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Why India's military needs an urgent update: Rediff.com India News

A strong military cannot be maintained with discipline alone. Today, a strong military means state of the art equipment, steady supply of munitions and morale and most importantly reconnaissance, research and 2nd/3rd strike capabilities, writes Pramod Kumar Buravalli.


When I heard the India [ Images ]n Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal P V Naik admitting last year that India lacks the air power to meet the myriad terror threats facing the country, I didn't blame him. He was and is still right.

When you have identified adversaries in all geographical directions and just 29 operational squadrons in your air force, how can you claim to be a strong and sovereign nation?

Can you protect all of your borders let alone airspace, cities and strategic installations? Can you even contemplate using the air force to launch a counter strike and a 2nd strike?

These questions have to be constantly asked and answers sought from the Indian leadership.

Today, India's only deterrence lies in the (under-development) INS Arihant [ Images ] and the (over-tested) AGNI missile. For a country and civilization that boasts of the Vimanika Shastra, Chandrayaan [ Images ] missions and numerous wise and dedicated missile men, having so few strike options is indigestible.

Advisors, researchers and strategists have all lamented the lack of military industrial complexes in India. When you are a country of 1.2 billion and aspiring to be at the high table of world powers, the least you can do is to produce atleast half of your military equipment indigenously.

(As always) after my initial round of critiquing, I am unable to stop myself from recommending the following long term steps for the Indian Air Force (since the Indian Navy and Army seem to have taken the lead in the race to stay ahead of our adversaries):

Stop buying old junk from world markets: The aircraft that are being offered to the IAF today by outside countries are older technologies. Only the Su-30/35, Tu-Blackjack, F-22/35, B-1/2 type aircraft can be worthy of procurement and that too under transparent technology transfer agreements.

Start announcing competitive aircraft designing contracts to Indian private sector companies that can (just like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Pratt & Whitney in the USA) come up with competing designs which can later be jointly developed into long serving aircrafts by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and the winning bidder. The Tatas, Mahindras, L&Ts all have the expertise and financial muscle to become the next Boeing or Lockheed.

Create an aerospace military research organisation that focuses exclusively on research, design, development and testing for military uses of aerospace.

For the short term:

Pour more finances and manpower into developing unmanned combat aerial vehicles: India should continue joint initiatives with Russians, Americans and Israelis plus simultaneously develop its own indigenous public and private development initiatives. ADE is already working overtime to develop three new UAV variants. India needs at least 20 squadrons (360 aircraft).

Research and Development with Russia [ Images ]: The fifth generation Indo-Russian (PAK FA) fighter aircraft will be ready for induction by 2017-2020. At least 15 squadrons of these fighters will be required to replace MiG 29's and Mirages by 2025.

Procuring atleast 200 more Sukhoi-30MKI fighter bombers: IAF needs to maintain atleast 500 Sukhois to maintain air supremacy.

Investing more resources into Light Combat Aircraft/Medium Combat Aircraft: IAF is all set to order 2-3 squadrons from HAL over the next few years. However, more time needs to be spent in making the MCA a success rather than just looking at the LCA.

MRCA (MIG 21/27) Replacement: Via a Global RFP (request for proposal), the IAF is set to acquire 180 fighters from 2012 onwards to replace MiG-21s/27s and the competition is between Rafale, Grippen, F-16, F/A-18E/F and MiG-35 [ Images ].

History shows that the Indians use any technology platform for over 30-40 years and unless the IAF gets the go ahead to purchase the JSF or the F-22, there is no point in getting older technologies from any of the competing bidders.

Missiles: Agni V, Brahmos, Akash and Trishul may be sufficient for now but a new range of undetectable stealth missiles have to be developed for the IAF and navy by the DRDO. These new generations of missiles have to have tactical, surgical and strategic strike capabilities.

Conclusion:

The Indian military and political leadership has to keep in mind two simple things.

Diversity and democracy are tough to maintain. If India wants to be the flag bearer of these two principles in the eastern hemisphere, it has to maintain an independent and strong military.

A strong military cannot be maintained with discipline alone. Today, a strong military means state of the art equipment, steady supply of munitions and morale and most importantly reconnaissance, research and 2nd/3rd strike capabilities.

To counter a giant like China which is constantly trying to find a chink in our armour, we need to revisit Sun Tzu's Art of War and an interesting quote I found invaluable:

"If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him.

If he is in superior strength, evade him.

If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him.

Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.

If he is taking his ease, give him no rest.

If his forces are united, separate them.

If sovereign and subject are in accord, put division between them.

Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected".

I hope the Indian leaders are listening.
 
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can anyone tell me when mrca trials will be over and when we should know the winner
 
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LCH will be capable of carrying all those weapons, but not all at once! Otherwise it won't be able to lift off!
I tend to belive the same as Tejas-MkII:
I think author get carried away in excitement...:rofl::rofl:
There is not a single combat helicopter that I know, that carries anti-radiation missiles and only some Russian heavy combat helicopters carries some bombs, but LCH isn't in that class. So lets say, very doubtful!
 
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India demands $10 million from British military firm - dnaindia.com

New Delhi: India is asking British military firm BAE Systems to pay millions of dollars for the troubles it faced in assembling jet trainers bought from the firm.


In its demand for compensation, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) cites the difficulties faced in assembling the Hawk advanced jet trainers (AJT) which were bought for the Indian Air Force (IAF). Under the original contract of 2004, 42 of these single-engine aircraft were to be assembled by HAL and 24 to be delivered directly by BAE.

Several tools and equipment supplied by the British military firm had to be “reworked”, said a HAL source. “We faced plenty of problems with the entire programme” that delayed the assembling of the aircraft, the source added. The defence PSU had to “re-tool and re-design” many of the equipment supplied by BAE and there were issues with spare parts too which created trouble for HAL.

Because of the “unwanted trouble” that was “not mandated by contractual conditions”, the organisation has now asked BAE to pay it around $10.5 million, a sources said. Negotiations are under way between the supplier’s representatives and HAL officials in Bangalore, the source said.

It is unusual for such a compensation to be sought by an Indian firm in a military contract. The contract with BAE took shape after two decades of negotiations. In a strong signal of its unhappiness with the firm, the IAF had last year issued a fresh tender for another global competition to buy a new batch of 57 advanced jet trainers. Originally, these were also to be bought from BAE.
 
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Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) announced on the eve of the Rotary Wing Society of India's Heli-Power conference, that their joint venture company - the Helicopter Academy to Train by Simulation of Flying (HATSOFF) - was progressing on-schedule for the opening in mid-2010 of India's first Level D helicopter simulator training facility.

The CAE-built full-mission helicopter simulator for HATSOFF is currently en route to India following the completion of manufacturing and in-plant acceptance at CAE's facility in Montreal, Canada. The simulator is scheduled to arrive in Bangalore later this month to begin installation at the new HATSOFF helicopter training centre. The first cockpit for the simulator represents the Bell 412 helicopter, and is scheduled to be ready-for-training this summer
 
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12 Feb 2010 8ak/CAE PR: CAE and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) announced on the eve of the Rotary Wing Society of India's Heli-Power conference, that their joint venture company - the Helicopter Academy to Train by Simulation of Flying (HATSOFF) - was progressing on-schedule for the opening in mid-2010 of India's first Level D helicopter simulator training facility.

The CAE-built full-mission helicopter simulator for HATSOFF is currently en route to India following the completion of manufacturing and in-plant acceptance at CAE's facility in Montreal, Canada. The simulator is scheduled to arrive in Bangalore later this month to begin installation at the new HATSOFF helicopter training centre. The first cockpit for the simulator represents the Bell 412 helicopter, and is scheduled to be ready-for-training this summer.

"We are excited about the creation of this new training centre that will serve the needs of helicopter operators in India," said Wing Commander (Retd) Chandra Dat Upadhyay, Chief Executive Officer of HATSOFF. "Simulation-based training is one of the best approaches for improving safety and operational efficiency, and the HATSOFF training centre will play a key role in producing skilled and mission-ready helicopter aircrews."

The CAE-built full-mission simulator en route to India features CAE's revolutionary roll-on/roll-off cockpit design, which enables cockpits representing various helicopter types to be used in the simulator. Beginning this summer, HATSOFF will offer comprehensive training to operators of the Bell 412 helicopter. Additional cockpits for the Indian Army/Air Force variant of the HAL-built Dhruv, the civil variant of the Dhruv, and the Eurocopter Dauphin will be added over the next year.

The training centre will feature multimedia classrooms, computer-based training, brief/debrief facilities, and a training management information system. The CAE-built full-mission simulator for HATSOFF will feature a common motion system, vibration platform, and visual display system, and the four separate cockpit modules that can be used in the full-mission simulator. When a cockpit is not used in the full-mission simulator, it will be used as a fixed-based flight training device (FTD). The simulator will be certified to European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and Indian DGCA Level D, the highest qualification for flight simulators.

In Mar 2009 we covered HAL-CAE's announcement of the $60m JV and in Aug 2009 we covered CAE's contract to supply C130-J simulators to the IAF.

8ak - Indian Defence News
 
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The technical competence of DRDO is illustrated that they are again running to buy a new engine from snecma for LCH for a new tamasha lasting five years, thanks to our honest and farthinking politicians and babus who will not not make a single rupee, they are only interested in offbeat things like$$$ and euros. Enjoy for the next five years by being the laughing stock of the world ala kaveri. india the superpower of corruption :angry:
 
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lolz manish..you r right..corruption is our major problem..
 
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MBDA India chief says plans to upgrade India's fighters

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - European defence group MBDA on Tuesday said it plans to upgrade India's Jaguar and Mirage 2000 fighters and also develop missiles with an India research unit.

"India is the biggest market for us globally," Loic Piedevache, India country head, MBDA, told Reuters. "We are looking to consolidate our position."

MBDA, which is a leader in manufacturing missiles, is a venture of European aerospace group EADS, Britain's BAE Systems and Italy's Finmeccanica.

Piedevache said the company plans to upgrade more than 100 Jaguars with the latest Asraam missiles, to replace the older Magic missiles.

MBDA also plans to upgrade more than 50 Mirage 2000 fighters.

"We are looking to expand in India," he said. "We are working with big private groups and we are working with SMEs."

The company is also working with the Indian government's defence research unit to develop surface-to-air missiles, he said.
 
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MBDA also plans to upgrade more than 50 Mirage 2000 fighters.
Would be interesting to know if they should get Asraam, or Mica? My fav would be a licence production of Python 5 for Jags, M2K and LCAs.
We also bought (and maybe buy more) Spyder SAM from Israel, which uses the same missile, also LCA will get Israeli radar and HMS, so why not this missile too?
Python V/Astra would be a very good combo imo!
 
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