Current Affairs October 2018 - Defence

1 - India Will Gift Three MiG-21 Fighters To Russia

During the India-Russia bilateral summit in New Delhi, India announced it would gift three MiG-21 Fighters to Russia.

Based on a discussion between the Russian Defence Minister and the Indian Defence Minister, the Three MiG-21s are scheduled to be handed over to Russia. The Three MiG-21s comprise one Type 75 aircraft and two Type 77 aircraft.”

This gift will be a significant symbolic gesture to showcase the all-weather friendship and deep strategic partnership between India and Russia.

2 - Prithvi-II Missile Successfully Test-Fired

India’s Strategic Forces Command successfully test-fired Prithvi-II missile from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur near Balasore in Odisha.

With a strike range of 350 km, Prithvi-II is a surface-to-surface indigenously developed nuclear capable missile. Its dimension is 9 metres tall and single-stage liquid-fuelled. It is capable of carrying 500 to 1,000 kg of warheads and its technology is thrusted by liquid propulsion twin engines. It uses advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvring trajectory to hit its target.

3 - India & Japan Bilateral Maritime Exercise

Japanese Rear Admiral Tatsuya Fukada on his visit to India brought along Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) Ship Kaga, an Izumo Class Helicopter Destroyer and Inazuma – a Guided Missile Destroyer to participate in the third edition of Japan-India Maritime Exercise (JIMEX) with the ships of Eastern Fleet of the Indian Navy.

The ships participating are INS Satpura, multipurpose stealth frigate, INS Kadmatt, Anti-Submarine Warfare Corvette, Missile Corvette and INS Shakti, the Fleet Tanker.

4 - Joint Exercise by Armies of India and Japan

Armies of India and Japan will hold their first joint exercise from November 1 at the jungle warfare school located in Mizoram's Vairengte. The focus of such joint exercise is to strengthen counter-terror cooperation.

Besides, the focus of the two-week-long joint exercise 'Dharma Guardian' will be to enhance interoperability between the two forces and also to harmonize coordination in dealing with various security challenges. Both sides will jointly train, plan, and execute a series of well-developed tactical drills for neutralisation of probable threats that may encounter in urban warfare scenario.

5 - Israeli Missile Deal Worth of $777 Million

India’s Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) has signed a deal with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) worth USD 777 million. As per the deal, the IAI will supply Barak 8 Long-Range Surface-to-Air Missile (LR-SAM), Air and Missile Defence (AMD) systems for 7 ships of the Indian Navy.

Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) will be the key manufacturer for the project.

6 - Su-30MKI Handed Over To Indian Air Force

The 11 Base Repair Depot (BRD) of the Indian Air Force in Nashik district of Maharashtra handed over its first indigenously renovated Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter jet to the IAF.

Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter jet is a twin-jet multi-role air superiority aircraft developed by Russia’s Sukhoi and built (under) license by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) of India.