Defense Exports Target

• The Ministry of Defense recently decided to increase India's yearly aim for defense exports to $5 billion by 2024–25.

Current status of export:

• India is one of the top 25 nations that export large quantities of weapons, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
• In the years between 2017 and 2021, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Armenia were the three countries that imported the most Indian weapons, each at a rate of 50%.
• In the last five years, India's exports of defence goods have increased by 334%. In 2021–2022, they reached around Rs 13,000 crore.
• Almost 75 nations receive defence equipment from private businesses and PSUs in India.
• Included in this are products from the munition list that fall within SCOMET's Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials, Equipment and Technologies (Category 6) and for which the Directorate of Defense Production (DDP) within the Ministry of Defense gives a permit.
• In the last five years, Indian defence exports have surged by 334%, according to a 2022 research from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
• Coastal Surveillance Systems, Kavach MoD II Launcher and FCS, Personal Protection Items, Offshore Patrol Boats, ALH Helicopter, SU Avionics, Bharati Radio, Spares for Radar, Electronic Systems, and Light Engineering Mechanical Components are among the significant defence exports.
• Lightweight torpedoes, weapon finding radar, rapid patrol boats, 120 mm mortar armoured protection vehicles, 0.338 Lapua magnum sniper rifles, and simulators are some of the main exports from India over the past three years.

Exporting nations:

• In a research published by India Exim Bank, it was noted that the top three recipients of Indian defence exports between 2017 and 2021 were Seychelles (2.3), Mozambique (5.0), and Mauritius (6.6).
• When it comes to ammunition, Myanmar has been the greatest importer of Indian weapons, importing 50% of them between 2017 and 2021. Sri Lanka and Armenia each imported 25% and 11%, respectively.

Challenges to defense export:

• The inability to generate large subsystems and components, insufficient R&D funding, and inadequate design capacity in key technologies are all barriers to domestic production.
• The previous 49% FDI cap was insufficient to entice multinational industrial companies to open bases in India.
• Building a manufacturing foundation necessitates a large financial, technological, and gestational commitment. By that time, everything had become obsolete due to modern technologies.
• Long gestation: Establishing a manufacturing base requires a lot of money and technology, and it takes time. By then, products become obsolete due to emerging innovations.
• Different jurisdictions: India's ability to manufacture defence products is hampered by the Ministry of Industry Promotion and Ministry of Defense's conflicting responsibilities.
• Low quality: In a select few instances, the higher indigenization is mostly related to the low-end technology.
• FDI Policy: The prior 49% FDI cap was insufficient to encourage international manufacturing companies to establish bases in India.

Governmental Programs:

• India's defence exports have increased as a result of the government's strong push for defence self-reliance.
• According to various indigenization projects, domestic purchases will account for 75% of the 2023–24 defence capital budget.
• A ban on the import of the 3,738 items on three positive indigenization lists has been imposed.
• In order to increase defence exports, two defence industrial corridors were established in Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.
• Relaxation of licencing requirements: Moves including streamlined licencing for the defence industry, laxer export regulations, and the granting of no-objection certifications have made it easier to conduct business.
• Processes are continually being streamlined to make doing business easier in an effort to increase defence exports.
• DEPC Scheme (Defense Export Promotion Committee): DEPC Scheme was introduced in October 2018. It was designed to support the government's "Make In India" strategy by making potential Indian defence exporters and manufacturers' goods more globally marketable. 10 vehicles, pieces of equipment, and systems now have DEPC status.
• The private sector will get 25% of the defence research budget in 2022–2023 for newer innovations and the creation of specialised technologies.

Main export destinations for defence:

• India is in talks with several countries to export some of its most advanced indigenous platforms, such as the Light Combat Aircraft Tejas and the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile made by the joint Indian-Russian company BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd.
• India is in negotiations to export its indigenous LCA Tejas to 16 countries, including Argentina, Egypt, and other nations.
• India has inked a contract with Mauritius for the delivery of one Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH Mk III) for the Mauritius Police Force as part of its efforts to export its domestic Advanced Light Helicopter to numerous other nations.

Way Forward

• The expansion of the defence sector benefits India economically and strategically by lowering imports and generating jobs.

Neutrinos

• It was recently reported by physicists using the Kamioka Liquid Scintillator Antineutrino Detector (KamLAND) in Japan that despite reviewing two years' worth of data, they were unable to detect any evidence that neutrinos might be their own anti-particles.?????

About KamLAND Experiment:

• The neutrinoless double beta-decay is an event that KamLAND searches for.
• Two neutrons in an atom decay normally into two protons by generating two electrons and two electron antineutrinos.
• The absence of anti-neutrinos in neutrinoless double beta decay can only occur if anti-neutrinos are only various varieties of neutrinos.

About Neutrinos.

• After photons (light particles), neutrinos are the second most common particle in the universe and are abundantly produced in star cores.
• These characteristics provide windows into the universe's microscopic structure due to their ubiquity.
• Consider the unanswered topic of whether neutrinos are their own antiparticles. If they were, scientists would have the means to explain why there is more matter in the universe than antimatter.
• Relevance: Neutrino oscillations and their interactions with mass must be probed in order to understand the universe's formation.
• Neutrino sources: In a supernova, when cosmic rays strike atoms, during radioactive decays, and other processes, neutrinos are produced.

What are anti-particles?

• An antiparticle exists for every constituent particle. If the two come into contact, a burst of energy will instantly annihilate the other.
• The positron is the antiparticle of the electron. Neutrinos also have anti-neutrinos.
• Yet, because they have opposing charges, an electron and a positron may be distinguished from one another.
• Both neutrinos and anti-neutrinos lack any distinguishing characteristics, such as an electric charge.
• Subatomic particles can be divided into two categories: matter particles and force-carrying particles. Neutrinos are fermions, which are subatomic particles. Dirac fermions and Majorana fermions are two subtypes of fermions. Whereas Majorana fermions are their own anti-particles, Dirac fermions are not.

Read Also: The Neutrino project

ALMA Telescope

ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, will soon get hardware and software updates.

More about the news:

• The improvement will enable it to gather significantly more data and generate photographs that are crisper than ever.
• The correlator, a supercomputer that integrates the information from many antennas and enables astronomers to make extremely detailed images of celestial objects, will be replaced, and this will be the most major modernization made to ALMA.
• One of the fastest supercomputers in the world is ALMA's correlator.

About Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array at Atacama:

• ALMA is a cutting-edge radio telescope that analyses astronomical objects at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths. It has 66 antennas.
• They can look through dust clouds and aid astronomers in studying faint and far-off galaxies and stars.
• Also, it has exceptional sensitivity, enabling it to pick up radio signals that are incredibly faint.

Location: Northern Chile's Atacama Desert.

• It has been fully functional since 2013, and has helped astronomers make significant discoveries, including that of starburst galaxies and the dust generation inside supernova 1987A.

Development:

The European Southern Observatory, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory of the United States all contributed to its design, planning, and construction (ESO).

• A cooperation between the United States, 16 European nations, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Chile is responsible for running ALMA. The announcement was made after all of the partners had approved the financing needed for the modifications.

Why is ALMA in the Atacama Desert of Chile?

• ALMA is located on the Chajnantor plateau in Chile's Atacama Desert at an elevation of 16,570 feet (5,050 metres) above sea level.
• Reason: Because Earth's atmosphere readily absorbs water vapour at millimetre and submillimeter wavelengths, which are the waves it observes.
• The desert is also the driest area on Earth, which means that most of its nights are cloud- and moisture-free, making it an ideal place for astronomical observation.

Findings of Telescope:

• A very young T Tauri star named HL Tauri, located in the constellation Taurus, is around 450 light years away from Earth. In 2013, starburst galaxies ALMA gave precise views of the protoplanetary disc surrounding the star.

In 2015:

• It assisted in the observation of the Einstein ring, a phenomena that happens when light from a galaxy or star passes past a large object on its way to the Earth.
• The supermassive black hole at the centre of our own Milky Way galaxy was also captured in its first photograph.
• In May 2022, scientists presented the image.