BrahMos set for final trials

India would soon undertake final trials of the 300-km range supersonic cruise missile BrahMos with live warheads, said Chief Executive Officer and Managind Director, BrahMos, A Sivathanu Pillai.

The trials would be prior to its induction on board naval warships, Pillai said.

The Russian-acquired Kashin class destroyers would be the first ones to be armed with BrahMos in a sea-to-shore role.

Pillai said after the trials, the missile would soon be test fired in its surface-to-surface mode by specialised launchers and railroads.

“After a series of test firing in its surface-to-surface role, the missile should be ready for induction into the army by 2006”, Pillai said.

He added Russian-acquired Sukhoi fighter planes were being modified to carry out the tests of the missiles in an air-to-ground role.

Refuting suggestions that Moscow and New Delhi were keener to promote the missile for exports, Pillai said the exports and induction of the missile in the armed forces would be carried out simultaneously.

Thanks to Roy F C

MiG-29K/KUB to Be Equipped with Most Modern Avionics

The general director and general designer of the Federal Scientific Production Center Ramenskoye Instrument Building Design Bureau, Givi Dzhandzhgava, announced that the ship-based MiG-29K/KUB fighters will be equipped with the most modern avionics (REhO.)

The creation of the avionics for the MiG-29K/KUB is a great advance in the line of technologies and integration, the corporation’s head thinks. According to him, they will install eight displays and two consoles in the twin-seat MiG-29KUB. For all practical purposes, there are two “class” cockpits on the MiG-29KUB. A new wide-format collimator display (a display on the windscreen) ((heads-up display)) with high intensity also has been installed on the airplane which can reflect both television information on the windscreen and allow the airman to operate equally well without changing operational technique by day and night. The displays themselves have been assembled with very high resolution – 1024×768 (this is the modern level of resolution), which allows distinguishing rather small-size targets, G. Dzhandzhgava emphasized.

He also noted that and improved four-channel multiplex communications computer system has been installed on board, not counting the other communications.

G. Dzhandzhgava especially singled out the fact that joint operations with Indian specialists and the specialists of other countries on the Su-30MKI program gave the Russian side an extremely large volume of scientific and technical experience ((NARABOTKI)) and information. In the first place is coupling with the customer himself, the style of operation, norms and standards, the documentation language and the like. In the second, the Su-30MKI’s navigation system was well perfected together with the French firm Sagem. This experience then was carried over to the MiG-29SMT and right now is being used too on the ship-based MiG-29K/KUB.

As of today there is mass of experience for the multiplex coupling of the equipment on the Su-30MKI. Part of such experience is being transferred to the MiG-29K/KUB with the build-up of the quantity of channels. There also is diversity of experience for coupling of domestic and Indian developers’ avionics.

Source: 14.02.05, AviaPort.RU, Correspondent: Dmitriy Kozlov

Tail skids and barrel spins

The cobra, tail skid, cobra with turn, barrel spin, hook were among the few manoeuvres of the MiG-29M2 which caught the people by awe on Friday at the Air Force Station, Yelahanka , where the Aero India 2005 is being held between February 9 and 13.

The pilots of Russian MiG 29 as a warm up for the aero show performed these manoeuvres just few hours after landing in Bangalore. People busy making preparations for the show left their work aside for few minutes to watch the performance of the MiG 29.

Speaking to Deccan Herald,Test Pilot, Pavel Vlasov, said that this was the third Aero India in which he was participating. “We will perform better this year. We have seen the F-16 and F-18 perform in other aero shows,” he said.

Workers and teams from foreign countries displaying their products to woo the Indian defence sector were busy making final arrangements for putting up stalls. Snecma, the European giant in aerospace, was busy trying to put up the mock-up of the huge SM146 engine, which will power the Russian Regional Jet (RRJ).