sweden has a small but dangerous islamist minority and no doubt this intended to ‘appease’ their sentiments. they will soon find out how wrong they are.

I am really tired of these periodic charades. if one guy get smacked by the cave monster, be reasonable and make preparations. we see people refuse to learn and march one by one into the cave to perish in the same way…’hoping’ their gentle disposition will satiate the monsters appetite.

tsk tsk.

there are some errors in HAL article.

the “60 ton multirole heli” is likely to be the MTA _aircraft_ because I have read the figure of 45 (india) and 100 (russia). a 60-ton heli would be something to see…as much as 6 x Mi17. India will certainly procure > 45 MTA to replace all the AN32 eventually maybe 45 is the initial number.

the 6-ton heli is the Dhruv (ALH). there aint no other 6-ton heli proj.

the 10-ton heli is to replace the Mi17V eventually. either eurocopter or makers of Mi17 will be partner. EADS is setting up a big facility north of bangalore to position itself for such work (and also airbus repairs & parts)

LCH work has been ongoing for some time. but guess this is the first “offical” tranche of money. israeli cos are involved in mission avionics.

as to the weaponization of army version Dhruv, my office is directly under the
test flightpaths of HAL helicopter div a few km away. so far havent seen any with weapons (many flights a day). will report if I see any rocket pods or chin guns later.

the 198 scout helos is a different issue. looks like Bell-407 bagged it and HAL will make around 120 after ToT under license. believe same platform US army is considering fpr scout helo to replace cancelled commanche.
http://www.bellhelicopter.textron.com/en/aircraft/military/ARH/bellARH3.cfm

sweet lookin bird if u consider the latest avionics & hellfires. india will prolly opt for nag/lahat for commonality.

I believe even the old mercedes design diesel engine on indian army shaktiman trucks were multifuel as in vanaspati ghee compatible.

any tank (including the T-90 if that makes you happy) storing ammo inside the hull is a recipe for getting itself blown up and killing everyone. we have already seen what hezbollah ATBM penetrations did to older Merkava’s that didnt have ammo separated into armoured compartments with blast panels.

overall, the M1 design looks safest for the crew. iirc even the Leo & Merk4 stores a few rounds in a front mag…though these arent the all encompassing carousel of the T-series.

Russia had a particular 3-man philosophy designed to increase the number of divisions and armour units. except the leclerc none of the western heavies have gone this road inspite of NATO armies not being overly rich in manpower either. that ought to tell you which approach works better.

outlook india mag: bye bye planned for sea eagle ASMs

IAF to arm maritime Jaguar fighters with anti-ship missiles

NEW DELHI, SEP 19 (PTI)

Indian Air Force is planning to arm its Jaguar deep penetration strike aircraft with long range anti-ship missiles to boost its maritime warfare capability.

The force has issued the Request for Proposals (RFP) for induction of a number of these missiles and Boeing integrated Defence systems and the French-led European consortium MBDA are among the competitors bidding for the contract.

Boeing is offering its Harpoon active radar homing and low level sea-skimming missiles, while the French are in the market with their Exocet missiles.

Indian order for these missiles could be larger as the same missiles may be deployed on long range maritime reconaissance aircraft to be acquired by the navy.

> as well as more powerful engine

this may appear strange why a already high T:W ratio provided by the 1200hp ukrainian engine needs further boost but the hidden truth seems to be the low torque curve of that engine family is not good, which hurts x-country manouvers compared to the less absolute HP (1000hp) but better low end torque russian engines on T-90 series.

ukrainian engine is said to be more compact and lower in height though.

they even have a bustle mounted autoloader thats being peddled, but I dont think PA will go for it due to unproven nature and cost reasons.

hopefully IAF doesnt see the laser fuse brochure from MBDA and throw a fit against the conventional radio proximity one :diablo:

developing and inducting a new BVR AAM is a 8-10 yr project needing 100+ launches so its unlikely to be completed before 2012 at the earliest. But I heard MBDA had been used for consultancy of certain design issues so maybe that will help to smooth the path.

Its actually very bad news for PAF and PLAAF when India fields this AAM because its seeker tech and ecm will be a unknown unlike the AA-12/AA-10 (in plaaf service) and the amraam on table for paf. and it wont be a agat seeker thats for sure.

well a harpoon player was claiming his harriers never ever managed to intercept a pack of ASM armed F-18s attacking his carrier coz they were too slow to sprint out and launch AAMs before release of ASM.