Akash Short Range SAM System

Akash Short Range SAM System

     India initiated a project to develop a Surface to air missile in the early 1990's , as a Result of the Program the Akash project was born, and DRDO successfully test fired the First Akash missile in early 1990. the Akash missile was developed by jointly with the effort of BDL and OFB with the supports from DRDO, as each contributed by integration, development and manufacturing. so far the Akash achieved many milestones and improved a lot even work as a Stand alone systems.

    There was two projects in Akash, one is mark 1 another is mark 2 but both are same, However Mark two has increased range by adding active seeker in the missile. The Akash Mk 1 need continuous radar guidance to hit the target, a bit older technique. That means someone need guides the missile to hit the target, The Akash onboard computers can do the guidance work. Modern systems Like Barak 8 and Aster 15 controlled by on board seeker in the missile and uses Ground based Radar's guidance for high probability kill. 

      The Akash missile has the range of 30 kilometers, and can engage targets upto 59,000 feet and as low as 100 feet. Aksah can fly at the speed of twice of Sound, means more than 2.5 mach speed. the missile can sustain 15 G, gives it better maneuverability against highly agile aircraft. The the Akash warhead weights some 55 kg of fragmentation. With the use of ramjet engines, Akash can maintain top speed at all altitudes and maneuverable in any altitudes. The entire flight can be controlled by the command control computer and the controller can order the missile self destruct in mid air if missile was wrongly fired.

    One Akash system comprises four launcher vehicles, each with three ready to fire missiles, means one system can fire 12 missiles at one go, However all need a guidance from the command computer, The system also comes with a Akash reloading systems, a Rajendra 3D CAR Radar for Target acquisition A fire control Radar, and a mobile Power generator to provide power to all the systems in the battery. and a command control center work as the heart of the System. some Akash comes systems with Rohini 3D CAR radar for additional support.

     For Air force all the systems comes in a wheeled platform, each squadron consists of two akash Systems, and four Akash system comes as a Regiment under Army classification, one Akash System can cover an area of 5000 square Kilometers, with a probable reliability  of 80 to 100% successful management rate. with the quick mobile configuration option the system can be deployed remote places and can be operated very quickly. with the Army, Akash systems comes in Tracked platform it can be deployed all over the tough terrains unlike the Air force's wheeled platform, all the systems in Akash is indigenous and tested in all tough Indian Conditions. 

    Compared to all other systems the Akash is much more cost effective, missiles are less than half a million dollars, unlike the western and Russian missiles costs double than the Akash. 

    The Indian Air force and Army tested the Akash missile extensively before inducting in the force, the trialss include command and control launch from Remote Control center, firing as a group of Missiles from different launchers. conducting tests in tough Electronic counter counter measure scenario's to kill more modern Fighters who uses advanced electronic counter measure systems. Striking nearby targets in very low altitude and Long range High altitude targets, and ripple firing missiles to strike a single target/Multi Target scenario, in all such scenario's Akash performed well and satisfies the users Evaluation trialss.

    So far IAF has eight Squadrons of  Akash missiles systems, and the Army has two regiments of Akash missiles, each regiments consists of six Squad of Akash systems

Modi visits England, Hawk trainers and EJ 200 Engines in wishlist

Modi visits England, Hawk trainers and EJ 200 Engines in wishlist

     Prime minister Modi all set to visit England to boost military and civil cooperation between New Delhi and London. During the visit PM Modi inks contracts with BAE systems for additional Hawk advanced trainers and modifying existing HAL build Hawks to carry weapons. Modi accompanied by HAL and Air force officials to discuss about the possibility of EJ 200 Turbofan Engine sale and requesting UK's help to design the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft.

   The Indian air force operates more than sixty advanced hawk trainer with an additional fifty on orders. India operates most advanced version of hawk trainers named 132. First batch of twenty four Hawk trainers directly delivered from England. While all others will be produced in HAL,India under Transfer of Technology. HAL delivering twelve Hawk trainers to IAF every year.

    Indian Navy also operates the Hawk trainer for advanced jet training purpose to train Naval air arm pilots to fly in the MiG 29 K fighters. Navy currently operates eight hawk's and another nine in orders. These too built by HAL. Navy also plans to increase the Hawk fleet numbers to thirty to meet their operational requirements.  

     Most of the Advanced jet trainers comes with light attack capability like Russian YAK 130 and Italy's M 346. All of them capable of guided missile firing capability and precision bombing capabilities. The same goes to Hawk too, However UK banned others to modify the Hawk to carry weapons. While BAE offered modified variant of BAE Hawk named Hawk 200 for light combat support. This has no training options but a pure attack aircraft.

     Nations like  Oman Saudi and Indonesia operating Hawk 200 for light attack missions. However they can't be used for jet training purpose. Modifying the Hawk trainers to carry IR guided missiles and laser guided bomb is the Indian Air force's option to modernize the Hawks into armed Hawk.

    Earlier this year during Aero India, HAL officials proposed the BAE officials for the modernizing options and it's reported that, BAE almost agreed the HAL's proposal and formally agrees HAL's modification works on Hawk trainers to carry missiles and bombs.

     Arming the Hawk only needed some mission computers, IFF Responders and IRST dome for target acquisition and guidance. This allows Hawk can fire UK based ASRAAM infrared guided missiles for combat air patrol missions and self defense, and can carry laser guided munitions for close air support. This will makes the hawk becomes good close air support aircraft, and can perform well as a counter insurgency aircraft.

   

  The IAF officials also hold talks with Euro jet officials to modify the EJ 200 Engines jointly to power the AMCA. India yet to select the engines for AMCA which is still on design phase, IAF and HAL  looking for foreign support to develop a engine to meet AMCA's require power and thrust. EJ 200 once bid with GE F 414 to supply engines to HAL Tejas. However it's lost when GE announced as a lowest bidder.

     HAL officials also visit BAE Systems to help designing the AMCA, as earlier Defense minister quoted that "it's required foreign help to design the AMCA". US, France and England shown interests in designing the AMCA. If IAF selects the EJ 200 engines to power AMCA. It's quite clear England will assist HAL to design and materialize the AMCA.        

BAE Archer 155mm mounted gun

     Also many reports suggests that India and UK will sign deals for more than $12 billions. However the details of the contracts still unknown. It's quite clear even if more civil deals signed Military also gets billions of amount for shopping.

    Some sources quoted that, India may selects the BAE systems Archer for long delayed 155mm wheeled self propelled gun tender. under this tender India plans to buy nearly five hundred such platforms under Make in India project. 

IAF plans to use armed Mi 17 against Maoists

IAF plans to use armed Mi 17 against Maoists

IAF Mi 17 v5 with two side mounted 2x12.7mm gun pods and Rocket launchers

    The Indian air force gets an official order from the home ministry and defense ministry to use helicopter gun ships for self defense when fighting against Maoist insurgents. So far the Mi 17 used for dropping commando's in dense battle field, carryout reconnaissance missions and medical evacuation. However they never allowed to use the guns or rocket pods fitted in the Mi 17 to provide close air support to the friendly forces. From now after heavy pressure from the state police and CRPF, the government agreed the proposal of using helicopter gun fire support for self defense.

     The Indian government deployed more than one lakh para military soldiers from CRPF, BSF, and ITBP along with additional of some 2,00,000 state police in Maoist prone states like Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Maharashtra and Odisha. with air support from IAF helicopter Mi 17 and small UAV's. The CRPF special forces like COBRA and some other state police special forces also deployed for special operations.

    Maoist is an extreme insurgent group who ask separate nation for their own peoples with the support from Chinese and other communist movements. They were armed with small fire arms and .50 caliber guns and RPG's along with the usage of high powerful IED's and bombs whicn even take out armored personnel carriers . That makes the Maoists one of the heavily equipped terrorists forces in India. They yet to get MANPAD's however they soon get such sophisticated missile system from Chinese supply line.

    Earlier in January 2013, The Maoists forces gunned down a low flying Mi 17 Helicopter. The Helicopter bound to evacuate a wounded para military personnel inside the hot zone. The Mi 17 successfully performed the mission and about to take off. The Maoists saw the Helicopter and fired on the helicopter. Bullets hits the Helicopters tail and windshield. Which makes the Helicopter forced to land for precautions. The IAF pilot decided to land the helicopter in a safe zone and tries to escape, and he did it.

     The IAF pilots informed about the helicopter's emergency landing to the nearby army outpost. The command sends Soldiers and special forces to rescue the Pilots and other soldiers and safe guard the helicopter. The troops successfully moved out the Helicopter from the hot zone. after maintenance the same helicopter returned to duties within months.

12.7 mm and 20mm gun pods ideal with Mi 17 V 5

    Meantime the home ministry issues strict order to do not use the helicopter's guns and Rockets. The Maoists attacks the low flying helicopters many times. However they never gunned down. Due to this orders It's hard to perform counter insurgency missions deep inside the Maoists red zone like Odisha and Chattisgarh. Earlier Mi 17 versions don't have the gun pod and rocket pods. however the newly deployed Mi 17 do have arms can be retrofitted.

    The Mi 17 can be configured with rockets pods and 12.7mm and 7.62 mm Heavy machine gun pods each with thousand rounds in the wings. The Mi 17 v5 had six hard points three in each side. Usually the IAF Mi 17 v 5 carry's rocket pods to destroy fortified targets and light armor vehicles. However the Maoists don't have such fortified or armored systems. So using the machine guns are way too effectively against the Maoist. Adding two 12.7mm two 7.62 mm along with two Rocket pods is the best suitable fire power against the Maoist. The Mi 17 can be configured with door mounted machine guns too.

    During in a interview Additional DG (anti-Naxal operations) R K Vij told that "Maoists have often fired at Mi-17s (helicopters). We have lost personnel and people, but we have never retaliated. The law has never stopped us from retaliation. We have conducted exercises. Garud commandos of the Indian Air Force practised firing from Mi-17. We are not sitting ducks, we can also attack them. It will help us handle the situation better."

Door mounted 7.62mm HMG in Mi 17

  “On October 13, three IAF helicopters flew over a specified area of Bijapur and practised strafing. Senior officers of the IAF and anti-Naxal operations of the state police participated in the exercise,” Vij said. So from now IAF would carry out air raids if Maiots try to harm any aerial activities conducted by the armed forces.

India plans to buy S 400 Triumf SAM system

India plans to buy S 400 Triumf SAM system

    Sources close to defense ministry confirms, Defense minister Parrikar approves Indian air forces proposal of buying two squadron of S 400 missiles systems directly from Russia as government to government deal. due to the delay in Indian BMD program and delay in extended range Barak missile deployment. IAF asks the Defense ministry to purchase two squadron of S 400 systems each consists of eight launchers and associated systems. the defense ministry plans to clear the proposal in the upcoming DAC meet.

    S 400 is considered one of the best missile defense system, which having multiple type of missiles for engaging different types of flying targets, like Ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and fighter jets. S 400 is the upgraded version of  wider known S 300 PMU systems. as India once rejected to buy from Russia in favor of developing India's own missile defense systems. S 400 is a stand alone long range missile defense systems. can launch multiple missiles simultaneously to engage multiple targets at same time.

    The Indian air forces operates some older SA 3 Goa systems, which is much older. and IAF plans to induct new generation long range missiles. they selected the Indo Israeli joint product the Barak 8 anti missile defense systems. IAF also operates good numbers of short range Akash missiles and plans to induct more in coming days. almost all air forces works under a set of air defense systems, which incorporates surveillance radar's, Fighter jets, Missile defense systems and AAA batteries. as IAF currently in full swing of modernization. as first step they working on to upgrade entire air bases and surveillance systems under one umbrella. the project almost in finishing condition.

    The S 400 is one of the best systems ever developed, comes with three Radar's and multiple launchers, which can cover almost 400 kilometers of air space, one S 400 system close to Rajasthan can cover half Pakistan, China already signed a contract to purchase more than six regiments of S 400 missiles systems, which give Chinese air force an upper edge to control entire Taiwanese air space and much of the Eastern India, even a Battery close to Indian borders can cover entire New Delhi too making IAF jets operates under hostile threat. China and Russia signed the deal in early 2012, and It's believed China  get those missile defense systems in coming years.

    IAF's order is very small compared to China. Just a two squadrons, comes with eight missile launching units. deploying the missile batteries in central India can cover New Delhi and Mumbai. each squadron comes with Missile launchers, Radar systems, command posts and missile reloading vehicle. Russia already deploys those S 400 missiles close to Japan and Baltic states, which secure Russian mainland from enemy infiltration.  

    The S 400 comes with two Radars, which scan targets more than 400 kilometers. the grave stone is the known long range air surveillance radar, used to scan the air space and identifies the hostile threats. the radar comes with IFF- Identification of friend and foe System, allows safe operation inside friendly airspace. the high powerful radar can guide more than 60 missiles to different targets at same time. this radar mainly used for detecting and engaging fighter jets and cruise missiles.

Grave stone and Big Bird

   Another one is the Big Bird Radar, which is used to detect missiles at long range and high altitudes, basically used to detect Ballistic missiles. the S 400 has the unique capability of engaging tactical and short range ballistic missiles. both radars comes with anti jamming capability. so it's hard to jam the Radar's using electronic warfare systems. those Radars lock enemy targets within two minutes, and allows to launch interceptor missiles within seconds. the system comes with optional radars like low band surveillance systems to detect low flying objects in close ranges.

   The S 400 missile launchers comes with three types of missiles, each comes with different characteristics to  engage different type of targets, one version is used for ballistic missile interception, who comes with semi active radar homing, to lock the target before engaging, means the S 400 radar guides the missiles as well as the missiles onboard radar too guide the missile in terminal phase. thus allows high probability of interception Ballistic missiles.

Long Range and highly maneuverable medium range missile

    Another is the Long range Hyper sonic missiles, used to intercept Fighter jets and Cruise missile. the missile travels at hypersonic speed, means 6000 kilometer per hour. at the range of some 250 kilometers, even if the Radar tracks targets at the range of 400 kilometers, the S 400 can launch interceptor missiles when it comes close to 250 kilometers. the Russian S 400 has a missile which can target fighters at some 400 kilometers. however due to MCTR rules, the missile not available for export. 

    There is one more missile in the S 400 battery, which is used to intercept low flying highly maneuvering targets like cruise missiles and mirv'ed warheads from Ballistic missiles. compared to other missiles, this missiles range could be less some 120 kilometers. however this is one of the best missile which destroy almost all kind of flying targets.  

    Over all it's not the missiles, It's the Radars who makes the S 400 is much deadlier than other systems. even if the Indian government signed the contract by this years PM visit. Russia may deliver it only after 2018 or later. due to the economic crisis it's clear that anyone having money can buy those S 400 systems. as countries like Saudi, Turkey, Vietnam already in negotiations to buy S 400 SAM system. 

Once again, the delayed Light Utility Helicopter deal

Once again, the delayed Light Utility Helicopter deal

    The Armed forces using modified French designed Alouette helicopters for utility purposes, the Helicopter later entered into serial production in India, those helicopters are inducted into Indian armed forces early 1970's, the major operator is the Navy and Air force, Utility helicopters must for every armed forces, where they can be used for many missions, include war time operations like resupply and light reconnaissance, those  helicopters are best in earlier days, contributed very well during major wartime and peacetime,  now more than decades those helicopters must be replaced with newer helicopters.

    Currently more than 300 such helicopters used by the armed forces and still HAL producing some units for coast guard and other para military units, however those helicopter lacks some modern technologies which can be used in front line operations, and the Army also wanted such light helicopters for utility purpose, they don't want the older Chetaks they asked much modern version Helicopters, their numbers should come hundreds, and the other para military units also asked the government to buy some light helicopters for utility purpose,

    So the Government announces a Light utility helicopter contract, involving global vendors, at first the numbers are some 200 helicopters, the governments sticks because of large order major number of Helicopters should be produced in India under transfer of Technology, the first such contract announced early 2009, and many foreign companies offered their light helicopters, however the government cancelled the tender without mentioning the issues, after heavy voices from Armed forces the government once again floated the same RFP, the same saga repeats, Government cancelled the tender.

Early 2014, the Armed forces raises it's concerns about replace those vintage Chetak and Cheetah variants from service, which means more than 200 such helicopters needs to be replaced, and they sticks with the same requirement what the army and other paramilitary forces suggested for utility purpose, so mass producing single model helicopters can save logistics costs and maintenance issues, and told the Ministry that combined order of some 400 light helicopters needed for Armed forces, thus makes another RFP of Light Utility deal in 2015,

    The New government takes some positive steps, under new defense procurement procedures and direct involvement of private defense sectors into the defense industry, under the new RFP, government says the selected contender should join with Indian private company to mass produce those helicopters in India, which include Indian spares parts.

   The new huge order brings the French Airbus, American Bell and Russian Kamov bit closer, all of them offered their products, and the Government and armed forces shortlisted Russian Kamov and selected its modern Ka 226 T, meantime Reliance already made an agreement with the Kamov to manufacture those helicopter in India,

   The Ka 226 T is selected  in many reasons, from Engines to it's high altitude performance and it's retractable troop sitting cabin, which can be removed and to be used to lift high amount of cargo, and the Kamov don't have the tail rotor, makes sufficient for operating forward bases in high altitude bases like Siachin and Leh, the announcement made just after the Aero India.

   However till now the contract can't be made with Kamov, Reliance already informed the government that they ready to build the helicopters under license and already setup-ed infrastructures, they just need the orders and contract only before producing those helicopters in mass numbers, and still now the agreement and contract hasn't been signed with Kamov and Reliance, and they announced that they will roles out helicopters within ten months once the contract is signed,

Government plans to draft the Defense Command under one Umbrella

Government plans to draft the Defense Command under one Umbrella

    The BJP government once again plans to amalgamate the defensive and offensive command under a single unit. This would make the forces act against the threat swiftly. The NDA in their previous term, during the year 2001 and 2003, set two new, fully operational commands to counter Chinese threats in Bay of Bengal and to strike enemy countries with nuclear missiles.

    With increasing threats of cyber warfare, space conflicts and cross-border terrorism, our country needs dedicated commands to counterattack instantly. The government plans to assign three new commands for space based operation, cyber based threats and special operations command. It is believed that these new commands would need more than a year to become operational. As of now, the Indian Nuclear Command, Strategic Forces Command and the Andaman-Nicobar Commands are operational.

Strategic Forces Command

   The SFC, also called as the Strategic Nuclear command, will be assigned dedicated tasks and forces to attack the enemy country. Orders issued by the central government cabinet committee headed by the Prime minister of India, makes the decisions and the SFC executes the assigned orders.

    The Indian nuclear warheads can be deployed on several kind of platforms via air, land or sea based missiles to attack the enemy positions. India needs a good delivery platforms to make these missions a success. The Indian SFC command consists of Jaguar Fighter Jets, Agni 1,2,3 Missiles and Arihant SSBN having K 4 and K 15 Ballistic missiles. It is believed that the SFC have also inducted the Su 30 MKI for nuclear warhead delivery. These nuclear warheads are stationed in Indian bases controlled by respective commands. If the cabinet orders a strike, it would take time in deciding which base will launch the attack. Those making these decisions will have different strategies, making it difficult to choose the appropriate base. To resolve this issue, the government set up a Nuclear Command under a three star officer, either Lt. Gen, Vice Admiral or Air Marshal, to lead the SFC. if the government cabinet approves a nuclear strike, the head of the Nuclear Command will choose the most feasible platform for the strike. resolve the issue, Govt set ups a Nuclear command under a Three star officer, either Lt.Gen, Vice Admiral or Air marshal leads the SFC, if the government approves a Nuclear strike, he will choose which platform is feasible for the strike. 

   As of now, the SFC command is expanding its wings by proposing the induction of two dedicated fighter squadron in addition to the advanced Agni 5 and 6 missiles and the Arihant SSBN, which would be inducted after the conclusion of trials.

Andaman Nicobar command

   This command consists of all three services, soldiers from Indian Army, fighter jets from Indian Air Force and ships from Indian Navy. This command is created to counter the Chinese advancement in Bay of Bengal and establish peace in the Andaman region. As Andaman is located far from Indian land mass, and makes a very good place for strategic operations, it is the primary target if Chinese and Indians go to war. The Andaman Command is fully based on the offensive strike, with troops, ships and fighter aircraft for combined amphibious assault operations.

  Currently, the Andaman command consists of 15 warships. This comprises of Escort vessels like patrol ships, offensive platforms like fast attack crafts for beach landing, a large number of landing platform ships. They get cover from the Indian Air Forces Su 30 MKI and the MiG 29 UPG. The Marine contingent also gets cover from Naval Air Arm like ASW planes like Do 228 and P 8I. The forces include an army brigade. One Indian Army Brigade consists of 3000 infantry soldiers including officers who are commanded by a Brigadier General of the Indian Army.

Cyber Command

   The new proposed command which will be commissioned in coming years, which is used to hack enemy websites and undertake strategic espionage. Each service has a dedicated cyber command which protects national assets from computer based attacks from unknown enemies. The new cyber command can ensure the safety of our defense and financial institutions and retaliate to international cyber threats. The Chinese and Americans already have such commands, where Chinese have been known to install phishing programs into American servers, revealing strategic and economic secrets, and using that information to develop their own technologies. The Americans are masters at cyber warfare; the NSA is a good example of that.

Special Operational Command

   The major setback of the Indian Defense is the lack of unified command to untie all the special forces under one command. Even in the last cross border raid in inside Myanmar, there were issues in the command section as to which force will be assigned to take out the militants. The Navy's Marco's, RAW's SFF, Air forces' Guard commando's and the Army's Para commando's, after a delay, asked the Para commando's to take the action. The same issue also delayed the 26/11 operation in Mumbai.

 To eradicate the delay in special operations, The government plans to make a special operation command similar to American SOCOM, which controls all the special forces from all services.These will include the NSG and CRPF special forces Cobra. Under the new uniform command, the Special Operational Command from Delhi orders the designated forces nearby to act against the threat, once the SOCOM gets a go order from the cabinet. The cabinet orders are needed for only cross border raids, missions inside India don't need cabinet approval.

Space Based Command

   Currently, Indian air space is under control of the Indian Air Force. If any unidentified aircraft enters Indian air space, dedicated airbases nearby will launch interceptor aircraft to identify and then escort or in some cases, eliminate the threat. Beyond the earth's atmosphere, the Indian air space is monitored by the Indian Space Research Organization, where they only assist the defense forces with the real time satellite images and information. They do not provide any information without having the necessary permissions from higher authorities. For example, the IAF cannot acquire SAR imagery without having proper approval from the cabinet .

   However, the new Space Command can act quickly as the ISRO and Defense Officers chair the command. They provide information and satellite images without any delays and need of the approvals. The need of eliminating enemy early warning satellites is also a growing doctrine in future warfare as China already showcased such technologies. It's believed India will acquire such technology in coming days.

Editor Darren Julian Pinto

Why India refused to buy the MiG 31

Why India refused to buy the MiG 31

    The Indian Air force used the MiG 25 long Range Interceptor/Reconnaissance planes to gather intelligence and take photographs of enemy installations, flying very high and speed MiG 25 has no other competitor in South Asia, During the Kargil war IAF used the MiG 25 to gather intelligence over  Pakistani soil and Take as many as photos about their Strategic Locations, while PAF has no Aircraft who can match the speed and Altitude of Mig 25,

    After 2006, with the arrival of remote sensing satellites and synthetic aperture Radar, IAF decommissions all the MiG 25, that time IAF had Seven MiG 25, while one was crashed, After the retirement, The Russians offered more advanced long range Interceptor MiG 31 along with ultra long range missiles, The Indian Government also accepts the Russians offer and asked the IAF to check the deal, But IAF eventually rejected the deal, and moved with repeated number of Su 30 MKI orders,

    The IAF, takes a good decision, same like all other times, because of the usage and current scenario MiG 31 is not required, since rival forces have good fighters and missiles to counter the MiG 31, The MIG 31 is absolutely a good platform, no question, However it's just a Interceptor, While most of the Pakistani and Chinese Fighters can be countered very easily by the Sukohi's and ground based missile systems, the Pakistani F 16 Block 52 armed with AIM 120 AMRAAM can easily chase the MiG 31 and it down, the same goes for China with Su 30 MK with R 77 missiles can easily kills the MiG 31,   unlike Russia, They need to engage large number of NATO planes and High flying Reconnaissance drones, with the long range Air to Air missiles, and High altitude of  flight, The MiG 35 can easily shoot down almost all kind of recon drones and other recon platforms like AEWCS and U 2 Spy plane.

    The Interesting matter is because of the R 33 Long range radar guided missile, The MiG 31 can able to destroy any long range US made Bombers, While US has comes with large number of Bomber fleet, The Russians found a Long range Radar guided missile to counter them, The High power Zalson Phased Array Radar in the MiG 31 can easily tracks and guide missiles over 300 kilometers, they demonstrated the capabilities by destroying a cruise missile using the R 33 Zalson combo, the same can be used for destroying enemy satellites too,

   But so far the ASAT capabilities  not been tested, But it's clear during warfare the Russians could use the R 33 missiles to kill the satellites, However it's hard to identify the Enemy satellites in the space, by using the Zalson, those satellites also travel much higher speed, making difficult to track and lock, however the R 33 can reach the 300 Kilometers in just 150 second, The average speed of more than 4.5 mach,

    In terms of India, The MiG 31 can be used against the Chinese H 6 bomber fleet and long range    cargo planes, But the same can be done by using the Su 30 MKI with R 77 combo, the R 77 missile can strike targets far 100 kilometers, however the MiG 31 with R 33 combo is best compared to Su 30 in terms of Interception, but the IAF need the Su 30 as a Swing role, like multiple Air superiority missions.

   However the main aspect is Currently most Air forces has good electronic attack capability, that can easily spoof radar guided missiles, the same will increases when it comes to long range, because of long range the missiles data link can be easily interrupted by the Fighters Defensive systems, Even those American bombers are equipped by larger sensors and defensive systems, meanwhile the same not applied to the Chinese H 6 bombers, Chinese are new to electronic attack, 

   The MiG 31's relies on it's flying speed and Altitude, to evade from enemy missiles and Anti aircraft missiles, But currently most of the fighters comes with high speed Missiles to engage threats at much higher altitude and speed,

   Also during the Indian terms the MiG 25 suffered lack of spare parts, makes only less number of Planes makes airborne, even at the same time Soviet and Russian Forces used more than thousands of such planes in its inventory,

   However IAF takes a good decision by ordering more number of Su 30 MKI to sticks with single platform, if they selects the MiG 31, they have to make another ground for newer platform, even now IAF struggling with many models of Fighters because of logistics and spare parts issue.

Revamping WW2 Airfield in Panagarh

Revamping WW2 Airfield in Panagarh

  The Indian Airforce plans to use the abandoned airfields near to the borders, where it was used earlier in the world war two to counter the Japanese advancement in south Asia, after the end of the war those Air fields are abandoned  and out of actions, but with the growing threats of Chinese in eastern borders, the Government plans to use those abandoned structures, as per the initial plan the world war two airfield Panagrah is in the table,  the Air field transferred to the Air force special operations teams to revamp the entire structure.

   The Government plans to field special operations unit for quick deployment, for that they plans to use much advanced STOL Aircraft's and high mobility Army units, the Air force plans to field the American special operation plane C 130 J Super Hercules, which is a short take off and land special operation plane used world wide,  currently the Air force operates six brand new C 130 J, which is already proved it's capability by landing world's highest airfield Doulat Beg oldie and assisted many humanitarian missions, unfortunately a C 130 J lost in a crash when Air force pushed in very tough maneuvering in very low flight and very close flying, India Replaces the Crashed one with newer one  from USA.

    At first the Air force plans to  look on the runway, the runway is some 2700 meters long , but almost out of conditions, the Air force set a timeline to clear the runway before July this year, and the Air force engineering unit successfully modified the runway to operate newest fighters and small cargo planes from the runway. as recently the Air force successfully lands a C 130 J super Hercules, those Hercules are from AFS Hindon, Utter Pradesh, but used to evaluate many operational readiness procedure across the country. the Successful landing and Take off proves that the Air field can support medium lift cargo planes  like C 130 J.

     In second logistics and maintenance support, before fielding the Air crafts, the base needed to be accommodate all the Planes, plus support elements like ground crew, spare parts, storage, Fuel dumps, and Hanger facilities, the IAF ordered additional six more C 130 J from Lockheed martin to field it in AFS Panagarh, such facilities are available only in AFS Hindon where first six  C130 J are deployed, Engineers from Indian Air force and Lockheed martin already started working in Panagarh, and it expected to be finished before the arrival of new batch of C 130J, who's induction timeline is not available.  the Air force also plans to include a Tanker variant of C 130 J named KC 130 J.

   It's also believed that the newly raised Mountain Strike Corps , will be stationed here in AFS Panagarh, the newly raised 14 corps comprises 80,000 Army Soldiers include Officers, with the         C 130 J those mountain strike corps can be deployed in quick moments in case of any activities, both in war and humanitarian assistance. where each C 130 J can carry 90 fully armed Soldiers and drop in any tough terrains,  even it can perform touch and go landings in roads and unpaved runways, which allows the Soldiers can jump from the C 130 J for Special operations or low level infiltrations.

  Earlier in the 1971 war the Air field used to perform Air force missions, Fighters like Mig 21 and Su 7 is operated from this Air force base.   

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'Make in India' for 90 medium combat jets

'Make in India' for 90 medium combat jets

    In another major step towards self reliance in the defence sector, a plan is being finalised to produce 90 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) in India, informed sources said.

   A Request for Proposal (RFP) is expected to be drafted soon after the new Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) comes in place.

   Expected to be one of the biggest projects under the Make in India campaign, the cost of the programme is expected to be around $30 million, the sources said.

   The Indian Air Force requires 126 MMRCAs. With India getting into an agreement with France to get 36 Rafale fighter jets in flyaway condition, there was a lack of clarity on how the rest of the gap will be filled.

   The sources said that now these remaining jets will be made in India, in what will be a major step in domestic manufacturing of such aircraft.

   According to the sources, the air force does not have enough squadrons in the event of a joint war with Pakistan and China.

   "An RFP is expected to be drafted soon for making 90 MMRCAs in India. A global tender will be floated. The private sector will also have an active participation," said an official from the defence ministry.

   As many foreign bidders were in the race when India set out to buy 126 MMRCAs, for which Dassault Aviation, the makers of Rafale, was finally chosen, the sources said all original bidders will be invited.

   The list of fighters that were in competition for the MMRCA bid included Russia's MIG-35 (RAC MiG), Swedish Gripen, Dassault, American Lockheed Martin and Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet and Eurofighter Typhoon made by a consortium of British, German, Spanish and Italian firms.

   The sources said that out of the 90 aircraft, 54 will be single-seaters and the remaining 36 tandem-seaters.

  There will be an option of acquiring 45 additional fighters as a follow-up order.

   The Indian Air Force is expected to be down to 32 squadrons by the end of this year, 576 fighter jets short of the 750-strong fighter jet fleet required as per vision documents to face simultaneous two-front wars with Pakistan and China.

    At least three squadrons of the vintage Soviet origin MiG-21 and MiG-27 single engine aircraft are scheduled to be phased out.

Article Published in  Times of India

2nd hand Mirages for Indian Air force

2nd hand Mirages for Indian Air force

    The Indian Air forces major problem is the less numbers of required Fighter jets and Failed back up plans, as their two Back up plans failed to restore the squadron strength, It looks like IAF plans to re think to look on the Qatari proposal of buying their Mirage 2000-9 fighters, and the Greece also shown interests of sell their Mirage 2000-5 Fleet. as Greece in major problem of no reserve money to run the government.

     MiG 21, and Mig 27 is running behind the Schedule of the retired date, they even didn't have the capability of doing single mission in modern combat, IAF plans to retire them by early 2010 or at most 2012, with one major plan and another Back up plan, they almost in Talks with the government to purchase multi role combat Jets since 2000,  more than fifteen years still no progress of the Acquisitions, except missing deadlines and Bureaucracy sounds,  and another is the LCA Tejas, which is also in same scenario running behind the Schedule.

     While some one says, If HAL completes a design and Suggest it to the IAF, the IAF change the requirements and ask for different model. not the entire air frame but some minor changes. ADA again spend  one or two years to design new and request the IAF to accept, But meantime , New Technologies were incorporated by foreign enemy air forces as new technologies  discovered. so Air force again changes it's requirements and design new one .thus makes the Program delay. But actually it's the history of Invention and emerging threats from foreign air force makes the outdated Fighter not capable to fight against the enemy.

   as those two plans are almost dead, The Air force gets a option of spend some $2 billions for fighter Aircrafts, The IAF loves the Mirage very well, it proved well in the Kargil, so they need to upgrade those Mirages into newest standard. meantime they get another proposal from Qatar that they willing sell their mirages to foreign countries, Qatar has some 10+ Mirages 2000 all were upgraded into newest version along new Radar and New Engines. But IAF has only one plans buy the Mirages from Qatar and forget the Upgradation vice versa.

   But interestingly the IAF decision makers took a good decision of upgrading the Mirage 2000 platform into most advanced Mirage 200OTH version, but yes the Mirage upgrade is too costly, same for the missile packages, the deal almost went more than $3 billions. and IAF already inducted those Highly upgraded modern Mirages into the IAF fleets. Interesting is the mirages service availability remains more than 80%. means almost all Miarges Ready to fly mode in all times,meantime the Indian made HAL Su 30 MKI service availability somewhere between 50-60 percentage.

   As no clear path of Rafale procurement, IAF lost it's hopes over the Rafale's. also the depleting squadron strength also makes huge problems. so they look for second hand planes, earlier many of the  defense analysts raised their voice over the same concern and insisted  buying some retired F 18 fighters from the US Navy, Thus gives the life to IAF more than 10 years, means some 100 second hand F 18 can easily fill up five full fledged Squadrons, makes sense for depleting squadrons,

  But for sake, The Greece is in heavy financial crisis, some western Journalists reports Greece may sell their advanced Mirage 2000 Fleets and stick with the F 16 only, the Greece uses those Mirages very well, the Mirage protected Greece Airspace from intruders and violators, early in 1996 the Greece Mirage 2000 engaged a Turkish F 16 and Shoot it down, later in the 2012 they did the same, again Turkey F 16 violates, The Greek Mirage Shoot it down, Just last week same kind of incident a Turkish F 16 flew near to a Greek controlled Island, within a minutes Greek Miarge 2000 dispatched and Chased the Turkish F 16, But didn't shoot it.

   Both Qatari and Greek Mirages are upgraded and modern one, well maintained also combat proven, but which should come in a Handy price of some $7 to $12 million a piece, Qatar has some 10 Miarges and Greece has some 40 Mirages, with the combine price of some $500 millions makes that good deal, and another $500 millions for Ground support equipments and missiles makes the deal very good for stop gap measure.

  But the Option is on the Ministry's Table, and they should take care of the IAF proposal.

Should India need the Su 34 for long range strike

Should India need the Su 34 for long range strike

      

       As talking emerges in the media and defense Analysts, Most of them prefer to buy one or two squadron of Su 34 Light Bomber Jet from the Russians, while India's Nuclear strategy based on the Ballistic missiles, but precesion striking is the most important term in today's and future warfare, If China never uses the Nuclear missiles during the war India also forced to not use the Ballistic missile, even Ballistic missiles can be armed with conventional warheads, But anyone easily thinks it's a Nuclear if they identified a Ballistic missile launched from Enemy territory. that's is based on the deterrence, mainly India uses the Ballistic missiles for Nuclear deterrence, the same goes for almost all other  countries.

     The Rafale game almost shifted the Indian Strike policy and rewritten, IAF has enough number of Deep strike attack aircrafts to strike deep in Pakistan, even their strategic places deep behind the Border, even locations like Quetta and Gwadar is easily target able using Conventional missiles like Brahmos and Airborne PGM's and Stand off missiles like Popeye and crystal mazes, even those situated more than 500 km outside the Indian Borders, so in future warfare the IAF can take complete control of Pakistan in an minutes, but the same is not regarding to China, 

     The Chinese has the capability to strike anywhere in India with their vintage era H6 Bomber, even they can be easily targeted by IAF fighter jets, if H6 comes with the Escort fighters like Su 27 clones, it's hard to intercept the cargo, even the H6 comes with Cruise missiles, so Chinese don't hesitate to carryout a suicidal missions. also China in big plans to build a new generation bomber to break heavily defended Indian Air space.

       Most of the Chinese Strategic buildings deep inside China, which is far more than 1000 kilometers from the Indian Borders, so the IAF has only one option using the Nirbhay Cruise missiles, even those Nirbhay's needs to be transported near to the Borders in order to launch the Strike, but during the war time the Borders become more sensitive, intense fighting will happen only in the borders, both of the Amry will fight each other face to face. so it's not a good option to move the Nirbhay Batteries near to the Borders,

     So India lacks of light bombers to strike deep in the Chinese hearts, no Su 30 or the Rafale can go deep inside the Chinese Strategic locations situated far from the Borders. The Russians have similar flights the Tu 22 and the Su 34 is the best choice for attacking long range targets, while Tu 22 almost outdated in modern technology, the New generation Su 34/32 Full back is the good Light bomber for such attacks.

    The Russians designed the Su 34 to penetrate the European missile shield and attacks the targets deep inside Europe, with cruise missiles and Precession guided munitions, for that The Russians added several kind of state of art electronic attack suites  and counter measures, not only with the wingtip Khibiney even with podded EW suites to defeat the European Target acquisition Radars, so it's clear it can also penetrate the Chinese air defense systems too,  also the Su 34 comes with incredible long range combat radius, the actual combat radius is not officially released, but the Su 34 can fly more than 1000 km and strike the target and return to the Home base. even in very low flying mode means lo lo lo mode, which means the Su 34 fly very low in all it's flight time with the Help of Terrain hugging and Mapping Radar, so it's hard to detect low flying aircrafts from the radars.

     The Su 34 comes with good payload, the official figures states nearly 12 tons of payload, the main weapon pylons can capable to hold 4 tons of Weapons, usually to carry heavy ordinance like FAB 1000, 2000 general purpose bombs,  those or not guided but can devastate the targeted buildings, they can be dropped like free falls, using visual guidance, A good option to Destroy strategic concrete buildings deep inside enemy targets, but the same option will be costlier and in effective if we compared to the missiles, a 300 kg warhead in the Brahmos is can be outperformed by the 1000 g free fall bombs, even one Su 34 can drop five such bombs. makes that good option for Startegic bombings.

       Even also the Su 34 can guide any missiles at the distance of 250 kilometers, the Su 34 comes with a Big Radar that can be switched into Air to Air, Air to ground and Air to Sea modes, ranging more than 200 kilometers.  so even if the Su 34 armed with three or five cruise missiles the Su 34 can guide them to strike the target. the Su 34 comes with plenty of Defensive options to evade from enemy interception, the Su 34 has a Radar in it's tail, which can guide R 73 heat Seeking IR guided Missiles, allows the Su 34 can fire the missiles with out taking a U turn, also with the EW systems and low flying characteristics, it's easy to escape from enemy without getting any damages.

      The Su 34 is a dream for the Air force, while many of them suggest the IAF to buy some pieces, earlier the E/A 18 Growler also discussed for special mission, now It's the Su 34, 

PM Narendra Modi to meet Putin, key defense deals to be see light of the day

PM Modi to meet Putin, key defense deals to be see light of the day

         The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi has embarked on an 8-day International tour visiting about six countries. PM will visit Central Asian countries and Russia with the aim of boosting strategic and economical ties with these countries, which serve as the gateway for Central Asia. During his visit PM will be attending BRICS and SCO summits which are crucial for ramifying India’s relationships with these nations. India is the lead member nation in BRICS, an association of emerging economical powers. Mutual development of trade, economics, infrastructure and industries is the main aim of the association. Russia is the host nation for the 7th BRICS submitting which was kicked off on 09th July 2015 at Ufa.

          India is an observer nation at Shanghai Co-operation Organization (SCO) which aims at the mutual co-operation of Eurasian countries in the field of economic, trade and military. China, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are the permanent member nations. Afghanistan, Iran, Mongolia, India and Pakistan share the stage as observer states in the organization. President of Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, has been actively pitching for elevating India as a permanent member, given the economical hold India has over the region. India’s inclusion in the organization will prove to be a vital boost to counter ‘Chinese influence’ in the region.

      The organization has dedicated channels for military co-operation, intelligence sharing and counter terrorism. Under the ‘SCO banner’ repeated joint-military exercises have been conducted. Hence the inclusion of India to this organization will be a game changer for maintaining India’s presence in the region and can be expected to happen by 2016.

       India and Russia have a very robust defense agreements and share time tested and trusted relationship. India and Russia recently agreed to work out on a ‘fifth generation’ design for Russia’s most advanced Su 35. The variant currently being worked out is code named as Su 35 ‘S’ – stealth.

FGFA Project

       In the backdrop of these summits, PM will be meeting his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin with the hope of addressing the long delayed Indian-Russian defense projects. The Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) project, a derivative of the T-50 being jointly developed by Sukhoi and HAL has been in turbulent waters right from the constitution of the project. Even though constituted way back in 2007, the work partners are yet to reach a conclusive work pattern for developing the aircraft. IAF currently operates just 31 flyable fighter squadron against a sanctioned minimum strength of 42 squadrons. India is fast losing the air superiority it once enjoyed in the region.

     Hence the Induction of newer aircraft at a rapid rate is the solution. With the new government scrapping the MMRCA contract, the need for jets has just doubled. The agreed FGFA will be a twin-seat jet powered by twin engines and is highly capable clubbed with stealth, super cruise, avionics and super maneuverability going aboard the aircraft. The work share has been a chock up point for the project even after the design phase is to be started shortly. India will be investing around US $20 billion for acquiring 200 aircraft. The first of the T-50 have already entered service with the Russian air force. Mass delivery of the aircraft is expected to being by 2016. With Modi meeting Putin a formal announcement in regard to this project is most expected.

MTA Aircraft

      Multi-role Transport Aircraft Ltd (MTAL) is currently developing a multi-purpose transport aircraft for the air forces of India and Russia. MTAL is one of the companies in which India and Russia hold equal joint shares. MTA will be the replacement for India’s primary Medium transport aircraft, the An-32. The international tender for an aircraft was cancelled and MTAL given a go ahead, but the deal had been delayed for years. In a welcome move the headquarters for MTAL’s headquarters was setup in Bengaluru.

Nuclear powered submarines

      With India’s interest in the IOR increasing with every passing day the need for force to protect India’s vested interest has been increasing. The underwater force of the Indian navy has depleted to alarming numbers. India has already cleared ambitious plans of manufacturing six nuclear powered attack submarines in home. The P-75 I project is one more project that guarantees a respite to Indian navy. But as a stop gap measure India is looking at leasing the latest submarines from reliable partners.

  The only answer to this will be ‘Russia’, which has been leasing nuclear powered submarines to India. India currently operates an Akula-class nuclear powered attack submarine, the INS Chakra. India is currently looking at acquiring either the Irbis or Kashalot. India will also welcome the support of Russia in building ‘Nuclear powered submarines’ back in India’s shipyard.

     PM Narendra Modi will also meet Pakistani Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharrif. The meet comes at a time when the tensions between the long time foes are high. The meet is crucial in bringing down the tensions between the countries which have reached new heights with Pakistan claiming to use N-power against India.

Article By Karthik Kakoor

Rafale Talks once again

Rafale Talks once again

    The Airforce once again raised it's voice about the shortfall of fighters, currently the Air force runs less than 32 squad of fighters than the allocated 42 Squads, more of them runs behind the schedules, and the Rafale decision took early 2012, and still now no Rafales seen, due to the negligence of the Indian government, but the Airforce urgently need the Rafale or a Fighter similar to Rafale, also they need not only 36 but IAF wants more than eighty such planes.

    Some informations also out, that how and Why IAF Selected the Rafale aircraft, there were three major points leaked, one is the Super Cruise, second is the low Radar cross section, and third is the awesome low flying capability. in these conditions Rafale scored much higher than the Contender Typhoon GR4.

Super Cruise in Super sonic Speed

    which means the engines can power the Aircraft without burning any flames, usually the Plane can glide at super sonic ranges without wasting much more energy and Engine power, almost all the contenders in MMRCA comes with super cruise, but Rafale only performed better with the Sneccma M88 Engines, in a Test mission set by IAF, the Rafale Carry's four Air to air missiles along with two guided bombs, and at the speed of Mach 1.4, and impressed the IAF evaluation team,

    Super cruise can be used to defeat most Heat seeking or IR Guided missile, which is usually tracks the Target using the Heat signatures, during dog fights or Close combat one was always try to escape from the Red zone with full power, that means he can go full after burner to achieve maximum speed, which also makes the missile for easy target, most of the time the IR guided missiles targets the Flares and the sun's because of Sun's heat spot. But with the Help of Super cruise without making Heat signs the Rafale can escape from the red zone at higher speed with the small design it can also maneuver at high rate to evade the missile.

Low RCS (Radar Cross Section )

    It's believed that the Rafale is the second good Fighter with very minimal radar cross section, first comes the American F 22. the IAF impressed over the Rafale's unique feature of nearly invisible to Radars in Long Ranges, earlier the Ex ADA Chief sounded that LCA Tejas also have lesser RCS, but not close to Rafale, Which makes the Rafale easily bypass enemy Borders and Conduct search and reconnaissance missions, also it's lie someone says the Rafale is invisible in Long ranges even with Air to air missiles and PGM's.  a simple addition with in aircraft makes the Platform easily visible to Radars,

    Even in the Syrian Bombing mission a American B 2 Spirit Stealth bomber makes refueling mission in the air, the footage shows it have a rotating female fuel port, which closes down once the Refueling complete, shows even a small size of object makes huge increment radar visibility.

Low flying

    The Rafale is much better in terms of low Flying, the other contenders even nowhere to comes close to the Rafale when it was conducted low flying missions with heavy combat load, makes the Rafale good for SEAD ( Suppressing Enemy Air defense ) missions, means the Rafale can fly very low and Launch it's missile and destroy enemy Radar networks,  The Rafale Performed the same in Libya by eliminate almost all of their early warning Radars by using the low flying technique,

    The IAF unhappy about the low numbers of Rafale, with the help of leaking some good informations they plans to field much more number of Rafale's in the fleet, The Indian Defense Minister muted for comments.