logo
3 Apache Choppers, Painted In Desert Camo, Arrive For Indian Army From US

3 Apache Choppers, Painted In Desert Camo, Arrive For Indian Army From US

NDTVa day ago
New Delhi:
The Indian Army has received the first batch of three Apache helicopters that will massively boost its offensive and operational capabilities. The state-of-the-art choppers, painted in desert camouflage, arrived at the Hindon airbase this afternoon from the United States in an Antonov transport aircraft.
This is the first time the Indian Army would operate Apache helicopters, undoubtedly among the world's best fighter choppers. The Indian Air Force already operates 22 of the heavy attack helicopters.
These new choppers, known as "tanks in the air", will be deployed in Jodhpur near the western border with Pakistan.
"Milestone moment for Indian Army as the first batch of Apache helicopters for Army Aviation arrive today in India. These state-of-the-art platforms will bolster the operational capabilities of the #IndianArmy significantly," said the Indian Army, sharing the first photos of helicopters in India.
The Boeing-manufactured choppers will now undergo a process of acceptance that includes various trials.
The three choppers are part of a $600 million deal to buy six Apache helicopters, which was signed between New Delhi and Washington during President Donald Trump's India visit in his first term in 2020. Under this deal, the first batch of three helicopters was set to arrive during May-June 2024, but supply line disruptions and geopolitical developments kept postponing the delivery.
The Indian Air Force already has two active Apache squadrons in Pathankot in Punjab and Jorhat in Assam.
The Apache helicopters can be used for attack purposes as well as for security, reconnaissance, and peace operations. These are equipped with state-of-the-art targeting systems that provide accurate data on the target in all weather conditions.
The choppers are armed with night vision navigation systems and have the latest communication, navigation, sensor, and weapon systems.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Trump exits UN cultural body UNESCO again, calls it 'woke, divisive'
Trump exits UN cultural body UNESCO again, calls it 'woke, divisive'

Business Standard

timea few seconds ago

  • Business Standard

Trump exits UN cultural body UNESCO again, calls it 'woke, divisive'

President Donald Trump has decided to pull the United States out of the "woke" and "divisive" UN culture and education agency UNESCO, the White House said on Tuesday, repeating a move he took in his first term that was reversed by Joe Biden. The withdrawal from the Paris-based agency, which was founded after World War Two to promote peace through international cooperation in education, science, and culture, will take effect at the end of next year. The move is in line with the Trump administration's broader "America-first" foreign policy, which includes a deep skepticism of multilateral groups, including the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, and the Nato alliance. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said UNESCO "supports woke, divisive cultural and social causes that are totally out-of-step with the commonsense policies that Americans voted for." The State Department accused UNESCO of supporting "a globalist, ideological agenda for international development at odds with our America First foreign policy". It said its decision to admit the Palestinians as a member state was "highly problematic, contrary to US policy, and contributed to the proliferation of anti-Israel rhetoric." UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay said she deeply regretted Trump's decision, but it was "expected, and UNESCO has prepared for it." Posting on X, French President Emmanuel Macron professed "unwavering support" for the "universal protector" of world heritage and said the US move would not weaken France's commitment to UNESCO. China's foreign ministry said Washington's decision was "not the behaviour expected of a responsible major country", and expressed China's staunch support of UNESCO's work, its spokesperson told reporters during a press briefing on Wednesday. UNESCO officials said the US withdrawal would have some limited impact on US-financed programmes. Azoulay said UNESCO had diversified funding sources, receiving only about 8 per cent of its budget from Washington. UNESCO was one of several international bodies Trump withdrew from during his first term, along with the World Health Organization, the Paris Agreement climate change accord, and the UN Human Rights Council. During his second term, he has largely reinstated those steps. Trump's pick to be his UN envoy, Mike Waltz, said this month the United Nations needs reform while expressing confidence that "we can make the UN great again." ISRAEL PRAISES US 'MORAL SUPPORT AND LEADERSHIP' Israel welcomed the US decision with its UN ambassador, Danny Danon, accusing UNESCO of "consistent misguided anti-Israel bias." In a post on X, Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, thanked Washington for its "moral support and leadership" and said that "Singling out Israel and politicization by member states must end, in this and all professional UN agencies." US SeNator Jeanne Shaheen, the senior Democrat on the Republican-controlled Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called Trump's decision "short-sighted and a win for China," which she said became the largest financial contributor to UNESCO after Trump last withdrew from the agency. UNESCO officials said all relevant agency statements had been agreed with both Israel and the Palestinians over the past eight years. Azoulay said the US had given the same reasons for its pullout as it had seven years ago "even though the situation has changed profoundly, political tensions have receded, and UNESCO today constitutes a rare forum for consensus on concrete and action-oriented multilateralism." "These claims also contradict the reality of UNESCO's efforts, particularly in the field of Holocaust education and the fight against antisemitism," she added. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is best known for designating World Heritage Sites, including the US Grand Canyon and Egypt's pyramids. It lists 26 sites in the United States, including the Statue of Liberty, on its World Heritage List which highlights 1,248 global locations of "outstanding universal value." Washington has had a troubled relationship with UNESCO over the years. It was a founding member in 1945 but first withdrew in 1984 to protest alleged financial mismanagement and perceived anti-US bias during the Cold War. It returned in 2003 under President George W. Bush, who said UNESCO had undertaken needed reforms, but in 2011 the Obama administration announced it was stopping funding for the agency following its vote to grant the Palestinians full membership. Trump's first administration announced in 2017 it was quitting after accusing UNESCO of anti-Israeli bias, with Washington owing $542 million in dues, before former President Biden reversed the decision in 2023. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Trump deals bring some clarity for world's manufacturing base
Trump deals bring some clarity for world's manufacturing base

Time of India

timea few seconds ago

  • Time of India

Trump deals bring some clarity for world's manufacturing base

Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads After months of uncertainty, President Donald Trump 's latest tariff deals are providing clarity on the broad contours of a new trade landscape for the world's biggest manufacturing on Tuesday announced a deal with Japan that sets tariffs on the nation's imports at 15%, including for autos — by far the biggest component of the trade deficit between the countries.A separate agreement with the Philippines set a 19% rate, the same level as Indonesia agreed and a percentage point below Vietnam's 20% baseline level, signaling that the bulk of Southeast Asia is likely to get a similar rate.'We live in a new normal where 10% is the new zero and so 15% and 20% doesn't seem so bad if everyone else got it,' said Trinh Nguyen, senior economist for emerging Asia at Natixis. At a 15%-20% tariff level, it's still profitable for US companies to import from abroad rather than produce similar goods at home, she US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he'll meet his Chinese counterparts in Stockholm next week for their third round of talks aimed at extending a tariff truce and widening the discussions. That suggests a continuing stabilization in ties between the world's two largest economies after the US recently eased chip curbs and China resumed rare earths exports.'We're getting along with China very well,' Trump told reporters on Tuesday. 'We have a very good relationship.'Throw it all together and a level of predictability is finally emerging after six months of tariff threats that had at one point jacked up tariff levels to 145% on China and near 50% on some smaller Asian exporters. Investors cheered the moves, with Asian shares rising the most in a month and contracts for the S&P 500 up 0.2%. The Nikkei-225 index in Japan jumped 3.2%, with Toyota Motor Corp. and other carmakers leading the gains.'What's been interesting to me is that equity markets still have been fairly rosy about the changes,' Albert Park, chief economist at the Asian Development Bank, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. 'I'm not sure they've priced in fully all of the effects that are likely to occur from the disruption of higher tariff rates.'Back in April, Trump hit the pause button on the steepest levies after a rare combination of weakening US stocks, bonds and the dollar showed investors were unnerved by his protectionist salvos. That bought time for policymakers from Tokyo, Manila and across the globe to negotiate more palatable the latest deals bring some relief, key questions remain. The Trump administration is still considering a range of sectoral tariffs on goods like semiconductors and pharmaceuticals that will be critical for Asian economies including Taiwan and India — both of which have yet to announce tariff agreements with the Korea is also more exposed to sectoral tariffs, even though the Japan deal provides a potential template for new President Lee Jae Trump moves quickly on talks with countries accounting for the bulk of the US trade deficit, he has said he may hit around 150 smaller countries with a blanket rate of between 10% and 15%.With some certainty on tariff levels now emerging, businesses with complex supply chains across Asia and still reliant of the US consumer can start to game out how they'll shift operations to minimize the hit to like the first trade war in 2018, the latest tariff announcements are likely to spur companies to increasingly shift production outside of China. The average tariff rate on the world's second-largest economy remains the highest in the region, and continued White House pressure on the nation's technology and trade ambitions means companies may find more stability and industry groups have been flagging for months that uncertainty is worse than tariffs for investment. The manufacturing sector across the ASEAN region saw the most notable weakening since August 2021, according to S&P PMI, led by a sharper decrease in new orders, major job cuts and weaker purchasing front-loading of shipments from Asia to the US to get ahead of the incoming levies will likely slow once the new rates kick in. While there's relief that tariff rates for Southeast Asian economies and 15% for Japan are lower than some of Trump's earlier threats, the reality is that they're far higher than they were before he took latest deals 'continue the trend of tariff rates gravitating towards the 15-20% range that President Trump recently indicated to be his preferred level for the blanket rate instead of 10% currently,' Barclays Plc analysts including Brian Tan wrote in a note. That skews risks to GDP growth forecasts for Asia 'to the downside,' they US consumers who have so far been spared the tariff ticket shock, economists warn there's likely to be some pass through in the months ahead. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. economists now expect the US baseline 'reciprocal' tariff rate will rise from 10% to 15% — an outcome that threatens to fuel inflation and weigh on economic Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has argued he wants to see where tariffs land and how they filter through the economy before cutting interest rates — much to the annoyance of now, the US president is hailing a win on trade, and investors seem overall relieved.'I just signed the largest trade deal in history — I think maybe the largest deal in history — with Japan,' Trump said at an event at the White House on Tuesday after announcing the deal on social media. 'It's a great deal for everybody.'

Flurry of US trade deals offers relief for some Asian countries, while others wait
Flurry of US trade deals offers relief for some Asian countries, while others wait

New Indian Express

timea few seconds ago

  • New Indian Express

Flurry of US trade deals offers relief for some Asian countries, while others wait

BANGKOK: US President Donald Trump has announced trade deals with Japan and a handful of other Asian countries that will relieve some pressure on companies and consumers from sharply higher tariffs on their exports to the United States. A deal with China is under negotiation, with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent saying an Aug. 12 deadline might be postponed again to allow more time for talks. Steep tariffs on US imports of steel and aluminum remain, however, and many other countries, including South Korea and Thailand, have yet to clinch agreements. Overall, economists say the tariffs inevitably will dent growth in Asia and the world. Deals reached so far ahead of Trump's Aug. 1 deadline Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announced a deal Wednesday that will impose 15% tariffs on US imports from Japan, down from Trump's proposed 25% 'reciprocal' tariffs. It was a huge relief for automakers like Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda, whose shares jumped by double digits in Tokyo. Trump also announced trade deals with the Philippines and Indonesia. After meeting with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., Trump said the import tax on products from his country would be subject to a 19% tariff, down just 1% from the earlier threat of a 20% tariff. Indonesia also will face a 19% tariff, down from the 32% rate Trump had recently said would apply, and it committed to eliminating nearly all of its trade barriers for imports of American goods. Earlier, Trump announced that Vietnam's exports would face a 20% tariff, with double that rate for goods transshipped from China, though there has been no formal announcement.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store