quadbikeIAF to carry out air-to-air exercises with France, UK
New Delhi, Mar 22 (PTI) Expanding its ties with global air powers, the Indian Air Force will carry out air-to-air exercises with France and United Kingdom this year.
“Firstly, the ‘Garud’ series exercise with the French would be held in France in June and the ‘Indradhanush’ series with the British Royal Air Force would be held at the Kalaikunda air base in West Bengal in October,” Defence Ministry sources said here.
At the fourth edition of the ‘Garud’, IAF will be represented by its air superiority Sukhoi-30 fighter jets and the Il-76 heavy-lift transport aircraft in the aerial wargames with France.
“The Il-78 mid-air refuelling aircraft, which have helped in expanding the strategic reach of the IAF, are also likely to join the Indian contingent there,” they added.
The French side is expected to field its latest Rafale fighters and various versions of the Mirage-200 fighters, sources said.
quadbikeIndian Moon light
– Isro revelation can fuel Apollo review
New Delhi, March 21: A scientific instrument that crashed on the Moon after breaking free from the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft 16 months ago detected carbon dioxide and water in the extremely thin lunar atmosphere, Indian scientists have revealed.
The finding has the potential to facilitate a re-examination of debunked data collected 38 years ago by Apollo-17, the last manned moon landing mission.
Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) scientists say they had spotted direct instrumental evidence for water and carbon dioxide in the lunar atmosphere in November 2008, but have only now released their findings in a scientific journal.
Chandrayaan-1 had jettisoned a box called the Moon Impact Probe crammed with instruments for a planned suicide dive onto the lunar surface on November 14, 2008. During its 25-minute fall, an instrument called the Chandra’s Altitudinal Composition Explorer (CHACE) sampled the lunar atmosphere every four seconds, and identified chemicals on the basis of their masses.
CHACE spotted signatures of water and carbon dioxide in addition to a variety of other atoms and molecules at different altitudes in the lunar atmosphere, researchers from the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram, reported last week in the journal Planetary and Space Science.
Spikes in the instrument readings suggest that water and carbon dioxide are the dominant molecules.
A US-made instrument that had piggybacked on Chandrayaan-1 had last year detected signatures of water molecules on the lunar surface — and scientists had speculated that heat from the Sun may “kick” some of these molecules into the atmosphere.
But space physicists say the carbon dioxide spike from CHACE is intriguing.
“This warrants further investigation and an explanation,” said Jitendra Nath Goswami, director of the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, who is a senior member of India’s lunar science team, but was not associated with the analysis of CHACE data.
A senior Isro scientist said data from Apollo-17 of 1972 which had carried a similar instrument had suggested the presence of water and carbon dioxide during the lunar night-time. “The Apollo-17 data had been dismissed as contamination — but our observations call for a re-examination of the Apollo-17 data,” said Rajagopal Sridharan, director of the Space Physics Laboratory at the VSSC, and lead author of the new paper.
The scientists declined to speculate on explanations for carbon dioxide in the lunar atmosphere. Their paper in Planetary and Space Science is primarily about direct evidence for water, but a graph gives away the carbon dioxide spike.
The relative abundance of water and carbon dioxide in the lunar atmosphere and other observations appear to rule out contamination — molecules inadvertently carried there from Earth — of the instruments.
“We’re continuing with detailed analysis of our data,” Sridharan said. “While all other recent observations are inferences based on hydrogen-bearing compounds, the CHACE results are direct evidence,” he said.
The density of atoms and molecules measured by CHACE also suggest that scientists might need to rethink some ideas about the emptiness of the Moon’s atmosphere. It is an ultra-high vacuum, Sridharan said, but the amount of material there appears to be at least 100 times more than what was thought before.
The lunar orbiter Chandrayaan-1, launched in October 2008, had suffered instrument failures last year, leading to loss of communication with the spacecraft, and prompting Isro to end the mission in August 2009. But analysis of huge amount of data sent by the spacecraft’s scientific payloads is expected to continue for several years
quadbikeVikrant sails closer to new life
A full-fledged maritime museum aboard the decommissioned aircraft carrier IMS Vikrant will finally see the light of day, with the state government likely to finalise the bids for the project by April. The government had announced a proposal to convert the Old Lady of the Indian Navy into a museum on the very day she was decommissioned, on January 31, 1997.
Manukumar Srivastava, secretary, urban development and special projects said, “Five bidders—HCC Infrastructure Ltd, Srei Infrastructure Ltd, Kalpataru Power, Dhoot Developers and Zoom Developers— were asked to submit financial bids after they qualified in the technical bids round. The project is being executed on the build-own-transfer basis and financial bids will be finalised before April 2010.’’
Maharashtra Urban Infrastructure Development Company Limited (MUINFRA)is implementing the project. Ajay Saxena, public-private-partnership expert and officer on special duty, MUINFRA, said, “The successful bidders will be given six months to achieve financial closure. We will give a time-frame of 36 months to the succesful bidder to complete work on the project.’’
The ship will grouted off Oyster Rock near the Radio Club alongside the Gateway of India. “A 1.5 km road, including the jetty, will be constructed to provide access to visitors to the museum which will be located on Deck 3 of the ship. The project has been designed in such a way that the visitor will be straightway led to the maritime museum once he enters the ship,’’ an official said.
The entire project is expected to cost approximately Rs 450 crore. And if all goes according to plan, the state government will not have to shell out any amount as viability gap funding for the project. Saxena said, “The bidders have been asked to submit two separate bids—for 35 years and 50 years. Bids for the 35-year-period will be opened first. A bidder willing to pay highest premium to the government, will qualify first for the project. If the bids are not satisfactory then bids for the 50-year-period will be opened. A bidder quoting a premium or seeking least sum of money as viability gap funding will have an edge in the qualification process.’’
The bidders are also expected to provide a modern security system, including a team to help evacuate people in an emergency or terrorist attack.
The IMS Vikrant has 2.60 lakh sq. feet of space, of which 50,000 sq feet has been earmarked exclusively for the museum. The remaining space can be commercially exploited by the bidder. Artefacts for the museum will be provided by the Indian Navy. “The navy have agreed to upgrade their artefacts every three years so as to keep visitors interested in the project.’’ A study carried out by the CRISIL estimates nearly 2,500 visitors may visit the museum daily.
Saxena further said, “The bidders will be allowed to commercially exploit the premises to earn revenue by opening retail outlets and eateries, with permission from the concerned department.’’ However, he clarified that the operator will not be allowed to open a casino or dance bar or anything prohibited by the law of the land.
As for entry fees, Saxena said the museum will be “for the common man and we will ensure that the bidder does not charge exorbitant entry fees”.
quadbikeFirst phase of ballistic missile shield to be deployed in 2012
Notwithstanding the recent failure of the interceptor missile test, the first phase of the indigenous Ballistic Missile Defence System to intercept and destroy incoming enemy missiles of less than 2,000-km range is expected to be deployed in two years.
Disclosing this to The Hindu recently, V.K. Saraswat, Director-General, Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) and Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister, said the first phase would be made operational through the new concept of ‘capability-based deployment.’ The Air Defence Programme has been divided into two parts — depending upon the threat perception. While the first category of threats pertains to enemy missiles with less than 2,000-km range, the second type belongs to those with more than 2,000 km. Both the phases will have two layers. The aim of the two-tier system is to first destroy an incoming missile, at a higher altitude, in the exo-atmosphere above 50 km. If that does not happen, the endo-atmospheric interception will take place up at the height of 30 km from the earth.
The DRDO has developed the Prithvi Air Defence (PAD) missile for exo-atmospheric interception and the Advanced Air Defence (AAD) system for endo-atmosphere interception.
With a fresh interceptor missile test in the endo-atmosphere planned in a couple of months, some more trials were planned for 2010-11 and 2011-12 to ensure reliability, repeatability and suitability for deploying phase-1assets, Dr. Saraswat said.
Simultaneously, DRDO scientists have started work on phase-II solutions. It requires radars of longer range and new hypersonic interceptor missiles flying at Mach 6 with agility and the capability to discriminate against ballistic missile defence counter measures. “Our effort is to have interception at very high altitudes, and the entire system will be able to handle multiple, simultaneous attacks,” he said.
A crucial requirement for the second phase is a floating test-range — a complete launch station from which interceptors will be fired. Scientists have started designing the ship and associated systems such as radar, mission control centre, launch control centre, communication network and many other equipment needed for phase-II trials.
The ‘capability-based deployment,’ under which a system would be put to use, as it got perfected, had paid rich dividends for some countries, Dr. Saraswat said. The entire work on the two phases was planned to be completed by 2016.
quadbikeL&T to build 36 high speed boats for coast guard
MUMBAI: Infrastructure construction major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) will design and construct 36 high speed interceptor boats worth Rs 970 crore for the Indian Coast Guard, the company announced in Mumbai on Monday.
The contract, awarded by the defence ministry, is one of the initiatives of the government to strengthen coastal security.
The interceptor boats will have aluminium-alloy hull construction with water jet propulsion to enable quick response, necessary for the intended applications, and shall be also crucial for near shore action.
The boats shall be designed in-house at the L&T’s Ship Design Centre, a part of its heavy engineering division, and shall be constructed at its existing shipyard at Hazira (in Gujarat) and the new shipyard coming up at Katupalli near Ennore (in Tamil Nadu).
L&T has already been building special purpose vessels and heavy lift ships for export at its Hazira Yard. It is equipped to construct ships upto 20,000 tonnes.
quadbikeA peep into Vikramaditya
Now that a final price tag of $2.33 billion has been fixed on aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya (Admiral Gorshkov) going against the proverbial caution, perhaps it is time to look the ‘gift’ horse in the mouth.
While arriving at the figure, the Indian Navy asserts that there has been no compromise, including on the much-required sea trials that will be conducted for 20-24 months before the aircraft carrier is handed over by December 2012.
“There will be no compromise, and all trials that are necessary will be conducted,” Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Nirmal Verma told The Hindu. The remarks assumes significance following the observations by the Comptroller and Auditor-General that sea trials were a major factor in the substantial increase in the cost.
Navy officials maintain that the aircraft carrier will be good for the next three to four decades. Its hull remains good with value additions done to modify the cruiser class to meet the force requirement. At the time of induction, it will be equivalent to the best among the contemporary carriers.
Some of the features built into the contract are replacement of the entire length of cables/wiring running into thousands of kilometres; delivering infrastructure machinery for repair and maintenance support in Indian docks; training of personnel from Indian docks and personnel on board the carrier; spare parts for 10 years from the time the carrier is to be handed; repair and technical detail documents for maintenance; and pilot training/trials.
Comparing INS Vikramaditya with other carriers, the officials said a 27,000-tonne Cavour class Italian vessel cost $2.2 billion, while 65,000-tonne CVF class vessel (HMS Queen Elizabeth being built in U.K.) cost $4.2 billion.
It took an three additional and 13 supplementary contracts for the final price to be fixed ahead of the rescheduled delivery of the 45,000-tonne Vikramaditya, bringing the curtains down on the negotiations over the price, which was increased from $1.5 billion to $2.2 billion, with the final demand touching $2.9 billion.
New Delhi has so far released more than $600 million.
quadbikeSo basically SPADA is the Equivalent of SPYDER which IAF is acquiring from Israel.
quadbikeIAF AN-32 planes in Ukraine for upgrades
India has undertaken a major project with Ukraine to upgrade its AN-32 transport aircraft, the lifeline of the armed forces in parts of Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast, with the first batch of the planes in Kiev for extension of their technical life by another 15-20 years.
Five of the planes, which are often called ‘Beasts of Burden’, are undergoing modernisation work in the Ukrainian capital since early this month as part of a $400 million accord under which their payload-carrying capacity will also be increased, IAF officials said in New Delhi on Sunday.
The fleet of 105 aircraft, inducted since mid-80s, will be upgraded under the agreement reached between India and Ukraine in June last year.
Their modernisation was required as they were nearing the end of their technical life of around 25 years, the officials said.
The upgrades will help in increasing payload carrying capacity of the aircraft from around 6.7 tonnes to 7.5 tonnes, they said.
Under the agreement, the first 40 aircraft will be upgraded in Ukraine whereas the remaining 65 will be upgraded at IAF’s Base Repair Depot in Kanpur.
The aircraft will also be fitted with equipment like air collision avoidance system, ground proximity warning system, satellite navigation system, distance measuring equipment, upgraded radio altimeters and improved seats for crew members, they said.
The AN-32s are considered to be the lifeline of Indian armed forces in Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir and parts of the Northeast, where troops heavily depend on supplies dropped by the aircraft for their survival.
The aircraft was especially designed by erstwhile USSR as per the Indian specifications of operating at altitudes above 3,500 metres in its hilly terrain.
The aircraft is also used in bombing roles by Agra-based ‘Striking Yaks’ squadron and para-dropping operations of both the Army and the IAF.
quadbikePilots wear diapers on bombing missions
Fighter pilots wore diapers and flew non-stop for more than nine hours to carry out the Indian Air Force’s farthest and longest bombing exercise recently – symbolising the IAF’s extended reach.
They flew Sukhoi-30 MKI fighters to destroy mock targets in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
A senior IAF officer told HT, “The fighters dropped air-to-ground ordnance for the first time on an uninhabited island in the Andamans. We want to exploit the location of these islands to train fighter pilots for extreme missions.”
Six fighter planes were launched from air force bases in Bareilly and Pune for the experimental long-haul mission. Russian Ilyushin-78 refuellers flew from Agra to tank up the Sukhois during the flight over the Bay of Bengal.
The officer said long-range missions would be planned regularly from now on to push the limits of technology and human endurance.
Fighter pilots may have to get used to carrying more loads in their diapers. The officer said future missions would be more complex, requiring them to stay airborne for 12 to 15 hours. “We can keep the fighters airborne for as long as we want.
Refuellers are a game-changer,” he said. The Air Force has started providing diapers to pilots as ‘standard clothing’.
Former IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major, said, “The IAF seems to be gearing up for expeditionary missions. Human endurance should not be a limiting factor in the cockpit.”
quadbikeI have never doubted that and totally agree with you! 😉
However, you orginally asked for a timeline and induction rate for SPADA and I have given it. As you can see, we will have a very heavy medium range SAM set up within 2-3 years.
Thats fine then. 🙂
quadbikeStill Rimmer, Sam will only give you that much cover, its no substitute for having fighters.
quadbikeQuadbike
You are either not reading peoples post or you have memory loss. It was not state of the art SAMs that Pakistan used to bring down IAF jest last time. It was 10 year + MANPADs.
This year PAF will be inducting SPADA2000. IAF will be facing a much, much tougher challange then it did in 1999.
Can you not comprehend this, even other Indian posters understand this.
Amateur hour is over now….
Yes and what Jets did you bring down a chopper without no protection and old Mig 21s and Mig 27s. That is hardly the kind of threat PAF will face now.
As for the SPADA 2000 yes i read about it but how many are inducted, what is the rate of induction. When will there be enough batteries to defend all your high value targets.
By the time its inducted in numbers, chances are that India will probably have the MRCA inducted with more advanced Jammers, towed decoys and what not.
quadbikeZoom, if you qoute me at least do me the honour of qouting me correctly?
I said “May” be a blow for the IAF. I happen to agree completely with you, there are just to many variables to ensure an attempted IAF strike on Karakouram would succeed.
However we have people like Quadbike on the forum who claim (and here I am qouting him directly)
“Actually taking out a high profile target will be rather easy for the IAF”
Can you see the difference between our reality and his internet rants?
Rimmer put your pride aside and look at the respective airforces inventories and Pakistans Air Defense capabilities and you will soon realize that hitting targets inside Pakistan is not very difficult for the IAF.
There will indeed be losses on our side but the truth is that PAF neither possesses numerical superiority nor technological superiority. Pakistan does not have state of the art SAM installations either.
quadbikeUS offers latest airborne radar to India
After a range of top fighter aircraft and other weapon systems, the US has now offered another sophisticated system to India, the Airborne Stand-Off Radar (ASTOR), whose capability has been described as “unmatched” by a former US navy official.
According to Admiral Walter F Doran, president Asia for Raytheon, Indian officials had already been briefed on “this latest radar, for highly effective 24-hour surveillance and target acquisition capability”, India Strategic magazine reported in its latest issue. The system is being operated now by the British Army and Royal Air Force (RAF) in Afghanistan with five ASTOR aircraft and eight ground stations.
Admiral Doran is quoted in the magazine as saying that Raytheon, a military technology giant, had also submitted a formal proposal to the Indian government. He declined to give details.
First deployed in 2008, ASTOR can even detect minor variations in surface levels, like digging and filling of earth at the same place, and draw conclusions about activity. The system consists of an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar on board the Bombardier Global Express ‘Sentinel’ business jet. Indian officials first visited the aircraft displayed at the Paris Air Show in June 2009 and have followed up with discussions.
Admiral Doran, a former US Navy 7th Fleet commander, said that “the capability on board the ASTOR was unmatched”, pointing out that although Raytheon did not make platforms, its combat systems were on board most of the US aircraft, ships, spacecraft and land vehicles. For instance, the AESA radar on board the Boeing F 18 Super Hornet, F 15 Eagle and P8 Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (for the US and Indian Navies) is built by Raytheon.
The company has also built an AESA radar for F 16s, should a country buying it make the choice in its favour.
So was the Mini-SAR, or the Miniaturized Synthetic Aperture Radar, on board India’s lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 which located ice on the polar surface of moon through high resolution imagery.
Raytheon provided the Mini-SAR to NASA, which gave it to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for its lunar mission as part of their cooperative venture. NASA later sent another mission with a higher resolution SAR camera.
Admiral Doran said that ASTOR flies high enough – 40,000 to 45,000 feet – to cover a large ground area, and to be beyond the range of most surface-to-air missiles (SAMs). It is also equipped with a self protection suite to put out flares and chaff to confuse and deflect any threatening missiles.
ASTOR’s main equipment includes a dual-mode SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) and Moving Target Indicator (SAR/MTI), part of the AESA system. The aircraft can fly for nine hours at a stretch.
There are three consoles for monitoring the ground, two for image analysts and one for the Airborne Mission Commander, besides the pilot and co-pilot. Data from the aircraft is fed to the ground stations from where action against hostile targets is initiated if required.
The US has already offered to India F 35 JSF, F 16 Super Viper, F 18 Super Hornet and P8I aircraft and weapon systems.
quadbikeIndian Navy successfully testfires new BrahMos cruise missile
NEW DELHI, Mar. 21, 2010 (Xinhua News Agency) — Indian Navy Sunday successfully testfired a new vertical version of the supersonic BrahMos cruise missile from a ship in the Bay of Bengal off the coast of the eastern state of Orissa, a senior Defense Ministry official said.
“The missile was launched at 11:30 a.m. today from an Indian Navy ship INS Ranvir and it maneuvered successfully hitting the target ship successfully. It was a perfect hit and a perfect mission. After today’s test, India has become the first and only country in the world to have a maneuvering supersonic cruise missile in its inventory,” head of BrahMos Aerospace A. Sivathanu told the media in the national capital.
This would mean that the missile, which has a range of 290 km and flies at a speed of 2.8 Mach, can take on a target lying anywhere in the 360-degree range of the ship, sources said, adding that the Indian Army has plans to induct three regiments of BrahMos in future to use the missile as a “precision first strike weapon”.
BrahMos can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land. It is a joint venture between India’s Defense Research and Development Organization and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroeyenia who have together formed the BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited.
BrahMos claims to have the capability of attacking surface targets as low as 10 meters in altitude. The missiles can carry a 200 kg warhead, whereas the aircraft-launched variant can carry a 300 kg warhead.
Since late 2004, the missile has undergone several tests from variety of platforms including a land based test from Pokhran desert, in which the “S” maneuver at Mach 2.8 was demonstrated for the Indian Army and a launch in which the land attack capability from sea was demonstrated.
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