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Against the backdrop of renewed focus on the Doklam tri-junction, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck on Tuesday held talks focusing on a five-point broad roadmap to expand the "time-tested" relations besides delving into shared national security interests. At a media briefing after the talks, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said India and Bhutan closely coordinate on shared national and security interests and that security concerns of both sides are intertwined and indivisible. The talks between Modi and the visiting King took place days after Bhutan's Prime Minister Lotay Tshering said that China has an equal say in resolving the border dispute relating to the strategically-located Doklam tri-junction. When asked whether the Doklam issue figured in the talks, Kwatra said India-Bhutan ties are based on mutual respect, trust, close understanding and sensitivity to each other's concerns, adding Modi and the King covered the entire gamut of ..
The Ministry of Defence on Monday signed a contract with a firm for modernisation of Naval Aircraft Yards (NAYs) at Goa and Kochi at a cost of nearly Rs 470 crore, officials said. The NAYs undertake servicing and repairs of naval aircraft, aero engines, rotables and test equipment at Goa and Kochi, the ministry said in a statement. The ministry signed a contract with Ultra Dimensions Pvt. Ltd. (UDPL), Vishakhapatnam for "modernisation of Naval Aircraft Yards (NAYs) at Goa and Kochi, at a cost of approximately Rs 470 crore", it said. Induction of the latest state-of-the-art aircraft into the Indian Navy inventory requires modernisation of existing maintenance and repair facilities at NAYs to bridge the technological and capability gap to meet the present and future aviation maintenance challenges, officials said. The modernisation includes repair facilities with state-of-the-art automated machineries and composite repair bays. This project will generate an employment of more than 1.
Small arms factories witnessed "either no demand or very less demand" from the armed forces during the 2015-16 to 2019-20 period, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India has observed. Performance Audit Report No. 5 of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Production of Small Arms in Ordnance Factories was presented in Parliament on Monday. Eight weapon manufacturing factories, which were under the Weapon, Vehicles and Equipment (WV&E) group of the erstwhile Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), have been grouped, post corporatisation of OFB, under one DPSU - M/s Advanced Weapons and Equipment India Limited (M/s AWEIL), headquartered at Kanpur, it said in a statement. Three weapon manufacturing factories viz. Rifle Factory Ishapore (RFI), Small Arms Factory Kanpur (SAF) and Ordnance Factory Trichy (OFT) manufacture small arms (rifles, machine guns, carbines, pistols, anti-riot/tear gas/pump action gun, etc.) for the armed forces, paramilitary forces (MHA) and the states/UTs,
India is ready to help Bangladesh with its defence modernisation efforts and has identified defence industry cooperation with Dhaka as an emerging focus area of the bilateral partnership, including joint development and production, India's envoy here has said. The Indian High Commission here on Sunday organised a seminar here on Indian defence equipment to promote defence industry cooperation between India and Bangladesh. Speaking at the event, Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Verma identified defence industry cooperation between the two countries as an emerging focus area of their defence partnership, a press release by the High Commission said. Verma highlighted the accomplishments of Indian's defence industry over the last decade driven by the Make in India, Make for the World vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The High Commissioner invited Bangladesh Armed Forces to benefit from India's cost-effective, high-quality defence equipment and technology and proposed