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New Delhi needs more firepower to protect its stake in the Indian Ocean, defense experts say The Indian navy will add another warship into its rapidly expanding fleet over the weekend as it seeks to counter China’s growing supremacy on the high seas of the Indo-Pacific. The INS Kamorta, which Indian officials are lauding as the nation’s first domestically built antisubmarine warship, will be unveiled to the public on Saturday during a ceremony at a naval dockyard in the eastern seaboard city of Visakhapatnam. Earlier this month, newly elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi christened the nation’s newest naval destroyer, the...

The world's biggest defence deal is in danger of becom-ing one of the slowest in his-tory. More than two years after India zeroed in on the French Rafale fighter jet-after a tor-tured 11-year selection process-to replace its ageing MiG-21s, the Ger-man-led European consortium which was the runner-up in the race has sought to restart the dogfight by offer-ing a new, cheaper proposal for its Eurofighter Typhoon. The Narendra Modi Government, INDIA TODAY has learnt, is studying the German proposal even as Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has been nego-tiating with France's Dassault, the maker of the Rafale, to finalise agree-ments to...

As the wait for Project 75 India gets longer, and as an RFP gets more elusive, both France and Russia are in discussions with the Indian Navy to supply two submarines quickly off the shelf. As SP's had reported last year, France's DCNS has already offered to quickly build two Scorpene attack submarines and supply them. Reports now suggest that Rosoboronexport has made a similar offer. In such an instance, the Amur 1650 is on offer, and would be the first of the type ever built. The tantalising underwater battle between the French and Russians has veered from one side...

The Indian Foreign Ministry said it wouldn't take part in discussions set for next week after Pakistan's envoy in India met with separatist leaders from Jammu and Kashmir, an Indian state also claimed by Pakistan. India's foreign secretary told the Pakistani envoy "that Pakistan's continued efforts to interfere in India's internal affairs were unacceptable," said Syed Akbaruddin, the Foreign Ministry spokesman. "Under the present circumstances, it is felt that no useful purpose will be served" by a meeting between the two sides ... This month has seen a sharp increase in violations of a 2003 cease-fire agreement aimed at reducing...

Chinese troops are reported to have entered 25 to 30 km deep into Indian territory in Burtse area in Ladakh where they had pitched their tents last year that had led to a tense three-week standoff. Official sources said on Monday a patrol of Indian troops noticed the People's Liberation Army (PLA) personnel on Sunday while moving from their base towards the higher 'New Patrol base' post in Burtse area of North Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir. The area is at an altitude of 17,000 feet. The sources said the troops after walking barely 1.5 km from their base spotted...

Between 1989 and 2010, Congress rejected nearly 700 cap-tax-and-trade and similar bills that their proponents claimed would control Earth’s perpetually fickle climate and weather. So even as real world crises erupt, President Obama is using executive fiats and regulations to impose his anti-hydrocarbon agenda, slash America’s fossil fuel use, bankrupt coal and utility companies, make electricity prices skyrocket, and “fundamentally transform” our economic, social, legal and constitutional system. Citing climate concerns, he has refused to permit construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, and blocked or delayed Alaskan, western state and offshore oil and gas leasing and drilling. He’s proud that...

Fresh off a trip to India and Australia, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel addressed a group of Marines in San Diego, California Tuesday, and may have delivered a line that will show up in Republican campaign ads this election cycle. After updating the troops on some issues in the Pacific region and the Middle East, Hagel took questions from some of the Marines and gave a stark assessment of the global security situation: "The world is exploding all over." The remark came in response to a question about the Obama administration's realignment of the military towards the Asia-Pacific theater:

NEW DELHI: On April 2, 1946, the Reuters correspondent in Melbourne, Australia, cabled a short message, which was carried by all newspapers a day later, including The Times of India. It read: "The Japanese Lieutenant Hisata Tomiyasu found guilty of the murder of 14 Indian soldiers and of cannibalism at Wewak (New Guinea) in 1944 has been sentenced to death by hanging, it is learned from Rabaul." The nationalist narrative has long projected the Second World War as a clash between the patriots of the Indian National Army (INA), supported by the Japanese Empire, and the evil British Empire. The...

New Delhi: The largest indigenously-built warship INS Kolkata, to be inducted into the Navy by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 16, will be commissioned without its main air defence weapon which protects the vessel from aerial attacks. The Long Range-Surface to Air Missile (LR-SAM) is under development in a joint venture between India and Israel and is expected to complete its trials in September and would then be available for being deployed on board the warship INS Kolkata, Rear Admiral AB Singh told reporters here. He said the 6,800-tonne warship will have close-in weapon systems and chaffes to provide...

NEW DELHI: The US has overtaken Russia as the largest arms supplier to India in the last three years. But in terms of overall numbers, Russia still remains the biggest weapons exporter to India, having notched military sales worth over $40 billion since the first MiG-21 jets and T-55 tanks in the 1960s to the present-day Sukhoi-30MKI fighters and T-90S main-battle tanks. Russia, of course, is now running scared of the aggressive inroads being made by the US into the money-spinning Indian arms market, as if the continuing challenge from France and Israel was not enough. India, incidentally, has even...

The surface-to-air missiles were to be sent to Israel for testing The eponymously named Long Range Surface to Air Missile (LR-SAM), being co-developed by the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), is already two years late. Now, because of Israel's invasion of Gaza, the delay will get longer. Business Standard has learnt that four LR-SAM rocket motors, built in India and despatched to Tel Aviv for trials, have been lying in Seoul, South Korea, for close to a month. The DRDO confirms that the rockets, filled with highly combustible propellant, were despatched on a commercial...

NEW DELHI: India has offered to significantly increase an order for US attack helicopters, Indian officials said, as US defense secretary Chuck Hagel began a visit to New Delhi on Thursday aimed at boosting defence and strategic ties. The Apache gunships and a deal for Chinook helicopters, both built by Boeing, will top the agenda in Hagel's talks on Friday with India's new administration led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India has offered a follow-on order of 39 AH-64D Apache helicopters in addition to the 22 now being negotiated, an Indian defence ministry official said. The sides have been wrangling...

NEW DELHI - The new Indian government under Narindra Modi’s leadership is moving the cabinet committee on security (CCS) to buy 262 Barak-I anti-ship missile systems and spares, costing nearly Rs. 1,000 crore, from Israel. The purchase was cleared by defence acquisition council under former defence minister AK Antony last December. Defence Ministry sources said the CCS note was moved this week for the purchase of the Barak missile from Israeli Aircraft Industries and Rafael Advanced Systems of Israel. Both firms were probed by the CBI in 2006 for a Rs. 1,100 crore missile deal in 2000 under the previous...

This one really takes the (urinal?) cake... I myself have spent a bit of time in Europe, and one thing that strikes you as disgusting is the taking-a-leak in public thing- particularly bad the farther East you go (Czech Republic comes to mind). And it's not just drunks at 3am -though there's never any shortage of that- but the carefree, utterly shameless roadside drainage -in broad daylight, as minivans full of families motor by- you even see on the side of the freeway (and not in any woods/weeds or anything, either). But from what I've heard, India is a whole...

The design bureau and Russian Helicopters offer to help the Indian Navy meet its shortage of helicopters by supplying Ka-52Ks. Ka-52k is the navalised derivative of the Ka-52 (photo). Source: www.russianhelicopters.aero Russia’s Kamov helicopter design bureau and Russian Helicopters are ready to jointly supply modern seaborne helicopters for the Indian Navy on request, Kamov Chief Designer Sergei Mikheyev said on Tuesday. “Upon request from the Indian Navy, we are ready to supply jointly with Russian Helicopters the necessary number of seaborne helicopters and offer the latest developments to the Indian side, including the Ka-52K helicopters,” Mikheyev said. Helicopters operational in...

Tank Biathlon World Championship kicks off outside Moscow. Teams from Angola, Armenia, Belarus, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Mongolia, Russia, Serbia and Venezuela are participating in the competition.

Here’s how bad things are between Washington and New Delhi these days: It’s news that Kerry even made the trip. Why this reluctant partnership might be best left to wither.So low is the bar in U.S.-India relations right now that the best thing that can be said about John Kerry’s two-day hop-over to New Delhi was that he went there at all. A relationship that burst into true blossom under George W. Bush, one that held for many Americans the promise of a mold-breaking alliance for the 21st century, lies shabbily dormant. Indeed, the only memorable episode in Kerry’s visit...

Twelfth-century Hindu temple breaks with tradition after Supreme Court rules against two Brahmin families who have claimed exclusive ancestral rights to choosing priests for centuriesA twelfth-century Hindu temple that attracts hundreds of thousands of pilgrims annually is to admit women and lower-caste men as priests for the first time. The historic break with tradition came about after India's Supreme Court ruled against the two Brahmin families, Badve and Utpat, who had provided the temple's priests for centuries. The court ruled against their claim to exclusive ancestral rights over the earnings and rituals at Vitthal Rukmini temple, in the town of...

Navi Pillay said Tel Aviv's two-week onslaught on Gaza - which has cost more than 650 Palestinians lives - would be thoroughly investigated. Ms Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the attacks have destroyed houses and hospitals and killed civilians. "These are just a few examples where there seems to be a strong possibility that international humanitarian law has been violated, in a manner that could amount to war crimes. "Every one of these incidents must be properly and independently investigated." According to Gaza officials, 475 houses have been destroyed and 2,644 damaged, while 46 schools, 56 mosques...

GENEVA, July 23 (Reuters) - The United Nations on Wednesday launched an international inquiry into human rights violations and crimes that may have been committed by Israel during its military offensive in the Gaza Strip. The U.N. Human Rights Council condemned the Israeli assault which it said had involved "disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks", including aerial bombing of civilian areas, collective punishment, and the killing of more than 650 Palestinians. At the end of an emergency session, the 47-member forum adopted a resolution presented by Palestinians by a vote of 29 states in favor, 1 against (the United States) with 17...