19 August 2018: UPSC Exam PIB Summary & Analysis

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Exercise Pitch Black

• Ex Pitch Black a biennial multi-national large force employment warfare exercise was hosted by Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF)
• It is for the first time that IAF participated with air assets in the Exercise Pitch Black (PB-18).

Objective

• The objectives for the exercise were to foster closer relationship between the participating friendly forces and to promote interoperability through exchange of knowledge and experience.
• The aim for participating crew and specialist observers was to expose them to op environment in international scenarios.

Significance

• The exercise provided a unique opportunity for exchange of knowledge and experience with the participating nations in a dynamic warfare environment.
• The IAF contingent interacted with various countries, gained first-hand experience of training patterns, employment and operating philosophies of their combat assets.
• The Operational lessons learnt by IAF during the exercise will assist IAF in adding more teeth to its overall war waging capabilities and assist us in better joint man ship with the friendly Nations

Anti-Tank Guided Missile ‘HELINA’

Context

• Indigenously developed Helicopter launched Anti-Tank Guided Missile ‘HELINA’ has been successfully flight tested

Details

• The HELINA weapon system released smoothly from the launch platform, tracked the target all through its course, and struck it with high precision.
• The Missile is guided by an Infrared Imaging Seeker (IIR) operating in the Lock on Before Launch mode
• It is the helicopter-launched version of NAG and has a hit range of 7-8 km.

Exercise Maitree 2018

• It is joint military exercise between Indian Army and Royal Thai Army
• Exercise Maitree is an annual event designed to strengthen the partnership between Royal Thai Army and Indian Army

Details

• It involved familiarization training between two armies to evolve drills and procedures involved in counter insurgency & counter terrorist operations in urban, rural and jungle terrain under UN mandate
• The second phase included practicing of various drills & tactical scenarios in counter insurgency environment, execution of tactical operations like search and destroy operation, house intervention and survival techniques

Significance

• Both the armies immensely benefitted from each other’s expertise and experience in conduct of tactical level counter terrorist operations.
• The exercise helped in enhancing the cooperation between two armies & bonhomie between troops.

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