Indian Build Up

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The first six Hawk Advanced Jet Trainers (AJTs), bought by the Indian Air Force (IAF) to train its pilots, have achieved interim acceptance, which means that the IAF agrees that the aircraft meet the standards required to allow instructor pilot and maintenance training to start.

Three of them are presently being used to teach IAF instructor pilots how to use the aircraft for training, at BAE Systems, Warton, in a partnership programme between BAE Systems and the Royal Air Force (RAF). Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) test pilots will be trained later this month.

This is part of the aircrew-training package through which 50 IAF pilots have already undergone training using the Hawk Synthetic Training Facility and RAF Hawks based at RAF Valley.

The three new IAF Hawks will be used to train IAF technicians in the Technical Training Academy at BAE Systems, Warton. These technicians will support and maintain the aircraft when it enters service with the IAF.

The six aircraft are the first of 66 new Hawk Advanced Jet Trainers being built for the IAF; the first 24 jets at the BAE Systems facilities in Brough, East Yorkshire, with flight-testing and customer acceptance taking place at Warton in Lancashire. The remaining 42 aircraft are being manufactured under licence in India, by HAL, based in Bangalore. The first aircraft will be delivered to the IAF in September 2007.

 

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News wire reports indicate that the Indian Navy is keen in acquiring up to two more IL 38 maritime reconnaissance aircrafts. This was initially reported by the Press Trust of India.

This acquisition is to bolster the now depleted fleet of Indian Navy spy planes. The new planes to be purchased would be the upgraded version of the aircraft fitted with advanced Sea Dragons suits says PTI.

The Ilyushin Il-38 (NATO reporting name: May) is a maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare aircraft developed from the Il-18 turboprop transport. The Il-38 is a product of Ilyushin.

General characteristics (Source: Open Encyclopedia)

* Crew: Ten
* Length: 39.60 m (129 ft 11 in)
* Wingspan: 37.42 m (122 ft 9 in)
* Height: 10.16 m (33 ft 4 in)
* Wing area: 140 m² (1,506 ft²)
* Empty weight: 33,700 kg (74,140 lb)
* Max takeoff weight: 63,500 kg (139,700 lb)
* Powerplant: 4× Progress AI-20M turboprops, 3,170 kW (4,250 hp) each

Performance

* Maximum speed: 650 km/h (353 knots, 406 mph)
* Range: 9,500 km (5,130 nm, 5,937 mi)
* Service ceiling: 10,000 m (32,800 ft)
* Rate of climb: 320 m/min (1,050 ft/min)

Armament

* 5,000 kg (11,000 lb) of disposable stores, including depth-charges, mines, torpedoes and bombs.

The deal is said will be cleared during Naval Chief Admiral Arun Prakash's upcoming visit to Russia and the aircrafts are likely to be supplied by 2008 and would join Navy's already purchased new fleet of three IL-38 aircraft. Navy's plans to buy eight more advanced maritime reconnaissance aircraft and has already floated international tenders for it.

Three major companies US Lockheed Martin offering their upgraded version P3C orions, Boeing P8 jet and Russian Irkut company offering their IL-38 have responded to the Naval Request for Proposal (RFP).

 

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Among the companies invited in early July to bid were Indian firms Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, Force Motors, Ashok Laylend, Marutiudyog and Crompton Greaves. Foreign firms included Germany’s MTU as well as undisclosed companies from France, Poland, Russia, Singapore, the Slovak Republic and the United Kingdom.
If a foreign firm wins, it will have to provide 30 percent of the value of the contract in technology, supply or investment offsets.
The deal also will include maintenance and spare parts for 15 years, plus training for Indian operators and technicians.
The 350- to 380-horsepower engines will be built by Avadi, the Indian firm that built the vehicles’ current 285-horsepower UTD-20 engines to a modified Russian design.
To be installed by the state-owned Medak ordnance factory, the engines should weigh less than 900 kilograms and operate in temperatures from 30 to 55 degrees Celsius, an Army official said.
The effort to upgrade the BMP-2s will total an estimated $700 million over five years.
Requests for proposals for anti-tank guided missiles and related fire-control systems included in the BMP-2 upgrade will go out soon, a Defence Ministry official said. •

 

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NEW DELHI: India has entered into a co-development agreement with Israel to speed up development of a Multi Mode Radar to equip country's indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA).

"A co-development activity for development of Multi Mode Radar has been initiated with Israel's Elta systems for limited series production of such Radars," Defence Minister A K Antony told Lok Sabha in a written reply.

As Radars are needed for demonstration flights of fully developed and armed Light Combat Fighters scheduled within next four years, the Defence Ministry had asked the Hindustan Aeronautics limited to monitor the project, he said.

This is the second major venture of the Defence Research and Development Organisation in which foreign co-development had to sought at the critical final juncture.

Earlier, the Government had floated tenders asking for collaboration in DRDO's other major venture to develop country's first aero-engine.

Conceding that the technology for airborne Radar was "very complex," Antony said the project to develop such advanced Radars for fighters had started in June 1991 with a probable date of completion within six-and-a-half years.

"The MMR development is being done for the first time in the country. No prior expertise exists in this field in any organisation," he said.

 

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Soldiers engaged in counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir [Images] and the north-east will soon have a new weapon to help them take on militants -- portable non-lethal laser dazzlers that can stun and blind their opponents.

"Two versions of the portable non-lethal dazzlers, including a hand-held laser dazzler, are set to be inducted into the Indian armed forces for use in counter-insurgency operations. This will make the 21st century soldier a technology-driven jawan," a top defence source told PTI.

The laser dazzlers, which can be mounted on existing weapons used by the soldiers, were tested in Kashmir in October 2006 and will be inducted into the army possibly by 2008, sources said.

They could be used against militants operating in the hinterland of Kashmir and against those infiltrating into the state across the Line of Control.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation's Laser Science and Technology Centre in Delhi has developed two variants of the PNLD suitable for counter-insurgency operations.

The hand-held and weapon-mounted versions of the PNLD have a maximum range of 50 meters and 500 meters respectively, the sources said.

Both variants are completely non-lethal directed-energy weapons employing intense visible light and produce randomly a flickering green laser output that is sufficient to cause temporary blindness or disorientation.

The dazzlers also have an in-built safety interlock to prevent misuse and the weapons do not cause permanent blindness, the sources said.

The dazzlers also have an integrated low power red laser beam for aiming in twilight and dark conditions.

The weapon-mounted dazzler has an integrate daylight sight too.

After trials of the dazzlers in the north-east and Kashmir, a memorandum of understanding was signed for manufacturing the systems for the army, the sources said.

Under the MoU signed by the Defence Research Development Organisation with SDS Electronics Pvt Ltd of Panchkula, the transfer of technology for the two versions of the PNLD was completed in November 2006, the sources said.

The laser dazzlers use "diode pumped solid state" lasers with a wavelength of 532 nm and weigh 850 g.

Blinding weapons are banned by the 1995 United Nations Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons.

As these dazzlers do not cause permanent blindness, they skirt this regulation, the sources said.

On 18 May 2006, the US military announced it would issue dazzling lasers designed to be attached to M-4 rifles to troops in Iraq.

This weapon is intended to provide a non-lethal way to stop drivers who fail to stop at checkpoints manned by US soldiers.

However, this proposal attracted criticism from human rights groups, who said even these weapons can cause permanent damage.

The US forces also used the Saber 203 dazzlers in Somalia in 1995 during Operation United Shield.

The Chinese armed forces have fitted dazzlers to their Type 98 main battle tank to overwhelm the optical systems of enemy tanks.

Chinese forces also use the ZM-87 portable laser disturber that can blind enemy troops at a range of up to two to three kilometres.

 

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India has completed evaluations of a maritime patrol derivative of the Airbus A319 and the Boeing P-8 Poseidon in support of a navy requirement for eight anti-submarine aircraft.

Other bidders for the deal are Israel Aerospace Industries and Elta Systems with a Dassault Falcon 900 business jet derivative, Lockheed Martin with a remanufactured P-3 Orion, and a Russian consortium with the Ilyushin Il-38.


© Boeing


As neither the P-8 nor the A319 derivative yet exist, the flight trials conducted in the USA and Spain involved simulations, flying leased commercial Boeing 737 and A320 family aircraft on representative flight profiles and mission system evaluations using US Navy and Spanish air force P-3s. EADS Casa is offering its FITS mission system, which has been installed in Spain's upgraded P-3Bs.

The mission system for Boeing's P-8A uses developments of sensors already operational in US Navy P-3Cs, but the company's offer of a P-8I variant to India would allow the integration of indigenous systems such as communications, datalink and identification friend-or-foe equipment. The US company is negotiating agreements with several Indian companies to meet industrial participation requirements.

Australia, meanwhile, is negotiating to join the US Navy in developing the first capability upgrade spiral for the P-8A, having earlier turned down an offer to join the system development and demonstration programme now under way. Canberra has selected the P-8 to replace its AP-3Cs, which will be retired from 2018, with a requirement for 12-20 aircraft.

The baseline P-8A will fly in September 2009, with initial operational capability set for 2013 and the first capability upgrade spiral to be available around 2015, in the same timeframe that Australia needs its first deliveries, says Rick Buck, programme manager, P-8 international operations.

 

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AEMs for Navy

G. Narasimha Rao

VISAKHAPATNAM: The Defence Research and Development Organisation’s Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL) here on Thursday handed over two advanced exercise mines (AEMs) to the Navy, marking an important day in the laboratory’s history.

Chief Controller (R and D) of DRDO A. Sivathanu Pillai handed over the service records of the AEMs to Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval Command Vice-Admiral Raman P. Suthan at a function. NSTL completed the Rs.7.85-crore indigenous project well ahead of the December 31 deadline at a cost of only one-fifth or one-sixth of the cost of imported technology.

While congratulating the scientists and support staff and industries, Dr. Pillai thanked the Navy for its support.

NSTL, which had developed several mines and torpedoes, was working on a new thermal engine heavy weight ship-launched torpedo “Varunastra.” The project was in the final stage and the new weapon would be inducted into the Navy by mid-2009.

Vice-Admiral Suthan said the Navy was short of exercise mines, which had a direct effect on training its personnel. The AEMs should help it to overcome this problem, he said. NSTL director V. Bhujanga Rao said this was a momentous occasion for the laboratory and the Navy’s support was crucial in developing the process-based advanced mines.
The Hindu : National : AEMs for Navy

 

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New Delhi: The Indian Air Force (IAF) could purchase upwards of 200 aircraft to ramp up its ageing and depleting fleet of fighters, adding around 80 more to the figure of 126 it had planned earlier.

"The number could go up by 70-80 if necessary," Minister of State for Defence M.M. Pallam Raju told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar here.

Hitherto, a figure of 126 multi-role combat aircraft (MRCA) had been mentioned for the IAF order but this number was widely expected to rise due to the prolonged delay in acquiring the new planes.

To add to the IAF's woes, there have been huge time and cost overruns in developing the indigenous Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA), prototypes of which have been flying since 2000 but which is expected to be inducted into service only by 2012.

The cost of 126 aircraft had been estimated at $10 billion, making it India's biggest ever defence deal. The additional aircraft would cost $6 billion, raising the size of the deal to $16 billion.

Asked when the global tender for the MRCAs would be issued, Raju cryptically replied, "Soon".

India's Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) had cleared the tender June 29, and this was expected to have gone out within a month to the manufacturers of the six aircraft that are in the fray. Officials are tight-lipped on the reasons for the delay but indicate this could be because of some top-level changes in the defence ministry.

Vijay Singh is the new defence secretary in place of Shekhar Dutt, who has retired. N.K. Narang has come in as secretary (Defence Accounts) replacing V.K. Mishra, who has retired. No replacement has been named for Sheelbhadra Banerjee, the director general (Acquisitions) who has moved to another assignment.

All three officials are members of the DAC and would need time to study the voluminous IAF tender to understand its complexities.

While the DAC has cleared a tender for 126 aircraft, the additional jets are likely to be purchased as a "follow-on" order as the IAF has done in the case of 80 Mi-17 medium lift helicopters it is purchasing from Russia.

The IAF desperately needs new aircraft to replace its ageing fleet of Soviet-era MiG-21 fighters that make up 21 squadrons of its 30-squadron fleet of combat aircraft. The IAF has a sanctioned strength of 45 fighter squadrons but the highest it has ever been able to achieve is 39-and-a-half squadrons.

The tender, or Request For Proposal (RFP) would now be sent out to the manufacturers of six aircraft: the US F-16 and F-18 Super Hornet, the Swedish Gripen, the French Rafale, the Russian MiG-35 and the European consortium's Eurofighter.

Once the RFP is issued, the manufacturers will have six months to respond, following which a professional team would conduct a technical evaluation of the proposals received to check for compliance with the IAF's operational requirements and other RFP conditions.

Extensive field trials would then be carried out to evaluate the performance of the different aircraft. Finally, the commercial proposal of the vendors short-listed after technical and field evaluations would be examined and compared.

The defence ministry's Contract Negotiation Committee (CNC) would then hold discussions with the vendors before identifying the manufacturer who would be awarded the IAF order.

The CNC would submit its report to the defence minister, who would forward it to the finance minister. After the file returns to the defence ministry, it would go for final approval to the cabinet committee on security (CCS). This process would take some two-and-a-half years.

After the contract is signed with the chosen manufacturer, it would take another two-and-a-half year before the first aircraft start arriving.

 

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COIMBATORE: The advanced experimental torpedo designed by Defence Research and Development Organsiation (DRDO) has been accepted by the Navy.

Its production has been taken up by Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) of Hyderabad, A. Sivathanu Pillai, Chief Controller of DRDO and Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of BrahMos Aerospace said here on Thursday.

Dr. Pillai told reporters that the advanced light weight torpedo would be used as an underwater weapon by the Navy.

Self-reliance

With this breakthrough the DRDO was reaching a stage of self-reliance in under water applications. It was now looking at heavy weight torpedoes, Dr. Pillai said.

“Work on unmanned vehicles in underwater is under way and is in the prototype stages at the Naval Science and Technology Laboratory at Vishakhapatnam. The vehicle will initially do surveillance work. Later it might be considered for civilian uses too,” he added.

He said most of the naval materials had been indigenised.

DRDO was also in the process of developing a fuel cell that would have “tremendous civilian applications”.

It could be considered as an alternative to propel cars, he said.

 

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Zhukovsky (Russia), Aug 24: Indian Navy will induct submarine-launched BrahMos cruise missiles and preparations are underway for their trial, an official said here.

Spokesman of the Indo-Russian joint venture BrahMos aerospace, Alexander Maksichev said that it was not yet decided which of the Indian naval submarines will be armed with the deadly cruise missiles.

"India is mostly building French Scorpene class submarines. But soon the Indian navy will have to decide about additional submarines.

"It is not known yet which submarines, but what is certain is that they will be fitted with BrahMos missiles," Maksichev said speaking on the sidelines of ongoing international aerospace show Maks-2007 here.

Preparations are underway for their trial, the official said.

BrahMos aerospace has its own stall at the aerospace show and is displaying models of ship, land, air versions of the cruise missile with the speed twice that of sound, amid growing interest among potential buyers.

Under the joint venture deal, India and Russia have agreed to jointly develop, produce and internationally market the BrahMos cruise missiles to "mutually identified friendly nations".

According to experts BrahMos with a range of 200 km, developed on the basis of Russian Npomash`s `Yakhont` cruise missile will remain a unique missile for more than a decade and has a huge market.

However, some of the countries initially identified as `friendly` could undergo review by the russian general staff, according to the local defence ministry sources.

 

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Indian Navy will induct submarine-launched BrahMos cruise missiles and preparations are underway for their trial, an official said here.

Spokesman of the Indo-Russian joint venture Brahmos Aerospace, Alexander Maksichev said that it was not yet decided which of the Indian naval submarines will be armed with the deadly cruise missiles.

"India is mostly building French Scorpene class submarines. But soon the Indian Navy will have to decide about additional submarines.

"It is not known yet which submarines, but what is certain is that they will be fitted with BrahMos missiles," Maksichev said speaking on the sidelines of ongoing international aerospace show MAKS-2007 here.

Preparations are underway for their trial, the official said.

BrahMos Aerospace has its own stall at the aerospace show and is displaying models of ship, land, air versions of the cruise missile with the speed twice that of sound, amid growing interest among potential buyers.

Under the JV deal, India and Russia have agreed to jointly develop, produce and internationally market the BrahMos cruise missiles to "mutually identified friendly nations".

According to experts BrahMos with a range of 200 km, developed on the basis of Russian NPOMash's 'Yakhont' cruise missile will remain a unique missile for more than a decade and has a huge market.

However, some of the countries initially identified as 'friendly' could undergo review by the Russian General Staff, according to the local defence ministry sources.

 

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The Naval Science Laboratory at Visakhapatnam has developed the technology and is in the process of making prototype of 'unmanned underwater vehicle',(UUV), Dr A Sivathunu Pillai, Chief Controller of Research and Development, DRDO, said.

The Naval Science Laboratory at Visakhapatnam is developing 'unmanned underwater vehicles,' (UUV) for carrying out surveillance in the sea, a top DRDO official said today.

With India moving fast to become self-reliant in underwater technology," the laboratory has developed the technology and is in the process of making prototype of UUV," Dr A Sivathunu Pillai, Chief Controller of Research and Development, DRDO, told reporters here.

The vehicles would be of much use for the Indian Navy for surveillance under the sea and also to trace and send signals about the presence of any submarine, ship and other objects deployed by the enemy, Pillai said.

Similarly, the Indian Navy has accepted the newly developed Advanced Experimental Torpedo 'TAL,' to hit targets under the sea, Pillai said, adding Hyderabad-based Bharat Dynamics Ltd, would commence its production soon.

TAL is capable of locating the underwater target with its homing device, hit and destroy it, he said. With DRDO already delivering Advanced Underwater Mines to the Navy, India is reaching a stage of self-reliance in underwater technology, Pillai said.

 

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Moscow, Aug 23: Russian Aircraft Corporation (RAC) MiG will set up a spare parts depot in India to improve the product support for its top of the line fighters in service with the Indian Air Force (IAF).

On the sidelines of the ongoing international MAKS-2007 air show near here, RAC MiG and joint venture Indo-Russian Aerospace Ltd (IRAL) have signed the contract for establishing the MiG aircraft spare parts depot in India "to meet the Customer's demands with respect to the spares and materials upon urgent indents," a corporate release said here today.

IRAL JV was set up in 1994 by HAL and Russian Arms Exporting Corporation "RosOboronExport" to resolve the acute problem of spares after the Soviet collapse.

The depot shall allow sustaining the traditionally high availability rate of the IAF aircraft fleet by storing the specific nomenclature of spares and materials required for the timely aircraft maintenance whether operational or periodic.

At the same time the depot shall ensure the tarmac readiness for all MiGs operated by the IAF.

Reference list of spare parts was developed on basis of the Russian MiG-29 aircraft reliability indices, of the IAF indents' analyses and the Indian side's recommendations.

After-sale support infrastructure build-up is envisaged by the package contract for the delivery of the ship-borne MiG-29K/KUB for the Indian Navy signed in 2004 as part of the Gorshkov deal.

 

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Russia To Sell 40 Sukhoi Su 30 MKI Fighter Jets To India In September 2007

Russia hopes to sign a contract next month to sell India 40 Sukhoi fighters, the president of the Irkut warplane maker said on Friday, Interfax news agency reported.

"We hope to sign a contract in September to deliver another 40 Su-30MKI fighters to India," Irkut president Oleg Demchenko told Interfax.

The Su-30MKI is a long-haul Sukhoi fighter specially modified for the Indian air force. Indian officials had said they planned to sign a deal to buy 40 Sukhoi fighters by the end of March.

India's air force, one of the biggest in the world, also plans to buy 126 new combat aircraft to upgrade New Delhi's fleet which includes ageing Russian MiG-21s, Mig-23s and MiG-27s.

The 126-plane deal has attracted interest from European players like France's Dassault, which is promoting its Rafale fighter, and Sweden's Saab, eager to sell its JAS-39 Gripen.

Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet and Lockheed Martin's F-16 are also competing for the contract.

Irkut's Demchenko said the firm had built an order book of 242 Su-30 fighters, adding that those orders would keep the enterprise working at full capacity at least until 2012.

"The portfolio of orders on the Su-30 is colossal -- 242 aircraft," he said, Interfax reported. "We will have to produce 30-35 aircraft a year."

He said the main purchasers of Sukhoi aircraft were India, Algeria and Malaysia. Irkut, one of Russia's most modern aircraft producers, makes the Sukhoi-30 range of fighter jets and the Be-200 Multipurpose Amphibious Jet. European aerospace and defence giant EADS has a 10 percent stake in Irkut.

Irkut is now part of the state controlled United Aviation Corporation, which was set up by President Vladimir Putin last year to pool Russian aircraft producers under a plan to restore the country's former strong position in aviation.

Russia To Sell 40 Sukhoi Su 30 MKI Fighter Jets To India In September 2007 | India Defence

 

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Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Indian team in Moscow to talk military shopping

NEW DELHI: A high-level Indian delegation led by National Security Advisor MK Narayanan is in Moscow to thrash out contentious issues such as the delay in the acquisition of the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov and Russia’s demand for more money for military hardware.

Several high-level meetings are lined up between the two countries to resolve niggling issues ahead of the talks between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Russian President Vladimir Putin in November.

Another high-level army delegation led by Army Chief Gen JJ Singh is expected in Moscow next month to carry negotiations forward.

Antony told parliament here last week that some “unforeseen” problems have caused delays in the acquisition of the aircraft carrier. He said construction or repair of an aircraft carrier was a complex exercise and various problems can arise, which have to be resolved through interactions between concerned agencies.

Sources here, however, said Russia is demanding more money for the Gorshkov and Sukhoi Su-30MKI projects. Citing the weakening dollar and strengthening rouble, Russia is reported to have asked for an additional $113 million for refurbishing the Gorshkov. Russia gifted the aircraft carrier to India and an amount of $1.5 billion had been agreed for refurbishing it with armaments and fighter planes. Indian officials say the contract does not contain a price escalation clause.

The aircraft was to be delivered to India in 2008. However, reports say Russia has stopped work on the carrier at their Sevmash shipyard and this has pushed the delivery schedule to somewhere around 2012. Apparently, Moscow has diverted a major portion of the workforce at the yard to the construction of a nuclear submarine.

Similarly, the Russians have asked for an additional five payment for an additional 40 Su-30 combat jets as well as the 138 jets that are to be manufactured in India under license.

Though General Singh’s scheduled visit next month is timed to coincide with the first ever major joint Indo-Russian anti-terrorism exercise, sources said the price escalation issue will figure prominently in the talks.

India’s crack paratroopers are also set to take part in “search and destroy” exercises code named Indra-2007 in the headquarters of Russia’s elite airborne division in the Pskov region deep in the northwestern part of Russia from September 16 to 18. The area is situated only a few dozen kilometres from the NATO borders of Estonia and Lithuania.

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