Defence Scan By Air Mshl PK Roy

Raksha Mantri Smt Nirmala Sitharaman concluded an official bilateral visit (12-13 February 2019) to Germany, at the invitation of her counterpart, Federal Minister of Defence of Germany, Dr Ursula von der Leyen. During the visit, the two Ministers reviewed the bilateral defence cooperation and noted with satisfaction the steady growth in bilateral defence ties. They also signed an ‘Implementing Arrangement on Enhanced Defence and Defence Industry Cooperation’ which would further strengthen military to military engagement as well as defence industry and R & D linkages. During her visit, RM also interacted with CEOs of German defence industry and urged them to expand their collaboration in defence manufacturing in India under the ‘Make in India’ initiative as well as promote defence technology and R&D cooperation with Indian companies.

Indian Air Force and the Indian Army carried out a major airborne exercise from Jorhat in Assam. During the four-day day and night exercise, over 700 static line and 120 freefall para jumps were carried out. C-130 and An-32 aircraft flew from different bases and in a coordinated manner and para dropped troops at designated dropping zones in Arunachal Pradesh.

Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa, Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Indian Air Force paid an official four day visit to Bangladesh from 11 to 14 February 2019. This was a bilateral goodwill visit wherein the CAS visited operational and training units of Bangladesh Air Force. CAS called on the Chiefs of the three Defence Services and the Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. The visit would provide further impetus towards increasing defence cooperation and pave the way for greater interaction. It would also strengthen relationships and enable engagement in productive exchanges between the two Air Forces.

Indian Air Force will demonstrate its fire power and showcase its day/ dusk/ night capabilities on February 16, 2019 during exercise “Vayu Shakti-2019” planned to be held at the Pokhran range near Jaisalmer in Rajasthan. This exercise would involve over 137 aircraft that would include Fighters/ Transports aircraft, Helicopters and Remotely Piloted Vehicles operating from eight different bases. As per the Vice Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Anil Khosla, a variety of weapons will be used during the demonstration, including guns, rockets of different calibre, bombs, smart weapons, surface-to-air-guided weapons and air-to-air weapons.

A MiG-27 fighter aircraft crashed near Pokhran Range in Rajasthan on February 12, 2019. The aircraft was on a training mission and had taken off from Jaisalmer airbase. The pilot ejected safely. A court of inquiry to investigate the cause of the accident has been ordered.