mattShouldn’t we wait until kaveri has been fully characterised? From the recent news only one aspect of its performance has been tested.
mattAnyone know how they can run a sub into rocks I mean if have control of the sub and can see ahead.
mattReport: India to help Vietnam train peacekeeping forces
By The Associated Press (CP) – 4 days agoSNIP__
The South Asian powerhouse will help Vietnam train forces for international peacekeeping while the communist country offered to provide repair, maintenance and fuel for Indian naval ships, the Tien Phong (Pioneer) newspaper reported Thursday. The agreement was reached during talks Wednesday between Vietnamese Defence Minister Phung Quang Thanh and his Indian counterpart A.K. Antony, it said.
Snip__
Wonder if IN ships will be based in Vietnam
mattIAF to operate a mix of single & 2-seater PAK-FAs:
Good news about the mix of single and twin seat aircraft, not sure why HAL is getting involved in the PAK-FA design to gain the experience.. sounds like delays ahead.
Surely FGFA is too important for both nations to have any inexperienced team on it whether from Russia or From India on important aspects.
I think this is where HAL will miss not being able to do the MCA…
mattAvailability must have something to do with going for the at 6. Or could carry on asking why not x y z.
I guess twin engine aircraft are too expensive to run.
mattExcerpts of Interview MD HAL P. Soundara Rajan Helicopter Complex to FORCE
Don’t understand nal has patent for pitch based fibres and has transferred those to Kemrock. if my guess is correct and if what is available online is correct. However pitch based fibres will give low strain to failure. relatively low microstrain and the ceiling on that has stopped increasing polyacrylonitrile based fibres seem to give the best strains and are prob more widely used.
Products based on pitch based fibres has a long way to go and may be weighty in the long term (high stiffness lower strength therefor low damage tolerance etc)
Also don’t understand why the Europe based provider cough cough did not have a deal as with the major primed to protect its supply and why they have to re-test everything including fibre iteself, unless report was written wrong.
mattAny news on any simple UCAV developments ? i.e. droping laser bombs or gps bombs etc?
mattTimes of india reports mmrca will create 27,000 jobs in usa and Obama is going to push congress to go usa way.
Ironic isn’t it considering recent speeches and actions reducing amount of out sourcing to India.
No doubt congress will buckle and buy f18 and in return get nothing for India.
mattThe age of the technology does not mean it will suddenly be easy for some one now 25 years later to do the same in a second or better.
Unfortunately sometimes the old methods seem to get lost and a lot of money or time has to go into re-learning them. And this is when the process was owned by yourself let alone by a company in another country 2000+ miles away and 25 years ago.
Having the drawings of the B-2 intake does not mean they will suddenly be able to reverse engineer and get better.
Would be interesting to see the chinese 5th gen, wouldnt it be interesting if it ends up looking like the PAK FA.
mattI have just been watching channel 4 news where an expert came on and said that the tornado is more versatile than the harrier as it has a gun and that can be used to fire at 2-4 bad guys… it will cause less colatorral damage etc..
I know guns cause colatorral damage but i find it hard to believe that the tornado can fly slow enough and at angles such as to be able to strafe small numbers of taliban in afghanistan.
mattIndia Nears Fielding Of New SAM Systems
Oct 15, 2010
By Asia-Pacific Staff
New Delhi—Snip—
That situation is now being remedied. By next March, the IAF will begin receiving the first of 18 Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI)-Rafael Spyder quick-reaction medium-range missile systems. The offshore deal became necessary in 2006 because of development problems and delays in the indigenous Akash surface-to-air missile (SAM) program.
However, Akash has since turned the corner, and the IAF decided to order six more Akash batteries worth $925 million—each with 125 missiles—in addition to the two systems already on order. The service will receive its first two Akash batteries in February, and is likely to deploy them in India’s Northeast.
The IAF also anticipates joint development work kicking off in earnest on the 15-km.-range (9.3-mi.) Indo-French Maitri short-range SAM (SR-SAM), which is aimed at filling the void created when the Indian government decided to wind up the Trishul point-defense weapon program in 2006 and effectively de-link it from IAF and Indian navy requirements. A workshare agreement between the Indian Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and European missile maker MBDA has been concluded. IAF sources suggest a formal accord sanctioning the program is likely soon, possibly when French President Nicolas Sarkozy visits New Delhi later this year.
An MBDA official says the SR-SAM would finish development work and the first phase of testing within three years of program go-ahead. While no official timelines have been revealed, the IAF expects the system to be available for deployment by late 2013.
Even higher on the IAF’s priority list is the 70-km.-range MR-SAM that the DRDO is developing with IAI. The IAF has revealed plans to raise at least two regiments that will use the MR-SAM, each with 40 launchers and support equipment. In India, the MR-SAM will progressively replace the IAF’s antiquated Soviet-vintage SA-3 Pechora and SA-8 OSA-AK SAM systems. A proposed foreign-assisted upgrade of the Pechora fleet was shelved two years ago, with the IAF deciding it was more economical to pursue a limited ground-equipment modification by Bharat Electronics Ltd. The Pechora, OSA-AK and 9K38 Igla man-portable SAM systems are effectively obsolete, and the IAF admits it has had to cannibalize equipment to keep a minimum number operationally effective.
—Snip—
But these activities to not address all of the air force’s concerns; radar coverage is another worry. The IAF currently has fast-track tenders out for long-range surveillance radars, high-powered radars, three-dimensional C/D band air surveillance radars, low-level transportable radars and radars for mountain surveillance in India’s northern and eastern sectors.
—snip—
Photo: DRDO
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/awst/2010/10/11/AW_10_11_2010_p30-259987.xml&headline=India Nears Fielding Of New SAM Systems&channel=defense
Interesting read, there was a really good artical I think in AFM or another major publication which discussed the major holes in the Indias air defense network many years ago and it looks like this is finally being addressed.
I wonder if it would be worth for India to pay outright for the S-300 sitting in Russia currently not sold to Iran as a stop gap.
mattI don´t know how old you are Sign. I am almost 34 and grew up with the Gripen. I remember as long as I grew up our leftist-anti-Gripen media trying to persudade us this plane was a piece of crap. It was called a lawnmower etc. Indians seems to think the Gripen project whent on smootly, They should have known….
No development program goes smoothly you will always have failures and prob learn more from the failures (if program is undertaken correctly). However there are still risk reducing strategies you could apply.
Some of the technologies apparently on the LCA are astounding. From what i understand from the profile of some of the people on it. Structural health monitoring etc. But if your project is time critical why not get the basics in place and then worry about nice to haves. Get rid of wrinkles and other defects etc whilst you are waiting for the flight control system.
Anyway point is the Indian industry has progressed with logistic chain for composite manufacturing set up. To be fair to the ALH team, they had a hand to play in this as well. With avionics have also been developed but this was/is a critical project for the defence of the country to ensure that the IAF squadron strength not be reduced. And unfortunately no matter what the ambition or excuses, the LCA is late leading to the mmrca.
mattWhat fools these Saab guys must be to use so much composites like Mr Matt claimed ADA and HAL were ! They ought to have consulted Mr. Matt and they’d have found out that composites aren’t so great after all and then they would’nt have had any weight issues on the earliest Gripens ! If they’d consulted Mr. Matt and found out how useless composites are in saving weight, the Gripen might have weighed even less, huh ? RCS reduction through composites ? What use is that, right Mr. Matt .
You hinted at an objection about the LCA being overweight and no matter how much you type large essays on here simple fact is by virtue of the fact that they did not meet the design weight requirements the LCA was/is over weight.
Have not said any more than that.
The facts is that it is a logical and natural end conclusion to the report that was posted with even the ADA/DRDO saying they want to reduce the structural weight.
Also keep in mind that just as you work with ex HAL/NAL/ADA/DRDO people other people in the world would come in contact with them through the ether and they may also know reasons why the LCA structure was over weight, as i hinted a month or two ago.
As many plaudits as you would like to give the LCA team simple fact is that due to the delay and other issues the IAF is now spending $10-11 billion and is having to wait another four years.
The LCA was a good development program (and this has been mentioned before) but as a fighter project (i.e. as a project intended to replace the bulk of the IAF fleet) it didnt make the fundamental requirement of being timely (for what ever valid or in valid reason).
In summary; as much as you kick and scream about the LCA development program and the plaudits it deserves. Because of whatever excuse or reason, the LCA aircraft itself is late, its having to be redesigned which has caused further delays leaving the IAF in a compromised position.
mattThey have hinted in the above report that some countries would be interested in purchasing this kind of weaponised aircraft and that this was not yet a procurement project…
Would make sense to give Afghan airforce or Iraqi airforce some of these…
mattBut he emphasized the radar was On.
I would take the f22 not being detected statement with a pinch of salt.
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