Armed forces Mount Massive Rescue and Relief Operations in Leh

New Delhi, 06 Aug 10 (PIB) The Armed Forces under the guidance of the Ministry of Defence have mounted massive rescue and relief operations for the victims of the devastating cloudburst in Leh. Initial reports indicate extensive damage due to flash floods and mudslides. Civilian areas like the bus-stand, BSNL towers, hospitals, the runway of the Leh airport and the ATC towers have been affected.

The road approaches to Leh from Srinagar through Zozilla and from Rohtang Pass have been cut-off due to washing away of bridges by mudslides. 25 Army Jawans are reported missing. The Defence Institute of High Altitude Research of DRDO has also been damaged.

The Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has directed Ministry of Defence to provide all-out rescue and relief assistance to cloudburst victims in Leh. The Defence Minister Shri AK Antony, who is personally monitoring the operation, took a series of meetings of senior officials of MoD, the Services and DRDO this morning. The Defence Secretary Shri Pradeep Kumar is in close touch with the State Administration of Jammu & Kashmir to ensure coordinated effort for the relief operations.

22 Columns of Army personnel under the leadership of 14 Corps are busy in relief and rescue operations. Nearly 400 critically injured people have already been evacuated by the makeshift hospitals by the Army. All the civilian doctors in the Leh District Hospital have been operating from Army Hospital, Leh as the Civil Hospital has been filled with mud. The Tri-Service Disaster Management Committee of the Ministry of Defence met in New Delhi, this afternoon to take stock of the situation. Adequate number of aircraft and helicopters are available at Kargil, Chandigarh and Udhampur to move to Leh. ATC and airport at Leh is expected to be operational by late evening, today. There are enough foodgrain stocks available at Leh. If necessary, essential commodities will be airlifted to Leh. DRDO is also providing medicines and relief materials. Indian Air Force has been directed to airlift civilians, if needed. A medical team along with essential medical supplies has been kept on standby for flying them to Leh after the runway is operationalized.

CAG report on Sea Harrier of Indian Navy

India's national audit watchdog agency, the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) has severely criticised the Indian Navy's upgrade of 14 Sea Harriers. The Navy embarked on the upgrade -- called the Limited Upgrade Sea Harrier (LUSH) programme -- in March 2005.

The new CAG union audit report on the Indian Navy, tabled in Parliament yesterday, observes, "The contract for limited upgradation was concluded but only in March 2005. The delay was mainly on account of finalising technical requirements, issuing the Request for Proposal, conducting Technical Evaluation for the missile and associated radar. Not only did this delay defeat the very purpose of execution of the project on fast track basis but the Navy would also be able to exploit the upgraded Sea Harrier aircraft for a very limited period only, i.e about three years or less. Even subsequently, there were delays in the execution of the programme by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and the first milestone of handing over two prototypes to Navy by February 2007 could not be achieved.

Consequently, delivery of the remaining aircraft, scheduled for February 2008 was postponed to December 2009."

Further, the report says, "The Sea Harrier has had, over the past few years, a very high attrition rate. In fact, subsequent to the time of mooting the proposal, in October 2001, Navy lost two aircraft in August 2003 and December 2004. Despite being aware of these facts, Navy initially committed all its aircraft for the upgradation though they ultimately reduced one aircraft from the final contract. Further they did not include any provision in the contract for payment on prorata basis depending on the number of aircraft upgraded by the vendor. As a result, after conclusion of contract, when more aircraft were lost in accidents, Navy had no option but to make payment of Rs 204.30 crore to HAL towards upgradation of these nonexistent aircraft lost in the interim period. Navy would, however, be able to setoff only Rs 16.16 crore payable to HAL for their services."

Damningly, the CAG report also notes that the Navy was "predisposed" towards selecting the Rafael-made Derby BVR missile "even though the missile did not fulfil the needs of the Indian Navy". The report notes, "The RFP issued in August 2003 stipulated that the IN’s requirement was for the Derby missile. As no corrigendum to the RFP was issued, clearly, competition in procurement was ruled out. As a result, although the RFP was issued to seven firms and an extension was granted till October 2003, only the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) of the Derby missile responded. The trial directives were issued in March 2008 after scaling down the NSQRs at the instance of vendor. Consequently, the acceptable maximum range of the missile was reduced from ‘A’ Km to ‘B’ Km, which was 54 per cent of the original accepted range. Actual live firing of missile was conducted, in March 2008, on an upgraded prototype Sea Harrier aircraft at a range of ‘B’ Km for missile in mid envelope scenario (33 67 per cent). The vendor was unwilling to guarantee performance of the missile beyond the scaled downrange of ‘B’ Km. One of the basic aims of the acquisition of BVR Air to Air missile was to destroy targets at beyond visual ranges of up to ‘C’ Km. However, the missiles acquired failed to achieve the desired ranges in the live firing. The capability of the seeker, at the range prescribed in NSQR (‘A’ Km) was also not demonstrated in live firing. Moreover, the missile launcher design is being used for the first time for airborne operations."

US-Russia to conduct first joint defence exercise

The US and Russia will hold their first-ever joint air defence exercise Aug 8-11, aimed at testing their anti-terrorism systems with a staged plane hijacking.
The exercise, codenamed Vigilant Eagle, involves Russian, Canadian and US Air Force personnel operating from command centres at the Elmendorf airbase in Alaska, US and in Khabarovsk, Russia.

“Airborne warning and control aircraft (AWACS E-3B and A-50) from Russia and the US will be involved along with fighter-interceptor aircraft and refuelling aircraft from both countries,” North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) said in a statement Tuesday.

The scenario will create a situation that requires both the Russian Air Force and NORAD to launch or divert fighter aircraft to investigate and follow a US-flagged commercial air carrier on an international flight that has been taken over by terrorists.

The exercise will be carried out under a cooperative military agreement between Russia and the US, which tasks NORAD, the bi-national US and Canadian command, to conduct a live-fly exercise.

Defence Minister on Coastal Security

Defence Minister A.K. Antony on said the Central Government has initiated several measures to strengthen Coastal Security, adding that coastal surveillance and patrolling have been enhanced for this purpose.

"Joint and operational exercises are conducted on regular basis among Navy, Coast Guard, Coastal Police, Customs and others to check the effectiveness of the integrated approach adopted for security of coastal areas," said Antony in reply to a written question in the Lok Sabha.

The Defence Minister further said the Central Government has established continuous review and monitoring mechanism at different levels, which include various agencies, including the State and Union Territory authorities.

"Necessary funds are also made available as and when required," he added.

Army officer with AK-47 bullets arrested

An Indian Army officer was arrested at the Lucknow airport Sunday after two AK-47 cartridges were found in his baggage. The Officer is Identified as Captain Varun Mishra, the officer had come on leave to his hometown Bahraich, and was on his way back to his place of posting in Goa when he was taken into custody by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) before boarding a flight to New Delhi.

Even as the officer pleaded that the two cartridges were with him by mistake, CISF personnel at the airport refused to let him off. He did not possess any weapon.

According to Lucknow’s Deputy Inspector General of Police Rajiv Krishna, a case was registered against the officer at the Sarojini Nagar police station and he was being handed over to local army authorities.