Air force to get back choppers on UN duty

In yet another step that appears aimed at curbing the Maoists, the Indian Air Force has redoubled its effort to get back 18 multi-utility helicopters currently deployed in United Nations missions in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Security forces indicated more IAF helicopters could be pressed into service in Maoist dominated areas.

Following the latest Naxal massacre of 27 CRPF men in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpuri district, the home ministry and state government are also taking fresh stock of the deployment pattern of security forces in the region.

So anxious is the IAF to get the helicopters back, that, sources said, if the UN is unwilling to relinquish them right away, India may use an emergency clause in its contract with the UN that allows it to unilaterally take back the MI-17 choppers, after giving a 45-day notice.

The defence ministry has already requested the ministry of external affairs last month not to renew its commitment on the helicopters with the UN.

IAF sources said they expect the first set of helicopters to be released between July and September. But there are some that are committed to various UN operations in the DRC till mid-2011, for which the emergency clause may be used.

While there are demands from several sections of the defence establishment for the helicopters, anti Maoist operations will get priority, the sources added.

Even though the army has not yet been inducted directly into the war against the Maoists, the helicopters can perform many supplementary functions.

A larger number of choppers would enable the government to maintain the supply chain for the personnel in camps located deep in the jungles, without having to drive through Naxal-infested areas.

“In such high risk areas, the idea is to reduce exposure to the Maoists,” an official said.

A formal decision on the helicopters will be announced after the Cabinet Committee on Security takes a decision on the home ministry’s revised anti-Naxal strategy at its next meeting. Currently the nine Naxal infested states have only six helicopters between them.

As for redeployment, a ministry official said, decisions had been taken.

“About 10-12 camps in Chhattisgarh will be affected,” he said. The idea was to reduce the distances between camps to form a security grid and strengthen camps.

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GA,

I don’t know if this thread comes under the scope of historic aviation, if you look at that section most of the discussion is around aircraft up to WW2 and secondly many countries actually do operate planes that should be in musuems.

Govt orders radar to track movement in thick forests

Up against the daunting task of tracking Maoists in dense forests with no suitable technology available in the global market, the government has directed the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to develop a foliage-penetration radar that can track movements, camps and even landmines located under thick vegetation.

With radars and technology demonstrators from across the globe failing several rounds of trials, DRDO is working on a three-month deadline to acquire its first technology demonstrator radar from a European firm that would be co-developed and tweaked for Indian conditions. The radar would be fitted on board an Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) and will undergo significant software upgrades to be able to track down movements in thick jungles.

Sources said the first CARABAS ground imaging system, developed by Swedish firm Saab, would be delivered within the next three months and engineers from the two countries will work together to integrate it on board the Indian helicopter.

Indian scientists, sources said, would work on tweaking the radar that is currently being operated from fixed-wing aircraft by Sweden. A DRDO team will be visiting testing facilities in Sweden in August to observe the technology in action and carry out integration tests on the system.

The move comes after several radars and systems, demonstrated to Indian authorities for ground imaging in densely forested areas in recent months, failed to cut the grade. Indian authorities have tested British, Israeli and American systems in the past few months but results have been discouraging.

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Pentagon pitches for $10 billion Indian fighter jet deal

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon is making a strong pitch for US companies for the $10 billion deal for 126 fighter aircraft for the Indian Air Force and future sales of the C-17 transport aircraft.

The US defence department, also known as Pentagon because of the shape of its building, does not view defence equipment sales as mere commercial transactions and looks at them as a growth area for the India-US partnership, a senior defence official said on Thursday.

“I am and will continue to be a strong advocate of US solutions for India’s defence needs,” Michele Flournoy, undersecretary of defence for policy, told members of the Asia Society. “US companies are eager to work with India as the Indian military continues to modernise.”

Noting two American companies, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, are among six competitors for India’s biggest fighter-jet purchase in 15 years, she said: “We are also looking at future sales of the C-17 aircraft as another example of near term defence sales.”
“We understand that India is making a strategic as well as an economic choice when it makes defence acquisitions,” she said. “Obviously, the commercial benefits of defence sales to the US economy can’t be denied.”

“But from a [defence department] perspective, these sales are even more important in building a strategic partnership that will allow both our countries to cooperate more effectively to protect our mutual security interests in the future,” Flournoy said.
“Whether the scenario involves humanitarian assistance, counterterrorism cooperation or maritime security activities,” she continued, “having common equipment will allow more seamless cooperation.”

India is seeking to build its own indigenous defence industry, and is looking for the best technologies to use in its defence sector, Flournoy said.

The United States is committed to providing India with top-of-the-line technology, and has backed up its commitment by approving the overwhelming majority of licenses requested last year, she said.

Flournoy noted defence secretary Robert M Gates has made export control reform a key priority, citing the streamlining and modernizing of the US export control system as a national security priority that affects the nation’s ability to build and sustain key partnerships.

India and the United States will explore ways to counter the spread of weapons of mass destruction through maritime cooperation, dialogue, and identifying new technologies to combat this threat, Flournoy said.

“We will look at ways in which, together, we can better secure the global commons by expanding our already robust cooperation in air, space, cyberspace and maritime initiatives.”

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Helicopter-mounted radar to tackle Naxal IEDs

India is deploying cutting-edge technology to defeat a simple insurgent weapon that J&K militants and Naxals are using to lethal effect: the Improvised Explosive Device, or IED. Swedish company Saab has offered to partner India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in fitting Saab’s CARABAS radar on India’s Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), which would allow the scanning of wide swathes of territory to detect IEDs well before they can be exploded.

Naxal IEDs — explosives that are detonated with a timer, or with signals from a mobile phone, to blow up jawans or vehicles — are blamed for over 60 per cent of all casualties caused by the group. In only the most recent example, on May 17, a Naxal IED, buried inside a metalled road, blew up a civilian bus in the Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh, killing 36 people, including 12 Special Police Officers. Any movement of security forces in Naxal areas must be preceded by a painstaking manual search for IEDs. Many casualties have been caused during these search operations.

In the new system being evaluated, a Saab CARABAS radar, fitted in a Dhruv helicopter, does an aerial scan of the area in which security forces will be operating. The CARABAS radar is specially designed to detect metallic components of an IED, even when it is buried 5-6 metres below the ground. A computer quickly compares the image of each flight with the images of the previous flight over that area; any new metallic objects are highlighted, and their exact location mapped. Armed with that information, a bomb disposal team is sent to defuse the IED harmlessly.

Best of all, the exceptionally low frequency waves from the CARABAS radar ignore vegetation, reflecting only off man-made objects. This is especially useful in jungle terrain, where the dense foliage provides both visual and electro-magnetic cover. Naxal IED tactics involve burying IEDs several feet deep, sometimes under tarmac roads; such a system would detect even the deep-buried IEDs, which conventional, hand-held scanners, and even sniffer dogs, often cannot pick up.

“We have provided a radar at the request of the DRDO,” says Inderjit Sial, the India head of Saab International India AB. “The DRDO will integrate it on the Dhruv ALH and then evaluation trials will be conducted. There is also a lighter version of the radar which can be flown on a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle).”

The helicopter-mounted CARABAS radar weighs about 150 kg. The smaller version of the radar, which has been developed for UAVs, weighs just 50 kg.

Saab believes this surveillance platform has a very high potential in India. The company has indicated that, if India chooses to deploy the CARABAS/Dhruv platform, Saab would set up its global manufacturing hub for the radar in India.

The DRDO is carefully evaluating Saab’s offer. Confirming to Business Standard that it is evaluating a foreign foliage penetration radar, the spokesperson stated, “We are seeking foreign collaboration in this field. Talks are actively on… but we have not yet made a final decision.”

A key challenge the DRDO faces in integrating the CARABAS low-frequency radar on a UAV, or on the Dhruv helicopter, is the unusual shape and large
size of the radar antennae, which look like two long poles. A place on the flying platform will have to be found for these antennae.

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you’re not getting the point. you can do with a steam catapult, not an EMALS. IAC2 need not have an EMALS catapult, a steam catapult will do for the F-35C.

Steam catapults are more complex and obsolete. Indian interest on EMALS was again confirmed my Admiral Verma. I doubt the IAC 2 which is coming in 2020+ will have Steam Catapults.