PM Modi hands over 'Made in India' combat chopper to IAF, advanced warfare suite to Navy in Jhansi

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Uttar Pradesh's Mahoba and Jhansi districts on Friday and launched multiple development projects. The Prime Minister inaugurated multiple projects in Mahoba and then visited Jhansi to dedicate to the nation multiple initiatives of the Defence sector at ‘Rashtra Raksha Samparpan Parv’, which commenced here on November 17 as part of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahaotsav’ celebrations. 

To give a thrust to Aatmanirbhar Bharat in the defence sector, the Prime Minister formally handed over indigenously designed and developed equipment to Armed forces Service Chiefs. These include handing over of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) designed and developed Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) to Chief of the Air Staff; drones/UAVs designed and developed by Indian startups to Chief of the Army Staff; and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) designed and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) manufactured Advanced Electronic Warfare suite for naval ships to the Chief of Naval Staff.

The LCH incorporates advanced technologies and stealth features for effective combat roles. The deployment of Indian UAVs by Indian Armed Forces is also a proof of the growing maturity of the Indian drone industry ecosystem. 

The Advanced Electronic Warfare (EW) System 'Shakti' has been designed and developed by Defence Electronics Research Laboratory (DLRL) Hyderabad a laboratory of DRDO for Capital Warships of the Indian Navy for the interception, detection, classification, identification and jamming of conventional and modern Radars. The Shakti EW system will provide an electronic layer of defence against modern radars and anti-ship missiles to ensure electronic dominance and survivability in the maritime battlefield. 

This system will replace the earlier generation EW Systems of the Indian Navy, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement. The system has been integrated with the wideband Electronic Support Measures (ESM) and Electronic Counter Measure (ECM) for the defence of Indian Navy Ships against missile attacks. The ESM of the system helps in finding accurate direction and interception of modern radars. The system has a built-in radar fingerprinting and data recording replay feature for post-mission analysis.

First Shakti system has been installed on-board INS Visakhapatnam and is being installed on-board Indigenous Aircraft Carrier, INS Vikrant. Twelve Shakti Systems are under production at Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) supported by more than fifty MSMEs at a total cost of Rs 1805 crores. These systems are scheduled to be installed on-board capital warships under production, including P-15B, P-17A and Talwar class follow-on ships. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO, Indian Navy and Industry Partners for the development of the Shakti EW System.

PM also launched the National Cadet Corps (NCC) Alumni Association and become first member of the association. The PM also inaugurated the National programme of simulation training for NCC cadets with the aim to scale up simulation training facilities for all the three wings of NCC. 

Modi also dedicated to the nation augmented reality powered electronic kiosks at the National War Memorial, New Delhi which will enable visitors to pay floral homage to martyrs through the simple click of the button

The Prime Minister also inaugurated Atal Ekta Park in Jhansi. Named after former Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the park has been built at a cost of over Rs 11 crore, and is spread across an area of about 40,000 square metres. It will also house a library, as well as a statue of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The statue has been built by the renowned sculptor Ram Sutar, the man behind the Statue of Unity.

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