[🇮🇳] Indian Navy and its development

[Saif]

Date of Event: Dec 19, 2024

Source : https://www.thedailystar.net/news/asia/india/news/13-dead-99-rescued-indian-navy-craft-hits-ferry-3779771

13 dead, 99 rescued as Indian Navy craft hits ferry

A military helicopter flies over a ferry during a rescue operation after a passenger boat capsized off the coast of India's financial capital Mumbai, India, December 18, 2024. Photo: Reuters

Thirteen persons were killed and 99 rescued yesterday after an Indian Navy craft crashed into a ferry off the coast of Mumbai, the Navy said.

At about 4:00pm, a Navy craft undergoing engine trials lost control and collided with a passenger ferry off Karanja near Mumbai, the Navy said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

The ferry was carrying passengers from the Gateway of India to Elephanta Island, a popular tourist destination.

"13 fatalities have been reported so far," it said adding survivors rescued from the incident site were being shifted to nearby hospitals.

The Navy said, "Search and rescue efforts have been immediately launched wherein four naval helicopters, 11 naval crafts, one Coast Guard boat and three marine police crafts have been pressed in action for recovering the survivors."​

 

[Saif]

India signs $7.4 billion deal with France to buy 26 Rafale fighter jets

India signed a deal with France on Monday to buy 26 Rafale fighter aircraft worth 630 billion rupees ($7.4 billion) for its navy, the Indian defence ministry said in a statement. India will buy 22 single-seater and four twin-seater fighters, made by France's Dassault Aviation, the ministry said, i

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

India signs $7.4 billion deal with France to buy 26 Rafale fighter jets
REUTERS
Published :
Apr 28, 2025 18:37
Updated :
Apr 28, 2025 18:37

India signed a deal with France on Monday to buy 26 Rafale fighter aircraft worth 630 billion rupees ($7.4 billion) for its navy, the Indian defence ministry said in a statement.

India will buy 22 single-seater and four twin-seater fighters, made by France's Dassault Aviation, the ministry said, in a deal that would boost the Asian country's defence ties with its second-largest arms supplier.

"The delivery of these aircraft would be completed by 2030, with the crew undergoing training in France and India," the ministry said, adding that the deal is expected to generate thousands of jobs and revenue for a large number of businesses.

The purchase was approved earlier this month by India's security cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Reuters reported.

The Indian Air Force currently operates 36 Rafale fighters, while the navy's aircraft fleet mainly comprises Russian MiG-29 jets.

India is seeking to modernise its military, reduce dependence on Russian-origin equipment, and boost domestic weapons production to supply forces deployed along two contentious borders with Pakistan and China.

The Indian navy has flagged China's growing presence in the Indian Ocean over the past decade, with Beijing operating dual-purpose vessels in the region and maintaining a military base in Djibouti since 2017.

It also marks another step in India's long-standing reliance on French military hardware, including Mirage 2000 jets bought in the 1980s and Scorpene-class submarines ordered in 2005.​

 

[Krishna with Flute]

Very much needed till ORCA arrives. They will complement airforce airforce Rafale as well.

 

[Saif]

UN expert investigates reports of Indian navy casting Rohingyas into sea

A UN expert said on Thursday he was investigating ‘credible reports’ that Rohingya refugees were forced off an Indian navy ship into the Andaman Sea, in what would be an ‘unconscionable’ act.

www.newagebd.net

UN expert investigates reports of Indian navy casting Rohingyas into sea
Agence France-Presse . Geneva 15 May, 2025, 17:14

Representational image. | AFP file photo

A UN expert said on Thursday he was investigating ‘credible reports’ that Rohingya refugees were forced off an Indian navy ship into the Andaman Sea, in what would be an ‘unconscionable’ act.

‘The idea that Rohingya refugees have been cast into the sea from naval vessels is nothing short of outrageous,’ said Tom Andrews, the United Nations special rapporteur on the rights situation in Myanmar.

‘I am seeking further information and testimony regarding these developments and implore the Indian government to provide a full accounting of what happened.’

Andrews, who is an independent expert mandated by the UN Human Rights Council but who does not speak on behalf of the UN itself, said he was ‘deeply concerned by what appears to be a blatant disregard for the lives and safety of those who require international protection’.

The mostly Muslim Rohingya have been heavily persecuted in Myanmar for decades.

One million Rohingya live in a string of squalid camps in Bangladesh after escaping a 2017 military crackdown in Myanmar.

Thousands of them risk their lives each year on long sea journeys to seek refuge elsewhere.

Andrews’ statement pointed to reports that Indian authorities in the past week detained dozens of Rohingya refugees living in Delhi, ‘many or all of whom held refugee identification documents’.

Around 40 members of the group were reportedly blindfolded and flown to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and then transferred to an Indian naval ship, he said.

‘After the boat crossed the Andaman Sea, the refugees were reportedly given life jackets, forced into the sea and made to swim to an island in Myanmar territory,’ he said.

‘Such cruel actions would be an affront to human decency and represent a serious violation of the principle of non-refoulment,’ he said, pointing out that Rohingya ‘face the threat of violence, persecution and other grave human rights violations in Myanmar’.

‘The government of India must immediately and unequivocally repudiate unconscionable acts against Rohingya refugees, stop all deportations to Myanmar and ensure that those responsible for these blatant violations of India’s international obligations are held responsible,’ Andrews said.​