Being overweight by 1000kgs is not the fault of the engine. Would the engine have been powerfully enough if the Texas structure and payload was lighter.

Navy Needs F-35’s Capabilities, Admiral Says

(Source: U.S Department of Defense; issued May 25, 2010)

WASHINGTON — The Navy needs the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter’s fifth-generation capabilities, the service’s acting director of air warfare said yesterday.

Navy Rear Adm. Michael C. Manazir spoke to reporters because he wanted to “completely dispel the rumor that the Navy is soft on F-35C.”

The F-35C is the aircraft-carrier version of the joint strike fighter. The F-35A model is for the Air Force, and the F-35B will be a vertical take-off and landing model for the Marines.

The FA-18E and FA-18F Super Hornets are great airplanes, Manazir said, but they do not have the capabilities that the F-35C’s will bring to the Navy. Delays in the joint strike fighter program and the cost increases associated with them caused some supposition that the Navy would turn to the FA-18s, he added.

The Navy has had the F-35C on its horizon for more than a decade, the admiral said. In that time, the FA-18’s capabilities have grown, with the latest aircraft – the E, F and G models – reaching the fourth-generation airframe’s limits. “We need to move into the F-35C to realize our vision of tactical air coming off of carriers,” he said.

The joint strike fighter brings stealth capabilities, advanced sensor and data fusion, and a systems approach to warfighting, Manazir said. “We’re completely committed to the F-35C,” he added, noting that staying with the Super Hornet would put the United States at a disadvantage against a near-peer competitor.

Still, the admiral said, the Super Hornet program is not ending, just yet. The Navy wants to buy 124 of the aircraft through fiscal 2013 to bring its number of Super Hornets to 515. Beginning in fiscal 2016, he said, aircraft carriers will deploy with a mix of Super Hornets and F-35C’s. The Navy needs 44 strike fighters per flight deck, he added.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates ordered a restructuring of the joint strike fighter program last year. That effort allowed the Navy to move an additional aircraft into flight tests, and to buy a software line “that gives us additional integration capability and added risk reduction in software, which is always the toughest thing to do in a new program,” Manazir said. Operational testing will move to April 2016, and this will fulfill all prerequisites for initial operational capability, he told reporters.
The first deployment of the new aircraft will be December 2016, with the second deployment in February 2017.

The Navy faces a shortfall of fighter aircraft, the admiral noted. “Without mitigations, … [the shortfall] is about 177 total Department of the Navy airplanes,” he said. “That peaks in 2017.”

Mitigation efforts bring that number down to about 100, he said. That could drop further, he added, if the demands on the fleet lessen – a conclusion the admiral said he is not going to make, given the uncertain times. “We are focused on addressing that shortfall,” he said.

The Navy does not have a shortfall in strike aircraft today, Manazir said, but the expected wear-out date for its inventory begins in fiscal 2012.

The 1,180 strike aircraft now in the Navy’s inventory fall within the scope of the service’s maintenance capabilities, while providing the planes needed for a rotational force, the admiral said.

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Is that not the gripe demo?

matt, are you able to expand on this comment with specifics for even one DRDO project of your own choice ? do you have the minimum knowledge to do that ? if not, then please do not barge in with your half-baked condescending spam.

I had posted, sometime back now, a list of projects that DRDO is carrying out with the initial dates and costs vs the current costs and dates.

And as much as people would like to chastise me it doesn’t change the fact that even the ministry of defence and prime minister thinks that things need to change.

This engine radar cross-section thing is really funny.

If it was a massive issue then surely the Russian Engineers would have addressed it. If you all know about it then i am sure the engineers and designers of the airframe have already thought about it and have included or not included it for VERY valid reasons. i.e. it either does not make much difference or they have a way around it.

No matter what the views are the government has conducted its review and decided things need to change. That is enough of an endictment by any standards.

Call me cynical but I do not think that pm m sing is an nri who does not work in the ‘domain’

Thought I would post this before the Times of India articule gets posted (which seems to be sensationalist.)

Overcome Temptation to Buy Arms Abroad, Says DRDO Chief

(Source: Indian Press Information Bureau; issued May 26, 2010)

The DRDO chief Dr VK Saraswat has said that self-reliance in critical defence technologies cannot be achieved by the premier defence R&D organization alone. In a terse statement at an award ceremony here today, he called upon the three Services to overcome their temptation to induct the latest weaponry from abroad.

“The Services … must understand that while the temptation may be overwhelming, to field proven, state-of-art imported systems, they too have a role to play in the economic and industrial growth of the country. No foreign system can be customized to completely address our long term requirement,” said Dr Saraswat, addressing the DRDO Technology Day Awards function.

Dr Saraswat pointed out that the DRDO cannot force the Armed Forces to opt for the indigenously harnessed advanced weaponry.

“DRDO has long been held responsible for the level of self-reliance in defence systems, but it must be understood that the responsibility for self-reliance should be shared by all stakeholders of the Ministry of Defence and cannot be placed on DRDO alone, which neither has the power to impose its products on its customer nor the mandate or capacity to produce the developed systems all by themselves,” said Dr Saraswat. “At the same time Indian Industry has not yet reached the maturity level to take up this responsibility on itself,” he added.

Welcoming the Defence Ministry’s initiative to restructure the DRDO following the Rama Rao Committee proposals and the Offset Policy to spur private sector participation in the defence industry, Dr Saraswat allayed the pitfalls of wanton import of weapons and defence hardware.

“We … look to the recently instituted Offset Policy of MoD, which should be utilized to bring in high-end technology and quality manufacturing processes into the country and must guard against the pressures of high volume low end build-to-print modules,” he said.

Pointing out that the DRDO was always open to partner actively with the Armed Forces, Industry and the Academia, Dr Saraswat, however, sought more freedom for the DRDO to pursue its “primary aim of developing world class weapon systems”. “It is reiterated that DRDO must be given the freedom to choose a production agency based on their ability to absorb technology and carry out value addition after following a transparent procedure,” Dr Saraswat said, adding, “Commercial pricing cannot always be the overriding factor”.

The DRDO chief said that the successful missile development programme and the development of the Light Combat Aircraft ‘LCA Tejas’ has given the country a strong base in the aerospace industry, so much so that most of the international aerospace majors have decided to set up R&D/production facilities in India in the last few years.

Dr Saraswat said the DRDO is also actively engaged in combating emerging internal security threats.

“In view of the emerging threat scenario in sub-conventional warfare, DRDO has proactively undertaken the task of familiarizing India’s paramilitary forces with the products and technologies available for their use and plan to launch new initiatives in surveillance, early detection and warning systems to tackle the growing menace,” he said.

Dr Saraswat said the DRDO expects to conduct a test flight of the indigenously developed ‘Agni-5’, the entirely solid-fuel Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) with a range of 5,000 kms, by next year.(Emphasis added—Ed.) “With this, DRDO would have given India a comprehensive indigenous strategic capability, available with only a few nations of the world,” he said.

Quoting a study by the reputed independent evaluation agency ‘National Council of Applied Economic Research’, Dr Saraswat, who is also the Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister, refuted criticism that the huge sums of money being pumped into the DRDO during the last five decades has not been productive.

“The total production value of the major systems inducted into the Services has reached a (whopping) figure of Rs. 68,000/- crores during the last decade, with the modest R&D investment of about Rs. 3,000/- crores per year,” Dr Saraswat said, adding, “self-reliance index will certainly be enhanced with new major systems like MBT, LCA, Radars and Electronic Warfare Systems being inducted into Services.”

Presenting a roadmap, Dr Saraswat said the DRDO’s goals would focus on Space and Cyber Security, Hypersonic Vehicles, Directed Energy Weapons and Smart Materials, Composites and MEMS (Micro-Electromechanical Systems) -based Sensors. “A major R&D Programme on NBC (Nuclear-Biological-Chemical) Defence has been recently sanctioned by the Cabinet Committee on Security,” he said.

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Speed Up Defence Research, Deliver Technologies On Time: PM

(Source: ddi Indian Government news; issued May 26, 2010)

Noting that India’s competitors have moved faster, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday asked defence scientists to speed up research to achieve self-reliance and deliver critical technologies on time.

“It is a fact our current level of self-reliance in defence R&D is less than our capabilities and it needs to be stepped up significantly,” he said addressing defence scientists on the occasion of National Technology Day.

In many areas Indian scientists have moved fast, “but our competitors have often moved at a faster pace,” Singh said adding that scientists must make sure they have the capacity and the will to compete, to innovate, to deliver and to deliver on time.

Exhorting scientists to stay ahead and be open to new ideas, the Prime Minister also asked them to learn from mistakes and setbacks.

“We should be able to acknowledge and learn from our setbacks. It is a fact that some defence projects have been delayed and others have faced difficulties during the stage of operational induction,” he said.

Singh stressed that it was essential that DRDO learnt from these experiences and worked more closely with the Armed Forces, as well as the industry.

Observing that greater participation of the industry was a must in the defence sector, he said, “The Government will encourage public-private partnerships as a catalyst towards achieving this objective.”

He said the offset scheme in defence procurement must be used to fill the technological gaps in the country’s capabilities.

Acknowledging the findings of a committee to revamp the DRDO, Singh said, “If we put our mind to it, there is no reason why our successes in the software sector cannot be replicated in the Defence sector.”

“We must strive for leadership in R&D in defence technologies. I would urge all of you assembled here today to think big and to act with a strong sense of self-belief, nationalistic spirit and the desire to excel,” he said.

The Prime Minister said he would encourage research and development organisations and laboratories to develop a closer interface with the academic world.

“It is essential that we motivate and incentivise our youth to focus on research activities…An integrated approach to building a broad base of scientific talent, production capacities and a long-term vision are key elements to success,” he said.

The Prime Minister also gave away DRDO Awards to laboratories, scientists and industry for their contribution to the defence research sector.

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