Indian Navy to host multi-nation military drill in March 2020:

Indian Navy will host a multi-nation military drill called Milan 2020 at Visakhapatnam in March 2020.MILAN denotes Multilateral Naval Exercise. The event will witness the participation of several countries.

Milan 2020

MILAN series of biennial exercises commenced in 1995. It was at Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) for the first time on the mainland at Eastern Naval Command(ENC)

Aim:

To increase the scope and complexity of the exercise.The government pursues cooperation, including the Indian Ocean Region, through structured interactions.

The main areas that need to cooperate are capacity building, training, operational exercise, marine domain awareness, hydrography, technical assistance.The invited countries for the participation are South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Europe that share defense cooperation with India have invited for the drill. Indonesia, Maldives, Australia, Somalia, Kenya, Mozambique, Sudan, Qatar, Thailand, Malaysia, , Egypt, France, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Myanmar, New Zealand, USA, Israel, Tanzania, Comoros, Seychelles Brunei, Philippines, Japan, UK, Madagascar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Mauritius, Cambodia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Kuwait, Iran, Russia, Djibouti, Bahrain, UAE, Eritrea and Bangladesh.

Indian Army inducted ATGMS Spike along LoC in JK:

The Indian Army has inducted anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) Spike along the Line of Control (LoC) in northern command theatre in Jammu and Kashmir. The induction aims to strengthen the defence along the country`s border with Pakistan. 

India-Israel deal:

Israel delivered a total of 210 missiles along with 12 launchers to India under an Rs.280 crore deal. The delivery is a part of Israel`s emergency purchase mechanism. The deal was made between India and Israel, after the Pakistani army moved some of its troops to the border following the Indian Air Force`s strike on terror camps in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan.

Spike ATGM:

♦ Spike missiles are developed and manufactured in Israel. The anti-tank guided missile and anti-personnel missile with a tandem-charge HEAT warhead.

♦ Currently, the fourth-generation of the missiles are in use. It is known as the fire and forget missiles.

♦ The Spike ATGMs are portable by men.

♦ The missiles can destroy tanks and bust bunkers within four kilometers.

♦ In October 2019, these anti-tank guided missiles and its launchers were inducted along the LoC in the northern theatre.