Navy's sole aircraft carrier was procured from Russia, India is however building its own carriers
Enhancing safety and security of the country, providing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief during natural and man-made disasters, modernisation of the Armed Forces and supporting indigenisation and manufacturing of defence equipment through the 'Make-in-India' initiative have been the main features of the Ministry of Defence during 2017.
Dedicating the naval Submarine INS Kalvari to the nation this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated had described it as a prime example of 'Make-in-India'. Brahmos, the World's fastest supersonic cruise missile created history in November 2017 when it was successfully flight-tested first time from the Indian Air Force's frontline fighter aircraft Sukhoi-30MKI.
The surface-to-air missile Akash was successfully launched. The first ever tri-services exercise INDIRA between India and Russia was conducted in October, 2017.
The defence ministry launched special campaign to celebrate Armed Forces Flag Day to honour the martyrs and the men in uniform.
Another flagship event of the year was the first ever Indian circumnavigation of the globe by all-women crew on Indian Navy sailing vessel INSV Tarini The Tarini was flagged off on September 10, 2017 and is expected to return to Goa in April 2018. The expedition titled 'Navika Sagar Parikarma' is in consensus with the national policy to give women power to attain their full potential. The search and rescue operation 'Op Sahayam' continues to bring succour to the fishing community and seafarers affected by the Ockhi cyclone.Besides, despite a lot of challenges the internal security situation in Jammu and Kashmir has been brought under control. Relentless operations by the Army both, along the Line of Control (LC) and in the hinterland have thwarted the designs of giving a fillip to the proxy war being waged against India.
In the North Eastern states, the intelligence based operations have been launched along Indo-Myanmar border to maintain peace in the region and to effectively neutralise the terrorists. As far as situation along LAC bordering with China, the status quo is maintained.
As far as Navy is concerned, the INS Sunayna was deployed to Abu Dhabi, UAE from February 10- March 12 to participate in the International Defence Expo 2017 (IDEX 17) and Naval Defence Maritime Security Expo 17 (NAVDEX 17).Ships of the Eastern Fleet comprising INS Sahyadri, Shivalik, Kamorta, and Jyoti were deployed to the Southern Indian Ocean and Western Pacific in May-June 2017. The ships made port calls at Singapore, Kuantan, Jakarta, Surabaya, Port Moresby and Fremantle. Eastern Fleet ships Satpura and Kadmatt were deployed for ASEAN International Fleet Review (IFR) and INDRA-17, an annual bilateral exercise with the Russian Navy.
The International Maritime Review (IMR) was held by Singapore Navy on May 15 to commemorate its 50 years. In Indian Air Force, in consonance with the 'Make in India' campaign launched by the Prime Minister, the first Squadron of Tejas, an advanced multi-role aircraft with state-of-art avionics was formed on July 1, 2016. This year the aircraft participated in the Republic Day Flypast, Aero India and in the AF Day flypast.
The current lot of Su-30MKI aircraft is being manufactured in HAL through Transfer of Technology. Advanced indigenous weapons like 'BrahMos' supersonic cruise missile and 'Astra' Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missile has been indigenously integrated and fired from aircraft.For Rafale, Inter Governmental Agreement (IGA) was signed with the Government of France for procurement of 36 Rafale aircraft on September 23, 2016. The squadrons are expected to form by 2022.The air force has inducted additional six C-130J all-weather transport aircraft which is designed for Special Operations.
Press Information Bureau