NEW DELHI, Oct 7: Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh met the three Services Chiefs here today and took stock of the country’s defence preparedness.
The meeting at the Prime Minister’s 7–Race Course Road residence, is significant in the backdrop of the nearly two-week long Indian Army operation in Keran sector of Jammu and Kashmir to flush out Pakistani intruders.
Although the meeting was described as ‘routine’ to brief the Prime Minister about the latest situation in the country, particularly Keran Sector, sources said the Prime Minister took stock of the country’s Defence preparedness.
The three Services Chiefs–Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh, Air Chief N A K Browne and Navy Chief Adm D K Joshi–“briefed the Prime Minister about the situation and Defence preparedness.”
National Security Advisor (NSA) Shiv Shankar Menon was also present.
Details of the meeting were not immediately available.
The meeting was held close on the heels of successful launching of indigenously developed surface-to-surface Prithvi-II Missile by a missile unit of the elite Strategic Forces Command (SFC) with a strike range of 350 km from the test range at Chandipur, off the Odisha Coast today.
“The launch was flawless and the missile splashed down at its pre-designated target with precision. The launch clearly establishes the well-honed drills and skills of SFC units in undertaking independent unit launches,” an official spokesman said here.
“Such successful training launches clearly indicate our operational readiness to meet any eventuality as also establish the reliability and credibility of this deterrent component of India’s Strategic arsenal to meet future security challenges,” a senior official of the Army said.
The missile produced by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), was randomly selected from the stock held with SFC units for this regular training exercise.
Equipped with improved high accuracy navigation and manoeuvring system, the missile achieved all its targeting and technical parameters, set out for this training exercise. (UNI)
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