Be vigilant, Antony tells armed forces on borders

Hyderabad,Dec 24: The Defence Minister,Mr A K Antony, said here on Thursday,that the security environment in the region around the country has necessitated the induction of sophisticated and costly equipment in the Armed Forces and called upon the armed forces to be vigilant.Talking to media persons here the Defence Minister said that Indian armed forces must be prepared to meet any challenge from any quarter to defend the territorial integrity of the country. We are thus modernizing the armed forces,” he said.To a question he said that the cross border security situation in Jammu and Kashmir is improving slowly and the Army is assessing the situation as nothing has been imposed by the Government on them.

He said that cross border infiltration bids have also come down and any attempt by terrorist outfits from the neighboring country will be crushed by the determined Armed forces.Earlier,addressing the flying cadets after reviewing the Combined Graduation Parade at the Air Force Academy in Dundigal, near Hyderabad, the Defence Minister asked the Airmen to fully understand and acquire knowledge of application of new technologies and equip themselves to exploit Aerospace Power to the optimum levels. He felt that the coming years will see rapid changes in weapon technology that fundamentally alter the very nature of warfare.The Union Minister called upon the cadets,inducted in the Force to keep themselves abreast with the latest developments in the spheres of Defence strategies,doctrines and technology.

The Defence Minister has also presented Chief of Air Staff of Honour and President’s Plaque to Flying Officer Ankur Saxena for standing first in overall order of Merit in 184 Pilots’ Course.Flying Officer Pushkar Anil Nishpat Desai was awarded with President’s Plaque for standing first in overall order of merit in 109 AB Initio Nav Course, while, Flying Officer Sumit Mishra has received the President’s Plaque for standing first  in overall order of Merit in 125 Ground Duty Officer’s Course.A total of 175 Flight cadets including 37 women cadets have passed out of the Air Force Academy to join their new assignments. Six Officers from the Indian Navy and one officer from the Indian Coast Guard also received their flying brevet at the Combined.