BlackArcherNice, with “Mickey” nose modified (missiles guidance radar is missing) and some “new” or displaced stuff.
what’s the exact reason for this variant? Looks strange to me, am so used to the “Pluto” like nose.
BlackArcherBlackArcherHAL Light Combat Helicopter
HAL is gearing up to undertake the scheduled weapons trials of LCH as soon as possible and start serial production of its indigenously developed Light Combat Helicopter. TD-4 is being readied for its trials and possibly after that green light will be given for serial production of the chopper.
As per scheduled plan, HAL will handover the first batch of LCH to IAF sometime in mid 2017.
BlackArcherRussian MiG-29KR came later, they are functionally identical aside from a few typical substitutions (IFF, etc).
Which is why the Ukrainian angle makes no sense, they could just source the replacement parts that Russia is using for its own MiG-29KRs (does anyone even know what/if anything Ukrainian is on the K/KUB?). Indian K’s don’t have any extra equipment that Ukraine produces AFAIK.Makes me doubt the whole thing, and given the author, the tendency for “anonymous Indian officials” to be…..inventive to put it mildly…..nonsense IMO.
You don’t just plug in a few components after delivery to the customer. What would make more sense is shipping the component from India to Russia, and wrapping it all up in the actual assembly line.
I had asked the same question on the IN thread..as to what specific Ukrainian equipment is there in the MiG-29K/KUB in the first place? And what Western equipment does it feature? Avionics? HUD? EW equipment?
BlackArcherIsrael’s ultimate ship defense now validated on land
Title is mis-leading. The article’s testing refers to the MR-SAM variant of the LR-SAM/Barak 8 for the Indian and Israeli Navies respectively. Posting it here since it is going to be in service with the Indian Navy first and then the Israeli Navy
TEL AVIV — The Israeli Navy’s “ultimate answer” to the Russian Yakhont anti-ship sea-skimming cruise missile has been validated in India for land-based air defenders, according to India’s Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), the prime contractor for the joint program known here as Barak-8.
The June 30 test of the Indian Air Force MRSAM – a medium-range, land-based version of the longer-ranged Barak-8 system produced for the Indian and Israeli navies – “validated all components of the weapon system to the satisfaction of the customer,” according to IAI.
According to a July 7 statement, Israeli and Indian program officials witnessed three flight tests, each one simulating “different extreme reference scenarios validating various system capabilities.” Launched from land-based mobile launchers, each of the three tests successfully destroyed targets simulating enemy threats.
“This is an important milestone in the cooperation between India and Israel and in the development of the MRSAM advanced air defense system,” said S Christopher, DRDO chief.
The vertically launched intercepting system, with a range of some 70 kilometers, provides persistent 360-degree coverage against saturation attacks by long-range missiles and a spectrum of air-breathing threats, including the Russian sea-skimming cruise missile known by its NATO designation SS-N-26.“Barak-8 is one of the most advanced air defense systems in the world in its sea-based and land-based versions. … It is Israel’s answer to the latest threat to come from the north,” Levy said, referring to the long-range missiles sold to Syria and assumed to be in the hands of Lebanon-based Hezbollah.
Boaz Levy, IAI executive vice president and general manager of the company’s Systems Missiles and Space Group, said Barak-8 had been validated in operational tests in Israel and abroad over the past year. It provides the “ultimate answer” to the Russian Yakhont, which Levy said posed “a significant threat in the Middle East in general and to the Israel Navy in particular.”
According to Levy, the Barak-8 radar as well as the interceptor’s seeker, airframe, propulsion and warhead were designed especially for sophisticated threats like the supersonic, sea-skimming Yakhont.
“It allows robust defense against aircraft, helicopters and missiles of all types, but for Yakhont, there’s nothing else in Israel that has the energy and the maneuverability to intercept the target in the air at very low levels, a few meters above the sea.”
In a recent interview, Brig. Gen. Yossi Ashkenazi, head of materiel for the Israeli Navy, supported Levy’s claim, insisting that Barak-8 “will give an appropriate answer to all cruise missile threats, including the sea-skimming class of the Yakhont.”
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BlackArcherFrance imposes new conditions on Rafale deal with India
NEW DELHI — France has quietly insisted that an $8.9 billion government-to-government (G2G) deal with India be signed before a 50 percent offset deal for Rafale fighters is finalized, according to a French Embassy source in India.
“We have concluded multiple discussions with state-owned Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and other agencies to execute 30 percent offsets in India’s ongoing and futuristic military aerospace programs, but no [offset] deal will be finalized until the final Rafale contract is signed,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
As part of the Rafale deal, France has made a 30 percent offset commitment for military aerospace research and development programs and a 20 percent offset commitment for making components for Rafale fighters with domestic firms in India.
French defense companies Safran, Thales, MBDA and Dassault have also committed to proving stealth, radar, thrust vectoring for missiles technologies and materials for electronics to DRDO and domestic defense companies.
We simply cannot make [Rafale] negotiations public”, said an Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) procurement official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity. (But the journo can speculate to his heart’s content anyway)
As part of G2G discussions, France has also agreed to kick-start the unsuccessful Kaveri gas turbine jet engine for the homemade light combat aircraft Tejas.
At present, the Kaveri engine lacks sufficient power thrust, efficiency and dependability.An upgraded Kaveri engine with 90 kN thrust can be developed in two years’ time with French cooperation, according to the French Embassy source.
Currently the Tejas is powered by a General Electric F404 engine.
“We have detailed discussions with the French teams to revive [the] Kaveri engine project and it is now for MoD to take a final call,” according to a senior DRDO scientist, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, the MoD is yet to respond to the Indian Ministry of Law and Justice’s findings on the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) on the Rafale deal, the MoD defense procurement official said.
..
The MoD procurement official said that no negotiations on the Rafale deal between France and India have taken place in more than six weeks, and the next meeting is yet to be scheduled.
In addition to 36 Rafale fighters, India is also buying Mica air-to-air missiles, Scalp air-to-ground missiles, Meteor beyond-visual-range missiles and precision-guided munitions at a cost of $1 billion for immediate requirements, and India is expected to order five years’ maintenance and engineering support at a cost of $500 million.
BlackArcherAviation Week article on the Make-in-India contest for a new fighter production line, focusing on Saab’s pitch.
There’s some rubbish included in the article, such as the mandatory dig at the Tejas, and on how the IAF has not received a single “new-generation” fighter in many years..wonder what the Su-30MKI is supposed to be :rolleyes:..I would believe that the Super Hornet, F-16IN and Gripen E don’t qualify as being new-generation fighters but rather evolutionary upgrades to 4th gen fighters.
The debris of India’s much-vaunted fighter contest, the now dead multibillion dollar Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA), has cleaned the slate for an intriguing contracting battlefield. The stakes could be even higher than the $12-15 billion that the aborted “mother of all deals” stood to be worth. In June, India’s defense minister officially revealed that the country would be building a foreign fighter under an elaborately negotiated “Make in India” plan on home soil, teeing up a slew of aggressive new offers. Saab, one of five aircraft-makers eliminated on technical grounds in the earlier contest, has what company officials say is the most comprehensive proposition.
Saab, which unveiled its new generation Gripen-E fighter in May, has put out a multipronged pitch to the Indian government that will be evaluated alongside major license-build packages from Boeing Defense for the F/A-18, Dassault Aviation for the Rafale (apart from the 36-aircraft deal now being negotiated), Eurofighter for the Typhoon and Lockheed Martin for the F-16. Unlike the MMRCA, which proposed to buy 18 jets in flyaway condition and build the rest under license in India, this new competition proposes a full production line for a foreign fighter type that will feed Indian orders, as well as foreign ones. It is virtually certain, though not officially stated, that a final deal will include an Indian air force order.
Saab is offering a full production line of its latest-generation fighter jet and is willing to sweeten the deal with advanced technology. Plus, it would provide a crucial technology infusion for India’s light Tejas fighter. The latter jet, while newly in squadron service with the air force, has miles to go before it attains anything close to fighting capabilities.
Saab officials say it has the newest-generation jet fighter in the game. It tried to promote the Gripen NG during the MMRCA contest, but competed with the Gripen-C/D, a less capable airplane. With the Gripen-E, Saab believes it trumps other bids in terms of development and upgrades.
Perhaps most crucially, Saab is proposing to give India high-end active, electronically scanned array (AESA) radar technology, including its gallium nitride (GaN) signal processor technology, which it says is more advanced than U.S. AESA radars built by Northrop Grumman and Raytheon. The Gripen-E uses the Selex Raven AESA radar.
Saab has opened discussions with India’s state-owned Defense Research and Development Organization, airframer Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) and private companies on cooperation in AESA technology. HAL, which builds the Tejas, is currently in the international market for an AESA radar to arm 80 aircraft the Indian air force has ordered.
While the Swedish manufacturer’s principal focus remains fixed on pushing the Gripen-E as an Indian-built jet, it is also expanding its bid to future systems, offering to partner with Indian agencies. For instance, Saab is in discussions with the Indian government on the fifth-generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) concept, a proposed stealth multirole fighter being developed for service in the next decade.
Saab unveiled a glimpse of its Future Combat Air System in a presentation ahead of the Gripen-E reveal ceremony. Both projects would gain hugely if a partnership were forged while they are still on their respective drawing boards. Would India be interested in another partnership on a fifth-generation fighter? It is already collaborating with Russia on the PAK-FA/Fifth-Generation Fighter Aircraft program. India’s commitment to continuing with the AMCA indicates the field is open for cooperation.
As expected, Dassault and the French government, currently determined to close an elusive deal for 36 Rafales for the Indian air force, have tried to discourage the Indian government from reopening the field of play, insisting that a Rafale production line is compelling from an inventory, scale and ownership perspective.
The Indian air force continues to battle steadily depleting fighter numbers—no new-generation fighters have joined the service in years—and has all but left it to the defense ministry to decide on priority purchases. As things stand, India’s ongoing addition of license-built Su-30 MKIs and the potential Rafale jets will matter most to addressing the shortfall. A steady flow of Tejas fighters is expected to be next on the roster, followed by a new foreign jet built on Indian soil. If that is the way into the future, the competition is definitely on.
BlackArcherMeanwhile, problems with the IN’s MiG-29K/KUBs and INS Vikramaditya aircraft carrier continue. The issues with the MiG-29K having to do mostly with embargoes on Ukrainian and Western items being integrated on the naval Fulcrum. Anyone have any idea what the Ukrainian and Western items on the MiG-29K may be?
IN reports problems with Russian aircraft carrier
There are still a number of problems with India’s Russian-built Mikoyan MiG-29K/KUB aircraft, as well as with the aircraft carrier formerly known as Admiral Gorshkov that entered Indian Navy service in 2013, sources in India have told IHS Jane’s .
The complaints about the MiG-29K/KUB aircraft are generally due to the inability of the Russian firm RSK-MiG to deliver a complete aircraft that incorporates all of the features promised in the contractual documents signed by both parties.
Indian experts who have visited the test base at Goa, where flight training with the aircraft is conducted, report that the MiG-29Ks are being delivered to India in a substandard configuration. The aircraft, said one specialist who visited the Goa base recently, “are literally being upgraded and brought up to spec while on the flightline”.The chief culprit in this dilemma, say both Indian and Russian specialists, are the combined embargoes enacted by the Ukrainian government that bar the export of any military-use items to Russia, along with the EU and US sanctions that prohibit the export of Western military components to Moscow. The ‘workaround’ has been for India to import these items directly, then have them integrated onto the aircraft on-site at the Goa base.
The MiG-29K for India differs from the MiG-29KR aircraft being built for the Russian Navy (VMF) in that the Indian-produced and foreign-made components are deleted in the configuration of the latter aircraft and replaced by Russian-made systems.
..INS Vikramaditya has its own shortcomings in that it is still not fully equipped for carrier operations. “One of the items still lacking is a proper emergency landing barrier for other-than-normal landings aboard the ship,” said one Indian specialist.
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