Defence Scene

·         On August 13, 2008 Air Chief Marshal Fali H. Major shared that the fifth generation Indo-Russian fighter aircraft will be ready for induction by 2017 - An inter-governmental agreement between India and Russia has been signed for the co-development

·         The fifth generation combat aircraft will be in addition to the 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) that the IAF is set to acquire.

·         The IAF chief outlined plans to increase the combat strength and strategic reach of the IAF. He said the number of squadrons in the 75-year-old IAF had seen an increase after hitting a low of 29.

India - Singapore

·         On August 12, 2008 India and Singapore signed a bilateral agreement for the conduct of joint Army training and exercises in India. Singapore has paucity of land, it had asked GoI to provide facilities for training of its armed forces.

·         This will be a joint venture which will cover armour and artillery training and carried out at Babina and Deolali ranges.

·         Such training was conducted previously on the basis of an MoU between the two countries that had expired in June 2008.