On Rafale and deadly Panther choppers, India gets a huge offer from France

France has accepted the Indian request that defence technologies shared with the Indian military should not be given to New Delhi’s adversaries. France’s relationship has already reached a new low with Pakistan after PM Imran Khan attacked President Macron. India and France have decided to intensify defence cooperation with Paris offering to shift 100 per cent assembly line for Panther medium utility helicopters as well as 70 per cent of the assembly line for Rafale fighters under “Make in India” rubric with full transfer of technology, people familiar with the matter said on Saturday.The offers were made in the course of conversations between Indian leaders and Emmanuel Bonne, Diplomatic Advisor to French President Emmanuel Macron who was in the country for the 34th India-France strategic dialogue this week. Officials said there was a real possibility that India, which has a contract for 36 omni-role fighters, could buy more Rafale jets in light of the French offer to bring 70 per cent of the assembly line including local vendor development. This would reduce the cost of subsequent acquisition of the fighter jets. The French offer to make the Panther choppers in India also works well with the government which has been looking to buy medium helicopters for the Indian Navy. The Airbus’ AS565 MBe is an all-weather, multi-role medium helicopter designed for operation from ship decks, offshore locations and land-based sites. According to South Block sources, the India-France strategic dialogue this week has led to forward movement over 9,900 MW Jaitapur nuclear power plant over reactor pricing issues with state-run Electricite de France (EDF) and Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL). The strategic dialogue was headed by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Emmanuel Bonne, Diplomatic Advisor to French President Emmanuel Macron. ///Hindustantimes

China’s PLA may ramp up military activity in Ladakh in 2 months

With Indian Army and People’s Liberation Army (PLA) frozen in their positions in East Ladakh sector’s polar winter, national security planners expect China to ramp up military activity at the friction points when the snows melt in late March. There has been no withdrawal of any PLA troops from the contested points and China has used the stand-off to build advanced landing grounds across the Daulet Beg Oldi sector in Tianwendian, humongous shelters to house personnel and a shorter link from Hotan airbase to Karakoram pass. "There could be military pressure north of Depsang bulge," said a senior commander. According to people familiar with the matter, the dates of the ninth round of military talks are expected to be decided soon to top the good progress made by both sides in disengagement and de-escalation plan. This view is in sharp contrast to the view within a section of the government, who believe that the PLA is in no mood to move out of the contested points at least till paramount leader Xi Jinping delivers his address to the celebrations to mark 100 years of Chinese Communist Party’s rule. “This is the unfortunate record,” said a senior official. While the Indian Army is prepared to sit out in East Ladakh for as long as it takes, the Chinese moves may also be influenced by the tone and tenor of the incoming Joe Biden administration towards Beijing. Although many believe that the incoming US administration could strike a balance by its de facto recognition of China as the other superpower, this new G-2 factor will hurt former superpowers like Russia. India, on its part, believes that it is a multi-polar world and New Delhi is not dependent (much to the chagrin of western strategists) on Washington to deal with China to protect its frontiers. And hence, the strategy of Atmanirbhar Bharat in developing indigenous technologies in areas of drones, fighter aircraft and stand-off weapons with the involvement of the public and private sector. The onus lies on DRDO and HAL to roll-out the Tejas Mark I A on April 1, 2024, along with a prototype of the twin-engine indigenous fighter or AMCA as the government has shot down Mark II project. According to senior officials familiar with the national security deliberations, India does hope that the incoming Biden administration will stand by its commitments on China, South China Sea, Taiwan or Indo-Pacific at large but New Delhi is not dependent on the US for handling the PLA. The fact is that the US has indeed increased Indian awareness of the Indo-Pacific by providing access to information, the same cannot be said about the Ladakh stand-off. This approach is contrary to China’s perception that sees India through the prism of the US and as an adversary. With PLA ramping up border infrastructure all along the 3,488 kilometre Line of Actual Control (LAC), India is alive to the distinct possibility that China could open up fronts in Arunachal Pradesh and around the Sikkim-Bhutan-India tri-junction area. However, after the Galwan flare-up on June 15 and significant casualties on the PLA side, China will engage India with stand-off weapons and not repeat the mistake of engaging Indian Army in hand-to-hand combat in a worst-case scenario. But there is a downside to such an engagement and China is acutely aware of it. Much as China would like to teach a lesson to Indian Army as its state media often warns, Beijing is well aware that the political leadership under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has the capacity to retaliate like it did on 29-30 August 2020 on the south bank of Pangong Tso. For a country that sees itself as a contender to the superpower slot now occupied by the US, any military loss of face to India will take the wind out of that claim. Hindustantimes

Indian Air Force to get a big Rafale boost, 16 fighters to land by April

 

Five Rafale jets flew to the Ambala airbase via Abu Dhabi on July 29. Three more are landing in Ambala air base on November 5, three will arrive in January, another three in March and seven in April, taking the total number of fighters handed over to the IAF to 21 single-seat fighters and seven twin-seat trainer fighters.

The Indian Air Force’s strike capability is set for a boost with 16 omni-role Rafale jet fighters to be inducted into the Golden Arrows squadron by April 2021 and with France’s biggest jet engine maker Safran ready to make fighter engines and ancillaries in India, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday

Five Rafale jets flew to the Ambala airbase via Abu Dhabi on July 29 and have already been inducted into the IAF’s Squadron 17. The next batch of three Rafales will arrive in Ambala on November 5 directly from the Bordeaux-Merignac facility (there will be no stop as they will be fuelled mid-air), according to senior government officials. Seven Rafale fighters are already being used for IAF fighter pilot training in France.

Three more Rafales will arrive in January, another three in March and seven in April, taking the total number of fighters handed over to the IAF to 21 single-seat fighters and seven twin-seat trainer fighters. This means that by April next year, the Golden Arrows squadron will be complete with 18 fighters and the remaining three can be sent to the Hashimara airbase in north Bengal’s Alipurduar to counter the threat posed by China on the eastern front. All the fighters are equipped with Mica and Meteor air-to-air missiles along with Scalp air-to-ground cruise missiles. 

India has now requested Safran for the air-to-ground modular weapon known as Hammer with a 250kg warhead.

///Hindustantimes

China Has Built Village In Arunachal, Show Satellite Images

 

China has constructed a new village in Arunachal Pradesh, consisting of about 101 homes, show satellite images accessed exclusively by NDTV. The same images, dated November 1, 2020, have been analysed by several experts approached by NDTV, who confirmed that the construction, approximately 4.5 kms within Indian territory of the de facto border, will be of huge concern to India. Though this area is Indian territory, according to official government maps, it has been in effective Chinese control since 1959. However, earlier only a Chinese military post existed, but this time a full-fledged village that can house thousands has been built.

The village, located on the banks of the River Tsari Chu, lies in the Upper Subansiri district, an area which has been long disputed by India and China and has been marked by armed conflict.

It was constructed in the eastern range of the Himalayas even as Indian and Chinese soldiers confronted each other in their deadliest clash in decades, thousands of kilometres away in the Western Himalayas in Ladakh. In June last year, 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a clash in the Galwan Valley. China has never publicly stated how many casualties its own army suffered. The stand-off in Ladakh continues through this winter with thousands of soldiers from both sides deployed on the frontline at extreme altitudes in sub-zero temperatures.

The latest image that establishes the village in question is dated November 1, 2020. The image dated a little more than a year before that - August 26, 2019 - does not show any construction activity. So, the village was set up in the last year.

In response to NDTV's detailed questions, the Foreign Ministry, which was also sent the satellite images, did not challenge what the pictures show. "We have seen recent reports on China undertaking construction work along the border areas with India. China has undertaken such infrastructure construction activity in the past several years."

The government says it remains committed to improving border infrastructure. ''Our Government too has stepped up border infrastructure including the construction of roads, bridges etc, which has provided much needed connectivity to the local population along the border.''

In October last year, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, "For some time, the Indian side has been ramping up infrastructure development along the border and stepping up military deployment that is the root cause for the tensions between the two sides." There are, however, no signs of Indian road or infrastructure development in the immediate vicinity of the new Chinese village.

In fact, in November 2020, which is when this satellite image was taken, the BJP MP from Arunachal Pradesh, Tapir Gao, had warned the Lok Sabha of Chinese incursions in his state, referring specifically to the Upper Subansiri district. This morning, he told NDTV that this includes the construction of a new double-lane road. ''Construction is still going on. China has entered more than 60-70 kms inside the upper Subansiri district if you follow the path along the river. They are constructing a road along the river known locally as the Lensi as it flows in the direction of the Subansiri river.''

The Foreign Ministry did not respond directly to a question on whether the village construction has been diplomatically raised with Beijing. It said to NDTV, ''The government keeps a constant watch on all developments having a bearing on India's security and takes all the necessary measures to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity.''

An authentic online map of the Surveyor General of India, used by the government as its official map, clearly shows that the Chinese village lies well within Indian territory.

The images with NDTV have been procured from Planet Labs Inc, satellite imagery experts who monitor the planet on a daily basis. They show the exact coordinates of the new village, which lies north of a large square-shaped structure, believed by defence analysts to be a Chinese military post, first captured as an image over a decade ago by Google Earth. The new images with NDTV indicate that this post has also been substantially upgraded.

Google Earth images also indicate that the village lies south of the McMahon Line, the demarcation between Tibet and India's Northeast which New Delhi believes marks the boundary between India and China in the region. This line is disputed by Beijing.

According to Claude Arpi, an expert in India-China relations, ''The village is well South of the McMahon [Line] and the Indian perception of the Line of Actual Control.'' While explaining that this has historically been a disputed area, the construction of the new village, he says, ''is an extraordinarily serious issue as it has many other implications elsewhere on the boundary.''

Construction of this village appears to be a violation of a key part of multiple agreements reached with India that ask both countries to "safeguard due interests of their settled populations in the border areas'' and decree that ''Pending an ultimate settlement of the boundary question, the two sides should strictly respect and observe the line of actual control and work together to maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas.''

''The imagery is clearly showing the Chinese construction of a residential area within India's claimed border,'' says Sim Tack, a leading military analyst on armed conflicts. ''It's important to note that the Chinese military has maintained a small forward position in this valley since 2000'' says Mr Tack. This position ''has allowed China to advance observation into the valley for many years, [and] has been seemingly uncontested.'' This has ''allowed gradual upgrades of mobility from China into the valley (roads and bridges) over time, eventually culminating in the recent construction of this village.''

The Tsari Chu river valley has a history of clashes between India and China dating back to 1959. A formal note of protest sent by Delhi to Beijing at the time says Chinese soldiers fired without notice on an Indian forward post "which was twelve strong but eight Indian personnel somehow managed to escape.''

''China is opening another front against India by taking its "salami-slicing" tactics to Arunachal Pradesh,'' says strategic affairs expert Dr Brahma Chellaney. ''Its encroachment on an area that clearly falls within India underscores the stealth and speed with which it is redrawing facts on the ground, with little regard for the geopolitical fallout.''

///NDTV

At $43 million each, the Tejas Mark 1A competes in export market

 

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced the Union Cabinet’s clearance for Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) to build 83 Tejas Mark 1A light combat aircraft (LCA) for Rs 45,696 crore. This raised concerns that the improved version of the current Tejas Mark 1 fighter would cost a daunting Rs 550 crore each.

However, senior government sources have clarified to Business Standard that each Tejas Mark 1A will cost no more than Rs 315 crore to build, with the total manufacturing cost adding up to Rs 26,145 crore.

1. Basic cost of 83 fighters : Rs 26,145 crore

2. ADA consultancy charges : Rs 800 crore

3. Maintenance running list of spares : Rs 8,000 crore

4. Technical training schools : Rs 600 crore

5. GSE/GHE : Rs 1,202 crore

6. Central taxes : Rs 9,000 crore

TOTAL (about) : Rs 45,696 crore

The balance of the Cabinet clearance includes allocations for tax and for maintenance and support infrastructure in the two operational air bases that will be home to the four squadrons of the Tejas Mark 1A.

Of the Cabinet’s total allocation, government taxes and levies constitute about 20 per cent, or about Rs 9,000 crore. Effectively, the Ministry of Finance will be appropriating a large chunk of the defence budget through taxing an indigenous weapons platform.

In major arms manufacturing countries, such as the USA, defence equipment and weaponry is exempt from excise and sales tax.

True, taxation of defence equipment merely amounts to money going from one government pocket to another. However, it would have serious implications when it comes to export of the Tejas Mark 1A. The government has emphasised the need for promoting export, which would reduce the fighter’s cost through manufacture in larger numbers.

At Rs 315 crore ($43 million) per fighter, the Tejas Mark 1A would be a viable competitor in the international market for light fighters. It would be less so if taxes took up its cost to Rs 378 crore ($51 million). Competitors, such as the Sino-Pakistan JF-17 Thunder, are cheaper with a unit cost of $25-30 million. However, the Tejas Mark 1A outperforms them in avionics and weaponry.

This is through performance enhancements introduced into the Tejas Mark 1A, compared to the current Mark 1. The Mark 1A features the Israeli Elta EL/AESA 2052 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, replacing the Mark 1’s manually scanned Elta EL/M 2032 radar. None of the light fighters competing with the Tejas features an AESA radar, which provides a massive advantage in air-to-air as well as air-to-ground combat.

The Tejas Mark 1A also scores in electronic warfare (EW), being equipped with an Israeli self-protection jammer (SPJ), carried in an external pod under the fighter’s wing.

Finally, an operational edge is provided by the Mark 1A’s air-to-air missiles. Its primary “beyond visual range” (BVR) missile is the indigenous Astra, one of the Defence R&D Organisation’s (DRDO’s) outstanding successes. In addition, the Mark 1A is integrated with the shorter-range ASRAAM missile, built by European consortium, MBDA; and with the Israeli Derby and Russian R-73 missiles.

While the Tejas LCA programme has been run by the DRDO, through an organisation called the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), developing and manufacturing the Tejas Mark 1A was entrusted to HAL. However, ADA, which holds all the source codes of the Tejas, charged HAL a sum of Rs 800 crore for its partnership.

The amount cleared by the Cabinet also includes expenditure on setting up operational infrastructure for flying the Tejas Mark 1A from two Indian Air Force (IAF) bases, which are still unidentified. Each airbase will house two Tejas Mark 1A squadrons.

Each of these two airbases will operate a Technical Training School, in which maintenance technicians and even pilots will undergo continuous training and upgrading of their technical skills. The cost of setting up each of these training establishments will be over Rs 300 crore.

An expenditure of Rs 1,202 crore has also been budgeted for setting up “ground support equipment” (GSE) and “ground handling equipment” (GHE) in both the Tejas Mark 1A airbases. This equipment is required for the ground end of flying operations – getting the fighter aircraft started up and airborne, carrying out maintenance checks and a certain level of repair and replacement of modules.

A large sum has been cleared for the Tejas Mark 1A’s “maintenance running list of spares” (MRLS), which is a large inventory of spares and modules that operational squadrons and depots holds in reserve. This is so that, in the event of an aircraft component or module requiring to be replaced, it is readily available with the airbase and there is no waiting period while the part is obtained from a central depot.

IAF sources indicate that HAL initially submitted a cost estimate of Rs 59,000 crore, which was brought down by the Cost Negotiation Committee by Rs 12,000 crore. In fact, the reason for HAL’s high initial estimate was the IAF’s demand that the Tejas fighter’s engine – the F-404IN engine, built by US firm General Electric (GE) – be manufactured in India with transfer of technology (ToT) from GE.

Eventually, this plan was dropped due to the high cost demanded by GE for ToT and licence to build the F-404IN engine in India. Buying ready-built engines from GE brought down the project cost by Rs 12,000 crore.

///Businessstandard

After Tejas, India moves ahead to procure more MiG-29s & Sukhois

 

India is now formally moving ahead to procure 21 MiG-29 and 12 Sukhoi-30MKI fighters from Russia, along with upgrades of their existing fleets, after the Cabinet Committee on Security approved the production of 83 indigenous Tejas jets last week.

For starters, the RFP (request for proposal) for the 21 MiG-29 fighters, whose bare airframes are lying in a mothballed condition in Russia since the later-1980s, will soon be issued to Russian state-run defence export arm Rosoboronexport, said defence sources on Sunday.

The acquisition of these MiG-29s at “relatively lower prices” will add to 59 such jets already with IAF. The 12 Sukhoi-30MKIs, in turn, will add to the 272 such jets already contracted from Russia for about $15 billion, with the bulk of them being licensed produced by Hindustan Aeronautics. IAF has so far inducted 268 of the original 272 Sukhois, with at least nine of them being lost in crashes over the years.


Along with the 83 new Tejas, which will be inducted in the January 2024-December 2028 timeframe under the Rs 46,898 crore deal cleared by the CCS, the additional MiG-29s and Sukhois are meant to stem the freefall in the number of IAF fighter squadrons.

With the progressive phasing out of the obsolete MiG-21s, MiG-23s and MiG-27s, the force is down to just about 30 squadrons (each has 16-18 jets) when at least 42 are required to tackle the “collusive” threat from China and Pakistan. The remaining four MiG-21 “Bisons” squadrons are also slated to retire by 2024.

The defence ministry in July last year gave the initial nod for the acquisition of the 21 MiG-29s with the latest avionics and electronic warfare suites, and further upgrade of the 59 existing jets to “ensure commonality across the fleet”, at a cost of Rs 7,418 crore.

The cost of 12 new twin-seat Sukhois, along with advanced electronic warfare capabilities as well as additional supplies and spares, in turn, was estimated to be Rs 10,730 crore.

While 42 Sukhois are now being modified to carry the precision-strike BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, the entire fleet will also subsequently be “fully enhanced” with more advanced avionics, radars and weapons to further bolster their combat capabilities.

IAF also plans to get the “acceptance of necessity” by this April-May for its long-term mega “Make in India” project for 114 new fighters for over $20 billion under the “strategic partnership” policy.

The French Rafale fighter will obviously be the frontrunner if India goes ahead with this project, having already bought 36 of them under the Rs 59,000 crore deal inked in September 2016. The other six contenders are F/A-18 and F-21 (US), Gripen-E (Sweden), Sukhoi-35 and MiG-35 (Russia) and the Eurofighter Typhoon.

///TOI

Indian firm bags Army’s Rs 140-crore deal for high altitude UAVs, eyes exports too

 

The Army has awarded a $20 million deal (around Rs 140 crore) to an Indian firm, ideaForge, for an undisclosed number of the advanced version of SWITCH tactical drones.

These specialised drones are made to operate in high altitude areas like Ladakh, for use by infantry soldiers and Special Forces. India has been engaged in a border stand-off with China at the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh region since April-May last year.

The niche drone maker won the contract after competing with Israel’s top UAV manufacturer Elbit, besides the Tata Group, Dynamatic Technologies Ltd, Asteria Aerospace and VTOL Aviation.

The firm will deliver the systems, which are used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), over a period of one year, according to a company statement Thursday.

“ideaForge has been awarded this contract after it emerged as the only vendor that qualified the operational requirements in an evaluation done in real-world conditions, for a fast-track procurement,” the statement said.

It added that the contract marks a strategic shift in the Indian defence procurement process as the Army goes on an aggressive modernisation drive.

The drone details

The standard man portable SWITCH weighs 6.5 kg and is capable of vertical take-off, conventional flight with an endurance of 2 hours. It can carry out surveillance up to 15 km from altitudes of 4,000 meters. It has a maximum operating altitude of 1000 metres and has a wind resistance up to 10.8 knots or 20 km per hour.

The SWITCH is a Fixed Wing VTOL (Vertical Take-off and Landing) UAV which can be deployed at high altitude and harsh environments for day and night surveillance in ISR missions. It has a daylight payload of 1280×720 pixels, 25x Optical Zoom and has a thermal payload of 640×480 pixels.

However, the Army has ordered an advanced version of this drone, which comes with extended endurance and covers 700 sq km from each take off point. It comes with encrypted communication and long range target detection with HD optical zoom payload.

ideaForge aims for exports

Speaking to ThePrint, ideaForge chief executive Ankit Mehta said the firm was “super excited” about the deal, adding that the SWITCH UAV is the only product that cleared the Army’s stringent product trials and surpassed expectations.

“It is a testimony of the fact that our systems are built like a bird and tested like a tank. Our systems are fully ready to serve nations that seek to protect their territorial sovereignty,” he said.

Asked if he is also looking at exports, Mehta said the company is in talks with certain countries. He added that the Army’s contract will push its case before other nations since everyone is aware of how stringent Indian defence trials are.

“We are keen on exports. Everyone understands that Indian trails are vigorous. We have had consultations and demonstrations for some other countries too,” he said. Mehta added that the indigenous content of the system is “much higher” than the requirements stated by the Services.

The company is backed by institutional investors such as WRVI, Infosys and Qualcomm.

theprint

BDL, Thales ink pact to make STARStreak Air Defence System in India

 

Defence PSU Bharat Dynamics Ltd and Thales have signed a Teaming Agreement to work in partnership on the STARStreak Air Defence system, with the support of the Governments of India and the UK.

N P Diwakar, Director (Technical), BDL, Alex Cresswell, CEO Thales, in the UK and Emmanuel de Roquefeuil, VP and Country Director, Thales in India, signed the teaming agreement in a virtual ceremony in the presence of Commodore Siddharth Mishra (Retd), Chairman and Managing Director, BDL.

Jeremy Quin, Minister for Defence Procurement, Government of UK, and Mark Goldsack, Head of UK Defence & Security Exports, UK graced the occasion.

With this, BDL will become a part of the STARStreak global supply chain, with the opportunity to export the system to existing and future customers, including the UK Armed Forces.

As a part of its Global Outreach, BDL is looking to forge alliances with foreign companies to take the ‘Make in India’ mission ahead. Earlier, Thales and BDL had signed a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ to assess the opportunity for the transfer of technology for STARStreak.

Today’s agreement will allow BDL to offer the STARStreak missile system to the Indian Armed Forces with a minimum of 60 per cent indigenous content, as well as Design and Development of the system, qualifying it under the ‘Make in India’ programme.

The agreement also represents an opportunity for industrial cooperation between the UK and India and will facilitate closer collaboration and co-development between industries of the two nations.

Mishra said, “The partnership between Thales and BDL with Transfer of Technology for STARStreak, will create a new business opportunity for BDL and its Supply Chain Partners in India. BDL will be able to enhance its footprint in the export and domestic markets with this new business opportunity.”

“The Government’s ‘Make in India’ programme, the ‘ease of doing business’ and recent ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiatives have created a congenial ecosystem for foreign OEMs to tie up with Indian Industries like BDL to establish production facilities in India,” he added.

Alex Cresswell, CEO, Thales in the UK said, “Today’s signing is a significant milestone for all parties concerned and look forward to Thales and BDL developing a close working relationship. BDL manufactured systems will be exported to various countries, including the UK."

This is good news for Thales’ business in Belfast in Northern Ireland, for the supply chain of UK SMEs with whom it works and for its teams in India, he said.

The STARStreak Missile System is in service in the British Army and has been procured by defence forces worldwide. The fastest missile in its category, STARStreak, has three laser-guided darts, which cannot be jammed by any known countermeasure. It has the capability to defeat any air target – even armoured helicopters – as the last line of defence.

thehindubusinessline

AK 203 contract for Amethi Factory soon: Army Chief Gen MM Naravane

 

The Amethi factory to manufacture modern assault rifles for the Army is likely to get operationalised soon, with the Army chief saying that a final contract is expected shortly and all issues have been sorted out.

The plan to manufacture 671427 of the AK 203 rifles at the factory has been under discussion for almost two years, with the contract stipulating 100% transfer of technology and possible exports in the future from the Indian plant.

“Negotiations are at an advanced stage. There were some last-minute hitches and hiccups and those have been ironed out now. I hope the final contract will be signed soon,” Army Chief Gen MM Naravane said .

Sources said that as per current discussions, the rifles – to be made by a joint venture between Kalashnikov and the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) – are expected to cost under Rs 70,000 a piece, significantly cheaper that US made rifles imported by the Army under an emergency order that cost the exchequer Rs 89,000 a piece.

Besides, India will get complete know how to manufacture modern assault rifles, given that the contract specifies that all of these need to be made completely in India from the first day. Sources said that there had been differences regarding the pricing of the deal, as OFB and Kalashnikov’s offer was deemed to be high but this is being sorted out.

A bulk of the cost for the rifles will go towards OFB which needs to absorb the technology. Sources said that the royalty per rifle to the Russian side will be just over Rs 6,000, against the rifle cost of Rs 70,000.

As reported by ET, the defence ministry had set up a pricing committee in June last year after difficulties in arriving at a final price for the project. The project has high priority on the bilateral agenda since an inter-governmental agreement was signed in January 2019.

Economictimes

Indian Army soft-pedals light tank of DRDO-L&T for China border

 

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani flagged off on Monday the 91st self-propelled howitzer that Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has built at its Armoured System Complex (ASC) in Hazira. L&T is looking to complete delivery of its contract for 100 K-9 Vajra tracked guns by February, well ahead of schedule.

After February, however, once the army has been handed over the last of these 155 mm, 52 calibre howitzers – essentially artillery guns mounted on a tank chassis for mobility – the ASC Hazira production line will fall silent. Then the expertise accumulated by L&T while building 100 K-9 Vajra guns will start dissipating.

This is because the army is soft-pedalling the Defence R&D Organisation (DRDO) proposal to manufacture in L&T’s facilities a line of at least 500 light tanks, which will be powered by the same 28-tonne chassis, hull and engine that powers the K-9 Vajra.


Instead of the K-9 Vajra artillery turret that mounts a heavy, 155 mm gun that shoots over the horizon, the light tank will have a smaller turret with a direct firing, high pressure 105 mm gun, ready-built by Belgian firm John Cockerill.

The DRDO is offering the light tank for the army to use in high-altitude areas such as Ladakh, where the Chinese ingress last May has already forced the deployment of two additional divisions (36,000 troops) and the impending move of another two divisions that are being diverted from a mechanised strike corps.

To supplement the two armoured regiments (each with 45 tanks) that already defended the China border, the army has additionally raised two independent armoured brigades over the preceding decade – one for operations in Ladakh and the other for Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. Each of these brigades fields 175-200 tanks.

All these 500-odd tanks are currently 42-tonne T-72M1s, which are too large and heavy to move and operate in the narrow, twisty roads and low-weight-bearing bridges that are found in the Himalaya. Nor are the T-72 tank engines customised to operating in the oxygen-depleted atmosphere at those altitudes.

But the army has still not backed the DRDO’s efforts to replace the T-72s with a light tank that is custom built for India’s rugged borders. The DRDO is offering a 30-35 tonne light tank that it says will be a match for what the army faces – China’s new Type-15 light tank, also referred to as the ZTQ-15. Built by Chinese public sector firm Norinco, the Type-15 has been deployed over the past year on the Tibetan plateau opposite Eastern Ladakh.

DRDO sources say the indigenous light tank will be at least a match for the Type-15. Engineers of the Central Vehicle R&D Establishment, the Chennai-based DRDO laboratory that designs and develops armoured vehicles, say they are working with L&T to reduce the weight of the 28-tonne Vajra chassis by 3-4 tonnes, which will bring the overall weight of the light tank to about 30 tonnes.

That will allow the Vajra’s 1000 Horse Power German MTU engine and Allison transmission to create sufficient mobility for the light tank, even at high altitudes where engines deliver less than 80 per cent of the power they would at sea level.

The light tank’s 105 mm gun will fire armour piercing ammunition to destroy enemy tanks, and high-explosive shells against unarmoured targets. Each light tank will have a fully-stabilised 12.7 mm heavy machine gun and a co-axial 7.62 mm medium machine gun. In addition, the turret would have a retractable missile launcher that can fire anti-tank guided missiles to destroy targets out to 2.5 kilometres.

A major hurdle to the tank’s design is that the army has not yet shared with the DRDO its notion of what design features and performance it would like. This is usually shared in a document called the “preliminary staff qualitative requirements”, or PSQR. Without this, the DRDO’s designers are groping in the dark.

///Business standard

China completes 3D mapping of its Western border: Official media

 

China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) recently started deploying the country's first panoramic, high-precision spatial datum that covers the uncharted Western border region of the country, official media here reported on Tuesday.

The system which provides 3D mapping with centimetre level accuracy will contribute to the infrastructure construction as well as combat capability enhancement of Chinese forces in the region, state-run Global Times reported.

China has the longest border spanning 22,000 kms and shares them with 14 countries with 11 of them, including India, in the Western sector.India and China have 3,488-km long Line of Actual Control (LAC) including the Eastern Ladakh where the armies of the two countries have deployed a large number of troops.

Over the past two years a navigation and mapping unit affiliated with the PLA Western Theatre Command, which looks after the borders with India, traversed over 20,000 kms and established the first panoramic, high-precision spatial datum in the western border region based on 3D geographic information from remote sensing images and joint situational precognition, the Global Times quoted the official China Central Television (CCTV) as saying.

"The panoramic spatial datum is like a multifunctional, highly accurate ruler that can indicate the coordinates of remote sensing images and other geographic data. We can evaluate the data, that can reach centimeter-level accuracy," Wang Yanbin, deputy leader of the navigation and mapping unit, told CCTV.

///economictimes

83 Advanced Tejas Jets to Join IAF Fleet as Cabinet Gives Nod for Mega Rs 48,000 Crore Deal

 

The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on Wednesday cleared the purchase of 83 Light Combat Aircraft Tejas from the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The deal, worth Rs 48,000 crore, will be the biggest ever in the indigenous military aviation sector.

The approval by the CCS, which is headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, comes 10 months after the Defence Acquisition Council in March 2020 okayed the procurement of 83 more advanced Mark 1A version of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA).

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh confirmed the development, saying "the largest indigenous defence procurement deal worth about 48,000 crores" will strengthen the IAF’s fleet of homegrown fighter jet 'LCA-Tejas'. "This deal will be a game changer for self reliance in the Indian defence manufacturing," he added in a tweet.

"The LCA-Tejas is going to be the backbone of the IAF fighter fleet in years to come," said Singh. "The indigenous content of LCA-Tejas is 50% in Mk1A variant which will be enhanced to 60%."

Singh added HAL has already set up second line manufacturing facilities at its Nasik and Bengaluru divisions.

The purchase is in addition to an earlier deal to buy 40 of the combat aircraft and the locally-made jets are set to join the Indian Air Force fleet over the course of the next six to seven years.

The ratification by the CCS paves the way for the signing of the contract, which is expected to take place next month during the Aero India defence expo.

The Mark A1 version of the jet will have 43 improvements over the initial version, including major improvements to enhance operational capability.

These include easier maintenance, active electronically scanned array radar, electronic warfare suite and beyond-visual range missile capabilities, that will include the Indian made air-to-air missile Aastra Mark1. It will also have the ability to carry missiles for long range.

The Indian Air Force plans to switch to the locally-manufactured Tejas, the LCA Mark 1A, three years after it floated a tender from international producers for 114 aircraft.

India had invited bids for the purchase of the 114 jets in 2018, which attracted offers from Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Saab AB of Sweden worth $15 billion. This comes as a sign that the country seeks to abandon expensive defence purchases from abroad.

According to an earlier statement by Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat, the move is aimed at replacing the ageing fleet of the Indian Air Force and will be a milestone in India's bid to start using locally-made weapons. In addition to the jets, artillery guns, air defence systems and radars will be indigenously produced as well, he had said.

The 123 Tejas fighters procured by the IAF will be in three different variants, all powered by a general electric engine. So far 20 have been made in what is called the initial operational clearance version. Another 20 are being made in what is called the final operational clearance version. These 123 jets will be followed by the Mark-II variant which are medium weight fighters.

///news18