Indian Build Up

[Bull]

NEW DELHI: In a significant move in India’s missile capabilities and defence cooperation with Israel, the government on Thursday approved a Rs 10,000 crore joint venture between the two sides to produce a sophisticated surface-to-air missile for the Indian Air Force.

This is probably the largest joint venture of its kind between India and any other country. It surpasses all previous such ventures, including the hugely successful Indo-Russian Brahmos cruise missile.

 

[Always Neutral]

NEW DELHI: In a significant move in India’s missile capabilities and defence cooperation with Israel, the government on Thursday approved a Rs 10,000 crore joint venture between the two sides to produce a sophisticated surface-to-air missile for the Indian Air Force.

This is probably the largest joint venture of its kind between India and any other country. It surpasses all previous such ventures, including the hugely successful Indo-Russian Brahmos cruise missile.

Dear Bull,

Actually after visiting Israel and India I think both of you have so much in common and this partnership will be a conduit for US technology to flow in from the back door. It will really help India in the long run.

Regards

 

[Bull]

Yeah true, there is a lot to learn from Israel.

 

[con]

Dear Bull,

Actually after visiting Israel and India I think both of you have so much in common and this partnership will be a conduit for US technology to flow in from the back door. It will really help India in the long run.

Regards

It is a mutual self interest. Israel survival is very much on it's' defence capabilities. It sees India as a huge customer base plus a place for lower cost production.
India get cutting edge tech,while Israel makes money and lower production cost.

 

[joey]

Looking at DRDO history I honestly feel it is too optimistic

Are you sure? And you know about DRDO's history?

There has been 3 types of Scramjet engines developed by DRDO so far for HSTDV,

Conditions under it was tested as follows I have excluded some details, It used Kerosene (Aviation grade fuel) for one test as well as one used Hydrogen, it uses a strut injector in tandem with Scramjet Combustor.

1) FLIGHT MACH NO : 6.5
2) ALTITUDE SIMULATED : 35KM
4) BURNER STAGNATION TEMPERATURE : 1500 K
7) TEST DURATION : 25 s

Two overcome some problems they designed after this Ramp-Cavity based Scramjet combustor and it has gone succesful tests as well.

Then they have finished designing Ramp Cavity based Scramjet combustor with Barbotage injection system to clear some more issues.

To conclude,

The experimental data generated on three configurations has provided a
useful insight for the configuration design of full-scale combustor for Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV). The wall pressure distributions achieved during the experiment has been used for the validation of CFD codes like CFX & Fluent.

so three type of Sc-Ram combustors has been realised,

1. Strut based.
2. Ramp-Cavity combustor.
3. Barbotage injection of kerosene with hydrogen fuel as pilot in a Ramp-Cavity combustor.

Dear Bull,

Actually after visiting Israel and India I think both of you have so much in common and this partnership will be a conduit for US technology to flow in from the back door. It will really help India in the long run.

Regards

You have visited Israel and India? great! Which places did you see?

Actually, IAI Chief was Invited in India for attending the National conference with International participation on 'High speed trans-atmospheric air and space transportation"

Many Media has reported things wrongly but here are certain aspects I'll like to say,

Barak 2/NG/8 Whatever you might call it is a JV which was not clear due to a IAI bribery scandal a few years back, but now after this years MOD release of the same and press release it is clear. in Addition to the same IAF chipped in for a JV regarding Barak ER a new LRSAM.

Previously we have had option for procuring S300PMU (We evaluiated S300V for sure) but now Barak ER will be replaced with full IPR and as a JV than merely buying S300 series.

The Barak-NG is a SAM being developed by the Indian Navy, DRDO and IAI for the Indian and Israeli Navies. It has a range of approximately 70 Kms, as per MOD report.

The Barak-ER or whatever project name is given above to this new project, is a project to develop a brand new area air defence system.

This missile will have a range of 120 km plus. Some reports state 150 Km.

The IAF has some thirty squadrons of Pechoras or fifty "firing units". Each firing unit comprises of the associated radars and missiles and command and control shelter. These were to be replaced by Akash firing units.

Now the IAF was offered the PAC-3 for ATBM role and was evaluating various other M-SAM options to quickly induct while the Akash got ready. So it decided to split the orders between Akash and the 18 M-SAMs. (which was a very naive and idiotic move), as reported by some press.

Instead of these M-SAMs, now the IAF will be procuring this brand new Area defence system aka LR-SAM (good bye S300) from DRDO, which is a brilliant step.

The IN will be getting the Barak-NG. The IAF the Akash & Barak-ER. For Low Level air defence, it will have Spyders, a few Trishuls plus the new DRDO-MBDA JV to develop a Trishul follow on.

For last ditch defence, it will have IGLA-S to be license produced by the BDL, Hyderabad.

Along with this, theres the corresponding overhaul of the IAF's AD network with dozens of brand new radars.


Trishul - It is ready, seeker multipath reflection issue sorted out long ago - closest in performance to Barak1+ Flycatcher .. a few units to be acquired by IAF, Navy has gotten away with it long ago due to its size and requireed modification needed to fit in external ships.

Akash- penultimate user trials this year w/AF (already 56 succesful user trials has been done) - some 32 firing units worth to be ordered---->32 firing units.

The BarakNG for Navy--->4-6 ships at the very minimum..

The Barak-ER above---> 18 firing units

The Maitri LLQRM to follow on from the Trishul with MBDA---> 8 Squadrons of OSA-AKM to be replaced. (With LPI capable Radar heh! )

Program Air Defence and Axo Atmospheric Air defence, ATBM project

Spyder---> 15 Units being procured

By the end of these programs India would have a massive state of the art GBAD system, not to mention the spin off technologies from Active phased array radars of various types, to a plethora of missiles and C3I gear.

Good Show!

But the hypocricy of the money involved is startling including home participation compared to 40 crores for new 1500 hp engine developement for Arjun which was so less, that some private partners jumped out. The actual amount of money involved and Indian participation can only be known after next MOD release but a good over 50% of ER will be direct inputs and long r&d done by DRDO.



Now lets move to some good news,

http://www.domain-b.com/aero/july/2007/20070711_hypersonic.htm

Israel and India working on hypersonic technology demonstrator vehicle
11 July 2007

The President of India, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam (left), and IAI's President & CEO, Itzhak Nissan (right), at the conference


Hyderabad: The Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and India's Defence Research and Development Organisation are working together on a hypersonic technology demonstrator vehicle (HSTDV). The work is moving apace with the intention of conducting a test flight sometime in 2008.

DRDO is developing the HSTDV to demonstrate a kerosene-fuelled scramjet engine capable of powering air-breathing vehicles to a speed of Mach 6.5-7. It is the stated aim of the project to reduce the cost of putting payloads into orbit by a factor of 100, i.e. to $200/kg ($90/lb). Some of the wind tunnel testing for the project is being performed by the IAI.

India is already conducting extensive research on special materials for thermal protection of the HSTDV, including carbon-carbon composites, nickel-based superalloys, niobium alloys and high thermal conducting copper alloy.

Indo-Israeli RAM/SCRAMJET cooperation
Meanwhile, at a prestigious scientific conference dealing with "High speed trans-atmospheric air and space transportation" conducted in the Indian city of Hyderabad from June 29-30 and inaugurated by the Indian president, and distinguished aerospace scientist Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, some hints were dropped about the Indo-Israeli cooperation in this area.

The Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI)'s president & CEO, Itzhak Nissan, was invited as a guest of honor at the event in deference to his personal activities in India, where he leads a number of advanced technological projects.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Kalam mentioned that Ram/Scramjet engine technology had already been designed and tested by both Russia and the US since the 1960s and most recently by the US through the Flight Technology Demonstrator, X-43. The president also mentioned that India too had "…designed and tested scramjet engines, both kerosene fueled and hydrogen fueled, on ground test facilities.

In his speech, the President of India, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, praised the growing cooperation between India and Israel at large and the cooperation with IAI in particular.

In his lecture, IAI's president & CEO, Itzhak Nissan, said "IAI, the leading aerospace industry in Israel, is partner for a wide range of commercial and military projects in India. In these projects, we manage to express the capabilities that are mutual to both countries. We are proud to be partners with the superb capabilities demonstrated by the Indian development and manufacturing teams working on some of the most advanced projects in the world."

Mr. Nissan added that: "IAI expresses profound appreciation for the high level of scientific level and motivation that can be found at India's research institutions and aerospace industry."

During the conference, VK Saraswat, the chief controller (R&D), DRDO and chairman of the Aeronautical Society of India, made a presentation on the commercial Hyper Sonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle. The ground test for HTDV scramjet propulsion system using kerosene as fuel has been conducted by DRDO scientists at a high speed material testing laboratory abroad and the results have been encouraging, he told reporters at the event.

This would be a reference to the wind tunnel and other experiments being carried out by the IAI.

Though the above news headline is misleading, The HSTDV vehicle is not any JV but some labs in Israel might be used for some testing purpose, just as we used Italy's Space lab to test the thermal stress of the special plates for the SRE Capsule.

The last line clarifies it, the reality is Testing of Scramjet is done inhome so far (cannot disclose anything more than that) but with icnrease in mach number and its validation by CFD and CFX fluencies , need of better testing facility may force scientist to test the engine in some other wind tunnels abroad.

The more variety of wind tunnel you test in, the better CFD data you get to make better flight control laws and others. LCA was tested in many wind tunnels inhome and abroad before starting to develope the CLAW's.

From a HSTDV paper,

Ground tests and classical methods alone cannot give data with sufficient
accuracy for design of hypersonic systems. Due to the closely integrated nature,
component level testing will not be able to simulate accurately the complex flow
field. It is difficult to simulate Reynolds number, boundary layer transition in
ground test facilities. Also, the quality of air is difficult to simulate in the test
facilities. Therefore there is a need to estimate the performance in the flight
based on the results of ground tests. This can be accomplished only through the
use of mathematical modeling of the flow, which is to be solved to first reproduce
the result of the ground test and then used for predicting the flight conditions.
The primary unknown on a physical plane consists of modeling turbulence and its
interaction with chemistry. The issues on the numerical front consist of evolving
algorithms to solve the N – S equations or their variants such that sharp gradient
regions near the shocks are captured with numerical diffusion or overshoot. The
prediction of wall heat transfer rate is another task to be handled both on the
modeling plane and numerical experiments. One of the advantages of the
mathematical model is that once it stands validated it can be used to conduct
several numerical experiments on exotic ideas like with respect to enhanced
mixing components with much less expense as compared to experiments. The
experimental effort is not eliminated but reduced and better focused. This is in
fact the current day approach to the solution to the problems of high-speed flight.

This is fructifies is going to be my Dream thing, a 150 seater passenger ac, We have huge domestic market to cater for the same, and ofcourse markets in the neighbours.

http://www.siasat.com/english/index...k=view&id=190950&Itemid=79&cattitle=Hyderabad

'Speed up work on passenger aircraft’

Hyderabad, June 30: President A.P.J Abdul Kalam on Friday called for accelerating the aeronautical community’s plan to build a 150-seater civilian aircraft in a public-private partnership mode in view of the growing air traffic in the country.

Inaugurating a two-day international conference on “High speed transatmospheric air & space transportation” organised by the Aeronautical and Astronautical Societies of India, he said the aeronautical community was ready with a roadmap for the aircraft. He said the R&D and infrastructure build-up for the same has to start right away.

He said that in the next two decades, he visualised the integration of multiple technologies of supersonic aircraft, missiles and spacecraft to transform into an unmanned supersonic long-range aircraft.

Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister, M. Natarajan, said the DRDO was investing heavily to the tune of Rs.30,000 crores in the 11th and 12th Five Year Plans for developing new generation tactical and strategic missiles as also aerospace products.

Dr. Kalam also called for global cooperation to develop affordable reusable space launch vehicles with very high payload efficiencies for launching multi-purpose missions, including space solar power stations.

He said the real value of future societal space missions, like energy from space and seawater desalination using space solar power could taken place only when mankind builds fully reusable space transportation systems with very high payload.

Pointing out that space development was constrained by the large costs of access to space, he said the payload fraction of current generation expendable launch vehicles does not exceed one per cent to two per cent of the launch weight.

Dr .Kalam said that while he visualised, in another 50 to 75 years, an industrial complex on the moon and a human habitat at Mars emerging, one of the major driving factors would be the low cost access to space. He said there was definitely a need for all the countries to work together to develop reusable launch vehicles which could bring down the cost of the launch from the present US $ 20,000 per kg to US $ 200 per kg.

Atomic Energy Chairman Anil Kakodkar said that expertise was available at Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research at Kalpakkam in fabricating high-temperature material and thermal design and offered the same for aerospace applications.

President and CEO, Israel Aerospace Industry (IAI) Limited, Itzhak Nissan, said IAI was involved in major Indian defence programmes.V. K. Saraswat, Chief Controller (R&D), DRDO and Chairman of the Aeronautical Society of India, city chapter, welcomed the gathering.

30,000 crores in the 11 th (2007-12) and 12 th (2012-2017) plan periods to develop new gen missiles (tactical and strategic) and aerospace items.

30,000 crores at present exchange rates is equal to 7412.88 Million $. Ie approx 7.4 Billion $.

I hope the budget involved is true, We lack nothing other than proper management and budget. the passenger ac is being talked about for long but with no budget havent fructified.

NAL after success of Saras will mote into a RTA - Regional transport Jet of 70 seaters and a 150 seater jet.

NAL meanwhile after success of HANSA is working with Mahindra (who are funding it) for a 5 seater patrol aircraft.

 

[joey]

Now something Regarding DRDO's ATBM project,

http://www.hindu.com/2007/07/08/stories/2007070857860200.htm

DRDO scientists bag awards

HYDERABAD: Vijay Kumar Saraswat, distinguished scientist and Chief Controller (R&D), received on Saturday the DRDO’s Award for path-breaking research and outstanding technology development from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at a function held in DRDO Bhavan, New Delhi.

The award was conferred on Dr. Saraswat and his team of scientists for developing the area defence system for defence against ballistic missile attacks on vulnerable areas and successfully intercepting an incoming missile using a missile at exo-atmospheric region.

India is the only country other than the US to have achieved a direct hit in the exo-atmospheric region. G. Satheesh Reddy, Director, Inertial Systems of Research Centre Imarat, DRDO was another person to also receive the ‘Agni Award for excellence in self-reliance’ from Dr. Singh. It was conferred on him as a team leader for indigenous development of world class and higly accurate ‘Ring Laser Gyro (RLG)-based Inertial navigation and Global Positioning System (RINS).’ The system is first of its kind to be developed in the country with position accuracy of one nautical mile per hour.

DRDO interweb:

CCR&Ds, DRDO HQrs

Dr Vijay Kumar Saraswat, Distinguished Scientist has been appointed CC R&D (M&SS) w.e.f. 1 November 2005. Born in 1949, he started his career in DRDO in 1972 with development of India's first Liquid Propulsion Engine, DEVIL. Having a Doctorate in Propulsion Engineering, he established facilities for design, production and testing of engines and the RCS technologies for the missile applications.

As Project Director, he steered the design, development, production and induction of first indigenous surface-to-surface missile system Prithvi into the Armed Forces. The successful testing of Dhanush missile on-board a moving ship with very high terminal accuracy brought new dimensions in the national defence scenario.

Under the able leadership of Dr Saraswat, India has embarked on a challenging, futuristic Air Defence Programme encompassing development of complex anti ballistic missile systems, radars, C-41 systems and integration of battle management resources into a national authority. As Programme Director , he has spearheaded the concept of theatre defence systems and integration of national Air Defence elements. As Director, Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad, he conceptualised and established facilities for development of Micro and Nano Sensors for future avionics.

Dr Saraswat is fellow of National Academy of Engineering, Aeronautical Society of India, Astronautical Society of India, and Institution of Engineers. He is a member of governing council of SAMEER and member of Board of Research of AICTE, CSIR labs, and board of studies of Osmania University. He is Chairman, Combustion Institute (Indian Section), and Aeronautical Society of India (Hyderabad Branch).

Dr Saraswat is the recipient of DRDO Scientist of the Year Award-1987, National Aeronautical Prize-1993, DRDO Technology Transfer Award-1996 and Performance Excellence Award-1999. For his outstanding contributions to the nation, he has been conferred with Padma Shri in 1998.

Post test interview with Saraswat: dunno if this was posted here or not,

Interview: Vijay Kumar Saraswat
Chief Controller of Research and Development, India’s DRDO

Known in India as the father of the anti-ballistic air defense missile system, Vijay Kumar Saraswat began his career at the state-owned Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) with the development of India’s first liquid-propulsion engine for the Prithvi missile.

Saraswat, who specializes in rocket propulsion, missile technologies, and project and technology management, today is the DRDO’s chief controller for research and development. His future assignments include development of India’s anti-ballistic missile systems, radars, C4I systems and integration of battle management resources into a national authority. For his outstanding contribution to India, Saraswat was conferred with the Padma Shri Award, the country’s fourth-highest civilian award, in 1998.

Q. Please describe the homegrown ballistic missile defense system. How many missiles will it have for different layers of threats?
A. Our missile configuration is a three-layered missile defense configuration. We are planning to engage ballistic missiles at the exo-atmospheric layer, i.e., the layer where it enters the atmosphere, and the endo-atmospheric layer, where there is a thermally sensitive atmospheric layer. This configuration gives us the best probability of killing a ballistic missile coming to us. To increase hit probability, we can plan to launch two to three missiles each for exo- and endo-atmospheric.

The missile that demonstrates our capability to intercept ballistic missiles at exo-atmospheric altitudes is called PAD. It is a two-stage missile. The first stage is liquid, and the second is a solid rocket motor with many additional features, which are leading to an interception or engaging the ballistic missiles. For example, it has seeker guidance, divert thruster which can generate a lateral acceleration at more than 5 Gs at 50 kilometers altitude.

Q. How many missiles in the system?
A. There are two layers. At each battery there is a multiple launcher with multiple missiles.

Q. What is the configuration of BMD?
A. In a typical battery, you have the long-range radars, missile launchers, mission control center and other ground systems.

The complete network of radars, launch batteries, missile control centers, launch control centers. These are geographically distributed and are connected to a very potent secure communications network.

The radar is looking at a particular elevation and detects incoming ballistic missiles. This information is sent to the mission control center(MCC), which then decides whether it is a missile interceptor or a satellite or any other projectile, and it does target classification within a few seconds. When the target is classified, the MCC also calculates where the impact point of the target is likely to be and where it is going to fall.

After the target is classified, the MCC also finds out the trajectory profile and the speed it is going to travel. Based on that, it assigns a target to a particular battery. This is called target assignment.

Once the target is assigned, the data goes to a particular battery, then control goes to the launch control center (LCC). LCC keeps on getting data from radar directly, and then it decides when to launch the interceptor. This is decided based on the data received from radar, on the speed of target, altitude, flight path. A ground guidance computation is done. It's a very complex computation from ground computation when to launch the interceptor. All this is done in an autonomous fashion.

Q. Can you tell me the timeframe?
A. For the 600-kilometer class of system, if a radar has spotted a target, the interceptor will be launched within about 180 seconds. It will be different for 200-kilometer and 300-kilometer missiles.

Q. What is the speed of the air defense missile?
A. It is between 4.5 and 5 Mach. The same system has the capability to engage 300-kilometer to 2,000-kilometer classes of ballistic missiles.

Q. How efficient is it?
A. Depending upon the area of threat, radars are deployed in that direction. We deploy the radar in such a way that a threat coming from that direction is detected. Once the target missile is detected at a point, a number of batteries are deployed. If a missile is passing through the zone of influence of one battery, that battery will be activated.

Q. Is this Swordfish radar?
A. No, it is Long-Range Tracking Radar. It has the capability to track 200 targets at a range of about 600 kilometers.

It can track the target and the interceptor also. So in this radar, we developed the complete software for doing the tracking and engagement of ballistic missiles.

Complete software for signal processing transmitter receiver modules, central processing units and complete ground segment — like cooling units, power supplies and the communication network — have been indigenously developed and integrated. Today, we have full capability to manufacture this radar in our country.

Q. How many radars have you developed in this class? When did this development begin?
A. We started working on this in late 1999, beginning of 2000, and we completed it in 2004. It has taken almost five years. We had also developed radar for the endo-atmospheric layer. It is called multifunction control radar. This is also a phased array radar. It also has the capability to beat the interceptor guidance, if required.

Q. How does the MCC work?
A. MCC is completely a software-intensive system for BMD, and this works on about 10 computers simultaneously. It receives information about the target from different sources. It could be ground-based radars, satellites or our own technical intelligence system. MCC is connected to all the elements of the weapon system through a wide area communication network. It does target classification, target assignment and kill assessment.

In addition, planning for deployment of radar and other weapon system elements is also done by MCC. It can also simulate all the types of track profiles and also simulates the interception using our interceptors, and then select whether interception will take place or not. It can also indicate how many missiles should be launched to intercept an incoming threat to give an assured kill probability. It acts as a decision support system for the commander.

Q. What is LCC?
A. It is the basic hub for launch of the interceptor. After a target has been assigned to a particular battery, LCC starts computing when to launch the interceptor based upon the information received from the radars, about the target. It carries out the checking of the health of the missile. It prepares the missile for launch in real time, carries out ground guidance computation.

After an interceptor is launched, the interceptor is provided information about the target through an uplink. The target real time data is transmitted through a very robust communication network.

Q. When will the BMD testing be complete?
A. It will take more than three years to complete our developmental activities.

Q. What is Phase II?
A. The same missile interceptors cannot cover all threats. Threat targets of longer ranges — 2,000 kilometers — will make our phase-II development.

During Phase I: Endo-atmospheric interceptor is AAD. This interceptor will engage targets at 25 kilometers. AAD is superior in terms of coverage area compared to PAC-3, which is 15 kilometers. You can see the difference. AAD’s equivalent is the Israeli Arrow, which intercepts at 40 kilometers. PAD is 50 to 80 kilometers. America is building a missile, THAAD — Terminal High Altitude Area Defense — that intercepts out to 120 kilometers, but it is still in development. However, a lot of failures have taken place during THAAD development.

Q. How many missile batteries would you deploy?
A. Nobody will give information on how many and where we will deploy them.

Q. Who will be the production agency for this?
A. We have participation of 30 private and public industries for various subsystems of this missile and weapon system.

Q. Who will build the radar eventually?
A. Radar will be made by a consortium of Bharat Electronics and many other private industries, facilitating private-public partnership, with DRDO as technology giver.

Q. And what about missiles?
A. Missiles and subsystems are also being made by many private industries. It could be government-owned Bharat Dynamics Ltd. — the preferred agency — or any other agency.

Q. What is involved in the development of a missile system?
A. A lot of different technologies are involved. For example, take the PAD missile. We started developing in the year 2000, and in six to seven years we have launched the missiles — whereas the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program started in 1983 and the first launch of Prithvi was in 1988, Agni in 1989, and we have developed other missiles like Akash and Nag also. One needs to work on various technologies for different systems in propulsion, control, guidance, aerodynamics, structures, power systems, launchers and other supporting ground systems.

Q. What does this mean?
A. We have reached the stage of technology development where we have technical maturity and technological qualification leading to subsystem production at identified production agencies. This is a very long, long process.

Q. What is the effect of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR)?
A. When we launched Prithvi and Agni, it had affected the launch of all the missiles and subsystems. The MTCR was a major reason for delay in the 1990s in the development of our missiles.

Q. How did you overcome?
A. We launched a program called “Combating MTCR,” and because of that program, we developed all the unavailable materials, components and subsystems indigenously.

When you do such work, you have to depend on your country’s industries and scientific institutions. When the scientific institutions give support but industries lack the technological base to support this type of program, then we have to develop required integrated circuits, etc. We have to have set up like that and we have to spend money, and it takes time. That way, development of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program, we were involved in development of integrated circuits, material, irradiating elements. We spent a lot of money and effort doing that.

In 1996, the first Prithvi system was delivered. Despite MTCR, Agni-1 and -2 have been done. Akash flight trials were conducted successfully. The Nag imaging infrared seeker has been built. So it is to the credit of the Indian scientific community.

Now, the Akash air defense system is going to lead to production because this year, we are going for induction of Akash after a few user trials.

Q. What about the Nag anti-tank missile?
A. This year, we are going to conduct the user trials of Nag.

(Note : so far 48 Nag trials has been done with IIR seeker, MMW seeker is under developement, a dual seeker will be worked out)

Q. What about the Trishul quick-reaction missile?
A. Development is completed. We are looking for more variants.

Q. What about the Dhanush ship-launched missile and Astra beyond-visual-range missile?
A. Dhanush we have already completed successfully. Astra is an air-to-air beyond-visual-range missile. Ballistic trials of the missile have been completed. Now, we are on to control and guidance flight-trial mode. We expect that by June, control guidance flights will commence. Now it is going per schedule and all the various technological requirements of Astra are being met.

Q. What are the spinoffs?
A. Once Phase-II interceptors are developed, these can be used as long-range interceptors of aircraft at ranges of 120 kilometers.

You see the question which you asked that it has taken 20 years to develop. Now you see it is not taking more than 5 years - 6 years. Even Americans also take time. Their missile program with industrial infrastructure, the cost is very high and they take six to seven years before a missile is launched. This is also time taken for development of PAD and AAD.

 

[joey]

India developing new missile variants​

NEW DELHI: India is developing three new variants of missiles with ranges between 5,000 to 5,500 kilometres. These include three-stage variants of Agni, a hypersonic Brahmos and Sagarika, a submarine-launched naval missile, said Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientists on Saturday.

The scientists said these fast, long-range and lethal new generation missiles will help India look beyond Asia and gain a foothold in the group of elite countries that possess intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

Before launching the Agni-IV project, scientists plan to conduct two more tests of the 3,000-km range Agni-III missile within the next 18 months. M Natrajan, scientific advisor to the defence minister, told reporters here that a 5,000 km-range Agni was also feasible.

The scientists said they are also planning to upgrade the Brahmos cruise missile from a supersonic to a hypersonic version. iftikhar gilani

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\07\10\story_10-7-2007_pg7_50

Isnt it Ironic what has been reported Yesterday media reports a year after and Delhi confirms the same
I have already told here Agni IV will be made and there is no project named Surya.

Here is beforehand dimension of AAD/PAD,

 

[Bull]

NEW DELHI: Quietly, very quietly, India is preparing to deploy at least one squadron of Mi-17 helicopters at the Ayni airbase in Tajikistan. This will be its 'first real military outpost' on foreign shores and give New Delhi 'strategic reach' in energy-rich Central Asia.

The 'immediate' plan may well be to deploy Mi-17 helicopters, as well as some Kiran trainer aircraft to train Tajik pilots, at the airbase before the end of this year. But sources confirmed that this was just the prelude to 'a larger strategic imprint' in the region, which India sees as crucial to its growing energy needs. The 'eventual aim' is to station even MiG-29 fighter jets at the airbase.

"It may be just a military outpost at the moment but will develop into a full-fledged base in the future," said a source. This will also give India the option to even rapidly 'insert' its special forces into nearby areas if its interests are threatened, as they were during the hijack of IC-814 to Kandahar in December 1999.

Officially, the defence ministry and IAF strongly deny the move to establish an Indian military base at Ayni. But there is also a quiet sense of satisfaction at the unfolding of the Ayni plan, first conceived in 2002, which will see India break out of its self-imposed strategic constraint that rarely extended beyond its immediate neighbourhood.

Sources say the defence ministry has sought the Cabinet Committee on Security's formal approval to begin operations at the Ayni airbase, renovated and upgraded with India's help at a cost of almost Rs 100 crore.

With the help of engineers from Army and Border Roads Organisation, India has extended and relaid the runway at the airbase, around 15 km from Tajik capital Dushanbe. It has also constructed three aircraft hangars and an air-control tower besides implementing perimeter fencing around the base.

This was done under a three-way agreement among India, Tajikistan and Russia. It has gained momentum since the Ayni airbase — lying largely unused since the mid-1980s — has now become 'fully-ready' for operations after four years of hard work.

India, on its part, wants "military presence" in the area to keep tabs on "any anti-Indian activity" in the terrorism-infested Pakistan-Afghanistan region.

 

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BORDEAUX (FRANCE): With the Indian government set to ask for proposals to upgrade its fleet of Mirage 2000 fighters, French defence and aerospace company Thales will soon enter into a pact with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) to jointly bid for the project, top officials said here.

Thales has also committed itself to a 30 percent offsets clause for the upgrade, unlike some purchases in the past like Russia's Sukhoi-30s and MI-17 choppers in which upgrades were taken as part of the original deal, the officials added.

"I think, things are finally moving forward," said Jean-Paul Perrier, executive vice president for the $17-billion French giant, referring to the government's intention since two years ago to upgrade its fleet of 51 Mirage 2000 fighters.

"We have the full knowledge and the solutions for a low-risk and cost-effective upgrade of Mirage 2000. Thales will also cooperate with Indian and other French industries for the project," Perrier said.

Apart from HAL, other Indian companies that are expected to partner with Thales in the upgrade project include the Department of Aviation Research and Bharat Electronics Ltd that has had a long association with the French company.

The Thales-HAL consortium will include Dassault, which shut down the production line for Mirage 2000s five years ago. Dassault is also in the race to sell 126 multi-role combat aircraft, Renault, to India to replace the MiG-21 fleet.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) had approached Thales in 2005 for upgrading the avionics of Mirage 2000 as also its fleet-operational capability and the air-to-air and the air-to-ground missile superiority for taking on multiple targets.

The upgrade features will include multi-target, multi-mode radar, multi-channel digital video and data recording, mission data processing unit, mass memory, LCD glass cockpit and improved tactical and long-range weapon firing.

"The upgrade will also enhance and extend the weapon stealth and operations with additional capabilities to engage ground targets even while countering airborne threats," said Frederic Andre, director for Thales Mirage retrofit programme.

At present, eight countries, including India, fly Mirage 2000s. They are Egypt, France, Greece, Peru, Qatar, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Of them, France, Greece and the UAE have opted for Thales upgrades.

Officials from Thales and the defence ministry have discussed the finer points of the upgrade to increase the lifespan of the aircraft, which were inducted by the IAF in the 1980s, by around 20-25 years, officials said.

"If we are given the go ahead today, we should be able to retrofit the first set of two aircraft in two years - modified and qualified," Andre said. "Then, based on what the Indian government wants, we can look at two-three aircraft a month."

The aerospace giant has provided avionics and other high-technology systems to most planes flown by the IAF, like the Mirage 2000, SU-30 and MIG-29K, as also for aircraft carrier Gorshkov.

 

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In February 2006, "Israel, India to Cooperate on $350M Long-Range Barak SAM Project" covered a joint Indian-Israeli development agreement to create a new medium shipborne air defense missile, based on the Barak system in service with both navies. In October 2006, "India to Buy Israeli "SPYDER" Mobile Air Defense System" covered India's move to buy mobile, short-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems for its army, based on the Python and Derby missiles in service with its air force and naval aircraft.

MR-SAM is an Rs 10,000 crore (almost $2.5 billion) project to develop a medium range SAM for use with India's land forces. Despite a development timeline measured in decades, India's indigenous "Akash" program remains in the test stage, and has not even begun user trials. By leveraging a foreign partnership as it did with the PJ-10 BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, India hopes to break the logjam and enjoy a similar level of success. With the approval of the MR-SAM joint venture, India is moving to address its critical air defense weaknesses and upgrade "protection of vital and strategic ground assets and area air defence"...The DRDO Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) will be the 'prime developer' for the project which will have a Rs 2,300 crore indigenous component. Israel Aerospace Industries will be the key partner, and will contribute most of the applicable technology, just as Russia did for the BrahMos by offering its SS-N-26 Oniks missile as the base platform. As of its approval by the Cabinet Committee on Security in July 2007, MR-SAM surpasses BrahMos, and may be the largest joint defense development project ever undertaken between India and any other country.

The 4-5 year project aims to provide India's military with 9 advanced air defence squadrons, each with 2 MR-SAM firing units. Each unit, in turn, would consist of a command and control center, an acquisition radar, a guidance radar, and 3 launchers with eight missiles each. The total would therefore be 10 C2 centers, 18 acquisition radars, 18 guidance radars, and 54 launchers armed with 432 missiles ready to fire.

India Defence reports that IAI and its Israeli partners have agreed to transfer all relevant technologies and manufacturing capabilities to India. Indian sources estimate a 4-year, $300 million System Design & Development phase to develop unique system elements and an initial tranche of the land-based missiles.


SA-8
(click to view full)The Times of India adds that:

"The project is crucial because, as highlighted by TOI earlier, there are still "many gaping holes" in India’s radar network and the armed forces only have near-obsolete air defence units like Russian Pechora [DID: upgraded SA-3], OSA-AK [DID: SA-8B, scheduled for interim upgrades], and Igla [DID: SA-16 shoulder-fired] missile systems.

Sources said the MR-SAM project is actually an extension of the ongoing DRDO-Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) project, launched in January 2006 at a cost of $480 million, to develop a supersonic 60-km Barak-NG (new-generation) missile defence system for Navy."

Barak is a supersonic, vertically-launched short range air defense system. It is currently in service with at least India, Israel, Singapore, and Venezuela, and possibly several other countries as well. India has bought over $300 million worth of these missiles as a substitute for the indigenous but long-delayed Trishul ("Trident") missile project, and Barak systems now equip many of the ships in India's Navy. The missile's fast response time, effectiveness against missile threats, and compact size are considerable assets, but they are currently offset somewhat by a range of only 10 km/ 6 miles or so. The Navy's Barak-NG project aimed to give the missiles a much longer reach, with the intention of making it India's primary naval SAM.

India Defence and the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz also reported that MR-SAM would be an extension of work done on the Barak-NG deal, but that is not yet certain. The Indian Express quotes DRDO Chief M Natarajan as saying that: "It is still under discussion. We cannot talk more about it…" Most reports, however, place the desired capabilities at 70 km/ 42 mile range (though India Defence says 150 km/ 90 miles) effective range, with 360 degree coverage and the ability to engage multiple targets simultaneously.

June 2007 saw the formal signing of a memorandum of agreement between Indian defense research authorities and prime contractor Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). A formal add-on development contract is expected by early 2008.

Israel has risen to become one of India's largest defense industry partners, and may be on its way to surpassing Russia as India's largest partner.

 

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India and Israel have agreed to expand their already considerable missile development cooperation with an even longer-range version of their extended-range Barak ship defense system, this time for the Indian Air Force.

Sources from both countries say they expect to sign an add-on development contract by early next year, following last month's conclusion of a memorandum of agreement between Indian defense research authorities and prime contractor Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).

This was reported by 'Deccan Herald'.

The new land-based air defense system will feature a range of 150 kilometers, more than double that of the supersonic, vertically launched Barak-8, or BarakNG (New Generation) now being developed for the Indian Navy.

"We've agreed to extend our ongoing BarakNG project with a longer-range missile capable of performing additional missions and meeting a larger array of threats," one Israeli source said in early July, noting that India's fiscal year ends in March 2008. "We're all looking to sign a contract by the end of the fiscal year."

The program, he said, is "a natural extension" of the approximately $480 million, five-year contract concluded in early 2006 between the Indian Defence Research Development Organization (DRDO) and IAI.

Indian Defence Ministry sources said Israeli partners have agreed to transfer all technologies and manufacturing capabilities relevant to the co-development program. They noted that the new land-based air defense system — a planned replacement for the Indian Air Force's Russian-made Pechora surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) — would provide full hemispheric, 360-degree interception coverage against existing and future threats.

Sources declined to provide projected program costs, but estimated the effort would take about four years and a minimum of $300 million to develop unique system elements and an initial tranche of the land-based missiles.

The Indian Air Force has a requirement for nine advanced air defense squadrons, each of which will feature two SAM units. A typical unit will include an acquisition radar, a guidance radar, a command-and-control center and three launchers with eight missiles apiece.

Yossi Weiss, general manager of IAI's Systems, Missiles and Space Group, said in mid-May the Barak-8 air defense system under development would be "more capable and more sophisticated" than the U.S.-developed Patriot PAC-3. He declined to discuss details of the firm's ongoing cooperation with India, and did not offer any information regarding new longer-range versions of the Barak-based system.

India's top ballistic missile scientist, Vijay Kumar Saraswat, said in December that India was no longer interested in buying the PAC-3, United Press International reported.

Indian defense experts said the new land-based, longer-range Barak system also would benefit the Indian Navy, which is methodically pursuing longer-range capabilities since the 2004 approval of its Blue Water Navy doctrine.

The deal extends arms-manufacturing ties with Israel even as India reaches out to other regional countries such as Iran and Qatar, with which New Delhi recently signed a groundbreaking agreement to codify defense cooperation.

Tactical Defense System

Gurpreet Khurana, a Navy commander and a defense analyst of the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA), a New Delhi think tank, called the long-range Barak a tactical defense system, not a strategic or offensive one.

"A longer-range anti-missile system has become imperative today, with the increased [120-kilometer] range of anti-ship missiles like the Harpoons," Khurana said. "Besides, the missile platforms have a stand-off firing capability -- the P-3C Orion can launch the missile at an Indian Carrier Battle Group, without even entering the air-defense zone. In any case, interception of missiles at longer ranges is necessary, particularly to prevent saturation of air-defense response."

The latest Barak-based co-development project marks the third phase of Indo-Israeli cooperation based on the air defense system by IAI and Israel's Rafael Armament Development Authority. The cooperation began in 2001 with a $270 million deal for the basic Barak ship defense system. Mutual satisfaction with system performance and Israeli willingness to engage in technology transfers led in January 2006 to the 70-kilometer-range BarakNG program.

"This has been a phenomenally successful cooperative program, which has served as a springboard to all kinds of other potential projects," an Israeli industry source said.

He estimated that the three Barak-based missile development efforts combined exceed $1.3 billion.

Indian Defence Ministry sour-ces said scientists from the government's DRDL missile laboratory in Hyderabad are already working in Israel on the BarakNG program.

In a June 29 conference in Hyderabad, Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam praised the growing cooperation between India and Israel, particularly the cooperation with IAI. His guest of honor at the event, hosted by the Aeronautical and Astronautical Societies of India, was Itzhak Nissan, IAI's president and chief executive, who has led Barak and other missile and space cooperative development projects with India for more than a decade.

Noting that IAI is partner "on some of the most advanced projects in the world," Nissan expressed high regard for the scientific and manufacturing capabilities that India contributes to joint development efforts, according to an IAI account of the event, released July 2.

Indo-Israeli defense ties have been on the upswing since 1999, despite the opposition of the Indian leftist parties that helped bring the ruling United Progressive Alliance government to power. Today, Israel trails only Russia in defense exports to India. New Delhi has bought UAVs and electronic warfare systems for MiG aircraft, has received technology for the Barak missile, Phalcon radar for the Indian AWACS program and the advanced Green Pine radar for India's homegrown air defense program, Indian Defence Ministry sources said.

"While it is commonly known that Israel is India's second-largest defense supplier, what is not generally known is the large number of platforms, such as AWACS to fighter aircraft, ships and tanks, on which the Israelis are providing systems support," said defense analyst Rahul Bhonsle, a retired Indian Army brigadier.

"One can even expect a stranglehold of the Israeli defense suppliers unless India works out very detailed and foolproof integrity and sustenance clauses in their agreements," Bhonsle said. "This also implies a strategic long-term relationship as that between Russia and India today."

 

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Are you sure? And you know about DRDO's history?

Joye 2008 is not too far we all will be here and I will happy if I have to eat my words ..

 

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New Delhi, July 19: Navy today said it was not "unduly perturbed" by the delay in delivery of its second aircraft carrier Gorshkov, though Moscow has not officially informed New Delhi of any plans to handover the warship late.

"We came across the reports of delay in the media only. The Russians have not officially informed us of any such plans," Naval chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta said.

"We are awaiting a response from Russia on negotiations on the delivery of the carrier," he told reporters on the sidelines of an international seminar on Naval armaments.

"Whenever we receive the carrier be it 2010, 2011 or 2012, the warship is going to add a new dimensions to the reach and capability of the Indian Navy," Mehta said.

He said in the next few years when the Navy will receive its new indigenous Stealth frigates and guided missile destroyers along with the carrier, the force would, for the first time, have the capability of weaving a 300 nautical- mile security bubble around the seas surrounding the country.

Indian Naval shipyards are presently engaged in manufacture of three Stealth frigates of over 4,000 tonne displacement, the first of which, INS Shivalak, is likely to be delivered tomorrow.

New Delhi is also manufacturing four 6,500 tonne displacement Guided Missile destroyers as a follow to the Delhi Class destroyers.

Mehta also said that efforts were on to arm most of the warships with Indo-Russian supersonic cruise missile Brahmos.

"We have already armed our frontline warships with the missile and are retrofitting others to fit the weapon system", he said.

On the submarine launched version of the missile, he said at present the Navy did not have large subs in which underwater version of the missile could be fitting.

"But we may experiment by installing the missiles on the retrofitted Kilo class submarines or try to carry out the trials on subs of friendly countries", he said.

On the procurement of the Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance

aircraft for the Navy, Mehta said that many foreign producers had responded to India Request for Proposals and currently evaluations were being carried out, which would soon be followed by field trials.

Addressing the seminar at which representatives of global armaments firms, major Indian private sector defence units and officials from defence PSUs were present, the Naval Chief said in the last three years, India had spent as much as USD 10 billion on arms imports and this was expected to reach an astronomical USD 30 billion by 2012.

He said a developing country like India could "ill afford" such expenditure and the nation had to find alternatives in the shape of building indigenous manufacturing base to overcome imports.

 

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BANGALORE: With ground tests and endurance runs well on their way to being successfully completed, Dhruv, the first advanced light helicopter (ALH) powered by ‘Shakti,’ is scheduled to take to the skies on August 1.

The Shakti engine, co-developed by public sector enterprise Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Turbomeca, a SAFRAN group company, under an industrial partnership contract signed in February 2003, is around 20 per cent more powerful than the ALH’s present power plant, the Turbomeca TM 333-2B2.

Shakti’s success is a considerable milestone for the indigenous, twin-engined ALH programme since all helicopters that are to be delivered to the Army and the Air Force will, once the engine gets certified, be fitted with it. The co-developed engine will also help in HAL’s attempts at indigenising the ALH. Currently, the HAL supplies around 11 per cent of the Shakti spares, including those of the lubrication system such as the oil filter and the oil cooling system. Ultimately, around 80 per cent of the engine components, except the Full Authority Digital Engine Control, will be made in India.

The success of the new engine will also bring cheer to HAL, whose ALH programme suffered a couple of setbacks in the recent past. Primarily, the forced landing of an ALH in late 2005 due to a technical hitch with its tail rotor caused by a resin problem, which resulted in all ALHs having to have their tail rotors replaced, and the fatal mishap when a Dhruv from the IAF’s aerobatic team Sarang crashed during practice for February’s Aero India 2007 jamboree.

With the existing four Shakti engines (including two prototypes) having already undergone over 40 hours of ground tests and 10 hours of endurance runs, a set of flight-worthy engines are currently being integrated into the helicopter. Once the flight tests in Bangalore are successful, the engines will have to go through high and hot weather trials in the Siachen glacier. This is expected to take place post-winter. The engines will then be sent to France for CASA certification. The HAL has already started producing the engines.

While the new engine that has been designed to meet the Army and the IAF’s demanding missions at high altitudes and in hot conditions, its first flight was originally scheduled for July 2006, with CASA certification for December 2006. It will be called Shakti in India and Ardiden in France. As per the partnership contract, Turbomeca also has the right to produce the engine. Civil variants of the Dhruv will continue to fly with the tried and trusted TM 333 2B2 engines.

The first Shakti-powered Dhruv will most likely be piloted by HAL’s Chief Test Pilot (Rotary Wing) Wg Cdr (Retd) C.D. Upadhyay. The HAL has so far manufactured around 75 ALHs, and though the defence major has an ambitious plan of rolling out 40 helicopters a year, only around 15 could be made in 2006-07.

 

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19: Indian defence scientists have taken up a new cruise missile development programme. The missile named Nirbhay (The Fearless) is in the same class as the US’s Tomahawk and will have a range that is 300km longer than Pakistan’s Babur.

Nirbhay is India’s seventh missile development project after the Agni series, the Prithvi series, Brahmos (in a joint venture with Russia), Akash, Trishul and Nag. The last three were part of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme founded by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

Nirbhay is being developed alongside Astra, an air-to-air missile designed to hit targets beyond visual range.

A cruise missile can be guided to a target. A ballistic missile is fired at a pre-determined target. Nirbhay will carry onboard a terrain-identification system that will map its course and relay the information to its guidance and propulsion systems.

“Every modern military needs to have missile options. The requirement for Nirbhay was projected by all three armed forces to fill a gap in our missile programme,” Avinash Chander, the director of the Advanced Systems Laboratory, Hyderabad, who is in charge of the project, told The Telegraph in Delhi today.

Nirbhay will be a terrain-hugging missile capable of avoiding detection by ground-based radar. It would have a range of 1,000km.

“We have Brahmos, which is a supersonic cruise missile and the need was felt for a subsonic cruise missile that will be capable of being launched from multiple platforms in land, air and sea,” Chander said.

In the schedule drawn up for Nirbhay, a technology demonstrator is slotted for early 2009. Chander said the design for the system is complete and “hardware preparations are on”. He said Nirbhay would weigh around 1,000kg and travel at 0.7 mach (nearly 840kmph) and would be capable of delivering 24 different types of warheads.

The Pakistani subsonic cruise missile Babur (also called Hatf VII) has ranges of 500 to 700km. The US’s Tomahawk has many versions, the latest of which has ranges in excess of 1,500km.