Indian Military

[Stratpost]

The Indian Defense Secretary on Wednesday dismissed the possibility of India planning the acquisition of a fifth generation fighter aircraft, alternate to the Russian PAK FA.

Pradeep Kumar, who is the top civil servant in the Ministry of Defense told reporters on Wednesday that, while the agreement for design and development of the PAK FA is expected to come through with Russia, after the Indian Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) approves the details, “You can’t have two types (of fifth generation fighters).

Pointing out that even the US was, even now, working on the development of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, Kumar categorically repeated, “There is no question of having two fighters.”

The Indian Navy, in a Request for Information (RFI) for carrier-borne fighter aircraft issued last year, had asked for information on the F-35 from the US defense and aerospace major, Lockheed Martin. The company, along with other vendors, had made presentations on the aircraft to the navy, but presumably, the idea of acquiring the F-35 has gone no further than that.

[Stratpost]

India’s air show in Bangalore next week will be the largest ever with 29 countries bringing their aerospace products, including fighter jets and transport aircraft, for showcasing at the five-day event.

The biennial Aero India 2011 will for the first time witness the civil aviation sector overtaking military aviation. The air show will see 54 percent of the aircraft, helicopters and aerospace systems from the civilian sector compared to 46 percent from the military sector.

“This year’s air show will surpass all previous figures in terms of participating countries, companies, space and business. All inputs show a healthy growth than the previous edition of Aero India. Civil aviation sector at 54 percent will overtake military aviation content at 46 percent in this year’s show,” Secretary of Defense Production Raj Kumar Singh told reporters here on Tuesday.

To be held at the Yelahanka Air Force Station, this year’s show has been oversubscribed in terms of exhibition space and the Defense Exhibition Organization has had to refuse further bookings, he said.

WASHINGTON: Top men leading India's fighting arm and its defense policy engaged with their American counterparts here this week as New Delhi and Washington drew closer in a strategic clinch while trying not to alarm China and Pakistan, which are seen by the democratic duo as posing complex challenges in the neighborhood and beyond.
U.S and Indian officials were circumspect in describing low-key Defense Policy Group (DPG) meetings early in the week, an engagement that was closely followed by talks between the Indian Army Chief V K Singh and his U.S counterpart Gen. George Casey.
In a statement that was largely anodyne but contained much between the lines, they spoke of an "extensive discussion on further strengthening bilateral defense ties, under the auspices of the Defence Framework Agreement of 2005," an informal but controversial Bush-era pact that promised unprecedented strategic partnership between Washington and New Delhi but had been sidelines in recent times.

[Stratpost]

The process leading up to the decision by the Indian Ministry of Defense to issue invitations to eliminate four of the six companies in the contest to win the Indian Air Force (IAF) tender for 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) has large holes in its standard of diligence.

Only the the French Dassault’s Rafale and the European Eurofighter Typhoon were invited to extend their commercial bids, with the Russian MiG-35, the Swedish SAAB’s Gripen, Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet and Lockheed Martin’s F-16, all left out of the contest.

While much has been written about this decision, the news of which was first broken by StratPost, questions have surfaced in the subsequent two weeks, that show crucial gaps in the diligence of the process followed by the ministry. Many of the issues arising from these questions have been earlier reported and analyzed by StratPost.

The tender process entailed the examination of the aircraft on offer on three key aspects. Firstly, the IAF was required to conduct a technical evaluation of the six aircraft, the report for which it submitted after completion last July.

NEW DELHI: Against the backdrop of Chinese military infrastructure build up along its borders, India will on Friday activate an airfield in Vijaynagar in Arunachal Pradesh from where it will be able to operate its latest C-130J Hercules transport aircraft.
"The use of this airfield was discontinued in 2009 for carrying out repairs there. The airfield will be reactivated tomorrow by Arunachal Pradesh Governor General (retd) J J Singh," IAF officials said here.
After repairs, the airfield-- situated on the easternmost tip of the country located at the tri-junction of India, China and Myanmar, will be able to operate the C-130J Super Hercules aircraft along with the Antonov-32 cargo planes in the IAF inventory, they added.
The airfield is used for air maintenance and will help in mobilising troops and equipment at a faster pace in times of requirement.
This is the first advanced landing ground (ALG) in the Northeast to be upgraded as part of India's efforts to match Chinese military infrastructure development activities.

[Stratpost]

The purchase of 24 Harpoon Block II anti-ship missiles for the Jaguar aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF), agreed earlier this month after being in the works for the past couple of years, was a milestone as it settled the niggling issue of the parameters of the end use monitoring between the Indian and US governments.

After much political controversy in India, the end use monitoring framework was agreed by both governments in July last year, during the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. But it is only with the Harpoon deal that the framework has been tested with both sides agreeing to a compromise that sources in the Indian Ministry of Defense say, will be a model for future such agreements.

The USD 170 million Harpoon sale also attracted certain ‘enhanced’ end use monitoring requirements that impose more stringent conditions to ensure non-proliferation or leakage of technologies and systems. These typically apply to advanced technologies and weapon systems and also include ‘large aircraft with onboard infra red counter measures’.

[Stratpost]

The first Indian Air Force C-130J ran its engines for the first time on Tuesday, September 21. The aircraft is being prepared for its maiden flight early next month. The aircraft’s distinctive air-to-air refueling probe can be seen over the left side of the cockpit.

[Stratpost]

India is going to be disappointed with President Barack Obama’s visit beginning Saturday after next. The upside of this is that the Indo-US relationship has come a long way in so short a time as to engender expectations that could induce performance anxiety.

This sense of anticlimax comes after the much tom-tommed civilian nuclear commerce double play by the two countries, which continue to relay over multiple hurdles. US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns said at a White House press briefing on the visit on Wednesday, “We’ve worked hard in this administration to follow through, completing, for example, a reprocessing agreement between the US and India six months ahead of schedule.” He also marked the Indian accession to the Convention on Supplementary Compensation on Wednesday, important especially after the Nuclear Liability Bill passed in India, imposing liabilities on nuclear suppliers as well. “We look forward to US companies contributing to Indian civil nuclear development.