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DRDO, Indian firms showcase India-made weapons, tech in Paris

A large number of Indian companies are taking part in the show with the DRDO showcasing 11 major defence technologies and products…reports Asian Lite News

Indian defence sector firms from both public and private sectors are participating in the EUROSATORY 2024 defence show in France.

The exhibition is showcasing Indian products like the Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher system and the LCA Tejas fighter aircraft.

The India pavilion at the show was inaugurated on Monday, June 17 by Indian Ambassador to France Jawed Ashraf.

Bharat Electronics Limited Directors Manoj Jain and K V Suresh Kumar, Brig Zubin Bhatnagar, Defence Attache of India to France, and senior Defence Public Sector Undertakings and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) officials were present on the occasion, Bharat Electronics Limited officials said.

A large number of Indian companies are taking part in the show with the DRDO showcasing 11 major defence technologies and products.

One of the prime attractions from the Indian side is the Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher system which has already been exported by India to a friendly foreign country.

The DRDO is also showcasing its Airborne Early Warning and Control System, LCA Tejas, Astra beyond visual range missiles and the highly successful Akash air defence system.

The Arjun main battle tank and the Wheeled Armoured Platform along with the Varunastra heavy-weight torpedo are also on showcase.

A large number of Indian private sector companies like Nibe Defence, Bharat Forge among other small and medium enterprises are also participating in the show.

Eurosatory-2024 is being held in Paris, France and is one of the largest defence shows in Europe.

The show is taking place at a time when almost all the countries in that region are looking to expand their defence spending in view of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. (ANI)

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Russia to supply Wagner group more weapons

Bakhmut has limited strategic value but has taken on great symbolic weight with the duration and unprecedented violence of the fighting…reports Asian Lite News

The owner of the Wagner mercenary group said on Sunday that Moscow “promised” more ammunition and weapons to continue the fight for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. It was a risk the Russian Military command did not want to take.

In an audio message released on Sunday, the owner and financier of the notorious mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, withdrew his threat to pull his troops out of the Bakhmut area, after securing a pledge from the government.

“Last night we received an order to fight (…). They promise to give us all the ammunition and weapons we need to continue operations,” Prigozhin said.

“We are assured that everything necessary will be provided to our flanks (around Bakhmut) so that the enemy does not break through and we are told that we can act in Artiomovsk (the Soviet name for Bakhmut) as we see fit,” he added.

In a video message released on Friday, Prigozhin blasted the Russian army leadership and vowed to pull his troops out of Bakhmut, the epicentre of the fighting in Ukraine, if they did not receive more material support.

He also accused the high command of being responsible for “tens of thousands” of Russians being killed and wounded in Ukraine, as the threat of a Ukrainian counteroffensive backed by Western-supplied weapons looms.

The oligarch then asked the Russian Defence Minister on Saturday to hand Bakhmut operations over to Chechen troops headed by Ramzan Kadyrov.

“I ask you to issue a battle order on the transfer, before midnight on 10 May, of the positions of the Wagner group to the units of the Akhmat battalion in the locality of Bakhmut and its surroundings,” Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a letter published by his press office addressed to the Russian Defence Minister, Sergei Shoigu.

The head of Wagner said he was making this request “because of a long shortage of ammunition”, accusing the general staff of having supplied him with only 32% of the requested ammunition since  October.

Bakhmut has limited strategic value but has taken on great symbolic weight with the duration and unprecedented violence of the fighting.

Wagner’s troops have launched extremely deadly waves of assault against the city, which has been transformed into a field of ruins and is, according to Moscow, more than 90% controlled by Russian forces.

Prigozhin added on Sunday that General Sergei Surovikin would henceforth take “all decisions concerning the military operations in Wagner in cooperation with the Russian Ministry of Defence”.

“He is the only person with the stars of an army general who knows how to fight,” Prigozhin said.

The notoriously ruthless general Surovikin was appointed commander of Russian forces in Ukraine in October, much to the satisfaction of Yevgeny Prigozhin, and coordinated the Russian army’s withdrawal from the city of Kherson.

But he was replaced in January by General Valery Guerasimov, the chief of staff of the army, who is regularly criticised by Wagner’s boss.

On the Telegram messaging service, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov responded to Prigozhin’s comments by saying his fighters were ready to occupy Russian positions in Bakhmut if the Wagner group did indeed withdraw its units.

“Our fighters are ready to move in and occupy the city. It would take a few hours,” Ramzan Kadyrov said, indicating that his troops had already fought alongside Wagner’s in the Ukrainian cities of Popasna, Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, which Russia had conquered.

If deployed, the Kadyrovites could face off against another Chechen group fighting for the Ukrainian side, the Sheikh Mansur Battalion.

The volunteer group joined the fight hoping to secure Ukraine’s freedom and revenge for past actions Russia has taken against their families and homeland in Chechnya.

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Scare as crew-less speed-boat with weapons drifts ashore

The state government has ordered a high alert in Mumbai, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Pune and other places as a precaution in view of the festivities on Friday…reports Asian Lite News

A crew-less Australian-couple owned speed-boat with some sophisticated weapons — adrift in the Arabian Sea for 52 days — washed ashore at Harihareshwar Beach in Raigad coastal district, sounding alarm bells on Thursday, a day ahead of the crowded ‘dahi-handi’ celebrations.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde promptly ordered a probe into the incident while Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has tentatively ruled out any terror angle, though questions of maritime and coastal security are being raised.

The incident suddenly revived the chilling memories of the 1993 Mumbai serial terror strikes when huge quantities of arms, ammunitions and explosives had been surreptitiously offloaded at certain small ports or beaches on the Raigad coast.

The UAE-based Neptune P2P Group said on Thursday evening that it had provided private security to the vessel ‘MY Ladyhan’ in June, which was damaged during monsoon in the Arabian Sea and the Captain declared an emergency.

The suspicious speed-boat was first noticed by some local fisherfolk on Thursday morning leading to a flutter in the sleepy coastal village and they alerted the local police who rushed there.

A quick initial search and later detailed investigations cleared the mystery of the speedboat which is stated to belong to an Australian couple, the government said subsequently in the evening.

Fadnavis informed the legislature that the speedboat, named ‘Ladyhaan’ is owned by an Australian woman Hannah Laundergun and her husband James Horbert was sailing it.

He added that the Raigad Police have recovered 3 AK-47 guns and some quantities of ammunition from the speedboat.

The Deputy Chief Minister further said that the speedboat was reportedly slated to sail from Oman to Europe, but on June 26, around 10 a.m., it suffered an engine failure at an unknown location in the sea.

The vessel crew called for help, and after 3 hours that day, a Korean warship in the vicinity had picked them up and dropped them off to Oman.

Owing to the rough seas, the Australian couple reportedly could not arrange to tow the vessel and after remaining adrift over seven weeks in the choppy Arabian Sea waters, it finally landed up Harihareshwar Beach on Thursday.

“The issue is being probed by the Raigad Police and Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad, and in view of past incidents, the police are put on high alert,” said Fadnavis.

A nagging question is how the sophisticated arms and ammunition landed on the vessel, whether they belonged to the owner/crew, the purpose of sailing with such weapons, especially since there are vital Indian offshore installations like the Mumbai High Fields, or if the weapons were dumped on board the speed-boat later after it was adrift and lost on the high seas.

It is also not clear whether the purported Australian owners, plus another person whose identity or nationality is not known, had informed the Indian maritime, coast guard or naval authorities of their speedboat which remained adrift in the Arabian Sea for at least 52 days, posing a potential maritime hazard.

Meanwhile, the state government has ordered a high alert in Mumbai, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Pune and other places as a precaution in view of the festivities on Friday.

The Neptune P2P Group said while the crew was rescued, the yacht could not be salvaged due to the extreme weather conditions, and the vessel was presumed sunk till this morning the company learnt that it had washed ashore in India (Raigad).

“Neptune P2P Group are working with the owner of the vessel and the Indian and UK authorities to determine the official recovery procedures of the vessel and controlled items,” said the company.

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107 weapons recovered in E. Afghanistan

The recovered weapons included 107 assault rifles and some ammunition and military equipment, according to the statement…reports Asian Lite News

A total of 107 weapons have been recovered in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Paktika as Afghan security personnel continue to recover weapons from outside the security organs, the Taliban-led caretaker government said on Tuesday.

Security forces recovered a large number of weapons and ammunition in Paktika province on Sunday, the government said in a statement, Xinhua news agency reported.

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The recovered weapons included 107 assault rifles and some ammunition and military equipment, according to the statement.

It is also reported that in clean-up operations and house-to-house searches, Afghan security forces recovered a large number of weapons from individuals in the eastern Nangarhar province a couple of weeks ago.

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‘Russia won’t forget Britain’s weapon supply to Kiev regime’

Moscow said London has completely subordinated its foreign policy to the task of causing as much damage as possible to Russian national interests, reports Asian Lite News

Russia will not forget Britain’s desire to cooperate with ultra-nationalist forces in Ukraine and the supply of British weapons to the Kiev regime, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

“Let’s not forget the cooperation of the British with the Kiev regime and ultra-nationalist forces in Ukraine, the continued supply of British weapons these days, which are being used against the civilian population of Donbass and the Russian military,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

In fact, London has completely subordinated its foreign policy to the task of causing as much damage as possible to Russian national interests, Moscow noted.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss

“For now, British Foreign Minister Elizabeth Truss is calling on her compatriots to go fight for Ukraine, and there are calls in the House of Commons to send all Russians out of Britain,” the ministry said, RT reported.

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said that Russia would not allow the Anglo-Saxons to interfere in the affairs of the country.

“We will not tolerate the attempts of the Anglo-Saxons to interfere in the internal political processes in our country, to destabilize the situation, to instill values that are alien to us,” she said.

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