India to Upgrade Its Sukhoi with Radar Capable of Detecting F-35, Chinese J-20

India has plans to upgrade the Sukhoi-30MKI with modern “radar and weapons capabilities and also enhance features that tackle obsolescence management and electronic warfare aspects”, Indian Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Bhadauria confirmed on Friday.

An Air Force Veteran and senior defence analyst said the upgraded radar would likely be the NIIP N035 Irbis E (Snow Leopard), a 20 KW class steerable hybrid ESA radar fitted on the Su-35.

"At full power, the radar can detect an F-35 at a distance of 58-km (36-mi), In tracking mode, the distance drops to 29km," Vijainder K Thakur, Air Force veteran and defence analyst having hawk eyes on technological development said.

Designed by the Tikhomirov Scientific Research Institute (NIIP) in Moscow's Zhukovsky city, the Irbis-E is a direct evolution of the BARS design, all-weather multimode airborne radars of a Russian family, but significantly more powerful.

The radar is cited at an average power rating of 5 kilowatts, with 2 kilowatts CW rating for illumination. The NIIP claim twice the bandwidth and improved frequency agility over the BARS, and better electronic counter-countermeasures capability.

However, Harsh Vardhan Thakur, an experimental test pilot said: "When defining pick up and rack ranges for the F-35, the low-observability may have been exaggerated. I think F-35 can be picked up at larger ranges, just as a J-20 can."

It is expected that upgrading the Su-30MKI will not take much time as Russia already implemented significant upgrades including radar and engines on the Su-30SM which is in the service of the Russian Air Force. Vijainder K Thakur said Russia had integrated Su35 IRBIS-E Radar and AL-41F-C1 engines on a Su-30 airframe with the Su-30SM, which represents a convergence of the two platforms independently developed from the Su-27, aimed at mitigating logistics & maintenance overheads.

In 2018, Indian Air Force Sukhoi Su-30MKI reportedly managed to detect the latest Chinese Chengdu J-20 jet fighter, supposed to be a top-of-the-line stealth aircraft operated by China's People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF).

J-20 fighter jets, as claimed by China, are made up of radar-absorbing materials that are supposed to make it hard to detect at long ranges.

Earlier this month, the German radar-maker Hensoldt claimed that it managed to track two American made F-35s from a pony farm for almost 100 miles (about 150 km) during an air show, the C4ISRNet website reported.

The Sukhoi Su-30MKI is a Russian-designed heavy, long-range fourth generation air superiority fighter, built under licence by India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. The planes were introduced into the Indian Air Force in the early 2000s, with India making about 250 of the planes by 2018, and continuing to build more.

 sputniknews

Indian Operated T-90 Tanks To Become Russian Army’s Main Battle Tank

Instead of the much-hyped Armata tanks, the upgraded version of T-90M tanks could become the main battle tank for the Russian Army, Uralvagonzavod Special Representative for Military and Technical Cooperation, Army General Alexei Maslov told the Russian News Agency – TASS.

“We have already prepared the T-90MS [the export version] for a foreign customer and tested it and by the decision of Russia’s Defense Ministry, we have held R&D work, as a result of which we have developed a good T-90M.

And now, as far as I understand, the T-90M ‘Proryv’ will be the main battle tank in the army,” the general said as Russia was celebrating Land Forces Day on October 1.

By its combat efficiency, the T-90M considerably outperforms its predecessor while its modular design allows engineers to build up its operational performance upon subsequent upgrades, the general said. “The T-90M ensures parity with advanced foreign tanks,” the army general stressed.Uralvagonzavod defence manufacturer signed a contract with Russia’s Defense Ministry on the delivery of heavily upgraded T-90M tanks to the troops at the Army-2017 international arms show. As was reported earlier, the first several dozen upgraded tanks are due to arrive for the Russian troops in 2019.

The T-90M ‘Proryv’ has received a new turret that differs from the serial-produced module and a more powerful engine. The Proryv is equipped with a new multi-channel sighting system that enables employing weapons at any time of day or night and, as its major advantage, it can exchange data with other vehicles in real-time.

The T-90M’s armour features special anti-slip coating similar to that used on the latest T-14 Armata tank.

India, a key-operated of T-90 tanks plans to have more than 1600 tanks in service before 2020 after acquiring licenses from Russia to produce the T90 tanks in India itself.

10 Indian built T90 Bhishma tanks were inducted into the defence forces on August 24, 2009. These tanks were manufactured at the Heavy Vehicles Factory in Tamil Nadu. As EurAsian Times reported earlier India is planning to have 20 regiments of the T90 Bhishma Tanks, to bolster its defence against Pakistan and China by 2020.

 eurasiantimes

Indian Army to begin deploying light howitzers in eastern sector

The Indian Army is preparing to deploy its new M777 ultra-light howitzers in eastern Arunachal Pradesh for accurate artillery fire support in the mountainous terrain that could prove to be a “game-changer” in the sector, two officers familiar with the move told HT.

The 155 mm/39-caliber howitzers, which can be sling-loaded to helicopters and swiftly deployed to high-altitude areas, are likely to be inducted by the year-end, the first officer said. India ordered 145 howitzers from the United States for $750 million in November 2016.

“The M777s will be a game-changer in the eastern sector. The highly portable guns can be swiftly deployed and redeployed for missions using the Boeing CH-47F (I) Chinook helicopters. The howitzers will be part of light artillery regiments,” the second officer said.

The howitzers have a range of 24-30km.

The tactical mobility will enable quick insertion of the howitzers in areas close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, which can move weapons, equipment and troops at a swifter pace because of better infrastructure, he said.

“It’s certainly a much-needed capability upgrade. Moving heavier guns around is not easy. Even soldiers take two days to reach the forward posts from Tezu (headquarters of the 82

Mountain Brigade),” he added. Tezu is located 250km south of Kibithu, which is along the LAC and accounts for the army’s eastern-most deployments.

The M777s are a key component of the army’s field artillery rationalisation plan (FARP), cleared in 1999. The ~50,000-crore FARP lays down the road map for inducting new 155mm weaponry, including tracked self-propelled guns, truck-mounted gun systems, towed artillery pieces and wheeled self-propelled guns. The plan seeks to equip 169 artillery regiments with a mix of nearly 3,000 guns over the next decade.

The army will raise seven new regiments with the 145 howitzers deployed in the northern and eastern sectors, the two officers said. M777 manufacturer BAE Systems is supplying 25 ready-built howitzers and the remaining 120 guns will be built locally in collaboration with Mahindra Defence under the Modi government’s Make in India initiative. The army is likely to get all the howitzers by 2021-end.

“The M777 is truly an advanced piece of artillery and it will meet the operational requirement of the formations deployed in the eastern sector. It stands out for its mobility, precision, rate of fire, and ability to hit targets in difficult mountainous terrain,” said former army vice chief Lieutenant General AS Lamba (retd), who was commissioned into the artillery and has served in the east for more than a decade.

The M777s were the first artillery guns to be ordered after the Bofors scandal unfolded in the late 1980s. Last December, then defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman dedicated the M777s to the nation. These howitzers have superior tactical mobility as they are made from titanium alloy and weigh only 4,218kg, which is half the weight of conventional artillery guns deployed in the northern and eastern sectors.

The CH-47F (I) Chinook and the M777 howitzer are a deadly combination, said former Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal Fali Major (retd). “The load-carrying capacity of the Chinook and the capabilities that the M777 brings will certainly be a game-changer for the forces deployed along the eastern borders,” he said.

India ordered 15 Chinook helicopters from the US for $1.18 billion in September 2015. Six of them have already been delivered.

The army’s artillery arsenal in eastern Arunachal Pradesh includes the Bofors guns and the 105mm field gun. “Transporting these guns is quite tricky due to terrain and the infrastructure that is still a work in progress. It requires a lot of horse power and willpower,” said the first officer cited above.
The IAF plans to deploy US-made Apache AH-64E attack helicopters in the eastern sector in two years after a base there is fully ready to support the choppers, two senior IAF officers said on the condition of anonymity.

The helicopters are part of a $1.1-billion deal India inked with the US in September 2015 for 22 Apaches to modernise its assault capabilities to counter ground-based armoured targets and aerial threats.

The 22 Apaches will be split between Pathankot and Jorhat, where support infrastructure is being created. The IAF has already inducted eight Apaches into its fleet at the Pathankot airbase.

 hindustantimes

IAF's Sukhois to get more advanced avionics, radars

Highlights

• India plans to upgrade its fleet of Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jets with more advanced avionics, radars and weapons to further bolster their combat capabilities, with detailed talks currently under way with Russia for the project
• The IAF is also finalising with Russia the procurement of 12 more Sukhois to replace the ones lost in crashes, which will be built by Hindustan Aeronautics

India plans to upgrade its fleet of Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jets with more advanced avionics, radars and weapons to further bolster their combat capabilities, with detailed talks currently under way with Russia for the project.

The IAF is also finalising with Russia the procurement of 12 more Sukhois to replace the ones lost in crashes, which will be built by defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics, as well as 21 additional MiG-29 jets that will cost around Rs 230 crore each.

"The Sukhois will be upgraded in near future to further enhance their operational capabilities," said IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria. The IAF has so far inducted over 250 of the 272 Sukhois originally contracted in batches from Russia for well over $12 billion, with the bulk of them being licensed-produced by HAL.


The Sukhoi upgrade project will include the latest avionics, a much more powerful radar "almost as good as an AESA (active electronically scanned array) one", state-of-the-art electronic warfare systems and the like. "There will be new computer systems for greater weapon control and integration of new missiles and PGMs (precision-guided munitions)," said a source.

Forty-two of the twin-seat Sukhois, which have a cruising range of 3,200 km or a combat radius of about 1,500 km without mid-air refuelling, are also to be armed with the supersonic BrahMos cruise missiles to constitute a deadly package of precision-strike capability from long or "stand-off distances".

The IAF has based the fourth-generation "air dominance" Sukhois on both the western and eastern fronts, from Halwara, Jodhpur and Sirsa to Bareilly, Tezpur and Chabua, to cater for Pakistan and China. Along with the Mirage-2000s, the Sukhois are the most potent fighters in the country's air combat fleet till the 36 Rafales get inducted under the Rs 59,000 crore deal inked with France in 2016.

The IAF's 49 Mirage-2000s, some of which were used to bomb the JeM facility at Balakot in Pakistan on February 26, are being upgraded under an overall programme worth Rs 17,547 crore. The programme was first finalised at Rs 10,947 crore with French companies Dassault Aviation and Thales in July 2011.

Then, a second Rs 6,600 crore contract for 490 advanced fire-and-forget MICA (interception and aerial combat missiles) systems to arm the Mirages was finalised with French armament major MBDA in early-2012. But the progress has been slow since then, with only about 10 Mirages being upgraded till now.

 timesofindia

IAF hunts for aerial refuellers, again: A saga of cancelled deals

For most of the past decade, aviation watchers have followed the Indian Air Force's quest for over a 100 new fighter aircraft, often with frustration. But there is another Indian Air Force requirement that has not been fulfilled despite the service selecting its preferred product, twice.

On Friday, during his annual press conference, Air Chief Marshal R.K.S. Bhadauria announced that an “earlier process” to select a new aerial refuelling aircraft for the Indian Air Force had been withdrawn and new requests for information would be issued to potential bidders.

This will be the third such contest since 2006-2007. The Indian Air Force inducted its first aerial refuelling aircraft in 2003 with the arrival of the first IL-78 aircraft from Russia. The IL-78, which has four engines, was a modification of the IL-76 transport aircraft, in service with the Indian Air Force since the 1980s. The Indian Air Force purchased a total of six IL-78 jets, which could extend the range of its fighters such as the MiG-29, Su30MKI and Mirage 2000 in flight.


However, given concerns about the serviceability of the IL-78 fleet, the Indian Air Force soon sought six new aerial refuellers. The two aircraft in consideration in 2006-2007 were the IL-78 and the Airbus A330 MRTT.

The A330 MRTT was a derivative of the popular twin-engine A330 passenger jet, which boasted of long range. While the A330 MRTT had a higher cost than the IL-78, it was a newer design, having lower operating costs on account of two engines. Moreover, the A330 MRTT boasts the capacity to carry fuel weighing up to 111 tonnes, which is higher than the IL-78's load, which is estimated to be 100 tonnes.

An added advantage of the A330 MRTT is the fact that it is certified to use two refuelling systems. One refuelling system is the 'hose and drogue' system in which a refueller transfers fuel to a probe extending from the receiving aircraft. The other system, commonly found on US-origin aircraft, is the 'flying boom' in which a refueller transfers fuel to a receptacle on the receiving aircraft's fuselage. The flying boom system is found on many US-origin aircraft in service with the Indian military such as the P-8I maritime patrol aircraft of the Navy and the C-17 heavy transport jet of the Indian Air Force.

In May 2009, then Indian Air Force chief Fali Homi Major said the force had short-listed the A330 MRTT as its preferred supplier and began negotiations. The contract was expected to be worth at least $1 billion. However, by January 2010, the government had cancelled the tender over cost concerns. Later that year, the Indian Air Force again called a revised tender for six aerial refuelling aircraft. In the second contest, too, the A330 MRTT and IL-78 were the main bidders.

In January 2013, the Indian Air Force selected the A330 MRTT again. This time, the price of the contract had risen to around $1.5 billion. While the IL-78 had a lower purchase cost, the A330MRRT was evaluated as having lower 'life cycle' costs, making it more economical to operate in the long term.

However, like the first tender, the government had doubts about the price and negotiations dragged on. The contract was cancelled in July 2016. "We have [recently] cancelled the MRTT deal with Airbus because platforms are too expensive and not economically viable to operate," a ministry of defence official told US publication Defense News then.

The Indian Air Force had repeatedly expressed fears over delays in acquisition of new aerial refuellers given concerns over the IL-78 fleet's reliability.

A report of the Comptroller and Auditor General in August 2017 had panned the serviceability of the IL-78, noting only 49 per cent of the fleet was available for operations at any given time from 2010 to 2016. The CAG report blamed the low serviceability on the “poor availability of spares” from the original manufacturer, which had been disrupted since the fall of the USSR. These spares had be obtained from vendors in Ukraine and Russia.

In the decade since the Indian Air Force first considered the A330 MRTT, the European tanker has won contracts in Saudi Arabia, Singapore, UAE and South Korea.

Interestingly, the multiple delays in the aerial refueller contract for the Indian Air Force may prove to be blessing for a US vendor: Boeing. Boeing is continuing induction trials on its KC-46 tanker, which is based on the Boeing 767 passenger jet.

 theweek

The trouble with India’s slow naval buildup

India has been trying hard to enhance its naval capabilities over the past few years, both in recognition of its own needs as well as an understanding of evolving trends in the strategic environment. But despite New Delhi’s best efforts, doing so continues to be slow work.

A case in point is India’s submarine programme, which was in the spotlight again recently when the second of the Indian Navy’s six Scorpene submarines, INS Khanderi, was inducted into service on 28 September. The first Scorpene submarine, called INS Kalvari, was commissioned in 2017. The third submarine, INS Karanj, launched in January 2018, is undertaking sea trials now. INS Khanderi was manufactured by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited at a cost of ₹187.98 billion (about $2.6 billion) under an India-France bilateral agreement in 2005 to build six Scorpene class submarines in India. Not including the Scorpenes, India currently has two other older types of diesel-electric submarine types, the Sindhughosh (Kilo) class and the Shishumar (HDW 209/1500) class diesel-electric submarines, and the nuclear-powered Arihant class (as well as the leased Chakra class nuclear submarine).

But the induction of the new submarine belies the fact that the size of India’s submarine inventory has been declining for years. The Scorpene acquisition has undergone significant delays — more than six years — even though it remains an important addition to the Indian naval capability. Even though there have been triumphant comments from many senior Indian officials on the significance of this induction, it is far from sufficient given the growing naval and maritime challenges in the Indo-Pacific.

Commissioning the submarine into service, the Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh talked of the importance of the submarine and Indo-French defence cooperation, though he framed the acquisition primarily as a message to Pakistan. But the Scorpene submarines still do not have a modern torpedo, making do with the older SUT torpedoes. India cancelled a deal for the heavy-weight Black Shark torpedoes, built by the Finmecannica subsidiary WASS, as a result of an unrelated corruption scandal that involved another subsidiary of Finmecannica, Augusta-Westland. In a makeshift arrangement, the Indian government approached the German defence company, Atlas Elektronik to upgrade 64 torpedoes, which were procured in the 1980s and 1990s for the Indian Navy’s four Shishumar-class submarines. The already-insufficient number of torpedoes in the Indian Navy’s arsenal is to be now also shared with the Scorpene submarines.

An additional issue comes from the slow development of the air independent propulsion (AIP) system. AIP allows submarines to stay under water for longer periods of time without being detected. However, the development of the indigenous AIP system by Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) has been delayed, which should not come as much of a surprise given the history of DRDO’s tendency to over-promise and under-deliver. The last two of the Scorpene submarines were to be equipped with the indigenously developed AIP systems but because of the delay by the DRDO, the plan is now to have them in the next six submarines that will be developed under Project 75I.

But Project 75I has also been very slow. Under Project 75I, India plans to build six additional advanced conventional submarines in collaboration with a foreign manufacturer. But this has also run into difficulties. The Swedish defence firm SAAB, which was seen as one of the top foreign contenders, pulled out its bid because of onerous conditions the India has imposed regarding indigenous partnerships and instead South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering has entered the fray.

The South Korean decision possibly flows out of the visit of the Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to South Korea in September where defence industry cooperation was a major highlight. South Korea joins four other contenders: Naval Group (France), Navantia (Spain), Rosoboronexport (Russia) and TKMS (Germany) who are all bidding for the ₹450 billion (about $6.32 billion) contract. During the recent visit of Prime Minister Modi to Russia, the Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to undertake a “joint design and development of conventional submarines through an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA).” But it has been more than a decade since Project 75I started, and it will be years more before these submarines enter Indian Navy service.

The long, hard work of building up India’s naval capabilities is not just limited to its submarine programme. On the same day as the INS Khanderi induction, there were two other developments that are critical to the Indian Navy: the launching of the first of the P17A frigates, ‘Nilgiri’ and inauguration of a dry dock, located within the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai. According to Rakesh Anand, head of Mazagon Dock Limited, the new frigates come with “new design concepts for improved survivability, sea keeping, stealth and ship manoeuvrability.” The new dry dock will be the Indian Navy’s biggest one, capable of holding India’s aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya. It is state of the art, made of 1.5 meter-thick reinforced concrete and almost 300 meters into the sea. But it has taken more than a decade to complete the dock.

The slow nature of India’s naval buildup is the product of broader trends that are well-known. Much of the Indian budget is focused on the Army, with the air force being a distant second and the navy a poor third. And with naval capability building proving time-consuming and capital-intensive, that leaves New Delhi stuck with a continued slow pace of development of its naval capabilities relative to other actors, even as competitors such as China forge ahead more quickly.

The solutions are also well-known. Some of them involve process: for instance, India needs to change its decision-making processes and its complicated acquisitions process to halt the slide in its relative capabilities. Others relate to outlook, with India needing to focus on the right threats to its national security rather than leaving itself looking broad but being overextended as a result. Whether or not these solutions will be adopted or not remains to be seen. Until then, developing India’s naval capabilities will likely continue to prove to be slow work irrespective of the incremental gains that are seen in the headlines.

 orfonline

Army inducts Israeli 'tank killers’ till DRDO develops indigenous ones

Highlights

• Sources on Thursday said the “first lot” of the 210 Spike missiles, with a dozen launchers, “arrived in India about 10 days ago”.
• The Army moved to buy Spike missiles after the Jaish-e-Muhammed training facility at Balakot in Pakistan was bombed by Indian Mirage-2000 fighters on February 26.

Indian infantry soldiers now finally have a new weapon to destroy advancing enemy tanks on the western front with Pakistan. The Army has begun to induct a limited number of Israeli Spike anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) to meet immediate operational requirements till the indigenous man-portable “tank killers” being developed by DRDO are ready for induction.

Sources on Thursday said the “first lot” of the 210 Spike missiles, with a dozen launchers, “arrived in India about 10 days ago” as part of the “Army vice chief’s emergency procurement powers” exercised by the force amidst the ongoing heightened tensions with Pakistan.

The Army moved to buy the initial amount of the fire-and-forget Spike ATGMs, which have a strike range of up to 4-km, for around Rs 280 crore after the Jaish-e-Muhammed training facility at Balakot in Pakistan was bombed by Indian Mirage-2000 fighters on February 26.


“The order will be repeated if the man-portable ATGM being developed by DRDO is not ready by next year. We don’t want to be slowed down any longer in plugging our critical operational deficiencies by DRDO,” said an Army source.

DRDO, however, is quite confident about offering its MP-ATGM for “user trials” in 2020 after having conducted three successful trials of the weapon system at the Kurnool range in Andhra Pradesh in early last month.

“The third-generation MP-ATGM, which has state-of-the-art infrared imaging seekers along with advanced avionics, hit the targets mimicking operational tanks in top-attack mode to destroy them with precision at 2.5 km range,” said a DRDO official.

Whether it’s indigenous or Israeli man-portable “tank killers”, the fact remains the 13-lakh strong Army has an alarming over 50% shortage in its “authorised holding” of different kinds of shoulder, vehicle and helicopter-launched ATGMs, which are crucial to halt advancing enemy tanks in the plains as well as “bunker-bursting” across the volatile line of control with Pakistan.

The Army’s existing second-generation Milan-2T (2-km range) and Konkurs (4-km) ATGMs, produced by defence PSU Bharat Dynamics under licence from French and Russian companies, do not have night-fighting capabilities.

The Army for well over a decade has been clamouring to upgrade from these wire-guided ATGMs to third and fourth-generation ones that are top-attack, fire-and-forget and night-capable. In late 2017, India had scrapped a proposed Rs 3,200 crore deal for 8,356 Spike missiles, 321 launchers and 15 simulators that had been first approved by the Defence Acquisitions Council in June 2009.

This was primarily because the DRDO said it could deliver a more technologically advanced MP-ATGM in the next two-three years, as was then reported by TOI. The Army is now keeping its fingers crossed, keen as it is on equipping all its over 380 infantry battalions and 44 mechanised infantry units with third and fourth-generation ATGMs in the long run.

 timesofindia

Mountain Strike Corps Starts Testing New Concept

India’s 17 Mountain Strike Corps is currently engaged in an exercise to validate the concept of a swift offensive in the high Himalayas along the border with China. While an integrated exercise by the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force took place in Ladakh late last month, 17 Corps, headquartered at Panagarh in West Bengal, is in the middle of a month-long exercise ‘Him Vijay’ to test its ability to move, deploy and launch limited offensives in the mountains, much quicker than ever before, military sources have said.

This exercise comes on the back of the annual ‘Op Alert’ that both the 3 and 4 Corps—based in Tezpur and Rangapahar respectively, and looking after the entire stretch of Arunachal Pradesh border—carry out post-monsoon and before the onset of winter every year. Exercise ‘Him Vijay’ will pit three Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs) of the 17 Mountain Strike Corps against brigades from 3 and 4 Corps to test the new concept of IBG deployment, as reported earlier in July

Each IBG comprises a little over 4000 troops—slightly larger than conventional brigades—drawn from different combat arms. The battalions undergo acclimatisation after being air-lifted from their locations west of the Siliguri corridor. A major airlift effort by the Panagarh-based C-130 Squadron along with the newly-inducted Chinook heavy lift helicopters has allowed the Army and the IAF to also test interoperability of the two forces. Brigades drawn from 3 and 4 Corps will play the role of adversary. The exercise will get into its main stage after October 15.


The idea is to test the agility of the IBGs for a possible shallow offensive thrust into Tibet, depending on the requirement. It is because of the need for speed and ease of mobility that the 17 Corps is organised on a different pattern than conventional corps in the Indian Army. Now divided into three IBGs, the 17 Corps will depend on the ‘plug and play’ concept, meaning utilising combat support units like those of an Engineers brigade and elements of EME, Supply and Ordnance Corps already present in the zones that they get deployed in. Artillery units for 17 Corps would already be forward deployed. So, in case the 17 Corps IBGs are deployed in the 4 Corps zone in hot battle, only its combat units will move from their peace time locations and depend on other 4 Corps support elements for sustenance.

The concept of Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs) was finalised last year. Essentially, the proposal was to let the Corps Headquarters (the highest field formation in the Indian Army) to directly control operations through re-organised brigades re-designated as Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs). The IBGs can be as varied as Integrated Infantry Battle Groups (IIBGs), Integrated Armoured Battle Groups (IABGs) or Integrated Artillery Battle Groups (IArtyBGs).

Each Integrated Battle Group will consist of four to six infantry/mech battalions or armoured/artillery battalions as required. But more importantly, each of these battle groups would be commanded by a Major General. There are detailed explanations and suggestions about how to merge and utilise Divisional Combat support, logistics and service units.

As mentioned, ‘Him Vijay’ is expected to move into top gear in the third week of October and its culmination is likely to be witnessed by the Army Chief, Gen. Bipin Rawat and other top commanders.

Interestingly, Chinese officials in India have been making enquiries from the Indian government on the exact nature of ‘Him Vijay’ and its objectives ahead of Chairman Xi Jinping’s visit to India between 11 and 13 October. They have apparently been told at the highest level that this is nothing but an extension of Op Alert that Indian Army carries out every year and is being held far from the Line of Actual Control (LAC), just as the PLA holds different exercises in Tibet round the year and therefore the Chinese need not be alarmed over it.

 bharatshakti

Success! HAL’s HTT 40 Trainer aircraft completes six-turn spin test, now awaits FOC

The State-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) does it again. HTT-40 (Basic trainer aircraft) has successfully demonstrated critical six-turn spin test capability and is going to seek FOC (Final Operation Clearance). In September, it had successfully completed the right spin capability.

Top officials of the company confirmed “All the spin behaviour of the aircraft has been textbook perfect and now the next step will be seeking FOC. The HTT-40 falls under the category of “Indian designed, developed and manufactured” (IDDM) equipment, as stated in the Defence Procurement Policy (2016). The aircraft has cleared all Air Staff Qualitative Requirements ASQRs as per the requirements.”

The company has been carrying out a series of tests of the HTT-40; the project design had started in 2013 and was supported by the internal funding of Rs 350 crore before it started preparing for spin tests in a matter of five years.


With these successful spin testing, the image and the credibility of the HAL gets a boost and also proves that the company is capable of designing a fixed-wing and spin worthy aircraft pointed out a senior executive of the company.

Indian Navy Scorpene class submarine INS Khanderi: It’s a deadly deep-sea predator.

“So far all the Preliminary Services Qualitative Requirements (PSQR) test points have been met successfully and with the successful spin tests, the last metric has been completed. This is a critical requirement before the aircraft can be put into service,” the executive added.

Just last year, the HTT-40 Basic Trainer Aircraft had completed the two spin tests which had cleared the way for further trials of the aircraft, which has got an approval from the Defence Acquisition Council for giving 70 aircraft. However, there is still no order from the Indian Air Force (IAF for this basic trainer – the most critical requirement it had laid down was the six-turn spin tests.

Besides the six-turn spin tests, the turbo HTT-40 has so far not only met but has also crossed all the ASQRs for the flight performance as set by the IAF. This includes ceiling, spin, turn, and speed, etc.

Reportedly the Pilatus PC-7 Mark II trainer procurement is already under the scanner of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). “There is a possibility that the IAF could buy these trainers as all the parameters have been met,” said an official.

The company already has the experience of building the Hawk advanced jet trainers (AJT) for the IAF which has been done with the technology transfer from the UK based BAE Systems.

 financialexpress

New Doklam roads set to alter India, China military dynamics

India’s Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has built an alternative road through which its troops can enter the Doklam valley — the site of a 73-day military standoff between India and China in 2017 — where the Chumbi valley of China, Bhutan and India converge, a development that has the potential to alter the military dynamics in the region.

In 2017, the Indian Army was forced to move to the trijunction through a single road in the absence of an alternative, delaying the deployment of troops in Doklam. The alternative road will enable access to the area through two points, easing the logistic difficulties, reducing time and making the process of deployment smoother.

“The alternate road will help inter-valley troops transfer and reinforcement,” a senior military officer said on condition of anonymity.

The standoff at the India-Bhutan-Tibet trijunction began on June 16, 2017, when the People’s Liberation Army entered Doklam in a bid to alter the status quo in violation of Beijing’s existing understanding with both India and Bhutan. The issue was eventually resolved with the disengagement of border personnel on August 28, 2017.

Importantly, of the 61 strategic roads spanning 3,346 km being built by BRO along the India-China border, 3,298 km are now connected. Over 2,400 km, or nearly 72%, of these roads are already blacktopped, making them all-weather roads.This year, BRO will complete blacktopping another 11 India-China strategic roads. Blacktopping of another nine roads will be completed next year. “Construction of just six roads — three in the east and three in the west — of the India-China strategic roads with a total length of just 58 km remain,” Lieutenant General Harpal Singh, director general of BRO, said. The rapid construction along the India-China border over the last few years has changed the military dynamics in the region. This includes all-weather alternative access into Ladakh, passing through the Rohtang -Koksar- Kelong route into the Zanskar valley and further up into Nimu. This access will reduce travel time for the military by several hours. Three more tunnels — Baralach La, Lachung La, and Tanglang La — are now being constructed. The Rohtang tunnel will be thrown open this December.

In Arunachal Pradesh, the 180 km-long road parallel to the India-China border connecting Passighat to Brahmakund is also complete. Significantly, Taksin and Tama Chung Chung are linked by the road connecting the Eastern and Western RALP (Rest of Arunachal Pradesh, a military term), saving thousands of kilometres of journey.

Tama Chung Chung was being “air -maintained” till recently. “And, to move from western Arunachal Pradesh to eastern Arunachal Pradesh, one moved south into Assam and climbed back north,” a second senior military officer who did not want to be named said.

In the west, the critical 255 km Durbok-Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldie (DSDBO) road connecting Leh to the northernmost corner of India, which lies a few kilometres south of the crucial Karakoram Pass, is now complete and blacktopped. Significantly, all the 40-odd bridges along the DSDBO road have been widened and strengthened to allow heavy vehicles to travel with ease.

“Time for moving troops, equipment, supplies, and stocks has reduced by about 40%,” a senior official in the ministry of defence (MoD) who did not want to be named said.“Earlier, convoys made their own road while moving up, now with the bridges being widened and the road coming, movement is much faster,” a third officer said on condition of anonymity. Importantly, the biggest bridge on the DSDBO bridge (road) — midway along the 255 km road which was proving to be a major challenge — is now complete.

“Given the difficult rocky terrain and that construction season is limited to only just three months, several micro-foundations were built and were clubbed together instead of one large foundation for piers to support the bridge,” the second senior officer quoted above said.

The officer added: “BRO has adopted new cementitious- and admixture- based technology — which allow constructing roads faster in colder climates where construction season is smaller and also material doesn’t easily disintegrate unlike traditional constructions — for surfacing like the Chinese to construct the roads. The new technology has reduced the time taken to construct and blacktop the roads by about one-third.”

 hindustantimes

Deep-rooted Turkey-Pakistan nuclear links behind Erdogan''s anti-India stance?

Is there a highly secretive N-connection to the burgeoning relations between Pakistan and Turkey, besides of religion, that is making Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan so sharp in his comments against India?
 Erdogan has never made secret his desire for Turkey to become a nuclear-armed nation. As recent as last month he declared that it was unacceptable for nuclear-armed countries to forbid Ankara from obtaining its own nuclear weapons.

"Some countries have missiles with nuclear warheads, not one or two. But (they tell us) we can''t have them. This, I cannot accept," he was quoted as having said to his ruling AKP party members. "There is no developed nation in the world that doesn''t have them," he said, but did not reveal whether his country has plans to obtain them.


The nuclear link between Turkey and Pakistan goes back to Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan''s nuclear weapons programme, who was found to have sold thousands of centrifuges to Iran, North Korea, Libya and possibly others between 1987 and 2002. Khan''s network offered buyers a menu of both technical expertise and the materials to make a bomb. The electronics parts of the centrifuges were from Turkey.

After the 1980 military coup in Turkey, the US had voiced suspicions about Turkey helping Pakistan acquire nuclear know-how. Many of the components used by Pakistan for its nuclear programme were smuggled via Turkey.

In 1981, the US State Department, in a secret cable to its embassy in Ankara, had asked the Turkish government to end its secret shipments of nuclear weapon-making equipment to Pakistan. According to the cable, Turkish companies were re-routing American-made electric equipment, known as inverters, from Europe to Pakistan. Inverters transform electrical current to charge batteries and operate instruments and are used in nuclear plants.
The cable also suggested that Pakistan''s ruler General Zia ul Haq might have offered nuclear technology to Turkey in exchange for the trans shipments. The cable also said that Pakistan was seeking technology and material to produce fuel for explosive devices. The US had then threatened to cancel its proposed military and economic aid to Islamabad.

The Turkish government did not act on the US request and insisted that the inverters, which then cost $100,000 a piece, were not covered under existing export control regulations.

At the time, NATO had put a halt to Pakistan''s uranium enrichment programme, and Islamabad turned to Turkey for help.

Turkey''s neighbour and strong rival Greece too has accused Ankara of developing nuclear weapons. As far back as in the 1980s, then Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou had said that Turkey and Pakistan are cooperating to produce a nuclear bomb.

In a sign of their close ties, A.Q. Khan had even contemplated moving his entire illegal production capacity of centrifuges to Turkey.

In 1998, then Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif had offered Turkey a "nuclear partnership" on nuclear research. Turkey had also backed Pakistan''s nuclear programme.

With this backdrop, it does not come as a surprise when intelligence services report that to this day there is a dynamic scientific exchange between both countries with their nuclear scientists secretly visiting each other''s facilities.According to a report, German intelligence had pointed out that in May 2010, Erdogan had ordered to secretly start preparing for the construction of sites to enrich uranium, and that Turkey had started to produce Yellowcake, needed for nuclear programmes.

There are also reports that Turkey might be the long-sought "fourth customer" of Khan. In mid-2003, a shipment of centrifuge parts and tools sent by A.Q. Khan and intended for Libya "disappeared" during a journey from Malaysia via Dubai to Tripoli.

Malaysia''s link to the A.Q. Khan tale comes from the revelations to police by a Malaysian nuclear middleman, Buhary Syed Abu Tahir, who had allegedly organised the shipping of enriched uranium from Pakistan to Libya. Tahir told police he had obtained the centrifuge components from a public listed company controlled by then Malaysian PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi''s son Kamaluddin Abdullah, and two other investors.

Tahir had also named Turkish nationals among others as being "among the middlemen" alleged to have had links with Khan.

Turkey is a signatory to the NPT.

There are also fears that besides buying fuel or even a nuclear weapon from friend Pakistan, Turkey could also resort to stealing a US hydrogen bomb from the Incirlik Air Base in southeast Turkey. The US has stored around 50 nuclear bombs in Incirlik, and the air base has played a key role in its operations against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.

Besides the secretive Nuclear factor, Turkey and Pakistan have a burgeoning defence relationship, which has seen an upward trajectory since Imran Khan came to power.

Turkey is not only making a warship for Pakistan, it is also selling its T129 ATAK multirole combat helicopters to Islamabad.

 outlookindia

Navy builds case for 3rd aircraft carrier

With China setting a furious pace in construction of new aircraft carriers, and India in the danger of losing this combat and power projection edge in the Indian Ocean Region, the Navy now plans to take up afresh its long-pending case for a third aircraft carrier with the government.

The move comes after the Navy hosted defence minister Rajnath Singh on board its solitary aircraft carrier, the 44,400-tonne INS Vikramaditya, which operates the supersonic MiG-29K fighters from its deck, in the Arabian Sea during the weekend.

Sources say the aim was to showcase how a multi-dimensional carrier battle group (CBG), which can move around 500 nautical miles (900 km) in a single day, is “formidably powerful and extremely flexible” in providing a wide range of tailored responses across the entire spectrum of warfare, be it presence, surveillance, deterrence, coercion, intervention or war-fighting.


The 40,000-tonne indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC-I), or INS Vikrant, being built at Cochin Shipyard for Rs 19,590 crore, is slated to become fully-operational by 2022-2023 after several delays. But the defence ministry is yet to give even the initial approval for construction of the 65,000-tonne IAC-II, which was first sought in May 2015.

The Navy has even junked its plan for IAC-II to have nuclear-propulsion to bring down the overall cost to about Rs 45,000 crore but to no avail. “It’s time IAC-II, with full-electric propulsion, was approved since it will take over a decade to build it. The projected Rs 45,000 crore expenditure will be spread over 10-14 years, with the bulk of it being ploughed back into the country’s economy,” said a source.

The Navy has for long said it requires three carriers to ensure at least two are operationally available at any given time, one each for the eastern and western seaboards, while the third is undergoing its maintenance-and-refit cycle.

From here, the earliest IAC-II can enter service is 2031. By then, China will have four CBGs. After inducting its first 65,000-tonne carrier Liaoning in 2012, China is now operationalising its domestically-built Type-001A carrier, even as it constructs two more.

“China already has six to seven warships deployed in the IOR at any given time. The permanent presence of a Chinese CBG in the IOR within the next few years, and possibly two by 2028, will create a power imbalance in the region,” said a source.

China, in fact, wants to have a 10-carrier Navy by 2050. The US, of course, has 10 Nimitz-class nuclear-powered “super-carriers”, each of which is around 100,000-tonne and capable of carrying 80-90 fighters, deployed around the globe.

“We have to plan for the future. The IOR’s fragile maritime domain, with the collusive threat from China-Pakistan, necessitates a strong Indian Navy to meet future challenges. CBGs provide much more operational flexibility and lethality than shore-based airfields,” said the source.

 timesofindia