After a string of delays, the country’s first Indian Air Force (IAF) Heritage Centre is all set to be thrown open to public on March 3. The centre was earlier scheduled to be inaugurated on January 31.
The centre, being set up at the Government Press building, Sector 18, was likely to be inaugurated by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, said an official, but they were yet to receive a confirmation.
The centre, which is expected to draw tourists from both within the country and abroad, will offer an insight into the rich legacy and glory of the force. The IAF will showcase its vintage aircraft, armament, memorabilia and other artefacts, including audio-video displays.
Among the top attractions at the centre is a simulator offering visitors the experience of flying an IAF aircraft.https://35ee89411b5cbdd25c0eb8584b30128f.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html
This will also act as a platform to motivate and facilitate the youth to join the force. This will not only help provide employment opportunities but also strengthen the force and reinforce national integration. A souvenir shop has been set up for visitors.
The star attractions, however, will be five vintage aircraft, including a Gnat, put up at an adjacent intersection. In 1971, Flying Officer Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon was a pilot of a Gnat detachment based at Srinagar for the air defence of Kashmir Valley against Pakistan air attacks. He was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra.
Another aircraft, a MiG-21, has been installed in the parking area of the centre. The fighter aircraft first entered service in 1963.
Air Force “Kanpur-1”, installed inside the centre, was the first one to have been built by India in 1951 by Air Vice Marshal Harjinder Singh.
The IAF had received the vintage prototype aircraft from Punjab Engineering College (PEC) here for display along with other aircraft at the centre.
Installed in the rear lawn of the centre, HPT-32 primary trainer aircraft was manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and used for training young flight cadets.
A MiG-23 MF, installed at the rear end of the centre, is a swing-wing interceptor capable of delivering an array of missiles, bombs and guided weapons.
Army HQ to get new building, removal of 579 trees approved
The new Thal Sena Bhawan will come up soon in Delhi Cantonment after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s intervention.
Compensatory plantation
The Delhi CM has approved the proposal with mandated compensatory plantation of 5,790 saplings around the site to maintain the ecological balance.
Through this decision, the CM has paved the way for the construction of the state-of-the-art Thal Sena Bhavan that will house the Indian Army’s new headquarters.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, on Wednesday, granted his approval for the removal and transplantation of 579 trees to aid the construction of the new Indian Army headquarters at the Sena Bhavan project site.
Notably, the Union Ministry of Defence (MoD) had sent a proposal to remove and transplant 579 trees to clear its construction site. The CM has approved the proposal with mandated compensatory plantation of 5,790 saplings around the site to maintain the ecological balance. The MoD will further take the responsibility of maintaining the trees for the next seven years, as per the Delhi Government’s guidelines.
The Ministry of Defence had proposed the construction of the Thal Sena Bhavan in Delhi Cantt. However, certain patches of trees were obstructing the construction. Thus, the Defence Ministry wrote a letter to the Delhi Government seeking approval for removal and transplantation of 579 trees to clear the site. Thereafter, Delhi’s Environment Minister Gopal Rai placed the proposal regarding the same in front of the Chief Minister. Subsequently, the CM granted his approval for the same.
Approving the proposal, the Delhi Government has noted that out of the 579 trees, the Defence Ministry would transplant 476 trees while it will take up felling of 103 trees only. The transplantation will take place within the identified project site.
The Delhi Government has further asked the Defence Ministry not to damage a single tree at the site other than those that have been identified and approved by the government
“If any tree apart from the approved ones is damaged, it shall constitute an offence under Delhi Preservation of Trees Act 1994,” said a Delhi Government official.
Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan chairs high-level security meeting in Jammu
Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, who was on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, chaired a high-level security meeting here, officials said on Friday.
The meeting was attended by Udhampur-based northern Army commander Lt General Upendra Dwivedi and Director General of Police Dilbag Singh among others, they said.
Additional Director General of Police, Jammu zone, Mukesh Singh and General Officer Commanding of Jammu-based 16 Corps, also known as White Knight Corps, Lt Gen Sandeep Jain and General Officer Commanding 26 Infantry division Major General Gaurav Gautam also attended the meeting, they said.
The Chief of Defence Staff visited forward areas and hinterland formations in Kashmir on the first day of his visit and was briefed about the security situation by field officers.
On his arrival in Jammu this morning, General Chauhan was received by Air Officer Commanding, Air Force Station Jammu, Air Commodore G S Bhullar, officials said.
“#CDS Gen Anil Chauhan accompanied by #ArmyCdrNC, Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi arrived at Jammu. The CDS chaired a high level security meeting attended by #ArmyCdrNC, DGP @JmuKmrPolice Shri Dilbag Singh, ADGP JKP, Lt Gen Sandeep Jain GOC 16 Corps & GOC 26 Infantry Div,” tweeted A Bharat Bhushan Babu, principal spokesperson of the Defence Ministry.
Officials said General Chauhan later returned to Delhi after visiting Nagrota cantonment.
No ballistic helmets for Sikh soldiers, SGPC tells Lalpura
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has refused to budge on the proposal of introducing ballistic helmets for Sikh soldiers.
A delegation of the SGPC, which attended a meeting to discuss the issue with the National Commission for Minorities chairman, Iqbal Singh Lalpura, today at New Delhi clearly conveyed that no intervention was acceptable when it comes to Sikh identity. The delegation said helmets for Sikh soldiers could not be endorsed.
On the directions of Akal Takht, the SGPC had sent a delegation, including general secretary Gurcharan Singh Garewal, deputy secretary Jaswinder Singh Jassi, member Raghbir Singh Saharanmajra, Delhi-based Sukhwinder Singh Babbar and Ranjit Kaur to attend the meeting held by the commission to deliberate on the issue with Sikh religious intellectuals and officials.
Terming the move as an “attack on the Sikh identity”, the SGPC delegation gave in writing that keeping in view the Sikh history and traditions, the Ministry of Defence should roll back its decision of ‘loh top’ (helmets) instantly as it was against the Sikh rehat maryada (tenets).Giving references about the World Wars and post-Independence wars when Sikh soldiers fought while sporting turban that was granted by Gurus as Sikh identity, Garewal said, “When wearing any kind of cap is prohibited in Sikh religion, then seldom is there any scope to have discussion on the government’s move to have helmets for Sikh soldiers.”
“At a meeting held by the commission chairman, former Sikh officials and religious personalities were called with an aim to convince us so that this proposal could be implemented without any opposition. We have straightaway rejected it and given them in writing that it could not be accepted under any circumstances,” he said.
The sudden Ukrainian demand and the US-NATO-EU push for western main battle tanks (MBTs) as prime arms to defeat Russia merit close scrutiny. Do they believe that MBTs alone will turn the tide of the conflict, despite the vulnerability of this armoured vehicle? Can the MBTs make it without air cover to face the enemy’s fire from missiles?
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Abhijit Bhattacharyya
Author and Columnist
WITH the German Leopard main battle tank (MBT) set to arrive on the Ukraine front, the world should fear a fiery escalation of the Moscow-Kyiv conflict. However, the fears of the Russians, built up over more than 20 years, too, need to be remembered.
Today, Thucydides’ words in The Peloponnesian War are relevant: “What made war inevitable was the growth of Athenian power and the fear which this caused in Sparta.” It won’t be far-fetched to suggest that what made the Russia-Ukraine war inevitable was the rise, growth and reckless territorial expansion of the US-led NATO and the European Union towards a battered and broken Russia’s fragile frontier.
Moscow-Kyiv tensions turned into an international armed conflict, which sounded the bugle for another full-fledged European bloodbath in the tradition of World War II.
The lethal weapons of belligerents get an excellent (experimental) practice/test ground in the crowded land of the West. It’s, however, not unexpected because if multinational corporations of military hardware take the plunge to make money, no sane political leader’s voice can have any effect.
One today, therefore, pities German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. With the best of efforts to not be seen as a war instigator and escalator, the incumbent government head must be regretting his fate to be branded (by critics) as a worthy successor of Hitler. What’s Panzer to dictator Hitler in 1943 is Leopard to democrat Scholz in 2023 — both firing to kill on their way to, and against, Moscow.
A vast majority of Germans, however, maintain: “War scares us stiff.” The guilt of Armageddon rankles and haunts them. “After World War II, Germany had two reference points for its security: never again war as a perpetrator, and never alone, only acting in an alliance,” writes military historian Soenke Neitzel. Yet, the German Leopard MBT induction has all ingredients of a bitter fight-to-the-finish scenario for the Russians, the fallout of which is bound to badly bruise Europe.
What is, surprising, however, is that, can the MBT alone decide the outcome of the ongoing Moscow-Kyiv conflict? Is it possible for a few US Abrams and Berlin Leopard MBTs to keep Russians at bay, like what Hitler’s three military musketeers — Leeb, Bock and Rundstedt — tried doing their way against Moscow on June 22, 1941?
Indeed, if the West thinks that Russia can be brought around only through tank warfare, it would be stretching one’s imagination of war to its limits. Gone are the days of the pioneer 1917 tank battle of Ypres, or General O’Connor’s British-manufactured Matilda tank’s role against German General Rommel’s Panzer Division in the deserts of North Africa in 1940-43, or German-made Tiger-I and Panzer-VI Tiger tank battles in Kharkov (January-March 1943) and the battle for Kursk (July 1943). In fact, the Kursk salient saw one of the bloodiest and highest-casualty tank battles between Soviets (13,00,000 men, 3,600 MBTs) and Germany (8,00,000 troops, 2,700 tanks).
Seventy-eight years have passed since World War II, but nothing like those spectacular, long-drawn-out, mass-formation tank battles have ever been fought. Yet, tanks are produced and procured by most armies, and now come the German Leopard, US Abrams, British Challenger-2 and the French ‘offer’ of Leclerc MBT to fight the Russians. Is this the new arms race between western military merchants?
Fifteen years ago, one asked: “Has the tank a future?” owing to the receding possibility of an all-out tank war across the globe. Post World War II, only a few theatres have had major tank battles. And all these theatres saw fights between unequals. Thus, in the Soviet war of Afghanistan (1979-89); US invasions of Korea, 1950; Kuwait, 1991; and Iraq, 2003; and in the 20-year US-Afghan war, there was no intensive tank-vs-tank fight between comparable combatants.
In the Indian context, there are two major examples: the 1965 and 1971 India-Pakistan wars. The other India-Pakistan wars of 1947-48 (Kashmir) and 1999 (Kargil) had a comparatively low-profile tank movement and firing.
In this background, the sudden Ukrainian demand and the US-NATO-EU push for western MBTs as prime arms to defeat Russia merit close scrutiny. Do the West and Ukraine sincerely believe that MBTs alone will turn the tide of the conflict, despite the vulnerability of this armoured vehicle? Can the MBTs make it without air cover to face the enemy’s concentrated fire from surface-to-surface and air-to-surface missiles?
The MBT’s role has been changing with increasingly unorthodox and unconventional warfare. Thus, whereas in the past, the main MBT carried out offensive/defensive ops in the midst of brutal kinetics, the recent experience of British and US tank regiments and Marine Corps in Iraq clearly demonstrated that the MBT continues to be effective in urban ops in direct-fire support role of dismounted infantry. Contextually, the best example is the Israeli deployment of heavy Merkava MBT against Palestinians in urban areas of Gaza and Ramallah.
Indeed, the observation in C Foss’s book Jane’s Armour and Artillery is valid when it says that “while MBT was originally developed for high-intensity military operations, the experiences in Afghanistan have once again demonstrated that the MBT has a vital role to play in all aspects of military operations.” The present problem, however, is troop survivability in the war zone having a diverse range of threats.
Thus, the Afghan war was an acid test for future MBTs as the experience led to the ‘safety first’ design thereof. “Provide occupants with high level of protection against some types of threat weapons”, especially those which are likely to be used by guerrillas in uneven terrain. Understandably, therefore, for the Americans, it was the 3,200 MRAP (mine-resistant ambush protection) armoured vehicles which became the essential and standard mobile platform to counter high-intensity counter-insurgency operators in Afghan ‘badlands’.
Nevertheless, Ukraine isn’t Afghanistan as the tank will continue to be vulnerable and easier to be hit by (un)conventional enemy fire than ever before. It can be immobilised by a landmine, improvised explosive device or a determined combatant. It will also face an assault from helicopter gunship and missiles of all types.
Hence, anyone pinning hopes solely on the Leopard or western MBTs may be in for a surprise in the brutal conventional land warfare in Ukraine. More combatant casualties and MBT destruction is guaranteed.
Representatives from Pakistan were among those from several CICA (Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia) countries who participated in a two-day India-hosted virtual workshop on countering radicalisation.
India organised the workshop on February 2 and 3 under the framework of CICA, an inter-governmental body for increasing cooperation towards promoting peace, security and stability in Asia. Other CICA member countries which took part were Russia, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, Cambodia, Egypt, Israel, Sri Lanka, Turkiye, Iraq, Jordan, Mongolia and Vietnam. The invited speakers shared their expertise on various topics, including radicalisation and extremism, rise of fundamentalism and its global impact, misuse of social media as a tool for radicalisation and models of deradicalisation, said an MEA statement.
The workshop was organised along with the Bureau of Police Research and Development with its outlying training unit, the Central Detective Training Institute. The workshop was addressed by MEA’s Mahaveer Singhvi, and Neeraj Sinha and Anurag Kumar from the BPRD.
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has announced to honour Begum Munawaar-un-Nissa, widow of Nawab Sher Mohammad Khan of Malerkotla.
It was the Nawab, who only stood up against Wazir Khan, the Mughal Governor of Sirhind, who ordered that the two young sons of Guru Gobind Singh be bricked alive behind a wall.
SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami said, “The Sikh community gives due regard to the Nawab. It has been decided by the SGPC executive to his honour Begum.”
He said this decision was taken after a video went viral that the Begum lived in a historic haveli, which was in shambles. “We came to know that the haveli is in a bad shape and the Begum lived in a room. A sub-committee has been constituted which will enquire about the situation and help her,” he said.
He said it was also known that Guru Saheb had presented the Nawab some memorabilia items, including a kirpan, that was preserved by the family till date.
R-Day camp: Chandigarh’s Avishi adjudged best NCC cadet
As many as 22 NCC cadets from the UT, who had participated in the Republic Day Camp-2023 in New Delhi, were felicitated for their performance today.
Avishi Sood of No.1 Chandigarh Naval Unit was adjudged the All-India Best Cadet in the junior category, while the Naval Wing of the Chandigarh NCC Group secured the first position in the drill competition.
The cadets formed part of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh NCC Directorate, comprising 111 cadets, which had bagged the third position amongst 17 directorates.
Certificates of merit and mementos were presented to the cadets by Major General K Vinod Kumar, Additional Directer General, NCC, during a ceremony held at the NCC Academy, Ropar.
The camp was held from January 2-31 in which 2,155 cadets, including 710 girls, from all 28 states and eight UTs, and 19 friendly countries, participated. A host of competitions and cultural events were part of the activities during the camp.
Doctors from different states pay obeisance at Golden Temple
A delegation of doctors who arrived here from different states, paid obeisance at the Golden Temple here today.
They were in Amritsar to be part of a conference.
They said it was their good fortune that they have visited the shrine that unites humanity and give message of universal peace.
He said the people of the whole world take blessings from here and the spiritual ambience here was inspiring for the good of humanity.
On the occasion, general secretary of SGPC Gurcharan Singh Grewal informed the delegation of doctors about the shrines located inside the shrine complex and other services including langar Sri Guru Ramdas Ji Langar Hall
Meanwhile, Grewal also honoured them and presented them religious books.
Peshawar suicide attacker entered high-security zone in police uniform
A suicide bomber who killed 101 people at a mosque inside a major police facility in Peshawar had disguised himself in a police uniform to sneak into the high security zone and was riding a motorcycle with a helmet and mask on, a top police official said today.
We sowed seeds of terrorism
Worshippers were not killed during prayers even in India or Israel but it happened in Pakistan. This war started from Swat during the PPP’s tenure and it concluded during the PML-N’s previous regime. We sowed the seeds of terrorism. Khawaja Asif , Defence Minister, Pakistan
The guards at the security checkpoint at the main entrance of the Police Lines area did not check the bomber dressed in police uniform and let him go inside, Inspector General of Police of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Moazzam Jah Ansari told the media here.
The CCTV footage shows that the bomber entered the Police Lines area via Khyber Road, he said.
He added that the attacker had also asked about the way to the mosque from a police officer. The bomber asked a ‘havaldar’ where the mosque was in Pashto language, he said, adding that the motorcycle registration number has been traced
He said the attacker was not an individual, but rather had a whole network supporting him. He said the police were close to the terrorist network responsible for the bombing.
The suicide bomber blew himself up during the afternoon prayers on Monday in the mosque in the Police Lines area, killing 101 people, including 97 policemen, and injuring more than 200 others. The banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack.
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