Pentagon eyes new contracts to end use of Russian rocket engines

WASHINGTON : The Pentagon views public-private partnerships as the best way to end U.S. reliance on Russian rocket engines, and plans to award contracts for such arrangements in fiscal 2017, Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work said in a letter obtained by Reuters.
Work told Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain in the letter dated Jan. 26 it was unrealistic to transition completely away from the Russian RD-180 engines that power the Atlas 5 rocket built by United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co, before 2021 or 2022.
The government might still need to use the Russian engines for some launches, and could use sole-source allocation of some launches to ULA to ensure that the U.S. government maintained two viable sources of launch services, Work said.
He said the department would issue a draft request for proposals in the next few months, and the Pentagon's fiscal 2017 budget proposal would include funding for the initiative.

Agreement between the India and Russia for cooperation on a coordinated grant competition for conducting basic and exploratory scientific research

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi was apprised about signing of an agreement between India and Russia in May 2015. The Agreement provides for competitive research grants to Indian and Russian researchers for joint implementation of research projects in areas of Basic and Exploratory Sciences.

The Agreement is valid for a period of six years and could be extended through mutual consent between Department of Science & Technology (DST) and Russian Science Federation (RSF).

This competition would be conducted in the areas of Mathematics, Computer & System Science; Physics & Space Science; Chemistry & Material Science; Biology and Life Science; Basic research for Medicine, Agricultural Science, Earth Science and Engineering Science. Decision to identify research projects for funding would be taken jointly by DST and RSF. The results of this cooperation will lead to generation of new knowledge, joint scientific publications, manpower training and IP generation through collaboration.

International Women's Day : March 2016

UN WOMEN : The 2016 theme for International Women’s Day is “Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality”. The United Nations observance on 8 March will reflect on how to accelerate the 2030 Agenda, building momentum for the effective implementation of the new Sustainable Development Goals. It will equally focus on new commitments under UN Women’s Step It Up initiative, and other existing commitments on gender equality, women’s empowerment and women’s human rights. - See more at: http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/international-womens-day#sthash.CPmT5lKh.dpuf

President of France, Mr. Francois Hollande, during ‘At Home` reception, on 67th Republic Day celebrations, at Rashtrapati Bhavan

The President, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, the Vice President, Shri M. Hamid Ansari, the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi and the Chief Guest of Republic Day, President of France, Mr. Francois Hollande, during ‘At Home` reception, on 67th Republic Day celebrations, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi on January 26, 2016.

India Celebrates 67th Republic Day

Motor bike riders of Border Security Force

The French Army marching contingents passes through the Rajpath

Five planes in arrow formation

NEW DELHI : India's military prowess and achievements in different fields, state-of-the-art defence, diverse cultural and social traditions and the government's emphasis on self-reliance dominated the showcase at New Delhi's Rajpath on the country's 67th Republic Day.

For the first time in the history of Republic Day parades, a 123-member French Army contingent marched on Rajpath and present a ceremonial salute to the President Pranab Mukherjee, as guest of honor Francois Hollande watched and clapped seated next to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Poland likely to scrap $3 billion Airbus helicopter deal: report

WARSAW : Poland's $3 billion (2 billion pounds) army helicopter deal with Airbus (AIR.PA) is "very likely" to be canceled, the deputy defense minister said on Tuesday, signaling one of Warsaw's key military programs, speeded up in response to the Ukraine crisis, may face delays.
Poland's previous centrist government, beaten by the Eurosceptic Law and Justice (PiS) party in a parliamentary election in October, agreed a provisional deal with Airbus for 50 EC-725 Caracal multi-purpose helicopters, turning down offers from Sikorsky (LMT.N) and AgustaWestland (SIFI.MI).
The contract, negotiated by the economy ministry, has yet to be signed and PiS has repeatedly said it would rather see the deal awarded to a producer manufacturing locally. Both Sikorsky and AgustaWestland have facilities in Poland.
"I can't say that the final assessment of the (industrial) offset negotiations will be negative, but considering how big the differences are, it is very likely that an agreement will not be reached," Bartosz Kownacki told the Rzeczpospolita daily.

"We are not allergic to the French, but to not utilizing the capacity of the Polish (defense) industry," Kownacki said. "We'd have to get really as much as possible from the French side to make this contract profitable for us," he said.
Poland may be better off scrapping the deal and paying a potential fine, which may reach hundreds of millions of zlotys, than accepting the losses the contract would impose on the Polish defense industry, Kownacki was quoted as saying.

The negotiations are supposed to conclude by Feb. 10, the daily said.

"Talks on industrial compensation are under way. Let's wait until they are concluded," a spokesman for Airbus Helicopters said.

(Reporting by Wiktor Szary; Additional reporting by Cyril Altmeyer; Editing by Mark Potter)

Germany has not approved Airbus defence electronics unit sale to KKR -sources

Jan 26 Two German government sources on Tuesday denied a report in the Handelsblatt newspaper that Berlin had given its consent to sell Airbus Group's defence electronics unit to two U.S. buyout groups.
One source in the coalition government said the report in the business newspaper was "not accurate."
Handelsblatt reported on Tuesday that Airbus was close to sealing a deal with KKR and Carlyle and that the German government had given a green light for the sale. It quoted sources close to the negotiations.
A spokeswoman for the economics ministry on Tuesday said Airbus had informed German authorities about an intention to sell part of its defence unit, while declining to comment further.

"We will carefully follow this process together with the defence ministry and conduct talks with Airbus and potential investors," one government source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
German authorities want to assess what impact a deal could have on jobs and to assess whether key security technologies and competencies would remain in Germany.

The sale is part of a plan by Airbus to dispose of assets with combined revenues of around 2 billion euros ($2.16 billion), following a strategic decision to focus on civil and military aeronautical and space assets in the face of low defence spending in Europe.

Airbus lacks the scale of rivals in defence electronics and hopes to fetch more than 1 billion euros from the sale, sources have said. The company said this month it was making good progress in the sale of its defence electronics unit.
Airbus Group short-listed Carlyle and KKR for the defence electronics unit, after they put up significantly higher offers than rivals, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters last month.
France and Germany own 11 percent each of Airbus Group and Spain controls 4.1 percent. ($1 = 0.9244 euros) (Reporting by Gernot Heller; Writing by Joseph Nasr; Editing by Tom Heneghan)

International Solar Alliance will be the First International and Inter-Governmental Organisation of 121 Countries to have Headquarters in India with United Nations as Strategic Partner

The Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi, and the President of France Mr François Hollande, today jointly laid the foundation stone of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) Headquarters and inaugurated the interim Secretariat of the ISA in National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE), Gwalpahari, Gurgaon.

Government of India has dedicated 5 acre land in NISE campus for the ISA Headquarters and also has contributed Rs 175 crore for ISA corpus fund and also for meeting expenditure for initial five years.

ISA is part of Prime Minister’s vision to bring clean and affordable energy within the reach of all and create a sustainable world. It will be a new beginning for accelerating development and deployment of solar energy for achieving universal energy access and energy security of the present and future generations.

Speaking on the occasion, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi stated that ISA will be India’s first international and inter-governmental organization headquartered in India.ISA will be dedicated to promotion of solar energy for making solar energy a valuable source of affordable and reliable green and clean energy in 121 member countries. He thanked the President of France for his continued help and support in shaping ISA.

Appreciating India, President of France, Mr. Francois Hollande said that at Paris Conference, India showed that it was ready to fully commit to energy transition and the fight against climate change. Thanks to India’s commitment, we were able to secure an ambitious, fair and dynamic agreement in Paris, which is binding for all of humanity, Mr Hollande added. He also said that India’s role will be just as essential in implementing the Paris Agreement and the commitments which have been made. Mr. Hollande reaffirmed his commitment by saying that France want to build the post-Paris Agreement world with India and ISA paves the way for this. The Alliance has France’s full support. He announced that the French Development Agency will allocate €300 million to developing solar energy over the next five years in order to finance the initial projects. He stressed on the fact that contributing to the success of the Alliance also means launching French-Indian projects.

Welcoming the dignitaries , Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal & New and Renewable Energy informed that an Interim Administrative Cell (IAC) has been made functional for facilitating transition of ISA from de facto to a de jure entity. He also stated that in addition to contribution for creating ISA corpus fund, Government of India has offered training support for ISA member countries at NISE and also support for demonstration projects for solar home lighting, solar pumps for farmers and for other solar applications. Shri Goyal further informed that the interim ISA Secretariat has started functioning from the Surya Bhawan of NISE. He mentioned that locating ISA in NISE campus is a great value addition and both the institutions will immensely benefit from each other’s presence and establish vibrant linkages.

On this occasion, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA and Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) announced contribution of US $ 1 million each to the ISA corpus fund.

ISA has been envisioned as a specialized platform and will contribute towards the common goal of increasing utilization and promotion of solar energy and solar applications in its member countries. The Paris declaration on International Solar Alliance states that the countries share the collective ambition to undertake innovative and concerted efforts for reducing the cost of finance and cost of technology for immediate deployment of competitive solar generation, financial instruments to mobilise more than 1000 Billion US Dollars of investments needed by 2030 for the massive deployment of affordable solar energy and to pave the way for future solar generation, storage and good technologies for countries’ individual needs.

Prof Kaptan Singh Solanki, Governor, Haryana; Shri Manohar Lal, Chief Minister Haryana; Ministers from the Government of France, and Government of UAE also graced the occasion. Representative from over 60 resident Diplomatic Missions in New Delhi; large number of representatives from International Organizations, Indian Industry & Businesses, Media; and Farmers from Haryana were present in the event.

India, France sign Rafale fighter plane accord

NEW DELHI India signed an inter-governmental pact on Monday to buy 36 French-built Rafale fighter planes, but the leaders of both countries said there was still work to do to finalise financial terms after months of talks.

President of India’s message on the eve of National Day of Australia

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee has extended his greetings and felicitations to the Government and people of Australia on the eve of their National Day (January 26, 2016).

In his message to H.E. Gen. the Hon’ble Sir Peter Cosgrove AK-MC (Retd.), the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, the President has said, “On behalf of the Government, the people of India and on my own behalf, I extend warm greetings and felicitations to Your Excellency and to the people of Australia on the occasion of your National Day.

It is a matter of satisfaction that India’s ties with Australia have grown in strength over recent years in a wide range of areas of our common interest. We look forward to sustaining this momentum to the mutual benefit of our peoples.

Please accept, Excellency, my best wishes for your good health and happiness. I take this opportunity to convey, through you, my best wishes for the continued progress and prosperity of the people of Australia”.