Defence Current Affairs January 2017
GRSE Launched Seventh Landing Craft Utility Ship
- Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited launched the seventh Landing Craft-Utility (LCU) vessel for the Indian Navy on November 24, 2016.
- Eight XCUs are being built for maritime security of Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal and Lakshadweep Islands in the Arabian Sea.
- These LCUs are designed for multipurpose amphibious operations that are jointly carried out by Indian Navy.
- The bow of the ship opens out to form a ramp, which enables landing and unloading of combat equipment and vehicles on beaching.
Agni-I Ballistic Missile Successfully Test-fired
- India successfully test-fired its indigenously built nuclear-capable intermediate range Agni-I ballistic missile, capable of hitting a target 700 km away, from a test range of Odisha on November 23, 2016.
- The surface-to-surface, single-stage missile, powered by solid propellants, was test-fired from a mobile launcher from launch pad-4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Abdul Kalam Island (Wheeler Island).
- Weighing 12 tonnes, the 15-metre-long Agni-I, is designed to carry a payload of more than one tonne. It’s strike range can be extended by reducing the payload.
- Agni-I was developed by Advanced Systems Laboratory, the Premier Missile Development Laboratory of DRDO in collaboration with Defence Research Development Laboratory and Research Centre Imarat and integrated by Bharat Dynamics Limited, Hyderabad.
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Guided Missile Destroyer INS-Chennai Joins the Indian Navy
- INS-Chennai Guided Missile Destroyer, was commissioned into the Indian Navy by the Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar at an impressive ceremony held at the Naval Dockyard, Mumbai on November 21, 2016.
- INS-Chennai (D65) is the third ship of the Ko.lkata-class stealth guided missile destroyers of the Indian Navy. She was constructed at Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) located in Mumbai. INS-Chennai is the last of the three ships built under the code name Project 15A.
- The project was laid down in February, 2006, and was launched on April 2, 2010 by the then Defence Minister AK Antony’s wife Elizabeth Antony amidst chanting of Vedic hymns at a function in Mumbai. INS-Chennai is the first naval ship named after Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu.
Pakistan Conducted Military Exercise Close to Indian Border
- Pakistan conducted military exercise in a strategically located area in Punjab province, bordering India on November 16, 2016.
- Exercise Raad ul Barq (Strike of Thunder) establishes that Pakistan is ready to confront any ambitious and reckless move by its enemies.
- JF-17 Thunder fighter jets, helicopter gunships and Al-Khalid tanks hit designated targets on the ground during the military exercise, which comes just days after seven Pakistani soldiers were killed along the LoC.
India-China Joint Training Exercise ‘Hand-in-Hand 2016’ Held
- The India-China Joint ; Training Exercise ‘Hand-in-Hand 2016’ held in Pune from November 15 to 27.
- The exercise is in continuation of the series of joint i exercises between India and China. This will be the sixth j joint training exercise between the Indian Army and the People’s Liberation Amy of China and is held annually, alternately, in India and China.
- The aim of the joint training is to share the expertise in drills and practices while tackling insurgency and terrorism, thereby promoting healthy military to military relations between the two armies and developing joint strategies for conducting operations in a counter terrorism environment.
Army’s Demchok Mission Completed
- The Demchok region of Eastern Ladakh despite a face-off last week with Chinese troops over the work on November 8, 2016.
- The irrigation project was being built under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme to link a village with a ‘hot spring’.
- This is the first time since 2014 when the Chinese Army had come deep inside the Indian territory in Demchok in protest against an ongoing irrigation project.
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