Tag Archives: indian defence

Award Of Meritorious service medal(military) to Admiral Sunil Lanba(Retd) by Singapore Govt

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Singapore President  Halimah Yacob conferred the prestigious Pingat Jasa Gemilang (Tentera) [Meritorious Service Medal (Military)] on Admiral Sunil Lanba (Retd), the former Chief of Naval Staff, Indian Navy. Dr Ng Eng Hen, Defence Minister of Singapore presented the award to Admiral Sunil Lanba (Retd), on behalf of the President, in a solemn Investiture Ceremony, held on 08 Sep 22 at the Ministry of Defence, Singapore.

The award is a recognition of strong bilateral defence ties between India and Singapore as well as stellar contribution of Adm Sunil Lanba to strengthen the engagements between the two Navies. During his tenure as the Chief of Naval Staff, the Indian Navy hosted the 25th edition of Singapore-India Maritime Bilateral Exercise (SIMBEX) at Visakhapatnam in Oct 2018. Adm Sunil Lanba (Retd) fondly recalled having hosted Dr Ng Eng Hen, Defence Minister of Singapore along with Rear Adm Lue Chuan Hong, the then Chief of Navy, Republic of Singapore Navy onboard INS Shakti for the concluding day of the Sea Phase of the Exercise. During the sea phase the Defence Minister of Singapore and other dignitaries witnessed, first hand, the level of interoperability achieved by the two Navies wherein high end operational manoeuvres including live missile firings were executed successfully by participating ships, aircraft and submarines of both navies.

Under the leadership of Adm Sunil Lanba, several milestone defence agreements were also signed between the two Navies, including the Bilateral Agreement on Navy Cooperation and Mutual Logistics Support Agreement. Adm Lanba also hosted the inaugural Goa Maritime Conclave in 2017, in which Singapore is one of the participants. During his term as the Chief of Naval Staff, Adm Lanba had attended the International Maritime Review (IMR) commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN), the International Maritime and Defence Expo (IMDEX) and the International Maritime Security Conference, co-hosted by the RSN alongside IMDEX-Asia in May 2017.

During his visit to Singapore to receive the Award, Adm Sunil Lanba (Retd) also held interactions with Lt Gen Melvyn Ong, Chief of Defence Force, Singapore Armed Forces and Rear Adm Aaron Beng, Chief of Navy, Republic of Singapore Navy. During these interactions, Adm Lanba complimented the leadership of Singapore for sustaining the momentum of bilateral engagements and shared views on new avenues of cooperation.

India, Israel to Upgrade BARAK 8 Missile System

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To upgrade the Long Range Surface-to-Air Missile (LR-SAM) and Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missile (MR-SAM), India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Isreal Aerospace Industry (IAI) will collaborate to upgrade Barak-8 missile system, said Minister of State for Defence Dr. Subhash Bhamre in a written reply to Mr. Ram Charan Bohra in Lok Sabha on Friday.

LR-SAM is the Ship Launch Version and Project MR-SAM is the Land Launch Version of Barak-08 Missile system. MR-SAM detects incoming enemy aircraft while they are well over 100 km away and destroys them at range upto 70 km.

Basrak Missile 8 (Photo: Creative Commons)

LR-SAM has got long range engagement capability to penetrate in deep water or land to intercept all types of aerial targets like Subsonic and Supersonic Missiles, Fighter Aircraft, Maritime Patrolling Aircraft (MPA), Helicopter and Sea Skimming Missiles.

The Israeli Navy has already commenced equipping its Sa’ar 5 corvettes with the system, the first re-fitted vessel being the INS Lahav and the Sa’ar 4.5 flotilla will be next for the upgrade.

The first 32 missiles will be fitted on the Indian Navy stealth guided-missile destroyer INS Kolkata. Each Barak system costs about $24 million and India has signed a contract with Israel worth a $1.1 billion to supply the upgraded tactical Barak 8 air defence system in 2009.