20-Dec-2021: Defence Agreement with Russia on Assault Rifles
A contract for procurement of quantity 6,01,427 Assault Rifles AK-203 was signed on December 06, 2021 between Ministry of Defence and M/s Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited (IRRPL)- a Joint Venture established between India, represented by the Defence PSUs-Advanced Weapons & Equipment India Limited (AWEIL) & Munitions India Limited (MIL) and Russia, represented by Rosoboronexport (RoE) & Concern Kalashnikov (CK), in the shareholding of 50.5% and 49.5% respectively. These rifles will be produced by M/s IRRPL at Korwa, Uttar Pradesh.
9-Nov-2021: DRDO & Directorate of Defence R&D, Israel sign Bilateral Innovation Agreement for development of dual use technologies
As a tangible demonstration of the growing Indo–Israeli technological cooperation, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Directorate of Defence Research and Development (DDR&D), Ministry of Defence, Israel have entered into a Bilateral Innovation Agreement (BIA) to promote innovation and accelerated R&D in startups and MSMEs of both countries for the development of dual use technologies. The agreement was signed between and Secretary, Department of Defence, R&D & Chairman DRDO Dr G Satheesh Reddy and Head of DDR&D, Israel BG (Retd) Dr Daniel Gold in New Delhi on November 09, 2021.
Under the agreement, startups and industry of both countries will work together to bring out next generation technologies and products in the areas such as Drones, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Quantum technology, Photonics, Biosensing, Brain-Machine Interface, Energy Storage, Wearable Devices, Natural Language Processing, etc. Products and technologies will be customised to meet unique requirements of both the countries. The development efforts will be jointly funded by DRDO and DDR&D, Israel. The technologies developed under BIA will be available to both countries for their domestic applications.
3-Aug-2021: Ceasefire Violations
Immediate and effective retaliation by Indian Army and BSF Personnel is carried out during instances of unprovoked firings and ceasefire violations by Pakistan at Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB).
Following scheduled talks between the Directors General of Military Operations of India and Pakistan over hotline, a Joint Statement was issued on 25.02.2021, in which both India and Pakistan agreed to the strict observance of all agreements, understandings and cease fire along the Line of Control and all other sectors with effect from the midnight of 24/25 February.
As per reports, representatives of various political parties in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir have welcomed the Joint Statement. Several countries have issued statements welcoming the development as an important and positive step.
Government’s consistent position has been that India desires normal neighbour relations with Pakistan and is committed to addressing issues, if any, bilaterally and peacefully in an atmosphere free of terror, hostility and violence. The onus is on Pakistan to create such a conducive atmosphere by taking credible, verifiable and irreversible action to not allow any territory under its control to be used for cross-border terrorism against India in any manner. India and Pakistan continue to maintain regular channels of communication through the respective High Commissions and other established mechanisms.