Strategic Forces Command Exempted RTI Ambit
- The crucial Strategic Forces Command (SFC), which looks after the nuclear arsenal of the country, kept out of the ambit of the Right to Information li” Act on July 29, 2016.
- The SFC has been included in the list of 26 intelligence and security agencies which are exempted from providing information under the transparency, law said a senior official in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which . acts as a nodal authority for implementation of the RTI law.
- The Command has the sole responsibility of initiating the process of delivering nuclear weapons and warheads after acquiring explicit approval from the NCA.
India Signed $ 1 Billion Deal with Boeing to buy P-81 Aircraft for Navy
- India and the USA signed a deal worth over $ 1 billion for the purchase of four additional Poseidon-81 long-range maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft on July 27, 2016. The P-81 is a long-range anti-submarine M warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft capable of broad area, maritime and littoral operations.
- It is equipped with the sophisticated Harpoon missiles, lightweight torpedoes and rockets, the Indian Navy has been using the P-81 to keep watch over the Indian Ocean, which has seen forays by Chinese submarines including the docking of a Chinese nuclear submarine in Sri Lanka.
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DRDO Successfully Tested New Advanced Towed Artillery Artillery Gun System
- India’s Defense Research and Development Organisation successfully conducted proof firing tests of a new towed gun currently being developed for the Indian Army on July 14, 2016.
- With this successfully test-firing of the gun, the so-called Advanced Towed ATAGS achieved a ‘technological breakthrough’.
- The ATAGS is being developed to supplement the indigenously designed and manufactured 155 mm/ 45 caliber artillery gun, Dhanush, an improved version of the FH-77B 155 mm/39 caliber towed howitzer manufactured by the Swedish defense contractor Bofors (now BAE Systems) and of which India acquired 414 between 1987 and 1991.
- The new gun will allegedly be capable of firing five rounds in short duration with a maximum range of 40 km, depending on the ammunition type The gun will be lighter than most other guns in the same category, which will assure . IB ‘high mobility’ and ‘quick deployability.’
INS-Karna Commissioned by Navy Chief
- The Navy’s dedicated base for its Special Operation Forces (MARCOS) INS-Karna was commissioned by the Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba on July 13, 2016. The establishment of the first base for Indian Navy’s elite force with capability to operate in all three dimensions of warfare (air, land and sea) in the homeport of the Navy on the Eastern Seaboard marks another milestone in Indian Navy.
- The MARCOS East unit has progressed in terms of manpower, infrastructure, equipment Holding and other resources. The complement of the unit has risen from an initial strength of two officets and 40 sailors to 25 officers and 300 sailors. The MARCOS Base has been named after the supreme archer and warrior from Indian Epic Mahabharata, Kama.
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