Over thirteen years after defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton produced a report for US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warning of China’s plans to increase its maritime footprint in littoral South Asia, the building blocks for a Chinese support network of logistical stations therein is now being put into place.

Two companies shortlisted for the Indian Navy’s 16-ship anti-submarine warfare shallow water craft (ASWSWC) programme have unveiled imagery of their respective proposals at Defexpo India 2018, held in Chennai from 11 to 14 April.

Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe commissioned a new Advanced Offshore Patrol Vessel (AOPV) for the Sri Lankan Navy on Thursday, a ship that was entirely Indian built.

China has made marked advancements in its undersea-warfare capabilities and is using stolen US technology to further that progress, US Adm. Philip Davidson told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.

In a cheeky warning to China, the Navy taking to its official Twitter handle said that India was watching the Indian Ocean region and was keeping a 24x7 vigil in the area.

These are considered as normal greetings in high-seas but the tweet made it amply clear that they were messages directed towards Beijing.

Moving closer towards buying four advanced warships for the Navy, India has finalised the price of the vessels to be bought directly from Russia at around USD 1.1 billion while Defence Ministry is pushing for conclusion of the contract for the remaining two vessels which would be built by the Goa Shipyard under Make in India programme.

The Indian Navy will soon invite requests for proposals (RfPs) for a Rs 95,000-crore tender to purchase 57 fighter aircraft. An official source said: “Companies including Sweden-based SAAB, Lockheed Martin, Boeing (both US-based firms), France’s Dassault Aviation and Russia’s MIG will be receiving the RfPs soon.

India-based private sector supplier Mahindra Defence has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Israeli company Aeronautics to offer a maritime version of the Orbiter 4 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for the Indian Navy.

Indian Navy’s Malacca Strait deployment which started in June last year has spotted three Chinese naval ships entering the Indian Ocean Region from Ombai Wetar in Indonesia, officials said today.