TEWKSBURY, Mass: The Kuwait Air Defense Forces successfully test fired Raytheon Company's Patriot Air and Missile Defense System against tactical ballistic missiles. The test firings were held last month at the Udairi Range in Kuwait in conjunction with other Kuwait Air Defense and Land Forces elements during a joint exercise.
The test firings used a Kuwait Patriot Configuration-2 Plus fire unit with Guidance Enhanced Missiles as the interceptors, which are operated and maintained by Kuwait Air Defense brigade troops. The Patriot system successfully engaged and destroyed two Patriot-as-a-Target missiles, as well as three foreign Multiple Launch Rocket System-type targets, both configurations emulating tactical ballistic missiles.
The exercise was observed by senior officials from the Kuwaiti and U.S. governments, including Kuwait Armed Forces Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Sheikh Ahmad Al-Khaled Al-Sabah.
"This test firing showcased the lethal capabilities of the combat-proven Patriot Air and Missile Defense System against tactical ballistic missiles, as well as the strong alliance among the Kuwait Air Defense Forces, the U.S. government and Raytheon in maintaining the readiness and effectiveness of Patriot in Kuwait," said Skip Garrett, vice president and deputy for Patriot Programs, Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems (IDS).
"To support our 12 partner nations globally, Patriot continues to add capabilities to counter emerging threats, while providing increased system reliability and reduced life-cycle cost," Garrett said.
Raytheon IDS is the prime contractor for both domestic and international Patriot Air and Missile Defense Systems and system integrator for Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles.
Integrated Defense Systems is Raytheon's leader in Global Capabilities Integration providing affordable, integrated solutions to a broad international and domestic customer base, including the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, the U.S. Armed Forces and the Department of Homeland Security.
Raytheon Company, with 2008 sales of $23.2 billion, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 73,000 people worldwide
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Unmanned aircraft changing Soldiers’ battlefield perspective
WASHINGTON: Soldiers need the tactical advantages their unmanned aircraft systems provide to be integrated into their units, so they aren't forced to endure lengthy approval chains that can cost lives, according to UAS experts.
"Most of the living and dying is going on in squad, platoon and company level in this fight. So you have to give those Soldiers what they need, when they need it. And they need it all the time," said Glenn A. Rizzi, deputy director and senior technical advisor of the United States Army Unmanned Aircraft Systems Center of Excellence at Fort Rucker, Ala.
Rizzi spoke during the Association of the United States Army's Institute of Land Warfare Army Aviation Symposium and Exposition, Jan. 5-7 in Arlington, Va. He said approval chains for unmanned aerial vehicle support can be lengthy, taking time that tactical units on the ground and in the fight cannot afford.
"They don't have time, when they need UAS support, to ... carry it up to the Joint Force Air Component Commander, ask for a Predator, and then have it go through that decision loop and then have it repositioned," Rizzi said. "They need it there, and they need it there 24/7."
What Soldiers need, Rizzi said, is UAS support that is built into their combat units -- unmanned aerial systems owned by the Army, flown by the Army, to provide support to the Army's ground units -- who are actually in the fight -- when they need it.
"You need organic systems," he said.
Sgt. Michael Arons serves as an instructor with the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Training Battalion at Fort Huachuca, Ariz. He served with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, with the Shadow platoon in Iraq from 2005-2006. He also served in Afghanistan in 2008. His experience there with a then non-weaponized MQ-1C Warrior illustrates the need for the Army to keep control of UAS aviation close to where the Soldiers are.
"We were flying down (main supply route) 1, Ohio, in Afghanistan, just doing a route scan, and we see three guys emplacing IEDs," Arons said. "Had we not been there, who would have know what could have happened -- an MRAP (could have) run by there and get blown up. People's lives are at stake."
Arons' team called in air support -- an F-15 Eagle dropped a bomb there -- but two of the three enemy escaped and Arons was able to follow them -- track them -- using the MQ-1C.
"We followed those two guys," he said. "And we have two different lasers on our payload. We have a designator -- we illuminated the house these guys ran to."
Ultimately, Soldiers were able to enter that house and find what was there -- a large weapons cache.
"Had we not been there, all these weapons would have been used against U.S. forces -- against allied forces," Arons said.
Col. Christopher Carlile, director, United States Army Unmanned Aircraft Systems Center of Excellence, said Army UASs have flown some 1 million combat hours during the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Army is now training some 2,000 UAS operators, maintainers and instructor pilots a year. He said similar UAS success stories reported in the news, like that of Arons, are often the result of Army unmanned aviation.
"When you see an article that's written, that says X, Y and Z were executed by drones ... understand that you are more than likely, in upwards of 80 percent of those cases, dealing with Army UAS doing those," Carlile said.
The colonel said Army UAS aviation is changing the way the Army does business.
"The way that infantryman, up until now, found out what was on the back side of that building was when he had fire coming from it," Carlile said. Now, systems like the Raven give Soldiers the ability to see where they couldn't see before.
"They could take that and fly it and put it up above and see if there was an ambush on the other side of the street, in real time," he said. "This has truly revolutionized the way we fight warfare at the tactical level."
Sgt. 1st Class Brian Miller now serves with the Directorate of Evaluation and Standardization, at Fort Rucker, Ala. He's deployed as an infantryman in Afghanistan, to Kosovo, and twice with unmanned aircraft systems in support of special operations forces.
Miller says he sees the need for organic Army UAS because it can save time for Soldiers and because UAS support can work round-the-clock, without tiring. In Afghanistan, for instance, Soldiers are placing ground sensors to cover areas where they can't patrol on foot -- because the landscape is larger than the number of boots-on-ground can support. Response time to a sensor hit can be shortened with a UAS.
"If I get a hit on the sensor, it's a lot for me to spin up an aircraft crew and get them to go out there and fly their Blackhawk or Chinook or Apache out there and see what's going on," Miller said. "But I've already got a UAS up -- some for 24 hours. A lot of stuff for us is what we call a swing of the camera. I can see about a 10 kilometer range in all areas. I don't have a perfect view at 10 kilometers, but I have enough that I can see what it is and start working my way over to that area of operations."
Providing quick UAS support to Soldiers, with both weaponized and un-weaponized systems, is critical, Carlile said, because organic UAS is about supporting the Soldier.
"Their whole intent is to support the guys they eat dinner with every night," Carlile said. "The ones they sleep in the same tactical assembly area with."
While UAS support can come from outside -- sometimes from the other side of the world -- having in-house, organic UAS support, flown by Soldiers actually involved in the fight, is best, said Rizzi.
"Through planning, through after action review, they know the commander's intent, they fly that ground every day," Rizzi said. "They understand the subtle intricacies of daily life, they know how the fight changes over time very subtly, and so they are most effective."
"You cannot have the same situational awareness 8,000 miles away," Carlile said. "It just does not exist."
"Most of the living and dying is going on in squad, platoon and company level in this fight. So you have to give those Soldiers what they need, when they need it. And they need it all the time," said Glenn A. Rizzi, deputy director and senior technical advisor of the United States Army Unmanned Aircraft Systems Center of Excellence at Fort Rucker, Ala.
Rizzi spoke during the Association of the United States Army's Institute of Land Warfare Army Aviation Symposium and Exposition, Jan. 5-7 in Arlington, Va. He said approval chains for unmanned aerial vehicle support can be lengthy, taking time that tactical units on the ground and in the fight cannot afford.
"They don't have time, when they need UAS support, to ... carry it up to the Joint Force Air Component Commander, ask for a Predator, and then have it go through that decision loop and then have it repositioned," Rizzi said. "They need it there, and they need it there 24/7."
What Soldiers need, Rizzi said, is UAS support that is built into their combat units -- unmanned aerial systems owned by the Army, flown by the Army, to provide support to the Army's ground units -- who are actually in the fight -- when they need it.
"You need organic systems," he said.
Sgt. Michael Arons serves as an instructor with the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Training Battalion at Fort Huachuca, Ariz. He served with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, with the Shadow platoon in Iraq from 2005-2006. He also served in Afghanistan in 2008. His experience there with a then non-weaponized MQ-1C Warrior illustrates the need for the Army to keep control of UAS aviation close to where the Soldiers are.
"We were flying down (main supply route) 1, Ohio, in Afghanistan, just doing a route scan, and we see three guys emplacing IEDs," Arons said. "Had we not been there, who would have know what could have happened -- an MRAP (could have) run by there and get blown up. People's lives are at stake."
Arons' team called in air support -- an F-15 Eagle dropped a bomb there -- but two of the three enemy escaped and Arons was able to follow them -- track them -- using the MQ-1C.
"We followed those two guys," he said. "And we have two different lasers on our payload. We have a designator -- we illuminated the house these guys ran to."
Ultimately, Soldiers were able to enter that house and find what was there -- a large weapons cache.
"Had we not been there, all these weapons would have been used against U.S. forces -- against allied forces," Arons said.
Col. Christopher Carlile, director, United States Army Unmanned Aircraft Systems Center of Excellence, said Army UASs have flown some 1 million combat hours during the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Army is now training some 2,000 UAS operators, maintainers and instructor pilots a year. He said similar UAS success stories reported in the news, like that of Arons, are often the result of Army unmanned aviation.
"When you see an article that's written, that says X, Y and Z were executed by drones ... understand that you are more than likely, in upwards of 80 percent of those cases, dealing with Army UAS doing those," Carlile said.
The colonel said Army UAS aviation is changing the way the Army does business.
"The way that infantryman, up until now, found out what was on the back side of that building was when he had fire coming from it," Carlile said. Now, systems like the Raven give Soldiers the ability to see where they couldn't see before.
"They could take that and fly it and put it up above and see if there was an ambush on the other side of the street, in real time," he said. "This has truly revolutionized the way we fight warfare at the tactical level."
Sgt. 1st Class Brian Miller now serves with the Directorate of Evaluation and Standardization, at Fort Rucker, Ala. He's deployed as an infantryman in Afghanistan, to Kosovo, and twice with unmanned aircraft systems in support of special operations forces.
Miller says he sees the need for organic Army UAS because it can save time for Soldiers and because UAS support can work round-the-clock, without tiring. In Afghanistan, for instance, Soldiers are placing ground sensors to cover areas where they can't patrol on foot -- because the landscape is larger than the number of boots-on-ground can support. Response time to a sensor hit can be shortened with a UAS.
"If I get a hit on the sensor, it's a lot for me to spin up an aircraft crew and get them to go out there and fly their Blackhawk or Chinook or Apache out there and see what's going on," Miller said. "But I've already got a UAS up -- some for 24 hours. A lot of stuff for us is what we call a swing of the camera. I can see about a 10 kilometer range in all areas. I don't have a perfect view at 10 kilometers, but I have enough that I can see what it is and start working my way over to that area of operations."
Providing quick UAS support to Soldiers, with both weaponized and un-weaponized systems, is critical, Carlile said, because organic UAS is about supporting the Soldier.
"Their whole intent is to support the guys they eat dinner with every night," Carlile said. "The ones they sleep in the same tactical assembly area with."
While UAS support can come from outside -- sometimes from the other side of the world -- having in-house, organic UAS support, flown by Soldiers actually involved in the fight, is best, said Rizzi.
"Through planning, through after action review, they know the commander's intent, they fly that ground every day," Rizzi said. "They understand the subtle intricacies of daily life, they know how the fight changes over time very subtly, and so they are most effective."
"You cannot have the same situational awareness 8,000 miles away," Carlile said. "It just does not exist."
China Says Missile Interception Test Successful
China says it has successfully carried out a test of military technology to shoot down missiles in mid-air. The news comes in the wake of tensions between Beijing and Washington because of American missile sales to Taiwan, an island China considers part of its territory.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu Tuesday told reporters her country's test of emerging military technology was successful.
Jiang says Monday's test of "ground-based, mid-course missile intercepting technology" had what she describes as "the expected result."
There have been few details about the test.
But the Chinese spokeswoman says it has not left any debris in space orbit and does not constitute a threat to the security of other spacecraft.
She emphasizes that the anti-missile test is in line with what she calls China's path of peaceful development and is not targeted at any country.
Jiang says China has what she describes as a "defensive international defense policy." She says China is stepping-up its defense modernization in the interest of national security, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The apparently successful test came soon after the United States cleared a sale of advanced missiles to Taiwan, despite strong opposition from Beijing.
China curtailed military-to-military contacts with the United States in 2008, after then President George W. Bush announced plans to sell Taiwan a long-delayed arms package.
China has claimed sovereignty of self-governed Taiwan since 1949, when the Nationalists fled to the island after losing a civil war to the Chinese Communists. Beijing has vowed to bring Taiwan back under its rule, by force, if necessary.
In recent years, China has arrayed hundreds of missiles along the Chinese coast, all pointed at Taiwan.
The United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979. But Washington remains Taiwan's biggest military backer and has said it will help the island defend itself
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu Tuesday told reporters her country's test of emerging military technology was successful.
Jiang says Monday's test of "ground-based, mid-course missile intercepting technology" had what she describes as "the expected result."
There have been few details about the test.
But the Chinese spokeswoman says it has not left any debris in space orbit and does not constitute a threat to the security of other spacecraft.
She emphasizes that the anti-missile test is in line with what she calls China's path of peaceful development and is not targeted at any country.
Jiang says China has what she describes as a "defensive international defense policy." She says China is stepping-up its defense modernization in the interest of national security, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The apparently successful test came soon after the United States cleared a sale of advanced missiles to Taiwan, despite strong opposition from Beijing.
China curtailed military-to-military contacts with the United States in 2008, after then President George W. Bush announced plans to sell Taiwan a long-delayed arms package.
China has claimed sovereignty of self-governed Taiwan since 1949, when the Nationalists fled to the island after losing a civil war to the Chinese Communists. Beijing has vowed to bring Taiwan back under its rule, by force, if necessary.
In recent years, China has arrayed hundreds of missiles along the Chinese coast, all pointed at Taiwan.
The United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979. But Washington remains Taiwan's biggest military backer and has said it will help the island defend itself
ISRO to launch rockets to study solar eclipse
CHENNAI: The Indian space agency will launch a series of rockets from its two centres between Thursday and Sunday to study Friday's solar eclipse
and its aftereffects.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is getting ready to send up a series of sounding rockets - rockets carrying instruments to measure the physical parameters of the upper atmosphere - from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh and Thumba in Kerala to study the effects of the solar eclipse.
The solar eclipse Friday will be for a duration of 11.8 minutes. The sounding rockets will be fired before and after.
"On January 15 and 17, Rohini 560 (RH 560) sounding rockets will be launched in a parabolic flight path to measure various atmospheric and ionospheric parameters connected with the solar eclipse," Satish Dhawan Space Centre Associate Director M Y S Prasad told IANS from Sriharikota.
The nine-metre RH 560 rockets weigh 1.5 tonnes and carry a 100-kg payload of instruments each. The two-stage rocket will take the instruments 500 km above the earth's surface.
From Sriharikota, there will be one launch each on Friday and Sunday.
Most of the rockets will be launched from ISRO's Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) in Kerala.
According to ISRO officials, four rockets will be launched on Thursday from TERLS and five Friday.
The rockets fired from TERLS are smaller than RH 560. They will reach 75 to 120 km above the earth.
A similar coordinated experiment was conducted in 1980 and since then ISRO has set up several facilities to study the data.
and its aftereffects.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is getting ready to send up a series of sounding rockets - rockets carrying instruments to measure the physical parameters of the upper atmosphere - from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh and Thumba in Kerala to study the effects of the solar eclipse.
The solar eclipse Friday will be for a duration of 11.8 minutes. The sounding rockets will be fired before and after.
"On January 15 and 17, Rohini 560 (RH 560) sounding rockets will be launched in a parabolic flight path to measure various atmospheric and ionospheric parameters connected with the solar eclipse," Satish Dhawan Space Centre Associate Director M Y S Prasad told IANS from Sriharikota.
The nine-metre RH 560 rockets weigh 1.5 tonnes and carry a 100-kg payload of instruments each. The two-stage rocket will take the instruments 500 km above the earth's surface.
From Sriharikota, there will be one launch each on Friday and Sunday.
Most of the rockets will be launched from ISRO's Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) in Kerala.
According to ISRO officials, four rockets will be launched on Thursday from TERLS and five Friday.
The rockets fired from TERLS are smaller than RH 560. They will reach 75 to 120 km above the earth.
A similar coordinated experiment was conducted in 1980 and since then ISRO has set up several facilities to study the data.
India poised to become major defence sourcing hub: Study
NEW DELHI: The government should establish a dedicated defence-specific Special Economic Zone, apart from tax equalisation subsidy, as fiscal
regime played a critical role in the defence market growth, an industry study on Wednesday said.
It also sought exemption from Research and Development Cess for joint ventures implementing the offset obligations under the Defence Procurement Procedure introduced a couple of years ago to energise the defence market.
"The government is urged to consider the establishment of dedicated defence-specific SEZs, establishment of a tax equalisation subsidy linked to value of goods and services supplied to the defence sector, and exemptions to offset JVs from R&D Cess," a joint study by industry association CII and audit and advisory firm KPMG released here said.
"The fiscal regime plays a critical role in any defence market in creating an environment that incentivises and supports the long term risk taking, investment and R&D required by the industry," the report said, adding the general view of global defence industry was that India currently has a comparatively aggressive and complex tax regime.
It said with skilled intensive manufacturing capabilities and a world class IT base, India had the "right ingredients to become a key link in the global defence supply chain.
Welcoming the changes made in the DPP-2009 that provided for direct Indian industry participation in Defence tenders on par with PSUs, the study also sought new initiatives such as improving visibility of government defence order book, increasing industry output and feedback into the tender process and reduction in bidders' costs.
It, however, noted that the defence procurement policy (DPP) had evolved significantly since its first edition in 2002.
"For India to realise its objectives of building a military capability it requires, the government needs to develop a comprehensive industrialisation strategy for defence," it said noting that the country currently procured about 70 per cent of the armed forces' needs from abroad.
"But India aims to reverse this balance and manufacture 70 per cent or more of its defence equipment in India," it added.
"There is strong support (within industry) for extending the use of offset credit banking, allowing offset credit trading, and introducing the use of multipliers," it said.
The DPP stipulated that any deal for defence equipment with foreign suppliers worth over Rs 300 crore would attract the offset clause under which about 30 per cent to 50 per cent of the contract costs would have to be ploughed back into Indian defence industry.
On Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) cap of 26 per cent, the study said though the opinion was divided on increasing the FDI limit due to security considerations, there was clear expectation from the industry that it would be hiked from the present level.
regime played a critical role in the defence market growth, an industry study on Wednesday said.
It also sought exemption from Research and Development Cess for joint ventures implementing the offset obligations under the Defence Procurement Procedure introduced a couple of years ago to energise the defence market.
"The government is urged to consider the establishment of dedicated defence-specific SEZs, establishment of a tax equalisation subsidy linked to value of goods and services supplied to the defence sector, and exemptions to offset JVs from R&D Cess," a joint study by industry association CII and audit and advisory firm KPMG released here said.
"The fiscal regime plays a critical role in any defence market in creating an environment that incentivises and supports the long term risk taking, investment and R&D required by the industry," the report said, adding the general view of global defence industry was that India currently has a comparatively aggressive and complex tax regime.
It said with skilled intensive manufacturing capabilities and a world class IT base, India had the "right ingredients to become a key link in the global defence supply chain.
Welcoming the changes made in the DPP-2009 that provided for direct Indian industry participation in Defence tenders on par with PSUs, the study also sought new initiatives such as improving visibility of government defence order book, increasing industry output and feedback into the tender process and reduction in bidders' costs.
It, however, noted that the defence procurement policy (DPP) had evolved significantly since its first edition in 2002.
"For India to realise its objectives of building a military capability it requires, the government needs to develop a comprehensive industrialisation strategy for defence," it said noting that the country currently procured about 70 per cent of the armed forces' needs from abroad.
"But India aims to reverse this balance and manufacture 70 per cent or more of its defence equipment in India," it added.
"There is strong support (within industry) for extending the use of offset credit banking, allowing offset credit trading, and introducing the use of multipliers," it said.
The DPP stipulated that any deal for defence equipment with foreign suppliers worth over Rs 300 crore would attract the offset clause under which about 30 per cent to 50 per cent of the contract costs would have to be ploughed back into Indian defence industry.
On Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) cap of 26 per cent, the study said though the opinion was divided on increasing the FDI limit due to security considerations, there was clear expectation from the industry that it would be hiked from the present level.
100 new helipads proposed for India's northeast
NEW DELHI: The paramilitary Assam Rifles proposes to construct over 100 helipads in India's northeastern states for quick mobilization of its troopers along the 1,600-km Myanmar border even as it plans to raise 26 battalions to add to the existing 46.
"We have proposed the construction of over 100 helipads to the ministry of home affairs. These helipads would be constructed all over the northeastern states and help in quick mobilisation of troopers, dealing with medical emergencies and supplying rations," the Assam Rifles chief, Lt. General KS Yadava, said.
"We hope this proposal would be cleared by year-end. These helipads would be built along the India-Myanmar border because the terrain is very vast and difficult. It takes days to cover even a few kilometers. It would be to largely support the 26 additional battalions which we will be raising in the next 10 years for deployment along the 1,600- km India-Myanmar border," Yadava added.
He said three to four battalions would be raised every year. Infrastructure like roads will also be developed.
Noting that the helipads would be independent of those operated in the northeast by the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force, Yadava discounted suggestions that their construction was linked to countering the perceived threat from China.
"It has nothing to do with China. We are having it to reach our men sitting far out along the Myanmar border," he said.
Yadava said for transporting its troopers in helicopters, the Assam Rifles would seek the help of the paramilitary Border Security Force (BSF), which has an aviation wing and is the nodal organisation for providing aircraft and choppers to the other central paramilitary forces.
"At present, we do not feel the need of having our own choppers. We will think about it if the need arises in the future," he added.
Headquartered in Meghalaya capital Shillong, the Assam Rifles is deployed only in the northeast. It traces its roots to the Cachar Levy that was established by the British in 1835 to protect settlements against tribal raids and other assaults as British rule slowly moved towards the northeastern parts of India.
At present, the force has 46 battalions comprising 65,000 men. Fifteen battalions are deployed along the border and the rest are reserved for counter- insurgency operations.
The Assam Rifles is the only paramilitary force that relies solely on the Indian Army for its officer cadre. The other such forces have their own officer cadres and also take officers on deputation from the army and the Indian Police Service (IPS).
"We have proposed the construction of over 100 helipads to the ministry of home affairs. These helipads would be constructed all over the northeastern states and help in quick mobilisation of troopers, dealing with medical emergencies and supplying rations," the Assam Rifles chief, Lt. General KS Yadava, said.
"We hope this proposal would be cleared by year-end. These helipads would be built along the India-Myanmar border because the terrain is very vast and difficult. It takes days to cover even a few kilometers. It would be to largely support the 26 additional battalions which we will be raising in the next 10 years for deployment along the 1,600- km India-Myanmar border," Yadava added.
He said three to four battalions would be raised every year. Infrastructure like roads will also be developed.
Noting that the helipads would be independent of those operated in the northeast by the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force, Yadava discounted suggestions that their construction was linked to countering the perceived threat from China.
"It has nothing to do with China. We are having it to reach our men sitting far out along the Myanmar border," he said.
Yadava said for transporting its troopers in helicopters, the Assam Rifles would seek the help of the paramilitary Border Security Force (BSF), which has an aviation wing and is the nodal organisation for providing aircraft and choppers to the other central paramilitary forces.
"At present, we do not feel the need of having our own choppers. We will think about it if the need arises in the future," he added.
Headquartered in Meghalaya capital Shillong, the Assam Rifles is deployed only in the northeast. It traces its roots to the Cachar Levy that was established by the British in 1835 to protect settlements against tribal raids and other assaults as British rule slowly moved towards the northeastern parts of India.
At present, the force has 46 battalions comprising 65,000 men. Fifteen battalions are deployed along the border and the rest are reserved for counter- insurgency operations.
The Assam Rifles is the only paramilitary force that relies solely on the Indian Army for its officer cadre. The other such forces have their own officer cadres and also take officers on deputation from the army and the Indian Police Service (IPS).
Half of India's defence equipment outdated: Report
NEW DELHI: At least half of the country's defence equipment is obsolete and needs urgent upgrade, a report said on Wednesday, underlining gaps in
its defence preparedness in a region roiled by Islamist militancy and military rivalries.
Only 15 per cent of India's equipment is "state of the art", according to the first comprehensive report on the country's defence sector prepared by global consultancy firm KPMG and the Confederation of Indian Industry.
New Delhi changed its defence procurement policy last year to further open its defence sector to the world and local companies after the Mumbai attacks in November 2008, in which 166 people were killed.
The attack revealed glaring holes in the country's security system.
The new report, released by Defence Minister A K Antony, says the country will have to focus on improving homeland security after the Mumbai attacks and the government needs to support private firms in manufacturing equipment locally.
The government says it is keen to upgrade its largely Soviet-era arsenal to counter potential threats from Pakistan and China with a series of acquisitions and by phasing out old weapons.
The country has lost nearly 200 Russian-made MiG series aircraft in crashes since 1990, blamed by the air force on manufacturing defects.
The country wants to increase its air force squadrons from 34 (612 fighters) to 42 (756 fighters) by 2020 with modern aircraft. The army also needs new weapons urgently, the report said.
Bofors Howitzers were the last major acquisition made by the Army way back in 1986, it said.
"The Kargil conflict of 1999 (with Pakistan-based militants in Kashmir) highlighted the shortcomings of equipment held by the armed forces, highlighting the need to modernise the equipment portfolio," the report says.
Since early 2000, India began to buy weapons from other countries like Israel and the United States to replace Russian-origin defence equipment and is now speeding up deals.
India is currently the 10th largest defence spender in the world with an estimated 2 per cent share of global expenditure.
The United States, Britain, China, France and Japan are the leaders in global defence spending, each accounting for 3-5 per cent of total global expenditure.
Last August, the country started field trials to buy 126 multi-role fighter jets, defence officials said, moving forward on a $10.4 billion deal, one of the the biggest in play.
India is also seeking heavy lift helicopters, submarines, ships and artillery for its army, valued at millions of dollars, the KPMG report says.
All deals are part of a $100 billion budgetary provision over the next 10 years, Indian officials say.
its defence preparedness in a region roiled by Islamist militancy and military rivalries.
Only 15 per cent of India's equipment is "state of the art", according to the first comprehensive report on the country's defence sector prepared by global consultancy firm KPMG and the Confederation of Indian Industry.
New Delhi changed its defence procurement policy last year to further open its defence sector to the world and local companies after the Mumbai attacks in November 2008, in which 166 people were killed.
The attack revealed glaring holes in the country's security system.
The new report, released by Defence Minister A K Antony, says the country will have to focus on improving homeland security after the Mumbai attacks and the government needs to support private firms in manufacturing equipment locally.
The government says it is keen to upgrade its largely Soviet-era arsenal to counter potential threats from Pakistan and China with a series of acquisitions and by phasing out old weapons.
The country has lost nearly 200 Russian-made MiG series aircraft in crashes since 1990, blamed by the air force on manufacturing defects.
The country wants to increase its air force squadrons from 34 (612 fighters) to 42 (756 fighters) by 2020 with modern aircraft. The army also needs new weapons urgently, the report said.
Bofors Howitzers were the last major acquisition made by the Army way back in 1986, it said.
"The Kargil conflict of 1999 (with Pakistan-based militants in Kashmir) highlighted the shortcomings of equipment held by the armed forces, highlighting the need to modernise the equipment portfolio," the report says.
Since early 2000, India began to buy weapons from other countries like Israel and the United States to replace Russian-origin defence equipment and is now speeding up deals.
India is currently the 10th largest defence spender in the world with an estimated 2 per cent share of global expenditure.
The United States, Britain, China, France and Japan are the leaders in global defence spending, each accounting for 3-5 per cent of total global expenditure.
Last August, the country started field trials to buy 126 multi-role fighter jets, defence officials said, moving forward on a $10.4 billion deal, one of the the biggest in play.
India is also seeking heavy lift helicopters, submarines, ships and artillery for its army, valued at millions of dollars, the KPMG report says.
All deals are part of a $100 billion budgetary provision over the next 10 years, Indian officials say.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Russia to float out last 2 frigates for Indian Navy by yearend
A Russian shipyard will float out the last two of three frigates for India’s Navy by the end of the year, a Yantar spokesman said on Monday.
The first of three Project 11356 frigates was taken out of dry dock at the end of November.
The warships will become modified Krivak III class (also known as Talwar class) guided missile frigates for the Indian Navy under a $1.6 billion contract signed in July 2006.
Indian President Pratibha Patil has named the new ships the Teg (Hindi for Saber), the Tarkash (Quiver), and the Trikand (Bow).
The new frigates will be armed with eight BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles.
They will be also equipped with a 100-mm gun, a Shtil surface-to-air missile system, two Kashtan air-defense gun/missile systems, two twin 533-mm torpedo launchers, and an anti-submarine warfare helicopter.
In an interview with RIA Novosti last year, Yantar director Igor Orlov said the shipyard was in talks with Russia’s Vnesheconombank on “a $60 million loan to complete the construction of the three frigates for the Indian Navy.”
Russia has previously built three Talwar-class frigates for India – INS Talwar (Sword), INS Trishul (Trident), and INS Tabar (Axe).
The first of three Project 11356 frigates was taken out of dry dock at the end of November.
The warships will become modified Krivak III class (also known as Talwar class) guided missile frigates for the Indian Navy under a $1.6 billion contract signed in July 2006.
Indian President Pratibha Patil has named the new ships the Teg (Hindi for Saber), the Tarkash (Quiver), and the Trikand (Bow).
The new frigates will be armed with eight BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles.
They will be also equipped with a 100-mm gun, a Shtil surface-to-air missile system, two Kashtan air-defense gun/missile systems, two twin 533-mm torpedo launchers, and an anti-submarine warfare helicopter.
In an interview with RIA Novosti last year, Yantar director Igor Orlov said the shipyard was in talks with Russia’s Vnesheconombank on “a $60 million loan to complete the construction of the three frigates for the Indian Navy.”
Russia has previously built three Talwar-class frigates for India – INS Talwar (Sword), INS Trishul (Trident), and INS Tabar (Axe).
Refueler tender cancellation will delay plans: Naik
New Delhi, Jan 12 (PTI) IAF chief Air Chief Marshal P V Naik today said the Air Force's plans to buy six air-to-air refuelers will be "delayed" with the government cancelling the tenders recently, as it would have to go through the procurement process once again.
"I am not talking about strategic reach, but we need more refuelers, which will be delayed now. We will have to restart the action now," Naik told reporters when asked if the IAF's strategic reach might be adversely impacted by the withdrawal of the tenders.
The Defence Ministry has last week cancelled the tenders worth Rs 6,000 crore after Finance Ministry objected to the price of the Airbus A330 multi-role transport tanker (MRTT) aircraft that the IAF had chosen to buy after a two-year procurement process, in a major setback to its plans to expand its long reach capabilities.
"I am not talking about strategic reach, but we need more refuelers, which will be delayed now. We will have to restart the action now," Naik told reporters when asked if the IAF's strategic reach might be adversely impacted by the withdrawal of the tenders.
The Defence Ministry has last week cancelled the tenders worth Rs 6,000 crore after Finance Ministry objected to the price of the Airbus A330 multi-role transport tanker (MRTT) aircraft that the IAF had chosen to buy after a two-year procurement process, in a major setback to its plans to expand its long reach capabilities.
Russia to lease nuclear submarine to India
By Bappa Majumdar and Dmitry Solovyov
NEW DELHI/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will lease to India in 2010 its new Nerpa nuclear-powered submarine, Russian defence officials and Indian naval officers said on Tuesday.
The Russian military had previously denied media reports the Nerpa, in which 20 people died during testing in the Sea of Japan in November 2008, was to go to India.
"The lease of the Nerpa nuclear submarine to India for 10 years... will take place this summer or autumn," an unidentified Russian Defence Ministry official told Russian Itar-Tass newsagency.
The deal was confirmed by Indian officers.
"We will soon receive the submarine from Russia," a senior Indian navy officer, who declined to be named, told Reuters.
"We are very keen to get the Nerpa as soon as possible as it will add further teeth to the navy's growing strength," a defence ministry official said.
There was no information as to the cost of the deal.
India last July unveiled its first nuclear-powered submarine capable of firing ballistic missiles. However, the Arihant, the first of two similar Indian submarines that are to be built with technical help from Russia, will not be operationally active before 2015, defence officials said
The country already has aircraft and missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
The Nerpa is the latest of a class of attack submarines codenamed "Akula" by NATO which are armed with conventional torpedoes and cruise missiles. The Nerpa was laid down in 1993 but was only launched and started sea trials in 2008 due to the piecemeal funding of its construction.
A senior Defence Ministry spokesman told Reuters the Nerpa had been accepted by Russia's navy at the end of last year but added: "More trials are set for February to eliminate the drawbacks uncovered by navy experts during earlier tests."
In November 2008 the Nerpa was on sea trials when its fire extinguishing system went off unexpectedly. Twenty people died after inhaling the toxic gas used as a fire suppressant. The accident was the deadliest to hit Russia's navy since 2000, when the Kursk nuclear submarine exploded beneath the Barents Sea in 2000, killing all 118 sailors on board.
Itar-Tass said the submarine would be handed over to an Indian crew in the port of Vladivostok, Russia's military base and the main gateway to the Pacific.
Russia, India's close economic and political partner since Soviet days, is one of the world's major arms exporters. It has a fleet of nuclear-powered but conventionally armed submarines alongside its strategic nuclear-armed vessels, which are not sold abroad.
(Editing by Matthew Jones)
NEW DELHI/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will lease to India in 2010 its new Nerpa nuclear-powered submarine, Russian defence officials and Indian naval officers said on Tuesday.
The Russian military had previously denied media reports the Nerpa, in which 20 people died during testing in the Sea of Japan in November 2008, was to go to India.
"The lease of the Nerpa nuclear submarine to India for 10 years... will take place this summer or autumn," an unidentified Russian Defence Ministry official told Russian Itar-Tass newsagency.
The deal was confirmed by Indian officers.
"We will soon receive the submarine from Russia," a senior Indian navy officer, who declined to be named, told Reuters.
"We are very keen to get the Nerpa as soon as possible as it will add further teeth to the navy's growing strength," a defence ministry official said.
There was no information as to the cost of the deal.
India last July unveiled its first nuclear-powered submarine capable of firing ballistic missiles. However, the Arihant, the first of two similar Indian submarines that are to be built with technical help from Russia, will not be operationally active before 2015, defence officials said
The country already has aircraft and missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
The Nerpa is the latest of a class of attack submarines codenamed "Akula" by NATO which are armed with conventional torpedoes and cruise missiles. The Nerpa was laid down in 1993 but was only launched and started sea trials in 2008 due to the piecemeal funding of its construction.
A senior Defence Ministry spokesman told Reuters the Nerpa had been accepted by Russia's navy at the end of last year but added: "More trials are set for February to eliminate the drawbacks uncovered by navy experts during earlier tests."
In November 2008 the Nerpa was on sea trials when its fire extinguishing system went off unexpectedly. Twenty people died after inhaling the toxic gas used as a fire suppressant. The accident was the deadliest to hit Russia's navy since 2000, when the Kursk nuclear submarine exploded beneath the Barents Sea in 2000, killing all 118 sailors on board.
Itar-Tass said the submarine would be handed over to an Indian crew in the port of Vladivostok, Russia's military base and the main gateway to the Pacific.
Russia, India's close economic and political partner since Soviet days, is one of the world's major arms exporters. It has a fleet of nuclear-powered but conventionally armed submarines alongside its strategic nuclear-armed vessels, which are not sold abroad.
(Editing by Matthew Jones)
US offers its latest fighter to India
New Delhi, Jan 12 (IANS) The US has offered to India yet another sophisticated defence system, this time its fifth generation F-35 Lightning-II fighter aircraft.
The “possible sale” of this aircraft, which is still under development, was mentioned in the past “if the Indian Air Force (IAF) purchased the F 16 Super Viper for its Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (M-MRCA) requirement.”
But according to a report in the coming issue of India Strategic defence magazine, Lockheed Martin, which manufactures these both aircraft, has now made a presentation without this condition to the Indian Navy for its carrier-borne aircraft requirements in about seven to eight years from now.
India Strategic quoted Orville Prins, Lockheed Martin’s vice president for business development, as saying that the presentation was made after a Request for Information (RFI) for newer generation of aircraft was received from the Indian Navy recently.
Prins pointed out though the company had been authorized by the US Department of Defense (DOD) to make the presentation, its sale could be done only after a bilateral agreement between Washington and New Delhi.
Arms and weapon systems are developed by private companies in the US with government funding, but the DoD controls their sales. Foreign military sales are undertaken after clearance from the Department of State.
The US is steadily emerging as a new supplier of sophisticated arms to India, which urgently needs to replace and augment its mostly outdated Soviet-vintage systems with the high technology weapons of the 21st century.
Only last month, India placed Letters of Request (LoRs), or firm orders, for 10 long-range strategic lift transport Boeing C 17 Globemaster III aircraft for the IAF and 145 Bofors ultra-light M 777 howitzers for mountain operations by the Indian Army.
Originally a Swedish company, Bofors was sold in 2000 to the US United Defense, and later to the US arm of BAE Systems. The Indian army is badly in need of various types of artillery guns and its acquisition process has been mired in one problem or another for years now.
According to Air Marshal Ashok Goel (Retd), India has less than 20 IL 76 heavy lift transport aircraft, and although they have served the IAF well, they would need to be replaced in about ten years or so. In April 2010, the IL squadrons with the IAF will mark their 25 years.
Prins said that Lockheed Martin was also offering the “the world’s most advanced ship-borne anti-missile system, Aegis, to India” and that presentation on this had also been made to the Indian Navy.
Apparently as a technology demonstration, the US had used the Aegis system to shoot down a satellite in February 2008 by firing a Raytheon SM-2 missile.
India has already acquired 12 artillery Weapon Locating Radars (WLRs) from Raytheon under a 2002 deal, which was actually the first arms transfer to India by the US after its embargos following India’s 1974 and 1998 nuclear tests.
In 2008, IAF placed orders for six Lockheed Martin C 130J Special Operations aircraft, with an option for six more along with training and infrastructure development package.
Prins said that the necessary transfer of equipment and training was under way and that delivery schedule for the aircraft will be adhered to as per the agreement.
The JSF is a fifth-generation aircraft, to be used by the US Air Force, Navy and Marines, and perhaps will be the last manned aircraft by that country before unmanned, high-powered long-range drones and helicopters fully take over the skies by the middle of this century.
Notably, India has already signed an agreement with Russia to develop a fifth generation fighter aircraft and it is due to be inducted into IAF by 2017. It is not known when and if this aircraft will have a naval variant.
The “possible sale” of this aircraft, which is still under development, was mentioned in the past “if the Indian Air Force (IAF) purchased the F 16 Super Viper for its Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (M-MRCA) requirement.”
But according to a report in the coming issue of India Strategic defence magazine, Lockheed Martin, which manufactures these both aircraft, has now made a presentation without this condition to the Indian Navy for its carrier-borne aircraft requirements in about seven to eight years from now.
India Strategic quoted Orville Prins, Lockheed Martin’s vice president for business development, as saying that the presentation was made after a Request for Information (RFI) for newer generation of aircraft was received from the Indian Navy recently.
Prins pointed out though the company had been authorized by the US Department of Defense (DOD) to make the presentation, its sale could be done only after a bilateral agreement between Washington and New Delhi.
Arms and weapon systems are developed by private companies in the US with government funding, but the DoD controls their sales. Foreign military sales are undertaken after clearance from the Department of State.
The US is steadily emerging as a new supplier of sophisticated arms to India, which urgently needs to replace and augment its mostly outdated Soviet-vintage systems with the high technology weapons of the 21st century.
Only last month, India placed Letters of Request (LoRs), or firm orders, for 10 long-range strategic lift transport Boeing C 17 Globemaster III aircraft for the IAF and 145 Bofors ultra-light M 777 howitzers for mountain operations by the Indian Army.
Originally a Swedish company, Bofors was sold in 2000 to the US United Defense, and later to the US arm of BAE Systems. The Indian army is badly in need of various types of artillery guns and its acquisition process has been mired in one problem or another for years now.
According to Air Marshal Ashok Goel (Retd), India has less than 20 IL 76 heavy lift transport aircraft, and although they have served the IAF well, they would need to be replaced in about ten years or so. In April 2010, the IL squadrons with the IAF will mark their 25 years.
Prins said that Lockheed Martin was also offering the “the world’s most advanced ship-borne anti-missile system, Aegis, to India” and that presentation on this had also been made to the Indian Navy.
Apparently as a technology demonstration, the US had used the Aegis system to shoot down a satellite in February 2008 by firing a Raytheon SM-2 missile.
India has already acquired 12 artillery Weapon Locating Radars (WLRs) from Raytheon under a 2002 deal, which was actually the first arms transfer to India by the US after its embargos following India’s 1974 and 1998 nuclear tests.
In 2008, IAF placed orders for six Lockheed Martin C 130J Special Operations aircraft, with an option for six more along with training and infrastructure development package.
Prins said that the necessary transfer of equipment and training was under way and that delivery schedule for the aircraft will be adhered to as per the agreement.
The JSF is a fifth-generation aircraft, to be used by the US Air Force, Navy and Marines, and perhaps will be the last manned aircraft by that country before unmanned, high-powered long-range drones and helicopters fully take over the skies by the middle of this century.
Notably, India has already signed an agreement with Russia to develop a fifth generation fighter aircraft and it is due to be inducted into IAF by 2017. It is not known when and if this aircraft will have a naval variant.
Monday, January 11, 2010
First Missions a Success for the Tiger
Since August 10, 2009, the three Tiger combat helicopters deployed by France in Kabul have been playing an active operational role in Afghanistan.
After arriving in Afghanistan in July 2009, the three helicopters from the 5th Combat Helicopters Regiment, Pau, first of all underwent firing certification tests. These tests were successfully completed, and the Tigers and their crews were then granted "full operational capability", authorizing them to serve as part of the ISAF (International Security Assistance Force).
They are today part of the "Musketeer Task Force" which comprises the 11 French helicopters deployed at Kabul airport (three EC725 Caracals, two AS 532 Cougars, three SA 342 Gazelles and three EC 665 Tigers).
Availability and reliability
The Tigers put in around 30 hours of flight time each per month in support of the French Forces and the ISAF. The aircraft and their crews also remain on alert day and night, ready to scramble at short notice in order to take part in all kinds of missions: reconnaissance, escort, fire support, etc. The first five months of operation have demonstrated that the helicopter is highly reliable, that its engines are capable of handling the most extreme flight conditions and that its weapons system is well-suited to operational requirements.
Depending on the situation, the Tiger can fly at a high altitude or at tactical combat flight profile in order to avoid small arms fire while benefiting from an accurate view of the combat environment thanks to the power of the Strix visor designed by Sagem (Safran group). The crews are also impressed by the complementarity of the various optical, TV and thermal imaging channels.
The engines – two MTR 390 turbines (MTU / Rolls-Royce / Turbomeca – Safran group) – are able to take the harsh conditions of the region in their stride. Despite the altitude of Kabul airport (1,800 m) and temperatures in excess of 35°C in the summer, the Tiger has always been able to operate at its maximum take-off weight of 6.4 metric tons for missions lasting up to three hours.
Since arriving in the Afghan theater of operations, the Tiger helicopters have maintained an availability level of around 95%: a remarkable statistic for such a relatively young aircraft.
After arriving in Afghanistan in July 2009, the three helicopters from the 5th Combat Helicopters Regiment, Pau, first of all underwent firing certification tests. These tests were successfully completed, and the Tigers and their crews were then granted "full operational capability", authorizing them to serve as part of the ISAF (International Security Assistance Force).
They are today part of the "Musketeer Task Force" which comprises the 11 French helicopters deployed at Kabul airport (three EC725 Caracals, two AS 532 Cougars, three SA 342 Gazelles and three EC 665 Tigers).
Availability and reliability
The Tigers put in around 30 hours of flight time each per month in support of the French Forces and the ISAF. The aircraft and their crews also remain on alert day and night, ready to scramble at short notice in order to take part in all kinds of missions: reconnaissance, escort, fire support, etc. The first five months of operation have demonstrated that the helicopter is highly reliable, that its engines are capable of handling the most extreme flight conditions and that its weapons system is well-suited to operational requirements.
Depending on the situation, the Tiger can fly at a high altitude or at tactical combat flight profile in order to avoid small arms fire while benefiting from an accurate view of the combat environment thanks to the power of the Strix visor designed by Sagem (Safran group). The crews are also impressed by the complementarity of the various optical, TV and thermal imaging channels.
The engines – two MTR 390 turbines (MTU / Rolls-Royce / Turbomeca – Safran group) – are able to take the harsh conditions of the region in their stride. Despite the altitude of Kabul airport (1,800 m) and temperatures in excess of 35°C in the summer, the Tiger has always been able to operate at its maximum take-off weight of 6.4 metric tons for missions lasting up to three hours.
Since arriving in the Afghan theater of operations, the Tiger helicopters have maintained an availability level of around 95%: a remarkable statistic for such a relatively young aircraft.
Report: Pilot error caused F-16s to collide
By Bruce Rolfsen - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jan 11, 2010 14:44:25 EST
Pilot error led to the fatal collision of two F-16 Fighting Falcons on an Oct. 15 training mission off the coast of South Carolina, an Air Combat Command report released Monday concluded.
Killed in the accident was Capt. Nicholas Giglio of the 20th Fighter Wing, Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., who was faulted in the report. The other pilot, Capt. Lee Bryant, also from the 20th, safely landed his damaged jet at Charleston Air Force Base, S.C.
Giglio was flying too fast and not paying attention to the position of the other F-16 when he flew into Bryant’s fighter at 10:24 p.m. as the two were returning to Shaw, the accident investigation board report said.
Giglio’s jet struck Bryant’s from behind at a closing speed of about 163 mph. The canopy of Giglio’s jet first hit Bryant’s left rear horizontal stabilizer and then impacted the underside of Bryant’s left wing. Giglio died when his jet struck the wing.
Giglio was an inexperienced F-16 pilot with only 126 hours in F-16 cockpits and 12 hours flying with night-vision goggles. Bryant was an F-16 instructor pilot with 967 F-16 hours.
The investigation found that a malfunctioning radar may have distracted Giglio, but that should not have prevented the captain from safely catching up with Bryant.
Investigation board president Maj. Gen. Stanley Kresge, an F-15 pilot and commander of the Air Force Warfare Center, concluded that Giglio’s “improper power setting, airspeed, flight path … and lack of reaction to an impending crash clearly indicate Giglio was not focused on accomplishing a safe rejoin.”
Posted : Monday Jan 11, 2010 14:44:25 EST
Pilot error led to the fatal collision of two F-16 Fighting Falcons on an Oct. 15 training mission off the coast of South Carolina, an Air Combat Command report released Monday concluded.
Killed in the accident was Capt. Nicholas Giglio of the 20th Fighter Wing, Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., who was faulted in the report. The other pilot, Capt. Lee Bryant, also from the 20th, safely landed his damaged jet at Charleston Air Force Base, S.C.
Giglio was flying too fast and not paying attention to the position of the other F-16 when he flew into Bryant’s fighter at 10:24 p.m. as the two were returning to Shaw, the accident investigation board report said.
Giglio’s jet struck Bryant’s from behind at a closing speed of about 163 mph. The canopy of Giglio’s jet first hit Bryant’s left rear horizontal stabilizer and then impacted the underside of Bryant’s left wing. Giglio died when his jet struck the wing.
Giglio was an inexperienced F-16 pilot with only 126 hours in F-16 cockpits and 12 hours flying with night-vision goggles. Bryant was an F-16 instructor pilot with 967 F-16 hours.
The investigation found that a malfunctioning radar may have distracted Giglio, but that should not have prevented the captain from safely catching up with Bryant.
Investigation board president Maj. Gen. Stanley Kresge, an F-15 pilot and commander of the Air Force Warfare Center, concluded that Giglio’s “improper power setting, airspeed, flight path … and lack of reaction to an impending crash clearly indicate Giglio was not focused on accomplishing a safe rejoin.”
Indonesian Air Force mulls to replace trainer planes, military equipment
JAKARTA, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian military is in dire need to replace its ageing Hawk Mk 53 trainer jet planes, procure new armaments and enhance its radar systems, local media reported here on Monday.
Indonesian Air Force Commander Air Marshall Imam Sufaat said that the budget proposal to procure new trainer jet planes had been submitted to the defense ministry along with the budget proposal to replace its ageing anti insurgency planes OV-10 Bronco.
"Proposals for OV-10 Bronco have been approved. Discussions on Hawk Mk 53 is underway at the moment," Imam was quoted by the Antara news agency as saying here. Those proposals were submitted to the defense ministry in 2008 and 2009.
Imam said that the air force is considering L-159B produced by the Czech Republic, Yak-130 from Russia, Italian-made Aermacchi M346, Chengdu FTC-2000/JL-9 from China and B50 from South Korea tore place the Britain-based British Aerospace (BaE) plane maker
Furthermore, the Indonesian air force chief also said that it would develop the Ground Control Interception (GCI) radar in the town of Biak and Early Warning (EW) radar systems in towns of Timika and Merauke in Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua that borders with Papua New Guinea (PNG).
Besides that, the air force also proposed to procure anti air attack batteries, reconnaissance planes and armaments for its fighter jets.
The air force has studied the radar, anti air attack batteries and fighter jet armaments it wanted to purchase from South Korea, Brazil, the Czech Republic, France, the U.S., Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Poland, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Yugoslavia, Russia and China.
Indonesian Air Force Commander Air Marshall Imam Sufaat said that the budget proposal to procure new trainer jet planes had been submitted to the defense ministry along with the budget proposal to replace its ageing anti insurgency planes OV-10 Bronco.
"Proposals for OV-10 Bronco have been approved. Discussions on Hawk Mk 53 is underway at the moment," Imam was quoted by the Antara news agency as saying here. Those proposals were submitted to the defense ministry in 2008 and 2009.
Imam said that the air force is considering L-159B produced by the Czech Republic, Yak-130 from Russia, Italian-made Aermacchi M346, Chengdu FTC-2000/JL-9 from China and B50 from South Korea tore place the Britain-based British Aerospace (BaE) plane maker
Furthermore, the Indonesian air force chief also said that it would develop the Ground Control Interception (GCI) radar in the town of Biak and Early Warning (EW) radar systems in towns of Timika and Merauke in Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua that borders with Papua New Guinea (PNG).
Besides that, the air force also proposed to procure anti air attack batteries, reconnaissance planes and armaments for its fighter jets.
The air force has studied the radar, anti air attack batteries and fighter jet armaments it wanted to purchase from South Korea, Brazil, the Czech Republic, France, the U.S., Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Poland, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Yugoslavia, Russia and China.
Lebanese army says fired on Israeli fighter planes
The Lebanese army fires anti-aircraft artillery Monday on four Israeli jets flying over southern Lebanon at low altitude, in violation of Lebanese airspace, a military spokesman said.
"The anti-aircraft artillery was fired on four Israeli enemy aircraft flying over the region of Marjayoun this morning," the man told AFP.
According to an AFP correspondent in the region, about 70 rounds had targeted four Israeli fighter-type Phantom planes.
The Lebanese army reports of violations by Israel of its airspace nearly every day. It rarely opens fire on Israeli aircraft, doing so only when they are within range of its guns.
These overflights are considered by the United Nations a violation of Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in the summer of 2006.
Israel says in response that the overflights are necessary to monitor Hezbollah's arm smuggling in violation of the resolution.
"The anti-aircraft artillery was fired on four Israeli enemy aircraft flying over the region of Marjayoun this morning," the man told AFP.
According to an AFP correspondent in the region, about 70 rounds had targeted four Israeli fighter-type Phantom planes.
The Lebanese army reports of violations by Israel of its airspace nearly every day. It rarely opens fire on Israeli aircraft, doing so only when they are within range of its guns.
These overflights are considered by the United Nations a violation of Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in the summer of 2006.
Israel says in response that the overflights are necessary to monitor Hezbollah's arm smuggling in violation of the resolution.
US drone war delivers results, but at what price?
Islamabad: The US drone war in Pakistan has made gains in annihilating Taliban and Al-Qaeda commanders, but the reliance on the unmanned, remotely controlled aircraft risks fanning Islamist violence.
While tens of thousands of US troops are fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, their presence is unwelcome in ally Pakistan and drone strikes have become the main combat tactic against militants on the ground.
The Long War Journal, a website tracking the strikes, says US missiles have killed 15 senior Al-Qaeda leaders, and 16 "mid-level" Al-Qaeda and Taliban operatives, since January 2008.
Among the scalps was Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP), the Pakistani Taliban.
Despite Mehsud's death in August, the TTP are killing more people than ever and Al-Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri -- both believed to be sheltering along the Afghan-Pakistan border -- remain at large.
"I don't think the group (TTP) has necessarily been weakened at all," said Ben Venzke, head of IntelCenter, a private contractor working in support of the US and European intelligence communities.
"In fact we're seeing more large-scale bombings and attacks in Pakistan than we've ever seen and with a very large casualty count," he said.
President Barack Obama has ordered 51,000 extra US troops to Afghanistan, hoping to turn the tide in the war and deny Al-Qaeda sanctuary, but tribal experts fear drone attacks could spawn a war of revenge for years.
A Jordanian doctor turned "Al-Qaeda double agent" blew himself up and killed seven CIA agents in Afghanistan on December 30, in the deadliest attack against the US spy agency since 1983.
The bomber, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, appeared posthumously in a video broadcast Saturday, vowing to avenge Baitullah Mehsud's death.
"The way they are now attacking with their drones, trying to hit local militants -- maybe local militants are not a big threat to America but in the future they could become a threat," said tribal expert Rahimullah Yusufzai.
Local residents contacted by AFP in North Waziristan -- a district where 22 of the last 24 attacks have struck -- said families lived in fear over the prospect of a Hellfire missile annihilating their home without warning.
Yet speaking from Mir Ali, one of the main towns in the Pakistani tribal district, one shopkeeper said the drones did appear to have deterred foreign fighters.
"There seems to be only one advantage -- the number of foreigners who used to roam markets in the region freely has reduced considerably," Noor Mohammad told AFP by telephone.
Pakistan's unpopular president, Asif Ali Zardari, says the drone attacks undermine the nation's consensus against militants as it struggles with bombings that have killed nearly 3,000 people in less than three years.
"Drone attacks are radicalising other people who may not have supported the Taliban," warned Yusufzai.
But Lisa Curtis, a research fellow at Washington's conservative Heritage Foundation, said the US administration was more reliant than ever on drones after fears of Al-Qaeda were renewed by the failed Christmas Day plot to blow up an airliner over Detroit.
"The long-term costs are that it's raising anti-Americanism in Pakistan, which in turn makes it more difficult for us to cooperate with Pakistan," she said.
The United States is increasing pressure on Islamabad to take on groups such as the Haqqani network, which attacks US forces in Afghanistan but is reputed to retain links with Pakistani intelligence.
Samina Ahmed, an analyst for the International Crisis Group, said US tactics had yet to spark major protests and cautioned against exaggerating the impact on Zardari's civilian government.
"If there were drone attacks on urban centres, major civilian casualties, there would be a public outcry," she said. "It would become a major challenge to the Pakistan military and the Pakistan government
While tens of thousands of US troops are fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, their presence is unwelcome in ally Pakistan and drone strikes have become the main combat tactic against militants on the ground.
The Long War Journal, a website tracking the strikes, says US missiles have killed 15 senior Al-Qaeda leaders, and 16 "mid-level" Al-Qaeda and Taliban operatives, since January 2008.
Among the scalps was Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP), the Pakistani Taliban.
Despite Mehsud's death in August, the TTP are killing more people than ever and Al-Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri -- both believed to be sheltering along the Afghan-Pakistan border -- remain at large.
"I don't think the group (TTP) has necessarily been weakened at all," said Ben Venzke, head of IntelCenter, a private contractor working in support of the US and European intelligence communities.
"In fact we're seeing more large-scale bombings and attacks in Pakistan than we've ever seen and with a very large casualty count," he said.
President Barack Obama has ordered 51,000 extra US troops to Afghanistan, hoping to turn the tide in the war and deny Al-Qaeda sanctuary, but tribal experts fear drone attacks could spawn a war of revenge for years.
A Jordanian doctor turned "Al-Qaeda double agent" blew himself up and killed seven CIA agents in Afghanistan on December 30, in the deadliest attack against the US spy agency since 1983.
The bomber, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, appeared posthumously in a video broadcast Saturday, vowing to avenge Baitullah Mehsud's death.
"The way they are now attacking with their drones, trying to hit local militants -- maybe local militants are not a big threat to America but in the future they could become a threat," said tribal expert Rahimullah Yusufzai.
Local residents contacted by AFP in North Waziristan -- a district where 22 of the last 24 attacks have struck -- said families lived in fear over the prospect of a Hellfire missile annihilating their home without warning.
Yet speaking from Mir Ali, one of the main towns in the Pakistani tribal district, one shopkeeper said the drones did appear to have deterred foreign fighters.
"There seems to be only one advantage -- the number of foreigners who used to roam markets in the region freely has reduced considerably," Noor Mohammad told AFP by telephone.
Pakistan's unpopular president, Asif Ali Zardari, says the drone attacks undermine the nation's consensus against militants as it struggles with bombings that have killed nearly 3,000 people in less than three years.
"Drone attacks are radicalising other people who may not have supported the Taliban," warned Yusufzai.
But Lisa Curtis, a research fellow at Washington's conservative Heritage Foundation, said the US administration was more reliant than ever on drones after fears of Al-Qaeda were renewed by the failed Christmas Day plot to blow up an airliner over Detroit.
"The long-term costs are that it's raising anti-Americanism in Pakistan, which in turn makes it more difficult for us to cooperate with Pakistan," she said.
The United States is increasing pressure on Islamabad to take on groups such as the Haqqani network, which attacks US forces in Afghanistan but is reputed to retain links with Pakistani intelligence.
Samina Ahmed, an analyst for the International Crisis Group, said US tactics had yet to spark major protests and cautioned against exaggerating the impact on Zardari's civilian government.
"If there were drone attacks on urban centres, major civilian casualties, there would be a public outcry," she said. "It would become a major challenge to the Pakistan military and the Pakistan government
Venezuela to reinforce troops on Colombia border with Russian tanks
Mexico: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has announced plans for the deployment of new Russian-made tanks and combat helicopters on the border with Colombia.
Ties between Venezuela and Colombia deteriorated last August after Washington signed a deal with Bogota allowing U.S. forces to run anti-drug operations from Colombian bases. Chavez has criticized the deal and called for the Venezuelan people and army to prepare for a war.
"We are expecting the arrival of the first shipment of tanks [from Russia] which will be sent to Barracas [in the state of Barinas] to reinforce a motorized infantry brigade," Chavez said in his weekly TV program, Alo Presidente, on Sunday.
"In addition, attack helicopters arriving from Russia will be deployed along the Colombian border," he said.
Chavez secured a $2.2 loan from Russia during his visit to Moscow last September for the purchase of 92 T-72 main battle tanks, an undisclosed number of Smerch multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), and a variety of air defense systems, including the advanced S-300 complexes.
Between 2005 and 2007, Moscow and Caracas signed 12 contracts worth more than $4.4 billion to supply arms to Venezuela, including fighter jets, helicopters and Kalashnikov assault rifles.
Venezuelan military already has nearly 200 tanks, according to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, while Colombia has no tank units.
Ties between Venezuela and Colombia deteriorated last August after Washington signed a deal with Bogota allowing U.S. forces to run anti-drug operations from Colombian bases. Chavez has criticized the deal and called for the Venezuelan people and army to prepare for a war.
"We are expecting the arrival of the first shipment of tanks [from Russia] which will be sent to Barracas [in the state of Barinas] to reinforce a motorized infantry brigade," Chavez said in his weekly TV program, Alo Presidente, on Sunday.
"In addition, attack helicopters arriving from Russia will be deployed along the Colombian border," he said.
Chavez secured a $2.2 loan from Russia during his visit to Moscow last September for the purchase of 92 T-72 main battle tanks, an undisclosed number of Smerch multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), and a variety of air defense systems, including the advanced S-300 complexes.
Between 2005 and 2007, Moscow and Caracas signed 12 contracts worth more than $4.4 billion to supply arms to Venezuela, including fighter jets, helicopters and Kalashnikov assault rifles.
Venezuelan military already has nearly 200 tanks, according to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, while Colombia has no tank units.
Srinagar hotel siege has lessons for police nationwide
Last week, Union Home Minister had generous words of praise for the police in Jammu and Kashmir.
In the wake of the killing of two terrorists who had occupied the Punjab Hotel in downtown Srinagar, P. Chidambaram applauded the Jammu and Kashmir Police (JKP) and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) for a “brilliant operation, executed with great skill and patience.”
Mr. Chidambaram’s praise has been seen as a long overdue acknowledgment of the successes of the JKP and the CRPF -- but raises questions about the ongoing police modernisation programmes in several States.
In the wake of November’s Lashkar-e-Taiba assault on Mumbai, police forces have begun raising special weapons and tactics units. For the most part, the units are being trained by officers with military backgrounds or foreign corporations. Not a single force in India, though, has deputed personnel to learn from success in Jammu and Kashmir -- or requested the services of instructors from the State.
Getting it right
Like the five fidayeen units which participated in the attack on Mumbai, the Punjab Hotel team was made up of just two men. Having seized a building in a built-up urban area, the attackers were guided by handlers in Pakistan who used five cell phones -- two of them previously known to have been used to communicate with Lashkar field units in Jammu and Kashmir.
How is it that the Jammu and Kashmir Police succeeded in an environment where the Mumbai Police, military commandos, and the crack NSG struggled?
Experts who spoke to The Hindu said the Punjab Hotel operation was characterised by three features often lacking in Mumbai: leadership, experience and innovation.
Minutes after the fighting broke out, Inspector-General of Police Farooq Ahmed cut through red tape and reached out to two officers he felt were best qualified to lead the operation.
The Punjab Hotel was technically outside the jurisdiction of Mohammad Irshad, the Superintendent of Police for Srinagar’s southern region. But Mr. Irshad’s past experience as head of the crack counter-Special Operations Group in Srinagar, was drawn.
CRPF’s South Kashmir Deputy Inspector-General of Police Nalin Prabhat also had no official role in Srinagar. Like Mr. Irshad, though, Mr. Prabhat, is a battle-hardened veteran of counter-terrorism operations in Andhra Pradesh. He has served for over five years in Jammu and Kashmir. He brought in men from some of the CRPF’s best fighting units, the Tral-based 180 and 185 Battalions.
Improvisation played a key role in the success of the operation. As commandos began occupying the upper stories of the hotel, the terrorists opened fire through the wooden floor. Bullet-proof sheets were then unscrewed from CRPF patrol vehicles parked on the street and placed on the floor.
For the JKP, the Punjab Hotel operation was just one in a long series of largely successful urban operations.
In 2001, the Jaish-e-Mohammad staged another spectacular fidayeen attack at the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly -- a dry run, many experts believe, for the storming of Parliament House in New Delhi later that year. Thirty-nine people died when the Jaish set off a car-bomb outside the Legislative Assembly, and used the ensuing chaos to storm the building.
Despite the initial chaos, though, the JKP succeeded in rescuing the politicians inside the Assembly complex unhurt -- and in eliminating the terrorists.
Later attacks were also contained with minimal civilian casualties. In March, 2004, two Lashkar fidayeen attacked the offices of the Press Information Bureau and the Jammu and Kashmir Directorate of Information in Srinagar.
In April 2005, the Lashkar staged an attack on the Tourist Reception Centre in Srinagar, just a day before the facility was to see the first journey of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service. Just weeks later, in June, two fidayeen attacked the Dashnami Akhara Building. That November, four Lashkar fidayeen hit the Palladium Cinema complex, occupied by CRPF personnel.
Srinagar saw its last significant fidayeen-initiated siege in October, 2006, when terrorists targeted the New Standard Hotel in the city’s commercial hub. All three terrorists involved in the attack were shot dead in an overnight operation that began after the police evacuated all hostages.
None of these operations saw significant collateral casualties.
Military model
By contrast, military-led counter-fidayeen operations, whose tactical foundations and training methods are being emulated by police forces nationwide, have for a variety of reasons had a poor record.
In December, 1999, terrorists occupied the offices of the Special Operations Group in Srinagar. Worried commanders overrode their subordinates, and called in military special forces for assistance. The Army did indeed succeed in killing the terrorists -- but their use of heavy weapons and explosives also killed six police personnel.
Later, in 2002, the Lashkar staged a dramatic fidayeen attack on the Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar, killing at least 29 people -- the organisation’s first major attack outside Jammu and Kashmir. The National Security Guard was called in but arrived late because of a traffic jam in New Delhi. Fifty hostages were rescued -- but 29 people died, most before the force arrived.
2 Astra missiles successfully test fired
Balasore, Orissa Achieving a new milestone, India on Monday successfully test-fired two indigenously developed air-to-air missiles 'Astra' in quick succession from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur in Orissa.
The beyond visual range (BVR) missiles were test-fired from a ground launcher in the launch pad No. 2 of the ITR complex at about 9.45 am and 12.06 pm, defence sources said.
Describing both the trials as "successful", they said the data of the flight test was being thoroughly analysed. Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientists said Astra was a futuristic missile and it could intercept targets at supersonic speeds between mach 1.2 to 1.4 (mach one is equivalent to 1236 kmph.)
"The tests on the missile's navigation, control, air frame, propulsion and other sub-system have been validated," they said.
The complex missile system would undergo some more trials before being made fully operational, they said. The single stage, solid fuel 'Astra' missile "is more advanced in its category than the contemporary BVR missiles and it is capable of engaging and destroying highly manoeuvrable supersonic aerial targets," defence sources said.
Though the exact range of today's trial was not disclosed, scientists are working to ensure that 'Astra' performs effectively at different altitudes - one, cruising at an altitude of 15 km with 90 to 110 km range, another at an altitude up to 30,000 ft having a range of 44 km and the third, at sea level with a range of 30 km. Astra had earlier been test-fired from the ITR at the ground level several times, the sources added.
The beyond visual range (BVR) missiles were test-fired from a ground launcher in the launch pad No. 2 of the ITR complex at about 9.45 am and 12.06 pm, defence sources said.
Describing both the trials as "successful", they said the data of the flight test was being thoroughly analysed. Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientists said Astra was a futuristic missile and it could intercept targets at supersonic speeds between mach 1.2 to 1.4 (mach one is equivalent to 1236 kmph.)
"The tests on the missile's navigation, control, air frame, propulsion and other sub-system have been validated," they said.
The complex missile system would undergo some more trials before being made fully operational, they said. The single stage, solid fuel 'Astra' missile "is more advanced in its category than the contemporary BVR missiles and it is capable of engaging and destroying highly manoeuvrable supersonic aerial targets," defence sources said.
Though the exact range of today's trial was not disclosed, scientists are working to ensure that 'Astra' performs effectively at different altitudes - one, cruising at an altitude of 15 km with 90 to 110 km range, another at an altitude up to 30,000 ft having a range of 44 km and the third, at sea level with a range of 30 km. Astra had earlier been test-fired from the ITR at the ground level several times, the sources added.
Maldives seeks Indian navy's help with continental shelf claim
Jan 11, 2010 (BBC Monitoring via COMTEX) -- [Sunday] 10 January: President Mohamed Nasheed has today met with chief hydrographer Vice-Adm B.R. Rao of India. The meeting was held this afternoon at the President's Office.
At the meeting, the president sought assistance from India's naval hydrographic department to claim for an extended continental shelf. President Nasheed and Vice-Adm Rao also spoke on the status of the hydrographic survey that is being carried out with the assistance of Indian navy.
On 10 October 2009 the cabinet decided to see if the Maldives can claim for an extended continental shelf. When continental shelf coordinates are determined, a country will have the right to exploit the minerals, natural resources and sedentary species in the seabed.
The Maldives had not done any work on claiming the area for its continental shelf since it signed up to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 26 years ago.
At the meeting, the president sought assistance from India's naval hydrographic department to claim for an extended continental shelf. President Nasheed and Vice-Adm Rao also spoke on the status of the hydrographic survey that is being carried out with the assistance of Indian navy.
On 10 October 2009 the cabinet decided to see if the Maldives can claim for an extended continental shelf. When continental shelf coordinates are determined, a country will have the right to exploit the minerals, natural resources and sedentary species in the seabed.
The Maldives had not done any work on claiming the area for its continental shelf since it signed up to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 26 years ago.
Orissa: India test-fires Astra
Indigenously developed and beyond visual range (BVR) air-to-air missile 'Astra' was on Monday test-fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur in Orissa.
The missile was fired from a launcher in the launch pad No. 2 of the ITR complex at about 9.45 am, defence sources said.
After thorough data analysis of the flight test, another test is expected to be conducted shortly, they said. "Before being made fully operational, the complex missile system will undergo some more trials, though tests on its navigation, control, air frame, propulsion and other sub-systems have been validated," said a source from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) at ITR.
The single-stage, solid fuel 'Astra' missile "is more advanced in its category than the contemporary BVR missiles and it is capable of engaging and destroying highly manoeuvrable supersonic aerial targets," the source said.
Describing 'Astra' as futuristic missile, DRDO scientists said the weapon could intercept a target at supersonic speeds between mach 1.2 to 1.4 (mach one is equivalent to 1236 kmph).
Though the exact range of today's trial was not disclosed, scientists are working to ensure that 'Astra' performs effectively at different altitudes - one cruising at an altitude of 15 km with 90 to 110 km range, another at an altitude up to 30,000 ft, having a range of 44 km and the third at sea level with a range of 30 km.
The missile was fired from a launcher in the launch pad No. 2 of the ITR complex at about 9.45 am, defence sources said.
After thorough data analysis of the flight test, another test is expected to be conducted shortly, they said. "Before being made fully operational, the complex missile system will undergo some more trials, though tests on its navigation, control, air frame, propulsion and other sub-systems have been validated," said a source from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) at ITR.
The single-stage, solid fuel 'Astra' missile "is more advanced in its category than the contemporary BVR missiles and it is capable of engaging and destroying highly manoeuvrable supersonic aerial targets," the source said.
Describing 'Astra' as futuristic missile, DRDO scientists said the weapon could intercept a target at supersonic speeds between mach 1.2 to 1.4 (mach one is equivalent to 1236 kmph).
Though the exact range of today's trial was not disclosed, scientists are working to ensure that 'Astra' performs effectively at different altitudes - one cruising at an altitude of 15 km with 90 to 110 km range, another at an altitude up to 30,000 ft, having a range of 44 km and the third at sea level with a range of 30 km.
India test-fires air-to-air Astra missile
BALASORE (ORISSA): India on Monday successfully test fired the Astra air-to-air missile from its Integrated Test Range (ITR) off the Orissa coast.
The beyond visual range air-to-air missile was tested at the Chandipur test range at about 9.45am.
"The test was a success," S.P. Dash, director of the ITR, told IANS.
Another Astra missile is scheduled to be tested from the same test range later in the day, he added
The beyond visual range air-to-air missile was tested at the Chandipur test range at about 9.45am.
"The test was a success," S.P. Dash, director of the ITR, told IANS.
Another Astra missile is scheduled to be tested from the same test range later in the day, he added
Sunday, January 10, 2010
India to buy Soyuz spacecraft from Russia by 2013
Photo: RIA Novosti
India plans to buy a Soyuz spacecraft from Russia and to launch its cosmonauts into orbit in 2013, Interfax news agency reported Sunday citing Vitaly Davydov, Deputy Head of Roskosmos.
Davydov said that, by 2013 the Russian space corporation Energia (Energy) is to upgrade its production facilities and will be capable to build 5 Soyuz spacecrafts a year.
Davydov said that besides paying for the spacecraft India will also finance the training of the Russian cosmonaut who is to head the team of Indian cosmonauts. He noted that the project envisages the launch of the Indian cosmonauts into orbit but not the work on the International Space Station.
Roskosmos - is a governmental organization responsible for managing the Russian space program.
India plans to buy a Soyuz spacecraft from Russia and to launch its cosmonauts into orbit in 2013, Interfax news agency reported Sunday citing Vitaly Davydov, Deputy Head of Roskosmos.
Davydov said that, by 2013 the Russian space corporation Energia (Energy) is to upgrade its production facilities and will be capable to build 5 Soyuz spacecrafts a year.
Davydov said that besides paying for the spacecraft India will also finance the training of the Russian cosmonaut who is to head the team of Indian cosmonauts. He noted that the project envisages the launch of the Indian cosmonauts into orbit but not the work on the International Space Station.
Roskosmos - is a governmental organization responsible for managing the Russian space program.
India has lost 'substantial' land to China: Report
: The area along the Line of Actual Control with China has "shrunk" over a period of time and India has lost "substantial" amount of land in the last two decades, says an official report.
At a recent meeting held in Leh which was attended by officials from the Jammu and Kashmir government, Ministry of Home Affairs and Army, it was agreed that there was difference in the maps of various agencies and that there was lack of proper mapping of the area.
The meeting was chaired by Commissioner (Leh) AK Sahu and attended among others by Brigadier General Staff of 14 Corps Brig Sarat Chand and Colonel Inderjit Singh.
While the absence of proper map was agreed upon, the meeting all the same felt, "however, it is clear and be accepted that we are withdrawing from LAC and our area has shrunk over a period of time".
"Though this process if very slow but we have lost substantial amount of land in 20-25 years," it was said at the meeting held last month.
According to the minutes of the meeting, it was also identified that "there is a lack of institutional memory in various agencies as well as clear policy on this issue which in long run has resulted in loss of territory by the India in favour of China". protection to nomads who move with their cattle to Dokbug area of Nyoma sector during the winter months every year. In December 2008, Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) had damaged their tents and threatened them to vacate the land.
"They (Chinese) have threatened the nomadic people who had been using Dokbug area (in Ladakh sector) area for grazing since decades long, in a way to snatch our land in inches. A Chinese proverb is famous in the world – “better do in inches than in yards," a report filed by former Sub Divisional Magistrate (Nyoma) Tsering Norboo had said.
Norboo was deputed by the state government to probe complaints of incursion of the Chinese Army in Dokbug area and threats to the local shepherds to leave the land as it belonged to them. The area has been used by the shepherds to graze their livestock as the area is warmer compared to other parts of Ladakh.
The SDM contended that it was another attempt by the Chinese to claim the territory as disputed in the same fashion as they had taken Nag Tsang area opposite to Phuktse airfield in 1984, Nakung in 1991 and Lungma-Serding in 1992.
The area of Dokbug and Doley Tango was frequented by shepherds and nomads from December to March every year during which their young lambs were capable to walk.
The SDM has also highlighted the fact that Army stopped these nomads from vacating the land. The nomads were terrified by the Chinese threats.
Last year, Chinese troops had entered nearly 1.5 km into the Indian territory on July 31 near Mount Gya, recognised as international border by India and China, and painted boulders and rocks with "China" and "Chin9" in red spray paint.
The 22,420 ft Mount Gya, also known as "fair princess of snow" by Army, is located at the tri-junction of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir, Spiti in Himachal Pradesh, and Tibet. Its boundary was marked during the British era and regarded as International border by the two countries.
Before this, Chinese helicopters had violated Indian air space on June 21 along the Line of Actual Control in Chumar region and also helli-dropped some expired food.
PTI
New Delhi: The area along the Line of Actual Control with China has "shrunk" over a period of time and India has lost "substantial" amount of land in the last two decades, says an official report.
At a recent meeting held in Leh which was attended by officials from the Jammu and Kashmir government, Ministry of Home Affairs and Army, it was agreed that there was difference in the maps of various agencies and that there was lack of proper mapping of the area.
The meeting was chaired by Commissioner (Leh) AK Sahu and attended among others by Brigadier General Staff of 14 Corps Brig Sarat Chand and Colonel Inderjit Singh.
While the absence of proper map was agreed upon, the meeting all the same felt, "however, it is clear and be accepted that we are withdrawing from LAC and our area has shrunk over a period of time".
"Though this process if very slow but we have lost substantial amount of land in 20-25 years," it was said at the meeting held last month.
According to the minutes of the meeting, it was also identified that "there is a lack of institutional memory in various agencies as well as clear policy on this issue which in long run has resulted in loss of territory by the India in favour of China".
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China becomes world`s biggest exporterThe meeting was called to ensure proper protection to nomads who move with their cattle to Dokbug area of Nyoma sector during the winter months every year. In December 2008, Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) had damaged their tents and threatened them to vacate the land.
"They (Chinese) have threatened the nomadic people who had been using Dokbug area (in Ladakh sector) area for grazing since decades long, in a way to snatch our land in inches. A Chinese proverb is famous in the world – “better do in inches than in yards," a report filed by former Sub Divisional Magistrate (Nyoma) Tsering Norboo had said.
Norboo was deputed by the state government to probe complaints of incursion of the Chinese Army in Dokbug area and threats to the local shepherds to leave the land as it belonged to them. The area has been used by the shepherds to graze their livestock as the area is warmer compared to other parts of Ladakh.
The SDM contended that it was another attempt by the Chinese to claim the territory as disputed in the same fashion as they had taken Nag Tsang area opposite to Phuktse airfield in 1984, Nakung in 1991 and Lungma-Serding in 1992.
The area of Dokbug and Doley Tango was frequented by shepherds and nomads from December to March every year during which their young lambs were capable to walk.
The SDM has also highlighted the fact that Army stopped these nomads from vacating the land. The nomads were terrified by the Chinese threats.
Last year, Chinese troops had entered nearly 1.5 km into the Indian territory on July 31 near Mount Gya, recognised as international border by India and China, and painted boulders and rocks with "China" and "Chin9" in red spray paint.
The 22,420 ft Mount Gya, also known as "fair princess of snow" by Army, is located at the tri-junction of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir, Spiti in Himachal Pradesh, and Tibet. Its boundary was marked during the British era and regarded as International border by the two countries.
Before this, Chinese helicopters had violated Indian air space on June 21 along the Line of Actual Control in Chumar region and also helli-dropped some expired food.
PTI
At a recent meeting held in Leh which was attended by officials from the Jammu and Kashmir government, Ministry of Home Affairs and Army, it was agreed that there was difference in the maps of various agencies and that there was lack of proper mapping of the area.
The meeting was chaired by Commissioner (Leh) AK Sahu and attended among others by Brigadier General Staff of 14 Corps Brig Sarat Chand and Colonel Inderjit Singh.
While the absence of proper map was agreed upon, the meeting all the same felt, "however, it is clear and be accepted that we are withdrawing from LAC and our area has shrunk over a period of time".
"Though this process if very slow but we have lost substantial amount of land in 20-25 years," it was said at the meeting held last month.
According to the minutes of the meeting, it was also identified that "there is a lack of institutional memory in various agencies as well as clear policy on this issue which in long run has resulted in loss of territory by the India in favour of China". protection to nomads who move with their cattle to Dokbug area of Nyoma sector during the winter months every year. In December 2008, Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) had damaged their tents and threatened them to vacate the land.
"They (Chinese) have threatened the nomadic people who had been using Dokbug area (in Ladakh sector) area for grazing since decades long, in a way to snatch our land in inches. A Chinese proverb is famous in the world – “better do in inches than in yards," a report filed by former Sub Divisional Magistrate (Nyoma) Tsering Norboo had said.
Norboo was deputed by the state government to probe complaints of incursion of the Chinese Army in Dokbug area and threats to the local shepherds to leave the land as it belonged to them. The area has been used by the shepherds to graze their livestock as the area is warmer compared to other parts of Ladakh.
The SDM contended that it was another attempt by the Chinese to claim the territory as disputed in the same fashion as they had taken Nag Tsang area opposite to Phuktse airfield in 1984, Nakung in 1991 and Lungma-Serding in 1992.
The area of Dokbug and Doley Tango was frequented by shepherds and nomads from December to March every year during which their young lambs were capable to walk.
The SDM has also highlighted the fact that Army stopped these nomads from vacating the land. The nomads were terrified by the Chinese threats.
Last year, Chinese troops had entered nearly 1.5 km into the Indian territory on July 31 near Mount Gya, recognised as international border by India and China, and painted boulders and rocks with "China" and "Chin9" in red spray paint.
The 22,420 ft Mount Gya, also known as "fair princess of snow" by Army, is located at the tri-junction of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir, Spiti in Himachal Pradesh, and Tibet. Its boundary was marked during the British era and regarded as International border by the two countries.
Before this, Chinese helicopters had violated Indian air space on June 21 along the Line of Actual Control in Chumar region and also helli-dropped some expired food.
PTI
New Delhi: The area along the Line of Actual Control with China has "shrunk" over a period of time and India has lost "substantial" amount of land in the last two decades, says an official report.
At a recent meeting held in Leh which was attended by officials from the Jammu and Kashmir government, Ministry of Home Affairs and Army, it was agreed that there was difference in the maps of various agencies and that there was lack of proper mapping of the area.
The meeting was chaired by Commissioner (Leh) AK Sahu and attended among others by Brigadier General Staff of 14 Corps Brig Sarat Chand and Colonel Inderjit Singh.
While the absence of proper map was agreed upon, the meeting all the same felt, "however, it is clear and be accepted that we are withdrawing from LAC and our area has shrunk over a period of time".
"Though this process if very slow but we have lost substantial amount of land in 20-25 years," it was said at the meeting held last month.
According to the minutes of the meeting, it was also identified that "there is a lack of institutional memory in various agencies as well as clear policy on this issue which in long run has resulted in loss of territory by the India in favour of China".
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`China trying to tighten its hold on Nepal`
China will likely spend full amount of stimulus
China killing Indian manufacturing sector: L&T Chief
China becomes world`s biggest exporterThe meeting was called to ensure proper protection to nomads who move with their cattle to Dokbug area of Nyoma sector during the winter months every year. In December 2008, Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) had damaged their tents and threatened them to vacate the land.
"They (Chinese) have threatened the nomadic people who had been using Dokbug area (in Ladakh sector) area for grazing since decades long, in a way to snatch our land in inches. A Chinese proverb is famous in the world – “better do in inches than in yards," a report filed by former Sub Divisional Magistrate (Nyoma) Tsering Norboo had said.
Norboo was deputed by the state government to probe complaints of incursion of the Chinese Army in Dokbug area and threats to the local shepherds to leave the land as it belonged to them. The area has been used by the shepherds to graze their livestock as the area is warmer compared to other parts of Ladakh.
The SDM contended that it was another attempt by the Chinese to claim the territory as disputed in the same fashion as they had taken Nag Tsang area opposite to Phuktse airfield in 1984, Nakung in 1991 and Lungma-Serding in 1992.
The area of Dokbug and Doley Tango was frequented by shepherds and nomads from December to March every year during which their young lambs were capable to walk.
The SDM has also highlighted the fact that Army stopped these nomads from vacating the land. The nomads were terrified by the Chinese threats.
Last year, Chinese troops had entered nearly 1.5 km into the Indian territory on July 31 near Mount Gya, recognised as international border by India and China, and painted boulders and rocks with "China" and "Chin9" in red spray paint.
The 22,420 ft Mount Gya, also known as "fair princess of snow" by Army, is located at the tri-junction of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir, Spiti in Himachal Pradesh, and Tibet. Its boundary was marked during the British era and regarded as International border by the two countries.
Before this, Chinese helicopters had violated Indian air space on June 21 along the Line of Actual Control in Chumar region and also helli-dropped some expired food.
PTI
Yuri Gagarin death mystery solved after 40 years
BY :Telegraph Media
The mystery surrounding Yuri Gagarin’s death in an aircraft crash more than forty years ago may finally have been solved by a report which quashes decades of conspiracy theories.Independent Russian investigators say they have uncovered crucial new evidence which finally reveals how the world’s first man in space died aged just 34.
The study claims Gagarin’s death during a routine training flight in 1968 was caused by his panicked reaction after realising an air vent in his cockpit was open. He threw his MiG-15 fighter jet into such a steep dive that he blacked out and crashed into a forest below killing himself and his co-pilot.
Igor Kuznetsov, a retired Soviet air force colonel, believes his findings will end years of conspiracy theories ranging from claims Gagarin was drunk to allegations the accident was staged by jealous Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.
He has spent the past nine years with a group of aviation specialists, piecing together the circumstances using modern accident investigation techniques.
Gagarin died on a routine flight seven years after he shot to global fame by orbiting the Earth for 68 minutes. His mission handed the Soviet Union a spectacular propaganda coup and Gagarin quickly became the USSR’s biggest star.
But the findings of the original investigation into his death have never been published and are known to have been vague.
Investigators were only able to conclude that “the most probable cause” was a sudden in-flight manoeuvre made to avoid a weather balloon or cloud cover.
But after studying hundreds of documents relating to the incident, Col Kuznetsov has concluded that an air vent in the cockpit was left partially open.
He said Gagarin and his co-pilot realised the cockpit was not hermetically sealed as they were approaching 10,000ft and took emergency action to descend to a safer altitude.
But according to Col Kuznetsov, the two men dived far too quickly and lost consciousness as a result – the plane then ploughed into a forest killing Gagarin and his trainer, Vladimir Seryogin, instantly.
Medical knowledge at the time meant the pilots would not have known it was dangerous to descend at such speed.
The operating instructions for the MiG-15 were also flawed, he adds, and did not specify how the pilots were supposed to use the fateful air vent.
Col Kuznetsov also raises the suggestion a careless pilot who used the same plane in the days leading up to crash may have been to blame for the open vent.
Until now, it had been thought that Gagarin himself was the last person to use the plane two days previously.
But Kuznetsov says he has now learnt that other pilots simulated a flight in the same plane prior to Gagarin’s fatal flight. He believes they may have tampered with the air vent and wants to determine their identity and what kind of training they were doing.
“Nobody knows what really happened except us,” said Col Kuznetsov. “We need to tell our people and the international community the real reason why the world’s first cosmonaut died.
“This part-open vent triggered the entire sequence of events that followed. These new facts need to be checked independently and by a government commission. Or even by foreign specialists.”
Col Kuznetsov says he wants space and aviation experts around the world to get involved to confirm his findings.
The mystery surrounding Yuri Gagarin’s death in an aircraft crash more than forty years ago may finally have been solved by a report which quashes decades of conspiracy theories.Independent Russian investigators say they have uncovered crucial new evidence which finally reveals how the world’s first man in space died aged just 34.
The study claims Gagarin’s death during a routine training flight in 1968 was caused by his panicked reaction after realising an air vent in his cockpit was open. He threw his MiG-15 fighter jet into such a steep dive that he blacked out and crashed into a forest below killing himself and his co-pilot.
Igor Kuznetsov, a retired Soviet air force colonel, believes his findings will end years of conspiracy theories ranging from claims Gagarin was drunk to allegations the accident was staged by jealous Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.
He has spent the past nine years with a group of aviation specialists, piecing together the circumstances using modern accident investigation techniques.
Gagarin died on a routine flight seven years after he shot to global fame by orbiting the Earth for 68 minutes. His mission handed the Soviet Union a spectacular propaganda coup and Gagarin quickly became the USSR’s biggest star.
But the findings of the original investigation into his death have never been published and are known to have been vague.
Investigators were only able to conclude that “the most probable cause” was a sudden in-flight manoeuvre made to avoid a weather balloon or cloud cover.
But after studying hundreds of documents relating to the incident, Col Kuznetsov has concluded that an air vent in the cockpit was left partially open.
He said Gagarin and his co-pilot realised the cockpit was not hermetically sealed as they were approaching 10,000ft and took emergency action to descend to a safer altitude.
But according to Col Kuznetsov, the two men dived far too quickly and lost consciousness as a result – the plane then ploughed into a forest killing Gagarin and his trainer, Vladimir Seryogin, instantly.
Medical knowledge at the time meant the pilots would not have known it was dangerous to descend at such speed.
The operating instructions for the MiG-15 were also flawed, he adds, and did not specify how the pilots were supposed to use the fateful air vent.
Col Kuznetsov also raises the suggestion a careless pilot who used the same plane in the days leading up to crash may have been to blame for the open vent.
Until now, it had been thought that Gagarin himself was the last person to use the plane two days previously.
But Kuznetsov says he has now learnt that other pilots simulated a flight in the same plane prior to Gagarin’s fatal flight. He believes they may have tampered with the air vent and wants to determine their identity and what kind of training they were doing.
“Nobody knows what really happened except us,” said Col Kuznetsov. “We need to tell our people and the international community the real reason why the world’s first cosmonaut died.
“This part-open vent triggered the entire sequence of events that followed. These new facts need to be checked independently and by a government commission. Or even by foreign specialists.”
Col Kuznetsov says he wants space and aviation experts around the world to get involved to confirm his findings.
Lockheed To Provide Sniper ATP and LANTIRN ER Pods to Turkish Air Force
Lockheed Martin has signed a foreign military sales contract to deliver Sniper Advanced Targeting Pods (ATPs) and LANTIRN Enhanced Resolution (ER) navigation pods to the Turkish Air Force. Valued at $118 million, the contract will provide Sniper ATP and LANTIRN ER navigation pods to equip Turkish Air Force F-16 Block 40 and Block 50 Peace Onyx aircraft.
"Sniper ATPs and LANTIRN ER navigation pods will provide a significant capability upgrade to the Turkish Air Force's F-16 fleet," said Rich Lovette, program director for Fixed-Wing Fire Control at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.
"LANTIRN ER's 3rd generation navigation FLIR and enhanced image processing will allow aircrews to go far beyond their current capability. The Sniper ATP will provide enhanced target detection and identification capability, expanding the F-16's ability to conduct non-traditional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations."
Packaged in a single lightweight pod, the Sniper ATP provides critical long-range, positive identification of both moving and stationary air and ground targets.It also possesses a video downlink equipped with the widely used Rover ground receiver to relay high-resolution streaming video to forward-deployed forces for non-traditional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and rapid target coordination.
Designed, developed and manufactured by Lockheed Martin, the Sniper ATP provides unrivaled precision engagement through its high-resolution, mid-wave forward-looking infrared (FLIR) and TV sensors, which operate in conjunction with a dual-mode laser, permitting eye-safe operation and precise geolocation in urban environments.
Combat proven on the F-16, F-15E, B-1, A-10 and Harrier GR7 and GR9 aircraft, the Sniper ATP is also flying on the F/A-18 and B-52. With advanced integration across U.S. Air Force and multinational aircraft, the Sniper ATP's common software and hardware interface design enables users to "plug and play" across services and multiple platforms, providing a common software and hardware configuration across aircraft fleets for greater interoperability.
LANTIRN ER navigation pod, an upgraded version of the highly successful LANTIRN navigation pod, delivers multi-mission success with a significantly reduced cost of ownership. Featuring terrain-following radar, a 3rd generation mid-wave FLIR, enhanced image signal processing and increased image quality, the LANTIRN ER navigation pod allows aircrews to operate worldwide, in daylight or darkness, at mission altitudes from sea level to 40,000 feet.
Russia to produce T-95 tanks, Mig-35 fighter jets
Moscow: Russia will begin the serial production of its new state-of-the-art weapons which include a new Main Battle Tank T-95 and a multi-role fighter jet Mig-35, as the country braces to compete for a share in the global arms market, with India being a potential buyer.
"The specifications of new main battle tank T-95, to be serially produced from 2010, are being tightly kept under the warps of secrecy," defence expert Igor Korotchenko told state-run Vesti FM radio.
"However, judging from the reports it would provide better survivability for the tank crew in the battle field, which will sit in an armoured capsule inside the T-95 MBT," Korotchenko said.
Russia's RAC MiG - part of the United Aircraft Corporation is also beginning the serial production of four-plus generation MiG-35 MMRCA, which is also bidding for the Indian Air Force's global tender for the acquisition of 126 fighters, according to Vesti FM radio.
In January-February Russia is also beginning flight tests of the prototype of new fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) T-50 developed by Sukhoi Corporation under the secret PAK-FA project, in which India is also a partner.
In December at the KNAAPO aircraft plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in the far eastern part of Russia the taxiing trials of the prototype were successfully carried out. "A satellite cluster of American CIA and Google, which is also a cover for CIA is constantly monitoring the airfield of KNAAPO, to get the glimpse of T-50, developed to counter US F-22 Raptor," a defence analyst Ruslan Pukhov told Vesti FM radio.
He also said in 2010 Russia's global satellite navigational system (GLONASS) would be fully operational.
Under an agreement signed in 2005, Russia has agreed to provide India with the access to military segment of GLONASS.
IAF's Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter fleet is equipped with dual band GPS/GLONASS receivers to avoid a Balkan like situation, when Pentagon had switched off GPS before striking at Serbia.
Despite repeated failures in 2010 Russia will continue the development of multiple warhead submarine launched (SLBM-MIRV) 'Bulava' nuclear missiles, which would be able to pierce present and future American missile shields, the Vesti FM radio said.
PTI
"The specifications of new main battle tank T-95, to be serially produced from 2010, are being tightly kept under the warps of secrecy," defence expert Igor Korotchenko told state-run Vesti FM radio.
"However, judging from the reports it would provide better survivability for the tank crew in the battle field, which will sit in an armoured capsule inside the T-95 MBT," Korotchenko said.
Russia's RAC MiG - part of the United Aircraft Corporation is also beginning the serial production of four-plus generation MiG-35 MMRCA, which is also bidding for the Indian Air Force's global tender for the acquisition of 126 fighters, according to Vesti FM radio.
In January-February Russia is also beginning flight tests of the prototype of new fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) T-50 developed by Sukhoi Corporation under the secret PAK-FA project, in which India is also a partner.
In December at the KNAAPO aircraft plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in the far eastern part of Russia the taxiing trials of the prototype were successfully carried out. "A satellite cluster of American CIA and Google, which is also a cover for CIA is constantly monitoring the airfield of KNAAPO, to get the glimpse of T-50, developed to counter US F-22 Raptor," a defence analyst Ruslan Pukhov told Vesti FM radio.
He also said in 2010 Russia's global satellite navigational system (GLONASS) would be fully operational.
Under an agreement signed in 2005, Russia has agreed to provide India with the access to military segment of GLONASS.
IAF's Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter fleet is equipped with dual band GPS/GLONASS receivers to avoid a Balkan like situation, when Pentagon had switched off GPS before striking at Serbia.
Despite repeated failures in 2010 Russia will continue the development of multiple warhead submarine launched (SLBM-MIRV) 'Bulava' nuclear missiles, which would be able to pierce present and future American missile shields, the Vesti FM radio said.
PTI
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Indian Air Force May Acquire More Su-30MKIs
NEWTOWN, Conn. - A total of 230 Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter aircraft have been ordered for the Indian Air Force (IAF), including 140 that are being assembled under license in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL). Recently, the commander of the IAF indicated that his service was interested in acquiring 50 additional Su-30MKIs, which would thus bring the total IAF acquisition to 280 Su-30MKIs.
Fifty Su-30MKIs, produced in Russia by Irkut, were delivered to the IAF by the end of 2007. Under an October 2007 deal valued at around $1.6 billion, Irkut is currently producing 40 additional Su-30MKIs for the service.
Meanwhile, licensed assembly by HAL of the aforementioned 140 Su-30MKIs is under way. Deliveries to the IAF of HAL-built aircraft began in 2005 and are scheduled to be completed in 2014.
Fifty Su-30MKIs, produced in Russia by Irkut, were delivered to the IAF by the end of 2007. Under an October 2007 deal valued at around $1.6 billion, Irkut is currently producing 40 additional Su-30MKIs for the service.
Meanwhile, licensed assembly by HAL of the aforementioned 140 Su-30MKIs is under way. Deliveries to the IAF of HAL-built aircraft began in 2005 and are scheduled to be completed in 2014.
Sidewinder to take aim at ground targets
A software tweak will transform the venerable Sidewinder missile, known for its air-to-air precision, into a weapon that can strike rapidly moving targets on the ground.
With three tests already proving that the AIM-9X Sidewinder can zero in on a boat or armored personnel carrier, the next step is to refine the way pilots aim and launch them, said Jeffrey White, AIM-9X program manager at Raytheon Co., which developed the missiles. Those tests begin this year.
Versions of the supersonic Sidewinder have flown on Air Force fighters since the mid-1950s as a missile intended to shoot down aircraft. The Air Force pays about $84,000 apiece for the AIM-9X, the latest Sidewinder variant, but the cost of the additional air-to-ground capability has not been determined.
Air Combat Command requested the upgrade because it wants one missile capable of attacking air and ground targets. This would allow the same fighter to fly air patrols and ground combat missions without having to land and change the mix of weapons onboard. “This capability could prove useful in limited air-to-surface scenarios if time is critical and a more suitable air-to-ground weapon is not available,” said Col. Eric Theisen, chief of ACC’s Advanced Programs Division.
The air-to-ground capability would be a first for the F-15C Eagle, which flies only air-to-air combat patrols. The missile also is standard gear for F-16 Fighting Falcons, A-10 Thunderbolts, F-22 Raptors, Navy F/A-18s and joint F-35 Lightning IIs.
Just like in air-to-air combat, the pilot points the missile’s infrared sensor at a ground target, waits for the missile to lock on to its target, and fires. The AIM-9X then chases down its prey with its heat-seeking guidance system. The capability of shooting targets on the ground would not require a change to the hardware, but new software would have to be downloaded into each missile’s guidance system.
In September, a Sidewinder launched from an F-16C destroyed a rapidly moving boat in the Gulf of Mexico. Another F-16 fired an AIM-9X that sank a boat in April 2008, and in 2007 a missile fired from an F-15C destroyed a fast-moving armored personnel carrier, Raytheon officials said. Raytheon would not disclose the altitude from which the missiles were launched.
With three tests already proving that the AIM-9X Sidewinder can zero in on a boat or armored personnel carrier, the next step is to refine the way pilots aim and launch them, said Jeffrey White, AIM-9X program manager at Raytheon Co., which developed the missiles. Those tests begin this year.
Versions of the supersonic Sidewinder have flown on Air Force fighters since the mid-1950s as a missile intended to shoot down aircraft. The Air Force pays about $84,000 apiece for the AIM-9X, the latest Sidewinder variant, but the cost of the additional air-to-ground capability has not been determined.
Air Combat Command requested the upgrade because it wants one missile capable of attacking air and ground targets. This would allow the same fighter to fly air patrols and ground combat missions without having to land and change the mix of weapons onboard. “This capability could prove useful in limited air-to-surface scenarios if time is critical and a more suitable air-to-ground weapon is not available,” said Col. Eric Theisen, chief of ACC’s Advanced Programs Division.
The air-to-ground capability would be a first for the F-15C Eagle, which flies only air-to-air combat patrols. The missile also is standard gear for F-16 Fighting Falcons, A-10 Thunderbolts, F-22 Raptors, Navy F/A-18s and joint F-35 Lightning IIs.
Just like in air-to-air combat, the pilot points the missile’s infrared sensor at a ground target, waits for the missile to lock on to its target, and fires. The AIM-9X then chases down its prey with its heat-seeking guidance system. The capability of shooting targets on the ground would not require a change to the hardware, but new software would have to be downloaded into each missile’s guidance system.
In September, a Sidewinder launched from an F-16C destroyed a rapidly moving boat in the Gulf of Mexico. Another F-16 fired an AIM-9X that sank a boat in April 2008, and in 2007 a missile fired from an F-15C destroyed a fast-moving armored personnel carrier, Raytheon officials said. Raytheon would not disclose the altitude from which the missiles were launched.
The F-22 and the F-35: Aircraft with advantages, or the next generation of wasted money?
The Air Force is spending hundreds of billions of dollars on two fighter jets that probably will never be used to support troops on the ground in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Congress has decided to cap production of the F-22, removing funding for the fifth-generation fighter from the 2010 military budget. And the F-35 — also known as the Joint Strike Fighter — won’t be ready for prime time before 2013, according to the latest estimates.
Critics of the new fighters say they are too expensive and not needed in today’s warfare, while proponents argue that the current aircraft are not as advanced as the F-22 and F-35, both of which would help the U.S. maintain air superiority for decades to come.
The programs have come under heavy criticism, mainly for cost overruns.
Each F-22 — there are about 140 of them assigned to six stateside bases — will have cost about $350 million under current estimates. The U.S. is awaiting delivery of roughly 50 more of them.
Winslow Wheeler, director of the Straus Military Reform Project of the Center for Defense Information and a vocal critic of both programs, predicts each F-35 might eventually cost almost $200 million.
Guy Ben-Ari, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the costs are "raising eyebrows left and right. At the end of the day, it comes down to resources, and they’re not endless."
Despite those concerns, the fighters’ advantages cannot be ignored, some officials say.
Maj. John Peterson, requirements officer for the F-35A at Air Force headquarters, said each fifth-generation fighter has four features that make it superior to fourth-generation models such as the F-16, F-15 and F/A-18. Some fourth-generation models might have some of the capabilities, but none has all four, he said.
Those four are the ability to evade enemy radar; maneuverability; the ability to take on varied tasks; and the ability to translate more data into usable information for the pilot.
A look at each aircraft:
F-22 Raptor
Christopher Preble, writing on the blog he maintains for the Cato Institute, said he believes the F-22 "likely never will" participate in actions over Iraq or Afghanistan. But Preble, director of foreign policy studies for the institute, said that doesn’t necessarily make it a bad aircraft.
"I have no reason to question the F-22’s capability," he said in a recent telephone interview.
Ben-Ari, a member of CSIS’ Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group, agreed with that assessment.
He said the F-22 might be able to carry out missions to support ground troops, but said that other aircraft such as the F-16 and A-10 are better designed to do so. The F-22 is thought to be better suited for taking on enemy aircraft and anti-aircraft positions as opposed to enemy forces engaged with friendly troops on the ground.
But there is the cost factor.
Preble cited a Washington Post article that stated that the cost of flying an F-22 is about $40,000 per hour.
So using the F-22 for a mission that other aircraft could handle, Ben-Ari said, "would be in the same manner as a Lamborghini used to bring your kids to school. You could do it, but do you really need to?"
Maj. Clay Bartels, F-22 requirements officer for Air Force headquarters at the Pentagon, said he believes the F-22 could take on ground-support missions today if called upon. But he said its primary role — ensuring U.S. superiority in the skies — isn’t needed in today’s wars.
"Air superiority is achieved already," he said in a phone interview.
Supporters say the F-22 is so technologically superior to other fighters that it will use advanced detecting and targeting systems to take out enemy planes from miles away. In such cases, enemy planes might not have even known they were in a fight until it was too late.
F-35A Joint Strike Fighter
The Air Force expects to receive the first of its 1,763 aircraft in 2013 — if testing goes according to plan.
The Marine Corps recently took possession of the first versions of the F-35 from Lockheed Martin and has begun its own testing. Congress overrode Pentagon misgivings and decided to spend an additional $465 million on an alternative engine for the F-35.
The Air Force, which projects that the F-35 will make up half its fleet in 2025, is involved in a system development and demonstration phase that Peterson said is set to last until 2014.
Wheeler, who once worked for the General Accounting Office, said that means the service will have purchased a significant number of aircraft that haven’t been fully tested. And he said he believes too much of the current testing is in the form of simulated models and table-top theories. He said more tests must involve actually flying the F-35.
———
Peterson and Bartels said the F-35 and F-22 are designed to provide specific, complementary roles for the service. But they’re only part of the picture. The service projects that some of the current generation of fighters will be used for decades to come.
Ben-Ari said the Air Force needs to not only deal with conflicts today, but also plan for future ones. "For the missions we’re conducting today, the current fleet is capable," he said. "For future ones … I’m not so sure.
"You can’t just draw up a design for a new aircraft and produce it in six months," he said. "You’re hedging against future risk. No politician or military officer wants to be the one who, looking back through history, canceled a project or ignored a risk."
Congress has decided to cap production of the F-22, removing funding for the fifth-generation fighter from the 2010 military budget. And the F-35 — also known as the Joint Strike Fighter — won’t be ready for prime time before 2013, according to the latest estimates.
Critics of the new fighters say they are too expensive and not needed in today’s warfare, while proponents argue that the current aircraft are not as advanced as the F-22 and F-35, both of which would help the U.S. maintain air superiority for decades to come.
The programs have come under heavy criticism, mainly for cost overruns.
Each F-22 — there are about 140 of them assigned to six stateside bases — will have cost about $350 million under current estimates. The U.S. is awaiting delivery of roughly 50 more of them.
Winslow Wheeler, director of the Straus Military Reform Project of the Center for Defense Information and a vocal critic of both programs, predicts each F-35 might eventually cost almost $200 million.
Guy Ben-Ari, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the costs are "raising eyebrows left and right. At the end of the day, it comes down to resources, and they’re not endless."
Despite those concerns, the fighters’ advantages cannot be ignored, some officials say.
Maj. John Peterson, requirements officer for the F-35A at Air Force headquarters, said each fifth-generation fighter has four features that make it superior to fourth-generation models such as the F-16, F-15 and F/A-18. Some fourth-generation models might have some of the capabilities, but none has all four, he said.
Those four are the ability to evade enemy radar; maneuverability; the ability to take on varied tasks; and the ability to translate more data into usable information for the pilot.
A look at each aircraft:
F-22 Raptor
Christopher Preble, writing on the blog he maintains for the Cato Institute, said he believes the F-22 "likely never will" participate in actions over Iraq or Afghanistan. But Preble, director of foreign policy studies for the institute, said that doesn’t necessarily make it a bad aircraft.
"I have no reason to question the F-22’s capability," he said in a recent telephone interview.
Ben-Ari, a member of CSIS’ Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group, agreed with that assessment.
He said the F-22 might be able to carry out missions to support ground troops, but said that other aircraft such as the F-16 and A-10 are better designed to do so. The F-22 is thought to be better suited for taking on enemy aircraft and anti-aircraft positions as opposed to enemy forces engaged with friendly troops on the ground.
But there is the cost factor.
Preble cited a Washington Post article that stated that the cost of flying an F-22 is about $40,000 per hour.
So using the F-22 for a mission that other aircraft could handle, Ben-Ari said, "would be in the same manner as a Lamborghini used to bring your kids to school. You could do it, but do you really need to?"
Maj. Clay Bartels, F-22 requirements officer for Air Force headquarters at the Pentagon, said he believes the F-22 could take on ground-support missions today if called upon. But he said its primary role — ensuring U.S. superiority in the skies — isn’t needed in today’s wars.
"Air superiority is achieved already," he said in a phone interview.
Supporters say the F-22 is so technologically superior to other fighters that it will use advanced detecting and targeting systems to take out enemy planes from miles away. In such cases, enemy planes might not have even known they were in a fight until it was too late.
F-35A Joint Strike Fighter
The Air Force expects to receive the first of its 1,763 aircraft in 2013 — if testing goes according to plan.
The Marine Corps recently took possession of the first versions of the F-35 from Lockheed Martin and has begun its own testing. Congress overrode Pentagon misgivings and decided to spend an additional $465 million on an alternative engine for the F-35.
The Air Force, which projects that the F-35 will make up half its fleet in 2025, is involved in a system development and demonstration phase that Peterson said is set to last until 2014.
Wheeler, who once worked for the General Accounting Office, said that means the service will have purchased a significant number of aircraft that haven’t been fully tested. And he said he believes too much of the current testing is in the form of simulated models and table-top theories. He said more tests must involve actually flying the F-35.
———
Peterson and Bartels said the F-35 and F-22 are designed to provide specific, complementary roles for the service. But they’re only part of the picture. The service projects that some of the current generation of fighters will be used for decades to come.
Ben-Ari said the Air Force needs to not only deal with conflicts today, but also plan for future ones. "For the missions we’re conducting today, the current fleet is capable," he said. "For future ones … I’m not so sure.
"You can’t just draw up a design for a new aircraft and produce it in six months," he said. "You’re hedging against future risk. No politician or military officer wants to be the one who, looking back through history, canceled a project or ignored a risk."
India will commission its first indigenous aircraft carrier in 2014. A sneak peek into the making of the big ship
A dream is being crafted on this dock in Cochin Shipyard. Groups of workers in red and navy blue are shaping a vessel that will make the Indian Navy a truly blue-water force. On the dock, welders are hunched over their torches, plasma cutters are shaping sheet iron and crane operators are guiding huge hull blocks to their slots. These men with calloused hands and half-moons of dirt under their fingernails are erasing a history of hand-me-downs. They are making India’s first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC).
There is a momentary hush as a huge gantry crane hoists a super-lift module to be slotted into the carrier. The crane operator deftly works the controls and gently guides the unit home. As the crane moves off, the welders take over and attach the lift-module to its neighbouring modules. After the lift-module is welded in place, plumbers and electricians hook up the wires and pipes. If all goes well, the Indian Navy will commission the carrier in 2014.
The 22 functional aircraft carriers in the world are owned by nine navies. Only the US, Russia and the UK have built carriers exceeding 40,000 tonnes. India is the fourth country to build a ship in this class. “It was our dream to equip India with an aircraft carrier,” said Commodore M. Jitendran, chairman and MD, Cochin Shipyard.
Work on the IAC started in November 2006 and 70 per cent of the hull blocks are done. Displacement tests, defining the hull form and structure, space analysis and hydrodynamic modelling have also been completed. “The IAC will be launched in 2010 and commissioned in 2014,” said Jitendran. “There will be no delays from our side.” Italian firm Fincantieri is assisting with the integration of the propulsion system and Russia’s Naval Design Bureau is helping with aviation systems.
The indigenous aircraft carrier project signifies not only an attempt to modernise the Navy, but also a shift in strategy. In the past, India had planned only to counter threats from Pakistan and China. But now it is aiming at global reach. International maritime laws recognise aircraft carriers as sovereign territories in almost all of the ocean.
“As long as a carrier does not get too close to a nation’s coast, it does not need permission from host countries for landing or overflight rights,” a Navy officer said. “A forward-deployed Navy provides the country with unique strategic options.” Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Nirmal Kumar Verma said India’s goal for the next decade was to have a fleet of 160 ships and over 300 aircraft.
India’s naval role becomes more important because of its proximity to two strategic commercial straits—Hormuz and Malacca. Almost 40 per cent of international seaborne oil shipments pass through Hormuz. In 2006, Malacca averaged 1.5 million barrels of crude oil per day. These figures alone highlight the strategic nature of these straits.
“The IAC will be a milestone in the Navy’s history,” said former Navy chief Admiral Arun Prakash. “It is a symbol of power projection, which will simply resonate in other countries as it resonates in India. It [the IAC project] shows India’s seriousness to become a true blue-water Navy.” An accomplished carrier pilot, Prakash had commanded the INAS 300 when it updated to Sea Harriers in 1983.
Aircraft carriers are designed to support multiple activities. They transport a variety of aircraft, launch and land specific aircraft, serve as a mobile command centre for military operations and house personnel involved in these activities. “We have to fit a ship, an air base and a small housing colony in the carrier,” said a senior officer of the Southern Naval Command.
Designed by the Directorate of Naval Design (DND), the IAC will be powered by four General Electric LM2500 gas turbines. The turbines will generate an optimum 88MW, giving the carrier a cruising speed of 28 knots. The LM2500 is licence-built in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. The carrier will be 260m long and 60m wide with an endurance of 8,000nm.
The 40-year-old DND has designed 40 classes of ships and is the only government organisation worldwide to design ships. Elsewhere, the work is done by public sector companies or private shipbuilders.
Takeoffs and landings on carriers are a tricky business. Commander P.V. Satish, who served on the INS Viraat, said a night landing on a carrier’s flight deck is the most harrowing exercise in military aviation. Seated at the controls of a fighter that could weigh up to 25 tonnes, the pilot approaches the carrier and all he can see are the tiny lights lining the flight deck. “Imagine that! In the middle of the ocean and he has to land on a 200m-long runway,” said Satish.
The IAC’s flight deck will be in STOBAR (Short Take-Off But Arrested Recovery) configuration with a ski-jump. The ski-jump will give aircraft additional lift during takeoff. All carrier-ready aircraft have a tailhook under their tail. Three arrestor wires fitted on to the flight deck are supposed to snag the tailhook and bring the plane to a stop. If a pilot misses all three wires, he has to take off and attempt another landing.
The IAC will have aircraft elevators before and after the ‘island’, the command and control centre of the carrier. The elevators move aircraft to the flight deck from the hangar deck. Sources said the IAC is designed to support and maintain 30 aircraft including the MiG-29K and the naval variant of Tejas, the indigenous light combat aircraft. The carrier will have two 200m runways, a helicopter deck and a 1,600-strong staff.
The team overseeing the project is currently finalising the carrier’s weapons systems. Obviously, the exact details are top secret. Carriers being ‘runways at sea’, the IAC will have systems capable of stopping attacks from enemy aircraft and missiles. There will also be a long-range surface-to-air missile system with multi-function radars and close-in weapon systems. The carrier will have anti-submarine defence systems. All defence systems on board will be integrated through a combat management system. Sources in the Southern Naval Command said the carrier would have “jamming capabilities over the expected electromagnetic environment.”
The quest for the IAC began in 1989 when the Navy wanted to replace its ageing British-built carriers with two new 28,000-tonne carriers. The first vessel was to replace the INS Vikrant, which was set to be decommissioned in early 1997. French company Direction des Constructions Navales (DCN) was contracted to study designs for a 25,000-tonne vessel with a speed of 30 knots.
The plans were dropped in 1991 when the defence ministry shifted focus from conventional-sized carriers to the Italian Giuseppe Garibaldi class. The new class put the carrier at around 17,000 tonnes with capability to support up to 15 aircraft. In 1997, the Navy whittled down DCN’s model to a 24,000-tonne Air Defence Ship (ADS). “But somehow it still did not fit India’s requirement,” said Deba Ranjan Mohanty, senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi.
Finally, in August 2006 the vessel was re-designated from ADS to a 252m-long IAC with a displacement of 37,000 tonnes. Because of design changes, the length was later increased to 260m and the displacement to 40,000 tonnes.
The project’s initial delay was due to the unavailability of high-grade steel. Though there was an initial agreement with Japan, it fell through after Pokhran II. Eventually, the Steel Authority of India Ltd produced the required steel under just about a year.
Senior Navy officials have confirmed that another core issue was the lack of funds. Prakash said the committee on defence expenditure had asked for downsizing to the Garibaldi class because of budgetary constraints. Many Navy officials said the current budget of Rs 3,260 crore was barely sufficient.
The IAC project has had other problems, too. Cochin Shipyard officials said IAC got delayed because of the ‘plan-as-you-build’ attitude. A minor alteration in the contracted design would lead to modifications of dozens of modules. But the Navy blames the shipyard for the “cost growth”. Commodore C. Uday Bhaskar, director, National Maritime Foundation, said delays occurred because the shipyard did not have basic equipment to build the carrier. This was solved by a special allocation of Rs 200 crore to Cochin Shipyard by the defence ministry.
Bhaskar said, “There was no clarity at the highest national level what kind of aircraft carrier India needed. There was a lot of confusion within the defence ministry about the nature of the carrier. Moreover, India is lagging behind in shipbuilding. We do not have good dockyard facilities and shipbuilding technology.” Perhaps this is why the IAC project is a matter of pride. Said Mohanty: “It is about achieving a long cherished dream and about a belief that, despite many odds, we can build a world class warship.”
In a bid to boost its blue-water credentials, the Navy is expected to operate three aircraft carriers by 2017. It is acquiring the Kiev-class Admiral Gorshkov (renamed INS Vikramaditya) from Russia and is planning a 50,000-tonne IAC 2 with CATOBAR (Catapult Assisted Take Off But Arrested Recovery) capability. CATOBAR will help IAC 2 to launch conventional aircraft. Only three countries have CATOBAR-capable carriers—the US (Nimitz class super-carriers and USS Enterprise), France (Charles de Gaulle) and Brazil (Sao Paulo).
Senior Navy officers said the order for IAC 2 was likely to be placed in 2010, after the launch of the first carrier. “The fate of IAC 2 will be decided by the performance of the first carrier,” said a senior Navy officer. On its part, Cochin Shipyard is using a modular approach to reduce construction time on IAC. If all goes well, after the initial launch the carrier will spend a year in the refit dock where all major components and underwater fittings would be fixed. Then it would be relaunched for outfitting.
The Navy has another external issue on its hands. The Defence Research and Development Organisation’s Tejas, which has to operate from the IAC, is behind schedule. The DRDO is thinking of installing the indigenous Kaveri engine in Tejas. But the engine has had multiple problems and French company Snecma is currently working on it.
The Navy might be forced to test Tejas with the current General Electric F404 engine. The test will ascertain its flight characteristics and whether its structural strength is sufficient for carrier deployment. When Tejas is fitted with Kaveri, the Navy will start operating it from a carrier. Reports said the Tejas naval variant was supposed to be ready for carrier trials by 2013.
Far away from the military planners, strategists and ‘Eyes Only’ files, the worker on the ground seems to have gauged the project’s significance better. Said a steelworker at the shipyard: “What is important for us is that we are doing something nobody else in India has done.”
There is a momentary hush as a huge gantry crane hoists a super-lift module to be slotted into the carrier. The crane operator deftly works the controls and gently guides the unit home. As the crane moves off, the welders take over and attach the lift-module to its neighbouring modules. After the lift-module is welded in place, plumbers and electricians hook up the wires and pipes. If all goes well, the Indian Navy will commission the carrier in 2014.
The 22 functional aircraft carriers in the world are owned by nine navies. Only the US, Russia and the UK have built carriers exceeding 40,000 tonnes. India is the fourth country to build a ship in this class. “It was our dream to equip India with an aircraft carrier,” said Commodore M. Jitendran, chairman and MD, Cochin Shipyard.
Work on the IAC started in November 2006 and 70 per cent of the hull blocks are done. Displacement tests, defining the hull form and structure, space analysis and hydrodynamic modelling have also been completed. “The IAC will be launched in 2010 and commissioned in 2014,” said Jitendran. “There will be no delays from our side.” Italian firm Fincantieri is assisting with the integration of the propulsion system and Russia’s Naval Design Bureau is helping with aviation systems.
The indigenous aircraft carrier project signifies not only an attempt to modernise the Navy, but also a shift in strategy. In the past, India had planned only to counter threats from Pakistan and China. But now it is aiming at global reach. International maritime laws recognise aircraft carriers as sovereign territories in almost all of the ocean.
“As long as a carrier does not get too close to a nation’s coast, it does not need permission from host countries for landing or overflight rights,” a Navy officer said. “A forward-deployed Navy provides the country with unique strategic options.” Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Nirmal Kumar Verma said India’s goal for the next decade was to have a fleet of 160 ships and over 300 aircraft.
India’s naval role becomes more important because of its proximity to two strategic commercial straits—Hormuz and Malacca. Almost 40 per cent of international seaborne oil shipments pass through Hormuz. In 2006, Malacca averaged 1.5 million barrels of crude oil per day. These figures alone highlight the strategic nature of these straits.
“The IAC will be a milestone in the Navy’s history,” said former Navy chief Admiral Arun Prakash. “It is a symbol of power projection, which will simply resonate in other countries as it resonates in India. It [the IAC project] shows India’s seriousness to become a true blue-water Navy.” An accomplished carrier pilot, Prakash had commanded the INAS 300 when it updated to Sea Harriers in 1983.
Aircraft carriers are designed to support multiple activities. They transport a variety of aircraft, launch and land specific aircraft, serve as a mobile command centre for military operations and house personnel involved in these activities. “We have to fit a ship, an air base and a small housing colony in the carrier,” said a senior officer of the Southern Naval Command.
Designed by the Directorate of Naval Design (DND), the IAC will be powered by four General Electric LM2500 gas turbines. The turbines will generate an optimum 88MW, giving the carrier a cruising speed of 28 knots. The LM2500 is licence-built in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. The carrier will be 260m long and 60m wide with an endurance of 8,000nm.
The 40-year-old DND has designed 40 classes of ships and is the only government organisation worldwide to design ships. Elsewhere, the work is done by public sector companies or private shipbuilders.
Takeoffs and landings on carriers are a tricky business. Commander P.V. Satish, who served on the INS Viraat, said a night landing on a carrier’s flight deck is the most harrowing exercise in military aviation. Seated at the controls of a fighter that could weigh up to 25 tonnes, the pilot approaches the carrier and all he can see are the tiny lights lining the flight deck. “Imagine that! In the middle of the ocean and he has to land on a 200m-long runway,” said Satish.
The IAC’s flight deck will be in STOBAR (Short Take-Off But Arrested Recovery) configuration with a ski-jump. The ski-jump will give aircraft additional lift during takeoff. All carrier-ready aircraft have a tailhook under their tail. Three arrestor wires fitted on to the flight deck are supposed to snag the tailhook and bring the plane to a stop. If a pilot misses all three wires, he has to take off and attempt another landing.
The IAC will have aircraft elevators before and after the ‘island’, the command and control centre of the carrier. The elevators move aircraft to the flight deck from the hangar deck. Sources said the IAC is designed to support and maintain 30 aircraft including the MiG-29K and the naval variant of Tejas, the indigenous light combat aircraft. The carrier will have two 200m runways, a helicopter deck and a 1,600-strong staff.
The team overseeing the project is currently finalising the carrier’s weapons systems. Obviously, the exact details are top secret. Carriers being ‘runways at sea’, the IAC will have systems capable of stopping attacks from enemy aircraft and missiles. There will also be a long-range surface-to-air missile system with multi-function radars and close-in weapon systems. The carrier will have anti-submarine defence systems. All defence systems on board will be integrated through a combat management system. Sources in the Southern Naval Command said the carrier would have “jamming capabilities over the expected electromagnetic environment.”
The quest for the IAC began in 1989 when the Navy wanted to replace its ageing British-built carriers with two new 28,000-tonne carriers. The first vessel was to replace the INS Vikrant, which was set to be decommissioned in early 1997. French company Direction des Constructions Navales (DCN) was contracted to study designs for a 25,000-tonne vessel with a speed of 30 knots.
The plans were dropped in 1991 when the defence ministry shifted focus from conventional-sized carriers to the Italian Giuseppe Garibaldi class. The new class put the carrier at around 17,000 tonnes with capability to support up to 15 aircraft. In 1997, the Navy whittled down DCN’s model to a 24,000-tonne Air Defence Ship (ADS). “But somehow it still did not fit India’s requirement,” said Deba Ranjan Mohanty, senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi.
Finally, in August 2006 the vessel was re-designated from ADS to a 252m-long IAC with a displacement of 37,000 tonnes. Because of design changes, the length was later increased to 260m and the displacement to 40,000 tonnes.
The project’s initial delay was due to the unavailability of high-grade steel. Though there was an initial agreement with Japan, it fell through after Pokhran II. Eventually, the Steel Authority of India Ltd produced the required steel under just about a year.
Senior Navy officials have confirmed that another core issue was the lack of funds. Prakash said the committee on defence expenditure had asked for downsizing to the Garibaldi class because of budgetary constraints. Many Navy officials said the current budget of Rs 3,260 crore was barely sufficient.
The IAC project has had other problems, too. Cochin Shipyard officials said IAC got delayed because of the ‘plan-as-you-build’ attitude. A minor alteration in the contracted design would lead to modifications of dozens of modules. But the Navy blames the shipyard for the “cost growth”. Commodore C. Uday Bhaskar, director, National Maritime Foundation, said delays occurred because the shipyard did not have basic equipment to build the carrier. This was solved by a special allocation of Rs 200 crore to Cochin Shipyard by the defence ministry.
Bhaskar said, “There was no clarity at the highest national level what kind of aircraft carrier India needed. There was a lot of confusion within the defence ministry about the nature of the carrier. Moreover, India is lagging behind in shipbuilding. We do not have good dockyard facilities and shipbuilding technology.” Perhaps this is why the IAC project is a matter of pride. Said Mohanty: “It is about achieving a long cherished dream and about a belief that, despite many odds, we can build a world class warship.”
In a bid to boost its blue-water credentials, the Navy is expected to operate three aircraft carriers by 2017. It is acquiring the Kiev-class Admiral Gorshkov (renamed INS Vikramaditya) from Russia and is planning a 50,000-tonne IAC 2 with CATOBAR (Catapult Assisted Take Off But Arrested Recovery) capability. CATOBAR will help IAC 2 to launch conventional aircraft. Only three countries have CATOBAR-capable carriers—the US (Nimitz class super-carriers and USS Enterprise), France (Charles de Gaulle) and Brazil (Sao Paulo).
Senior Navy officers said the order for IAC 2 was likely to be placed in 2010, after the launch of the first carrier. “The fate of IAC 2 will be decided by the performance of the first carrier,” said a senior Navy officer. On its part, Cochin Shipyard is using a modular approach to reduce construction time on IAC. If all goes well, after the initial launch the carrier will spend a year in the refit dock where all major components and underwater fittings would be fixed. Then it would be relaunched for outfitting.
The Navy has another external issue on its hands. The Defence Research and Development Organisation’s Tejas, which has to operate from the IAC, is behind schedule. The DRDO is thinking of installing the indigenous Kaveri engine in Tejas. But the engine has had multiple problems and French company Snecma is currently working on it.
The Navy might be forced to test Tejas with the current General Electric F404 engine. The test will ascertain its flight characteristics and whether its structural strength is sufficient for carrier deployment. When Tejas is fitted with Kaveri, the Navy will start operating it from a carrier. Reports said the Tejas naval variant was supposed to be ready for carrier trials by 2013.
Far away from the military planners, strategists and ‘Eyes Only’ files, the worker on the ground seems to have gauged the project’s significance better. Said a steelworker at the shipyard: “What is important for us is that we are doing something nobody else in India has done.”
Fighter jets scrambled again because of unruly airline passenger
CNN) -- In the second such incident in three days, fighter jets escorted a diverted commercial flight on Friday after an unruly passenger caused alarm onboard.
The military sent up two F-16s in response to reports of an unruly passenger aboard AirTran Flight 39, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said in a statement.
The passenger had become belligerent and refused to leave the restroom, airline spokesman Tad Hutcheson told CNN on Friday. The passenger appeared to be intoxicated, he said.
The flight, bound for San Francisco, California, left Atlanta, Georgia, at 9:48 a.m. ET, according to AirTran's Web site.
NORAD dispatched the fighters at 1:44 p.m. ET, escorting the aircraft to a safe emergency landing in Colorado Springs, Colorado, officials said. The passenger was detained there and FBI agents from Denver, Colorado, were called to question passengers, Hutcheson said.
The other passengers were scheduled to continue their trip at 4:30 p.m. ET, he said.
On Wednesday, NORAD escorted a Hawaii-bound plane back to its origination city of Portland, Oregon, after a passenger gave a flight attendant a note that was interpreted as being threatening, the federal complaint and supporting affidavit said Friday.
The passenger, Joseph Hedlund Johnson, 56, told the FBI he hadn't intended to scare anyone with the note, which began, "I thought I was going to die," and referenced the television show "Gilligan's Island."
The military sent up two F-16s in response to reports of an unruly passenger aboard AirTran Flight 39, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said in a statement.
The passenger had become belligerent and refused to leave the restroom, airline spokesman Tad Hutcheson told CNN on Friday. The passenger appeared to be intoxicated, he said.
The flight, bound for San Francisco, California, left Atlanta, Georgia, at 9:48 a.m. ET, according to AirTran's Web site.
NORAD dispatched the fighters at 1:44 p.m. ET, escorting the aircraft to a safe emergency landing in Colorado Springs, Colorado, officials said. The passenger was detained there and FBI agents from Denver, Colorado, were called to question passengers, Hutcheson said.
The other passengers were scheduled to continue their trip at 4:30 p.m. ET, he said.
On Wednesday, NORAD escorted a Hawaii-bound plane back to its origination city of Portland, Oregon, after a passenger gave a flight attendant a note that was interpreted as being threatening, the federal complaint and supporting affidavit said Friday.
The passenger, Joseph Hedlund Johnson, 56, told the FBI he hadn't intended to scare anyone with the note, which began, "I thought I was going to die," and referenced the television show "Gilligan's Island."
Venezuelan F-16 fighter jets 'intercept US warplane'
Chavez accuses the US of violating Venezuelan airspace.
Venezuela has scrambled two F-16 fighter jets to ward off a US 'military plane' amid reports of “US trespassing the country's airspace.”
President Hugo Chavez has ordered the fighters to confront a US P-3 maritime patrol aircraft that had purportedly violated Venezuela's airspace, Reuters quoted the Venezuelan president as saying on Friday.
"They are provoking us ... these are warplanes," Chavez noted, showing a picture of the plane, which he said, had taken off from US military bases on the Netherlands' Caribbean islands and from neighboring Colombia on two separate occasions.
He said the Venezuelan fighter jets forced the US plane away after the 'incursions.'
Meanwhile, Pentagon officials have denied the charges and expressed unawareness of the latest development.
"We can confirm no US military aircraft entered Venezuelan airspace today. As a matter of policy we do not fly over a nation's airspace without prior consent or coordination," Reuters quoted an unnamed Defense Department Spokesperson as saying on January 8.
The US Southern Command claims that its surveillance operations are 'only' meant to counter drug trafficking in South America.
Venezuela has scrambled two F-16 fighter jets to ward off a US 'military plane' amid reports of “US trespassing the country's airspace.”
President Hugo Chavez has ordered the fighters to confront a US P-3 maritime patrol aircraft that had purportedly violated Venezuela's airspace, Reuters quoted the Venezuelan president as saying on Friday.
"They are provoking us ... these are warplanes," Chavez noted, showing a picture of the plane, which he said, had taken off from US military bases on the Netherlands' Caribbean islands and from neighboring Colombia on two separate occasions.
He said the Venezuelan fighter jets forced the US plane away after the 'incursions.'
Meanwhile, Pentagon officials have denied the charges and expressed unawareness of the latest development.
"We can confirm no US military aircraft entered Venezuelan airspace today. As a matter of policy we do not fly over a nation's airspace without prior consent or coordination," Reuters quoted an unnamed Defense Department Spokesperson as saying on January 8.
The US Southern Command claims that its surveillance operations are 'only' meant to counter drug trafficking in South America.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Japanese Review Bolsters Non-F-35 Order
Japan is risking a rapid loss of fighter engineering skills, an official review of the industry warns, while urging the government to avoid fully importing combat aircraft.
Estimates of future engineering effort starkly illustrate an unspoken argument for Japan to buy and develop advanced versions of the Eurofighter Typhoon, Boeing F-15 or Boeing F/A-18E/F to fill its requirement for 50 fighters.
“An industrial base is difficult to rebuild once experienced engineers and mechanics leave the industry, so it is essential to keep it for future fighter development,” says the Commission on Reform of Fighter Production Technology Base.
About 70 percent of the engineering work force for the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries F-2 fighter has already been assigned to other business units, the report says. Only 60 engineers are now working on the F-16-based effort, Japan’s only fighter production program.
Moreover, F-2 production is due to end in September 2011. With it will go IHI’s production line for the General Electric F110 engine. The development of the IHI XF5-1 engine for the ATD-X stealth fighter technology demonstrator “will only delay the decline in propulsion capability,” the commission says.
“For the fighters operated by our country, it is desirable to keep a complete in-country industrial base required for maintenance, technical support and capability enhancement.”
But in a notable concession, it accepts that Japan cannot be wholly independent: “Many other countries rely on foreign sources for part of their [fighter] industrial base for budgetary and technological reasons. Japan is no exception.”
That seems to undermine the implicit threat behind the ATD-X program: that if the U.S. refuses to supply Japan with the F-22, then Japan will develop its own stealth fighter.
The Japanese fighter industrial base is composed of 1,100 companies.
The airframe engineering effort for military aircraft is now at a peak above 1.1 million worker hours, about a third of that work applied to ATD-X development, a third to maintenance and the rest to the already declining F-2 program and the C-X transport and XP-1 maritime patrol aircraft.
The end of the F-2 program will alone cut military airframe engineering by 40 percent, and by 2014 there will be negligible fighter airframe engineering under way in Japan, reports the panel. The story for engines is similar, although electronics engineering will be maintained at a higher level thanks to upgrade work.
The implication of these figures is that to maintain the industrial base, Japanese engineers need development work. The Lockheed Martin F-35, a leading contender for the F-X requirement, is unlikely to yield much — or at least not until improved versions can be considered many years from now. Production work on the F-35 would, however, be available to Japan, since Lockheed has a large parcel of work that has not been allocated to partner nations in the project.
But Eurofighter and Boeing have both stressed that Japan can take their current fighter designs and add features if it wants to do so.
Eurofighter has gone as far as saying that Japan could do anything it wanted with the Typhoon design.
A further possibility to relieve the fighter work drought in Japan would be an extra batch of F-2s, featuring improvements over the current version. Such an order may not be far from official thinking.
A former chief of aircraft development at the defense ministry’s Technical Research and Development Institute has written in Japan Military Review that if additional F-2s were ordered, the price must go down.
Despite deflation in Japan, it has cost more to build F-2s in recent years than it did in the 1990s to build F-15s, which are much larger
Estimates of future engineering effort starkly illustrate an unspoken argument for Japan to buy and develop advanced versions of the Eurofighter Typhoon, Boeing F-15 or Boeing F/A-18E/F to fill its requirement for 50 fighters.
“An industrial base is difficult to rebuild once experienced engineers and mechanics leave the industry, so it is essential to keep it for future fighter development,” says the Commission on Reform of Fighter Production Technology Base.
About 70 percent of the engineering work force for the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries F-2 fighter has already been assigned to other business units, the report says. Only 60 engineers are now working on the F-16-based effort, Japan’s only fighter production program.
Moreover, F-2 production is due to end in September 2011. With it will go IHI’s production line for the General Electric F110 engine. The development of the IHI XF5-1 engine for the ATD-X stealth fighter technology demonstrator “will only delay the decline in propulsion capability,” the commission says.
“For the fighters operated by our country, it is desirable to keep a complete in-country industrial base required for maintenance, technical support and capability enhancement.”
But in a notable concession, it accepts that Japan cannot be wholly independent: “Many other countries rely on foreign sources for part of their [fighter] industrial base for budgetary and technological reasons. Japan is no exception.”
That seems to undermine the implicit threat behind the ATD-X program: that if the U.S. refuses to supply Japan with the F-22, then Japan will develop its own stealth fighter.
The Japanese fighter industrial base is composed of 1,100 companies.
The airframe engineering effort for military aircraft is now at a peak above 1.1 million worker hours, about a third of that work applied to ATD-X development, a third to maintenance and the rest to the already declining F-2 program and the C-X transport and XP-1 maritime patrol aircraft.
The end of the F-2 program will alone cut military airframe engineering by 40 percent, and by 2014 there will be negligible fighter airframe engineering under way in Japan, reports the panel. The story for engines is similar, although electronics engineering will be maintained at a higher level thanks to upgrade work.
The implication of these figures is that to maintain the industrial base, Japanese engineers need development work. The Lockheed Martin F-35, a leading contender for the F-X requirement, is unlikely to yield much — or at least not until improved versions can be considered many years from now. Production work on the F-35 would, however, be available to Japan, since Lockheed has a large parcel of work that has not been allocated to partner nations in the project.
But Eurofighter and Boeing have both stressed that Japan can take their current fighter designs and add features if it wants to do so.
Eurofighter has gone as far as saying that Japan could do anything it wanted with the Typhoon design.
A further possibility to relieve the fighter work drought in Japan would be an extra batch of F-2s, featuring improvements over the current version. Such an order may not be far from official thinking.
A former chief of aircraft development at the defense ministry’s Technical Research and Development Institute has written in Japan Military Review that if additional F-2s were ordered, the price must go down.
Despite deflation in Japan, it has cost more to build F-2s in recent years than it did in the 1990s to build F-15s, which are much larger
Japanese Review Bolsters Non-F-35 Order
Japan is risking a rapid loss of fighter engineering skills, an official review of the industry warns, while urging the government to avoid fully importing combat aircraft.
Estimates of future engineering effort starkly illustrate an unspoken argument for Japan to buy and develop advanced versions of the Eurofighter Typhoon, Boeing F-15 or Boeing F/A-18E/F to fill its requirement for 50 fighters.
“An industrial base is difficult to rebuild once experienced engineers and mechanics leave the industry, so it is essential to keep it for future fighter development,” says the Commission on Reform of Fighter Production Technology Base.
About 70 percent of the engineering work force for the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries F-2 fighter has already been assigned to other business units, the report says. Only 60 engineers are now working on the F-16-based effort, Japan’s only fighter production program.
Moreover, F-2 production is due to end in September 2011. With it will go IHI’s production line for the General Electric F110 engine. The development of the IHI XF5-1 engine for the ATD-X stealth fighter technology demonstrator “will only delay the decline in propulsion capability,” the commission says.
“For the fighters operated by our country, it is desirable to keep a complete in-country industrial base required for maintenance, technical support and capability enhancement.”
But in a notable concession, it accepts that Japan cannot be wholly independent: “Many other countries rely on foreign sources for part of their [fighter] industrial base for budgetary and technological reasons. Japan is no exception.”
That seems to undermine the implicit threat behind the ATD-X program: that if the U.S. refuses to supply Japan with the F-22, then Japan will develop its own stealth fighter.
The Japanese fighter industrial base is composed of 1,100 companies.
The airframe engineering effort for military aircraft is now at a peak above 1.1 million worker hours, about a third of that work applied to ATD-X development, a third to maintenance and the rest to the already declining F-2 program and the C-X transport and XP-1 maritime patrol aircraft.
The end of the F-2 program will alone cut military airframe engineering by 40 percent, and by 2014 there will be negligible fighter airframe engineering under way in Japan, reports the panel. The story for engines is similar, although electronics engineering will be maintained at a higher level thanks to upgrade work.
The implication of these figures is that to maintain the industrial base, Japanese engineers need development work. The Lockheed Martin F-35, a leading contender for the F-X requirement, is unlikely to yield much — or at least not until improved versions can be considered many years from now. Production work on the F-35 would, however, be available to Japan, since Lockheed has a large parcel of work that has not been allocated to partner nations in the project.
But Eurofighter and Boeing have both stressed that Japan can take their current fighter designs and add features if it wants to do so.
Eurofighter has gone as far as saying that Japan could do anything it wanted with the Typhoon design.
A further possibility to relieve the fighter work drought in Japan would be an extra batch of F-2s, featuring improvements over the current version. Such an order may not be far from official thinking.
A former chief of aircraft development at the defense ministry’s Technical Research and Development Institute has written in Japan Military Review that if additional F-2s were ordered, the price must go down.
Despite deflation in Japan, it has cost more to build F-2s in recent years than it did in the 1990s to build F-15s, which are much larger
Estimates of future engineering effort starkly illustrate an unspoken argument for Japan to buy and develop advanced versions of the Eurofighter Typhoon, Boeing F-15 or Boeing F/A-18E/F to fill its requirement for 50 fighters.
“An industrial base is difficult to rebuild once experienced engineers and mechanics leave the industry, so it is essential to keep it for future fighter development,” says the Commission on Reform of Fighter Production Technology Base.
About 70 percent of the engineering work force for the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries F-2 fighter has already been assigned to other business units, the report says. Only 60 engineers are now working on the F-16-based effort, Japan’s only fighter production program.
Moreover, F-2 production is due to end in September 2011. With it will go IHI’s production line for the General Electric F110 engine. The development of the IHI XF5-1 engine for the ATD-X stealth fighter technology demonstrator “will only delay the decline in propulsion capability,” the commission says.
“For the fighters operated by our country, it is desirable to keep a complete in-country industrial base required for maintenance, technical support and capability enhancement.”
But in a notable concession, it accepts that Japan cannot be wholly independent: “Many other countries rely on foreign sources for part of their [fighter] industrial base for budgetary and technological reasons. Japan is no exception.”
That seems to undermine the implicit threat behind the ATD-X program: that if the U.S. refuses to supply Japan with the F-22, then Japan will develop its own stealth fighter.
The Japanese fighter industrial base is composed of 1,100 companies.
The airframe engineering effort for military aircraft is now at a peak above 1.1 million worker hours, about a third of that work applied to ATD-X development, a third to maintenance and the rest to the already declining F-2 program and the C-X transport and XP-1 maritime patrol aircraft.
The end of the F-2 program will alone cut military airframe engineering by 40 percent, and by 2014 there will be negligible fighter airframe engineering under way in Japan, reports the panel. The story for engines is similar, although electronics engineering will be maintained at a higher level thanks to upgrade work.
The implication of these figures is that to maintain the industrial base, Japanese engineers need development work. The Lockheed Martin F-35, a leading contender for the F-X requirement, is unlikely to yield much — or at least not until improved versions can be considered many years from now. Production work on the F-35 would, however, be available to Japan, since Lockheed has a large parcel of work that has not been allocated to partner nations in the project.
But Eurofighter and Boeing have both stressed that Japan can take their current fighter designs and add features if it wants to do so.
Eurofighter has gone as far as saying that Japan could do anything it wanted with the Typhoon design.
A further possibility to relieve the fighter work drought in Japan would be an extra batch of F-2s, featuring improvements over the current version. Such an order may not be far from official thinking.
A former chief of aircraft development at the defense ministry’s Technical Research and Development Institute has written in Japan Military Review that if additional F-2s were ordered, the price must go down.
Despite deflation in Japan, it has cost more to build F-2s in recent years than it did in the 1990s to build F-15s, which are much larger
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