless efforts by India to get Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar listed as a global terrorist by the UN Security Council finally came to fruition in 2019, signifying India's leadership in global counter-terrorism efforts, as New Delhi also led from the front on climate action and sustainable development. The year 2019 will be remembered as a watershed moment in India's fight against terrorism and its commitment to bring those responsible for terror attacks against the country to justice. The February 14 attack against CRPF personnel in Pulwama by JeM drew widespread outrage and condemnation by the international community. For the first time, the powerful 15-nation Security Council issued a press statement, condemning in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly suicide bombing in Pulwama, which killed 40 CRPF personnel. Just over two months later, India won a major victory when the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the Security Council bla

Last week, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) carried out two successful tests of the latest variant of the BrahMos missile, one from the land platform and the other from air. BrahMos, developed through a collaboration between India and Russia, is one of the most advanced weapons in India’s armoury. The missile :: BrahMos is a cruise missile, meaning it can be guided towards a pre-determined land- or sea-based target. With a capability to attain speeds 2.8 times that of sound (Mach 2.8), BrahMos is classified as supersonic cruise missile. A newer version under development is aimed at flying at speeds greater than Mach 5. These are called hypersonic cruise missiles. Besides decreasing the reaction time of the enemy, higher speeds also substantially reduce the chances of the missile getting intercepted. An amalgam of the names of the rivers Brahmaputra and Moskva, BrahMos is being produced by BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture company set up by DRDO and Mashinostroy

A cash-strapped Narendra Modi government couldn't provide more than Rs one lakh crore to the Army, Air Force and Navy in 2019-20, forcing the three services to “reprioritise” their requirements. The shortfall was maximum for the Indian Air Force (Rs 53,035 crore) followed by the Army (Rs 30,687 crore) and Navy (Rs 23,048 crore), according to a report by a panel of lawmakers who scrutinised the defence budget of the current fiscal. The impact is being felt in almost area ranging from the modernisation of the forces and its daily needs to training and sprucing up of the infrastructure such as strategic roads near the Sino-Indian border and the long-delayed Rohtang tunnel. Though the Army sources were hopeful of receiving additional support in the supplementary budget, the data shared with the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence revealed that in the last two fiscals, the defence ministry did not receive any additional allocation at the supplementary stage. At the beginning of

Kenya launched freight operations on December 17 for a new extension on a multibillion-dollar, China-built railway line, which is funded on terms that could end up giving China control over some of Kenya’s most important assets. At the inauguration ceremony, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta called the opening a “new chapter” in Kenya’s development. “Today is another momentous day; a day when we add yet another brick in our quest to build a stronger foundation for our current and future prosperity.” The new service runs from Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, to the Naivasha Inland Container Depot and is part of the greater Standard Gauge Railway (sgr), connecting Nairobi to Mombasa, Kenya—the largest and most valuable port in East Africa. Mombasa is not just the gateway into Kenya, but also into its landlocked neighboring nations Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan and Uganda. Since 2013, Kenya has accepted more than $5 billion from China for sgr construction, making i