Who builds the longest suspension bridge 'Matiri Bridge' over the Indus River in the Leh-Ladakh region?

The Indian Navy held the 2nd edition of the bilateral maritime exercise between the Indian Navy and Vietnam Peoples' Navy, (IN - VPN BILAT EX) at Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam during 13th to 16th April, 2019.The exercise was undertaken as a part of the ongoing Overseas Deployment of Eastern Fleet ships to South East Asian countries.INS Kolkata under the command of Captain Aditya Hara and INS Shakti under the command of Captain Sriram Amur participated in the exercise.

Defence Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurated the 12th biennial edition of International Aerospace and Defence Exhibition, the Aero India 2019 on 24th February 2019 at the Air Force Station Yelahanka in Bengaluru. The theme of the event was "Runway to a Billion Opportunities". India and Singapore sign agreement for skilling Indians in aviation. Aero India 2019 observed "Technology Day" on the third day. Maiden Drone Olympics Competition held at Aero India 2019.

According to a biennial report released by the government, the Centre has identified 106 Coastal and Marine sites as Conservation Reserves under its National Wildlife Action plan for the period of 2017-2031. This was the 2nd biennial updated report which was made by the Ministry of Environment and Forests and was submitted to the UN body on Climate change in December 2018. According to the report, India has been successful to sustain the ecosystem when it is at its edge of disappearing at an alarming rate. Also, it will further conserve the coastal and marine ecosystems from the impact of climate change. Both the coastal and marine areas facilitate with food baskets and fish protein to population, and also provide a valuable foreign exchange in turn.

Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) successfully test fired the PINAKA guided WEAPON rocket system from Pokhran range in Rajasthan. The weapon system is equipped with state-of-the-art guidance kit comprising of an advanced navigation and control system. The weapon systems impacted the intended targets with high precision and achieved desired accuracies.

The Indian Navy signed MoU with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to undertake joint research and development of advanced technologies for the Indian Navy. This will be a collaborative arrangement between labs of CSIR, the Indian Navy and Indian industry. The MoU provides a formal framework for interaction between the Indian Navy and CSIR.

An-32 transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) flew with blended bio-jet fuel produced from Jatropha oil, unlocking the possibility of gradually expanding it to the entire service at some point. This has the dual benefit of reducing the carbon footprint as well as usage of fossil fuels. It was flown by highly qualified test pilots from the Aircraft and System Testing Establishment (ASTE). The IAF intended to fly the An-32 with 10% bio-jet fuel at the Republic Day flypast on January 26, 2019. This bio-jet fuel technology was developed by the Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP) under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in 2009 and tested between 2011 and 2013.

A 12-member Indian Army patrol along with a police representative recovered wreckage of a World War II US Air Force aircraft in Roing district of Arunachal Pradesh recently. The patrol located the aircraft debris covered by thick undergrowth and buried under five feet of snow. Its discovery and other warlike stores will definitely lead to revelation of some historical inputs.

The eighth edition of joint military exercise 'Sampriti-2019' between the armies of India and Bangladesh was commenced on 3rd March, 2019, which aimed to increase mutual cooperation and camaraderie with an impressive ceremony in Tangail, Bangladesh.This exercise will be conducted till 15th March as a part of the ongoing India-Bangladesh defence cooperation.The motive behind this exercise is to hone their tactical and technical skills in countering insurgency, counter terrorism and aid to civil authorities for disaster management in an UN peace keeping scenario involving a combined deployment at a battalion level.

In a first, the Indian Army on April 25, 2019 began online registration of women for recruitment as soldiers into the military police. The recruitment for 'Soldier General Duty (Women Military Police)' was mooted by the Army Chief General Bipin Rawat soon after he took over the post. The approval for the creation of the post came recently by the Defence Ministry.

Pakistan Air Force announced that they will observe its retaliatory action against India against the Balakot strike of Indian Air Force as 'Operation Swift Retort'. The Indian air strikes at Balakot terror camp on February 26 was response of Pakistan based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) attack by a suicide bomber in Pulwama that killed 40 CRPF jawans. In response to Indian attack, Pakistan Air Force (PAF) retaliated and captured IAF Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman who was released by Pakistan on March 1.