http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/indian-army-to-get-its-own-attack-helicopters-279044

After talking to both Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne and Army Chief General Bikram Singh this week, Mr Menon advised the Government that Army should own and operate the medium lift attack helicopters. The first batch of Apache helicopters to be bought from USA programme may go the Indian Army. Currently, India has two squadrons of attack helicopters, Mi-25 and Mi-35, which are maintained and manned by the Indian Air Force but under the operational control of the Indian Army.

What ?

Some more mugs…

This thread needs more pictures.

P-8I undergoing flight testing.

Some encouraging news (if accurate)

Apparently, the Vikramaditya reached speeds of 27.8 knots instead of 29, but was later on restricted to 50% boiler power to prevent further damage to the insulation (or that’s pretty much what I make of the translation)

Test information Vikramaditya

bmpd
October 4th, 0:18

Source bmpd in Indian media, close to the Indian Navy, shared with our blog uninteresting to some information about the course and some of the results will complete the first stage of the tests for India rebuilt aircraft carrier Vikramaditya (former heavy aircraft carrying cruiser ” Admiral Gorshkov “).

According to Indian sources, the trials the aircraft carrier Vikramaditya was at sea 108 days (including stay parked on the outer road Severomorsk), from June 8 to September 23, 2012, having for this time running a total of about 12,500 miles. On board the ship, there were about 2,000 crew and commissioning team, including 287 Indians. During the test, the ship’s deck was made ​​41 flight (landing and take-off cycle), the MiG-29K and MiG-29KUB. Total for the tests themselves (including overflights ship) and was committed to ensure 218 flights of aircraft and helicopters of various types (including flights MiG-29K/KUB from the deck), and from the Russian Air Force for testing involved, including the MiG-31 aircraft and A-50 AWACS (both types – for testing electronic systems communicate with the ship.) Failures and incidents with aircraft in the tests were not. source noted uptime during testing aerotechnical equipment produced in Russia, including the arresting gear. From 41 embarkation MiG-29K/KUB, 70 percent of landings were performed with the link cable arresting gear second (of three cables). Engages the second cable is the best for the landing, and it shows a good level of training of Russian test pilots and the ability of the spacecraft systems with high precision guidance to implement aircraft during landing. Tests installed on ships of various electronic systems in general have also been successful, despite the separate issues. Virtually all avionics confirmed their published specifications. Regarding problems with boilers the ship, the Indian source said that the loss due to boiler brickwork masonry substrate deformation led to the maximum output of the boiler during the tests was limited to first level of 70 percent, and then did 50 percent. The performance level of 50 percent of boilers it possible to maintain the maximum stroke of the ship in only 22 knots – the minimum acceptable grade for takeoff and landing operations of aircraft. Tests at full speed (29 knots) in general could not be held, the maximum speed reached was only 27.8 knots. Total loss of masonry boilers ranged from 5 to 10 percent of the total number of bricks. To date, the Indian side has agreed to restore the substrate thermal boilers with asbestos board that was used for this purpose before the boilers of this type. were also conducted successful trial runs Vikramaditya at the nominal cruising speed of 18 knots. In this case, the ship showed good handling and maneuverability. The ship is heading well and showed good seaworthiness under real storm conditions.

http://bmpd.livejournal.com/347101.html

Nirbhay tests shifted to December to accommodate changes in the launcher. My guess, the diameter would be less than 533 mm to allow launches from torpedo tubes.

http://tarmak007.blogspot.in/2012/10/indias-first-made-in-bangalore-missile.html

Sources told Express that the launch, earlier planned for October, has now been shifted to December owing to the changes being made to the launcher. It is being built by R&D Engineers, Pune, a specialised arm of DRDO.Other than one major imported component (a Russian-made turbofan engine), sources claim that the missile is completely indigenous. The cost of Nirbhay is expected to be around Rs 10 crore a piece with DRDO spending around Rs 70 crore so far. Though the project was sanctioned in 2004, the scientists ran into many critical challenges. “There were many unforeseen events we had to counter and overcome while developing Nirbhay. The project picked up momentum in 2010 onwards,” sources said.
All the three defence Services have shown interest in Nirbhay and DRDO is riding high on the success of Agni A1, A2, A3, A4 and A5 missiles tested in the last five months. “Nirbhay is a medium-range cruise missile capable of flying at different altitudes ranging from 500 metres to four km. It is approximately 6 metres long and 550 mm in diameter. A booster and sustainer with two wings make the missile fly at low altitudes, completely ducking enemy radars. The air-breathing engine along with four tail fins control the velocity and path of the missile. Nirbhay is integrated with ring-laser gyro-based high accuracy navigation system and a radio altimeter for the height lock,” sources said.

IAF to upgrade unmanned aerial vehicles fleet

NEW DELHI, OCT 2:
The IAF is planning to join hands with an Israeli firm to upgrade the UAVs of the three services under a project worth over Rs 5,000 crore to enhance their snooping capabilities.

The three services operate a fleet of more than 150 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) procured from the Israeli Aircraft Industries (IAI) over the last few decades.

“Under the Rs 5,000 crore projects, we will upgrade the capabilities of the UAVs in all the three services with the help of the original equipment manufacturer IAI,” a senior IAF official told PTI here.

The IAF flies the Israeli-made Searcher II and Heron UAVs for reconnaissance and surveillance purposes and about 100 Searchers are in operation on Indian borders in western, northern and eastern regions.

After the upgrades, the IAF would be capable of operating these aircraft from far-off distances and control them through satellite communication system, he said.

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Defence Ministry scraps Coast Guard tender for choppers

Coast Guard’s plan to boost its maritime surveillance capabilities will have to wait as the Defence Ministry has scrapped its tender to procure 16 light helicopters.

Only two companies — Indian Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), offering its ALH Dhruv, and European Eurocopter with its twin-engine Panther MB — were in the race for the deal expected to be worth over Rs 1,000 crore.

The tender, issued in July last year, was cancelled by the Defence Ministry after it was found that the helicopter offered by Eurocopter was not compliant with one of the request for proposal requirements, Defence Ministry officials said.

With only ALH Dhruv left in the race, the ministry could not go ahead as single-vendor tenders are not allowed by the Defence Procurement Procedure of the ministry, they said.

The procurement was part of Coast Guard’s efforts to enhance its capabilities to tackle terrorism and other threats emanating from sea and to prevent any 26/11-type attacks.

The Coast Guard is now planning to issue a fresh tender with new and reviewed specifications in the first quarter of 2013.

Whoa Whoa Whoa, MiG-29Upg part two ?

Uhm, no, she commonly referred to as INS Matanga. INS Airavat is not a tug of any kind but a landing ship.

Ah ok, you were referring to INS matanga the tugboat, I thought you were referring the Vikramaditya as a white elephant :p