Takes a peek in to India's foremost military training school - RIMC Dehradoon

17 Mar 2010 8ak: Dehradoon-based prestigious Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC) celebrated its 88th founder’s day last week. The lavish affair lasting two days was attended by over 200 alumnii along with their family members. Among the prominent alumnii gracing the occasion were former Army Chief General V.N. Sharma, Lt Gen S.S. Dhillon, Vice Admiral P.K. Chatterjee, Maj Gen Manvendra Singh and 1971 war veteran Col Hari Handa.

8ak felt it necessary to cover the gala affair because the school, initially known as the Prince of Wales Royal Military College, has many laurels to its credit and its alumnii have gone on to be leaders in the armed forces, not only in India but also across the border. To begin with, the school holds the distinction of producing 8 service chiefs, which includes three in Pakistan, a distinction not held by any military school in the world. Not many would know, but India’s first Param Vir Chakra winner Maj Som Nath Sharma is also an alumnus of the school. The school also has the recipient of the coveted Distinguished Service Order (DSO), former army Chief General Thimayya to its credit. Other prominent alumni’s include the recipient of Victoria Cross Lt Gen PS Bhagat, Air Marshal Vinod Patney, the man behind the highly successful Operation Safed Sagar during the Kargil war and is also the most decorated IAF officer ever. Even on the civil street the school has the distinction of producing the youngest serving IAS officer, Simran Deep Singh, in the country. 

The occassion was marked by several sporting and cultural events. Among the sporting events was a cadet versus old boys hockey and cricket match. The old boys made merry as they won both the games, proving that they still had the enthusiasm in their souls and age was not a factor on the playing field. Another sporting event which aroused a lot of interest was the inter-section boxing, where the cadets displayed immense courage and stamina in the ring fighting for their respective sections. The cadets also entertained the visitors by performing acrobatics and karate but when the horse show came around a RIMC/NDA alumni said that the recent addition of the horses and karate training had allowed the boys to put up a display that rivalled the NDA (National Defence Academy, Pune).

On the cultural side, the cadets came up with several heart warming performances which included dance items, college band performances and a skit with a social message. The old boys and the cadets also paid homage to the martyred soldiers belonging to the RIMC community by laying wreath on the war memorial built within the school campus spread across 138 acres. 

The school, funded by the Ministry of Defence only takes in 250 students a year from every single state in India and provides them an exceptional education. The school is also unique because it is the only school in the nation to conduct internal boards, fully recognised by the CBSE, twice a year to facilitate the entry of its cadets into the National Defence Academy, which remains its primary aim. RIMC officials told 8ak that an average of 89% of its students go on to the NDA, as opposed to the national average of 0.2%.

But the school is facing its own challenges in maintaining its standards in the face of fund & manpower shortages and the relevance of old traditions in a fast changing India. One contentious issue is doubling the number of student to 500 which would divide the management, faculty and alumnii.

Parity for Women in Indian armed forces, even in corruption cases

17 Mar 2010 8ak: The Delhi High Court has issued directives to the Union government to allow grant of permanent commission to women officers. 

Hearing a petition filed by the serving and retired women officers, a bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kaul delivered the verdict and asked the government to provide all the benefits to them, which are enjoyed by their male counterparts. As per the existing system, their male colleagues get permanent commission after ten years but the women must retire after 14 years of service. 

Women officers in the armed forces feel that the verdict will help them get parity with their male counterparts, who consider themselves to be superior to the former. However, the longstanding demand of the women officers to get commissioned in to the fighting arms seems to be a long way off, as the three wings of forces have categorically refused to induct women into fighting divisions.  As per the official government figures the present strength of women officers in the Army, excluding the strength of medical services stands at 1012, of which 12 are slated to retire this year.

While the high court order to grant permanent commission to the women has come as a major success for women, the army in a first case involving a women officer, has cashiered and jailed Major Dimple Singla for a year on charges of corruption. A general court martial presided over by Colonel Sanjeev Jose, earlier this month passed the sentence. 

Major Singla was found guilty on two accounts. On the first account the court martial found her guilty accepting Rs 10,000 from advocate Ambrish Sharma, who was defending the court martial case of a jawan in which she was the Judge Advocate General. In the second case, she was accused of improperly visiting Captain Kamud Maini, who was defending Chandran’s case, and asked him not to divulge any information to the press regarding the case.

Two other women defence officers have been tried and found guilty before Major Singla — though not for corruption. On March 3 this year, the Indian Air Force dismissed Flying Officer Anjali Gupta for acts of indiscipline in 2005. Last year, Captain Poonam Kaur of the Army Supply Corps was dismissed. She was the first woman officer to be dismissed from the Army on charges of levelling false allegations of physical and mental harassment against her senior officers. She was charged with improper media interaction and for failing to appear for an interview with a senior officer.

Submarine fire kills one Indian sailor, injures two

02 Mar 2010 8ak: The Indian navy submarine fire in an eastern port base at Vishakhapatnam’s naval dockyard has killed one sailor and injured two others. A senior naval officer confirmed to 8ak that the fire broke out in INS Sindhurakshak due to a defect in the battery. INS Sindhurakshak, a Russian manufactured kilo class submarine was in the harbour undergoing regular maintenance work added the officer. 

A diesel-electric Sindhughosh class submarine, INS Sindhurakshak was commissioned into the Indian navy on 24 Dec 1997. It was built under a contract signed between Rosvooruzhenie and the Indian Defence Ministry. The contract specified that 10 Sindhughosh class submarines be built on the lines of Russian Kilo class submarines, having a displacement of 3,000 tonnes, a maximum diving depth of 300 meters, top speed of 18 knots, and are able to operate solo for 45 days with a crew of 52. 

It may be noted that INS Sindhurakshak, earned a rare distinction in 2006, when former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam became the first Indian head of state to undertake a sortie in the submarine.  The first submarine, INS Sindhughosh, manufactured by Russia as per the contract, was commissioned into the Indian navy on 30 April 1986 and the last contracted submarine, INS Sindhushastra, was commissioned a decade back on 19 July 2000. The last submarine was equipped with the 3M-54 Klub (SS-N-27) anti-ship cruise missiles with a range of 220 km.

Defexpo: CAE and Tata ASL's simulator for Russian T-72/T-90 tanks

20 Feb 2010 8ak: CAE, a Montreal, Canada based is known for making commercial flight simulators. In a video interview CAE India's president Mr H.J. Kamath told 8ak Editor, Manu Sood, their ongoing development with Tata Advanced Systems of a simulator for Russian T-72/T-90 tanks based on the army's requirement for 80 of these machines. There are separate modules for the gunner, the driver and crew. 

Retired tank commanders told 8ak that currently it takes up to 3 years for the armed forces to train a tank driver and then there is always unpredictable career movement in both the trainer and trainee. So if the private sector could do this in 3 months, the army should consider. Other army insiders have said that outsourcing to private sector may be possible for jeep drivers but not for tanks as each army would have their own methods of mission training which they would like to keep secret. 

Meanwhile Ajai Shukla reported that the Russians are unhappy about a non-Russian company building a simulator for their tanks. CAE and the other competitor Zen Technologies both deny any IPR have been infringed. 

At their Defexpo stand CAE also demonstrated naval, unmanned systems and forward post observers' training modules. 

21 army men dead as avalanche hits army camp in Kashmir, more in Afpak

Update 12 Feb 2010: 185 dead in Afghanistan. Key tunnel remains closed.

Update 11 Feb 2010: 8 Pakistani soldiers killed in avalanche.

Update 11 Feb 2010: 3 more soldier were killed taking the total to 21. Canandian newspaper says that more people have been killed in Siachen due to cold weather than due to war. 

Update 10 Feb 2010: Indian Express reports that the Snow Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE) had warned the Army and it’s High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS) but these were ignored. Hindustan Times reports that the Army has initiated a probe and AFP reports that fresh snows have caused another avalanche killing another soldier bringing the total number of army deaths to 18.

Update 10 Feb 2010 VOA reports 17 people have been killed. 

09 Feb 2010 8ak:  As many as 13 army personnel, including an officer, were killed and 15 seriously injured in Baramulla district of Kashmir on Monday when an avalanche hit army’s high altitude warfare training camp. An army spokesman, Lt Colonel J S Brar, said scores more were still missing and rescuers were searching for them in deep snow. Seventy personnel have been rescued, he said. 

The dead included an officer, Lt Prateek, and twelve other ranks from the Army's prestigious High Altitude Warfare School, he said. The rescue work is on in full swing to evacuate the injured and search for survivors under the debris. In the meantime, the injured have been shifted to hospital for treatment. 

New IAF Head of Maintenance, also top level appointments in CRPF ITBP

06 Feb 2010 8ak: Air Marshal Joseph Neri has taken over as the new Air Officer-in-Charge Maintenance (AOM), at Air Headquarters. AOM is responsible for ‘Maintenance Management’ of all weapon systems and equipment of Indian Air Force (IAF). He was formerly the Director General of Aircraft at Air Headquarters. 

The appointment comes at a time when the IAF is grappling with serious maintenance issues due to which Sukhoi-30s, the front line fighters were grounded in the past and trainer HPT-32s remain grounded, hampering the training of pilots. Air Marshal Neri is an Electronic Engineering graduate from College of Engineering Gindy, Chennai. He was commissioned in the IAF on July 8, 1974. 

The Air Marshal held various field and staff appointments including Senior Technical Officer of Tactical and combat Development Establishment (TACDE), Chief Engineering Officer of a major fighter base, Commanding Officer of a Signal Unit and Staff appointments as Director Training and Principal Director Operations-Information Technology and Networking besides Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Maintenance Planning). As Senior Maintenance Staff Officer (SMSO) while at South Western Air Command, he was responsible for the operational preparedness of the IAF Fleet in the sector. He closely steered the maintenance activities of the nascent Sukhoi-30 fleet to overcome teething problems during his tenure there. For his distinguished service, Air Marshal was conferred the Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM) on January 26, 1999 and Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) on January 26, 2010 by the President of India. 

In another high profile appointment, 1973-batch UP cadre IPS officer Vikram Srivastava has been appointed as Director General of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and another 1974-batch IPS officer R.K. Bhatia has been appointed as Director General of the Indo- Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).