The army officials said that the induction of Brahmos system is very important for the army and the missile successfully destroyed its target during the testing exercise. Lt Gen SK Singh, the newly appointed army vice chief and Lt Gen Ashok Kumar Chaudhary, who is the Director General Military Operations (DGMO) supervised the military exercise.

Already the contract for building three regiments of the joint Indo-Russian designed cruise missile has been signed by the army. So far, two of them are in operation and the remaining one is expected to be inducted soon. According to sources from the defense ministry, the third regiment will be based near the border with China in Arunachal Pradesh. China is refusing to recognize the sovereignty of India over Arunachal Pradesh and there were serious diplomatic rows recently when the Chinese embassy refused to issue visas to Indians hailing from the border state.

The BrahMos regiments operated by the Indian Army consist of 65 cruise missiles, five Tatra 815 supersonic cruise missile carriers and two mobile command centers, plus other support equipment. The BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited, which is a joint venture of the Indian PSU company DRDO and the Russian government agency NPO Mashinostroyenia, has so far finalized the development of many of its ship launched and surface launched versions of BrahMos. The development of various submarine launched and air launched versions are progressing, along with the hypersonic version of the missile. The Indian Navy is already using the sea-to-sea and sea-to-land versions of the BrahMos in many of its warships.

Almost all the major aircraft types operating within the IAF will be represented in the drill. The fighter jets belonging to SEPECAT Jaguar, Sukhoi Su-30MK, Dassault Mirage 2000, Mikoyan MiG-29, and Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 Bison types will take part in the drill. Other aircrafts taking part are Mil Mi-17 helicopters, Antonov An-32 and Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules transport aircrafts, AEW&C mounted aircrafts, aerial refuelling aircrafts and the remotely-piloted aircraft.

According to reliable sources, the main focus is on army-air force coordination and on night time operations. Most of the operations will take place in the state of Arunachal Pradesh, on the border with China, but some of the operations are also scheduled in neighbouring states like Assam. Long range bombing missions and deep penetration of the enemy territory will be practised during the exercises. Importance is also given to the land based manoeuvres required to guide the aircrafts and to the specialized terrain of Northeast India.

Army sources said that a number of military personnel from the Eastern command, along with equipment and vehicles will be taking part in the operations. The four day drill is expected to be completed by 3rd March.

After the controversial Bofors scandal more than two decades ago, the army had been reluctant to award contracts involving Howitzer guns. Many of the top ranking politicians at that time, including the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, were accused of receiving kickbacks from arms manufacturers in return for paying inflated prices for the Bofors artillery guns. Although during the last 20 years, the army had invited bids a number of times, it never finalized any of the tenders.

MM Pallam Raju, from the Indian defence ministry clarified that a total of 100 artillery guns will be manufactured and the orders are placed for the 155mm 52 calibre howitzer model. He informed the media that research work for the manufacture of a number of howitzer variants are underway and many of them are nearing completion. However, he clarified that the bids for artillery gun variants such as the Towed Howitzers, Self-Propelled Howitzers and Ultra Light Howitzers will be open to all, including foreign defence equipment manufacturers. The army plans to purchase a total of four hundred towed howitzers, along with 180 self-propelled ones and 145 ultra-light versions. The deals are part of a Rs.20,000 crore (USD 4 billion) artillery modernisation plan undertaken by the army, which plans to diversify and modernize its artillery equipment.

The OFB has been supplying the army with many of the Howitzer spare parts, including muzzle break, loading trough, recoil system, barrel, and breach mechanism. Recently it has also supplied the army the elevating and traversing cylinders, which are used for gun laying.

The outgoing Army chief, Gen. Vijay Kumar Singh had intended to induct at least one new artillery variant in to the army by March 2012, but it seems that the army will have to wait a little longer to see the plans materialized.

The Bofors scandal caused huge political controversy during the late 1980s and had tarnished the image of Rajiv Gandhi, along with other prominent Indian National Congress (INC) politicians. However, defence officials had lauded its performance during the Kargil war of 1999. During the war, the Indian army, with the help of these artillery guns, forced the Pakistan based insurgents to evacuate the regions which they had encroached in and around Kargil.

The Indian Ordnance Factories Board, which is headquartered in Kolkota, West Bengal is operating more than 40 arms and ammunition factories across India. It is fully government owned and functions under the defence ministry. In addition to the Howitzer guns, their products include Vidhwansak and INSAS rifles, various types of military vehicles and other defence equipment such as parachutes and propellants.

INS Arihant, which is the first nuclear powered submarine of the Arihant class submarine genus, was fully developed by the Indian agency Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). It is expected to complete its marine trials by early next year. The Indian Navy’s capabilities are already boosted significantly, after they recently inducted the Russian built INS Chakra in to its fold. However defence sources were sceptical whether the Indian Navy was technically advanced enough to operate two additional nuclear submarines without overstretching the resources.

Nuclear powered submarines are extremely difficult to detect through normal ship based sonars and other equipment. They can remain under water for as many as 100 days continuously, and they hardly emit any sound waves which can be detected by the enemy warships.

The news from India is significant, as many of their neighbours are also trying to build nuclear powered submarines. Defence experts believe that China is trying to develop its first fully indigenous version of the nuclear powered submarine, which is expected to be completed soon. It is already operating a number of nuclear submarines like Type 091 (Han) and Type 092 (Xia), but they are not fully nuclear powered.

The development of INS Arihant took many years and required a lot of effort from the Indian defence scientists. The first concrete steps were taken during 1998, when George Fernandes, the then defence minister gave his approval for the project. The project was officially launched in July 2009, by the Indian Prime Minister, Man Mohan Singh.

Pillai claimed that since the missile, which was jointly developed by the Indian and Russian scientists, uses an advanced air breathing scramjet propulsion technology, the fuel efficiency is expected to be much higher compared to other missiles of similar genus. Pillai addressed the media during his visit to the National Institute of Technology, Trichy (NITT), where he attended the annual International Techno – Management festival, termed Pragyan 2012.

Pillai was firm in his belief that progress in technology is the most important factor towards the overall development in India. He also pointed out that India is among just a handful of nations which are having the technological ability to design and manufacture supersonic cruise missiles.

Ship launched and land launched variants of the BrahMos are already operational under the Indian Armed Forces. The air launched and submarine launched versions are expected to enter the weapons inventory soon. Russia and India are planning to manufacture a total of 2,000 BrahMos cruise missiles in the next ten years. These missiles are destined for export as well as for the local use.

The proposed deal is estimated to cost the defence ministry around INR 50 billion. The new additions will come in handy for the Indian Navy, which had finalized a similar deal for the even more expensive Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance (MRMR) aircrafts in 2009. The deal with the Boeing Defense, Space & Security for the purchase of eight Boeing P-8 Poseidon aircrafts was finalized in 2009. The deal is worth around INR 150 billion (USD 3.1 billion) and the delivery is expected to be complete by the year 2015. A follow up offer for another four P-8 aircrafts is likely to be made.

AK Antony, the defence minister of India, gave his approval for the MRMR deal last week through the Defence Acquisitions Council, which is chaired by him. A number of global aircraft and defence companies, including heavyweights like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Saab AB, Dassault Aviation, Embraer SA, and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) are in contention for the huge contract.

MRMR aircrafts are similar to the LRMR in design, and have embedded radars, with the capacity to monitor airspace and marine surface for a distance of up to 600 kilometres (350 miles). They are armed with short to medium range missiles, and torpedoes, which can come in handy during various anti-warship and anti-submarine operations. The aircrafts will give the Indian Navy a huge boost in terms of marine patrolling capacity.

The Indian navy has divided the marine surveillance grid of India in to three regions. The P-8 Poseidons will be used for patrolling the outermost section. Dornier Flugzeugwerke aircrafts, along with the Israeli designed IAI Searcher and IAI Heron (Machatz-1) will patrol the innermost sector. The MRMR drones will fill the gap between the two.

Indian Navy has been boosting its surveillance and defence capacity in the last few years, triggered partially by the hijacking of several Indian ships by the pirates in Somalia and Malacca Strait. A number of deals have been made during the period, boosting the number of ships and other equipment which can be used for marine patrol. But constant surveillance can be a headache for the Navy, which has to guard the 3,370 mile long Indian coastline, from illegal poaching and smuggling. The Indian EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) is estimated cover an area of 200,000 sq.kms.

The navy aims to buy naval aviation equipment worth $17 billion over the next few years. Contracts worth $5.6 billion has been signed and awarded already. There is another one and a half dozen projects, which are in various stages of finalizing. These contracts are estimated to cost the Navy around $3.6 billion.

The Navy is planning to operate the refurbished former Soviet aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya (Admiral Gorschkov) as early as this year end. Another Vikrant class aircraft carrier is under construction and is expected to enter the service soon. A defence deal for the purchase of 45 Mikoyan MiG-29K multirole fighter jets is almost finalized with Russia, and is estimated to be worth some $2 billion. The jets will operate from both the aircraft carriers.

The navy is also planning to replace the Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King helicopters, which were inducted in to the navy many decades ago. Authorities are planning to buy a total of 90 multirole helicopters, which can be used for both air warfare and rescue operations. Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation is the frontrunner to grab the deal with its S-70 Firehawk, but the NH90 military helicopter, which is designed by the NHIndustries (NHI), is expected to give them a run for their money.

Admiral Muhammad Asif Sandila of the Pakistan Navy (PN) was quoted saying that the addition of nuclear weapons to the naval scene will break the already delicate equilibrium which exists in the IOR (Indian Ocean Region). He said to the American weekly Defence News that the peace and stability in the region will be adversely affected, as a result of this move.  However, he said that although the Pakistani Navy will be taking adequate responses to this move, his nation is not interested in an arms race. He rubbished plans for induction of similar nuclear subs in the Pakistani navy, saying there is no necessity for such measures as of now and that the financial situation of the country will be worsened if the navy piles up nuclear arsenal.

The INS Chakra II (К-152 Nerpa), an 8,000 tonne Akula II type nuclear-powered attack submarine was leased out to the Indian Navy by Russia in December 2011. INS Arihant, the 6,000 tonne Indian indigenous made nuclear powered submarine is expected to be fully operational by the end of this year.

Defence experts were quoted saying that the Pakistan Navy lacks the technological skills to develop a similar nuclear submarine, and therefore were likely to ask the Chinese for help. However Admiral Sandila denied these rumours and said that the Pakistan Navy can’t afford a nuclear submarine at this time due to difficult financial conditions. He also said that the naval strategy of his country is not based on an Indo-centric platform, but based on the strategic and defence needs of his nation.

Going with the recent information within reach, it is said that five jawans including the pilot were safe but the helicopter was hit by nine rounds in the mishap.

The MI-17 chopper of IAF was sent out to help the police and CRPF forces which had accepted the challenge taking on the naxals on the 18^th of December.

It was while getting back to base, the chopper experienced an attack from the naxals over a hill, though it successfully landed at Jagdalpur.

Sources reported that the chopper didn’t get any damage after the assault.

As the operation went in progress, nine naxals were arrested and large cache of weapons was seized, senior police officers emphasized.