Indian Military

Images of China's new Jin-class SSBN. The Pentagon says there are significant problems with its Julang-2 missiles






(This is the concluding article of a four-part series on India's critical, yet significantly delayed, submarine programme)
by Ajai ShuklaBusiness Standard, 2nd Sept 10
An increasingly apparent reason for the Ministry of Defence’s slow decision-making on a second submarine production line for the Indian Navy is: the deep divisions within the navy over India’s submarine force. A debate rages between the submarine arm and the surface navy — particularly the dominant aviation wing — on whether the future lies in submarines or aircraft carriers.

The 650-metre dry dock at the Pipavav shipyard in Gujarat. This dry dock can take two aircraft carriers simultaneously and still have space left over for the odd destroyer

by Ajai ShuklaBusiness Standard, 21st Sept 10
I was taken aback last week to receive an invitation from BAE Systems, the world’s third-richest arms corporation, for a four-day media tour to the UK. What surprised me was not the invitation. The rate at which India is buying up foreign weaponry, global arms merchants, eager for publicity, would happily pay for our small defence journalist community to globetrot through the year. What was remarkable in the BAE invitation was the company’s proposal to fly us to Glasgow for the launch of a new Royal Navy destroyer and a tour of other warships. Why, I wondered, was British shipbuilding being showcased to India in the absence of a plan to buy a warship from the UK?
A few phone calls later I had my answer! A cash-strapped UK defence ministry, unable to pay for the two aircraft carriers on order with BAE Systems, had offered one of them to New Delhi.

This morning, the representatives of GE and Eurojet were informed in Bangalore that GE Aviation was the lowest bidder in the LCA engine competition. The DRDO press release that followed is pasted below.
More on this in tomorrow's Business Standard. Will post in the morning. Stay tuned.
GE Aviation lowest bidder for LCA Mk-2 Alternate Engine
The Price Negotiating Committee for the Alternate Engine for LCA Mk-2 has finalised the Comparative Statement of Tenders. The committee Chaired by Dr Prahlada, DS & CCR&D (Ae&SI) had its representatives from Ministry of Defence, Defence Finance, ADA, DRDO, HAL, Indian Air Force, and Indian Navy. After evaluation and acceptance of the Technical offer provided by both Eurojet and GE Aviation, the commercial quotes were compared in detail and GE Aviation was declared as the lowest bidder. Further price negotiations and contract finalization will follow.

A US Navy F/A-18 at an base in Virginia. The F-414 engines that power this aircraft, as well as the Swedish Gripen, has been selected by India's MoD for its Tejas Light Combat Aircraft
by Ajai ShuklaBusiness Standard, 1st Oct 10
In a last-minute twist, General Electric of the US has bagged the hotly contested $800-million tender to supply 99 engines for India’s Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA). After both engines in the contest — GE’s F-414 and Eurojet’s EJ-200 — were found technically suitable, the F-414 has been declared the cheaper option.
The choice of the GE-414 engine boosts the chances of America’s F/A-18 fighter and the Swedish Gripen NG in the $11-billion tender for an Indian Air Force medium fighter. Conversely, it is a blow to the Eurofighter, which is powered by twin EJ-200 engines.

[Stratpost]

India has settled on the GE-414 engine to power the indigenous Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mk-2. The Price Negotiating Committee for the Alternate Engine of the LCA Mk-2 issued a statement on Thursday, saying that it had finalized the Comparative Statement of Tenders. “After evaluation and acceptance of the Technical offer provided by both Eurojet and GE Aviation, the commercial quotes were compared in detail and GE Aviation was declared as the lowest bidder,” said the statement.

The statement was issued two days after Defense Minister Arackaparambil Kurian Antony’s visit to the United State, where he held meetings with US Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Admiral Mike Mullen. It also came on a fairly heavy news day, with the country’s complete attention focused on a verdict of the Allahabad High Court on the highly contentious issue of the disputed ownership of a property where a mosque was demolished in 1992, itself alleged to have been been built on the site of the birthplace of the Hindu God Ram.

The Sukhoi T-50 fighter, pictured here, will be developed into the Indo-Russian Gen-5 fighter. It will be fed military data live from Russian GLONASS satellite network
by Ajai ShuklaBusiness Standard, 26th Oct 10
The Indo-Russian Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA), already planned to be loaded with top-end combat features like advanced stealth and super-cruise capability, could also be plugged, uniquely, into a network of satellites. With Moscow willing to grant India unprecedented access to military signals from Russia’s constellation of GLONASS (GLObal NAvigation Satellite System) satellites, the FGFA could access real-time details of its own and enemy positions, terrain information, and have the ability to communicate with Indian forces anywhere on the globe.
A senior Russian diplomat, speaking anonymously to Business Standard, reveals that after extended negotiations with India, Moscow has okayed the provision of military data from GLONASS, in the form of digitized signals.

The Sukhoi T-50 fighter, pictured here, will be developed into the Indo-Russian Gen-5 fighter. It will be fed military data live from Russian GLONASS satellite network
by Ajai ShuklaBusiness Standard, 26th Oct 10
The Indo-Russian Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA), already planned to be loaded with top-end combat features like advanced stealth and super-cruise capability, could also be plugged, uniquely, into a network of satellites. With Moscow willing to grant India unprecedented access to military signals from Russia’s constellation of GLONASS (GLObal NAvigation Satellite System) satellites, the FGFA could access real-time details of its own and enemy positions, terrain information, and have the ability to communicate with Indian forces anywhere on the globe.
A senior Russian diplomat, speaking anonymously to Business Standard, reveals that after extended negotiations with India, Moscow has okayed the provision of military data from GLONASS, in the form of digitized signals.

New Delhi – The recent visit by the US President to India has paved the way for greater defence cooperation and is expected to boost military ties to a high level. With greater freedom in technology exchange and defence import/export and relaxation on controls, it is likely that Indo-US co-development of high tech weaponry will reach the maximum possible level.

Due to US sanctions and other US government restrictions, the Indian Defence Ministry and its Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has never joined hands with the US defence industry to produce critical weaponry or big-ticket projects.

On the other hand, India is doing joint development contracts like the $12 billion Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) project with Russia which will be signed next month and there is the $2-billion partnership between the DRDO and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to co-develop an anti-aircraft missile. The US has not come close to any projects of such magnitude because of government policies and sanctions.

[Stratpost]

Copyright: DCNS

The French naval defense major DCNS has offered Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) for the Scorpenes being constructed for the Indian Navy at Mazagon Dock Limited in Mumbai.

AIP is an auxiliary system for augmenting the ability of submarines to operate without surfacing, by increasing the endurance of the boat’s sub-surface operability. The DCNS system, known as MESMA (Module d’Energie Sous-Marine Autonome), is based on the combustion of stored oxygen and ethanol to augment battery-powered propulsion. Conventional diesel-electric vessels have to surface periodically to charge their batteries, which ultimately propel the boat. An AIP would decrease the Indiscretion Rate, which signifies the required frequency of surfacing to recharge batteries or exchange air, and increase the ability to loiter under water.

New Delhi — The state-owned Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), with the help of its laboratories, is working on the development of a land-based demonstrator followed by the creation of an Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) system that will revolutionise the functions of the current diesel and electric submarines.

The DRDO is going full steam ahead with this project at the Naval Materials Research Laboratory (NMRL) at Ambernath in Maharashtra since the Indian Navy has gladly accepted the proposal by the DRDO. The creation of a fully operational version of an AIP will substantially cut down the time spent by the submarine on snorting or resurfacing for battery recharge. The creation of the AIP will considerably improve the sub-surface performance of the submarines and decrease its susceptibility to attacks.

According to DRDO sources, work on a land-based prototype will be initiated after which they will move to engineering a submarine platform. Sources said that the DRDO has been requested by the Indian Navy to create a fully engineered fuel cell AIP by 2014.