Top Owl is essnentially a helicopter helmet, let me know when you can cue AIM-9Xs on it….

Nonsense,
The Thales Top-Owl F is a fighter HMDS as well and in use for the IN’s MiG-29K and already integrated on the Mirage-2000-5

4) Qualified and flight proven
Qualified on Mirage 2000-5 and MiG-29
Selected by French Air Force and Dassault on Mirage 2000-5
Selected by MiG Corporation to equip MiG-29 K for the Indian Navy

Last stage of trials before Tejas achieves IOC. And a pic of the Tejas LSP-4 with a live R-73 on the occasion of its 1500th flight test, courtesy of Shiv on BRF

India’s Aeronautical Development Agency is gearing up to start the last phase of flight trials for the Tejas light combat aircraft at Chitradurga in Karnataka, 100 mi. northwest of here.

This will be the first time the new test range of the Defense Research and Development Organization will be put to use.

Test pilots from the National Flight Test Center in Bengaluru are readying themselves to undertake the last leg of weapon trials/stores release in Chitradurga. “Currently, a series of trials are being done to characterize the aerodynamics of the platform,” a senior official associated with the program says. “This will be the first outing for Tejas in Chitradurga. We are now setting up the telemetry range.”

Aviation Week has learned that accuracy studies will be done at Chitradurga when Tejas releases stores. “It will be dummy trials to start with,” the official says. “The pilots will be taking off from Old Bangalore airport and land after finishing their mission in Chitradurga within 10-12 minutes.”

The certification process for Tejas is now entering its last lap with the Center for Military Airworthiness and Certification (Cemilac). “Once the proposed trials in Chitradurga are over, we would have finished all the parameters Tejas should have tested ahead of the initial operational clearance,” the official says.

An Empowered Committee Meeting is scheduled in New Delhi next week with the Indian air force chief to review the certification process. “Once we demonstrate all that the Indian air force [wants], the Cemilac will hand over the documents to the air force,” the official says. “By December 27, we are sure that the Tejas will enter the initial operational clearance phase. However, the production aircraft will be available to air force pilots only by mid-2011. There’s 100% clarity on everything now.”

link

Its not just the weapons. French avionics and systems are very credible and very expensive. The Mirage 2000 upgrade for instance should come with the standard ICMS Mk3. This is a modern system, with digital receivers & integrated DRFM. Public sources indicate it has many advanced features including ESM capability, and even target localisation. In short, the Mirage upgrade would make them very modern and capable aircraft. I don’t buy into claims that they are getting the RDY3 either. This has so far been only reported by AWST, whereas earlier reports mentioned the more powerful & Mirage 2000-5 standard RDY-2.

yes and as we know the PAF didn’t get the DRFM jammers on its F-16 Block 50s. A big difference, isn’t it ?

IN looking at the option of including AIP in the 5th and 6th Scorpene subs and then retrofitting them on the first 4 subs. And can anyone elaborate why the P-75I project for 6 more subs will suddenly become twice as expensive as these 6 Scorpenes ? They will be slightly larger, but what other capabilities are the IN planning that is so much costlier ? The technology to build them should now exist at MDL and they’re even planning on building the first in the vendor country itself, so ToT cost shouldn’t be that large.

link to article

The navy is weighing a proposal to modify the under-construction Scorpene submarines to enable the boats to stay underwater for longer periods and enhance their combat capabilities. It is considering to equip the submarines, being built at Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL), with an air independent propulsion (AIP) system that can recharge their batteries without having to surface for more than three weeks. Conventional submarines have to surface almost every second day to run their air-breathing diesel engines, running the risk of detection.

Six Scorpene submarines are being built with transfer of technology from French firm DCNS, under a Rs 18,798-crore programme called Project 75. DCNS CEO Patrick Boissier, who is accompanying visiting French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said his company was in talks with the navy to equip the submarines with AIP systems.

Boissier said if a contract were to be placed by next year, AIP systems could be integrated into the fifth and the sixth submarines rolling out of MDL in 2018. The systems can be retrofitted on the first four submarines later under an upgrade programme. The navy is also looking at an indigenous AIP system being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation.

Navy chief Admiral Nirmal Verma said the first Scorpene submarine would enter service in 2015 and the remaining six within a span of three years. The navy was supposed to induct its first Scorpene in 2012, but the project has been delayed due to issues over transfer of technology. The navy is set to collaborate with a foreign manufacturer for six more next-generation submarines under Project 75-India, pegged to be worth Rs 40,000 crore.

Agni-II+ launch soon ! Interceptor test also coming up and K-15 production in full swing !

Flush with the successful flight of surface-to-surface missile Agni-1 on Thursday , the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is preparing to launch Agni-II +, “a totally new missile,” before December 10.

The launch will take place from the Wheeler Island, off the Orissa coast, and preparations for it will begin in a few days.

The Agni-II + is a surface-to-surface missile that can carry nuclear warheads. It can strike targets 2,500 km to 3,000 km away. It is an intermediary between Agni-II and Agni-III. While Agni-II has a range of 2,500 km, Agni-III can home in on targets 3,500 km way.

Agni-II + will add teeth to the country’s nuclear deterrence. It has two stages and both are powered by solid propellants. It can be transported by both rail and road.

Interceptor planned

In the coming weeks, the DRDO plans to launch an interceptor missile as part of its efforts to establish a ballistic missile shield. “We will soon launch an interceptor from the Wheeler Island, which will intercept a ballistic missile launched from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur in Orissa,” a DRDO official said.

The interception would take place at an altitude of 15 km in what is called endo-atmosphere. The missile from Chandipur would mimic the trajectory of a ballistic missile launched from an enemy-country.

“We are trying to attempt a very different trajectory [from the earlier interceptor missions]. When the enemy missile is coming down in its trajectory, it will try to dodge the interceptor missile. The interceptor should be able to take care of this and still hit it,” the official said adding the interceptor would be a single-stage supersonic missile, called Advanced Air Defence. The attacker would be a modified Prithvi missile.

Prithvi-II launch soon

The coming weeks will see the launch of Prithvi-II, which had inducted into the Services. It can carry nuclear warheads.

“We are working on Agni-V for its maiden launch in 2011. It will be the flagship missile of the DRDO,” said a DRDO missile technologist. “The missile will have a range of 5,000 km. Agni-III will form the building block for Agni-V.”

With the addition of a third upper stage and some minor modifications, the two-stage Agni-III would transform into an awesome three-stage Agni-V. All the three stages would use solid propellants as fuel.

K-15 production

Sources in the DRDO said the production of submarine-launched K-15 missile was in full swing. The missile had been renamed B-05. After the launch, the missile would go up to an altitude of 20 km in a parabola and then travel 700 km to attack enemy assets. India’s nuclear-powered submarine named “Arihant” would be armed with these missiles.

link to article

Teer,

Things like landing gear can be made by Brazil, they have the know-how to do that(and perhaps also India?), in particular under supervision from Saab. Brazilian companies are also involved in the design of the wings and other parts.

its not about the capability to do the design. Brazil may be able to do it thanks to Embraer’s experience, but as first timers for a fast-jet it may be risky.

India designed and developed its own landing gear for the Tejas Mk1 and the N-LCA as well. But we know that on the N-LCA they believe that its landing gear is slightly overweight (stronger due to higher sink rates) and have sought consultancy from EADS (earlier LM won the deal but failed to honour it) to try and bring the weight down. By the time it is re-engined with the F414 and by the time IAC-1 arrives, the N-LCA might be ready, but the landing gear still proved to be a risky item.

I meant that if india wants gripen with a another engine but F414 or RM12, it is possible. Both for india to change it, and for india to contract saab for it.
With the engine out, the strings to US is on the same page as Rafale.

But India dont seem to see F414 as a problem.

Oh yes, it would of course be possible to re-engine it with a new Ej-230 or something like that whenever it is made available..The delays that will cause with re-integration, new series of flight tests, etc. are a different issue and need not be discussed since that actually hasn’t happened.

but the point I was making is that the F-414 is not an issue with the Tejas Mk2 because all HAL will do with it is assemble it. There is no ToT issue involved there, and kits will be supplied by GE directly.

But with the MRCA, they want technology that will allow them to gradually move to completely indigenous manufacture of the engine from indigenous sourced raw materials. This is what they did for the Su-30MKI as well where the Al-31F was finally made almost completely in India at HAL’s Koraput facility. Saab, along with Volvo Aero and GE will have to hand over critical technologies, including SCB technology to HAL. Will the USG allow this? Or will they simply raise technical and ITAR restrictions later on to withhold this kind of technology transfer, simply to scuttle the Gripen IN program? That is the risk I’m talking about. They may well offer it with the F/A-18 E/F since the entire aircraft is American. But on the Gripen NG, they stand to gain a lot less, right? They might well make it clear behind the scenes to those who need to know that if India wants the US to part with technology, it has to buy an American aircraft. We never know. But the Wikileaks have made it clear that they’re more than capable of doing that.

We now know that when it comes to losing out on a big deal, the USG will stoop to low levels and apply tremendous political pressure on India as well. Underhand tactics to win a $11+ billion deal alongwith the influence that will bring to them- oh sure the USG will resort to such tactics.