U.S. Navy to allow women to serve on submarines

April 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr 30(ANI): The first women allowed to serve aboard submarines will be reporting for duty by 2012, the U.S. Navy said.

The century-old ban on women serving with men in the cramped quarters, group bathrooms and shared bunks for enlisted personnel on submarines passed quietly as Congress made no objections to the Navy plan.

“We’re going to look back on this four or five years from now, shrug our shoulders and say, ‘What was everybody worrying about?’” The New York Daily News quoted Rear Adm. Barry Bruner, Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base Commander, as saying.

Women will be integrated slowly into the now all-male submarine service of 13,000 sailors.

After 15 months of training, the first 24 women will be limited to serving in the 160-member crews of the big guided-missile and ballistic missile “boomer” subs, rather than smaller attack boats.

“The boomers require fewer modifications to accommodate women other than changing the sign on the door to the head,” said Lt. Cmdr. Mark Jones, a spokesman for the Naval Submarine Force.

The women will be assigned by 2012 to two submarine on the East Coast and two on the West Coast. (ANI)

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Antony congratulates scientists for successful launch of Prithvi-II, Dhanush missiles

March 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Mar.27 (ANI): Defence Minister A K Antony on Saturday congratulated scientists for the successful test-firing of the indigenously developed ballistic missiles ”Prithvi II” and ”Dhanush” from different locations off the Orissa coast.

“I congratulate scientists for the successful launch of both missiles. It will add to the fire power of the armed forces,” said Antony.

While the ”Prithvi II” was test-fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, Orissa from a mobile launcher early this morning, the ‘Dhanush’ was launched from the INS-Subhadra in the Bay of Bengal.

The Prithvi is a tactical surface-to-surface, short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDP), which was started in 1983 with the aim of achieving self sufficiency in the development and production of a wide range of ballistic missiles and surface to air missiles, besides other weapons.

The Prithvi is the first missile to be developed under the IGMDP.

The Prithvi II has a range of 250 kilometers and can carry a warhead weighing 500 kilograms.

The nuclear capable Dhanush is the naval version of the Prithvi, which can be launched from warships.

The Dhanush’s 350 kilometres range would add to the Indian Navy’s capability in targetting the enemy with greater precision. (ANI)

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India roles out indigenous T-90 Bhishma tanks

August 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Chennai, Aug 24 (ANI): The first batch of indigenously built T-90 tanks “Bhishma” was flagged off by Minister of State for Defence M.M. Pallam Raju here on Monday.

The rolling out ceremony was organised at the Heavy Vehicles Factory (HVF), Avadi near here. The HVF manufactured the Bhishma tanks in collaboration with Russia.

The HVF is aiming to produce 100 Bhishma tanks per year.

The Bhishma tanks are equipped with 125mm smooth bore gun stabilised in elevation and azimuth, 12.7mm anti-craft machine gun and 7.62mm co-axial machine gun supported with high accuracy sighting systems and also Automatic Loader ensuring high rate of fire.

Bhishma’s capability to fire guided missile in addition to conventional ammunition using the same main gun barrel is a significant factor.

The integrated fire control system of Bhishma consists with the gunner’s sight, guided weapon system and ballistic computer facilitates accurate firing of conventional ammunitions as well as the guided missiles.

The built in Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA) enhances the tank protection, which will save crew and equipment from chemical, biological and radioactive attack.

The tank is also equipped with new thermal imagers which enhances night fighting capability.(ANI)

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Indian Navy chief on maiden visit to China

April 22, 2009 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi, April 20 (IANS) On the maiden visit of an Indian Navy chief to China, Admiral Sureesh Mehta will be attending the Chinese International Fleet Review during his week-long tour, an official said here.

Seeking to engage the Chinese military on a greater level, Mehta flew to China on Saturday night and will return April 25.

‘Mehta is visiting China on the invitation of (People’s Liberation Army Navy chief) Admiral Wu Sheng Li. He met Li on Sunday (April 19) and will be attending the Chinese fleet review, in which our warships are also participating,’ a senior Indian Navy officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The fleet review is being held to mark the 60th anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). The fleet review, being held off Tsingtao port in Shandong province April 20-24, will also see participation of Indian Navy guided missile destroyers INS Mumbai and INS Ranveer, the guided missile corvette INS Khanjar and the tanker INS Jyoti. Pakistani warships also are taking part in the review.

‘Mehta will also be visiting ships and submarines of the Chinese navy during this trip and will be calling on Chinese Defence Minister Liang Guanglie on April 22,’ the officer said.

Another navy officer added: ‘We want to engage the Chinese Navy on a broader scale.’

The Indian Navy has for long expressed apprehension about the increased presence of its Chinese counterpart in the Indian Ocean region and hopes to blunt its thrust through greater cooperation. A joint exercise by the two navies has been in the offing for some time now.

The two nations, who fought a brief but bloody border war in 1962, have seen steadily ramping up their military ties.

Indian and Chinese warships have been making calls at each other’s ports as part of growing confidence building measures between the two sides.

The Indian Navy chief’s visit follows that of Admiral Wu’s to India last year. The Indian Air Force (IAF) chief, Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major, has also visited China.

The IAF’s Surya Kiran Aerobatic Team (SKAT), which has enthralled spectators worldwide with its intricate manoeuvres in the skies, also performed in China for the first time in 2008.

The two armies undertook their first joint exercise at Kunming in China’s Yunnan province in December 2007 and the second at Belgaum in Karnataka last December.

The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in May 2006 during a visit to Beijing by then defence minister Pranab Mukherjee that stipulated they would hold joint military exercises, join forces in counter-terrorism and anti-piracy efforts and also cooperate in search and rescue operations.
Indo Asian News Service

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Twin nanoparticle shows greater success at killing breast cancer cells

March 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar 11 (ANI): The side effects of medications given to breast cancer patients during chemotherapy occur because drugs released into the body target healthy cells as well as tumour cells. Now, Brown University researchers have developed a new way to deliver cancer-fighting drugs directly to the tumour cells.

They have created a twin nanoparticle that specifically targets the Her-2-positive tumour cell, a type of malignant cell that affects up to 30 percent of breast cancer patients.

The combination nanoparticle binds to the Her-2 tumor cell and unloads the cancer-fighting drug cisplatin directly into the infected cell.

The result is greater success at killing the cancer while minimizing the anti-cancer drug’s side effects.

“Like a missile, you don’t want the anti-cancer drugs to explode everywhere. You want it to target the tumour cells and not the healthy ones,” said Shouheng Sun, a chemistry professor at Brown University and an author on the paper published online in The Journal of the American Chemical Society.

The researchers created the twin nanoparticle by binding one gold (Au) nanoparticle with an iron-oxide (Fe3O4) nanoparticle. On one end, they attached a synthetic protein antibody to the iron-oxide nanoparticle. On the other end, they attached cisplatin to the gold nanoparticle.

Visually, the whole contraption looks like an elongated dumbbell, but it may be better to think of it as a vehicle, equipped with a very good GPS system, that is ferrying a very important passenger.

In this case, the GPS comes from the iron-oxide nanoparticle, which homes in on a Her-2 breast-cancer cell like a guided missile. The attached antibody is critical, because it binds to the antigen, a protein located on the surface on the malignant cell.

Put another way, the nanoparticle vehicle ‘docks’ on the tumour cell when the antibody and the antigen become connected. Once docked, the vehicle unloads its “passenger,” the cisplatin, into the malignant cell.

In a neat twist, the Brown-led team used a pH-sensitive covalent bond to connect the gold nanoparticle with the cisplatin to ensure that the drug was not released into the body but remained attached to the nanoparticle until it was time for it to be released into the malignant cell.

In laboratory experiemnts, the gold-iron oxide nanoparticle combination successfully targeted the cancer cells and released the anti-cancer drugs into the malignant cells, killing the cells in up to 80 percent of cases. (ANI)

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