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indian air force

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Aero India 2013

Nirbhay Missile launch next month :DRDO

India's Nirbhay cruise weapon will be tested in February, DRDO chief Dr V.K. Saraswat said at a press conference last week in Bangalore. This is the first time in over a year that a definite time-frame has been provided on the mysterious programme. Last checked, the missile was to have been tested in July-August 2012.

As I've earlier reported, this will be, without a doubt, the most significant weapon test since, perhaps, the Agni-III. The Nirbhay, shrouded in secrecy for long, is understood to be a two-stage high subsonic cruise missile with loitering capabilities. Sources suggest that apart from the engine (apparently supplied by NPO Saturn), the rest of the system is fully indigenous.

The fifth of the six C-130J Super Hercules, an advanced transport aircraft, ordered by the Indian Air Force has been delivered, its American manufacturer Lockheed Martin said.

The aircraft departed the Lockheed Martin facility in Marietta yesterday.

“This aircraft, like its predecessors, was delivered well ahead of schedule and is now en route to Hindan Hindan Air Force Station in India,” Lockheed said in a statement.

India’s sixth C-130J will be delivered in October, it said.

The six C-130Js will give the Indian Air Force new special operations capabilities using the world’s most advanced airlifter, it said.

The C-130J is a comprehensive update of the venerable Lockheed C0-130 Hercules, with new engines, flight deck, and other systems.

The Indian Air Force purchased six C-130J-30s in early 2008 at a cost of up to $1.059 billion. It is a package deal with the US government under its Foreign Military sales programme, and India has retained option to buy six more of these aircraft for its special forces for combined Army-Air Force operations.

Giving a new thrust to its air force, India Friday signed a USD 2.4 billion deal with French companies Thales and Dassault Aviation to upgrade its 51- strong Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft fleet.

The upgraded aircraft are expected to serve for another 20-25 years. Mirages were inducted by the IAF in the mid-80s.

The deal had been hanging fire for the last five years as the Defence Ministry had been involved in extensive negotiations including on the cost of upgradation quoted by the French side.

"Thales and Dassault Aviation today signed the contract (with Defence Ministry officials) for upgrading the Mirage 2000 fleet," company officials said here.

The proposals for upgradation of the warplanes were cleared at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on July 13.

Under the deal, the French firms will help in upgrading the avionics, navigation systems, mission computers, electronic warfare systems and radars bringing the aircraft to the Mirage-2000-5 standards.

"Based on the integration of latest generation equipment and systems, the upgrade will further enhance the technical-operational capabilities of the IAF's Mirage 2000," Thales officials said.

The French companies will have to invest 30 per cent of the worth of deal back into the Indian defence sector as offsets.

As per the Indian defence offsets policy, foreign vendors bagging deals worth over Rs 300 crore have to invest at least 30 per cent of the worth of the deal back into the Indian defence, civilian aerospace and homeland security sectors.

"The extensive involvement of Indian industry within the programme will consolidate existing ties with the French aerospace industry and will reinforce long-term cooperation based on cutting edge technologies and the sharing of technical know-how and expertise," they said.

As per the agreement, India will first send two of its aircraft to France for upgradation and, thereafter, the rest would be upgraded at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited facilities in the country, company sources said.

The "mother" could well become the "granny" of all defence deals in the years ahead. India is likely to go in for another 63 fighters after delivery of the first 126 MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) if the "timelines" for its other fighter development projects are not met, say top defence officials.

When the MMRCA selection process was initiated by the defence ministry in mid-2007, the overall project cost was pegged at Rs 42,000 crore, or $10.4 billion for 126 fighters. But it will zoom well beyond $20 billion, if India eventually decides to opt for 189 jets since inflation is also being factored in. Even with 126 jets, this is the biggest such fighter contract going around the world as of now.

This comes even as MoD is all set to open the commercial bids of the two jets left in the MMRCA fray -French Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon -"within a week or two". Eurofighter Typhoon is backed by the UK, Germany, Spain and Italy,

MoD has already rejected "any scope for comeback" by the other four jets, including the American F/A-18s and F-16s, ejected out of the MMRCA race in April on technical grounds after gruelling field trials.

"We are looking for only 126 fighters. The first 18 jets will come from abroad, while the rest 108 will be manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd after transfer of technology (ToT) from end-2016 or early-2017 onwards," said a senior MoD official on Monday.

"But yes, if the timelines for the Tejas LCA (light combat aircraft) and the stealth Indo-Russian FGFA (fifth-generation fighter aircraft) projects are not met, we will go for more MMRCA to retain IAF's combat edge," he added.

Apart from progressively inducting 272 Sukhoi-30MKIs contracted from Russia for around $12 billion, IAF is slated to induct the first lot of 120 indigenous Tejas from end-2013 onwards. India also hopes to begin inducting 250 to 300 FGFA from 2020 onwards under the joint project with Russia, which rough calculations show will eventually cost India around $35 billion in the decades ahead.

But that is in the future. The request for proposal (RFP) for the ongoing MMRCA competition, issued in August 2007, did have the standard clause of India reserving the option to go in for 50% more fighters, over and above the initial 126, in the coming years.

This, however, is the first time that top defence officials have directly linked the progress in the LCA and FGFA projects to the possibility of exceeding the MMRCA acquisition beyond the first 126 jets.

"Commercial bids of Eurofighter and Rafale will soon be opened, with the reports of the Technical Oversight Committee (TOC) and Technical Offsets Evaluation Committee (TOEC) virtually complete now," said another official.

But it will not be "a cut-and-dried" affair to determine the lowest bidder (L-1). "Calculation of L-1 will take around a month due to the huge amounts of mathematical and data verification of the lifecycle costs of operating the jets over a 40-year period, with 6,000 hours of flying, as well as cost of ToT," he added.

Final commercial negotiations with the L-1 vendor will then begin before the contract is ready for signing by December or January. IAF, on its part, wants deliveries of the 126 fighters to begin from December, 2014, onwards to stem its fast-eroding combat edge. Plans have already been firmed up to base the first MMRCA squadron at Ambala, with subsequent squadrons coming up both in the western and eastern theatres.

Indian Air Force Vice-Chief designate Air Marshal K K Nohwar Wednesday said if any enemy aircraft violates India's air sovereignty, it will meet the same fate as Pakistan Navy's Atlantic patrol aircraft which was shot down in 1999.

"Let me assure you, if any of our neighbours tries to intrude into our air space, it will meet the same fate as that met the Atlantic in the Rann of Kutch," Nohwar said, when pointed to reports about Chinese air planes chasing an US spy aircraft over Taiwan recently.

In 1999, a Pakistan Navy Atlantic was shot down by IAF MiG-21s after they failed to force it to land at an Indian base. Disobeying instructions from the MiG pilots, the Atlantic manoeuvred to escape from them and was shot down by a heat-seeking air-to-air missile over the Rann of Kutch region.

Nohwar, currently the AoC-in-C of Eastern Air Command, said "between two nations, there is always a posture that is maintained".

"The military is prepared to ensure that there is no violation of its territory. Every country has the right to defend its own territory," the IAF officer said.

Nohwar will take over as the Vice Chief of Air Staff on August 1.

India is in the middle of a multi-billion dollar military spending spree that has quietly seen the country of Mahatma Gandhi and non-violent protest emerge as the world’s largest importer of arms. It is expected to retain that position for at least the next five years.

As the country works to expand its regional strategic influence and to counter what it considers existential threats from Pakistan and China, India now accounts for nine per cent of all global arms purchases. Its current defence budget of $36bn – an increase of around 11 per cent on the previous year – is more than double what it spends on education and health combined.

Over the past five years, more than 80 per cent of India’s defence purchases have come from Russia. But the splurge has seen defence contractors from around the world taking up long-term residency in Delhi’s five-star hotels, vying to fulfill demands from all three wings of the armed services. Recent purchases have included 155mm howitzers from the UK for the army, C-17 Globemaster heavy-lift planes from the US for the air force and submarines from France for the navy.

One of the most sought-after contracts concerns a $11bn order for 126 fighter aircraft. The Indian authorities have whittled a short-list down to just two contenders, the Typhoon produced by Eurofighter, a consortium made up of British, German, Italian and Spanish manufacturers, and the Rafale, produced by the French company Dassault.

Analysts say India’s spending spree is driven by several factors, including – with the exception of shipbuilding - an inadequate domestic defence production capacity. Strategically, it is driven by both defensive concerns, particularly in regard to what is considers Chinese growing ambitions in south Asia, and a desire to project power and influence regionally. Its spending on arms leapt after the Mumbai attacks of November 2008.

India’s top brass, remindful of the embarrassing drubbing it received in 1962 at the hands of the Chinese, is deeply suspicious of China’s relationship with Pakistan. It is also sensitive about Beijing’s ongoing claims over territory in both Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh and its road-building projects in those areas. Belatedly India has begun looking to improve its own infrastructure in these remote areas.

India’s defence budget only equals two per cent of GDP and in terms of total military spending Delhi is in 10th place, behind not only the US and China, but Britain, Germany and Saudi Arabia. Many within the military establishment believe India should increase its defence spending even more, to around three per cent of GDP.

Yet some analysts and industry insiders detect an uncertainty within the broader Indian establishment about what role it should play. While India might purport to take on a larger regional position, as evidenced by moves such as a recent defence agreement signed with the Maldives, there remains an apparent reluctance to take on greater responsibility.There are also strong voices within India who argue that in a country where hundreds of millions of people are living in poverty, there are more pressing spending priorities.

Britain’s frontline fighter jet Eurofighter Typhoon, shortlisted for India’s $10.4-billion combat jets tender, whacked the Indian Air Force (IAF) warhorse Sukhoi in one-on-one dog fights during bilateral air war games, if Britain’s air chief is to be believed.

‘Well, they lost,’ was Stephen Dalton’s response when IANS asked how the Russia-developed India-manufactured Su-30MKI air superiority jets performed against the Royal Air Force’s (RAF) Typhoons when they matched their wits during the joint exercises in recent years.

However, he was quick to add that the two aircraft are different in technologies, and that Typhoons are next generation, and hence there is no comparison.

Dalton was interacting with IANS at the recently held Royal International Air Tattoo military air show at the RAF base here.

The two aircraft were pitted against each other during ‘Indradhanush’ exercises in 2007 at Waddington in Britain and in 2010 at Kalaikunda in India.

Interestingly, the IAF had claimed in 2007 that Sukhoi’s performance against Typhoon had convinced the RAF of its superiority. ‘The RAF pilots were candid in their admission of the Su-30 MKI’s observed superior manoeuvring in the air, just as they had studied, prepared and anticipated,’ an Indian defence ministry release had said during the July 2007 Indradhanush.

Prahar, a short-range surface-to-surface missile developed by Defense Research and Development Organization was successfully test-fired this morning from the Integrated Test Range in Balasore district in its maiden launch.

This single stage missile with a range of 150 km and fuelled by solid propellants took off at 8.15 am from a road mobile launcher in Launch Complex 3 of ITR in Chandipur of Balasore district. A DRDO scientist declared Thursday's test as successful.

Like Pinaka missile, a multiple-rocket system, several Prahar missile can be fired in one salvo. But for Thursday's test, only one missile was fired.

DRDO sources said Prahar (meaning to strike) with greater accuracy than the unguided missiles currently being used by the Indian Army will fill the gap between Pinaka, the multi-barrel rocket system, which has a range of 45 km and the Prithvi missile that can attack targets 250 km to 350 km away. Prahar can image, take out multiple targets and can be moved to any place. It can carry conventional warheads. It will be a road-mobile weapon—similar to the BrahMos supersonic multi-role cruise missile—with each motorized transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) carrying six canister, vertically-launched missiles armed with conventional warheads. A separate wheeled vehicle is being developed to act as a missile resupply station, carrying six canister missile rounds.

The missile fills the short range tactical battlefield missile role as required by the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force, to take out strategic and tactical targets. The mobile launch platform will carry six missile which can have different kind of warheads meant for different targets. This solid fueled missile can be launched within 2-3 minutes without any preparation providing significantly better reaction time than liquid fueled Prithvi ballistic missiles and act as a gap filler in the 150 km range, between the pinaka MBRL and smerch MBRL in one end and the Prithvi ballistic missiles on the other. Prahaar may replace Smerch systems in service with the Indian Army. Prahar was test-fired successfully on 21^st July 2011 from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur. During the test Prahar traveled an distance of 150 km in about 250 seconds^[ meeting all launch objectives and striking pre-designated target in the Bay of Bengal with a high degree of accuracy of less than 10 meters.

NEW DELHI (PTI): To smoke out enemy troops fortified inside concrete shelters, the Indian Air Force is looking to procure bunker-buster laser-guided bombs (LGBs) from global vendors.

The IAF plans to induct more than 100 bunker-buster LGBs that will be equipped on its fighter aircraft fleet to destroy strongly fortified enemy targets, sources told PTI here.

They said the IAF had issued a global Request for Proposal (RFP) for the purpose earlier this year, and defence majors including American Lockheed Martin and Raytheon along with an Israeli missile manufacturer have submitted their bids for the tender.

"We recently submitted bid in response to the RFP for LGBs," Lockheed Martin India head Roger Rose said, confirming the participation of his company in the race.

The two American companies are offering their respective versions of the Paveway LGBs manufactured by them separately.

With their capability to pierce hard surfaces, the bombs can also be used to destroy enemy's concrete runways and fortified locations.

LGBs are guided projectiles that use lasers to strike a designated target with greater accuracy than a gravity bomb and were used with high accuracy by the IAF against Pakistani Army posts during the Kargil war in 1999.

Around the same time, the US had supplied some Paveway bombs to India which could be launched from the Jaguar and Mirage 200 jets for accurately striking enemy targets.

The first flight-test of Prahaar (to strike), a new quick-reaction, short-range tactical missile, scheduled for Sunday, has been postponed and is likely to take place on July 21.

According to a news report by 'The Hindu', quoting DRDO sources, the launch was tentatively rescheduled to July 21 as some additional tests were done on the vehicle which delayed its movement to Balasore, Orissa.

The missile would be launched from Launch Complex-III of the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, Balasore district.

Prahaar missile had been under development for the last four years. The 150-km range missile would be equipped with omni-directional warheads and could be used for hitting both tactical and strategic targets.

Prahaar is a road mobile system and could be deployed in a few minutes time, without much preparation. Each road mobile launcher can carry six missiles which could be used for taking out both tactical and strategic targets.