Jai
JaiImage Credits : DRDO
other than a few small pix in brahmos.com and Harry’s pix from defexpo, none exist.
Jaimatt,
I should have been clearer the first time. What I meant was that in the case of an AShM, the seeker will be required to discriminate between returns from a metallic target and water whereas in the case of an LACM, the radar seeker would be required to discriminate between the returns from a specific building and returns from other buildings lying in the vicinity of the target. The latter is a more difficult task and would required more complicated recognition algorithms as compared to the former case.
Srbin, should’nt be different than three.
JaiRussia adds three satellites to GLONASS navigation cluster
MOSCOW, December 26 (Itar-Tass) – A Proton-K rocket with three GLONASS navigation satellites onboard was launched from Baikonur at 4:54 p.m. Moscow time on Sunday, a source in the Russian Space Troops press service told Itar-Tass.
Two GLONASS navigation satellites of the old modification (with a three-year service life) and one modernized satellite GLONASS-M (with a seven-year service life) were launched on Sunday.
The GLONASS cluster made up of eleven functioning and two reserve satellites already has one GLONASS-M in its composition, the source said. That GLONASS-M was put in orbit in December 2003. Such satellites can supply navigation information to an unlimited number of clients around the world and upgrade precision of the coordinates to one meter.
“We will enlarge the GLONASS cluster to 18 satellites by the year 2007 in keeping with the federal space program,” the source said.
India was offered to take part in launches of GLONASS satellites in early December. It is planned to launch satellites from both Russian and Indian spaceports.
JaiIndian aid first to reach Lanka
An Indian High Commission official told Hindustan Times that at about 10 am on Monday, an Indian Navy Off Shore Patrol Vessel (OPV) laden with relief material and personnel would be arriving in Trincomalee, a badly hit area on the eastern coast. At about 12 noon, another OPV, similarly laden, would be arriving in Galle, one of the worst hit areas on the southern tip of the pear-shaped island. By evening, the south and the east would get two more Indian relief ships. Each of the four Indian naval OPVs will have a Chetak helicopter to do rescue and relief work. In addition, the Indian Air Force would be flying in six choppers on Monday. They would be landing at Katunayake, north of Colombo, by 2 pm. The Indian ships would have doctors, divers, para medics, food, medicines and clothing. Each pair of ships would have eight to nine medical teams and seven to eight diving teams, the official said. In all there would be 25 doctors and 60 para medics, besides other support personnel, the High Commission official said. President Chandrika Kumaratunga had on Sunday declared a “National Disaster” and sought emergency international aid.
‘Coast Guard was the first to react’
The Indian Coast Guard was the first organization to react when tsunamis began to hit the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. At 6.30am, Indian Coast Guard Regional Command in Andaman got news of the tsunamis, he told rediff.com.
Andaman’s residents were shocked and in trauma. The waves had struck like electric shocks – quick and powerfully – wrecking havoc because of the surprise element.
Dr Paleri said that the effect was such that there were hardly any people alive ‘to be air-lifted’ on certain islands.
Without panicking, ICG started relief operations in Chennai, Port Blair and Mumbai before noon on Sunday.
For the most part of the day, ICG staffers were helping ferry dead bodies and supply food packets to the marooned areas.
“Our officers are trained to not make a disaster out of disaster management. We are composed and perform our duties in association with the Indian Air Force,” he said.
For the first few hours, the local administration had lost communication with many of the islands. The IAF’s air strips and other property were badly hit.
To resume communication, two ships were sent out to sea. They managed to connect the far flung areas of Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the capital Port Blair with the help of a high frequency (HF) communication system. Once communication was established, it became easy to get details of the damage caused by the tsunamis and carry out rescue operations.
“It’s a pretty bad scene in Andaman and Nicobar Islands because one more earthquake hit the islands on Sunday evening,” Dr Paleri said.
Around 17 helicopters were pressed into service in Chennai (capital of Tamil Nadu) and the Andaman Islands.
ICG’s officers continue to work heroically to rescue people in marooned islands of the Indian Ocean archipelago.
JaiNaval warships leave for Sri Lanka, relief sent to Andaman
Five naval warships loaded with relief supplies have left for Sri Lanka as Indian Air Force despatched three AN-32 transport aircraft carrying relief and medical supplies to earthquake and tidal wave devastated Andaman and Nicobar group of Islands.
Naval Chief Admiral Arun Prakash, has directed that five naval warships from Mumbai, Cochin and Vishakhapatnam to set sail for Trincomallee and Galle ports in Sri Lanka in response to a SOS received from the Sri Lankan Government.
He said warships are carrying rescue helicopters and boats, naval divers and relief and medical supplies and will be assisting the Sri Lankan Navy in rescue operations.
The sources said that no death of service personnel has been reported so far and efforts were on to re-establish communication links with Nicobar Island and Campbell Bay.
Naval warships have been sent out all along the Eastern coast to rescue trapped fishermen and civilian passenger liners, Naval spokesman said.
Naval and Coastguard Command all along the Eastern coast were helping in rescue and relief operations in all the major coastal towns and cities.
JaiRe: Future development of Glonass constellation
Russia’s plans for the GLONASS constellation
The following information is a summary of some of Russia’s plans for the GLONASS constellation, as described at a meeting in Washington, DC last week, including some possible cooperative efforts between the Russian Aerospace Agency and the IGS.
• A new launch of 3 satellites is scheduled for 26 December.
• One of these will be a GLONASS-M and the other two will be the older model satellite. GLONASS satellite numbers 712, 796 and 797 will be placed into slots 1, 7 and 8 of plane 1 of the constellation. This will bring the total number of GLONASS satellites in orbit to 14. Eleven (11) satellites are now operational, including the first GLONASS-M (launched in December 2003) that has been set healthy just recently.
• The Russian Aerospace Agency has the approval of the Russian government to continue a long-term plan for the period 2002-2011, during which time it plans to reconstitute a GLONASS constellation of 24 satellites. Russia plans to have 18 operational satellites by the end of 2007 and 24 operational satellites by the end of 2010.
• The GLONASS-M satellites have two civil signals and have an expected life of 7 years. In addition to the one currently in orbit and the one scheduled for launch on 26 December, seven more have been ordered for production.
• GLONASS-K will be the future generation GLONASS satellite and will have a third civil signal. It will also weigh much less than the GLONASS-M (800 kg versus 1,400 kg). GLONASS-K will transmit integrity information and will support search and rescue operations.
• Russia is modernizing its national geodetic network to be
compatible with the ITRF. It has updated the coordinates of the fundamental geodetic control network throughout Russia and in addition has defined a high precision geodetic network tied to the ITRF.
• There are still differences between the Russian “PE-90”
geodetic reference system that is used to define geodetic reference station coordinates, the GLONASS monitor station coordinates, and the “PZ-90” broadcast navigation message.
• Russia has recently signed an agreement with India, which includes potential cooperative efforts regarding GLONASS.
• Russia has built a combined GPS-GLONASS receiver.
JaiArthur, thanks for the info.
JaiArthur,
In total 127 are reported to be active, 99 should be in some sort of storage.
Is there a centralized ‘boneyard’ in Russia ?
JaiRussian Air Force Gets New Su-27 Fighter Planes
Russia’s Armed Forces received a delivery Thursday of seven modernized Flanker Su-27 fighter planes, enhancing its arsenal and equipment stock.
The combat aircraft were assembled in Komsomolsk-na-Amure in the Far East, near the border with China, Russia’s Ren TV reported.
Military pilots hope that within a year and for the first in the Russian army’s history the whole air force will be equipped with the modernized Su-27s. The new combat jet is a multifunctional fighter adapted to all weather conditions and equipped with high precision Vozdukh-Zemlya missiles, a correspondent at the plant said.
In the next few years the air force expects to receive more than 200 new fighters. So far these will also be modernized models, but Mikhaylov says that in four years the serial production of fifth generation aircraft will begin.
JaiRUSSIAN LONG-RANGE AVIATION CELEBRATES 90TH ANNIVERSARY
MOSCOW, December 23 (RIA Novosti) – The Long-Range Aviation of the Russian Air Force (RusAF) is celebrating its 90th anniversary on Thursday. The holiday was established in 1999 by the order of the Air Force Chief Commander.
A year later, Sikorsky developed a more advanced four-engine aircraft, named Ilya Muromets after the legendary knight in Russian epic literature. Actually, the emergence of the Ilya Muromets squadron marked the advent of the bomber force in the country.
Today, the Long-Range Aviation, which is a branch of the Russian nuclear triad along with the ballistic missile submarine fleet and the intercontinental ballistic missile fleet, operates Tu-160, Tu-95 and Tu-22M3 strategic bombers. The bombers are tasked with taking out enemies’ military targets thousands of miles away behind the enemy lines and conducting strategic and operational reconnaissance.
Following the crash of the Mikhail Gromov Tu-160, Russia retained 15 strategic bombers of the type. Tu-95MS bombers’ cruise missile platform was developed back 50 years ago. It is the only strategic bomber in the world which is powered by turboprop engines. Tu-23M3s are in use in the naval long-range air arm.
The Mikhail Gromov Tu-160 crashed in the Saratov Region on September 18, 2003. On that day, the crew was flying it out following the replacement of the fourth engine. The fly-out program was completed. During descent, the bomber’s airframe began to disintegrate and its hydraulic and power supply systems failed. The crew commander, Col. Deineko, displayed high professionalism and self-control in that critical situation. He turned the aircraft away from the Europe-largest natural gas storage facility and the town of Stepnoye, which were straight ahead. The crew did their utmost to engage the fire-suppressant system and regain control of the aircraft, but did not succeed in that.
Jai:confused:
ARC Forum??
JaiKen, does the REB in picture stand for Radio Electronnaya B’orba ?
JaiThe Brahmos SS version, this can be used as a tactical land attack version besides coastal defence too, right?
The answer to that question depends on whether there is difference between the seekers of the versions which have been mentioned by you. This article regarding the latest test suggests the existence of pattern recognition algorithms in the army version of the missile.
CHENNAI, DEC. 21. BrahMos II, the land-to-land version of the supersonic cruise missile jointly developed by India and Russia, was test-fired for the first time in the Army configuration this afternoon in a desert range in Rajasthan. The missile took off at 12.40 p.m. from an independent mobile launcher with a mobile command post and control units, which provided information on the target.
The highlight of the successful flight was that out of a cluster of tall concrete structures in the desert, the missile “discriminated” a pre-determined building and pulverised it. Its control and guidance systems were thus proved.
Informed sources said the range of the BrahMos II was not important because the 290 km reach had been proved in the previous flights. What was important was that “there were a number of buildings in the new scenario” and the missile had to hit a particular one. BrahMos II was spot on, its sophisticated guidance system taking it straight to the target.
JaiBut the real breakthrough in Russian-Indian cooperation came on the space front. General Director of the Federal Space Agency, Anatoly Perminov, signed a strategic partnership agreement with the head of the Indian Space Research Organization to build, develop, and use the Russian global positioning satellite system, GLONASS. This system is in direct competition with the U.S. GPS. This system not only determines the accuracy of nuclear attacks, but also that of early warning stations. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, GLONASS deteriorated rapidly. Instead of the 18 satellites needed for the system to function properly, only 11 are currently in orbit. This situation should change radically in the near future. Perminov stated that Indian participation in GLONASS means that by 2008 the full contingent should be up and working again. The two sides furthermore agreed to rebuild the system’s infrastructure on the ground. The agreements stipulate joint development and production of the next generation of space devices that will be launched by Indian rockets from Indian launch pads. The new generation of satellites can provide an unlimited number of users with precise information from any point on or near Earth. The Indian space agency will get the ability to determine military targets’ location in Pakistan to within one to 10 meters in return for its participation in the project.
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