Indian Army

Speaking at the Rashtriya Raksha University in Gandhinagar, the Army chief said: "For a country to prosper, you need a stable and peaceful environment. That will happen only if you have strong armed forces that will secure your borders. Therefore, whenever we talk of our armed forces and the expenditure made on our armed forces, we should not see it as an investment. "

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday released the third positive indigenisation list of 101 items, comprising major equipment and platforms. The list, notified by the Department of Military Affairs, Ministry of Defence (MoD), lays special emphasis on equipment/systems which are being developed and are likely to translate into firm orders in the next five years.

He has proceeded on Singapore visit from April 4 to April 6. During the visit, he will be meeting senior military and civilian leadership of the country. On April 4, General Naravane will lay a wreath at the Kranji War Memorial. The Army Chief is scheduled to call on the Minister of Defence, Chief of Singapore Army and other senior dignitaries where he will discuss avenues for enhancing India-Singapore defence relations.

Lt Gen Pande will take over the reign as he is the senior most in the force after General Naravane. In the meantime, Gen Naravane is the front runner for the post of Chief of Defence Staff after the passing of General Bipin Rawat in a helicopter crash December last year. General Rawat, his wife Madhulika and 12 armed personnel were killed in a chopper crash on December 8, 2021.

“The latest sniper rifles have been inducted into the army. They are using it now. These are Sako .338 TRG 42 sniper rifles,” a senior official told news agency PTI. These rifles have an improved range, firepower as well as telescopic sights than those rifles possessed by the enemy combatant, the official further said.  In 2018-2019, the incidents of sniping suddenly increased along both the International Border as well as Line of Control (LoC).

The defence officials informed that the extended range missile hit the target accurately. “India today successfully test fired surface to surface BrahMos supersonic cruise missile in Andaman & Nicobar. Extended range missiles hit its target with pinpoint accuracy,” ANI quoted the defence officials as saying. Air chief Marshal VR Chaudhari congratulated on the successful test-firing of Brahmos, the defence officials further said.

Officials of the BSF's South Bengal Frontier command said that a farmer from Purbapara, a village adjacent to the BSF border post Kalyani in North 24 Parganas, found a broken China-made drone in a field near the India-Bangladesh border, after which BSF security has been beefed up. The drone was found by the farmer early on March 19 in a field just 300 metres away from the international border, the officials said.

The formal announcement was made by General M.M. Naravane, Chief of Army Staff and Officiating Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee, at a ceremony organised at the South Block on Tuesday.

In a solemn ceremony at BB Cantt, Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi, GOC-in-C Northern Command and all ranks, paid homage to the gallant soldiers. An Army Cheetah helicopter had crashed on Friday in Baraub area of Gurez in Bandipora district, while on a routine mission to evacuate an ailing soldier from a forward post.

Of the four terrorists, two were killed in Pulwama, and one each in Handwara and Ganderbal. According to the authorities, two terrorists belonged to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror outfit and the two others were from Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM). Meanwhile, security forces managed to capture one terrorist.