THE SPOKESPERSON

  The head of the central bank, Abdul Qadir Idris, recently met with Bharat Kumar, head of the Indian technical team, to discuss the economic situation, banking issues and joint cooperation. Idris said the bank is committed to good, and improved banking relations with all countries within the framework of laws and that DAB wants to standardize the banking system across the country and develop the sector. General manager of DAB, Siddiqullah Khalid, meanwhile stressed the need for continued cooperation between Afghanistan and India in the banking sector and said that joint cooperation regarding technical support will contribute to the growth and development of the banking system. For his part, Bharat Kumar, the head of India’s technical mission in Afghanistan, assured the DAB officials that India will continue to cooperate and provide technical support to Afghanistan’s banking sector.DAB's general manager Siddiqullah Khalid stressed the need for continuous cooperation between A

Of the world's nine nuclear-armed countries, India and Pakistan are also among the handful that have been increasing their nuclear warhead stockpiles, according to the Federation of American Scientists. ARSENAL SIZE Both countries possess nuclear arsenals of comparable size. Pakistan holds about 100-120 nuclear weapons, which can be delivered by aircraft and land-based missiles, while India's nuclear arsenal is around 90-110 nuclear weapons, according to estimates by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Of the world's nine nuclear-armed countries, India and Pakistan are also among the handful that have been increasing their nuclear warhead stockpiles, according to the Federation of American Scientists (FAS). DELIVERY SYSTEMS Pakistan's nuclear delivery systems include at least four short-range and two medium-range ballistic missiles, according to the U.S.-based Arms Control Association (ACA). Several more missiles, including an intercontinental

  Recently, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully test-fired indigenously-developed new generation medium-range ballistic missile Agni Prime (Agni-P) from the APJ Abdul Kalam Island at Odisha coast. What is Agni Prime? It is a two-stage canisterised missile. It is the latest and sixth variant of the Agni series missiles (under IGMDP - Integrated Guided Missile Development Program). With multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles, the missile is capable of delivering a number of warheads at separate locations at a distance of 1,000 - 2,000 km. The 10.5 metre tall missile with a diameter of 1.2 metre can carry warheads up to 1.5 tonne. It can perform high maneuvers while homing in on targets. These missiles will be inducted in the armed forced after couple of user associated launches It has a dual redundant navigation and guidance system. The Agni-P missile would further strengthen India's credible deterrence capabilities. What is the Other

NavIC was developed partly because access to foreign government-controlled global navigation satellite systems is not guaranteed in hostile situations, as happened to the Indian military in 1999 when the US denied the Indian request for Global Positioning System (GPS) data for the Kargil region. NavIC, an acronym of the 'Navigation with Indian Constellation) is an autonomous regional satellite navigation system that provides India with real-time positioning and timing services. NAVIC is the operational name of the Indian Regional National Satellite System (IRNSS), cover India and an area of 1500 kilometres around it, and is under discussion for further expansion. Currently, NAVIC has seven satellite constellations and two satellites on the ground that are kept on stand-by. It would provide two levels of service, 'the standard positioning service' that would be open for civilian use. Still, the local service would only be for authorised users, for instance, the milit

  British politician Rishi Sunak was Monday elected Conservative leader and will become the next prime minister, after rival Penny Mordaunt failed to secure the necessary 100 nominations from her fellow MPs. "Rishi Sunak is therefore elected as leader of the Conservative Party," senior backbencher Graham Brady said, as Mordaunt vowed her "full support" for the former finance minister.UK PM designate Rishi Sunak has promised that he will make ‘Stability and Unity’ his priority during his first public address as the Prime Minister designate of United Kingdom "UK is a great country but we face a profound economic challenge. We now need stability and unity & I'll make it my utmost priority to bring our party and country together as that's the only way we'll overcome challenges &build a better future for our children & grandchildren', Sunak said.  Rishi Sunak not to take charge today UK PM handover  to Britain's new prime minis

  Terming the mission 'historic', Somanath, also the Secretary, the Department of Space credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi's support for the mission's success. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman Dr S Somanath said Diwali started a day early for the space agency with the successful launch of the heaviest rocket carrying 36 communication satellites. Addressing a press conference on the occasion, Dr Somanath said that the Chandrayaan 3 is “almost ready”. "Chandrayaan-3 is almost ready. Final integration and testing are almost complete. Still, some more tests are pending, so we want to do it a little later. There were two slots available, one in February and another in June. We would like to take June (2023) slot for the launch," he said.  All 36 satellites were injected into the orbits around 75 minutes after the rocket blasted off from the spaceport here. The success put the August anomaly behind when the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle

  When leader of Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev visited India in 1955 he famously remarked, "We are so near that if ever you call us from the mountain tops we will appear at your side." This is the spirit that defined Soviet and continue to shape Russian support for India on the Kashmir issue whether at UN or at other for a including bilateral formats.  While the Moscow has formed closer partnership Beijing as part of their global strategy to counter USA, the two do not share similar views on the Kashmir issue. China is in favour of internationalising the matter but Russia has consistently favoured a solution under bilateral format. However, this fact often remains underreported and unrecognised in the current discourse of international relations as Khrushchev’s remarks remain buried in the annals of history. However, Moscow through the decades, has not diluted its position for its strategic partner in South Asia. It is no secret that erstwhile Soviet Union had vetoed

  The HAL Combat Air Teaming System (CATS) is a planned unmanned and manned combat aircraft air teaming system being developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The system will consist of a manned fighter aircraft acting as “mothership” of the system and a set of swarming UAVs and UCAVs governed by the main aircraft. A twin-seated HAL Tejas is likely to be the main fighter aircraft. Various other sub components of the system are currently under development and will be jointly produced by HAL, National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and a private firm named Newspace Research & Technologies. The primary aim is to make multiple advanced aerial platforms that can act as atmospheric satellite for high altitude surveillance, perform autonomous deep penetration precision strikes from standoff distance with maximum firepower while reduce human error and the threat on life. CATS Warrior CATS Warrior will be powered by an impro

  Daksh is an electrically powered remotely operated vehicle (ROV) designed and developed by the Indian state-owned Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) at the Research and Development Establishment (Engineers), Pune, India. Primarily designed to recover improvised explosive devices (IEDs), ROV Daksh can safely locate, handle and destroy all types of hazardous objects. Daksh serves bomb disposal units (BDU) of the army, police and paramilitary forces in handling IEDs and other hazardous materials. The DRDO transferred its ROV technology for production at Dynalog, Theta Controls and Bharat Electronics. In 2010, the Indian Army placed a limited-series-production order for 20 Daksh vehicles after extensive trials, testing and acceptance. The first batch of five ROV Daksh was delivered to the Indian Army in December 2011. The ROV was inducted by the Pune City Police Department, India in October 2018. In January 2017, DRDO announced the development of two robots in t

  NEW DELHI: India on Friday successfully tested a nuclear-capable ballistic missile from its solitary nuclear-powered submarine INS Arihant, and promptly declared that having an 'assured retaliatory capability’ was in tune with the country’s `credible minimum deterrence’ against the first-use of nuclear weapons by an adversary. A brief statement by the defence ministry did not identify the submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) tested from the 6,000-tonne INS Arihant, which became fully operational in 2018, in the Bay of Bengal on Friday afternoon. Sources, however, told TOI that the SLBM tested was the B-O5 or K-15 missile with a strike range of 750-km. “INS Arihant is armed with the short-range K-15 missiles. Developmental trials of the K-4 SLBM (with a 3,500-km range) have been completed but it is yet to be fully inducted,” a source said.This is the first time the launch of an SLBM from INS Arihant has been announced by the government. It comes at a time when India

  Arudhra is a Medium Power Radar (MPR) developed by Electronics and Radar Development Establishment. The MPR features a rotating active phased array antenna with solid state transceiver modules operating in S-band (2-4GHz).  The radar features contemporary Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) based monolithic microwave integrated circuit. Since the transceiver modules (TRM) are based in antenna array itself, the receiver sensitivity is high, thereby enabling the radar to detect low observable targets at long range. The TRMs are being produced in partnership with Indian Industry. Performance metrics of Arudhra MPR Arudhra is capable of tracking a small fighter sized target (Radar Cross Section of 2 sqm) as far as 300km at an altitude between 100 meters to 30 km. Azimuth and elevation coverage depends on the mode of operation. Arudhra can operate in: Rotation mode – In rotation mode, antenna rotates at 7.5/15 rounds per minute (RPM) covering 360 degrees in azimuth and 30 degrees in elevation.

 External affairs minister S Jaishankar said India’s relationship with Russia dates Western countries for decades “saw a military dictatorship next to us”, Pakistan, as the preferred partner and Western countries did not supply weapons to India.  NEW DELHI:  India has had a longstanding relationship with Russia, including military cooperation, dating back to a time when Western countries didn’t supply weapons to India and saw Pakistan as the “preferred partner”, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Monday.Addressing a news conference with his Australian counterpart Penny Wong in Canberra, Jaishankar declined to state how India will vote on an upcoming resolution at the UN General Assembly on the annexation of Ukrainian territories by Russia but made it clear that New Delhi is against the conflict because it doesn’t serve the interests of anybody. Jaishankar also indicated that the activities of the Chinese navy in the Indian Ocean raised questions about that country’s i

NEW DELHI: In order to bolster the Indian Navy in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), the South China Sea and the Indo-Pacific, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has begun a preliminary process that will ultimately develop into acquiring autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) or underwater drones with twin surveillance and strike capabilities. Earlier this month, the MoD is learnt to have issued an expression of interest (EoI) with the objective of inviting the Indian industry to design and develop an “underwater launched unmanned aerial vehicle” at a time when the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is also working to “enhance submarine situational awareness” and real-time visuals – photographs and videos. Government sources said that the Navy is open to both indigenous and foreign-origin AUVs even as senior officials are aware that “it will take a long time” for Indian-made underwater drones to be available for military purposes. The UAV industry in India, nascent now,

  Oman is set to be the latest country in West Asia to start using India's RuPay card and UPI platform, which will benefit the huge Indian diaspora in the country.  During the visit of minister of state for external affairs V.Muraleedharan, an agreement will be signed between the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) for cooperation in digital finance and payments for the usage of RuPay and UPI. Muraleedharan will be on an official visit to Oman on October 3rd and 4th. This will be his second visit to the Sultanate, during which he will meet the foreign minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood Albusaidi, and attend community receptions, among various key engagements. He last visited Oman in December 2020, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. RuPay is an Indian payment gateway like a Visa or Mastercard and is increasingly being expanded to India's neighbouring countries or nations with a huge Indian diaspora Oman is set to be

  The Rs 450 crore Mars Orbiter Mission was launched onboard PSLV-C25 on November five, 2013, and the MOM spacecraft was successfully inserted into Martian orbit on September 24, 2014 in its first attempt. India's Mars Orbiter craft has run out of propellant and its battery drained beyond the safe limit, fuelling speculation that the country's maiden interplanetary mission 'Mangalyaan' may have finally completed its long innings. The Rs 450 crore Mars Orbiter Mission was launched onboard PSLV-C25 on November five, 2013, and the MOM spacecraft was successfully inserted into Martian orbit on September 24, 2014 in its first attempt. "Right now, there is no fuel left. The satellite battery has drained," sources in the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) told PTI. "The link has been lost". There was, however, no official word from the country's national space agency, headquartered here. With fuel on board, ISRO had been performing orbital