Indian Military

New Delhi — Indo-Russian military ties are set to grow stronger as India will soon order an additional 59 Russian Mi-17 helicopters from Russia. This decision to acquire 59 helicopters on top of the 80 helicopters ordered earlier has been taken by the Indian Air Force (IAF). The defence acquisition council has cleared the proposal and the request will be forwarded to the cabinet committee on security clearance soon.

The IAF has been trying to augment its fleet of medium-lift helicopters and the acquisition of an additional 59 Mi-17 helicopters aims to fulfil that mission. The existing fleet of medium-lift helicopters will be phased out soon. The Mi-17 helicopters will enhance the IAFs capability to carry out missions in high-altitude areas and relief operations. India had signed a deal with Russia in 2008 to supply 80 Mi-17s to augment its existing fleet of around 150 Mi-8 and Mi-17 medium-lift choppers. These helicopters have over five tonne load carrying capability and are also used to ferry troops.

New Delhi — The Indian Defence Ministry is currently liaising with the Russian RAC-MiG Corporation to sort out a recurring problem with the newly-inducted MiG-29 K fleet. India is negotiating a price for the draft supplement agreement (DSA) with Russia to acquire equipment to resolve the problems pertaining to the MiG-29 K fleet.

As per the Indian Navy, the newly acquired MiG-29 K fleet is witnessing tyre-bursts during the use of emergency brakes. Apparently, the emergency brakes are applied when there is hydraulic failure. In addition, the emergency applications are jamming the brakes and heightening the chance of tyre skidding and tyre-bursts.

The Indian Navy has suggested that a DSA is expected to address that shortcoming. The DSA is expected to ensure supply of ground support items and spares as well as life-long serviceability. Currently, all the six MiG-29k with the Indian Navy are still under warranty.

Apparently, the DSA for the MiG-29 K has become imperative since only last week, a pilot of a MIG 29 K fighter aircraft brought the aircraft to a halt safely after the aircraft suffered a tyre burst because of  hydraulic failure while landing.

CAIRO: Hosni Mubarak stepped down as Egypt's president on Friday, handing over to the army and ending three decades of autocratic rule, bowing to escalating pressure from the military and protesters demanding that he go.
Vice-President Omar Suleiman said a military council would run the affairs of the Arab world's most populous nation. A free and fair presidential election has been promised for September.
Meanwhile, Egypt's defence minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi is the head of the Higher Military Council that took control of Egypt after Hosni Mubarak resigned his post as president, a military source said.
A speaker made the announcement in Cairo's Tahrir Square where hundreds of thousands broke down in tears, celebrated and hugged each other chanting: "The people have brought down the regime." Others shouted: "Allahu Akbar (God is great).
The 82-year-old Mubarak's downfall after 18 days of unprecedented mass protests was a momentous victory for people power and was sure to rock autocrats throughout the Arab world and beyond.

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New Delhi –The Indian Army has come under the scanner once again following the recent mysterious leaking of a classified report related to the field trial of the M777 ultra-light Howitzer that was concluded recently. The pages of the classified report that have leaked contain evidence that the M-777 howitzer had failed the field trials concluded in December 2010.

The company that now own Bofors, the BAE Systems of US, makes the ultra light Howitzer M777 which is to be procured through a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route by India from the US. The acquisition is to be made through the government-to- government FMS route and is worth over $647 million for 10 regiments (160) guns. However, according to the leaked pages of the report, the Howitzer gun appears to have failed the recent trials on several parameters.

TOKYO: A small radiation leak could occur at Fukushima nuclear plant, Japan's trade minister said, after officials said a pressure build-up had occurred in one of the reactors after a huge earthquake.
Banri Kaieda said that authorities were nearing a decision to release radioactive steam from a troubled nuclear reactor in a bid to ease a pressure build-up.
Thousands of residents were evacuated from an area around a nuclear plant in quake-hit Japan after radiation levels rose in the reactor, but there was no word on whether there had actually been a leak.
Underscoring grave concerns about the Fukushima plant some 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said the US air force had delivered coolant to avert a rise in the temperature of the facility's nuclear rods.
Tokyo Electric Power Co said pressure inside a reactor at its Fukushima-Daiichi plant rose after the cooling system was knocked out by the earthquake, the largest on record in Japan.

TOKYO: Japan declared states of emergency for five nuclear reactors at two power plants after the units lost cooling ability in the aftermath of Friday's powerful earthquake. Thousands of residents were evacuated as workers struggled to get the reactors under control to prevent meltdowns.
A single reactor in northeastern Japan had been the focus of much of the concern in the initial hours after the 8.9 magnitude quake, but the government declared new states of emergency at four other reactors in the area Saturday morning.
The earthquake knocked out power at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, and because a backup generator failed, the cooling system was unable to supply water to cool the 460-megawatt No. 1 reactor. Although a backup cooling system is being used, Japan's nuclear safety agency said pressure inside the reactor had risen to 1.5 times the level considered normal.
Authorities said radiation levels had jumped 1,000 times normal inside Unit 1 and were measured at eight times normal outside the plant.

FUKUSHIMA (Japan): Radiation leaked from Japan's earthquake-crippled nuclear plant on Saturday after a blast blew the roof off, and authorities prepared to distribute iodine to people in the vicinity to protect them from exposure.
The government insisted radiation levels were low because although the explosion severely damaged the main building of the plant, it had not affected the reactor core container.
Local media said three workers suffered radiation exposure at the plant in the wake of Friday's massive earthquake, which sent a 10-metre (33-foot) tsunami ripping through towns and cities across the northeast coast.
Kyodo news agency said more than 1,700 people were killed or missing as a result of the 8.9-magnitude earthquake, the biggest in Japan since records began in the nineteenth century.
( See: Quake, tsunami hit Japan )  
Later it said 9,500 people in one town were unreachable, but gave no other details.
The blast raised fears of a meltdown at the power facility, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, as officials scrambled to contain what could be the worst nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl explosion in 1986 that shocked the world.

SENDAI: Thousands of people fled the vicinity of an earthquake-crippled Japanese nuclear plant after a radiation leak and authorities faced a fresh threat on Sunday with the failure of the cooling system in a second reactor.
Operator TEPCO said it was preparing to vent some steam to relieve pressure in the No.3 reactor at the plant 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo -- which would release a small amount of radiation -- following an explosion and leak on Saturday from the facility's No. 1 reactor.
As strong aftershocks continued to shake Japan's main island, the desperate search for survivors from Friday massive earthquake and tsunami pressed on and the death toll was expected to rise.
Thousands spent another freezing night huddled over heaters in emergency shelters along the northeastern coast, a scene of devastation after the 8.9 magnitude quake sent a 10-metre (33-foot) wave surging through towns and cities.
Kyodo news agency said the number of dead or unaccounted was expected to exceed 1,800.

FUKUSHIMA: Japan battled on Monday to prevent a nuclear catastrophe and to care for millions of people without power or water in its worst crisis since World War Two, after a massive earthquake and tsunami that are feared to have killed more than 10,000 people.
A badly wounded nation has seen whole villages and towns wiped off the map by a wall of water, leaving in its wake an international humanitarian effort of epic proportions.
"The earthquake, tsunami and the nuclear incident have been the biggest crisis Japan has encountered in the 65 years since the end of World War Two," a grim-faced Prime Minister Naoto Kan told a news conference on Sunday.
"We're under scrutiny on whether we, the Japanese people, can overcome this crisis."
Officials confirmed three nuclear reactors north of Tokyo were at risk of overheating, raising fears of an uncontrolled radiation leak.
As Kan spoke, engineers worked desperately to cool the fuel rods in the damaged reactors.

SOMA: The second hydrogen explosion in three days rocked Japan's stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant Monday, sending a massive column of smoke into the air and wounding six workers. It was not immediately clear how much _ if any _ radiation had been released.
The explosion at the plant's Unit 3, which authorities have been frantically trying to cool following a system failure in the wake of a massive earthquake and tsunami, triggered an order for hundreds of people to stay indoors, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano.
The blast follows a similar explosion Saturday that took place at the plant's Unit 1, which injured four workers and caused mass-evacuations.
Japan's nuclear safety agency said six workers were injured in Monday's explosion but it was not immediately clear how, or whether they were exposed to radiation. They were all conscious, said the agency's Ryohei Shomi.
Earlier, Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the reactor, said three workers were injured and seven missing.