Current Affairs March 2020 - Defence

1 - Government issued industrial licenses to 15 companies for manufacturing Bullet Proof Jackets

Government has issued industrial licenses to 15 companies for manufacturing Bullet Proof Jackets (BPJs) to meet the domestic and export requirements. These companies have production capacity of over 10 lakh BPJs per annum.

BPJs are also being exported to 18 countries. India is the fourth country after the US, UK and Germany to have its own national standard on bulletproof jacket which provides 360-degree protection.

2 - IAF and Savitribai Phule Pune University signed MoU to establish ‘Chair of Excellence’

IAF and Savitribai Phule Pune University entered into an academic collaboration by signing a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a 'Chair of Excellence' at Department of Defence & Strategic Studies. The “Chair of Excellence” which will be named as “Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh Chair of Excellence” has been planned to be established at Department of Defence & Strategic Studies under this unique initiative of Indian Air Force.

The Chair will enable IAF officers to pursue Doctoral Research and higher studies in Defence & Strategic Studies and allied fields and facilitate inculcating strategic outlook.

3 - Joint Air Exercise conducted with Myanmar

A Table Top Exercise between the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Myanmar Air Force (MAF) was conducted on the theme of HADR. The objectives of the exercise included planning of HADR operation in a given scenario, learn best practices, executing mission during HADR disasters, understand Search and Rescue Mission procedures, etc.

The exercise was conducted under the aegis of Headquarters Central Air Command, IAF. Around 20 member team of IAF participated in the exercise. The Air Forces of both countries were able to achieve the objectives of the laid down procedure.

4 - Defence Minister released Draft Defence Procurement Procedure 2020

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh released Draft Defence Procurement Procedure(DPP), 2020. The policy is aligned with the vision of the government to empower the private industry through the Make in India initiative with the ultimate of turning India into a global manufacturing hub. The government has introduced leasing as another category to get defence equipment at affordable rates.

The new procedure aims to increase Indigenous Content ratio. The procedure has introduced “Buy Global” category. Under this category, only minimum necessary is to be bought from abroad.