Author: Defenceline Webdesk

India’s economic outlook is facing renewed uncertainty as global tensions escalate and oil prices climb higher. Gita Gopinath has issued a stark warning that the impact on India’s growth could be closer to half a percent if current trends persist.This underscores the extent to which global energy markets directly shape domestic stability. Rising crude prices translate into higher fuel costs, mounting inflationary pressures, and strain on household budgets, creating a ripple effect across the wider economy.The risks are not confined to energy alone. Remittances from millions of Indians working in the Gulf could also be disrupted if the conflict continues,…

Diana Stancy, BD Aircraft carriers George HW Bush, Abraham Lincoln and Gerald R Ford are now operating in the Middle East amid Operation Epic Fury. Source link

WASHINGTON — A production representative MQ-25 Stingray unmanned aerial system completed its first test flight on Saturday — paving the way for the aircraft to move toward conducting aircraft carrier operations.  The aircraft took off from Boeing’s facility at MidAmerica Airport in Mascoutah, Ill., on Saturday for an approximately two-hour flight, where it demonstrated its ability to autonomously taxi, take off, fly, land, and respond to ground control station commands, according to Boeing. “The MQ-25A is not just an aircraft: it’s the first step in integrating unmanned aerial refueling onto the carrier deck, directly enabling our manned fighters to fly…

The Centre is preparing to roll out a relief package aimed at sectors most affected by the ongoing Iran war, which has disrupted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and hit India’s exports and imports. According to government sources, this package will be part of a broader ₹2.5 lakh Crores Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) framework, designed to support multiple impacted industries.A key component under consideration is an airline credit scheme worth ₹5,000 Crores. Airlines may be granted access to Centre-backed credit lines through the ECLGS route, with a provision of up to ₹1,000 Crores credit cap per airline.The scheme…

Stephen Losey, A&SF The Air Force is planning to invest nearly $1.7 billion to continue

Risk in cognitive operations is not additive. It is multiplicative. A missile strike has a defined blast radius, effects are immediate, observable, and bounded. Cognitive operations have none of these characteristics. Messages spread through networks in ways no one fully controls. Attribution may be ambiguous or deliberately obscured. Cognitive effects may unfold over weeks, months, or years. Second and third-order consequences ripple well beyond the immediate objective. Understanding, or a lack of cognitive effects understanding, is not a reason to hesitate, it is a reason to build a consistent and replicable risk assessment into the design of every operation from…

For India’s Medium Transport Aircraft program, the central requirement is the ability to lift 25–26 tons directly to advanced landing grounds. This ensures that platforms such as the Advanced Armoured Platform (AAP) and the Zorawar Light Tank can be transported without intermediate staging, a capability that directly enhances rapid deployment in contested or high-altitude theatres. Two aircraft stand out as candidates: the Airbus A400M Atlas and the Kawasaki C-2, both of which meet and exceed the payload threshold. The Airbus A400M Atlas is a proven European design with a certified payload of 37 tons, with upgrades pushing this figure to…

J. Keller, Military T. The U.S. military is once again pursuing flying

WASHINGTON ― Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman has taken to his bully pulpit to urge incremental development of new Space Force kit, calling on acquisition program offices to focus first on speedy delivery of “minimum viable capabilities.” While technically he hasn’t the power of the purse ― acquisition authority flows through the civilian side of the Department of the Air Force ― as service chief, Saltzman does have the ability to set priorities and direction for Guardians to follow. Indeed, he has taken some flack from Capitol Hill in the past over a perceived lack of focus on…

An Indian start-up, SatLeo Labs, is advancing space-based thermal observation systems to detect missile launches in conflict zones, reported Janes.The company, founded in 2023 and headquartered in Ahmedabad, is developing a constellation of 15 satellites to provide thermal sensing data for both military and civilian applications.Its technology is designed to rapidly identify heat signatures associated with surface-launched missiles, as well as assess the operational status of strategic infrastructure such as nuclear reactors by analysing thermal output.Shravan Bhati, co-founder and CEO of SatLeo Labs, explained that the recent United States-Israel war with Iran highlighted the effectiveness of infrared sensors in detecting…