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Air ForceCOVER STORYDefence Industry & Technology

ICG Inducts Indigenous Hovercraft to Boost Operations

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Indigenous Air Cushion Vehicles

New Delhi: The first of the six indigenous Air Cushion Vehicles (ACVs), being constructed by Chowgule & Company Private Limited for the Indian Coast Guard (ICG), was inducted into service in Goa on June 18, 2026. The hovercraft aims to enhance ICG’s operational effectiveness across a broad spectrum of maritime duties and reinforce its ability to respond to emerging challenges. Its induction would further the vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat, and serve as a reflection of the growing strength of the maritime industrial base of the country.

The induction ceremony was held in the presence of senior ICG officials and representatives from the shipbuilding industry. The induction underscores the organisation’s continued focus on modernisation and capability enhancement in support of its mandate to safeguard the nation’s maritime interests. The contract for the acquisition of six ACVs for ICG was signed between the Ministry of Defence and Chowgule & Company Private Limited on October 24, 2026. 

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Air ForceCOVER STORYDefence Industry & TechnologyDRDO

DRDO & IAF conduct successful flight-tests of RudraM-II

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RudraM-II Air-to-Surface Missile

New Delhi: Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Air Force (IAF) have conducted the successful flight-tests of RudraM-II Air-to-Surface Missile from an airborne platform. The tests were conducted under extreme release conditions with critical trajectory establishing the capability of all subsystems.

The missiles after release were guided to a predefined target with pin-point accuracy. All the test objectives were fully met as confirmed by the flight data captured by various range instruments deployed by Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur.

Rudram-II has been indigenously developed by Research Centre Imarat, Hyderabad as the nodal DRDO laboratory in collaboration with other sister labs such as Defence Research and Development Laboratory, High Energy Materials Research Laboratory, Armament Research & Development Establishment & ITR.

Along with the Development cum Production Partners (DcPPs), agencies like Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Regional Centre for Military Airworthiness, Missile System Quality Assurance Agency and many other industries have contributed significantly towards achieving this goal.

Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh has lauded the effort of DRDO, IAF, DPSUs, DcPPs and the industry for the successful flight-tests. He stated that the tests have demonstrated the growing maturity of indigenous defence technologies, contributing significantly to Aatmanirbharta in advance weapon systems.

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