Medallist attacks India officials

India's Olympic champion shooter Abhinav Bindra has hit out at the nation's sports coaches and officials, saying they "know nothing" about sport.

"Indian athletes have no respect for most officials," the 26-year-old told the Times of India.

India won their best ever haul, a gold and two bronze medals, in Beijing.
But Bindra, who won gold in the 10m air rifle event, said there was "no magic solution" to make the underperforming nation a sporting power.

'No vision'
"If we want to get to double digits, we need to target 2016 and start working from today," he said.
"But the respective federations have no vision and I don't see that changing. I wish I had a magic solution but unfortunately, I don't. The IOA has to play a role in building athletes. It does nothing."

But most officials, and many of the so-called coaches who travel with the teams, know nothing about the sportAbhinav Bindra
Abhinav Bindra: Reticent championBindra claims India's first gold
Bindra made his comments to the Times of India after being invited to edit the national paper's Friday edition.

He said Indian athletes had to "be on good terms with officials because one needs to survive".
"But most officials, and many of the so-called coaches who travel with the teams, know nothing about the sport.

"The athletes don't talk about this because their careers are at stake. And the officials unfortunately don't care."

He also revealed that he had to fund his travel to Beijing from his training base in Germany, because Indian Olympic officials refused to pay.
Bindra also took a swipe at the country's cricket-obsessed media, saying Olympic sports did not get the publicity they deserved.

"Why not just rename the sports pages 'cricket pages'?," he asked.
All of India's eight previous Olympic golds came in the field hockey tournament.

Indian Navy acquires state-of-the-art Australian Minesweeping System

The Australian Minesweeping System (AMAS), developed by Australia's Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO), has secured a major export order with the Indian Navy now becoming the latest client for its innovative system that protects ships from underwater mines.
The organisation said that the sale to India was the largest single overseas order for this technology since its first export in 1992.
The system is now in service with the navies of Australia, USA, Denmark, Poland, Japan, UAE, Indonesia and Thailand. It is marketed by Thales Australia on a global basis.The DSTO-designed system is the world's first operational sweep which emulates magnetic signals of ships, causing sea mines to detonate prematurely, and safely, out of range of target vessels.
The technology has been further improved in collaboration with Thales Australia.
The Australian Minesweeping System was used during the 2003 Gulf War when it was used by the Royal Navy to clear smart mines from the port of Umm Qasr.
The system requires no form of power from the towing platform and can be towed by a variety of platforms for autonomous and remote control minesweeping operations.
AMAS is a systems approach to minesweeping, comprising a magnetic, acoustic, and electric multi-influence sweep; a sweep tracker monitor system; mission planning support system software; an ECDIS based minesweeping navigation and control system; a remote controlled minesweeping system and a range of integrated logistic support products and services including a shorting band kit and deployment containers.
The sweep can be deployed from mine counter-measure vessels (MCMV), naval support craft, remote controlled drones and Craft of Opportunity, such as fishing vessels.

India places $2 billion missile order: report

MOSCOW (AFP) — The Indian army has placed a two billion dollar (1.36 billion euro) order for cruise missiles from the Russo-Indian company BrahMos, the Interfax news agency said Tuesday.
"The order by the Indian armed forces comes to two billion dollars," the firm's chief executive Sivanthanu Pillai was quoted as saying by the Russian Interfax news agency.
BrahMos Aerospace is a joint Russian-Indian venture established in 1998 to design, develop, produce and market a cruise missile.
The BrahMos missile has a range of 280 kilometres (175 miles).
Russia is India's main arms supplier. New Delhi was one of the key allies of the erstwhile Soviet Union.

Special force COBRA to combat Naxal menace

New Delhi, Aug 28: Nearly a year after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had described Left-wing extremism as a "virus", the government has given the green signal to raise a 10,000-strong special anti-Naxal force COBRA. The nod to the Combat Battalion for Resolute Action (COBRA), under the command and control of the CRPF, was given last evening by the Cabinet Committee on Security chaired by the Prime Minister. K Durga Prasad, a 1981 batch IPS officer from Andhra Pradesh and an expert in handling the anti-naxal operations, is likely to take charge of the COBRA. The new force will be set up at a cost of Rs 1,389.47 crore out of which Rs 898.12 crore will be spent on land and infrastructure while Rs 491.35 crore will be used for manpower training over a period of three years. The CRPF, in the meantime, will provide its personnel till the recruitment and the training process of the fresh 10 battalions is completed. The Prime Minister, during his address to the top police brass in October last year, had called for setting up a special force to tackle Left-wing extremism. The COBRA personnel would be imparted special training in terrain and topography of their area of operation. The COBRA will be headquartered in the national capital and will have battalion headquarters in every Naxal-affected state. Naxalites have carried out several attacks this year which includes gunning down of more than two dozen personnel of Andhra Pradesh's elite force "Greyhounds" last month, killing of Orissa police personnel, political leaders and their kin.

New wing of SPG unveiled

A member of the SPG's new counter-assault force in standard gear-ballistic vest with a rifle plate capable of withstanding fire from AK-47 bullets, combat knee pads, Kevlar non skid, heat and cut-resistant gloves. Weapons include the new FN Herstal FN 2000 Tactical Assault Rifle and FN's new 'Five Seven' Pistol strapped to his right thigh. The pistol fires a special 5.7 mm round capable of piercing body armor. This is the first time these weapons are being fielded in India. Photo: Sipra Das (India Today)

An SPG trooper with a FN 2000 assault rifle. The weapon is a 'bullpup' configuration-the magazine is in the stock-and made of special lightweight polymers. Photo: Sipra Das (India Today)

Two SPG troopers, person on the left carries the P-90 Personal Defence Weapon of PDW / sub machine gun which fires armor-piercing 5.7 mm cartridges. Photo: Sipra Das (India Today)