black eagleBrahMos missiles strengthen India’s defense
The Indian Army has received the first battalion of BrahMos coastal supersonic mobile anti-ship cruise missiles, which were developed by the Russian-Indian joint venture BrahMos Airspace Ltd. The Indian Navy was the first to get these missiles, and Indian generals also want to install BrahMos missiles on the Sukhoi Su-30-MKI Flanker multi-purpose fighters being produced by New Delhi under a Russian license. BrahMos Airspace Ltd. was established in India in 1998 by the Machine Building Research and Production Association (NPO) from Reutov, outside Moscow, and the Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) of the Indian Defense Ministry for the purpose of mastering production of these supersonic anti-ship missiles. Company documents said the new joint venture would develop, produce, market and sell BrahMos cruise missiles. The governments of Russia and India also pledged to observe the Missile Technology Control Regime and not to use the results of R&D projects for creating new missile systems and upgrading operational systems. In short, BrahMos missiles, which are named after the Moskva River and the Brahmaputra River, will not be fitted with nuclear warheads and will have a range of just 300 km. The BrahMos missile is a successor to the Yakhont anti-ship missile, an export version of Russia’s Onyx anti-ship missile, which was adopted by the Russian Navy only in 2002. The first BrahMos missile was test-fired from a coastal launcher on June 12, 2001 and was subsequently installed on Indian warships. The Indian Navy’s destroyer Rajput, a revamped Soviet-made anti-submarine warfare (ASW) ship [Project 61ME], was the first to receive these missiles. Two of the Rajput’s obsolete Termit anti-ship missile systems in her bow section were dismantled at the Mumbai shipyard and replaced with two twin-mounted BrahMos missile systems. All tests carried out with these launchers and the new missile system proved successful. Consequently, the Indian Defense Ministry decided to equip all five destroyers of Project 61ME with these missiles. Brahmos missiles will also be installed on Project 15A Bangalore-class guided-missile destroyers and Project 17 guided-missile frigates, which are larger versions of Project 11356 Talvar-class frigates, and which are to be constructed at Mazagon Dock Limited, India’s best shipbuilder. Conventional Amur-class submarines being offered by Russia to India may also be used as BrahMos missile platforms. The St. Petersburg-based Rubin Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering has developed the Amur-950 submarine, featuring new anti-ship missiles inside vertical silos, and displayed her at arms fairs in Abu Dhabi, Brazil and at the St. Petersburg international naval show. It is still unclear whether New Delhi will agree to buy this submarine or not, but the Indian Army is already equipping its coastal units with BrahMos missile systems. Four available mobile three-missile ground launchers are to be placed on combat duty next year; their crews and service personnel have been training since 2005. Under the contract, the Indian Army will receive a mobile command center, 60 surface-to-surface missiles, the required training equipment and a logistics, support, storage and maintenance complex. Some of these missiles are to be replaced with anti-ship versions. There are plans to deploy BrahMos missiles near India’s nuclear-capable tactical missiles on the Indian-Pakistani border, while communications and reconnaissance satellites would handle target-acquisition problems. In 2005, the Pakistani Army, which lacks supersonic cruise missiles, adopted the Babur subsonic cruise missile, which can easily be shot down by India’s Russian-made surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems. Experts explained New Delhi’s decision to acquire the more accurate and faster BrahMos missiles by a desire to restore the regional balance of power. Experts said BrahMos Airspace Ltd. would develop an upgraded version of the BrahMos cruise missile for the Su-30-MKI Flanker multi-purpose fighter. Russian and Indian designers have repeatedly displayed mock-ups of this fighter and its new missile on external stores at international arms shows, but it will take some time to develop, produce and adopt the missile. This Russian-Indian joint venture has repeatedly proved its ability to fulfil its commitments on time and to turn out top-quality products. It is therefore hardly surprising that the Russian-Malaysian contract for the delivery of Su-30-MKM Flanker fighters to Kuala Lumpur stipulates that, apart from organic weaponry, they must be equipped with BrahMos anti-ship missiles. Foreign experts have said that BrahMos Airspace Ltd. can produce up to 1,000 such missiles in the next ten years. Some of these will be sold to third countries. Russia and India are learning to make the most advanced weapons and sell them at a profit. Indian President Dr. Abdul Kalam said no other country boasts such unique missiles. There is a good market for BrahMos, and our countries will actively promote this missile, said Dr. Kalam.
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black eagleIAF pilots train on Hawk AJT in Wales
India has a long tradition of acquiring British jets like the Hunter, Canberra and the Jaguar. And now, the Indian Air Force has signed a contract for 66 Hawk Advanced Jet Trainers, for which, dozens of young Indian pilots are being trained in the United Kingdom. For the Indian Air Force it is a return to a place an older generation of IAF pilots once called home, the Royal Air Force base of Valley in the UK. Over here, 24 Indian pilots are learning how to fly the Hawk advanced jet trainer aircraft. 32 pilots have already finished their training and are flying some of the Indian Air Force’s most advanced fighter aircraft. Sahil is one of the 24 Indian trainees. The British RAF will teach 75 Indian pilots in Valley before the Hawks reach India and training begins near Hyderabad. Most of Sahil’s course mates who learned to fly Kiran trainer aircraft with him in Hyderabad are learning advanced flying on the MIG-21. But in the difficult and demanding MIG, a single mistake can turn fatal. Cutting edge fighters The Hawk in contrast, is easier to fly and the pilots here learn all the skills required to fly India’s high-performance, cutting edge fighters, like the Mirage 2000 and the Sukhoi 31. The Hawk has several advantages as a trainer; one is its ability to stay in the air far longer than a MIG. While a MIG must land after barely 30 minutes of effective instruction, the Hawk classroom routinely stays in the sky for well over an hour. That is one of the reasons why pilots who train in India have always had to work their way from MIG-21s to increasingly better fighters before they flew top-of-the-line fighters. But now, the Indian Air Force has for the first time put young pilots straight from the Hawk into Mirage 2000s. “This is the first time that we have inducted limited experience pilots to Mirages. Till now, Mirages were getting only experienced pilots who were already fully operational on a previous type, whether a MIG-21 or a MIG-27 or a Jaguar. This is the first time that we have relatively inexperienced pilots,” said Wing Commander HS Basra, Mirage 2000 squadron commander. “I have no doubts in saying these boys have coped up very well. So this is the first time we have young pilots coming and we are very happy with them,” Basra added. Intensely professional For Sahil and his course-mates the move to RAF Valley is an enormous cultural shift. Leaving behind families and friends, they compete in an intensely professional environment. Getting one’s name on the best-students’ board is not easy here. The mess at the base is a place where pilots can unwind from the tensions of flying. But Indians must adapt to a foreign environment, a diplomatic task they have performed with success. “It was great to have them along. They just took part in all the things that we did, culturally and equally. We would take part in all the things that they did. First time I had a full Diwali celebration. They cooked for us, made the food, introduced us to everything, great fun,” said Flight Lieutenant Rich Bradley, Royal Air Force trainee. Unlike the Indian Air Force, RAF messes employ private caterers whose Indian food left much to be desired. The arrival of Indian pilots quickly raised the standard not just of curry but also of cricket. “The students are just not confining themselves to working on the station. This year in a town called Amrock, in the north of Anglesey, five of the students are playing cricket for a local cricket team. So not just increasing diversity on the station, but also the local community,” said Group Captain Tony Barmby, Station Commander, RAF Valley. Pround to be Indian But curry and cricket are no more than pastimes. For the IAF pilots here training comes first. Besides flying the Hawk for 110 hours, every pilot will spend sixty hours in this Hawk simulator. He can make fatal mistakes in perfect safety here. A pilot is trying to fly from under the bridge. He cannot, in a real plane, as he would be dead. In this tough and professional world Indian pilots have made a mark, even on instructors who demand the best. “Their strengths are their ability to get on with the job and their determination to succeed, which are very, very good traits,” said Wing Commander Gary Kelly, CO, 228 Squadron. It is a fair assessment of young pilots like Sahil, carrying the flag for India on this wet and windswept base. “When I came over to this place, I knew that I am proud of being an Indian and being in the Indian Air Force. I hope that by the time that I go back from here, Indian Air Force and India is as proud of me as I am,” said Flying Officer Sahil, Indian Air Force. 😉
black eagleNavy to be fully balanced force in next 10 year: Prakash
With the proposed induction of Maritime reconaissance aircraft, fighters and new submarines, Navy would be “fully balanced” maritime force to be reckoned with in the next 10 years, Naval Chief Admiral Arun Prakash said today.
“We are back on track on the submarine front. In a few years time we would be back on desired levels for Naval air operations”, he said in reference to reopening of submarine building lines at Mazagoan and efforts to acquire more maritime reconaissance aircraft.
He said with the indigenous ship building efforts in the country gaining strides and other ongoing acquisition programmes like aircraft carrier and other force multipliers coming to fruition, the Navy would be an all purpose maritime force to be reckoned with in the next 10 years.
“Though our maritime interests are now all over, anything that happens from the eastern coast of Africa and the straits of Malacca”, he said the immediate footprints for the navy was the Indian Ocean area.
In an interview to Armed forces newsletter ‘Sanik Samachar’, the Naval Chief said Indian navy was no no longer China or Pakistan centric. “We look way beyond. Out Maritime strategies have to take into account matrix of economic interest, military threats and other national interests”.
To don such a role, the Naval Chief said naval training was now being given a new strategic orientation aimed at making sailors and officers more technically qualified to handle hi-tech weapon systems and platforms.
“All the officers joining the executive branch would be offered technical degrees like B-Tech, which would be completed during the path of their training with the Navy,” Admiral Prakash said.
He said the training exercise would be technologically most modern, relevant to take care of navy’s future needs.
On recent controversies of some of his family members being involved in trying to influence naval purchases, the Naval Chief said he had no time to think about such matters.
“I always beleive that if you try to something good and big, it affects many. While most of the people would be happy, there would be some who would be unhappy or would try to pick holes”, he said.
“But, I am happy with the work I am doing”, the naval chief concluded. 😎 😎
black eagleblack eaglewill the project MCA & the PAK-FA of russia( of which india is a party too ) going to be two different projects? could someone please clarify this confusion for me.
black eagleFast attack warship ‘Batti Malv’ commissioned
Fast attack indigenous warship ‘Batti Malv’ was commissioned by the Commander-in-Chief of Andaman and Nicobar unfied command Vice Admiral Arun Kumar Singh today.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Vice Admiral said ‘Batti Malv’ was an “extremely valuable asset” in the discharge of the role of the unified command structure for maintaining the safety, security and well being of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
“The fact that we are able today to commission a state-of-the-art warship like ‘Batti Malv’ with indigenous construction, power generation package, weapons and sensors bear eloquent testimony to our nation’s technological prowess and the skill of its workforce,” he said.
The Rs 64 crore warship is named after one of the islands in the archipelago and took 26 months to be constructed.
It was the third of the series of Bangaram-class high speed warships and with its 46 metre height was a cost effective platform for patrol and rescue operations at sea with combat capabilities with matching fire power, Rear Admiral (retd) T S Ganeshan, chairman and managing director of Garden Reach Ship Builders and Engineers (GRSE) Shipyard Ltd, Kolkata, which constructed it, said.
Its twin engine can achieve a speed of 28 knots, he said. 🙂
black eaglePAF has the advantage, we are sure to have losses: Arjan told Chavan
For Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh, the 1965 war was a monumental challenge: as IAF chief at the time, his dated and old fighter fleet scrambled up against a blisteringly potent PAF, armed, alarmingly at the time, with air-to-air missiles. The war ended after just 21 days, but anxiety levels had begun to brim over long before operations began.
In an interview to The Sunday Express, Singh revealed, for the first time ever, his word of caution to then Defence Minister YB Chavan just before IAF fighters blasted off from Pathankot early on September 1, 1965.
‘‘It speaks volumes of Chavan that he gave us approval for air strikes in just five minutes. But I warned him about two things: that we were sure to have losses, since the PAF was very close at Sargodha, and I also told him that since the IAF and Army hadn’t had time to brief each other, it was possible that we would hit our own troops from the air. As it turned out, this did happen,’’ Singh said.
While things levelled out in the West, Singh admits that his force was ‘‘rather complacent’’ about the Eastern Sector. ‘‘Our commanders there should have been more aggressive. You can never win without being aggressive.’’
A more controversial aspect is the much-disected conversation between Singh and his PAF counterpart Asghar Khan earlier that year during Pakistan’s armoured incursion into Kutch. Khan called Singh and suggested that both air forces keep away from the conflict.
Later, Asghar Khan went on to justify the IAF’s lack of action in Kutch to his purported ‘‘threats’’ to Singh. That he did not consult Pak Army chief Gen Musa and President Ayub Khan, cost him his job two months later.
Singh, who remains in contact with his PAF counterparts of the time, remembers: ‘‘I agreed with him, because this was our stand too. We were just not prepared for a showdown in Kutch. Asghar was and is a close friend of mine, so is his successor Nur Khan. The high standards of efficiency of the PAF at the time were entirely because of Asghar’s dedication. They were both good colleagues and first class officers. When I visited Peshawar after the war, Nur Khan accommodated me in his own house.’’
In the final analysis, Singh feels the PAF was cautious because of limited resources, while the IAF kept away from full throttle because it thought the war would last much longer. The stakes for both, either way, were very high.
black eaglen an interview to The Indian Express last week, Air Chief SP Tyagi, concerned over his force’s fleet strength, said he had asked the government to “order more aircraft of the types we already operate” since numbers were heading toward unacceptable levels. Plans for 126 new fighters and their induction could take 15 years and “we can’t afford to wait that long… our only option is to get something in a hurry”. Pointing to more F-16s for Islamabad and the induction into PAF of Chinese JF-17s in large numbers from next year, Tyagi warned that Pakistan would have greater fighter density than India for a country its size.
There is a familiar ring to his concerns, a sense of déjà vu that takes you back 40 years: the run-up to the 1965 Indo-Pak war, and the war itself, were the IAF’s first hard lessons in the “dangers of neglecting offensive and support capabilities”. In what is one of the most graphic and honest accounts of the war, PVS Jagan Mohan and Samir Chopra’s The India-Pakistan Air War of 1965 (Manohar Books, 2005) introduces you to an IAF, which, on the threshold of an uncertain long-term expansion plan, is suddenly told to go to war in old, equally uncertain machines.
Vampires and Ouragans which had “no business being in the skies” at the time joined Mysteres, Hunters and Gnats to take on the PAF’s cutting edge American F-86 Sabres and F-104 Starfighters. At that time, the Sabre was “the fastest and most powerful aircraft in the subcontinent” while the Starfighter was a “missile with a man in it”. Had it not been for the men who made the IAF at the time, the 1965 war could have turned out quite differently.
The account by Mohan and Chopra, replete with interviews with pilots and veterans, squadron diaries and unpublished photographs, not only demolishes myths and counterclaims on both sides but makes one of the most critical points of all — that the 1965 operations inestimably helped prepare the IAF for a war which was to be upon it just six years later, and possibly put in perspective for the government, the immediate need for a progressive and structured modernization programme, one that would leave the ground in the late 1970s.
The account does both nations service by unmasking insightful official accounts of the war: “To bolster a nation’s morale, deliberate untruths are fed to the public, intending to keep both the public as well as the military in high spirits. Admissions of severe setbacks or of inaction against the enemy would invite public anger. Both India as well as Pakistan abide by this style. Thus, the Indian public never hears of the retreat to Jaurian or Khem Karan, while the Pakistani public never hears of the retreat from Wagah, or the battering its armour received at Assal Uttar.”
Here are some excerpts from The India-Pakistan Air War of 1965 by PVS Jagan Mohan and Samir Chopra (Manohar Books, 2005).
‘LET’S NOT GET INVOLVED’
It is still little known that four months before the 1965 operations, Pakistan’s Air chief Asghar Khan, justifiably rattled by an IAF photo-reconnaissance flight which snapped Pakistani Patton tanks that had eaten into Kutch as part of the April incursion, called up his counterpart IAF chief Arjan Singh to suggest that the two air forces not get involved no matter what happens on the ground.
Khan’s call to Singh infuriated Pakistan’s Army chief General Musa, and Khan had to retire two months later after several bouts of justification and apparent self-contradiction to be replaced by deputy Nur Khan.
“Pakistan’s adventures in the Kutch should have alerted the IAF to the dangers of neglecting their offensive and support capabilities in this sector but even after the Kutch incursion, neither the IAF nor the Army planned for further operations in the south-western sector.”
NO TIME TO CONSULT THE PRIME MINISTER
In August, the Pakistan Army’s Operation Gibraltar, “the master plan to free Kashmir”, fell apart and the Indian Army retaliated by occupying the strategic Haji Pir Pass on August 28. Large swathes in PoK were also overrun. Three days later, on September 1, Pakistan launched Operation Grandslam, an armoured thrust into Chamb, from where the country hoped to push on to the Akhnur Bridge and sever the link to South-West Kashmir.
“The Chiefs (General Chaudhuri and Air chief Arjan Singh) agreed that air strikes against the Pakistani Army were the only way to prevent the Indian defences from being completely overrun… Faced with a tough decision and and with no time to consult the Prime Minister or the ECC (Emergency Coordination Committee), (Defence Minister Y B) Chavan boldly gave the go ahead.”
Within an hour, the first fighters had taken to the air.
THE FIRST SABRE SLAYERS
On September 3, Pakistani radars tracked four Mysteres as they took off from Pathankot and headed for Chamb. Six Sabres and two Starfighters, far more equipped and advanced than their quarry, were scrambled to intercept the Mysteres. What the Pakistanis didn’t realise was that four Gnats were vectored behind the Mysteres. Squadron Leader Trevor Keelor’s wingman was Flight Lieutenant “Kicha” Krishnaswamy (who went on to become the IAF chief almost forty years later). As the Sabres closed in, warnings went out.
“Keelor opened fire with his twin 30mm cannon from a distance of about 450 yards, closing in to 200 yards. In an instant, the Sabre’s right wing appeared to disintegrate and it flicked over into an uncontrollable dive. The IAF had claimed its first kill… Keelor became the first Indian pilot to claim a jet in air-to-air combat…
“At one point, Krishnaswamy found the Starfighter on his tail, which overshot him and presented a nice target. But as Krishnaswamy later admitted, he was so awestruck at the sight of the sleek and beautiful fighter that before he could gather his instincts to open fire, the target had slipped away.”
Next day, Flight Lieutenant V S Pathania made the second kill, shooting down a Sabre over the Akhnur sector.
PAF STRIKES BACK
When a “shaken” Ayub Khan told Nur Khan his air force could launch full-scale raids on IAF airbases, the “initiative” “slipped from the IAF’s hands to the PAF’s”.
“Evening was approaching Pathankot as Wing Commander Dandapani made a phone call to Pathankot air base from Amritsar’s 230 SU. Dandapani asked for (Pathankot station commander Group Captain Roshan) Suri, and on being told that he was not available was put through to Wing Commander Kuriyan, the OC Flying.
“Dandapani told Kuriyan that they had painted several Sabres, coming from the vicinity of Sarghoda and going ‘off the scope’, as they went below the radar horizon. But he could see one lone aircraft coming in at an altitude of 19,000 feet. This lone aircraft was probably scouting the way ahead for the main formation. This had all the tell-tale signs of an incoming raid. Dandapani suggested that Kuriyan scramble Pathankot’s air defence fighters.
“Here, things get confusing. Dandapani insists that Kuriyan refused to scramble the air patrol and pooh-poohed his fears of the incoming raid. Kuriyan claims to have immediately informed Suri… but was ordered off the shift… Squadron Leader J F Josephs, duty pilot that day in the ATC, could overhear the radio conversation between Kuriyan and Dandapani. As one ATC officer turned to him and asked, ‘What the hell is going on?’ Josephs replied ‘Don’t ask, just watch the west’.
“Even as frantic attempts were made to get Base Ops on the phone, all eyes in the ATC turned west… As the Sabres left, 10 plumes of smoke rose in the air. The raid had been highly successful, resulting in the destruction of ten IAF aircraft…”
8-PASS CHARLIE
Two weeks into the war, Adam-pur’s pilots had a name for a PAF B-57 bomber pilot: 8-Pass Charlie. “The name was derived from the number of passes the B-57 would make in each raid. Normally it would come up over the target and dump its load of 8 bombs at one go, without giving time for the defenses to react…
“But 8-Pass Charlie would make eight different runs and drop just one bomb each on select targets… Paddy Earle paid tribute to the unknown Pakistani pilot: ‘I have the utmost respect for the Pakistani Canberra bloke who loved to ruin the equanimity of our dreary lives. 8-Pass Charlie was an ace, but he had this nasty habit of turning up about 30 minutes after moonrise, just as we were downing our first drink. Seriously, he was a cool dude and a professional of the highest order…’”
DEVAYYA AND THE STARFIGHTER
Squadron Leader A B Devayya became one of the war’s great mysteries. While raiding Sargodha, Devayya’s Mystere was targeted by a Starfighter. “But Devayya had survived the attack and his aircraft was still flyable. He could either fly back home or eject if things worsened with the aircraft. A third option was to fight it out… The Starfighter was in a steep turn, just a couple of hundred feet above ground level, as the turning Mystere shot away its controls.” Devayya never returned from Sargodha.
“In 1972, PAF officials told John Fricker (PAF’s war-historian) that a Mystere had shot the Starfighter down and it was not as earlier claimed, an ‘accident’. Fricker reported the incident as a loss to a Mystere. There lay a mystery. None of the Mystere pilots that day had reported air combat and certainly not with a Starfighter. But two Mysteres were lost over Sargodha. The one lost in the morning, roughly coinciding with the timing reported by Fricker, was Devayya’s.
“After receiving letters of confirmation from ‘Omi’ Taneja, the Indian government came to the conclusion that Amjad Hussain (the Starfighter pilot) was shot down by Devayya, who himself crashed soon after. Devayya’s widow Sundari Devayya received the fifth and the last MVC awarded to the air force for the 1965 war in April 1988, almost 23 years after the event.”
WHY THEY DON’T DISCUSS THE EAST
In the East, the PAF’s 14 Squa-dron with 12 Sabres was on its own at Tejgaon. But on September 7, they struck Kalaikunda in West Bengal.
“The calm belied the shape of things to come. Five Sabres were pulling up over Kharagpur to come in for an attack on Kalaikunda. CAC (Central Air Command) was short of radar cover, and no warning was received as the Sabres kept low. Squadron Leader Shabbir Syed led the Sabres from the direction of the Bay of Bengal, over uninhabited territory, where no observation post could relay their approach… Only three ack-ack guns were in a position to defend the airfield. The rest of the guns had arrived only the day before and had not yet been positioned.”
Canberras and Vampires went up in flames. “The PAF pilots rejoiced but got carried away and made the same mistake the IAF made over Sargodha. They sent a second mission to attack Kalaikunda.” And ran into Flight Lieutenant Alfred Cooke in his Hunter. “His camera film shows that he fired at four different Sabres and hit three.”
But the fact remains “chaos prevailed in the air defence establishment in the Eastern Sector. Enemy air raids and parachute drops were dreamt up and Air Defence Controllers lived under constant pressure to separate the genuine from the false alarms”.
WHAT THE WAR TAUGHT THE IAF
“IAF officers offer candid assessments…The Pakistanis were on much firmer ground as far as the planning of air operations were concerned. There was lot of confusion and chaos in our higher echelons, this being the first war of major proportions. … The war prepared Indian forces for further conflicts ahead, and helped to develop and refine its strengths and weed out weaknesses. This showed results in in 1971.
“As (Squadron Leader) Don Conquest, who would go on to play a stellar role in the 1971 war, was to say: ‘In 1965, I hadn’t seen the war before so I couldn’t tell the difference. But when I flew again in 1971, the difference was clear.’”
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
PVS Jagan Mohan
An avid military historian and aviation enthusiast, Jagan embarked on this book because 1965 seemed “relegated to the back-benches”. A personal quest became a project: “Many veterans were becoming old, some were dying of old age, memories were fading — it made the job all the more important.” The same penchants will drive his second effort, a history of the air war of 1971, a monumental task considering that they work with absolutely no access to official records.
Samir Chopra
An assistant professor researching the philosphical foundations of artificial intelligence at New York’s City University, Chopra has a family background deeply inflected by military aviation history. His father, Sqn Ldr PC Chopra flew in the 1965 and 1971 operations, and his brother currently commands an IAF Jaguar squadron. Apart from Chopra’s desire to “set the record straight about the 1965 war, a responsibility which both the government and the IAF have not taken on”, this book was a personal archaeology to discover more about his father and in answer to a notion that time was passing us by. Chopra will co-author the 1971 air war history with Jagan as well.
INDIAN AIR FORCE
Flt Lt Denzil Keelor
One half of the Sabre-killing Keelor brothers, Denzil went on to command a MiG-21 squadron during the 1971 war, ejected during a combat sortie and came down in no-man’s land. Later, commanding another MiG unit, his fighter canopy blew right off inflight, but managed to land and received a Kirti Chakra for it. Retired as an Air Marshal and now lives in Gurgaon.
Wg Cdr WM Goodman
Commanding the highly-successful 31 Mystere squadron from Pathankot, Goodman received a Maha Vir Chakra for dealing decisive blows to Pakistani armour in Chamb. After retiring as an Air Commodore, Goodman migrated to Australia and passed away in 2002.
Wg Cdr MSD “Mally” Wollen
Commanded the brand-new MiG squadron in 1965, went on to command MiGs at Tezpur. Was decorated for operations in the 1971 war as well. Rose to the rank of Air Marshal, took over as Western Air Commander in 1983, and headed HAL in Bangalore before retiring.
Flt Lt Vinod Patney
Patney flew a decisive ground strike mission with a formation of Mysteres to Khem Karan sector, destroying a number of Pakistani Patton tanks in 1965. Awarded the Vir Chakra, he went on to be mentioned in dispatches for services in 1971. As Air Marshal in 1999, Patney was a decisive Western Air commander during the Kargil operations, and went on to become IAF vice chief before retiring. He is now a noted member of the country’s strategic community.
Flt Lt VK “Jimmy” Bhatia
After a Vir Chakra for ops in 1965, Bhatia led a blistering attack on day-one of the 1971 war with the new Sukhoi-7s, finishing the war with a bar to his Vir Chakra. Jumping to the new MiG-23 ground strike jets, Bhatia headed the Central Air Command and sword-arm Western Air Command before retiring in 2002. He famously flew an An-32, as Air Marshal, across the LoC in Kargil sector in 2002, managing to salvage the aircraft and land at Leh despite a Pak stinger going clean through his port engine without exploding.
Flt Lt VS Pathania
The original “Sabre-slayer”, Pathania retired as a Wing Commander. He scored the second dogfight kill of independent India.
Wg Cdr Peter M Wilson
Ace bomber who led the destruction of Pakistan’s crucial Badin radar unit and ops against Sargodha, as station commander of Jamnagar later, watched Pak B-57s bomb his base and miss. After cutting-edge contributions to air defence structures in the force, he retired as an Air Commodore.
Wg Cdr Dennis La Fontaine
His Hawker Hunters took on PAF Sabres over Kalaikunda, his unit the only Hawker squadron to dogfight the F-86s. In 1971, as a Group Captain, served at the Maritime Air Ops Cell in Mumbai, went on to command two fighter units and took over the Western Air Command. After IAF chief LM Katre’s death in harness, he took over as the chief in 1985, retiring to Andhra farmhouse in 1988.
CLAIMS, COUNTER-CLAIMS
Forty years after the 1965 war ended, the official kills in the air records of both countries are steeply dissimilar. Examples of the discrepancies:
• The PAF claims to have downed 36 IAF aircraft (18 Hunters, four Vampires, four Mysteres, three Canberras and one Auster), against 25 that the Indian government’s official history shows
• The IAF claims to have shot down 14 PAF fighters (13 F-86 Sabres and one F-104 Starfighter), the PAF says only seven of its fighters were killed in the air
• Actual IAF losses dispute the famous claim by PAF pilot Flt Lt Amjad Hussain Khan in the defence of Sargodha on September 7, 1965, that he shot down two IAF Mysteres. IAF losses on the day point to only one — that of Sqn Ldr AV Devayya
• Pakistan still disputes the first ever post-Independence air kill by an IAF pilot — the shooting down of an F-86 Sabre on September 3 by Sqn Ldr Trevor Keelor. Its official air kill loss list begins with the September 4 loss of an F-86 Sabre flown by Flg Offr NM Butt at the hands of the IAF Gnat pilot Flt Flt VS Pathania
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black eagleIsrael venture over Left protest
New Delhi, July 28: Overriding concerns voiced by the Left, the defence ministry is preparing to enter into a first-ever joint venture with Israel to manufacture “cargo ammunition”.
The joint venture is proposed between the Khamaria ordnance factory near Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh and Israel Military Industries (IMI), a public sector company.
With Israel pounding Lebanon every day, and thousands of Indians being evacuated, the Left parties are almost certain to raise a stink over the plan.
The venture will also signal the arrival of foreign direct investment in defence since new policies governing involvement of industry in the manufacture of military products were framed last year. The estimated cost of the project is being kept under wraps by the ministry.
“Cargo ammunition”, a senior defence official explained, is an explosive for rounds to be fired from both artillery guns and tanks and would be designed to spread damage and maim the enemy over a large area.
This is what the IMI says of the weapon on its website: “The effect of an artillery weapon system on the battlefield depends on the type of ordnance employed against enemy forces. Cargo ammunition of various calibres will dramatically enhance the importance of artillery on the battlefield. The procurement of cargo ammunition is vital for the modern artillery corps. This ensures its operational readiness, while at the same time extending its deterrent power.”
IMI’s cargo projectiles contain the M85 dual-purpose (anti-personnel and anti-armour) bomblets,with a unique self-destruct fuse that ensures virtually no hazardous duds, the website says.
The description of the product, according to the IMI, is “120mm dual purpose improved conventional munition mortar cargo ammunition”.
IMI has also exported the ammunition or entered into manufacturing agreements for the weapon in at least one other country.
Israel’s current offensives against the Hizbollah in Lebanon and against the Hamas in the Gaza Strip have stirred controversy for, among other reasons, a new type of weapon being used in its firepower. The Israeli defence forces are reported to have used explosives that have high chemical content and cause lacerations and incapacitate adversaries by forcing amputations of the lower limbs.
The Khamaria factory is one of the most modern of its type with a “wireless” shopfloor.
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black eagleArmy has placed orders: Sivathanu Pillai
CHENNAI: Besides the Navy, the Army has placed orders for the land-to-land version of the BrahMos missile, according to A. Sivathanu Pillai, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited, New Delhi.
In a recent interview, he said, “We are now preparing for the trials of the air version of the BrahMos missile” which would take place by the end of 2007. The Indian Air Force’s Sukhoi-30 MKI (Mark India) would try out the missile.
According to Dr. Sivathanu Pillai, the Navy had placed orders for the BrahMos missile, which would be fitted into several ships.
“Production [of the missile] is in full swing,” he said.
There have been 12 flights of BrahMos so far and all of them have been successful. The first flight was on June 12, 2001 and the 12th flight was on May 31, 2006. Out of these 12 flights, four were from a Naval vessel, six were from land to sea, and two from land to land at the Pokhran range in Rajasthan.
Sources in the Defence Research and Development Organisationsaid that if one BrahMos missile were to be fitted into the Sukhoi-30 MKI, no structural changes needed to be made in the aircraft. But the aircraft’s wings would have to be strengthened.
black eaglei think this Trishul programme was shelved two years back . Are they reviving the programme once again ?
black eagleIndia tested two surface-to-air Trishul missiles today in the eastern state of Orissa, a day after a similar launch from the site, defence officials said. The Trishul (Trident) tests come after New Delhi’s nuclear-capable Agni III ballistic missile, with a range of 4,000 kilometres, failed during a trial launch earlier this month. The Trishul is designed for use by the army, airforce and the navy and can carry a 15-kilogram conventional warhead up to nine kilometers. All three Trishul launches were from the Chandipur-on-Sea range, 200 kilometres northeast of the Orissa capital of Bhubaneshwar, officials said. They declined to say whether the tests were successful. The Trishul has previously undergone tests for its sea-skimming role and also against land-based and airborne targets.
black eagleArmy to include Brahmos by Sept ’07
NEW DELHI: Indian Army hopes to become the first force in the world to field supersonic cruise missiles by operationalising the Indo-Russian 290-km range Brahmos surface-to-surface missile by September next year.
The Army has given its go-ahead for production of the land version. Army Chief General J J Singh was present when the surface-to-surface version of the missile was successfully test-fired at the Pokhran range in Rajasthan.
All the three trials of the missile to test its range and accuracy, have been highly successful and the Army has already dispatched artillery officers to Hyderabad for training to operate Brahmos, a highly-placed defence source said.
When raised, the new Brahmos missile units would be the third such missile-formations in the country. The Army, under its lone 40th artillery division, has already raised specialised groups to operate short-range 150-300 kms Prithvi missile and longer range Agni-I (700 kms) and Agni-II (1,500-2,500 kms).
Buoyed by the successful test-trials of the land version of the Brahmos, Indian scientists are now working on the advanced version of the supersonic missile with longer reach,
improved trajectory design, a touch-botton-guidance system and capability to carry miniaturised warheads.
“We are aiming for a lighter missile with a small warhead and faster speed, up to Mach 8, to incorporate scramjet technology,” a senior DRDO official said.
Brahmos’ biggest advantage, according to missile experts, is that if produced in large numbers it could tilt the conventional arms balance between India and Pakistan.
Though Islamabad claims to have tested its own version of cruise missiles, defence experts say both China and Pakistan have access only to subsonic version of the missile.
Artillery officers estimate that around 90 mobile autonomous launchers (MAL) would be enough for India to create a major strategic deterrence.
According to Army sources, the new Brahmos artillery missile units would be equipped with four launchers which will have the capability of firing 12 missiles simultaneously
at 12 different targets within 30 seconds.
DRDO sources said a single launcher can also be detached from the battery to operate independently to give land forces operational flexibility and make detections extremely
difficult.
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black eagleTrishul, Akash missiles far from being operational
NEW DELHI: The Trishul “quick-reaction” surface-to-air missile may have been tested yet again on Sunday but just like its sister Akash missile it’s still far from being inducted into the armed forces.
The frequent time, cost, technical and operational slippages in the 9-km-range Trishul and 25-km-range Akash surface-to-air missile programmes has meant that the country’s air defence cover continues to have gaping holes.
Pakistan, in sharp contrast, has always accorded high-priority to its air defence management, with a multi-tier surveillance cover, air defence fighters, quick-reaction short-range missiles and an integrated control and reporting system. The Indian armed forces, however, continue to make do with their obsolete air defence systems.
The IAF, for instance, has ageing Pechora, Igla-1M and OSA-AK missile systems, and that too in woefully-inadequate numbers. While Trishul was to replace its OSA-AK weapon system, Akash was meant as a substitute for Pechora.
But both Trishul and Akash air defence missile systems, part of the original Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme launched as far back as in 1983, have been dogged by development snags in their “command guidance and integrated Ramjet rocket propulsion” systems.
Trishul, for instance, has been tested over 80 times so far without coming anywhere near becoming operational. It was, in fact, virtually given up for dead in 2003 after around Rs 300 crore was spent on it, before being revived yet again.
black eagleIt was a Black Sunday and an even worse Monday for India’s aerospace ambitions. Two much-hyped rocket systems—one a guided missile (Agni-III) and another a launch vehicle carrying a satellite (GSLV-FO2), built by two famed institutions (DRDO and ISRO respectively)—landed in the sea, drowning with it years of effort and hundreds of crores of rupees.
It was a rare back-to-back failure and ISRO chairman Madhavan Nair was forthright on what could have gone wrong: “The pressure in one of the four strap-on motors dropped to zero and did not develop enough thrust, as a result the vehicle veered off the trajectory.” He also termed the failure “a rarest phenomena”.
But an ISRO source revealed to Outlook: “One of the liquid strap-ons had a ‘workmanship’ problem with the engine valve, leading to a shutdown after one second.”
Unlike ISRO, who even after the failure showed a genuine eagerness to share available
information, there was total silence from the DRDO. An indifferent defence minister summed up the situation: “The take-off was successful… but there was some problem later.” Repeated efforts to talk to DRDO officials in Hyderabad met with no success, though one scientist did say there could have been a “component flaw, but even that would be premature to say”.
ISRO and DRDO are actually studies in contrast, two high-profile organisations heavily funded by public money and trying to meet India’s goals of self-reliance in critical technology. The difference is, one has learnt from its failures and has a brilliant track record, while the other seems lost. Much of ISRO’s talent and innovation has been used by DRDO for its missile programme. “But the spirit and resilience of ISRO was never transferred to DRDO even though conceptually there is proximity between the two,” says a scientist who has worked in both organisations.
So what makes ISRO different? Points out ex-ISRO chairman U.R. Rao: “The one great thing about ISRO is that it is extremely open, people are committed, they have faith in themselves and a failure is seen as a learning curve. Our reviews are open.” As an official describes it, “Nowhere in the world will you find another organisation like ISRO, everything is done here from end to end. We do R&D; build satellites and launch vehicles; meet the specific requirements of our users and also process data.”
The database on the 21 launches that ISRO has had in India: they have only had five failures, and the last was in April 1994. A highly respected success average even globally. Coming to DRDO, the missile programme was the only one to have met with some reasonable success. Now with Agni-III’s failure, the Integrated Guided Missile Programme (IGMP) started in 1983 has suffered a major setback. This Agni test, say DRDO sources, was supposed to give a technical push to the intercontinental missile programme. “DRDO has got into the problem of talking big and delivering little,” said a scientist recalling how in 2003 the much touted short-range surface-to-air missile Trishul was dumped. DRDO had worked on it for 18 years and spent nearly Rs 300 crore. Other missiles in the IGM programme, Akash and Nag (promised long ago and yet to be delivered), have already consumed thousands of crores.
It’s ironic that the DRDO was set up to cut down on arms imports via indigenisation. A few years ago, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam had spoken of 70 per cent self-reliance in defence requirements by 2005. That date and year has passed, and we are still a long way away.
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