Defence Services (Air,Land,Sea) – Page 9

** Diamond jubilee of Helicopter Training School celebrated

Museum showcasing rich heritage of the IAF helicopter units opened
Helicopter Training School (HTS), the biggest helicopter unit and alma mater of IAF helicopter pilots, celebrated its diamond jubilee at the Air Force Station-Hakimpet on Sunday.

Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal V.R. Chaudhari and Air Marshal Manavendra Singh, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-charge), Training Command IAF, along with Air Chief Marshal F.H. Major (retired), Admiral Karambir Singh (retired), veterans and serving officers of the helicopter fleet from all three services attended the event.

A special cover and diamond jubilee book of HTS, commemorating the occasion, was released. An HTS Museum showcasing the rich heritage of the IAF helicopter units was also opened.

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** HAL scales new peak, sees revenue of over Rs 24K crore

Aerospace giant Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has recorded the highest ever revenue of over Rs 24,000 crore (provisional and unaudited) for the financial year ending March 31, 2022, registering a 6 % revenue growth over the previous financial year. The corresponding figure for the previous year stood at Rs 22,755 crore.

“Despite the challenges of the second wave of Covid-19 during the first quarter of the year and the consequent production loss, the Company could meet the targeted revenue growth with improved performance during the balance period of the year”, said R Madhavan, Chairman & Managing Director, HAL.

HAL achieved record revenue with the production of 44 new helicopters/aircraft, 84 new engines, overhauled 203 aircraft/helicopters and 478 engines.

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** New leaders take command as Army sees series of changes

Lt. Gen. Manoj Pande is now the seniormost officer after the Army Chief

In a series of changes in the top brass of the Army, Lt. Gen. S.S. Mahal assumed command of the Army’s training command (ARTRAC) at Shimla following the retirement of incumbent Lt. Gen. Raj Shukla on March 31.

With this Vice Chief Lt. Gen. Manoj Pande is the seniormost officer after Army Chief Gen. M.M. Naravane and in line for the top post as per seniority principle when the incumbent completes tenure at the end of this month.

The Government is yet to announce the next Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), the top military officer of the country, which has fallen vacant following the untimely demise of Gen. Bipin Rawat in a chopper crash on December 08.

In other appointments, Lt. Gen. C. Bansi Ponnappa took over as Adjutant General of the Army while Lt Gen J. P. Mathew who was commanding the Dimapur based 3-Corps took over as the General Officer Commanding Uttar Bharat area.

Vice-Admiral Sanjay Mahindru assumed charge as Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff from Vice Adm Ravneet Singh.

In Pune, Vice Admiral Ajay Kochhar assumed appointment of Commandant, National Defence Academy (NDA) from Air Marshal Sanjeev Kapoor.

In addition, Lt. Gen. M. K. Katiyar is set to take over as the Director General of Military Operations on April 30 from Lt. Gen. B. S. Raju who will take over as an Army Commander.

** Sri Lanka hands over three wind farm projects to India

Sri Lanka has decided to hand over to India the development of three wind farms that was originally awarded to a Chinese firm. The decision was announced on Tuesday, after a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in this regard was signed in the presence MEA S Jaishankar in Colombo.

The USD 12 million project, to be built on three small islands (Nainativu, Analaitivu and Delft) in the Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka, was awarded to a Chinese firm in 2019, with funding from Asian Development Bank (ADB). India had been protesting against the project citing its proximity to its coast. Due to various reasons the work didn’t commence and the project had to be shelved.

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** India to lead security pillar of BIMSTEC; PM pitches for focus on regional security

The seven countries in the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) today adopted a charter and connectivity roadmap and entrusted India to be at the helm of its security pillar.

“With the charter, Bimstec now has an international personality, it has an emblem, it has a flag, it has formally listed purpose and principles that it is going to adhere to and an architecture. So that represents a fairly significant evolution of this grouping process which was happening since 2004, but gained traction after 2014,” said additional secretary Bimstec, Rudrendra Tandon.

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Air Force to hold Conclave to commemorate 60 years of Helicopter operations in India

The Indian Air Force (IAF) plans to hold a conclave in order to provide a platform to showcase six decades of helicopter operations in the country. The Conclave will be highlighting Chetak helicopter operations in particular which have completed 60 years of service to the Nation in the inventory of the Indian Armed Forces.

To commemorate this momentous event, a Conclave is being organized on 2nd April 2022 by Air Force Station Hakimpet under the aegis of Indian Air Force and Training Command, IAF.

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** Maiden edition of Indian Ocean Naval Symposium Maritime Exercise held

The premier forum Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) helds its maiden Maritime Exercise 2022 (IMEX-22) at Goa and in Arabian Sea from 26 – 30 Mar 22 which witnessed participation of 16 out of the 25 member nations of IONS which included Iran.

The Indian Navy in its statement on Wednesday said, “IMEX 22 aimed to develop the IONS capability to efficiently and effectively coordinate amongst member nations the ability to address a HADR contingency, coordinate the operations, build upon the individual strengths & develop interoperability in critical areas such as Search & Rescue operations, cross deck operations of helicopters, medical support, diving expertise and seamless communications.”

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** Distinguished service awards presented

A naval investiture ceremony was held at the Naval Base here on Wednesday.

Vice Admiral M.A. Hampiholi, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Southern Naval Command, presented distinguished service awards announced last year to the recipients. Captain P.E. Prasad was conferred Nao Sena Medal (Devotion to Duty) while Commodore Ashok Kumar Rai, Commodore Ramesh M.S. Menon and Commodore Gautam Marwaha were conferred the Vishisht Seva Medals (VSM). The Vice Admiral also presented Unit Citations to INS Garuda and INS Shardul that delivered exceptional performances over the past year.

The CNS Trophy for best green practices was awarded to INS Venduruthy.

** India successfully test-fires army version of MRSAM missile system

India successfully test-fired the Army version of Medium-Range Surface-to-Air Missile (MRSAM) from a defence facility off the Odisha coast on Sunday demonstrating the system’s high killing efficiency.

The state-of-the-art missile was flight tested in full operational configuration from the launching complex – III of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur at about 10.30 am. The missile intercepted an unmanned aerial vehicle achieving a ‘direct hit’.

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** Defence Ministry, Goa Shipyard Limited sign contract for construction of eight Fast Patrol Vessels

Adding to the steps involving indigenous manufacturing in construction of the defence equipment the Ministry of Defence on Monday signed a contract with Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) for construction of eight Fast Patrol Vessels for Indian Coast Guard at a total project cost of Rs 473 crore.

These surface platforms will be indigenously designed, developed and manufactured by GSL under Buy (Indian-IDDM) Category.

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