INDIAN DEFENCE UPDATE

India has finally extended an invitation to Australia to join the Malabar Exercise 2020 which also includes the US and Japan. Australia will join the Malabar exercise after 13 years – Canberra last participated in the Naval drills in 2007. This year the exercise is expected to be held in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea and is scheduled to be held in November. “As India seeks to increase cooperation with other countries in the maritime security domain and in the light of increased defence cooperation with Australia, Malabar 2020 will see the participation of the Australian Navy,” Ministry of Defence said in a statement on Monday. In the backdrop of Chinese aggression, New Delhi’s decision came after the Quad countries – the US, Japan, India and Australia met in Tokyo on October 6. While all the four members are facing hostilities from China, the officials of Japan, India and Australia refrained from using China’s name although the US’ State Secretary, Mike Pompeo, didn’t hold bac

India’s first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC-1) Vikrant is going for Basin Trials this month, with reports stating that the sea trials will follow in December. The 40,000-tonne warship will be tested for propulsion, transmission and shafting systems during the trials, which were earlier scheduled for September but were delayed due to the pandemic. It will now take a year more before the mega-ship is commissioned into the Indian Navy, after which the flight trials will make it ready for battle. The delay in the induction of the carrier now seems to extend until early 2022 – something the country can hardly afford amidst the current stand-off with China. IAC-1 is expected to be equipped with a short take-off barrier arrested design (STOBAR), similar to India’s already operational INS Vikramaditya, but will field a slightly smaller air wing in terms of numbers. The Indian Navy has been aggressively pushing for a third aircraft carrier for a long time, especially after Chief of Defence S

With no signs of disengagement on the ground in Ladakh, where India and China have been locked in a stand-off since April, both sides will stay dug in during the region’s bitter winter too. New Delhi: India has made it clear to China that its soldiers will open fire to defend themselves, and Chinese tactics of “using mass” — or seeking to outnumber Indian soldiers, like in the 15 June Galwan Valley clash — will not be tolerated, top government sources said. With no signs of disengagement on the ground in Ladakh, where India and China have been locked in a stand-off since April, both sides will stay dug in during the region’s bitter winter too, the sources added. The Chinese, they added, have deployed around 50,000 soldiers and equipment, including missile systems, tanks and artillery, at the border. The sources’ comments come as the ground situation in Ladakh remains the same despite the Chinese seemingly adopting a reconciliatory approach during different levels of dialogue. They sugg

With a resolution to the stand-off far away, New Delhi must study how Beijing has handled its other boundary disputes The mystic, celestial snow lion, ‘Gang Seng Ge’ in local lore, derives its name from the Sanskrit Simha. It is the emblem of Tibet showcasing its eternally snow-covered mountains and glaciers, even as it symbolises power, strength, fearlessness and the joy of living. It is also the symbol and the flag of the intrepid, fearless warriors of the ‘Special Frontier Force’, or the SFF, which has figured so prominently in the recent clashes in eastern Ladakh. Standoff in the heights Towards the end of April this year, 4 Motorised and 6 Mechanised Divisions of the Chinese Western Theatre Command, having completed their exercises on the edge of the Gobi Desert, took to the Xinjiang highway. In a well-planned and rehearsed move, they branched off onto a series of feeder roads on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh. Once the troops were in position, they initiated m

As LAC Standoff Forces Deployment of More Troops, Winter Presents a Daunting Challenge Chandigarh: The Indian Army’s upcoming winter deployment along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh against China’s hegemonic military is projected to adversely impact the physical and psychological wellbeing of its personnel as well as their weaponry, according to defence analysts and senior serving and retired officers. Over the decades, most people have taken for granted the Army’s annual high altitude winter deployments at places like the 17,000 feet high Siachen Glacier – definitively christened the world’s highest battlefield – which India occupied in 1984. But few actually realise that the travails, hardships and privations which Indian soldiers have recurrently faced here for 36 years, will now be imminently duplicated along the LAC’s unforgiving terrain for over 40,000 troops in the impending winter. “There is no comparable military deployment anywhere else, except by the Pakis

Army sources said the period until at least the first week of November, after which snow becomes a hurdle from an operational perspective, is crucial. New Delhi: Suspicious of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the Indian Army continues to maintain a strict vigil all along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh. Sources in the defence and security establishment told ThePrint that the Army cannot leave anything to chance, and the period until at least the first week of November is crucial. This is because while the winter starts setting in from October, it is only by mid November that snow becomes a hurdle from an operational perspective, the sources added. “The situation on the ground remains unchanged. We are at our positions and they are at theirs. We are not leaving anything to chance,” a source said. The source also said that the entire LAC is being closely monitored because China could open up another front besides the one in Ladakh to pile up pressure on India. Following the