When was it reported/ who did? Sengupta iirc was first to break it- glad to be corrected if I am wrong.

Theres no doubt that this man lacks ethics, plagiarizes like hell and is probably an all round “gentleman” (read the reverse)…but what appears is that he generally gets thrown a bone by his sources..then he promptly searches for the specs/ details of it on the net, copies verbatim..or even a similar items..

Of course, its very hard separating fact from fiction, but with some half a dozen reports while reading this jacka$$’s, one can normally understand whats what

Meanwhile, it seems F/A-18 E/F may be facing a roadblock…Boeing does what Lock Mart was planning..

http://www.flightglobal.com/Articles/2006/07/11/Navigation/177/207734/Boeing+aims+to+beat+Indian+arms+limits+.html

Basically if it doesnt come with a top notch avionics fit current with todays standards, the Soooper Hornet or the Lawn Dart for that matter, dont stand a chance..at all.

Report does not mention AESA in particular but avionics/ weapons…so…one may speculate that this primarily refers to the A/C’s EW fit, its LDP/ sensor- ie Litening replacement, and the latest AMRAAMs etc?

Usual caveats..

At any rate, the F/A-18E/Fs USP are its AESA and other avionics thingmajigs..without those, its worthless. :p

This seems to be quite convincing

http://forceindia.net/feature.asp

BrahMos successfully test-fires its land attack version
By Pravin Sawhney

The Pokharan range in Rajasthan made famous by the 1998 nuclear tests witnessed another spectacular event on May 31. Fired at a range of 53km, the

July (2006)
Feature / Report
Bang on Target
Business First
Desperate Measures
Bridging the Training Gap
Matter of Heart
Best Days Of My Life
starting Afresh
Gate To The East

BrahMos land attack cruise missile hit the bull’s eye on the target. For the army chief, General J.J. Singh and the nearly 200 army officers who saw the test-firing, it was a impressive show. The army had sought an accuracy of five to 10metres at maximum range, but what they will get is a better accuracy, and zero Circular Error Probability (CEP); CEP is defined as the area where 96 per cent of rounds will fall. The army chief, it is learnt, accepted the induction of BrahMos on the spot. Taking cue, the Indian artillery has already earmarked a light battery unit to move to Hyderabad for conversion to BrahMos missile unit. The paper work between the Army Headquarters and the defence ministry will follow. Subject to acceptance by the army, the government had already cleared the induction of a BrahMos battery in the 10 th defence plan (2002-2007). Once inducted, the BrahMos unit will be a part of the 40 artillery division, the only artillery division of the army. Insiders say that the good things he heard about the missile from President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, and especially the army chief who hopes to have the BrahMos battery operationalised by end of 2007 prompted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit the BrahMos Aerospace complex in Delhi cantonment on June 28. Here is what the BrahMos land attack cruise missile will do in a war:

A battery of BrahMos will have four Mobile Autonomous Launchers (MAL), each with three missiles. This means that a total of 12 missiles can be fired at 12 different targets within 30 seconds. The MAL can operate as a battery covering a frontage of approximately 500 by 600km, or a single MAL can be detached from the battery deployed independently to engage targets outside the coverage zone of the battery. This indicates operational flexibility, and will make detection by the enemy extremely difficult. Similarly, a regiment with three batteries will be able to fire at 36 targets simultaneously within one minute. Considering that the missile has a supersonic speed of up to Mach 2.8, it will be impossible to intercept it after launch. Moreover, once the fire-and-forget missile seeker, which reportedly is multi-mode, locks on the target within 40km, it will stay locked until it hits the target. Unlike, a radar scan seeker, a multi-mode seeker works in real-time to identify a target from amongst the cluster of likely targets. Just in case the multi-mode seeker fails to function, the missile with the help of the Global Positioning System is capable of achieving 10metres accuracy at maximum range. Overall the picture thus far is that the army will be able to fire the supersonic speed, non-stoppable, BrahMos missiles accurately on to 36 different strategic and operational (both slow and fast moving) targets within a minute. Because of its speed, BrahMos will outmatch the sub-sonic US Tomahawk cruise missile in being able to cover three times more dispersion to facilitate hitting moving targets, and will have an impact nine times more than the US cruise missile. The targets could range from command, control and communication centres, thermal power plants, harbours and so on. This is what shock and awe even before the war is physically joined is all about.

The highpoint of the May 31 test-firing was that the user himself did it in operational configuration. For the last one year, 17 artillery officers and men under Lt Col Rajesh Joshi had been working closely with the scientists at the BrahMos Integration Complex (BIC) in Hyderabad . These personnel, without any assistance from the scientists, fired the BrahMos launcher that was operationally integrated with the Mobile Command Post. This was the third and final test of the BrahMos land attack system. The other feature of this test-firing was that the missile hit the target in top attack mode unlike the previous tests done by the anti-ship BrahMos where the requirement is to hit the target horizontally. Moreover, the test was done in an extremely hostile weather with the temperature in Pokharan soaring to 52 degree Centigrade. “Hitting the bull’s eye was remarkable. BrahMos is a no problem project with a flawless design. The army has cleared the missile for production,” says an elated Dr A. Sivathanu Pillai, the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of BrahMos Aerospace. The first test-firing of the land attack missile was done on 26 September 2004 from the Balasore test range to maximum range of 290km. The second was held in Pokharan on 21 December 2004 where scientists tested the missile alone at a range of 31km achieving 0.93metres accuracy. The army chief General J.J. Singh as well the director general field artillery were present for this test-firing.

What Dr Pillai did not share with FORCE are four other unique characteristics of this project. First, India has already mastered the liquid-fuel ramjet propulsion technology that has come from Russia . “We have done successful atmospheric tests and are in a position to indigenise propulsion, the component which in the BrahMos joint venture is Russia ‘s contribution to the project,” says an officer associated with the land attack version. Second, The BrahMos trajectory has a unique software that allows it to change course seven times in a single flight. This implies that including the initial and terminal phases, the trajectory can change direction nine times before hitting its target. This makes the missile extremely difficult to intercept. Third, work on the air force version has commenced and flight tests will be held in summers next year. The air version will be lighter and will also be equipped with a multimode seeker. And lastly, the blue print for the Mark II BrahMos version is ready and is under consideration. Improvements have been sought on trajectory design, guidance system and warhead, say insiders. “We are looking for lighter missile, with a more compact warhead, better seeker and faster speed up to Mach 8 as would be available in scramjet technology,” says an officer with BrahMos.