1. Konkan 18
• It is the naval exercise between India and United Kingdom. The 2018 edition will be held in Goa.
• Bilateral KONKAN exercise was started in 2004 and since then has grown in scale. The exercise is aimed at deriving mutual benefit from each other’s’ experiences and is indicative of continuing cooperation between two countries.
2. ‘COPE INDIA 2019’
• It is a bilateral exercise between Indian Air Force (IAF) and US Air Force (USAF) conducted on and over Indian soil. The 2019 edition will be held in West Bengal.
• The first such exercise was conducted at IAF air force station in Gwalior from February 2004.
3. Navy Day
• Navy Day in India is observed on 4 December every year to celebrate the achievements and role of the naval force to the country. The Indian Navy is the marine branch of the Indian Armed Forces and is led by the President of India as Commander-in-Chief.
• The Maratha Emperor, Chhatarpati Shivaji Bhosle of the 17th century is considered as "Father of the Indian Navy".
4. Anti-ship cruise missile BrahMos:
• The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) meeting chaired by defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman gave approval for the procurement of BrahMos Missiles for two of the vessels to be built in Russia.
• The BrahMos is the fastest cruise missile of its class in the world.
• BrahMos missile flies almost three times the speed of sound at Mach 2.8 and has a range of 290 km.
• The missile has been jointly developed with Russia and is named after the rivers Brahmaputra and Moskva in Russia.
• The BrahMos is extremely difficult to be intercepted by surface to air missiles deployed on leading warships around the world.
• The range of the BrahMos missile can be extended up to 400 km as certain technical restrictions were lifted after India became a full member of the Missile Technology Control Regime or MTCR in 2016.
5. RPAS (Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems) in India
• In August 2018, India had announced the release of its Civil Aviation Regulations (CAR) to enable safe flying of RPAS (Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems) in India.
• Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems (RPAS), also known as drones, are a technology platform with wide-ranging applications.
• New features will be developed to ease the process of flying for users.
• To provide oversight to security agencies.
• It is envisioned that in the future Digital Sky Service Providers (DSPs)will be extending the functionality of the platform through Application Program Interfaces (APIs).
• If an RPAS does not have permission to fly, it will not be allowed to take-off under the policy of No-Permission-No-Takeoff (NPNT).
6. Exercise SHINYUU Maitri-2018 with JASDF Commences
• The Japanese Air Self Defense Force (JASDF) is in India for a bilateral air exercise SHINYUU Maitri-18 with Indian Air Force from 03-07 Dec 18 at A F Station Agra.
• The theme of the exercise is joint Mobility/Humanitarian Assistance & Disaster Relief (HADR) on Transport aircraft.
• IAF is participating with An-32 and C-17 aircraft with aircrew & observers. The focus of the exercise is set for the IAF and JASDF crews to undertake Joint Mobility/ HADR operations.
7. Sino-India Joint Exercise Hand-in-Hand 2018
• Exercise Hand-in-Hand is conducted annually as part of military diplomacy and interaction between armies of India and China.
• The joint exercise for the year 2018 will be conducted from 10 to 23 December 2018 at Chengdu, China.
• The aim of the exercise is to build and promote close relations between armies of both the countries and to enhance ability of joint exercise commander to take military contingents of both nations under command. The exercise will involve tactical level operations in an International Counter Insurgency/ Counter Terrorist environment under UN mandate.
• The exercise will be conducted from 11 December 2018 in which both the contingents will establish a Joint Command Headquarter and conduct joint exercise on anti-terrorist operations .
• The opening ceremony for the exercise will be conducted on 11 December 2018 which will consist of a ceremonial parade and address by head of both contingents.