Two Karbi People Liberation Tiger militants arrested

Indian Navy's latest Naval establishment, INS Sardar Patel, was commissioned at Gujarat's Porbandar on May 9, 2015.

According to the Navy, the commissioning of INS Sardar Patel would enable it to qualitatively augment its infrastructure and organisational effectiveness in Gujarat, which would improve coordination and synergy with other maritime agencies of the government.

This Forward Operating Base (FOB) of Indian Navy in Gujarat and the Headquarters of the Naval Officer-in-Charge (Gujarat, Diu & Daman) would also enhance the logistic support being provided to the Indian Navy units deployed in the Northern Arabian Sea, including along the International Maritime Boundary Line with Pakistan.

Image by Ministry of Defence

Indian Army recently inducted the indigenous Akash Weapon System. Akash Weapon System (AWS), is an indigenously designed, developed and produced 'air defence system' and 'Weapon Locating Radar', which is equipped with indigenous surface to air supersonic missiles.

This system is capable of engaging aerial threats up-to a distance of approximately 25 km. Akash is a multi target, multi directional, all weather air-defence system, says DRDO.

The army version of Akash consists of surveillance and tracking radars, control centres and ground support systems mounted on high mobility vehicles. According to DRDO, the system is designed to enable integration with other air defence command and control networks through secured communication links.

Image by DRDO

In April, Air Force received the first batch of upgraded Mirage-2000 fighter aircraft. According to the Ministry of Defence, the upgrade enhances the overall capability of aircraft with advanced avionics, weapons and self protection suites.

The upgrades on the aircraft include a night vision goggle-compatible glass cockpit, advanced navigational systems, advanced Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) system, advanced multi-mode multi-layered radar, fully integrated electronic warfare suite besides others.

Image by Ministry of Defence

The maiden canister-based trial of the country's most potent missile Agni-V was conducted in January. The missile was launched from a canister mounted on a road-mobile launcher at Wheeler's Island.'

Agni-V has a strike range of over 5000 kms and can carry a nuclear warhead of over one tonne. Ships located in midrange and at the target point tracked the vehicle and witnessed the final event. All the radars and electro-optical systems along the path monitored all the parameters of the missile and displayed it in real time, the DRDO release said.

The missile version was stored and launched from a hermetically sealed canister. The steel container was made of maraging steel.

Image by DRDO

After a series of twists and turns, a multi-billion dollar deal for new Rafale fighter jets for the Indian Air Force has hit the last mile. In the initial phase of the deal with France, 36 Rafale fighters will be bought off the shelf by India and negotiations will continue for manufacturing more in India at a later stage.

Buying fighters off the shelf means the delivery would be faster and would meet a time frame set by IAF that urgently needs the aircraft to fill operational gaps. The aircraft would be delivered on the same configuration as had been tested and approved by IAF during the 2007 tendering process.

According to Dassault Aviation, the Rafale can carry out both air-to-ground strikes, as well as air-to-air attacks and interceptions during the same sortie. Stating that the Rafale has 'Omnirole' capability, Dassault Aviation claims that the aircraft can perform several actions at the same time, such as firing air-to-air missiles during a very low altitude penetration phase.

Indian Navy's new stealth destroyer INS Visakhapatnam was launched at Mumbai's Mazagon dock in April. INS Visakhapatnam is the first of P15-B stealth destroyers. The 163 m long ship, which will be propelled by four gas turbines, is designed to achieve a speed of over 30 knots at a displacement of approx 7300 tons.

This indigenously designed stealth destroyer will have state-of-the-art weapons, sensors, an advance Action Information System, in Integrated Platform Management system, sophisticated Power Distribution System and a host of other advanced features, according to the Defence Ministry release.

It will be fitted with supersonic surface-to-surface missile system. The system enables the ship to engage shore-based and naval surface targets at long range making it a lethal platform for strike against enemy targets.

Image by Ministry of Defence

Kalvari, the first of Indian Navy's Scorpene class stealth submarines being built under Project 75, achieved a major milestone with its 'undocking' at the Mazagon Dock Limited.

Project 75, which has already seen a delay of almost 40 months, has now been brought on track and the delivery schedule for the successive submarines has been reduced.

"The Scorpene submarines would pack a potent punch. They would be equipped with anti-ship missiles and long range guided torpedoes alongwith modern sensor suite," says Defence Ministry.

Image by Ministry of Defence