Indian Marine Commandos parachuted from an Air Force C-17 on November 2 to retake the Iranian fishing boat Azini, more than 3,000 km from Mumbai, after Somali pirates seized it on October 29 and tried to use it as a mother ship. INS Kolkata, a P-8I aircraft and a Sea Guardian drone tracked the vessel and used non-kinetic measures to stop it escaping. The commandos overpowered the pirates and freed all 20 Iranian crew, prompting Iran’s embassy in New Delhi to thank the Navy and Air Force. The operation was the second such airborne maritime assault in under three years, after MARCOS retook the bulk carrier Ruen in March 2024.
The rescue came as Firstpost’s weekly defence roundup tracked a week of major developments. Russia’s nightly drone raids on Ukraine and Kyiv’s new electronic-warfare shield show how jamming, mesh links and jet-powered drones are reshaping air defence. Ukraine said it intercepted more than 8,000 drones and missiles in October, against 4,700 in September, but upgraded Shaheds with larger satellite-navigation antennas and faster jet engines are harder to stop. For India, the lesson is urgent: after Operation Sindoor, Army trials reportedly found that none of 46 Indian drone makers could keep aircraft flying reliably under jamming or spoofing. The Defence Ministry has approved a Rs 500 crore drone technology hub at IIT Kanpur to work on jam-resistant links and navigation.
In Kashmir, Inspector General of Police Sujit Kumar said only one locally recruited listed terrorist, Lateef Ahmad, remains active in the Valley. He warned that handlers in Pakistan still pose a threat and that security forces recover improvised explosive devices almost daily along the national highway. Police registered 1,651 drug cases in the Kashmir zone between January and October.
The Union Cabinet also added a two-year “Second Tour of Duty” to the Agnipath scheme. The 25 per cent selected for regular service after four years will still be enrolled, while the remaining 75 per cent can volunteer for two more years, with higher pay, a larger Seva Nidhi package and another chance at permanent enrolment. The decision affects about 18,300 Agniveers from the first batch who were due to leave between November 21 and December 31.
In missile testing, DRDO confirmed a Pralay flight test on November 5 from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island as part of user evaluation trials, two days after reports of another Pralay launch from Chandipur. The solid-fuelled, road-mobile missile has a range of 150 to 500 km and can manoeuvre in flight, making it harder for air defences to intercept. Separately, the Navy ordered eight Next Generation Corvettes, and the CRPF marked 12 months without an operational death, the first such stretch since January 1979.
Original Source: https://www.firstpost.com/india/weekly-defence-dispatch-marcos-parachute-in-to-free-hijacked-boat-jam-resistant-drones-put-india-on-notice-agniveers-get-second-tour-and-more-14058502.html
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Publish Date: 2026-11-07 11:55:00
