New Delhi: India is not likely to get a futuristic stealth fighter anytime before 20242025. Technical and price wrangles continue to bedevil the joint project with Russia to develop the fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA).
India, in fact, has conveyed its deep concerns to Russia about being denied “full access“ to the FGFA project despite the fact that it is supposed to be an equal partner in financing it.
The “continuing problems“ in the project has meant that India and Russia are still to ink the full final design or research and development (R&D) phase contract for the FGFA, throwing revised timelines into yet another tailspin.
Earlier this year, officials were also shocked to find that India’s work-share in the FGFA project had been reduced to just 13% from the earlier envisaged one of 50%. “Russia is yet to clear our lingering technical doubts about the project.But with President Vladimir Putin coming to India in December, there might finally be some forward movement,“ said a source.
India and Russia had inked the $295 million pre liminary design contract in December 2010, as per which the under-development Russian 5th Gen fighter called Sukhoi T-50 would be tweaked to Indian requirements for its “perspective multi-role fighter“.
But the final R&D contract, which was to be signed by 2012, is still to be finalized.Under the agreement, India and Russia are supposed to chip in with $5.5 billion each towards the cost of designing, infrastructure build-up, prototype development and flight testing, as earlier reported by TOI. All the 127 single-seat fighters that India hopes to induct are to be built at the Ozar facility of Hindustan Aeronautics in Nashik. In fact, the first Indian FGFA prototype was earlier slated to reach Ozar by 2014, with the second and the third following in 2017 and 2019.
“But this obviously cannot happen now. The project’s full R&D phase will also be pushed back to 20212022, only after which HAL will begin manufacturing the fighters,“ said the source.
India has repeatedly rebuffed overtures made by the United States of America for joining its Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) or the F-35 `Lightning-II’ programme.Now, having sunk in a lot of time and money into the FGFA project with Russia, it has no option but to pursue it.
But it has reduced the required numbers from an earlier 166 single-seat and 48 twin-seat 5th generation fighters to just 127 singleseat ones. It was felt that the twin-seat option would reduce the stealth features and add weight as well as make the fighter much more expensive.
(Source: Times of India November 6, 2014)
TACTICAL MISSILE PRAGATI READIED FOR EXPORT
BALASORE: After Indo-Russian joint venture BrahMos cruise missile, which has drawn the attention of a number of countries for its kill precisions, India is now readying its home-grown new tactical short range surface-to-surface missile Pragati for export purpose.
Defence sources said having a strike range of 50 km to 150 km, the missile has quick reaction from command to launch in ripple firing mode. The missile is small, lean and slim to achieve better and high manoeuvring capability in mid-air which the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) expects would enhance interest among importing countries.
Earlier, apart from BrahMos missile, the DRDO had announced that the surface-to-air short range missile Akash can be exported. Now, the DRDO is getting ready to export Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas, Prahar class of missiles and a number of other systems.
A defence official said Pragati, a variant of Prahar missile, was first displayed at a defence exhibition in South Korea in October last year. “Many friendly foreign countries inquired about it and envisaged interests. The Government has approved to export the missile which is best among its class worldwide,” he said.
However, the Pragati missile system is developed to provide Indian Army a cost effective, quick reaction, all weather, all terrain, high accurate battlefield support tactical system. Capable of carrying different types of warheads, the missile will operate as battlefield support system.
The missile is equipped with state of the art high accuracy navigation, guidance and electro mechanical actuation systems with latest onboard computer. With high accuracy, Pragati is comparable to ATACMS missile of the US.
The missile is launched from a road mobile system, which can carry six missiles at a time and can be fired in salvo mode in all directions covering the entire azimuth plane. The system, which is capable of carrying conventional warhead of 200 kgs, has all weather, all time operational launch capability.
Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister and DRDO chief Avinash Chander said in order to fully exploit and harness the potential and make it economically viable, it is essential to create a credible export market for Indian defence products.
(Source: New Indian Express November 6, 2014)
HAL IDENTIFIES 111 TECHNOLOGIES TO FUND PROJECTS
HAL has identified 111 technologies to fund and pursue its Research and Technology Development.
“Technology identification and funding innovation remains a focus area for HAL. The company so far has filed over 300 patents in just over two years to protect its intellectual property developed at a large investment and efforts,” said Dr R K Tyagi, Chairman HAL.
HAL has also created R&D corpus, earmarking 10 per cent of operational profit after tax, to promote technology development within the company.
“To work on new technologies the company has taken a strategic move to bring all 10 research and development (R&D) centres under the ambit of Committee of Institutional Network (COIN) to ensure synergy among these centres of HAL spread across the country,” he said.
As part of aggressive interaction with academia, HAL has entered into MOUs for technology collaboration with IITs.
“As a matter of fact, the company has entered into collaboration with IIT, Kanpur for rotary unmanned systems, IIT Kharagpur for avionics and electronic warfare systems, IIT Roorkee for aircraft subsystem research and with IIT, Bombay for the communications systems. HAL also works with Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, DRDO laboratories and private industries for various R&D activities,” Tyagi said.
On Wednesday, HAL was presented with SCOPE (Standing Conference of Public Enterprises) meritorious award for R&D, Technology Development and Innovation. Dr Tyagi and T Suvarna Raju, Director (Design and Development) received the award on behalf of HAL.
Speaking after receiving the award, Dr Tyagi said “HAL believes that the key differentiator in today’s warfare is going to be the home grown platforms and therefore R&D activities of organizations like HAL would go a long way in making India self-reliant on technology front in the defence sector.”
“HAL’s R&D centres are dedicated to design and develop aircraft, helicopters, small engines, aircraft accessories and avionics”, says Dr. Tyagi,” he added.
(Source: Hindu November 6, 2014)
AL-QAIDA TRAINING INDIAN MILITANTS FOR BIG ATTACKS: INTELLIGENCE OFFICIALS
Decrypted communications between Indian Mujahideen (IM) and al-Qaida and testimony from suspects have triggered alarm among intelligence officials in New Delhi: the groups appear to be working together to launch major attacks in the region.
The officials said that plots they had uncovered included the kidnapping of foreigners and turning India into a “Syria and Iraq where violence is continuously happening”.
Allegiances between Islamist militant groups can be murky and fleeting, and providing concrete proof of operational ties is notoriously difficult.
But Indian security agencies said evidence they had gathered pointed to growing ties between al-Qaida and IM, a home-grown movement hitherto known for low-level attacks on local targets using relatively crude weapons like pressure cooker bombs.
Weeks after al-Qaida announced the formation of a South Asia wing to strike across the subcontinent, agencies said they had discovered IM members were training with al-Qaida and other groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan for major attacks.
That increases the risk of a more dangerous form of militancy in the world’s biggest democracy, which has been largely spared the kind of violence that regularly rocks its neighbour Pakistan and, beyond it, Afghanistan.
Security officials cite last Sunday’s deadly suicide bombing on the Pakistani side of a border crossing with India, and a terror alert on Tuesday at two eastern ports that forced the Indian navy to withdraw two ships, as evidence that militant coordination and activity are on the rise.
“The thing we are looking for is how al-Qaida/ISIS tie up with local groups, especially as the drawdown takes place in Afghanistan,” said Sharad Kumar, head of the NIA (National Investigation Agency), the country’s main counter-terrorism arm.
Hardened fighters head home?
ISIS, also known as Islamic State, has carved out swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria, but its influence over militant groups in South Asia is believed to be limited so far.
Al-Qaida is deeply entrenched, however, with leader Ayman al-Zawahri believed to be hiding near the Afghan-Pakistan border and its militants fighting Nato forces in Afghanistan. Foreign combat troops are due to withdraw at the end of the year.
Some members of IM are already fighting alongside al-Qaida in Afghanistan, according to an Indian government chargesheet against 11 suspected members of the group alleged to have plotted attacks in India.
The worry is that more battle hardened fighters could now turn their sights on their homeland.
Others have enlisted with al-Qaida to try to carry out kidnappings of Jews in India and Nepal to secure the release of Pakistani Aafia Siddiqui, a neuroscientist jailed for 86 years in the United States for attempting to kill US soldiers in Afghanistan.
Siddiqui is a cause-celebre among global militant groups, including Islamic State, which proposed swapping her for American journalist James Foley before executing him when its demands were not met.
IM has also been urged by al-Qaida to open a base in Myanmar to avenge attacks on Rohingya Muslims, said the chargesheet prepared by the NIA, which has gathered hundreds of pieces of evidence of internet conversations and meetings between militants in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“Itching for action”
The internet chats, which the United States helped Indian investigators to decipher, reveal tensions between IM and Pakistan’s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency, which India says has nurtured the group with finance and equipment.
In one conversation, Riaz Bhatkal, one of the founders of IM now based in the Pakistani city of Karachi, tells his men that it was important to build direct ties with al-Qaida, cutting out Pakistan agents whom he described as “dogs”.
He talks about visiting al-Qaida leaders in the tribal belt on the Afghan-Pakistan border, despite ISI orders not to do so.
“It has been clear for some time that there is no group that is fully within ISI control. They are all itching for independent action, some want to have a go at us immediately,” said an Indian security official.
Pakistani officials deny they have links with the militants.
“This is an outdated story. It does not serve any purpose for Pakistan to support such groups,” said a senior intelligence official in Islamabad, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media about the issue.
“These terrorists are openly attacking us, the army, innocent civilians, everyone here is a target,” he said. “Why would they do so if we were helping them in any way?”
On Sunday, at least 57 Pakistanis were killed in a suicide bombing at Wagah, near the Indian border, which the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Jamaat Ahrar group, whose leader has ties to al-Qaida, said was also aimed at India.
A spokesman issued a direct warning to PM Narendra Modi, saying his group would avenge the killings of Muslims in Gujarat, which Modi governed from 2001 to 2014.
Two Indian naval warships were abruptly ordered back to sea on Tuesday, a day after they docked at Kolkata port after intelligence agencies issued a terror alert.
On Wednesday the warning was widened to the neighbouring Haldia port, the site of a huge petrochemicals complex.
Kolkata Port Trust deputy chairman Manish Jain, who is also in charge of the Haldia port complex, said security had been enhanced several times over in both the ports.
He did not have more details, but a police officer in Kolkata said they had been warned of an attack by Pakistan-based militants.
“It is the Afghan drawdown, there is a competition to do something spectacular. Wagah was the first,” the officer said.
(Source: Times of India November 6, 2014)
INDIAN NAVY SUBS CAN SOON STAY LONGER UNDER WATER
New Delhi: Indian scientists have developed technology that will enable the navy’s conventional non-nuclear submarines stay under water for up to two weeks before replenishing their oxygen supply, thus increasing their stealth capabilities. DH file photo
Indian scientists have developed technology that will enable the navy’s conventional non-nuclear submarines stay under water for up to two weeks before replenishing their oxygen supply, thus increasing their stealth capabilities.
“Conventional submarines usually need to come to the surface every three to four days for replenishing their oxygen supply,” an official of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), which has developed the Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) system, told IANS, speaking on condition of anonymity.
For the replenishment, a diesel submarine has to come to periscope depth and raise its snorkel, which makes it vulnerable to detection.
“With AIP, a conventional submarine can stay under water for up to two weeks,” the official said, adding that India is the only non-Western nation to have developed the technology.
AIP can replace or supplement the diesel-electric propulsion systems of conventional submarines. It also makes a vessel noise-free.
The system, which is in an advanced stage of development, will be mounted on last two of the six Scorpene submarines being manufactured in India in collaboration with France.
These two submarines are expected to be ready in a couple of years, along with the AIP system.
“We took up the project in 2010, and the work is in an advanced stage. The tests are going on,” the official said.
The DRDO is also hopeful that the system will be used in the six conventional submarines that were recently cleared for being domestically manufactured.
“So far it is not clear who will be making the six new conventional submarines, but if it is successful in the Scorpene, it will open the door for its incorporation in other submarines as well,” the official said.
The system, which is based on a fuel cell, converts methanol-like substances to produce hydrogen, which in turn produces electricity. While diesel engines need oxygen to function, these cells are air independent.
The official said the Naval Materials Research Laboratory (NMRL) based in Ambernath in Maharashtra, which has developed the AIP, has already tied up with several Indian Public Sector Units (PSUs) and the private sector as partners in the project. Production will start as soon as the final tests are over.
(Source: Deccan Herald November 6, 2014)
DEFENCE MINISTRY ISSUES RFI FOR HELICOPTERS
New Delhi: The Defence Ministry has issued a Request for Information (RFI) to domestic manufacturers for reconnaissance and surveillance helicopters for the Army Aviation Corps (AAC) and the Indian Air Force (IAF).
The RFI states that “The Indian Army and Indian Air Force are holding Chetak and Cheetah helicopters. The Ministry of Defence intends to urgently replace the fleet of existing Cheetah and Chetak helicopters with suitable helicopters of modern design (hereinafter called Reconnaissance & Surveillance/ RSH Helicopters).”
This follows the decision by Defence Minister Arun Jaitley in August to scrap the deal for 197 helicopters and go for a fresh contract under the ‘Make and Buy’ category of the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP). This is the third time the RFI has been reissued for the Light Utility Helicopters (LUH). The RFI, issued on October 31, has sought responses from interested Indian vendors by November 11.
The contract is open for both single and twin engine variants. The RFI has not stated the number of helicopters which the government intends to procure.
It said: “This Request for Information (RFI) is being issued with the aim of identifying probable Indian vendors (including an Indian company forming joint venture/establishing production arrangement with OEM) who can provide the helicopters followed by licensed production/indigenous manufacture in the country.” The initial batch of helicopters will come in flyaway condition from the OEM, while the remaining will be built in India by an Indian partner through transfer of technology.
This approach is in line with the Modi government’s policy of indigenously developing military hardware and reduce dependency on imports.
(Source: Hindu November 6, 2014)
PAKISTAN HAS TO MAKE A CONSCIOUS CHOICE OF PEACE WITH INDIA: ARUN JAITLEY
Pakistan should draw a red line whether it wants to talk to government of India or those who want to break India, defence minister Arun Jaitley said on Wednesday asking it to make a “conscious” choice.
India, he said, was “ready to speak to Pakistan” and is “willing to normalise the relationship” but “then there are a few red lines”.
“We create the environment, we fix up a dialogue at the level of foreign secretaries, our foreign secretary is to visit Pakistan (and) literally a few hours before that they invite the separatists for a dialogue to their high commission (in New Delhi).
“So I think a new red line has to be drawn in Pakistan to reconsider this question that who they want to speak to? Do they want to speak to the government of India or they want to speak to those who want to break India,” he said at the India Economic Summit here.
“So unless Pakistan makes the conscious choice, a dialogue with Pakistan will not be possible,” he said.
India in August called off a scheduled foreign secretary-level talks after Pakistan’s envoy met Kashmir separatists on the eve of the dialogue.
Referring to ceasefire violations by Pakistan on the Line of Control, he said the consequences of its “misadventure” like firing on civilian population and uprooting of village, “would be an unaffordable cost for Pakistan.”
(Source: Times of India November 6, 2014)
EVEN HUDHUD COULD NOT STOP INS SINDHUKIRTI REFIT AT HSL
VISAKHAPATNAM: In a major boost for both, the Indian Navy and Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL), the Sindhughosh-class diesel-electric submarine – INS Sindhukirti, which has been undergoing a medium refit at HSL, was undocked at the yard on Tuesday evening. Official sources at HSL said more than 90% of the work has been completed on the seventh submarine of the Sindhughosh-class INS Sindhukirti.
The undocking of the submarine comes as a major fillip to the Indian Navy and HSL as both have suffered major losses due to havoc caused by Cyclone Hudhud. Senior HSL officials also pointed out that this was also the first major project of national interest to be completed after Cyclone Hudhud made landfall in the Port City on October 12.
According to senior HSL officials, the submarine is expected to be handed over to the Indian Navy in the next five months after it undertakes trials at sea in the coming days. The medium refit, which is estimated to have cost around Rs 800-900 crore, took nearly seven years for the submarine to be undocked at the shipyard.
Speaking to TOI, chairman-cum-managing director of HSL, Rear Admiral (retd) NK Mishra said, “This is a major industrial achievement for Vizag in the aftermath of the cyclone.” Having taken necessary precautions to safeguard key equipment at the shipyard prior to the cyclone, Mishra said, “If we hadn’t foreseen the problems, the project could have been delayed by at least two months. We had installed generators and left the cranes loose so that they would not be damaged. In fact we were able to get back to work on October 13 (the day after the cyclone) itself even though the roads leading to the yard were yet to be cleared.”
According to HSL sources, even though the roof of the yard, where the medium refit was taking place, had been damaged, HSL got back to work the day after the cyclone to ensure that the undocking takes place as per the deadline. Sources said that considering the damage caused by Hudhud, it was quite surprising that HSL could complete the work only four days after the deadline.
While HSL had received flak from various quarters for taking seven years to complete the medium refit, a senior HSL official said, “The delay was not due to HSL. If you compare the work undertaken by HSL, it’s almost 300% more than what was initially specified in the contract.”
Elaborating, he said, “If a medium refit at Russia involves replacement of three hull plates, with each of them taking 3-4 months, we have replaced 39 hull plates in a record time.”
Another HSL official said, “It was a complex task and we decided on the undocking date about a year ago and we have delivered. This project has seen replacement of a large piping system. About 85 km long cables and 65 km long piping systems were replaced. All these are automated system and trials need to start now for interfacing the systems.”
(Source: Times of India November 6, 2014)
