india has sent 3 planes of IL76 with medical gear. maybe more
will be sent now. iran is a important new friend.

huge tragedy , which as usual the US media has totally ignored
to home in on Jackos dislocated shoulder.
—
New Delhi, Dec 29 (IANS) :

India Monday said it would set up a mobile hospital and send three plane-loads of relief supplies to aid victims of the earthquake that devastated the Iranian city of Bam, killing some 25,000 people.

External affairs ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said the relief supplies and a medical team would be sent to Iran from Tuesday.

The assistance will include 10,000 blankets and 1,000 tents.

India will also send a full complement of doctors to set up a 75-bed mobile hospital with an operation theatre and medical supplies for four weeks, he said.

“Separately, 600 tonnes of high protein biscuits which have reached Bandar Abbas will for the present be despatched to Bam to meet emergency requirements,” he said.

every modern single seat warplane does have a 2-seater conversion trainer.so J10 will have it too. nothing wrong or misuse in that.

PLAAF doesnt need a 2-seater right now because 30MKKx is
slated for that role.

is the design speed of a ramjet engine fixed ? i.e. once you build
it to a certain spec it cannot be throttled up and down in speed
by controlling the fuel flow ?

I was wondering about possibility of slowing brahmos down to
mach 1.5 for increased range or reducing the fuel and increasing
the warhead size for shorter range ATACMS type missions.

the report is laughably riddled with errors. I would wait for something more accurate — even the pakdef sources ought to
be able to get the real deal in a few days.

Indo-US treaty on hi-tech trade early next year
Pramit Pal Chaudhuri
New Delhi, December 18

India and the US will kick off the coming year with a long-awaited agreement on high-technology trade. A delegation of the Ministry of External Affairs leaves for Washington this Friday to complete the paperwork.

Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha is expected to go to Washington in the third week of January to formally ink the treaty, a product of nearly two years of hard negotiations.

The lifting of layers of US restrictions on the so-called quartet issues — cutting-edge technology pertaining to civilian nuclear energy, space, missile defence and hi-tech commerce — has been a key Indian demand of the US.

The most sweeping part of the treaty will cover hi-tech commerce. This will provide Indian firms access to a range of knowhow from superconductivity to nanotechnology.

Some bits and pieces of civilian nuclear energy and space technology will also be freed up. However, much of the technology in these two areas is controlled by US law and international treaties that cannot be rescinded by White House fiat.

The two countries are still talking about the most restrictive area: missile defence.

Few things have embittered New Delhi’s political and business circles more than the US’s hi-tech restrictions, some of which date back to 1974. As Juli McDonald, a Pentagon analyst of Indo-US military relations, noted in early December in Washington, for the Indian establishment “technology transfer is the ‘acid test’ of US commitment … it confirms the US understanding of India as a strategic partner”.

President George W. Bush’s personal desire to transform the Indo-US relationship gives India an opportunity to shed these hi-tech shackles.

But though the Oval Office was all for a deal, there was fierce resistance within the US bureaucracy to repealing technology sanctions. The naysayers were assisted by fierce Pakistani lobbying. :p :p

Just 10 days before Prime Minister AB Vajpayee was to address the UN General Assembly in September, US Deputy National Security Adviser Steven Hadley and National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra spent two hours in New Delhi working out a three-phase timeline for a hi-tech agreement.

Under this, the US would lift technology sanctions against India while the latter would open up to US exports and tighten its own technology exports. It proved impossible to ram a treaty through when Vajpayee was in the US, but the outline of an agreement was evident.

This time, both New Delhi and Washington are certain the deal is in the bag. This weekend’s talks are largely about dotting i’s and crossing t’s.

its best to ignore user. he hasnt yet learnt to talk but craps well – like the 1 yr old toddler he is.

catapults are out of question for G. for ADS I hope india asks US to sell it one. given the vastly improved Indo-US relations I dont see why US would refuse.