JaiCOCHIN, India – USS Safeguard (ARS 50) will be conducting the first ever Salvage Exercise (SALVEX) with the Indian navy beginning Sept. 12 in India’s western coast city of Cochin and its surrounding waters.
Approximately 200 U.S. Navy and Indian Navy personnel will participate in a variety of in-port and at-sea training and events over a nearly two-week period.
“This is an exciting opportunity for all of our Sailors. It’s an honor to be able to conduct the first U.S.-Indian Navy salvage exercise,” said Lt. Cmdr. Doyle Hodges, Safeguard’s commanding officer. “The exercises we’ve performed with partners all over southeast Asia for the past several months as part of CARAT (Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training) have prepared us well for this. Our Sailors are looking forward to the opportunity to visit India, as well as to work closely with the Indian navy.”
The in-port portion of SALVEX will focus on education, with lectures, demonstrations and a tour of an Indian navy diving facility as well as the salvage of a training pontoon in the harbor. This initial learning environment will set the stage for a series of complex at-sea events that will place both navies in several cooperative scenarios.
Cooperation will be a vital element as both navies work together to salvage a sunken aircraft recently discovered by the Indian navy along the Malabar coast.
Safeguard Sailors will be given some time to enjoy the social and recreational activities of Cochin, considered a highly developed industrial and commercial city in India.
During the exercise Safeguard Sailors will also participate in variety of friendship activities and community service projects.
USS Safeguard (ARS 50) is a forward deployed rescue-and-salvage ship operating out of Sasebo, Japan, and is part of Task Force 76, the Navy’s only forward deployed amphibious force.
Navy upbeat over PM’s announcement on Scorpene deal
NEW DELHI/PARIS: The Scorpene deal announced on Monday by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Paris brings to a close the long-standing anxiety in the Navy which has held that its submarine force levels would be threatened if the Cabinet did not expedite the Scorpene purchase.
The Scorpene is a relatively new platform, with only one commissioned into the service with the Chilean Navy. Armed with SM-39 Exocet anti-ship missiles (the key armament that caught the Navy’s attention) and Black Shark torpedoes, the Scorpene also sports one of the EU’s most advanced underwater surveillance radars and detection devices. The deal also includes a contract worth $737 million from contractor Thales for six subtic integrated combat systems, underwater sensors, communications and optronics and electronic warfare equipment.
When all six Scorpenes are delivered by the middle of the next decade, the Navy hopes to have finished constructing secure submarine pens at INS Kadamba, its huge upcoming base at Karwar where the fleet is likely to be based. Karwar will serve as home base for deployment in the Arabian sea, which the Navy is planning as the Scorpene’s primary theatre. In peacetime, the fleet will engage in surveillance and intelligence gathering on both seaboards.
JaiNorthrop Grumman Visits High-Technology Companies in India That May be Prospective Suppliers
BETHPAGE, N.Y., Aug. 18, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) — A Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) team recently visited India to survey that nation’s high-technology industrial base as well as related industries. The company is seeking suppliers of components and capabilities that could be used in the company’s Hawkeye 2000 aircraft, should India’s navy choose to procure these airborne early warning and battle-management aircraft.
The site surveys included initial discussions with members of Indian industry. There will be additional visits in the coming months. The company hopes the effort will lead to broadened relationships with Indian high-technology companies in the near future.
“Northrop Grumman has long recognized the ability of Indian industry to produce world-class defense equipment and services,” said Timothy Farrell, vice president and leader of Northrop Grumman’s integrated product team on airborne early warning programs. “But, until recently, U.S. companies have been restricted from discussing ways of working with them. While we cannot name the specific companies at this time, our team did meet with several who have the potential to add value to the Hawkeye 2000.”
In 2004 the Indian government asked the United States government for information about airborne early warning fixed-winged aircraft. The U.S. Navy and Northrop Grumman provided price and availability information for newly configured, export-compliant Hawkeye 2000s with a fully integrated logistics-support package. The company also demonstrated the Hawkeye’s capabilities to India’s leadership during this year’s AeroIndia air show in Bangalore, India.
JaiTu-160 Carries out Training Launch of Cruise Missile in Russia’s North
A strategic Tu-160 bomber of Russia’s air force launched a cruise missile on Friday at one of the country’s northern ranges, the chief of the Russian Federation air force press service, Colonel Aleksandr Drobyshevskiy, reported to RIA Novosti.
“Two Tu-160 airplanes lifted off Friday morning from the Ehngel’s airfield in the Saratov Oblast’. During the planned flight, one of the airplanes performed a successful launch of the missile which destroyed a target at the northern Pemba range outside of Vorkuta,” Drobyshevskiy said.
According to him, during the flight, the airplanes covered more than 8,000 kilometers, staying in the air for nearly 8 hours.
Drobyshevskiy reported that the commander of the guards bomber regiment, Colonel Aleksey Serebryakov, controlled one Tu-160, and the other, his guards deputy, Colonel Andrey Senchurov. Young long-range aviation airmen also were included in the composition of the crews.
“The strategic aviation flights and the launch were performed according to a combat training plan. Similar missions are being carried out regularly, that allow long-range aviation airmen in improve their skill,” the press service chief added.
Source: 05.08.05, RIA Novosti
JaiNice photos John.
JaiIndian Naval pilots to train in US
New Delhi, July 15: Government is going ahead with plans to ink a defence agreement with the United States to train Indian naval fighter pilots, specially for carrier landings and take-offs, according to top naval sources here.
With India all set to induct its new super carrier INS Vikramditya (Admiral Gorshkov) towards the end of 2007, the Navy is feeling the pinch in training fighter pilots as the number of slots at the Air Force’s MiG training units located at Tezpur are inadequate.
“To overcome these deficiencies and to prepare naval aviators to fly MiG29K, which will be acquired to operate from the Russian carrier”, naval officials said that under the new agreement it was proposed to train naval pilots at US Naval training institutions.
“An agreement is likely to be signed in another ten to 15 days and naval fighter pilots would start commencing training by September end,” naval officials said. They said naval pilots after grading on piston-engined HPT-32 basic trainers will proceed to US Navy’s air station at Corpus Christie in Texas.
“While initial flying training will be on Beech T-34C Turbo Mentor followed by conversion to advanced training on Boeing British Aerospace T-45A Goshawks at US Naval Air Station at Meridan.
“Training of Naval pilots would include carrier landings and take offs, before they graduate and return to India to fly the MiG-29ks”, officials said.
Defence sources said that training Indian pilots at US naval training institutions worked out far cheaper than sending them to be trained in UK.”
The naval fighter pilots would log much more flying hours at almost half the cost”, they argue.The US air station, according to sources, trains around 200 pilots a year, which besides the US Navy, Marine corp, Coast Guard include foreign pilots from Italy and Spanish Navies.
JaiOVERSEAS DEPLOYMENT OF INS VIRAAT & EASTERN FLEET SHIPS TO SOUTH EAST ASIA
The Indian naval aircraft carrier INS Viraat, accompanied by four other Indian naval ships namely INS Rajput & Ranjit (guided missile destroyers), INS Shakti (replenishment tanker) and INS Khukri (indigenously built missile corvette) are scheduled to be deployed overseas to countries in South East Asia in Jul/Aug 05. During the course of the deployment the ships are scheduled to visit Singapore 19-22 Jul, Port Kelang (Malaysia) 23-27 Jul and Jakarta (Indonesia) 28 Jul to 01 Aug The visits to Malaysia and Indonesia will coincide with the visit of Admiral Arun Prakash, PVSM, AVSM, VrC, VSM, ADC, Chief of the Naval Staff to these countries.
INS Viraat, The flagship of the Indian fleet carries the Sea Harrier aircraft, Seaking helicopters, indigenously built Advanced Light Helicopters & the Chetak helicopters. The ship with a strength of almost 1600 people onboard, including the air wing, is truly a microcosm of India, with personnel from all parts of the country, reflecting the rich and diverse cultural heritage of the country.
Singapore. The visit of the Indian Aircraft Carrier Group is a reflection of the growing defence co-operation between India and Singapore. The navies of the two countries are at the forefront of this co-operation, which started in 1994, with the RSN sending ships to our waters to conduct anti submarine training exercises with the Indian Navy. Over the years, the scope and complexity of these exercises have grown and these exercises had been the main plank of the bilateral defence relationship until the two countries signed the historic Defence Co-operation Agreement (DCA) in Oct 03. Consequent to the signing of the DCA, there has been significant enhancement in the bilateral defence relationship, which has also transcended to the Armies and Air Force of the two countries. In ships have also been making port calls at Singapore regularly and the RSN have always played excellent hosts to the various naval ship visits that the Indian Navy has had to Singapore. An important landmark in our naval relationship was the conduct of the first bilateral naval exercise in the Singapore waters in March this year. This was preceded by the Singapore Air Force and Army also conducting their first ever bilateral exercise with their Indian counterparts in Oct 04 and Feb-Apr this year respectively.
Malaysia. The Indo-Malaysian defence cooperation had received a major fillip with the constitution of the Joint Working Group on defence cooperation in February 1993. The operational interaction between the two navies has been in terms of training interactions, visits by high level delegations and regular visits by warships to each other’s ports. Royal Malaysian Naval Ships KD Lekir and KD Kasturi visited Mumbai from 08 to 12 Sep 04. A high-level delegation led by the Chief of Royal Malaysian Navy also visited India in Sep 04. During 2003-04, six Malaysian officers underwent training in India and three IN personnel received training in Malaysia. Both the navies also interact regularly under the aegis of the Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS). In addition, IN ships have regularly participated in the Lima series of exhibitions/ conference hosted biennially at Langkawi by the Malaysian defence ministry. Two ships are scheduled to attend Lima 05 in December this year.
Indonesia. To ensure peace and stability in the region and prevent illegal activities such as smuggling, piracy, gunrunning, armed robbery, drugs trafficking and poaching etc, the Indian Navy conducts coordinated patrols with the Indonesian Navy in the six-degree channel separating both the countries. The first Indi-Indo-corpat was conducted in Sep 02 and since then four coordinated patrols have been successfully executed. The next patrol is scheduled to be held in Sep 05. The Indian Navy undertook extensive relief operations after the Tsunami in Dec 04 and responded quickly to the humanitarian needs of the neighbouring countries while attending to its own disaster relief tasks. IN ships Khukri and Nirupak (hospital ship) were deployed at Meulaboh, Indonesia from 04 Jan to 17 Jan 05. The ships handed over 40 tons of relief supplies to the authorities at Meulaboh and also operated a medical camp that provided first aid treatment to over 1800 survivors. In addition, a blood transfusion unit was set up at the local hospital and some major surgeries were performed onboard Nirupak.
JaiSemi-Sukhoy : The future Russian fighter needs Europe’s assistance
The head of the Sukhoy Aviation Holding Company (AKhK), Mikhail Pogosyan, announced yesterday the possibility of cooperating with European firms in the creation of the fifth generation fighter. According to existing regulations, the Russian military will not adopt into the inventory equipment which is assembled using foreign components. Earlier Russian officials had talked about India’s possible financial participation in the project for the creation of the fifth generation fighter. No one up to now had mentioned publicly the attraction to this projects of the Europeans. Nonetheless, a highly-placed source in the Sukhoy AKhK has declared to Vremya Novosti that such cooperation “would respond to the modern trends in worldwide aircraft construction.”
Mr. Pogosyan spoke regarding the desirability to attract Europe to the development of a new generation combat airplane, appearing at the on-going European conference on aerospace research in Moscow. According to him, the AKhK right now is forming the requirements which the future combat complex is supposed to meet. “And many question in this plan may be the object of the joint cooperation of the Russian and European aviation industry,” ITAR-TASS quotes Mr. Pogosyan. The head of the AKhK named the development of the avionics as the top-priority field of such cooperation with Europe.
It must be noted that the AKhK already is using actively Western avionics developed in its own projects, true for the time being only in civil. The French Thales company is one of the lead partners of Sukhoy in the development of the Russian RRJ regional airplane. In the past month, Sukhoy signed a contract with Thales for the delivery of avionics for the RRJ worth 125 million dollars. However, a highly placed employee of the Sukhoy AKhK on the conditions of anonymity said to Vremya Novostey that one must not understand Mr. Pogosyan’s words in the sense that the contract with Thales will be extended in the near future to the military theme.
“Such things take the settlement of sensitive questions, in particular the protection of intellectual property and the of the control over the spread of military technologies, which is possible only within the framework of interstate agreements,” our source noted. – “Only after such agreements are reached, management subjects such as Sukhoy and the profile foreign firms can proceed to discuss the commercial aspects of cooperation.”
Speaking about the possibility of permitting foreigners to participate in Russian defense programs, the AKhK representative emphasized that this would respond to modern trends of worldwide aircraft construction: “Pay attention, in our time all the largest aircraft construction projects are international – both civil and military, for example the F-35 (a fifth generation fighters being developed for the USAF and Great Britain with the participation of American, British and Canadian firms — – ed.) or the Eurofighter (this fighter is being designed by a consortium of German, British, Italian and Spanish Companies — – Ed.)”
Source: 06.07.05, Vremya Novostey, Correspondent: Mikhail Kukushkin
JaiA Photo of Dhruv’s Cockpit.
Image Credits : Tim de Groot
JaiThe news of Irbis using an active array remains to be confirmed. Previously, it has been reported to be a passive phased array radar in JED.
JaiAvitronics Awarded an Export Order for Equipment for Helicopters
Avitronics, a South African joint venture owned by Grintek and Saab of Sweden, has been awarded a multi million dollar export contract from Hindustan Aeronautic Limited (HAL), India.
The order is for the supply of self protection equipment for installation on the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) for the Indian armed forces.
“This contract is the manifestation of the desire of the governments of India and South Africa for closer co-operation in the field of high technology defence electronic systems,” says Zoli Kunene, chairman of Grintek.
Despite stiff competition from major equipment suppliers, Avitronics was selected after a stringent evaluation process by HAL. Avitronics was chosen because of its global reputation in the design, development and production of electronic warfare systems for air, sea and land-based applications.
“This is a vote of confidence in our technology, production capabilities and the quality of our human resources,” says Zoli Kunene.
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JaiAgreement about Start of Program for Creation of Multirole Transport Aircraft May Be Signed at Year’s End
The program for joint creation of the Russo-Indian MTA (Multirole Transport Aircraft) medium-weight military transport airplane may be started as early as the end of the year, the general director of the Il’yushin Aviation Complex, Viktor Livanov, declared to Interfax-AVN.
“After agreeing to the financing scheme and business plan for the MTA program, it will be possible to prepare the intergovernmental agreement on the start of the project. The partners will strive to have such an agreement signed as early as year’s end,” V. Livanov declared.
The MTA project is being developed by a number of Russian firms (NPK Irkut, Il’yushin Aviation Complex) together with the Indian HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd) corporation.According to V. Livanov, the need of the Russian military department alone for airplanes of such a class is approximately 100 aircraft.
“The tactical and technical requirements already have been agreed to for the medium-range military transport airplane between the Russian and Indian air forces,” the general director said.
According to him, the Russian side in the coming months is supposed to analyze the new scheme for organization of work and financing, and also the business plan, which have been proposed to the Indian partners.
“In the case of the start of work on the project’s development, 5 years are needed for the construction of the first prototype and its preparation for first flight,” V. Livanov reported.
The MTA program airplane is being created based on the medium-range twin-motor Il-214 military transport airplane with a payload of 15 – 18.5 tonnes that has been developed by the Il’yushin Aviation Complex.
Source: 30.06.05, Trud
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