• The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has got the initial clearance from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to domestically manufacture Light Utility Helicopters (LUHs) to meet the operational requirements of Indian Army and Indian Air Force, paving the way for replacing the ageing fleet of Cheetah and Chetak helicopters.
• HAL displayed its prototypes at the Def-Expo 2020 held at Lucknow.

DRDO is in the process of developing a 200-km strike range tactical ballistic missile ‘Pranash’, which would be armed with conventional warheads and would be used by the Army and Air force.

• Pranash is an advanced version of Prahar missile (150-km strike range) which was being developed for tactical missions.
• The single-stage solid-propellant missile would also be readied for exports to friendly foreign countries as its strike range is within the permissible limits of international regimes on missile sales.

The Indian Army’s College of Military Engineering jointly with a private firm has developed a gunshot locator device – ‘Parth’.

• The device can locate the exact location of a bullet from a distance of 400m and will help to locate and neutralize terrorists faster.
• The device costs around Rs 3 lakhs, and if inducted, would replace a similar imported item which costs around Rs 65 lakhs.

The Indian Coast Guard’s Offshore Patrol Vessel ICGS Varad has been commissioned.

• The vessel has been designed and built by the L&T at its yard at Kattupalli near Chennai.
• The ship Varad can carry a twin engine helicopter and four high speed boats for swift boarding operations, search and rescue, law enforcement and maritime patrol. The ship is also capable of carrying pollution response equipment for oil spill response at sea.

• The Indian Air Force (IAF) and Royal Air Force (RAF) of UK jointly carried out the fifth edition of Exercise Indradhanush at Air Force Station Hindon.
• The focus of this edition of the exercise was ‘Base Defence and Force Protection’- signifying the recent threats to military establishments from terror elements.

• RaIDer-X is an explosive detection device that was unveiled at the National Workshop on Explosive Detection (NWED-2020) in Pune.
• RaIDer-X has the capability to detect explosives from a stand-off distance. The data library can be built in the system to expand its capability to detect a number of explosives in pure form as well as with the contaminants. Bulk explosive in a concealed condition can also be detected by the device.
• It has been co-developed by DRDO’s High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL) Pune and IISc Bangalore.

• The 9th edition of India-Bangladesh joint army exercise SAMPRITI-IX was held at Umroi, Meghalaya.

• The Indian Navy has postponed the military drill ‘Milan 2020’ sheduled in March. Milan is a multilateral biennial naval exercise hosted by the Indian Navy under the aegis of the Andaman and Nicobar Command.
• 41 nations from South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa and Europe that share defence cooperation with India have were invited for the drill.

• The fifth edition of Exercise Ajeya Warrior-2020 between India and United Kingdom Army was held at Salisbury Plains, United Kingdom.
• The aim of the exercise was to conduct training of troops in counter insurgency and counter terrorist operations in both Urban and Semi Urban areas.