Month: August 2009

F-16 innovates for MMRCA contest

Lockheed Martin has engineered its F-16 fighter to enable it to meet the air-to-air refueling requirements with the ‘Probe and Drogue’ system, a demonstrator of which was displayed at the Paris Air Show recently.

India’s security interest in the Maldives

The proximity of the country to the Indian island cluster of Lakshadweep makes it important for coastal security. The Maldives can also offer India logistics support and extend the Indian naval footprint and significantly, by offering their facilities, can extend the Indian maritime airspace surveillance capability.

Caution advised for anti-Naxal Ops: COIN expert

The planned offensive against Naxals in the next few months has been a long time coming and is finally a sign of the government taking the problem seriously. But a COIN expert spoke to StratPost and advised caution and calculation, to prevent the operation from becoming counter-productive.

Rashtriya Rifles against Naxals: Army wary

The idea of deploying the Rashtriya Rifles in anti-Naxal operations has the army feeling uncomfortable. While so far, the army has been training paramilitary forces in defusing Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), tactics and field medical aid and also preparing to set up a sub-area in the region, it has been wary of deploying its own troops for combating Naxals.

India-China military gap ‘too wide to bridge’: Navy chief

Admiral Sureesh Mehta, while dismissing the idea of matching China militarily, ‘force for force’, saying the gap was ‘too wide to bridge’, called for ‘harnessing modern technology for developing high situational awareness and creating a reliable stand-off deterrent’ keeping in mind China’s space weapons and cyber warfare capability. At the same time he called for engagement as ‘cooperation with China was preferable to competition or conflict’.

Territorial Army to ease training to tempt specialists

The Indian Territorial Army (TA) is to make its courses flexible to attract experts and specialists in various fields. The Additional Director General Territorial Army (ADGTA) Major General K.V.S. Lalotra said this while making a presentation on the TA to an audience comprising of some 30 mostly young Members of Parliament (MPs) at the Ministry of Defense on Tuesday.

Israeli Heron UAV makes mark on Brazil

IAI demonstrated the capabilities of the aircraft in Brazil under ‘challenging, unpredictable’ weather conditions during the tests conducted by Brazilian police last week for operations related to ‘border security, and smuggling, natural resource theft, and drug trafficking concerns’.

Indian Navy returns from European exercises

Four ships of the Indian Navy that had been deployed for exercises in European waters since May, have returned home. This was the first time the joint Indo-British naval exercise Konkan and the joint Indo-French naval exercise Varuna have been conducted outside Indian waters. Images inside.