JaiNavy launches Operation Gambhir in Indonesia
NEW DELHI: Not since Mahendra and Sanghmitra, wards of King Ashok, sailed to South-East Asia over two millennia ago to spread the message of Gautam Buddha, has India launched three simultaneous operations, this time to augment the relief and rescue operations to the tsunami-hit Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
It is rare that men-of-wars shed their guns and convert into hospital ships. As part of the “Operation Gambhir”, two Indian Navy ships that began sailing on Saturday will reach the Indonesian shores on Tuesday, according to Vice-Admiral Raman Puri, who is heading the unified defence relief operations.
He told reporters here that one of the two ships had been converted into a make-shift hospital which would provide medical assistance to people in that country.
About 550 tonnes of relief supplies, including 200 tonnes of provisions, medicines and equipment have already been delivered from naval ships and aircraft.
Senior officers of the Eastern Naval Command and Andaman and Nicobar region have visited various sites to make first hand assessment of the situation and supervise the relief operations.
Some naval officers are also being deputed to supervise the relief operations in the neighbouring countries, it added.
JaiDisaster brings Indian, US navies together in Indian Ocean
Indian and American navies will cooperate in the Indian Ocean for the first time when they join forces to coordinate relief for the victims of tidal waves, a report said Friday.
The two countries, estranged during the Cold War but whose ties have warmed in recent years, will join Australia and Japan in a “core group” being created by Washington to coordinate recovery efforts
He said the United States sought to combine its military capability in the region with Japan’s financial resources and the assets of India and Australia to mount a rapid action to be expanded as other countries and groups joined in.
During Operation Enduring Freedom to oust the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001, Indian ships had assisted the United States in providing security in the Malacca Straits, but that small operation had taken months to negotiate.
By contrast, the tsunami relief coalition has taken just days to tie up through a flurry of phone calls between Indian and US officials, including between President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
India provides relief assistance
The Government of India has provided consistent relief assistance to disaster-stricken Sri Lanka from the very first day, Indian High Commission sources said.
Responding to a Sri Lankan government request, an Indian aircraft carrying 600 kgs of medical supplies and a team comprising a doctor and two medical assistants, had arrived in Colombo on Sunday (26) evening, the day of the disaster itself.
Four Indian Navy ships are carrying out relief works in Sri Lanka since Monday. INS Sandhayak and INS Sukanya are in Trincomalee, while INS Sharda and INS Sutlej are stationed in Galle. These ships have brought medical and general relief items, diving teams and inflatable boats. A naval helicopter in each of the ships, is being used for search and rescue operations. 32 tonnes of relief supplies have been provided in Trincomalee, while 40 tonnes of relief supplies have been provided by the ships at Galle.
Two naval aircrafts Dornier and Islander, arrived December 30. They will be here for the next several days, to provide relief assistance to the Sri Lankan government.
Another Indian naval aircraft with 800 kgs of medical supplies and a Specialist health officer in post-disaster health management, two large aircrafts carrying a full field hospital inclusive of 70 medical personnel and medical supplies, an Indian Navy ship tanker INS Aditya with relief supplies, medical teams and provisions, have also arrived, Indian High Commission sources said.
JaiSrbin, take this FWIW.
DefenseNews.com
India Tests Land-Based BrahMos Cruise Missile
By VIVEK RAGHUVANSHI, NEW DELHI
21/12/04
The Indian Army wants to buy at least 200 land BrahMos missiles within five years, and India intends to offer the missile for export sales.
JaiIndia proposes floating tsunami warning system
NEW DELHI, DEC. 31. New Delhi has suggested to Australia, the United States, Japan and the United Nations the possibility of setting up a tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean region. The Foreign Secretary, Shyam Saran, put this proposal forward at a teleconference with his counterparts from the three countries, and Jan Egeland, U.N. relief coordinator, today.
“While there is no permanent warning system in the area, there is a possibility of a floating seismic monitoring vessel being stationed temporarily, to provide such early warning. Both the American and the Australian members of the group promised to look into this possibility and to get back on the proposal as soon as possible … ” an External Affairs Ministry spokesman said today. The lack of information, the Foreign Secretary maintained, was leading to anxiety, panic and stress.
JaiFifth Generation Airplane to Fly in 2007
Usually in December, they ask air force commander-in-chief, General of the Army Vladimir Mikhaylov, what new airplanes will appear next year. But Russkiy Kur’er decided to start the conversation with the CinC about what the distant future would look like for the fifth generation fighter and immediately received a sensational answer.
– Vladimir Sergeevich, usually the military, when it is a question of new equipment, refers to the poor financing. And nevertheless, it is a question about the future. The pentagon maintains that in the U.S., fighter of the new, the fifth generation, will appear in 2008. Our project people always have had a competition with the Americans. Therefore, the question is about how far we will be behind in this business? Or, more concretely: when will what they still call the PAK FA in the air force fly – the future aviation complex for tactical aviation?
– in 2007 our fifth generation airplane will fly. In particular, I have reported earlier to the supreme headquarters about this period for lifting the future tactical aviation air complex into the air, and as of today, I have not doubts in the possibility of this mission’s resolution. I recently visited the Sukhoy company where it is involved with analysis of the problems connected with the creation of the PAK FA. The electronic model of the fifth generation airplane, which defines its aerodynamic aspect and a number of other parameters, is fully ready. We are inciting the engineers to “pick at it”, to find the greatest deficiencies as possible in order at this first stage to eliminate the defects revealed and to move ahead more quickly.
There are unresolved problems, in particular with the armament and avionics. One has to think how to use the import component of the project and whether it is worth doing altogether. This all is working moments, but on the whole we have moved ahead appreciably. Even – at the same time to some kind of degree with limited financing which existed in 2003 and 2004 and is in the plans for 2005. And nevertheless, in 2007 the fifth generation airplane will fly. I said it this way to Mikhail Aslanovich Pogosyan (Sukhoy company general director – author’s note): “It is possible to put up the airplane even on 31 December, but – of 2007.”
– Will the PAK be similar externally to any kind of presently operating aircraft? Especially since right now many tactical aviation airplane are undergoing upgrade considering the buildup on the fifth generation.
– It will be a completely new airplane – that is what I can say for the time being. And as regards upgrades, we are doing them. Last year we made the Su-27SM. The aircraft turned out magnificently. The Su-27SM is close in its combat capabilities to the fifth generation airplane, but it will not reach them, because during these years the margins on the PAK will multiply.
One must note the important role of computer modeling in working on the fifth generation. Earlier we broke airplanes and engines while defining their strength properties. Right now on the computer screens, creating different conditions, we see graphically the strength properties of all the assemblies and units. Computer modeling allows error-free calculation of possible variants and to select the optimal solutions.
Source: 16.12.04, Russkiy Kur’er
JaiHook-up of RSK MiG to PAK FA Program Creation Possible
The president of OAO Irkut Scientific and Production Complex, Aleksey Fedorov, has announced that at the present time the company is investigating the program for creation of the fifth generation fighter (the Future Aviation Complex of Tactical Aviation, PAK FA), the lead developer of which is the Sukhoy OKB, with consideration of the possibility of the Russian Airplane Building Corporation MiG’s (RSK MiG) hook-up to this project.
As the head of NPK Irkut announced, a series of consultations will take place. Without going into detail, the aforesaid does not mean that RSK MiG will do that project which OAO Sukhoy OKB is developing.
A. Fedorov added that at the present time there is a need for the creation of a PAK FA and there is a concrete project of such a complex which is being developed by the Sukhoy OKB. Undoubtedly, NPK Irkut will be involved with the fifth generation theme, but to what extent and in what form still is early to say, he said.
In his opinion, “We would be glad if we are able to do the project together with OAO Sukhoy OKB or be hooked up to the work. It is unreasonable right now to disperse strengths and resources. It is necessary to think that we will be working together on future projects.”
Source: 14.12.04, AviaPort.RU, Correspondent: Dmitriy Kozlov
JaiTwo Main Russian and Indian Manufactured Computers Installed on Su-30MKI
The selection of the software was the main complication in the creation of the equipment for the Su-30MKI fighter. India has a good software product and professional programmers. Of the many operating systems which were presented for competition, the Russian real-time operational environment was selected, the head of the center said.
According to him, great experience in creation of the Su-30MKI fighter’s avionics was required and will increase in work on the creation of equipment for the future aviation complex of tactical aviation PAK FA.) NPTs Tekhnokompleks has participated in and won three competitions: for flight navigational equipment and for computer systems, and also for optical electronic surveillance stations.
As G, Dzhandzhgava was reporting earlier, the cockpit for the PAK FA will be equipped with two large 15-inch displays and wide-angle displays on the heads-up display with output of a television image, that still is not being used either in domestic aircraft manufacture or in foreign.
Source: 19.12.04, AviaPort.RU, Correspondent: Dmitriy Kozlov
Jaimatt, an update.
Remote island tribes safe after quake
Groups of rare aboriginal tribes already near the edge of extinction in the Andaman and Nicobar islands survived a massive tsunami, the coast guard said on Thursday.
Five tribes numbering 989 people were safe after Sunday’s onslaught, including the 100-member Onge, 250 of the fiercely independent Sentinelese, 39 of the almost extinct Andamanese, 350 of the Jarawa and 250 of the hunter-gatherer Shompen.
Supplies, medical treatment provided
They were located by helicopter and some were reached by boat and provided with supplies and medical treatment, Coast Guard director general Arun Kumar Singh said on Thursday.
The Indian navy had been hunting for the aborigines on the tsunami-savaged Nicobar islands amid fears that any harm to some of nature’s most enigmatic communities could push them into extinction.
JaiTwo Naval ships leave for Sri Lanka
Lanka on Thursday evening, carrying a large medical team of Army and Naval personnel and 15 tonnes of relief supplies, including water, blankets and provisions. Both ships carried a Chetak helicopter also.
INS Jamuna and INS Sarvekshak, the survey vessels of the Southern Naval Command, left the Naval Base here at 8 p.m. on Thursday. INS Jamuna has been converted into a 46-bed hospital ship. It has facilities to treat 60 patients, said Captain K Muralidharan Nair, Commanding Officer of INS Jamuna.The ship carried a mobile surgical team, mobile laboratory and X-ray facility, apart from 6,000-kg medicines. The ships carried 80 Army personnel from the corps of Engineers, Medical and Signals. These teams will support specialised relief and clearing-up operations in the coastal areas of Sri Lanka.
India deploys ships to help Indon victims of tsunami
NEW DELHI (AP) – The Indian Navy, which has already deployed 32 ships and 29 aircraft for tsunami relief and rescue work in the Indian Ocean, was sending two more ships Friday to Indonesia, a military spokesman said.
One ship is transporting relief supplies and rescue workers, while the other has been converted into a 50-bed hospital with facilities to carry out surgical operations, said Navy spokesman Cmdr B.K. Garg. Almost 80,000 people have died in Indonesia.
In addition to the ships, 21 helicopters and eight aircraft belonging to the Indian Navy – one of the largest in the world – are helping to coordinate relief work and monitor the situation along the coasts of southern India, Andaman and Nicobar islands, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives.
India has also sent four ships to Sri Lanka, where more than 27,000 people have perished, and a fifth ship, with a built-in hospital, was dispatched Friday, Garg said.
Jaimatt,
Indian islands tribes may now be extinct
Indian Navy swings into action in Lanka
The Indian Navy is involved in a whole range of rescue, relief and clearance operations in Galle and Trincomalee in tsunami-ravaged Sri Lanka.
An Indian High Commission official said that naval engineers were clearing and repairing the battered Galle Harbour so that the two Indian Off Shore Patrol Vessels (OPV), carrying 40 tonnes of relief materials including medicines, could enter the harbour.
But whatever could be sent to the shore by boats and choppers were being dispatched to places indicated by the Sri Lankan Navy, the official told Hindustan Times.
Indian helicopters, including the two naval Chetaks on board the OPVs, were already fully participating in the search and rescue operations in the Galle-Matara area.
Thirty sorties had been flown till the evening of Tuesday and 25 tonnes of supplies had landed, the official said.
Naval diving teams and choppers have rescued 190 people, mostly foreign tourists, in the Galle and Matara area, where more than 6,000 people were killed in last Sunday’s sea fury.
The bodies of ten foreigners were flown to Colombo.
The Indian armed forces also participated in the mass burial of 300 bodies in Embilipitiya, a task, which was hampered greatly by incessant rains.
Six Indian Air Force helicopters were flying sorties from Katunayake (Colombo), Ratmalana and Koggala near Galle, ferrying food, clothing, and medicines. They also ferried survivors and the dead.
The two Indian ships anchored in Trincomalee in eastern Sri Lanka, had handed over 30 tonnes of relief material to the Government Agent of the district.
Two of the three Indian medical teams were working in Mutur (one of the worst affected areas) and one in the battered tourist resort of Nilaveli.
Asked if the Indian teams would go to the LTTE controlled areas in Mullaitivu district further north, the official said that it was up to the Sri Lankan authorities to decide where the Indian teams should be deployed.
It is believed that two Russian medical teams were in Mullaitivu.
According to the Indian official, the Indians would be deployed in the northern Jaffna peninsula, where the unofficial death toll is more than 2,000.
Much of the Jaffna peninsula is under government control, which makes the task of deployment of Indians and foreigners easier.
JaiIf you mean Andaman and Nicobar, then that area has been hit badly and on national TV the reporters mentioned that the magnitude of the problem is compounded due to the depressed relief features which prevent the recession of tides back into the sea.
Relief ops ‘Castor’ and ‘Rainbow’ launched
NEW DELHI: India has launched Operation Castor and Operation Rainbow in Maldives and Sri Lanka to provide immediate assistance to these countries. Three Indian naval vessels, INS Mysore, INS Udayagirir and INS Aditya – armed with rescue helicopters, water purification plants and medical teams, supplies and relief equipment – have been sent to Male. According to an MEA statement, INS Mysore is expected to reach on Tuesday, with the others following shortly after.
Under Operation Rainbow, India is helping the Sri Lankan government search for and rescue fishermen and boats lost at sea. The MEA said a Dornier aircraft was also dispatched on Sunday with a medical team and 600 kg of medical supplies. As it seeks to help the neighbours, India too is getting offers of assistance. The US government has made a preliminary contribution of $100,000 (Rs 44.5 lakhs) to the PM’s Relief Fund, ICRC and Red Crescent.
JaiThe average resolution of these photos is 2486×1760 pixels.
JaiLast one in the series.
P.S. : Apologies to those with slow internet connection. 😀
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