DTN News - WW2: Indian Troops During Operation Battleaxe on August 6 1941

DTN News - WW2: Indian Troops During Operation Battleaxe on August 6 1941

Source: K. V. Seth - DTN News
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - September 11, 2013:  Indian troops, during Operation Battleaxe on August 6, 1941. An Indian infantry division was involved in the first attempt to remove Reverend Major Bachs' forces out of Halfaya Pass - an important position between the Egypt and Libyan border. 

The latter was then an Italian colony. Bachs was a German priest and therefore had a religious title, as well a military rank.

*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth - DTN News 
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*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News: India Launches First Nuclear-Powered Submarine

DTN News: India Launches First Nuclear-Powered Submarine

*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) NEW DELHI, India - July 26, 2009: India launched its first nuclear-powered submarine on Sunday, officials said, underlining the military advances made by the rapidly developing nation. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called it a "historic milestone in the country's defence preparedness" as the 6,000-tonne INS Arihant (Destroyer of Enemies) was named in the southern city of Visakhapatnam. The submarine, the first of five planned, is powered by an 85-megawatt nuclear reactor and can reach 44 kilometres an hour (24 knots) underwater, according to defence officials. It will be armed with torpedoes and ballistic missiles, and carry a crew of 95 men. "We don't have any aggressive designs nor do we seek to threaten anyone," the Press Trust of India quoted Singh as saying at the launch. "We seek an external environment in our region and beyond that is conducive to our peaceful development and protection of our value systems." India is now part of an exclusive group of nations -- including China, France, the United States, Britain and Russia -- which own nuclear-powered submarines. The vessel will undergo two years of sea trials in the Bay of Bengal before being commissioned for full service, according to PTI. India previously leased a Russian-built nuclear submarine, and in 2005 signed contracts worth 2.4 billion euros (three billion dollars) to receive six diesel-electric Franco-Spanish Scorpene submarines. The launch came as India marked the tenth anniversary of the brief but bloody Kargil conflict with arch-rival Pakistan in the disputed Kashmir region. More than 1,100 people, mostly Indian and Pakistani soldiers, died in the high-altitude offensive in the spring and summer of 1999 when Pakistan-based infiltrators crossed the icy frontier that separates the two countries. At a service earlier in New Delhi, Singh paid tribute to the Indian troops who died during the conflict. "They sacrificed their lives in defence of Indian unity and integrity," he said. A year before Kargil, India conducted nuclear weapons tests and Pakistan responded with its own tests a few days later.

The nuclear submarine is 110 meters in length and 11 meters in width, and has a surface displacement of 6000 tonnes. Navy sources said that work is in progress for building a second nuclear submarine. With Sunday’s launch, India enters the exclusive club of five countries comprising US, Russia, France and China, which have capabilities to develop nuclear submarines that operate nuclear submarine with the launch of the top-secret Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV), called silent killers for its ability to remain under water for a long period due to its nuclear-powered engines. The INS Arihant (destroyer of enemies) is a copy of Russian Charlie class nuclear submarine leased in 1980s. The trials of submarine here will prove its nuclear power plant and auxiliary systems before it goes to the Bay of Bengal for sea trials and weapon trials. The INS Arihant will begin its underwater journey from Shipbuilding Centre here. Once submerged, it will undergo two years of extensive trials, first in harbour and then at sea, before formally joining the navy. INS Arihant is a ballistic missile submarine armed with twelve K-15 missiles, each capable of carrying a 500-kg nuclear warhead to a target 750-km away. At present submarines used by the Indian Navy are the diesel electric versions that have to come up to recharge their batteries, increasing their chances of being spotted. For a brief period of three years from 1988-91 India used a nuclear submarine leased by Russia. Since then it has been trying to build one of its own. India will also get couple of nuclear-powered Russian Akula class submarines this year. The INS Chakra, an Akula-2 class nuclear powered attack submarine, is already undergoing sea trials in the Pacific Ocean before coming to India for induction.

DTN News: France Laid Out A Red Carpet For Defence Deals

DTN News: France Laid Out A Red Carpet For Defence Deals

*Source: DTN News / The Telegraph ~ Calcutta India....By SUJAN DUTTA

(NSI News Source Info) NEW DELHI, India - July 15, 2009: When contingents from the Indian armed forces led the Bastille Day parade in the Champs Elysees this morning, France was according India a rare honour. Indian Army guest-troops march down the Champs Elysees avenue during rehearsal early on July 11, 2009, in Paris, in preparation of the Bastille Day parade where the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be guest of honour. Joining the French troops, some 310 soldiers will parade down the Champs Elysees on July 14 to the sound of Indian martial music played by a 90-member military band. France’s charm offensive is not without reason: India’s armed forces hold out the possibility of billions of euros worth of orders for France’s military industrial complex. France lost out on two major deals that it thought it was close to clinching. In 2007, the defence ministry cancelled a tender for 197 helicopters for the Indian Air Force, an order that Eurocopter, with France and Germany in the lead, was convinced it was winning by edging out the US’s Bell Textron. Two years earlier, after protracted negotiations, India awarded the contract for 66 Hawk advanced jet trainers to British Aerospace. France’s Alphajet was an early competitor in the race but tardy Indian procedures edged it out. History repeated itself when Dassault Aviation decided in 2006 that it could not keep its assembly line for the Mirage 2000-V open in anticipation of an Indian order that may or may not materialise. The liberalisation of Indian defence procurement policies means that there are more orders for which France can bid, even as France seeks to build on traditional ties it has. But France is also noting the orders that Russia and the US have won without going through an open tender process. French companies have been expecting that an order to upgrade the IAF’s fleet of Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft — a favourite of Indian fighter pilots — that has been in the works for more than two years now would be contracted during the Prime Minister’s visit. The order could be worth more than $2 billion (Rs 10,000 crore), generating business for French majors Dassault Aviation and Thales. The Mirage 2000, that the IAF used in air-to-ground attacks in the 1999 Kargil war, are of French origin. But the French are facing stiff competition from Israeli firms to upgrade the aircraft’s avionics and weapon systems to extend service life by another 20 years. Defence secretary Vijay Singh, who is a member of the Prime Minister’s delegation to France, was widely expected to lead the negotiations and clinch an agreement this time. Singh is now headed back to India. A defence delegation from France, too, is expected. Other orders that France is expecting from India are: Coastal security software and hardware. Last month, Indian coast guard and navy officers visited France that is using its system of Napoleonic coastal fortresses networked with an EADS (European Aeronautic Defence & Space Company) system called Spationav. In 2005, India contracted six Scorpene submarines for $3 billion. Three are to be delivered by France (DCN Thales) fully made and three are to be made in Mazgaon Docks under transfer of technology. The project is delayed. The submarines are to be delivered between 2010 and 2015. Reports speak of the possibility of a delay in the transfer of technology. In that event, prices could escalate and France may ask for a renegotiation. India is renegotiating the Gorshkov aircraft carrier deal with Russia. The IAF wants to buy the Airbus A330 multi-role tanker transport (MRTT) instead of the Russian-built Ilyushin-78 air-to-air tanker. But the cabinet committee on security has not yet decided, unsure whether it is wise to irk the Russians. The Ilyushin and Airbus platform were competing for the tender announced by the ministry of defence three years ago, consisting of six mid-air tanker aircraft worth nearly $1 billion. France wants India to issue the contract soonest. The Rafale was one of the six fighter jets competing for India's tender for 126 multi-role fighters. In April 2009, news reports stated the Dassault Rafale has been disqualified from the competition for not meeting minimum performance requirements of the Indian Air Force. Other competing aircraft, namely Mikoyan MiG-35, F-16, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, JAS 39 Gripen and Eurofighter Typhoon, qualified for the next round of evaluation. However, the Indian Defense Ministry denied this report; an IAF spokesman stated, "we have not ruled anyone out yet in the MMRCA competition". The biggest of them all — the order for 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft for the IAF that could total as much as $12 billion. France is aggressively marketing the Rafale (Dassault). It is in competition with the F-16 Super Viper (Lockheed, US), F-18 Super Hornet (Boeing, US), MiG35 (RSK MiG Corp, Russia), Eurofighter Typhoon (EADS, European Consortium excluding France) and JAS 39 Gripen (Saab Gripen, Sweden). The governments are lobbying to win the order through diplomatic leverage. France’s plus point — it did not sanction India after the 1998 nuclear tests. Also Dassault, the maker of the Rafale, has a long-standing relationship with the IAF.

DTN News: President Nicolas Sarkozy Calls For High-Tech Military Spending

DTN News: President Nicolas Sarkozy Calls For High-Tech Military Spending *Source: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) PARIS, France - July 15, 2009: President Nicolas Sarkozy opened the traditional Bastille Day military parade to Indian and German troops Tuesday, as France looks to expand its global military influence. French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner attend the traditional garden party at the Elysee Palace following the Bastille day military parade in Paris, July 14, 2009. French forces marched with precision down the Champs Elysees along with Indian troops in colorful uniforms and German soldiers in sober dress. Attack jets in tight formation roared across blue skies overhead to the delight of thousands of cheering onlookers. The mood in the city was unaffected by violent clashes overnight in a Paris suburb. The annual holiday parade marks the July 14, 1789, storming of the Bastille prison in eastern Paris that helped spark the French Revolution. French companies have been seeking new markets for their military and nuclear technology, and Sarkozy pledged Tuesday that despite the economic crisis he would not seek to cut French military spending on high-tech weapons or intelligence gathering. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and French Army Chief of Staff Jean-Louis Georgelin open the Bastille Day military parade on their command car, at the top of the Champs Elysees avenue in Paris, on July 14, 2009. Indian troops star at France's Bastille Day military parade, with a proud 400-strong detachment marching down the Champs Elysees under the eyes of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The French military is in the midst of restructuring that has forced the closing of some military bases in France and Africa as the country expands in the Persian Gulf. France hopes its presence there will bolster international efforts to fight piracy and guard shipping lanes while giving France more leverage with Iran and the Gulf states. Sarkozy paid tribute to the effort of "modernization without precedent," and said he would put "an absolute priority on everything concerning intelligence" while emphasizing spending on military technology, especially that which could be used in the civilian sector. Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, greeted children who were treated in France for wounds received in wars and conflicts overseas, and also paid tribute to French troops serving with other NATO troops in Afghanistan. Indian troops parade on the Champs-Elysees during the Bastille Day's celebrations, on July 14, 2009 in Paris. Indian troops star at France's Bastille Day military parade, with a proud 400-strong detachment marching down the Champs Elysees under the eyes of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. "I told President Obama that we would help because this country (Afghanistan) must regain the conditions of its freedom. We are not going to let the Taliban cut off the hands of little girls because they put on nail polish," Sarkozy said. The German troops marching in Tuesday's parade, under the review of German President Horst Koehler, were part of a joint brigade deployed in the eastern French city of Strasbourg. As part of France's return to the NATO command structure this year after a 43-year absence, France welcomed the German troops into the Strasbourg brigade The focus on India was part of French attempts to extend its influence in regions where it has been overshadowed by Britain and the United States and to find new markets for its military and nuclear technology.

DTN News: India TODAY June 8, 2009 - Indian Paramilitary Soldier Patrols To Control Demonstrators In Srinagar

DTN News: India TODAY June 8, 2009 - Indian Paramilitary Soldier Patrols To Control Demonstrators In Srinagar

(NSI News Source Info) NEW DELHI, India - June 8, 2009: An Indian paramilitary soldier patrols on a deserted street outside the grand mosque in Srinagar, India, Monday, June 8, 2009. Forensic reports show that the two young women whose deaths sparked a week of protest in Indian Kashmir were raped, police said, increasing the potential for unrest among demonstrators who blame Indian troops for the killings.