quadbikeTotal Indigenous Efforts Account For 60% Of ‘Chapati’ Warship, Shivalik, Cost !!!
No offense here: Shivalik is the first warship to have a chapati-making machine onboard !!!
Shivalik, the first of the class of three stealth frigates designed by the Indian Navy’s Directorate of Naval Design, built by Mazagaon Dock Ltd, Mumbai, is all set for commissioning on April 29, by the Defence Minister, in Mumbai.
The 143 meter long vessel with a displacement of about 6000 tons, has imported and indigenous weapons and sensors, with a total of 60% of the ship cost accounting the total indigenous efforts. Powered by combined diesel (or gas turbine) propulsion consisting of one each of LM 2500 GT and SEMT Pielstick Diesel Engine on each shaft driving a large diameter controllable pitch propeller, gives the ship an advantage of long endurance at sea.
Stealth features include RCS (radar cross section), reduced considerably through many design iterations of the hull and superstructure using extensive 3D modeling and RCS signature evaluation using a specialist software. Similarly infrared and underwater noise signatures have been reduced by infrared suppression devices for the hot engine exhausts and special mounting arrangements for the machinery, respectively.
The weapons suite of Shivalik comprises, area and point defence systems, sensors for air, surface and subsurface surveillance and tracking, medium range and close in gunnery, electronic support and counter measures and decoys for soft kill measures.
Combat management system (CMS) of the ship enables her to deal with multiple threats simultaneously. The indigenous shipwide data network supports the ship’s internal and external communication and distribution of navigational and indigenous weapons and sensors data.
quadbikeIndia to build 10 indigenous stealth frigates in 10 years
After importing the first three stealth frigates from Russia and with another three on order, the Indian Navy is likely to acquire 10 such indigenously-built vessels in the next 10 years, an officer said Wednesday.
The first indigenously-built stealth ship, INS Shivalik, will be commissioned April 29. The ship was built at Mumbai’s Mazagaon Docks Limited under Project 17. Two more such vessels are under construction and are likely to be commissioned in the next one year.
The ship is fitted with state-of-the-art technology and bristles with a sophisticated system of radars and weaponry. Its armaments include the Klub surface-to-surface missiles and the Shtil and Barak air defence missiles, rocket launchers and indigenously designed sonar systems meant for detecting and attacking submarines.
‘Shivalik is equipped with a judicious mix of Russian, Western and indigenous weapons and sensors. The indigenous effort accounts for over 60 percent of the ship’s cost,’ Rear Admiral K.N. Vaidyanathan, director general (Naval Design), told reporters here.
‘Besides design and construction, which is totally indigenous, the ship incorporates technologiclly advanced indigenous systems such as the integrated versatile console system, ship-wide data network and the jointly developed (with Russia) combat management system,’ he added.
According to naval officers, the Shivalik class vessels will be the mainstay frigates of the Indian Navy in the first half of the 21st century.
The ships also have the indigenous Kavach chaff-dispensing system to counter incoming missiles, as also indigenous sonars and anti-submarine warfare systems.
Vaidyanathan said the design is in an advanced stage of Project 17A vessels, a follow on of the Shivalik class frigates with advanced weapons and sensors suites and improved stealth features.
‘Acceptance of necessity (AON) has been accorded in June 2009 for building seven ships of this class,’ he added.
The Indian Navy operates three stealth frigates bought from Russia. Three more are being built in Russia and likely to be commissioned in by next year. With the completion of Project 17 A, the Indian Navy will have 16 stealth frigates in its fleet.
quadbikeNavy to have air enclave at CIAL
KOCHI: With an eye on its future aviation requirements, the Navy plans to carve out an air enclave on the sprawling campus of the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL).
Eleven acres of land adjoining the airport’s cargo complex have already been acquired for this purpose.
“Fencing work has begun and funds have been allocated by the MoD [Ministry of Defence] for the project. However, the construction work will have to be done in coordination with CIAL without upsetting its own expansion drive. We hope to complete it by end-2011,” sources said.
The enclave would house maintenance hangars capable of sheltering the Navy’s future air assets, especially the medium range maritime reconnaissance aircraft that it is scouting for. The hangars would also have the capacity to provide back-end support to the operation of a squadron from the enclave.
They will also be equipped to back up full-load operation of the long range maritime reconnaissance aircraft, Boeing P8-I, if required. As per the contract that the Navy has signed with Boeing for the purchase of eight P8-I aircraft, the delivery of the first would take place in 2013.
Besides the maintenance hangars, the enclave would have an administration complex and a taxi link to connect it to the CIAL runway.
Currently, Garuda, the Naval Air Station under the Southern Naval Command here, has two runways — with lengths of 6,000 feet and 4,500 feet — which may not suffice for the operation of bigger, heavier aircraft that would find their way to the Navy’s inventory in the future.
quadbikeOne missile to rule them all
Developing intercontinental ballistic missiles is crucial if India is to have a credible deterrence and power-projection force as it aspires to become a global power
With China engaged in ambitious missile force modernization and the US building new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) as part of its “Prompt Global Strike” programme, the question we need to ask is: When will India develop its first ICBM? Without such capability, India has little hope of emerging as a major power.
ICBMs are the idiom of power in international relations. Even as economic might plays a greater role in shaping international power equations, hard power remains central both for national deterrence and for power-projection force capability. For example, all countries armed with intercontinental-range weaponry hold permanent seats in the United Nations Security Council, and all aspirants for new permanent seats have regionally confined military capabilities.
India has glaring deficiencies on both the deterrence and power-projection fronts. It urgently needs a delivery capability that can underpin its doctrine of minimum but credible nuclear deterrence. The current heavy reliance on long-range bomber aircraft is antithetical to a credible deterrence posture.
Such a posture bereft of long-range missile reach only helps typecast India as a subcontinental power. In fact, in the absence of “strategic” or long-range missile systems, India’s deterrent capability remains sub-strategic.
If India seriously desires to project power far beyond its shores in order to play an international role commensurate with its size, it cannot do without ICBMs. Indeed, the only way India can break out from the confines of its neighbourhood is to develop intercontinental-range weaponry. With its current type of military capabilities, India will continue to be seen as a regional power with great-power pretensions.
To embark on an ICBM programme, India needs to shed its strategic diffidence. The National Democratic Alliance government told Parliament: “India has the capability to design and develop ICBMs. However, in consonance with the threat perception, no ICBM development project has been undertaken.” That policy inexplicably remains unchanged under the United Progressive Alliance government, even as India faces a growing threat from the new ICBMs in China’s increasingly sophisticated missile armoury.
An ICBM has a range of 5,500km and more. Rather than aim for a technological leap through a crash ICBM programme, India remains stuck in the intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) arena, where its frog-like paces have taken it—more than two decades after the first Agni test—to Agni III, a sub-strategic missile still not deployed. Even the Agni V project, now on the drawing board, falls short of the ICBM range.
No nation can be a major power without three key attributes: (1) a high level of autonomous and innovative technological capability; (2) a capacity to meet basic defence needs indigenously; and (3) a capability to project power far beyond its borders, especially through intercontinental-range weaponry.
India is today the world’s largest importer of conventional weapons, ordering weapons worth at least $5 billion per year. Far from making the nation stronger, such large arms imports underscore the manner in which the country is depleting its meagre defence resources and eroding its conventional military edge. The Indian military today can achieve many missions, including repulsing an aggression and inflicting substantial losses on invaders. It can even carry out limited pre-emptive or punitive action and fend off counteraction. But it cannot do what any major military should be trained and equipped for—decisively win a war against an aggressor state.
The reason is not hard to find: Modernization outlays mainly go not to develop the country’s own armament production base, but to subsidize the military-industrial complex of others through import of weapons, some of questionable value. None of the weapon mega deals India has signed in recent years will arm its military with the leading edge it needs in an increasingly volatile and uncertain regional security environment.
Its military asymmetry with China has grown to the extent that it has fostered disturbing fecklessness in India’s China policy, best illustrated by external affairs minister S.M. Krishna’s recent Beijing visit. And in the absence of a reliable nuclear deterrent, India has become ever more dependent on conventional weapon imports. Among large states in the world, India is the only one that relies on imports to meet even basic defence needs.
Last year’s launch of the country’s first nuclear-powered submarine, INS Arihant, for underwater trials received a lot of media attention. A nuclear-powered, ballistic missile-carrying submarine (known as SSBN) is essential for India to bridge the yawning gap in its deterrent force against China. But even if everything goes well, India’s first SSBN will be deployed in the years ahead with a non-strategic weapon—a 700km submarine-launched ballistic missile now under development. That would further underpin the regional character of India’s deterrence.
Without hard power, India will continue to punch far below its weight and be mocked at by critics. One well-known India baiter, journalist Barbara Crossette, claims: “…today’s India is an international adolescent, a country of outsize ambition but anemic influence.” That India still does not have an ICBM project—even on the drawing board—is a troubling commentary about the lack of strategic prudence. China built its first ICBM even before Deng Xiaoping initiated economic modernization in 1978. A generation later, the Indian leadership has yet to grasp international power realities.
quadbike^^^^
The Question is not whether the F 22 is the superlative dog-fighter, I think it is. The problem is with the absurd claim that one cannot put a weapon system on the Raptor.
quadbikeI’d be interested in seeing that too. And please don’t trot out that ancient picture of a Super Hornet getting a fleeting glimps of a Raptor in it HUD by busitng the rules of engagement (yeah, that’s well known too).
What about the T 38. IIRC a Growler also killed a Raptor.
It is quite plausible for an F 18 E/F to get a Raptor kill in WVR because the Super Hornet has excellent nose pointing ability.
quadbikeIf one nation needs 35 years to produce a simple delta that is in the end seen as just a testcase to learn then it is a milestone. Here all are ready to make fun out of it. Well, Israel had US fund, US technology and yet no Lavi. Let us wait and see how far the Iranians will get.
Because they sold it to China and now its the J 10. J 10 is as different from Lavi as a prototype is from a production aircraft.
quadbikeBids Submitted For Indian Basic Trainers
NEW DELHI — Industry hopefuls last week submitted bids to build 75 basic trainer aircraft for the Indian air force, at a cost of roughly $6 million each.
Contenders include the Embraer EMB-312 Tucano, EADS PZL-130 Orlik, Grob G120, Hawker Beechcraft T-6, Pilatus PC-7A, Korea’s KT-1 and Daher-Socata TB30 — with the last three having the same basic platform and engine. Once a decision is made, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) will float a bid for the design of 104 aircraft.
The tender comes with a 30% offsets clause, which one original equipment manufacturer (OEM) says will not be difficult to fulfill in India. However, the ejection seat is a distinct requirement, and those that do not have one built-in may be disqualified, a senior official told Aviation Week.
“An ejection seat is not easy to fit as it requires structural strengthening,” the official adds.
The urgent requirement comes with the grounding of a fleet of more than 100 Hindustan Piston Trainer (HPT)-32s following a spurt of crashes.
Pilots are currently being trained on another indigenous HAL aircraft, the Kiran, a straight-wing aircraft earlier used in stage-two training of pilots. HAL is developing an Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT), which the Indian air force plans to buy, but it is not expected to fly for at least three years. Final training is on the advance jet trainer Mk132, the Hawk, which is suffering from production delays with only 29 available of the 66 ordered.
“This experiment [training on Kirans] has been quite successful,” Indian air force chief of air staff P.V. Naik told Aviation Week recently. “Maybe for another year and a half we will continue with this. I am sure by then we will be able to find an alternative to HPT-32 to continue training unhindered.”
Fuel system problems with the HPT-32 has led HAL to ask for bids for an emergency parachute recovery system to fit 120 grounded trainers, a commercial-off-the-shelf item.
BRS, one of the three contenders, has designed, manufactured and distributed emergency parachutes for 30 years and says it has sold more than 31,000 units and documented 243 lives saved. “Our BRS system is ideally suited for the application … this technology was adapted to faster and heavier experimental aircraft, which evolved into FAA-approved parachute installations in certified aircraft,” President and CEO Larry Williams told Aviation Week.
The most significant advancement of this technology was its incorporation as standard equipment on all Cirrus Design aircraft in 1998, which currently account for one-third of all new single-engine general aviation aircraft sales in the U.S.
quadbikeIt looks very similar to the PAK FA prototype.
quadbikeIt’s a shame, someone forgot to tell this guy, that he can’t put a gun piper on F22. 😀
T 38 is obviously better than the Rafale 😉
quadbikeWhat about the guns then ?
quadbikeThe Maoists are not separatists either. They just want a change of the political system and in the unlikely event of that change coming, the IAF, Army etc. will have to work under that system, so it makes perfect sense that way as well.
quadbike‘BrahMos’ attracts attention at Malaysian defence expo
Kuala Lumpur: ‘BrahMos’, the world’s only supersonic cruise missile jointly developed by India and Russia, is attracting huge interest from potential customers, including Malaysia, at an ongoing defence exhibition here.
At the four-day Defence Services Asia (DSA-2010) exhibition, Malaysian Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Bin Hamidi was briefed by BrahMos Aerospace chief A S Pillai.
Pillai briefed Hamidi on the various capabilities of BrahMos system and its installation on ships, road mobile platforms, submarine and aircraft, BrahMos officials said.
“BrahMos Weapon System is attracting attention and huge interest from the Malaysian armed forces. Malaysian Navy chief Admiral Abdul Aziz Zafar has shown interest in the installation details and configuration,” they added.
Malaysia is on a look out for weapon systems for deploying them on its Meko A100 Kedah class ships and has also placed orders for SU-30MKM fighter jets, which will be used for fitting the air launched version of BrahMos, with Russia.
Various friendly countries including Vietnam, Egypt, Indonesia, Thailand and Oman have shown interest in BrahMos, company officials said in a statement.
India has already deployed the missile on several of its ships and it is working on the air-launched version of the cruise missile, which will be fitted on Indian Su-30MKIs.
India and Malaysia have a several common equipment in their defence inventory. India is also likely to help Malaysia to train its pilots on their version of Su-30 combat jets.
The two countries have opted for the same Scorpene class submarines as their future underwater fleet and are expected to closely cooperate in maintaining the vessels.
India and Russia have agreed to export ‘BrahMos’ to friendly foreign countries and are in talks with many of them for future sales.
quadbikeNavy alert on West coast as suspicious boat goes untraced
Mumbai: A search operation by the Indian Navy and Coast Guard for a suspicious boat that was apparently sighted by fishermen off Diu coast, did not yield results but surveillance has been enhanced along the west coast, a navy official said.
The navy and security agencies on March 29 received an information from fishermen that they spotted a boat with the name ‘Al Salam’ and bearing a certain registration number, triggering fears that terrorists could be aboard it and planning strikes like 26/11.
Fishermen in Diu informed security agencies that they had seen a white boat with ‘Al-Salam’ written on it near the Diu coast. There were five persons on board and were asking for directions from them.
“Soon after the information was shared with us, a massive search operation was carried out day and night. Till now, no suspicious boat was found. We have enquired the fishermen who made such claims. So far, we have not come across any such boat,” the navy official said.
“We cannot say the search operation is on now but the surveillance along the coast has been enhanced. We are coordinating with coast guard and policemen for various inputs,” the official added.
Fishermen in sea were also asked to be on alert and provide them information if they find any such boat again, the official said.
Authorities are taking no chances over the information considering the fact that 10 Pakistanis, who attacked Mumbai on November 26, 2008, had used a boat to reach there from Karachi.
Vigilance along the 40km long coastline of Mumbai, which witnessed the November 26 terror attacks after 10 terrorists entered the city via the sea route, has also been beefed up.
Fifteen Mumbai police-owned boats, including four amphibious boats equipped with advanced technology including GPS, are patrolling the city’s waterfront.
quadbikeChidambaram Drops Air Force Idea To Take On To A New Move Against Maoist
Understanding the current phase of situation which is quite dangerously tricky, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Monday has dismissed his earlier plan against Maoist and is thinking of tackling them by arranging special task force to combat them.
This time it won’t be Army or Indian Air Force (IAF) to handle Naxal operations but a special team of forces to supplement the Central para-military forces in the dangerous tricky zone of the Maoist after a deeper analysis of the situation.
On account of new action against Maoist, Mr Chidambaram mentioned, “The use of aircraft, however, is being considered for surveillance, logistics, supplies and evacuation of troops. The Dantewada massacre spelt a terrible failure of command and control.”
Previously the home ministry had thought of deploying Rashtriya Rifles, the counter-insurgency force of the Army stationed in J&K but after a close debate on the Dantewada massacre in the Rajya Sabha, Mr Chidambaram cancelled the idea and clarified that a new task force should be arranged who can carry out the operation with outmost responsibility.
Further on to this Chidambaram highlighted that the report is expected to be submitted by April 25 and added, “I have asked the Rammohan Panel to fix responsibility right from the assistant commandant (of the CRPF’s 62nd battalion) to the Union home minister.”
In the verge to unmask CPI(Maoist) with the new combined strength of support from UPA and the government who are determined to cease their active operation, Mr Chidambaram highlighted, “They want to overthrow the parliamentary system and follow armed struggle. About 211 people were killed by Maoists in 2009 after being randomly labeled as police informers. Maoists had damaged 71 school buildings, 23 panchayat bhawans, two power plants and 67 telephone exchanges, besides blowing up communication towers.”
Chidambaram dismissed the view of NGOs, writer Arundhati Roy and Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh who favorably appears in support for the CPI-Maoists and he cited, “Human rights organisations and NGOs are living in fool’s paradise,” in reference to those who write lengthy articles on Maoists who would get the same freedom to write if they ever came to power.The success of this move depends on the complete involvement of the Centre and state government, he notified, “we will be able to contain and control the menace in two to three years. We have to set a time horizon. I am determined to continue providing leadership to the home ministry and the para military forces. I am determined to provide assistance to states to fight the menace on naxals. The challenge has to be met squarely and we have to fight the menace fearlessly.”
Reflecting on to Mr Jaitley’s charge that the ruling party and UPA seemed divided on the counter-Naxal approach, Chidambaram defended, “Our party and UPA are totally united in the fight against naxals. You will not succeed in trying to divide my party.”
On account of socio-economic process this anti-naxal policy was made in sync with AICC 2006 resolution to focus on serious law and order problems in the country, he highlighted, “We are a robust democracy. We must allow various shades of opinion and it is for the government to evolve a policy after hearing every shade of opinion.”
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