Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd to build 8 LCUs for Indian Navy

(Machinist.in) : New Delhi: Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited (GRSE) will be building eight specialized assault vessels called Landing Craft Utility (LCU) for the Indian Navy. The Cabinet Committee on Security has cleared the proposal for acquisition of eight LCUs for around 23 billion Indian rupees (USD 483.55 million). The first LCU is expected to be delivered in three years.

The government is also understood to be finalizing the acquisition of four amphibious warfare ships called Landing Platform Docks (LPDs) for around 168.91 billion Indian rupees (USD 3.55 billion). These will be built by Hindustan Shipyard and private shipyards in collaboration with a foreign manufacturer. The LCUs will enable easier transportation of troops and heavy weapon systems over long distances. The new LCUs will replace the existing fleet of six amphibious boats already in service.

Turkish frigates to confront Israeli ships in Mediterranean

(Todays Zaman) : The Turkish Navy is planning to dispatch three frigates to the Eastern Mediterranean to ensure freedom of navigation and to confront Israeli warships if necessary, a Turkish news report said on Monday.

The Turkish frigates, to be dispatched by the Navy's Southern Sea Area Command, will provide protection to civilian ships carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, blockaded by Israel since 2007, the Turkish daily Sabah reported. If the Turkish warships encounter an Israeli military ship outside Israel's 12-mile territorial waters, they will advance up to 100 meters close to the ship and disable its weapon system, in a confrontation that resembles dogfights in the Aegean Sea with Greek jet fighters, according to the report. The report comes days after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that Turkish warships will escort civilian aid ships headed to Gaza to prevent a repetition of last year's Israeli raid on a Turkish-owned ship that killed eight Turks and a Turkish-American, setting the stage for a potential naval confrontation with its former ally. Turkey announced a set of sanctions against Israel after it refused to apologize for the 2010 raid, expelling the Israeli ambassador and other senior diplomats and suspending military agreements with Israel. Turkey also promised to take measures to ensure freedom of navigation in the eastern Mediterranean. Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor said Erdoğan's remarks were “harsh and serious,” but stressed that Israel was not interested in a war of words with its once-close ally. “Our silence is the best response. I hope this phenomenon will pass,” he said on Friday.

Russian Navy orders 3 more Krivak IV class frigates

Russia's United Shipbuilding Corporation said on Wednesday it has signed a contract with the Defense Ministry on the construction of another three Krivak IV class frigates for the Russian Navy.
The new contract under the 2011 state defense order stipulates the construction of the warships by 2016.
The first three Krivak IV class frigates are being built at the Yantar Shipyard in the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad. The warships are expected to enter service with Russia's Black Sea Fleet based on the Crimean peninsula.
A Krivak IV class frigate is equipped with a 100-mm gun, a Shtil medium-range air defense system, Club-N supersonic anti-ship missiles, two Kashtan point defense systems, two twin 533-mm torpedo launchers, and an anti-submarine warfare helicopter.

- RIA Novosti

Indian defence gears up for a spate of missile tests

(domain-b) : Balasore, Orissa: The Indian defence establishment is gearing up for a hectic round of missile tests in the latter half of this month at the two test facilities of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) off the Orissa coast. According to defence sources, hundreds of DRDO scientists are camping at the site.
The missiles to be test fired, according to sources, will include the land version of K-15 missile dubbed as the 'Shaurya', the surface-to-surface, short range, Prithvi-II and the medium range ballistic missile, the Agni-II..
While Shaurya is likely to be tested any time between 17-18 September, the Prithvi-II will be tested between 22-24 September followed by Agni-II on 30 September.
The 2000-km range Agni-II had developed technical snags in its previous outing at the same site, when it was being tested by the Strategic Forces Command, leading to postponement.
The 600 km 'Shaurya' is being tested for the second time.
It will be test-fired from an underground silo with a depth of nearly 30 feet at the Chandipur test facilities. The missile that was first tested in November 2008 is the land variant of submarine launched ballistic missile (SLBM) K-15.

Armed with 5G jet features, Super Sukhoi on the way...

With Russia's help, Indian Air Force is set to transform Su-30MKI fighter jets into the near invincible 'Super Sukhoi' in a joint venture.
The Su-30MKI fighters, deployed by the Indian Air Force, will be upgraded with certain fifth generation aircraft characteristics to convert it into a “Super Sukhoi”, Alexy Fedorov, President of Irkut Corporation of Russia announced during the MAKS 2011 international aviation show held in Moscow recently. The IAF currently deploys about 100 Su-30MKI fighters, with plans to increase their number to 230 aircrafts. Bangalore-based Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) holds a production certificate for manufacturing the fighters and will be in-charge of upgrading the SU-30MKIs to 5G Super Sukhoi jets. The modernisation will embrace the aircraft in IAF’s military bases, fighters waiting for delivery to India and the jets that HAL will be manufacturing. The United Aircraft Corporation and HAL have signed a deal on creating substantially upgraded prototypes. Fedorov did not specify the cost of the modernisation, highlighting that the companies were still negotiating. Su-30MKI jets are a part of two major modernisation programmes, one of which aims to adapt the Su-30MKI to BrahMos supersonic missiles, while the other seeks ways to achieve a dramatic improvement in the fighter’s performance.

India will see its fighters modernised within the framework of the so-called Super programme, which involves introduction of an upgraded pilot cockpit, new radar and several structural elements enhancing the jet’s stealth features that make it less visible to the enemy. The upgrade will cover all aircraft employed by IAF, increasing the Su-30MKI’s weapons load and list.

The modernised Su-30MKI is reported to be able to carry under its body one BrahMos missile, which is expected to weigh less than its land-based and naval counterparts. The Russia-India joint venture Brahmos Aerospace Private Limited, Sukhoi Holding and HAL are jointly engaged in developing the airborne version of the missile. Sivathanu Pillai, CEO of the joint venture, said he hoped to see BrahMos missiles launched from the aircraft in late 2012.

According to reports, the IAF plans to upgrade 44 Su-30MKI fighters to equip them with BrahMos missiles. Ruslan Pukhov, director at the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, believes that mounting BrahMos missiles on Su-30s will add export value to both the weapon and its carrier. As various modifications of Su-30 jets are in service with many armed forces all over the globe, transforming these highly-manoeuvrable air fighters into fully-fledged missile carriers appears promising – an idea that Dr Pillai supports to the hilt.

The Super Sukhoi project, therefore, will allow the latter to transition swiftly to fully capable 5th generation fighter jets. The cost of the modernisation remains uncertain but the price tag could be around $1 billion.

The HAL is optimistic about its participation in the development of technology for the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA). The prototype of this aircraft, the T-50 PAK FA, was exhibited at the MAKS 2011 air show. India will be one of three countries in the world, alongside the US and Russia, to have fifth-generation fighters.

HAL chairman Ashok Nayak, who visited MAKS 2011, confirmed that his company’s participation in the design of the FGFA was “the right thing to do”. In December 2010, Russia and India signed an agreement on preliminary designing of the aircraft, estimating the project at $295 million. The initial design will take approximately 18 months. The Indian model’s main difference will be a two-man crew. “HAL hopes to complete the initial design and move further,” Nayak said, adding that the use of Indian components would be determined later. The IAF will be the first foreign customer to buy the new jet. India has announced plans to buy 250-300 fighters of this type, with the first deliveries expected in 2016-2017. The cost of the project is likely to exceed $35 billion. Russia will buy approximately the same number of the aircraft.

Su-30MKI jet will be armed with BrahMos missiles by 2012.

- Russia & India Report

US Navy Wants to Replace F-35s

Six months after the U.S. Navy’s first full size combat UAV made its first flight, the U.S. Navy leadership has ordered naval aviation leaders to examine the possibility of reducing orders for the new F-35B and F-35C, and use that money to buy the new X-47B, and similar robotic combat aircraft. That move was probably helped along by DARPA (the Department of Defense’s research organization), which earlier this year decided to explore development of robotic ground support aircraft.
This program involves two separate efforts. In one, DARPA will turn F-16s, F-18s and A-10s into unmanned ground support aircraft, to see if they can perform as well as the manned versions. In addition, DARPA will seek designs that improve on the performance of the current MQ-9 Reaper. DARPA wants its experimental aircraft operating within two years. The navy currently plans to buy 680 F-35B and F-35C aircraft, for (on average) $100 million each. A UCAS (Unmanned Combat Aerial System) costs less than half that, and provides most of the same capabilities.
For the last few years, the navy was already hustling to ready its X-47B UCAS, for carrier operations and combat use. Within five years, the navy plans to have the X-47B demonstrating the ability to regularly operate from a carrier, and perform combat (including reconnaissance and surveillance) operations. The new efforts aim to have UCAS aircraft perform ground attack missions as well, something the Predators have been doing for over a decade. The larger Reaper UAV was designed to expand this combat capability, and is being built as quickly as possible to replace F-16s and other bombers in the combat zone.
The X-47B weighs the same as the F-18, and has two internal bays holding two tons of smart bombs. Once it can operate off a carrier, the X-47B will be used for a lot of bombing. Sort of a super-Reaper. The navy has been impressed with the success of the Predator and Reaper. But the Reaper weighs only 4.7 tons. The much larger, 15 ton, X-47B uses a F100-PW-220 engine, which is currently used in the F-16 and F-15.
It was only a year ago that the U.S. Navy rolled out the X-47B, its first combat UAV (also known as a UCAS). This was part of a six year long, $636 million contract to build and test two X-47B aircraft. With internal fuel, it can go 2,700 kilometers and return to its carrier. This greatly expands the reconnaissance capability of a carrier.
Six years ago, the smaller X-47A UCAS made its first flight. Development of this aircraft began in 2001. The Air Force was also developing the X-45 UCAS, which also had a naval version (the X-46). The X-45 program began in 1999, and the eight ton (max takeoff weight, with two ton payload) aircraft was ready for operational tests in 2006. The X-46 has a different wing layout, and a range of 1,100 kilometers, carrying a payload of two tons. The X-47A also has a two ton payload and a range of 1,600 kilometers. Unlike the X-45, which is built to be stored for long periods, the X-47A was built for sustained use aboard a carrier. All of these aircraft are very stealthy and can operate completely on their own (including landing and takeoff, under software control). The UCASs were originally meant for dangerous missions, like destroying enemy air defenses, and reconnaissance where enemy air defenses were strong. The air force, however, cancelled its X-45, but is now considering other UCAS options.
The air force and navy have always differed about the widespread use of UAVs in combat. When the air force agreed to work with the navy on UCASs a decade ago, they idea was that the air force ones would largely remain in storage, to provide a rapid “surge” capability in wartime. The navy, however, wanted to use theirs to replace manned aircraft on carriers. The reason was simple; carrier ops are dangerous, and carrier qualified pilots are more difficult and expensive to train, and retain in the service. The navy still has these problems, and senior admirals are pretty much in agreement that UCASs are the future of carrier aviation. The sooner these UCASs prove they can safely and effectively operate from carriers, the better. The X-47B (or planned, slightly larger, X-47C) is not the definitive carrier UCAS, but the navy hopes it is good enough to show that unmanned aircraft can do the job. Normally, “X” class aircraft are just used as technology demonstrators. But the X-47 program has been going on for so long, and has incorporated so much from UAVs already serving in combat, that the X-47B may end up eventually running recon and bombing missions as the MQ-47B.
The DARPA project is, in effect, the Department of Defense leadership backing the navy plans, and spurring the air force to catch up. At the moment, the air force has a hard time building enough MQ-9s, which are used as a ground support aircraft, in addition to reconnaissance and surveillance. But, as the navy is demonstrating, you can build UCAS that can carry more weapons, stay in the air longer, and hustle to where they are needed faster. DARPA will try to demonstrate this, but it will be up to the air force and navy (and maybe even the army), to make it happen.
(Strategypage / Navaltoday)

Rolls-Royce wins contract from Cochin Shipyard to supply water jets for the Indian Coast Guard

Rolls-Royce, the global power systems company, has won a contract from India’s Cochin Shipyard to supply 60 water jets for a new fleet of 20 Fast Patrol Vessels for the Indian Coast Guard.
The contract will involve the supply of Rolls-Royce Kamewa 71S3np water jets (three per vessel), and associated equipment including a joystick control system which will enhance the manoeuvring capabilities of the vessels.
The 50 metre long vessels, which are currently under construction, will reach speeds of 33 knots and will operate in Indian coastal waters and around island territories.
Their roles will include coastal patrolling, anti-smuggling missions, fisheries protection, as well as search and rescue duties.
Water jets enable operation in shallow waters and offer higher speeds and better manoeuvrability than conventional propellers.

1. Rolls-Royce is a world-leading provider of power systems and services for use on land, at sea and in the air, and has established a strong position in global markets - civil aerospace, defence aerospace, marine and energy.
2. As a result of this strategy, Rolls-Royce has a broad customer base comprising more than 500 airlines, 4,000 corporate and utility aircraft and helicopter operators, 160 armed forces, more than 4,000 marine customers, including 70 navies, and energy customers in nearly 120 countries, with an installed base of 54,000 gas turbines.
3. Annual underlying revenues were £10.8 billion in 2010, of which more than half came from the provision of services. The firm and announced order book stood at £61.4 billion at 30 June 2011, providing visibility of future levels of activity.
4. Rolls-Royce employs over 39,000 skilled people in offices, manufacturing and service facilities in over 50 countries. Over 11,000 of these employees are engineers.
5. In 2010, Rolls-Royce invested £923 million on research and development, two thirds of which had the objective of further improving the environmental performance of its products, in particular reducing emissions.
6. Rolls-Royce supports a global network of 28 University Technology Centres, which connect the company’s engineers with the forefront of scientific research.
7. The Group has a strong commitment to apprentice and graduate recruitment and to further developing employee skills.
8. Rolls-Royce has a 75 year long proud history of partnership with India. Today, there are over 1,300 Rolls-Royce engines in service in India and the company’s global market sectors - civil aerospace, defence aerospace, marine and energy - are all represented in the country.
9. India is an extremely significant country for Rolls-Royce, both as a market, and as a country that is playing a growing role in the Group’s global operations. From licensed production to engineering services and component manufacture the business has expanded in the last decade supported by mutually beneficial partnerships with leading companies in India including Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), L&T, TCS and QuEST
10. Rolls-Royce is a world leader in water jet propulsion, designing and manufacturing an extensive range for use in vessels from small patrol craft, up to some of the world’s largest water jets, used in naval craft and high-speed ferries. The state-of-the-art Rolls-Royce Kamewa S3 range of water jets are designed to offer higher speeds, improved acceleration, and increased efficiency.
11. Rolls-Royce has been supplying the Indian Coast Guard for 20 years, with 86 water jets already in service and other equipment such as controllable pitch propellers and stabilising fins operational on other vessels in the fleet. Rolls-Royce has also supplied a design and equipment package for three UT 517 design Pollution Control Vessels, the first of which Samudra Prahari entered service in 2010.
12. Cochin Shipyard Limited has long standing experience in building Rolls-Royce designed vessels with more than 20 UT design vessels delivered to date.

source : Rolls-Royce

India - NAVY Boeing P-8I Poseidon IN320 Photo

                      First P-8I for the India Navy

 (source - Bharat-Rakshak -  Brandon Farris)

'Two Chinese helicopters entered India in August'

(Hindustan Times) : Two Chinese helicopters, along with seven to eight troopers on board, flew into Indian territory along the Line of actual Control (LAC) in Chumur area of Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir last month and damaged “unused bunkers” of India, before flying back undetected and unchallenged.
This has been stated in a report sent by Leh district administration to the state government, highlighting the point that while the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) deployed in the area has sent the report of this incident to the ministry of home affairs, local administration was kept in dark, official sources told Hindustan Times. Deputy Commissioner, Leh, T Angchuk, when contacted, confirmed that he has “sent a report (about the incident) to the state government, and also deputed sub divisional magistrate  and station house officer of Nyoma ( under the jurisdiction of whom Chumur area falls) to visit the spot  to verify the facts and file a report.”
The Leh district administration came to know about this incident on September 9 and the SDM was deputed on a “fact finding mission” on September 11, sources in the state government told Hindustan Times. They were awaiting for an on the spot report of the SDM and SHO.
But the Indian army denied that any such incident has taken place. “No incident like this has happened,” Northern Command spokesperson Lt. Col Rajesh Kalia told Hindustan Times when asked about the army’s version on the reported incident.
Official sources, however, maintained that the two choppers with seven to eight Chinese soldiers landed in Chumur area, about 200 to 300  feet inside the LC on August 25th. They were there for 20 to 25 minutes. They wrote something in Chinese and also damaged the “unused Indian bunkers.”
The details, how they damaged the bunkers, are not known.
The ITBP personnel, who were at a long distance, however, could not react because of the distance and they are reported to have watched the incident, with the help of binoculars.
The ITBP’s DIG based in Leh, according to sources, has sent the report to MHA.
Ladakh has a 646 km long LAC with China. The LAC remains undemarcated at several places.
The Indian army’s stated position, often articulated by the top commanders is that “these are not incursions but transgressions which take place because of the varying perceptions of LAC.”

Russia's Next Generation T-90 MS ' Tagil' MBT

                                                                                              source:  youtube

BATL to make airframes for BrahMos missile

(IBN Live) : Three-year-old BrahMos Aerospace Thiruvananthapuram Ltd (BATL) will be entrusted with the job of manufacturing airframes for the BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles. A decision on this will be finalised within a month, BrahMos Aerospace CEO Dr A Sivathanu Pillai said.

With this, the BATL will become the second manufacturing hub for the airframes (the structure of the missile excluding engines). This is an opportunity come knocking for BATL, Pillai said. Propulsion systems, however, will continue to be made by outside agencies, he added.

BrahMos Aerospace is set to step up production of the missiles - the fastest cruise missiles in operation at the moment - with the Army placing more orders. Sivathanu Pillai refused to enter into details, but said the orders constituted a large number.

Airframes made of light alloy for the missiles are being manufactured by Godrej at present. They established a separate plant for the purpose, but it is not sufficient, he said. BATL, which is situated at Chakkai, had received some orders for making the cylindrical containers for the missiles. The company has also initiated work on Phase-II operations, Pillai said.

The construction of a Missile Integration Complex, for which Defence Minister A K Antony had laid the foundation stone in 2009, is expected to be completed within a year.

India: A tiger awakes to challenge Chinese military

If ever there was a potent reminder of the need to modernise India’s ageing defence capability, it was the regular tailspins and nosedives of its Russian fighter jets.
The MiG-21 is known among the brave ranks of the Indian Air Force as the “flying coffin”. Of the almost 800 MiG-21s inducted into the Indian Air Force since 1963, more than 350 have been lost in accidents, killing about 170 pilots.
Air Chief Marshal N.A.K. Browne, the head of the IAF, is counting the days until the country renews its strike force, which currently consists of Russian, British and French aircraft. At the end of last month, he said India’s pilots would be “greatly relieved” when the country finally agreed a contract for the supply of 126 jet fighters, worth $11bn.
The Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft, or MMRCA, deal is one of the biggest arms deals in the world. India, which has relied heavily on Russian supplies during the past 50 years, is one of the biggest arms buyers, with a military budget of Rs1,420bn ($31bn) a year.
A closely watched competition has pitted US, Russian and other European aerospace companies against each other. All have extended a hand of industrial partnership in order to win a prize that promises a strategic reorientation by the world’s largest democracy.
While deadlines are notoriously fluid in India, many now consider the deal to be in the final lap, and down to price. Air Marshal Browne says he expects the contest, narrowed to a choice between the Eurofighter and France’s Rafale, to be concluded by the end of the year.
Snubbed US competitors Boeing and Lockheed Martin have found consolation in government-to-government deals between Delhi and Washington.
Delhi has bought C-17 military transporters to improve the forces’ airlift capacity, as well as Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft. In Washington, multibillion-dollar defence orders for India’s 1.5m-strong armed forces are viewed as a vital component in cementing ties between the two countries.
Air Marshal Browne has another reason to be “relieved”. Among India’s military leadership and security hawks, China looms larger and larger as a potential threat. They are particularly concerned about what they identify as a “collusive threat” posed by a nuclear-armed neighbour, the traditional foe Pakistan, and the growing military might of China.
China’s supply of weaponry to Pakistan, particularly JF-17 jets, has fuelled these suspicions. So too has China’s assertiveness over territory in the Himalayas and at sea. Delhi was alarmed by a challenge to an Indian naval vessel by the Chinese navy in July off the coast of Vietnam – described by Indian officials as the first “incident” of its kind.
China has also rattled India’s defence establishment by parading technological breakthroughs, like its own aircraft carrier and ship-busting missiles, all of which could come to challenge India’s dominance of the Indian Ocean and crucial shipping lanes between the Middle East and Asia.
India has been no slouch itself. Although 70 per cent of its military hardware is imported, it has launched its own stealth frigate and a nuclear submarine modelled on a Russian design. It has tested a range of longer-distance missiles, including a supersonic cruise missile called the Brahmos, and boasts a capable space programme.
Closer to the ground, military planners carefully eye what the US, UK and France have done to equip their infantry better.
Some private Indian companies, including the Tata Group, Mahindra & Mahindra and Larsen & Toubro, have a growing interest in developing their defence expertise in partnership with international defence groups.
Increasingly, international investors see opportunity among India’s small, technologically advanced defence companies. Yet some senior officers now openly voice their concerns about the gap in defence capabilities that has opened up between big-spending China and what they see as “dithering” in corruption-prone Delhi.
The officers complain that military spending, just over 1 per cent of gross domestic product, is hampered by fears in the civilian government of over-militarisation and the need to spend more on development than arms. They identify key vulnerabilities in cyberwarfare and China’s record of reverse engineering advanced technologies, as opposed to India’s lumbering public sector defence companies.
Nonetheless, India’s military establishment is looking more to its eastern border, where the Chinese invaded, albeit briefly, in 1962. A programme of infrastructure and airfield improvement is under way to give greater reach into the Himalayan region. The army is pushing for a $2.5bn Mountain Strike Corps, which would lead to the deployment of a greater number of high-altitude troops (required to operate up to a height of 20,000 feet).
China holds lessons, just as it poses a threat.
Jasjit Singh, director of the Centre of Air Power Studies in New Delhi, says India’s challenge is to build a defence industry base rapidly after what he says was 250 years of de-industrialisation under British colonial rule. He estimates that the process is only 10 years old.
“India is in the process of an industrial technological revolution, and at the forefront is the aerospace industry. But we are still at the beginning,” he says.
Air Marshal Browne says that China has some of the answers. One is that India’s defence companies should devote far more resources to research and development.
The second is that India should not try to “go it alone” – as it has with the 30-year development of the Light Combat Aircraft or Tejas – but rather “learn from” licence agreements with foreign partners.
In the manuals of the integrated staff headquarters at India’s Ministry of Defence, diagrams show a fighting force typically has 30 per cent advanced, 40 per cent current and 30 per cent obsolete equipment.
Getting closer to this blueprint, and retiring the MiGs and Lee Enfield rifles, is a top priority for India’s longer-term security.

- The Financial Times