GENERAL BIPIN RAWAT TAKES OVER AS FIRST #CDS
General Bipin Rawat took over as the first Chief of Defence Staff on January 1 2020. As brought out in the last issue of this magazine, he will be the Principal Military Advisor to Raksha Mantri on Tri-Services matters as also head Department of Military Affairs. He will be responsible for ensuring optimum utilisation of allocated budget, training, joint planning, integration and procurement along with facilitation of indigenisation of weapons and equipment.
ARMY OFFICERS FACILITATE IN PREMATURE DELIVERY IN TRAIN
On December 28, 2019, @adgpi tweeted that “Captain Lalitha and Captain Amandeep of Indian Army posted at 172 Military Hospital, facilitated in premature delivery of a passenger while traveling on the Howrah Express. Both mother and baby are hale and hearty”.
INDIAN AIR FORCE BIDS FAREWELL TO MIG-27 AIRCRAFT
After more than three decades of its induction, IAF decommissioned its iconic MiG-27 fighter aircraft at Air Force Station Jodhpur on December 27, 2019. IAF plans to number plate the squadron on March 31, 2020. During the ceremony, Air marshal S K Ghotia, the Air Officer Commanding-in-chief, South Western Air Command said “…the fighter aircraft had been at the frontline and had proved its worth in the 1999 Kargil War…” Inducted in 1985, this aircraft had been the backbone of the ground-attack fleet of the IAF and had the nickname of ‘Bahadur’.
NEW ARMY CHIEF
On December 31, 2019, General Manoj Mukund Naravane took over as the Chief of Army Staff from the outgoing Army Chief General Bipin Rawat.
INDIAN AIR FORCE RESURRECTS ITS 222 SQN
On December 31, 2019, IAF has resurrected it’s No 222 Squadron—’The Tiger Sharks’ with state of the art Su-30 MKI Multirole Fighter aircraft. 222 Squadron was raised on 15th September 1969 with Su-7 aircraft. The squadron thereafter got equipped with the MiG-27 Ground Attack Aircraft prior to getting number plated in 2011.
RAKSHA MANTRI LAUNCHES DASHBOARD OF DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE
Raksha Mantri launched Dashboard of Department Defence, Ministry of Defence this week. The internal Dashboard will be used for effective monitoring of budget expenditure, redressal of public grievances and clearance of public projects on defence land. During the review, Defence Secretary informed that through this initiative, the DoD will be able to better monitor major initiatives of the department in a more effective way.
INDUCTION OF FLIGHT INSPECTION SYSTEM AIRCRAFT (DORNIER-228)
Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria formally inducted the Flight Information system Dornier aircraft into No 41 Squadron at a ceremony at Air Force Station Palam this week. The modified Dornier 228 aircraft have been acquired to undertake in-house calibration of Navigational aids available after implementation of Modernised Airfield Infrastructure at IAF bases. While the first aircraft was delivered in November 2019, the second is expected to be delivered in early 2020.
RAKSHA MANTRI LAUNCHES DEFEXPO-020 MOBILE APP
Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh launched a mobile app of the forthcoming DefExpo 2020 this week. The app is available on Apple App Store and Android Play Store. The main features of the app are ‘inform, engage and feedback’. It provides detailed information about the day-to-day events; participating exhibitors; Defence Public Sector Undertakings, guest speakers of seminars/webinars; publications i.e., electronic brochures and e-books; maps and directions of the venues and city weather. The app has been developed by Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence (MoD). Raksha Mantri also reviewed the preparations of DefExpo 2020. The DefExpo 2020 is scheduled to be held at Lucknow from February 5-8, 2020.
PRESS MEET BY CHAIRMAN, ISRO
On January 1, 2020, during a press meet organised at ISRO Headquarters, Dr K Sivan, Chairman, ISRO outlined ISRO’s achievements and plans for the current year. Salient features brought out by him were:
- Six launch vehicle and seven satellite missions were realised during 2019.
- Year 2019 also marked the 50th launch of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.
- Indigenously developed Vikram processor by Semi-Conductor Laboratory flight tested.
- International mobile standards body 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) approved India’s regional navigation satellite system NavIC which would facilitate NavIC’s use in mobile phones.
- A second launch port, exclusively for the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle, is planned to be established in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu.
- Space Technology Incubation Centres and Regional Academic Centres for Space have been established during the year and many more such centres are planned in the future.
- Chandrayaan-3 mission to the moon, comprising a lander and a rover is approved by Government and activities for its realisation are in progress.
- Good progress has been made towards first human space flight mission Gaganyaan. Astronaut selection for the mission has been completed. Four astronauts have been selected, who will undergo extensive training.
ARMY RESCUES 1,500 STRANDED TOURISTS IN SIKKIM
On December 27, 2019, a large number of tourists travelling to Nathu La from Gangtok in Sikkim were stranded on the Jawahar Lal Nehru Road due to heavy snowfall. A press release by the Indian Army said that the army rescued these stranded tourists and accommodated some of them in Army camps. They were provided food, warm clothing and medicines. n
