Indian Build Up

[Contrarian]

Meet targets, Antony tells defence companies

NEW DELHI: Defence Minister A.K. Antony has pulled up Government-owned defence companies, telling them that they should meet their targets and not take Government bailouts for granted. The Minister also had some tough words for the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), which had taken on too many projects and is now being subjected to an audit by independent experts.

The defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs) and DRDO would have "accountability and transparency" forced on them. "I am not satisfied with the working of some of the DPSUs. You cannot take Government bailouts for granted if you continue to not meet targets and obligations," the Defence Minister said at a gathering of chiefs of DPSUs here on Wednesday.

As for the DRDO, facing time and cost overruns in most cutting-edge projects, he told it to hive-off projects of a lesser nature to private and public sector companies and focus on hi-tech R&D of strategic importance. Not only has the Government decided to review and audit DRDO's functioning, its board would include Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and Indian Space Research Organisation representatives to ensure in-house failings and over-ambitious projects were promptly identified and not allowed to fester.
http://www.hindu.com/2007/02/15/stories/2007021506141200.htm

 

[Bull]

NEW DELHI, FEB 16 (PTI)

With a view to bolster its undersea fighting capabilities, the Navy is poised to open international bids for acquisition and construction of second range of submarines.

"The Request for proposals (RFP) to acquire and build six new range of submarines would be floated shortly", a senior Naval official told PTI.

In contention would be the Russians with their 4th generation Amur class submarines armed with vertically launched KLUB-S Missiles and new generation of German HDW submarines with their Air Independent propulsion systems (AIP).

Navy has already firmed up a deal with the French warship builders DCN International for construction of six scorpene submarines at Mazagoan docks in Mumbai. The first of these hunter-killer submarines are expected to roll out by 2011.

Naval officials have ruled out equipping any of the six Scorpene submarines with AIP, but Naval Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta has said this capability would be a criteria for the new planned acquisition of six more submarines.

However, the navy remains tightlipped about progress of a proposal to acquire two Russian Akula (Bars) class type 971 Nuclear powered submarines, as part of India's nuclear detterent based on sea, land and air platforms.

"We definitely would want to have Nuclear submarines because of their long undersea endurance, the decision has to be political", Naval officials said.

Naval and DRDO scientists have been working on an indegenious nuclear submarines for years, but are cautious to go public on the project labelled Advance Technology Vehicle. According to sources, India may go in for first sea trials of the submarines by 2009.

Indian and Russian dockyards have been in negotiation for over three years on the acquisition of the Amur class submarines, which are described as successors to the Indian Navy's Kilo class submarines.

Amur displacement is smaller than Kilo, but its capabilities are stated to be far superior." The Russians have offered to incorporate Rubin-Designed fuel cell AIP in their offer of technology transfer to India.

Amur has a displacement of 2000 ton and can attain maximum speed of 21 knots when submerged and 10 knots when surfaced, with a crew of 30 to 34 personnel and an endurance of 45 days.

The Russians had designed the new AIP system to be retrofitted to the Indian Navy Sindhughosh class submarines, some of which are currently being upgraded at St Petersburg. However, the navy opted to go in for vertically launched Klub-S missiles instead.

The Amur class submarines also sport anti-ship missiles such as SS-N-15 or the SS-N-16 missiles and a variety of mines and topedoes.

The Russians had designed the new generation Amur class submarines for joint induction into the Indian and Russian Navies and the subs are expected to cost significantly less than the Kilo class.

However, the Americans could be late entrants for Indian submarine deal and by the time the RFP's are issued in late march or early April, they could also be in the hunt for the Indian deal.

On other acquisition prospects, Naval officials said evaluation was currently underway for inducting eight Maritime Reconissance Aircraft. "Bids from Boeing and Airbus for the long range spy planes and from Lockheed-Martin offering the P3C Orions and Russian IL-38D for the short range requirment are under study".

Navy is also planning to buy 16 helicopters with the option of another eight to replace its ageing Seaking Mk 42s and Seaking Mk42s fleet, which are fast approaching the end of their service life. They said Navy was also acquiring naval versions of the Hawk jet trainers

 

[Bull]

The Coast Guard may be the youngest of the armed forces but it is inching closer towards establishing a formidable identity of its own.

And its efforts to step out of the "Navy's shadow" were backed by Defence Minister AK Antony, who said on Sunday that the Coast Guard would be provided more ships, aircraft, surveillance equipment and unmanned aerial vehicles to make it a reckonable force in the Indian Ocean Region. He said the extension of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) after the delineation of the continental shelf would place additional responsibilities on the Coast Guard.

"It is mandated with the task of protecting 2.01 million square kms of India's EEZ. But in the new scenario, its responsibilities will extend beyond 3 million square kms," Antony said after reviewing a Coast Guard fleet to mark its 30th anniversary.

As part of a campaign to enhance its "deepwater capabilities", the Coast Guard has formulated its 15-year perspective plan for the acquisition of 15 new ships and 23 aircraft during 2007-2022. Antony assured that its requirements would be met.

The air assets sought by the Coast Guard, which operates Dorniers and Chetaks, include multi-mission maritime aircraft, twin-engine helicopters and UAVs for sharpening its surveillance capabilities.

Coast Guard Director General Vice Admiral Rusi Contractor said the force's responsibilities had increased manifold since its creation 30 years ago in terms of protecting India's maritime interests, marine wealth and ocean resources.

To effectively meet the challenges of its varied roles, the Coast Guard will be expanding its fleet in the near future with the induction of five fast patrol boats, two advanced offshore patrol vessels, three pollution control vessels, three inshore patrol vessels and 11 interceptor boats. It has commissioned new stations at Pondicherry, Beypore and Kakinada to bridge the surveillance gap along the Coromandel and Malabar coasts. These stations assume significance
in the light of oil and gas finds off Chennai and in the Krishna Godavari basin.

Antony emphasised that the Coast Guard needed bigger ships, more infrastructure and additional manpower keeping in view its diversified role. The force has also been appointed the focal agency in the country to combat piracy and armed robbery under the Regional Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia — a pact signed by 16 countries.

Antony said the force, under a home ministry initiative, was also assisting several states to set up maritime police stations and train police personnel under the coastal guarantee scheme. The objective of the move is to ensure that small dinghies and craft cannot be used to land contraband to the Indian shores.

 

[Bull]

Udhampur, PTI:

Dhruv has cleared "all test trials" for flying over Siachen Glacier without "any error" and joined the category of of Chetak and Cheetah helicopters...

Inducted into the IAF in 1998, India's first advanced light helicopter (ALH) 'Dhruv' has come out with flying colours clearing all trials for regular high- altitude operations in the Siachen skyline of Jammu and Kashmir.

Dhruv has cleared "all test trials" for flying over Siachen Glacier without "any error" and joined the category of of Chetak and Cheetah helicopters, which fly daily to the icy heights to maintain support services for troops based there, Air Force sources said.

The chopper has been validated for high-altitude, low temperature flying, required to maintain the supply lines for the Siachen region, they said.


"Dhruv qualified for the operations last month after the trials. It can now fly in the glacier sector in all conditions and conduct all types of operations required there", the sources said.

Trials of the chopper, manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Bangalore, were carried by Commanding Officer of Chandigarh-based Dhruv squadron Sq Ld Sandesh Mitra for over a six-month-period at different times and under various weather conditions

 

[Contrarian]

IAF & USAF to Engage in Red Flag Exercises

While it took over 50 years for the Indian Air Force to conduct joint air exercises with the US Air Force, that interaction could get a further boost as the IAF is likely to participate in multilateral exercises in the United States within the next year or two.

An invitation to take part in the rigorous Red Flag exercises in either Nevada or Alaska has been accepted by the Chief of the Indian Air Force, according to his American counterpart.

The American Air Force chief General T Michael Moseley emphasized that ties with the Indian Air Force would scale new heights with the invitation to the IAF, to participate in the USAF�s Red Flag exercises. This operation consists realistic aerial war games in combat situations to train air force pilots from the US, NATO and allied countries. This will be the first time the IAF will take part in a Red Flag exercise.

USAF Chief of Staff, T Michael Moseley told CNBC-TV18, "We�ve not had an opportunity to understand each other�s culture, to understand each other�s rules, understand how to operate together since World War II. And so, any of these things in a multilateral sense, in a coalition sense, has benefits for all of us. And I look forward to more of them, whether it�s in my country or whether it�s in your country."

While the USAF has had successful joint exercises with the IAF in recent years, General Moseley made it clear that inter-operability of hardware remained an issue.

Moseley explains, "To go beyond where we are now, into something much more interdependent requires a similar equipage of aircraft, whether it�s cargo carrier aircraft, whether it�s fighters or whether it�s trainers, and so we�re looking at that now as a potential set of opportunities - depending on what your air force and your government decide to buy."

That, of course, is a pitch for India to procure US aircraft and defence equipment, a discussion that the General said was in progress. The Indian Air Force�s participation in the Red Flag exercises in the United States is just another indicator that the US is focusing on strengthening its military ties with India.

http://www.india-defence.com/reports/2899

 

[Neo]

Good for India!
Now try to beat our Red Flag record against the Amreekans.

 

[Contrarian]

Now try to beat our Red Flag record against the Amreekans.

Didnt know PAF had a record there. Please give the details Neo.

 

[Neo]

Yes, we've beaten them again and again, lost only three times or so.
Lemme find the link, but Sir Muradk can tell the stories from first hand.

 

[Contrarian]

Protein engineering in defence of soldiers

VELLORE: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), one of the flagship institutions of the country, is in the process of developing a new technology of using protein engineering to protect the health conditions of the Indian soldiers, deployed in higher altitude regions and exposed to extreme conditions of cold, heat, radiation and stress.

According to Dr W Selvamurthy, controller of research, DRDO, who was here at the Vellore Institute of Technology University (VITU) to inaugurate a two-day national seminar on ‘Protein Science and Engineering’ which began on Tuesday, many of the neuro chemical and morphological studies conducted by the DRDO have revealed that high altitude deployment leads to memory loss for the soldiers, besides a ’high altitude pulmonary oedema’ that can be corrected using the protein engineering technology. As a first step, a set of bio-markers have already been developed to correct the health defects among the soldiers.

Emphasing the fact that the protein science would play a vital role in the overall development of the country, he said using the technology of purification and refolding of the proteins, humanised antibodies to control diabetes (addition of argines for a long lasting effect of insulin), recombinant vaccines against dengue, anthrax and typhoid are also being developed by the DRDO which can provide solutions to many of the public health issues, he said.

Giving details about the research initiatives undertaken by the DRDO, Selvamurthy said that the target was to realise self-reliance in the field of therapeutics, develop oral/edible vaccines for infectious diseases, develop cold tolerance and disease resistant high yielding crops which can boost the productivity.

‘‘India would have missed the industrial revolution of the yester centuries, but it is well ahead in leading the IT revolution of the globe,’’ he said adding that formation of a knowledge grid of universities and national research laboratories in the country would help in furtherance of developing the country in the knowledge era.

The DRDO was planning to involve the universities to share research work on contract basis, towards achieving defence security, he added.

He also felt that a combined development of educational institutions, industry and health organisations in the country would alone change the lifestyle of the people to attain the status of a developed nation. According to him, a Rs 18 crore life research centre at the Bharathidasan University in Coimbatore, a centre for higher energy materials in Hyderabad and a centre for microwave technology in Calcutta University have been established by the DRDO under the Tenth Plan.

‘‘India is gearing up to achieve economic, military and knowledge power indicating that the country is emerging as a power hub of knowledge management,’’ he said adding that this would enable India to play a vital role in the region. VITU Chancellor G Viswanathan, while presiding over the function, noted that achieving mere literacy would not suffice, as the focus should be on higher education that would pave way for economic growth and technological development in all aspects.

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IET20070227130802

 

[Contrarian]

'IAF maintaining equilibrium against threats'

Describing depleting fighter strength of the Indian Air Force as "worrisome", a senior Air Force official on Tuesday said that the force had taken adequate steps to "maintain equilibrium" against threats from Pakistan.

"Though falling squadron strength is a cause of worry," Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Air Command Air Marshal P S Ahluwalia said that IAF had the resources and platforms to get the better of any threat from the western sector.

"We are in two-minute reaction time readiness," the air marshal, who has just taken over the key post, told reporters in Delhi disclosing that plans were now being finalised to form a land and air integrated warfighting machine in the entire northern, western as well as south western command areas.

Ahluwalia said though the depletion had its effects on defensive elements, IAF had taken steps in the shape of augmenting technology and weapons systems in its offensive elements to deal with any threat.

The air marshal said that IAF was presently negotiating for upgradation of its frontline fighter aircraft like Mig-29 and Mirage-2000.

"The deal for upgrading airborne sensors and missiles and mounting more lethal precision-guided weapons onboard the Mig-29s would be worked out within a week or two," he said.

On mid-life upgradation of the French Mirage 2000, Ahluwalia said the deal was still under negotiation.

"With these upgrades IAF would boost up its capabilities," he said

http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/feb/27iaf.htm

 

[Contrarian]

Stress on indigenisation of Navy
Tuesday February 27 2007 10:24 IST

VISAKHAPATNAM: The Indian Navy is transforming itself from a 'buyers Navy' to 'builders Navy' by breaking the shackles of dependence on foreign countries, asserted Eastern Naval Command Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Vice-Admiral AK Singh.

Addressing a two-day exhibition-cum-seminar on 'Indigenisation of Navy' (INDSEM-07) here today, Singh said the Indian Navy had embarked on a voyage of indigenisation and self-sufficiency in view of the focus on its vision becoming self-reliant.

He hoped that the seminar would serve as a forum for building bridges, strengthening ties and consolidating the existing Navy-industry partnership.

Naval Dockyard superintendent Rear Admiral Dilip Deshpande highlighted the need for indigenisation and recalled the progress made in this regard by the Indian Navy.

The main theme of the seminar was 'Indigenisation-Paradigm Shift'.

The technical sessions focussed on life cycle support for indigenous equipment, need for standardisation, perspective of Indian industries on indigenisation and a functional review of the indigenisation programme of the Indian Navy.

The Naval Dockyard put up a stall showing the spares used in repairs and retrofits of naval ships. Also, there were stalls of L&T, Kirloskar Pneumatics, Delmet Coatings, Altop Industries, Jotun Industries, Akzo Nobel Pvt Ltd, Steel City Enterprises and Macrotech India.
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEA20070227000324

 

[Contrarian]

INS Viraat is a sitting duck
Josy Joseph
Sunday, March 04, 2007 23:43 IST


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NEW DELHI: The Indian Navy’s only aircraft carrier, Viraat, may be an easy target for enemy aircraft and other weapon platforms.

The navy discovered the vulnerability during a month-long exercise that concluded a few days ago on the western sea front.

Tropex (Theatre-level Readiness Operational Exercises) is the navy’s most extensive annual drill in which all its major platforms collaborate. The air force, coast guard, and army components also take part in the exercise.

The authorities were reticent about Viraat’s susceptibility to attack. But a source said “the enemy’s” unmanned aerial vehicles and long-range patrol aircraft were able to intrude into the carrier group’s airspace during the war-simulation exercise, determine the location of carrier, and close in on it.

The gaping breach in the security of the carrier battle group — a combination of warships with the carrier at its heart — raises questions about the utility of acquiring new aircraft carriers. India has procured the Gorshkov (INS Vikramaditya) from Russia, and another carrier is under construction in the Cochin shipyard. A proposal to build a second carrier in Kochi is also being considered.

A carrier, its support ships, and other electronic warfare systems on board are supposed to be on guard against enemy intrusion at all times. It is a cat-and-mouse game between the carrier group and the enemy’s potent aircraft such as the P3C Orion. If an intrusion is reported by the carrier’s consorts, then a combat air patrol is scrambled. The fighters from the carrier then chase the intruders away. No such alert was sounded during Tropex.

The thrust of this year’s exercise was to validate the concept of ‘maritime manoeuvre from the sea’. The exercise is designed to ensure that in a short, swift, and intense conflict, the navy is able to directly address and favourably influence the progress and outcome of the air-land battle.

The lessons learnt during the exercise will “now be fed back into the navy’s analysis organisations and used to refine operational doctrines”, a navy statement said. The statement did not mention the weak spot in Viraat’s defence.

“A detailed analysis of the exercise is now underway,” the statement said.
------------------------------
This is why we are getting a new bloody carrier, Vikrant blows, bloody WW2 vintage. Vikrant is not even updated properly, old sensors, and stuff like that.

Vikramatidya will have some serious capabilities!

 

[Contrarian]

India, US, Japan to carry out military drill: Report

Tokyo, Mar 05: Japan, the United States and India will carry out a joint military drill in the Pacific off Japan's coast amid concerns about China's military build-up, a report said Monday.

The Pentagon will call on Japan and India to participate in the military exercise set for next month, the regional Tokyo Shimbun newspaper reported, citing unnamed Japanese and US government sources.

The drill is likely to focus on safety measures to be taken in the event of a major natural disaster in the Pacific such as a tsunami, it said.

Japanese naval escort vessels and maritime patrol helicopters are expected to participate in the drill, it said.

Japanese defence officials were not immediately available for comment.

The report came a day after China announced its defence budget would soar by a massive 17.8 percent in 2007, as the United States said it wanted to know more about the Asian giant's intentions.

China has seen double-digit increases in its military spending nearly every year for the past 15 years. Washington and Tokyo have called on Beijing to be more transparent about its massive budget.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has repeatedly said he wants to develop closer ties with India. He and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in December agreed to start talks on a free trade deal.

Bureau Report
http://www.zeenews.com/articles.asp?aid=358067&sid=NAT

 

[Bull]

In mid-November, Navy officials issued a request for information to nine shipyards in France, Italy, Russia, South Korea, Spain and the United States, seeking a roughly $8 billion deal to buy one frigate and obtain licenses to produce six more in India.

The Indian yards that would build the new frigates include state-owned Mazagon Docks in Mumbai and Garden Reach Shipbuilders in Kolkata.
The officials, who were expecting preliminary responses by year’s end, intend to issue formal requests for proposals to a short list of shipyards by mid-2007. A contract could be signed by 2009, a Defence Ministry official said.

An Indian Navy official said the frigates could resemble the Italo-French Horizon Common New Generation Frigate, an air warfare ship.

Officials said the ships, intended to operate far from home for long periods, would be armed with the Indo-Israeli Barak-2 air defense system, the Indo-Russian BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, Advanced Light Helicopters, Kamov anti-submarine helicopters, rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicles, 3-D multimode surveillance radar, and advanced weapon and navigational controls. The ships will become the first Indian frigates to be directly connected with a dedicated military satellite.

 

[Bull]

Lights of Fancy

On January 27 this year when the ministry of defence's (MoD) state-owned Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) inked a Rs26.06 billion (USD566 million) contract with Israel's ministry of defence to jointly develop a family of guided-missiles, MoD officials went out of the way to claim that this joint R&D effort would culminate, among other things, in the ramjet powered, Mach 4 Barak-2, a 60km-range vertically-launched surface-to-air missile (SAM) that would, from 2011, equip all future principal combatants of the Indian Navy (IN), starting with the three indigenously-built Project 15A Kolkata-class guided-missile destroyers and the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier. But what was left unsaid was that the Barak-2's R&D effort is estimated to cost only USD216 million, and that the contract also included an agreement to jointly develop by 2010 at a cost of USD350 million two ramjet-powered supersonic (Mach 2.8), low-trajectory cruise missiles — air-launched and sea-launched — both with a 1,200km-range and armed with 100kg nuclear-capable warheads. While the sea-launched variant, to be vertically launched from both diesel-electric submarines and surface combatants, is indeed the long-awaited Sagarika, the air-launched variant has tentatively been labelled as the air-delivered munition (ADM).

From the Indian side, the principal R&D players for both the Barak-2 and the Sagarika/ADM are the DRDO’s Hyderabad-based Defence Research & Development Laboratory (DRDL), Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Electronics R&D Establishment (LRDE) and Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL); Kochi-based Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL); and Bangalore-based Defence Avionics Research Establishment (DARE). Israeli companies participating in the joint venture include RAFAEL Armament Development Authority and the MLM and ELTA business divisions of Israel Aircraft Industries. It has also been decided that while the Israeli parties would take the lead in developing the ADM, the DRDO will lead the Sagarika’s R&D effort. Both the Sagarika and ADM will use integrated nozzles boosters during and immediately after the missile launch, with an integral ramjet-based variable flow ducted rocket (VFDR) being employed for the cruise and terminal phases. In a VFDR-based propulsion system (using four ram air intakes), a solid-fuel (high-energy boron-loaded) gas generator produces a hot fuel-rich gas that is burnt in the ram-combustor with the compressed air supplied by the air intakes. The flow of gas improves the mixing of the fuel and air and increases total pressure recovery. A valve allows the gas generator exhaust to be throttled, thereby allowing control of the thrust. The inertial navigation suite for the Sagarika/ADM will comprise a ring-laser-gyro coupled with a chin-mounted, low-probability-of-intercept terrain-navigation radar, with a nose-mounted imaging infra-red seeker operating in the 3-5 micron bandwidth and having a 40-degree field-of-view being employed for all-passive terminal homing with pinpoint accuracy. Larsen & Toubro will fabricate the Sagarika’s eight- and 16-cell universal, fully-stabilised vertical launchers. The launchers will be 8.5-metres high, and use solid propellant hot gas generator to vertically launch the cruise missile from its storage canister.

It is widely believed that a consortium of RAFAEL and IAI had by late 2005 conducted test-flights of a 500km-range technology demonstrator for the supersonic ADM, reportedly for the Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology (the DRDO’s Taiwanese counterpart), and it is this very consortium that is now acting as principal design consultant for a ground-launched, 100km-range variant of the ADM, which is known in Taiwan as the Hsiung Feng 2E and is now undergoing a series of test-firings in north-eastern Taiwan.

The Barak-2’s developmental effort will be led by RAFAEL and IAI, with IAI also supplying the SAM’s fire-control system, centred around the company’s EL/M-2248 MF-STAR S-band active phased-array radar with 250km range that will also be able to detect inbound cruise missiles more than 40km away. Like the Sagarika/ADM, the Barak-2 too will employ a VFDR-based propulsion system. While the IN will be the first of India’s three armed services to induct the Barak-2 into service, the army and Indian Air Force (IAF) too are most likely to opt for ground-launched variants of the Barak-2, which will have a range of 80km and will be optimised for intercepting both inbound cruise missiles and tactical ballistic missiles. Both variants of the Barak-2 (ship-launched and ground-launched) will have a 60kg pre-fragmented warhead that in turn will use a laser-based digital proximity fuse. Semi-active fire-control cues during the Barak-2’s post-boost phase will be provided by the EL/M-2248 MF-STAR, with a nose-mounted, miniaturised, active phased-array radar with 30km-range being employed for terminal guidance.