News Analysis India

Tag: Defence Ministry

  • More than 90,000 job openings lying vacant in Indian Army: Defence Ministry

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: While the Indian Army is facing a shortage of over 7,900 officers, more than 90,000 vacancies for soldiers including junior commissioned officers are also lying vacant, Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt said in a written reply to the query raised the Rajya Sabha.

    The Navy, which is considered third in terms of the size among all the three defense forces, stands second in terms of manpower shortages as it is short of 1,190 officers and 11,927 sailors in its ranks.

    Bhatt informed that the Army was short of 7,912 officers and 90,640 soldiers in its ranks and efforts are being made to fill up these vacancies.

    On the Indian Air Force, Bhatt said, “The IAF was short of 610 officers and 7,104 men in its ranks.”

    Bhatt said that the government has taken a number of measures to reduce the shortages.

    “These, inter-alia, include sustained image projection, participation in career fairs and exhibitions, and publicity campaign to create awareness among the youth on the advantages of taking up a challenging and satisfying career,” added Bhatt.

    To encourage the youth to join the Armed Forces, motivational lectures are regularly organized in schools/colleges/other educational institutes and National Cadet Corps (NCC) camps, he further said.

    According to the Defence Ministry, the government has taken various steps to make the job in the Armed Forces attractive including improvement in promotion prospects in the Armed Forces and to fill up vacancies. 

  • Defence Ministry approves construction of six advanced submarines for Indian Navy

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: The Defence Ministry on Friday cleared a mega project to domestically build six conventional submarines for the Indian Navy at a cost of around Rs 43,000 crore, in a major decision aimed at significantly boosting India’s naval prowess in the face of rapid expansion of China’s maritime capabilities.

    The submarines will be built under the much-talked-about strategic partnership model that allows domestic defence manufacturers to join hands with leading foreign defence majors to produce high-end military platforms to reduce import dependence, government sources said. The Strategic Partnership (SP) policy intends to encourage broader participation of the private sector, in addition to DPSUs/OFB, in the manufacture of defence platforms and equipment.

    The Ministry of Defence in its statement said, “This project envisages indigenous construction of six conventional submarines equipped with the state-of-the-art Air Independent Propulsion system at an estimated cost of Rs 43,000 crore.” Procurement of Air Defence Guns and Ammunition at an approximate cost of Rs 6,000 crore under the Buy & Make (Indian) category was also approved.

    The decision to approve the project named ‘P-75 India’ was taken at a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

     The sources said the DAC approved the issuance of the Request for Proposal (RFP) or tender to shipbuilder Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and state-owned Mazagaon Docks Ltd (MDL).

    Going by the processes followed in all defence-related manufacturing projects, the first Submarine under the project will get ready in next about 10 years. “In a month, the RFP will be sent to the Indian companies shortlisted under the Strategic Partnership model. They will be given three months to reply. Then the technical evaluation will be done and contracts will be signed.

    Once the contracts are signed, the infrastructure building shall start along with the Transfer of Technology and Training by the OEM and the manufacturing will begin.

    “With this project, the country will be enabled to achieve its 30-year submarine construction programme envisioned by the Government to acquire national competence in submarine construction,.” MoD said. Under the Project 75, six Scorpene Class submarines are already being built in India by the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) Mumbai, under collaboration with M/s Naval Group, France. Indian Navy’s under water combat capabilities have been under question since long due to obsolete submarine force and delay in the manufacturing of the submarines. Till now three submarines have been commissioned under Project 75.

    The SPs in collaboration with OEMs have been mandated to set up dedicated manufacturing lines for these submarines in India. The OEMs would be shortlisted primarily based on their submarine design meeting the Indian Navy’s Qualitative Requirements and qualifying the Transfer of Technology and Indigenous Content (IC) criteria.

    “The overall aim would be to progressively build indigenous capabilities in the private sector to design, develop and manufacture complex weapon systems for the future needs of the Armed Forces,” the MoD said.

  • Uniformed officers appointed as additional secretary and joint secretaries in department of military affairs

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: In a first, the central government has approved appointment of military personnel of the three forces as the additional secretary and joint secretary in the Department of Military Affairs (DMA).

    The department has been pursuing these proposals since last February and prior to its formation, these positions were held by civilian bureaucrats.

    Names of four armed forces officers have been approved in the circular issued by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC). 

    While Lieutenant General Anil Puri has been approved as Additional Secretary, Major General K. Narayanan, Rear Admiral Kapil Mohan Dhir and Air Vice Marshal Hardeep Bains have been named as Joint Secretaries in the Department of Military Affairs.

    Till now these positions in the DMA were held by the uniformed officers as the officiating appointments. The DMA that comes as a major reform in the higher defence management is in addition to four existing ones viz. the departments of defence, defence research, defence production and development and ex-service welfare. It came into being on January 1, 2020 with the appointment of General Bipin Rawat as the first Chief of Defence Staff. He was the first uniformed officer to be given the rank of the Secretary hitherto preserved only for civilian administrators. Also, two IAS officers, Rajeev Singh Thakur and Shantanu, were moved to the Department of Military Affairs.

    The department that was created to facilitate optimal utilization of resources and promote jointness among the three services handles the integrated headquarters of the ministry of defence, the territorial army, procurement exclusive to services except capital acquisitions and jointness in procurement, training and staffing for the services through joint planning and integration.

    The creation of the theatre commands is being pursued by the DMA.

  • Rajnath Singh reviews COVID-19 situation, Ministry of Defence increases its efforts to handle crisis

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: Keeping the accentuated state of the COVID-19 pandemic, defence minister Rajnath Singh reviewed the efforts of Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the three Services to fight the COVID-19 crisis through video conferencing today.

    The Armed Forces and the other departments of the MoD have augmented their support to deal with the soaring COVID cases which is leading to scarcity of beds and oxygen. The defence minister directed the Armed Forces and various other establishments of MoD to extend all possible assistance to the civilian administration to tide over the present situation.

    He also reviewed and expressed satisfaction on the assistance being provided by the Indian Air Force (IAF) in moving oxygen tankers and plants from abroad as well as within the country. During the review, the Air Force informed of placing heavy lift aircraft at various locations to pick and transfer the required material.

    “One C-17 IAF transport plane left for Singapore in the morning of April 24 and returned in the evening with four containers of cryogenic oxygen tanks. One C-17 transported two empty container trucks for liquid oxygen from Pune to Jamnagar and another transported two empty oxygen containers from Jodhpur to Jamnagar,” MoD spokesperson Bharat Bhushan Babu said.

    “One Chinook airlifted medical equipment for testing COVID from Jammu to Leh. Indian Navy ships have also been put on standby for any assistance in moving oxygen tankers and the Raksha Mantri was informed of the same, ” he added.

    In addition, the Indian Air Force has positioned one empty cryogenic oxygen container from Indore to Jamnagar and another from Bhopal to Ranchi. Positioning of another empty container from Bhopal to Ranchi and two empty containers from Hindan to Ranchi was in progress late evening.

    DRDO chairman Dr G Sathish Reddy briefed that another 250 beds would become functional at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel COVID hospital in New Delhi by the evening of April 24, taking the total number of beds to 500. In Gujarat, DRDO has completed setting up of a 1,000-bed hospital.

    Dr Reddy added that work was in full swing to establish a COVID facility in Lucknow that would become operational in the next 5-6 days. These hospitals would be run by the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) in coordination and with assistance of respective state governments.

    Senior officials of the Ministry are in constant touch with the officials of state governments for necessary coordination in this regard.

    As AFMS has its resources stretched to the limit, services of local doctors and health professionals might be enlisted for the 750-bed hospital that is coming up at Varanasi. To augment the work force of health professionals, Rajnath approved a suggestion to deploy those who have recently retired from AFMS.

    He was briefed that all health facilities of Defence PSUs and Ordnance Factory Board have been allowed to provide health services to local COVID-19 affected civilian population.

    This was the second meeting chaired by Raksha Mantri to review the preparedness of MoD and the Armed Forces to deal with the current surge in COVID-19 cases. The first meeting was held through video conferencing on Tuesday.

    Apart from Reddy, the meeting was attended by Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, three Service Chiefs, defence secretary Ajay Kumar,  AFMS DG Surgeon Vice-Admiral Rajat Datta and other senior officials.

    The AFMS has deployed additional doctors, including specialists, super specialists and paramedics, at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (SVP) COVID hospital in Delhi to cater to the current surge in COVID-19 cases.

    As against 294 doctors and health workers in 2020, 378 have been mobilised in 2021. These include 164 doctors in 2021 as against 132 doctors in 2020. Last year, only 18 specialists were mobilised, as against 43 specialists and 17 super specialists this year.

    Keeping the requirements Indian Navy has moved one ship to Lakashwadeep and Minicoy islands with Oxygen cylinders, medical supply and medical support team. Also, one ship sent to Visakhapatnam as a standby with Oxygen onboard. Indian Navy Medical Teams have also been deployed as part of the AFMS staff and Naval Commands told to identify the spare capacity to assist civil administration.

  • Defence ministry decides to airlift 23 oxygen generation plants from Germany

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The defence ministry has decided to airlift 23 mobile oxygen generating plants from Germany as several states reeled under an acute shortage of medical oxygen due to a massive surge in coronavirus cases, officials said Friday.

    They said each plant will have a capacity to produce 40 litres of oxygen per minute and 2,400 litres every hour.

    Principal Spokesperson in the Defence Ministry A Bharat Bhushan Babu said the plants will be deployed in the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) hospitals treating COVID-19 patients.

    The decision by the ministry came four days after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced granting emergency financial powers to the three services and other defence agencies to make necessary procurement to enhance medical infrastructure in view of the pandemic.

    “Twenty-three mobile oxygen generation plants are being airlifted from Germany. These will be deployed in AFMS hospitals catering to the COVID patients,” Babu said.

    He said the oxygen generating plants are expected to be airlifted within a week.

    Another official said the Indian Air Force has been told to remain ready to keep its transport aircraft ready to bring the plants from Germany once required paper works are completed.

    The official said more oxygen generation plants may be procured from abroad.

    “The advantage of these plants is that they are easily portable,” said Babu.

    India is struggling with a second wave of coronavirus infection and hospitals in several states are reeling under shortage of medical oxygen and beds in view of rising COVID-19 cases.

    India recorded a one-day tally of 3.32 lakh new coronavirus cases and  2,263 new fatalities, according to official data released on Friday.

  • Three more Rafale jets leave for India from France

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: A third batch of three more Rafale fighter jets on Wednesday took off from France for a non-stop flight to India, in a further boost to the strike capability of the Indian Air Force.

    The Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) of the United Arab Emirates will provide mid-air refuelling to the three Rafale jets, according to the Indian Embassy in France.

    “Three more #Rafale jets take off from France for a non stop flight to India with mid air refueling by UAE MRTT; Adding more strength to India’s air power. Wishing our amazing pilots smooth flight&safe landing with superb fighter jets,” it tweeted.

    ALSO READ | In ‘Brahmastra’ and ‘Eklavya’ formations, Rafale makes debut on Republic Day flypast

    The first batch of five Rafale jets arrived in India on July 29, 2020, nearly four years after India signed an inter-governmental agreement with France to procure 36 of the aircraft at a cost of Rs 59,000 crore.

    The second batch of three Rafale jets arrived in India on November 3.

    The Rafale jets, manufactured by French aerospace major Dassault Aviation, are India’s first major acquisition of fighter planes in 23 years after the Sukhoi jets were imported from Russia.

    The new fleet of Rafale jets has been carrying out sorties in eastern Ladakh.

    The Rafale jets are capable of carrying a range of potent weapons.

    European missile maker MBDA’s Meteor beyond visual range air-to-air missile, Scalp cruise missile and MICA weapons system will be the mainstay of the weapons package of the Rafale jets.

    The IAF is also procuring a new generation medium-range modular air-to-ground weapon system Hammer to integrate with the Rafale jets.

    ALSO READ | CDS General Bipin Rawat to fly in a French Rafale fighter

    Hammer (Highly Agile Modular Munition Extended Range) is a precision-guided missile developed by French defence major Safran.

    The missile was originally designed and manufactured for the French Air Force and Navy.

    Meteor is the next generation of BVR air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) designed to revolutionise air-to-air combat.

    The weapon has been developed by MBDA to combat common threats facing the UK, Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Sweden.

    The first squadron of the Rafale jets is stationed at Ambala air base while the second one will be based at Hasimara base in West Bengal.