Yet another insider attack on Pak establishments

Looks like the Pakistani military is now fighting its own.

A year or so back, we had the PAF Erieye attack where one aircraft was lost, another damaged & the PAF hauled up in Parliament & news that insiders may have been involved. There was also the attack earlier on PN.

Now its the Pakistani Navy again – and this time, its own officers were involved in trying to take over the ship.

This is bad news for the Pak military. These attacks are now being led by insiders as versus being merely abetted by them.

http://www.dawn.com/news/1131654/dockyard-attackers-planned-to-hijack-navy-frigate

KARACHI: While the Navy continues to remain tight-lipped about the attack on its dockyard in West Wharf on Sept 6, having issued a bare-bones statement 48 hours after the incident, further details have been obtained by Dawn that reveal the extent of radicalisation within the Navy.

According to informed sources, the attack was carried out entirely by serving Navy personnel, along with Owais Jakharani, a former Navy cadet who could have been given access inside without too much trouble.

“It seems the intention was to hijack PNS Zulfiqar [a frigate purchased from China and inducted in July 2009],” said one of these sources. “The group of would-be hijackers, led by a senior officer, was even saluted by the guard at the bottom of the gangway, before another became suspicious of their intentions and alerted other personnel.”

Naval commandos of PNS Iqbal rushed to the scene and a gunbattle ensued. One naval officer was killed and seven others were injured. Two or three of the attackers were shot dead, one of them being Jakharani, who the police claimed had drowned. Four attackers who had taken refuge in one of the ship’s compartments were locked in and later captured
.
Navy went to great lengths to keep attack under wraps

According to another source, no fewer than 17 more individuals — all Navy personnel, including the three arrested from Mastung in Balochistan while reportedly trying to make their way to Afghanistan — have been rounded up based on information extracted from those apprehended. It is believed the suspects are currently being interrogated at one of the military’s interrogation centres.

Also, while Commander Kamran Asif told Associated Press that the militants were armed with rocket launchers, assault rifles and hand-grenades, Dawn has been given information that the weapons had already been smuggled into the dockyard and had been stored in lockers by the rogue personnel.

There has been considerable speculation on whether the attackers arrived at the dockyard by sea or took the West Wharf road that leads to the site. According to a fisheries worker, when fishermen make their way back into the harbour from the open sea, four to five Navy patrol boats carrying heavily armed personnel check their vessels when they pass the dockyard. But as it turns out, neither the sea nor the land route was needed for entry for all but one of the attackers.

The Navy, it seems, was keen to keep the entire incident under wraps from the outset. According to the SHO Dockyards, Sajjad Mangi, he rushed with his team to the naval dockyard at around 9am that day when he received information of firing on the premises of the highly sensitive location.

“We found the area cordoned off by security personnel,” said the SHO, adding that he heard the firing continue for 10 to15 minutes. “They told us it was part of Defence Day celebrations and there was nothing to be alarmed about.”

When Mr Mangi requested to speak to a senior officer, he was put in touch with Commander Mohabbat Khan on the phone who also told him that the firing was nothing out of the ordinary, and there was no need of any assistance from police. Meanwhile, his senior SP Altaf Leghari, whom he had informed, also arrived on the scene. Following the assurance from the commander, they returned with the police force.

After news of the attack broke, city police chief Ghulam Qadir Thebo said the body of Owais Jakharani, a former sailor who quit the Navy a few months ago — some say he was expelled — had been recovered from the sea and that initial investigations suggested that the young man was one of the attackers and, in the absence of bullet wounds, appeared to have drowned. Given that no FIR of this incident has been registered, how could any investigation have even begun?

Incidentally, registering a first information report is mandatory when any crime occurs, even on the premises of a military facility. The fact that it was not registered in this case indicates the lengths to which the Navy — a 31,000-man branch of the military – has gone to keep the investigation in its sole control without sharing on the record information with civilian agencies as it is bound by law to do so.

According to actual events pieced through information provided only on condition of anonymity by several highly placed and credible sources, a very interesting story has emerged.

As per sources in police, on Sept 8, “an unnamed body was handed to us and it was in several pieces”. They said they delivered the dismembered corpse to the Edhi morgue at 5.30pm as an unclaimed body the same day.

This was confirmed by the spokesman for Edhi Foundation, Anwar Kazmi, who said the body parts were collected by Mr Jakharani’s family the next day at 11.30am.

Security experts say the deliberate media blackout on the incident for two days was understandable.

“It was also possible because the attack occurred deep inside an area that is not easily accessible unlike, for instance, the attack on the Mehran naval aviation station [in May 2011],” said Ahmed Chinoy, chief of the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee, “The Navy may have got some solid leads from the four militants they captured and wanted to follow up on them.”

The uncharacteristically late claim of responsibility for the attack that emerged from TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid on the day following the Navy’s statement adds another interesting dimension to the incident.

He declared that the militants were successful in penetrating the security cordon because of inside help and that TTP would continue targeting security forces.

The reason for the delayed claim may well be that those in direct contact with the TTP were either killed or captured at the dockyards immediately following the incident.

“I think the collaborators outside didn’t know themselves how things had turned out, whether the attackers had all been massacred or not,” said Mr Chinoy. “It would also have been very difficult for them to access any information, given the tight security in the area following the incident.”

One of many naval facilities in the area, the Navy dockyard occupies less than 80 acres, and is located at the end of West Wharf Road.

It is about four kilometres from the mouth of Karachi harbour.

The whole operation was so swift that some residents of Baba and Bhit islands barely half a kilometre from the site said that they neither saw nor heard anything out of the ordinary that day.

This is the latest attack on a branch of the military that has been a repeated target of militant assaults, including two attacks on Navy buses in April 2011, the Mehran naval base attack the month after, and a number of targeted killings of naval officers in Karachi.

The Mehran assault lasted 18 hours, killed 10 people and destroyed/damaged several multi-million dollar surveillance aircraft.

As always, though it was conceded that the attackers had inside help, credible findings of the inquiry report are yet to be made public.

The same opacity and determination to keep itself above the law has been demonstrated across various branches of the military time and again — whether it is the matter of forcibly disappeared people, or the catastrophic failure of intelligence in the Bin Laden affair.

What is needed is lot more openness, accountability and better screening techniques in the military, as well as an acknowledgement that the people of Pakistan are partners in the fight against terrorism, rather than adversaries to be kept at bay.

LOL!

BTW Halloweene anything on the Mirage 2000 upgrade in French press? Any details of radar, avionics, EW, A2G munitions etc?

Fin Min can always allocate money above and beyond the stated budget per the powers available to him under the Indian system (provided he wishes to do so and the MoD makes the case).

This MMSR is also presumably intended to be used for the SRSAM program:

The DRDO TCR is currently in production for the Army as well as a survelliance radar but it is not multipurpose and is designed for air surveillance and not counter battery.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QaM0kyoo-3w/UvkgVTeEXkI/AAAAAAAAGos/HUx-3xl415s/s1600/TCR+for+Army+Version+of+Akash-1+SAM.jpg

The other radars developed recently for the IAF by DRDO are more expensive & high end so won’t presumably be optimal for SRSAM.

They are the Ashwin – an AESA LLTR & the Arudhra an AESA MPR

Details of Ashwin – its a Rohini replacement (37 of which are being made by BEL for the IAF). IAF also has GSM-100 on order from Thales, this system will supplant it.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fHKUKW5zbsg/UvvH_omyzSI/AAAAAAAAGqc/p9cX25mdGDc/s1600/ASHWINI+MRSR-1.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Y6aGyqzA0OE/UvvIMPPD51I/AAAAAAAAGqk/capqFYux7d8/s1600/ASHWINI+MRSR-2.jpg

Arudhra – the IAF common name for the MPR requirement. The biggest breakthrough by the DRDO/India in this critical segment for the IAF as hitherto this segment of systems was being met entirely by imports from Thales, Elta etc.

Also the TATA Group is making the C3I for both the BMD and MRSAM programs

http://www.tataadvancedsystems.com/static.php?id=58

Missile Systems » Missile Systems

Missile Systems is a key focus area for TASL group and it aims to be the leading Indian private player complementary to the public sector and supplementing the DRDO efforts.

TASL has demonstrated its capability, both commercial and technical, by successfully winning major orders for systems against established players and thereafter to meet key milestones as required by the customer (DRDO).

Key Programs

TASL and its subsidiaries are currently participating in development of sub-systems for 3 major Indian Missile programs for Indian Defence forces

Design & Manufacture of Combat Management Systems (CMS) for Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MRSAM) program
Design & Manufacture of Mission Control centers (MCC) for Missile Defence program
Precision part manufacturing such as Rocket motor casing, Control fins & Thrust Vector control systems with additional focus on Actuators, Delay electronics, wiring Harness etc.

Apart from contract mfg for western OEMs
http://www.tataadvancedsystems.com/static.php?id=6

TATA SED is the other unit – huge range of delivered programs
http://www.tatapowersed.com/

BTW BA.

Feb 2014

A high level Russian delegation led by Mikhail A Pogosyan, president, United Aircraft Corporation, visited aircraft manufacturing and overhaul divisions of HAL at Nasik recently.

“They had first-hand impression of the state of the art facilities created for Su 30 MKI manufacturing and overhaul facilities at Nasik”, said Dr RK Tyagi, Chairman, HAL.

The 4.5 generation aircraft, the main striking force of the Indian Air Force is manufactured at five divisions of HAL Nasik, Koraput (Odisha), Lucknow, Hyderabad and Korwa (UP).

The delegation included representatives of various Russian agencies and companies such as Rosoboronexport, Irkut Corporation, RAC-MIG and Ural Optical and Mechanical Plant. Mr. Pogosyan expressed confidence that Russian and Indian specialists together would achieve the set tasks on various manufacturing programs with distinction.

At present, HAL is producing these aircrafts from raw material phase and till date has delivered 134 aircraft to Indian Air Force. HAL manufactures around 43000 components for airframe, 6300 for engine, and 9600 for accessories. HAL makes 72% of the components in India with 100% technology absorption as per the scope defined in the contract.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Russian-delegation-visits-HALs…

April 2014:

The immediate task before us and HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd)is the setting up of an overhaul facility for Su-30MKIs in India,” Borodich told the website. “Necessary documentation and equipment has been shipped to HAL by now. According to plans of the IAF, a certain number of aircraft have to be overhauled during this year which I believe HAL will make this happen and we are there to support its efforts.”

Borodich told the website that it was challenging to master operational serviceability of the aircraft with the number of bases where the Su-30MKIs are deployed are increasing. “As of today, Indian and Russian experts are focused meeting this challenge in the shortest possible time,” he said. The IAF has stationed the fighter aircrafts in places as diverse as the northern state of Punjab and the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

“At the moment, together with the IAF, HAL and Indian industries, we are implementing a set of measures aimed at improvement, additional flexibility and optimization of the whole system of technical maintenance and overhaul, supplying the necessary equipment to an increasing number of combat units,” the Irkut Corp official told the website.

http://in.rbth.com/economics/2014/04/07/sukhoi_to_set_up_india_maintena…

June 2014:
http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/karnataka/IAF-Chief-to-Review-Ma…

Raha’s visit will begin with HAL’s MiG complex in Nasik on June 7, where India’s frontline fighter Sukhois (Su-30 MKI) are manufactured and overhauled. Sources said the air chief would visit the flight hangars, ROH (repair and overhaul) facilities, assembly line, machine shop, functional test labs and system test units.

As I have mentioned before, the Tejas is now seen as a viable platform after it has cleared several hurdles over the past few years meeting tough IAF requirements & it now plays a serious role in IAF force planning along with the MMRCA. Latest word is that around 200 LCAs will ultimately be ordered (around six squadrons of MK2 along with the 2 of MK1).

http://www.indiastrategic.in/topstories3434_IAF_plans_early_induction_of_Rafale.htm

Latest interview from the new CAS Arup Raha:

IAF plans early induction of Rafale
Contract to be signed sooner than Later & in current fiscal

This was stated by Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha in a comprehensive interview with India Strategic on the eve of the Farnborough Air Show, the first in fact after he assumed office about six months ago.

He was candid to acknowledge that IAF will have to retire several legacy squadrons of MiG-21 and MiG-27 aircraft in the coming years but he was also confident that the planned induction of the Rafale, and HAL’s indigenous Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) will help “arrest the drawdown in the strength of the fighter squadrons.”
….
Air Chief Marshal Raha expressed confidence and observed: “Early induction of LCA and MMRCA has been planned for arresting the drawdown in the strength of fighter squadrons…. IAF is likely to have its sanctioned strength of combat squadrons operational sooner than later.”

MKI availibility rates are even worse than I assumed they were. I thought I was being pessimistic when I said 50% then revised to 60% availability. I was actually being optimistic.
And this is the case with a platform that is now mostly built in India with “TOT” whatever that means…

Those rates are wrong and reflect both a misinterpretation of the earlier issue – “50% for the Batch 1 MKIs”, plus the aircraft due for overhaul (7 per HAL, around 15-20 total over the next couple of years included) and also the rapid expansion of the IAF into new AFB especially in the NE, where repair facilities at each AFB are not at the level of Pune and the other established ones. Those aircraft need to be flown back to other IAF AFB or HAL for rework. The Russians have now been drafted in to plan an expansion of IAF maintenance & overhaul facilities to cope up with the expansion of AFB. This is a first priority.

Please reread the following.
zeenews.india.com/news/nation/iaf-chief-reviews-su-30-fighter-jet-production-facility_937877.html
HAL & private firms make a ton of systems locally already
“HAL has manufactured approximately 43,000 components in airframe and 6,300 components for engines. Twenty six special technologies have been absorbed and mastered,” it said.

http://www.defenseworld.net/interview/81/Russia_Setting_Up_Repair_And_Overhaul_Facility_For_Su_30MKI_in_India#.U6nb0rFW_gQ

Russia Setting Up Repair And Overhaul Facility For Su-30MKI in India
Source : Internal ~ Dated : Saturday, April 5, 2014 @ 10:30 AM
Views : 2834
Vitaly Borodich

Vitaly Borodich

In an exclusive interview with Defenseworld.net, Vitaly Borodich, senior vice-president (military aviation), IRKUT Corp talked about maintenance of Su-30MKI, its future upgrading and recent reports alleging maintenance problems in India.
Questions and Answers

Q : You have been in charge of Irkut Corporation’s combat aviation programs for many years now. From your personal perspective, what is the concept of the Su-30MKI Program?

Vitaly Borodich :

The aim of the Su-30 MKI program is not only on equipping the Indian Air Force (IAF) with state-of-the-art combat aircraft, but also on development of technological cooperation between aviation industries of Russia and India.

With the Su-30MKI Program’s implementation, both countries have been developing their own competitive advantages. Russian developments include modern technologies such as phased array radars and thrust-vectoring engines.

The IAF has contributed immensely to the program by developing the ideology of a modern fighter, based on a comprehensive analysis of regional conflicts. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and the Information Technology industry in India have contributed to the program in a big way.

Q : What is the main achievement of the Su-30MKI program?

Vitaly Borodich :

Su-30MKI multi-role fighters form the backbone of the IAF combat power and will retain this status in future. Once all current contracts are implemented, the IAF will have 272 Su-30MKIs. Of these, 222 aircraft will be co-produced in India with HAL as our main partner.

While implementing the Su-30MKI license production contract, HAL and other Indian companies have mastered new competences and technologies, thanks to the transfer of technology by Russia.

Most recently, India has mastered licence production to the extent that certain critical raw material are sourced locally. You could say that it is Indian industries which actually produce the aircraft now.

In addition, hi-tech products of Indian origin such as on-board computers are not only installed on Su-30MKIs, but also supplied as integral parts of Su-30 family of aircraft to Air Forces of Russia, Algeria and Malaysia.

I must emphasize that designers, engineers and the air forces of our countries, have forged a unique alliance, which has become a solid base for the successful development of Su-30MKI program and a number of new bilateral projects as well.

Q : In what way you see a further development of the Su-30MKI Program?

Vitaly Borodich :

The most important step forward in the Su-30MKI program is the deep modernization of the aircraft, which will retain the aircraft’s efficiency and superiority for decades to come. The proposed modernization includes avionics and armaments. Technologies for ‘deep modernization’ are really available and may be implemented within a short period of time.

We are considering integration of two major Indo-Russian programs – Su-30MKI and BrahMos meaning the launch of the BrahMos missile by the Su-30MKI. At this moment, their integration is in the development phase. BrahMos JV has manufactured its aviation sample. An aircraft is being redesigned to mount the BrahMos cruise missile onto its underbelly.

Q : There have been concerns in India over the Su-30 MKI’s maintenance and servicing. What is being done in order to improve the Su-30MKIs serviceability?

Vitaly Borodich :

A challenge before us is that as the number of IAF bases where the Su-30MKI is deployed increases, mastering of operational serviceability of this complex multi-role fighter on new bases is the challenge.

As of today, Indian and Russian experts are focused meeting this challenge in the shortest possible time.[/b]

We are quite ready to discuss new modes of keeping MKI’s serviceability at the desired level so that our common objective of providing to the IAF’s servicing needs is met. As the previous experience of our joint work has proved, we always manage to find out ways to improve the maintenance of aircraft and systems.

At the moment, together with the IAF, HAL and Indian industries, we are implementing a set of measures aimed at improvement, additional flexibility and optimization of the whole system of technical maintenance and overhaul, supplying the necessary equipment to an increasing number of combat units.

We, in close cooperation with our Indian colleagues are constantly improving the on-board software. Each new version is a step towards increased efficiency of the aircraft and reliability of its systems.

So heres how things are. HAL has made planes and mastered TOT to a high level. But those items are sufficient for its own production. Its also assembling kits. The IAF is taking the ton of Sukhois its getting and putting them in multiple AFB (to prevent any decapitation strike on 1-2 bases). This new strategy has made the original hub and spoke model of maintenance pretty defunct. The Sukhois at hub are fine. Some of the spokes ok. Some at the farthest end at bare bone new AFs not so much. Their ORR (Op rate) is affected. So they have to fly back for repair or spares have to be procured by IAF from mix of Indian and Russian vendors.

And
http://www.defencenews.in/defence-news-internal.aspx?id=IK/iQsrOuU4=

So solutions
0. Speed up HAL ROH for existing aircraft sent there
1.HAL is now stockpiling spares (as I mentioned previously) so IAF will source from HAL which will aggregate them from Russia, sparing the IAF significant burden in managing spares timelines. It is also ramping uip a plan for long term local supply of spares: http://www.ruaviation.com/news/2013/3/5/1556/
2. Establish new hubs in specific areas with significant investment in aircraft maintainance and repair beyond what an AFB designed to handle a limited number of MiGs can manage.

Net, overall levels will average around the usual 70% level, which BTW, are down from the 80-90% level which was being achieved by these aircraft and which is expected of them.

Typically, the IAF has managed 70% readiness rates for peacetime ops for most of its aircraft, bar occasional blips when spares supplies were disrupted. Newer types with assured supply, eg Mirage 2000s and Jaguars have typically fared better than the MiGs which were not made in India. Indian MiGs have done ok but run into the occasional design issue wherein we fly it a way the Russians never planned for, and then the entire stuff starts off rectification. Later on HAL itself did a lot of these as well to good effect.

Wartime readiness is a whole different ballgame – every aircraft possible will be made flight ready, hoarded stocks of spares are also available.

Its no coincidence that after Parakram in 2001, the MiG-27s went on its way out. It would have been used heavily during that quasi war period.

Now, easy way to solve the whole issue is to again base all the Sukhois around Pune/Nashik cluster – you’ll get a nice high 80-90% serviceability. But make them vulnerable in the process as are other AF which park majority of their hightech squadrons in just 1-2 AFB.