Always Exuberant

Race with China.. where does India stand..??

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 15 Feb 2014 10:14:00 +0000

ISRO denied having any race with China.. India has always denied having any kind of race with china,whether that is of arms, exports, natural resources, space or technology.

At the same time, we cannot ignore the comparitive between India and China. Lets start with basic facts:

Parameter:	India	China
Total population	1.2 billion	1.34 billion
Area	3.3 Million Sq Km	9.7 Million Sq Km
GDP(nominal)	$1.9 Trillion	$8.25 Trillion
Per Capita (per person per year)	$1,592	$6,094

Now comes Military comparison
Active Personnel	1.325 Million	2.285 Million
Military Budget	$48.9 Billion	$114.2 Billion
Total Aircraft Strength	1,962	2,743
Helicopters	559	100
Total Tanks	3,555	7,950
Armoured Fighing Vehicle	2,293	18,700
Self propelled Guns	330	2,500
Mulitple Launch Rocket System
System	292	2,600
Total Navy Ships	170	972
Aircraft Carrier	1	1
Submarine Strength	15	63
Frigates	14	47
Destroyers	8	25
Corvette	24	0
Amphibious Assault craft	16	228
Maximum Range of Missile 3	3,000 tested	13,000 tested

There can still many parameters that can be compared. There are certain important points to be notes. India and China have been top importers of arms in last three years. what has changed is China has become fifth largest exporter of arms too (5 yrs ago, the export was nil).

India has always been in denial mode with regards to competition with China.

Who is providing arms to Gaddafi.. er Kadhafi.. em Qaddafi..(whatever it is)..!!??

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 12:18:00 +0000

Who is providing arms to Libya's Gaddafi.

Here we will not discuss whether Gaddafi is right or wrong... correct or incorrect. already there is huge confusion about the right spell to his name...(pun intended)

We know that NATO and other western countries have been providing support to rebels in Libya (military and non-military).

The rebellion is on since February 15, 2011 with peaceful protests and then culminating into full fledged armed rebellion.

Libya - A small african country with population of around 6.4 Million, GDP of around $74 Billion with Per Capita Income of around $11k.

Libya has armed forces comprising of Libyan Army, Air Force and Libyan Navy.

The total armed forces are around 76,000. Around 50,000 Army, 22,000 Air Force and 8,000 Navy. Considering this, it seems the effective fighting personnel is not more than 70-75 thousand. lets not consider role of navy in the current conflict.

The wikipedia mentions that Libya had around 2000 tanks, 1200 armoured vehicles, 450 SP artillery pieces, 650 towed artillery pieces and 830 multiple rocket launchers. 500 mortars and 450 missiles.

Airforce consists of 450 combat aircrafts (which has been rendered almost useless by Coalition strikes) and 1650 Surface to air missiles. Most of the weaponry is quite old and questionable about its ability to be used in war.

The armed conflict has left air force decapitated that means around 20,000 forces are out. what remains is army of around 50,000 personnel. 2,000 tanks means atleast 5,000 forces used there. which means on ground fighting force is about 45,ooo. In this conflict Gaddafi has lost 2,000 personnel (including death, capture and defections).

Many of the tanks have been destroyed, multi rocket launchers destroyed. hundreds of armoured vehicles destroyed.

On February 26, UN security council imposed an arms embargo on Libya, travel bans and assets freeze on Gaddafi regime. UN on March 17, 2011 passed resolution for no-fly zone over libya to be implemented by France and UK. NATO started intervening militarily around end of March 2011.

Despite all this, War seems to be far from over. Gaddafi forces seem to be gaining ground. At one place rebels gain ground at another place, its the pro-Gaddafi forces gaining ground.

The moot question here is DOES GADDAFI HAVE THE RESOURCES TO ENGAGE CONFLICT FOR SO LONG?

where does this capacity come from? for this we have to look little backwards.

1) US had planned arms sale worth of $ 77 Million in 2010.

2) European nations had arms sale worth of $ 470 Million in 2009 alone.

3) In February 2010, Russia had entered into arms deal with Libya for Euro 1.3 Billion ($ 1.8 Billion).

4) The article here quotes various deals that libya was seeking. It also clearly mentions that in the event of civil war being dragged, do not surprised that these old deals will be revived and ways found to circumvent the arms embargo.

One of the NATO commander had clearly mentioned that they would not be targeting Gaddafi directly but would target the other related areas and personnel.

Does this means that these countries want the conflict to drag on so that their own agendas are fulfilled? Considering that libya having such a small force and conflict continuing for more than 4 months now, have these embargoes already breached? Can somebody confirm that?

India had a limited conflict with Pakistan in 1999 when pakistan intruded into Indian territory at kargil. The war that India waged did cost INR 15 Crore per day (i.e. around $ 4 million Per Day). The total cost of that war was INR 3,500 crores (i.e. around $ 800 Million). during that period around 500 soldiers dead and around 1300 wounded.

Considering these facts, does Gaddafi have the capability to engage a four month war across the country? or put otherwise, from where does the Gaddafi get the resources to continue this war?

Drones - Virtual War

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 09:08:00 +0000

Recently US decided to use drones for helping(?) Libyan rebels fight against Libyan leader. In another country (Pakistan), there has been huge hue and cry about the use of drones against the militancy. US already uses drones in the border region of AfPak (Afghanistan-Pakistan) against the taliban. These drones have been very successful in their operations. Almost 230 attacks have been made without about 2300 men killed in the attack in drone attacks in Afghanistan.

US had long back Unmanned Arial Vehicles which could fly across pacific non-stop.

Use of drones has taken war to next level. The human intervention is minimised considerably by use of such automated weapons.

US has effectively minimised the human loss (their) in any ongoing wars. Irrespective of their loosening hold on the financial markets, their hold on the military is tightening and quite gripping. Any economy without a strong military support cannot remain powerful.

Use of such automated weapons, US makes sure that, their own human losses are minimised and so the opposition to military intervention by US is brought down.

The opposition to military intervention in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, etc was due to the human losses in the war. By using such weapons and tools, US will continue interfering in others affairs and at the same time, reducing their risks involved in such operations.

All these operations in various countries act as good ground for live experiments of such weapons/vehicles.

New Start in Indian diplomacy

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 29 May 2010 09:50:00 +0000

Last week India strongly criticized Canada regarding the behavior towards not granting Visa to personnel of Indian defence establishment. The Indian rebuke was strongly worded and called for apology and appropriate rectifying measures from the canadian end.

In rare display of anger by India, this has revealed the stronger side. Such reactions are called for frequently to assert the say of Indian in international interactions.

Indian Foreign Affairs Minister S M Krishna termed the denial of visa to Indian security men as "unacceptable". Further the minister did not rule out the retaliatory action by India. Canadians were expected to address the situation immediately.

Canada, fearing a major diplomatic fall out, said it regretted its immigration official's remarks. IT further has said that its policy for entry of foreigners is under review after series of such incidents.

The Indian gain is that it is now able to assert its views and force countries change their stance. Though it does not appear to be major victory or step, but definitely a step in the right direction of being able to make itself visible and make other take notice of the voices made by us.

India will gain major achievement in asserting itself, when it is able to rough talk with behemoths like UK and China and make them notice India.

Long has been UK changing its immigration policies towards Indians and china resorting to acceptance of stapled Visas.
Nevertheless, this step is in right direction...

Come Back

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 13 May 2010 18:08:00 +0000

Dear All,

Its a long time since this blog has been dormant. But not now... This blog didn't comment on lot of things.. but not now...

This blog is back..

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:16:00 +0000

HEARTY CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYBODY........

India has successfully crash landed moon probe on moon's surface. Further details will be posted soon..

some pics sent by chandrayaan

Biggest international heist in Financial History

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 17:31:00 +0000

Consider This

## Sometime back ##

(a) US denies Dubai Port company to takeover Us Ports company citing security reasons.

(b) Similar voices are heard against chinese companies too (though no official comment on the same)

# Still Sometime Back #

(a) sub prime crisis surfaces.

(b) Lot of financial institutions on shaky ground

(c) Spate of write off follow

(d) Bear stearn crisis, bail out done..

(e) US financial institutions need huge capital to bolster balance sheets.

(f) Fed action follows, credit & liquidity infused. lot of US financial institutions take capital infusion from chinese, Japanese & gulf (basically dubai based) companies.

(though could not verify which gulf company has invested in US Financial institution)

(g) Dollar depreciates, oil rises, world crisis looming.

*** Now ***

(a) US institutions crash

(b) Freddie & Fannie (biggest home mortgage companies) bailed out...

(c) Lehman follows same path.. US refuses bail out

(d) same fate announced for meryll & AIG but bail out package made.

(e) Oil prices decreasing despite hurricanes & Opec announcing reduction in production

(f) Dollar continues to strengthen against currencies

(g) One analyst finds out that biggest unsecured creditors of lehman brothers are Asian institutions!!!!!! (read this article in "from all street journal" in financial daily "mint")

Why?

What is the best way rob anybody?

Borrow---> Spend---> declare bankruptcy----> lender is finished.

Who is better off?

The person on whom the money is spent.

The person who borrows has nothing to lose as he is where he was earlier

Lender is punished...

Did same thing not happen with US markets? Did US government pull out biggest heist in financial history? Who lost most money in this turmoil? borrowers from those insitutions (i.e. US public who may not pay now to the lehman bros) or the ones who had faith in these institutions and lent them huge monies( Asian & other financial institutions)?

Why is dollar appreciating in such situation?

Indo US Deal Loses its Sheen

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 05:17:00 +0000

The day the Nuclear Suppliers Group(NSG) granted unique waiver to India to trade in Nuclear related technology & fuel irrespective of its signing of NPT & CTBT, India has made its way to nuclear group through backdoor. India can be termed as only country which is recognised as nuclear weapon state, allowed to trade in nuclear material without signing NPT & CTBT. So technically India while can have all privileges of nuclear weapon state but is not bound by any law as other states are.

There is one more implication of the NSG waiver granted to India. India now does not NEED Indo-US civilian nuclear deal. The main objective of India entering into deal with India was

Able to trade in nuclear material so that we can import uranium for our power plants and the same time divert own uranium for weapons program. ( I had discussed this earlier also)
Able to import dual use technology for our own purpose military & civilian prupose.
Our Military nuclear programme should be legitmised.
Our chances of getting Permanent membership of security council is increased.

To get that we required two things to happen

Recognition of separate programme for civilian & military nuclear programme (approval from IAEA was required for it)
Trading in nuclear related material (NSG waiver did that for us)

Now once that is done, the question is does India need Indo-US deal. The answer to that is not so simple but we can live without it also. It was possible to live without all these steps also but after these steps the need of the deal is diminished though not demolished.

We shoulod realise that post NSG waiver, we can trade in nuclear related material with any country so now we are not dependent on US for nuclear supplies. The objective of US in this deal was multipronged:

It convinced its own public that they are doing this for non-proliferation.
A counter balance to China in Asia.
Creating business & jobs in their non-existent nuclear supplies companies in US.

Russia & France are ready to enter into such deal with India at any moment. We can even use our demand potential and NSG waiver as bargaining chip while entering into deals with lesser know countries for perpetual supply of nuke material. these would include counties like poland, angola.

But there lies some risks in not operationalising 123 deal viz.

US can exert pressure on smaller countries to not trade with India.
India's entry into exclusive security council will be in-ordinately delayed.
We can expect US to exert influence on all activities with India.
If it can extract waiver from NSG, then it can possibly get it reversed also.

In this situation what is the path that India should undertake.

If India enters into deal with US, the Hyde Act can create problems for us in the later years to come. As we tie up for fuel supplies with US, they can then easily exert influence us on any policy matter as our energy would be dependent on their supplies.

India is in such a situation where it does not need 123 deal but at the same time cannot deny to enter into deal.

The course of action should be as follows:

As elections are round the corner, delay the ratification of 123 deal. Let that ratification get spilled over to next coming government.
Advance talks with other countries for similar deals (maxim - "Do not put all your eggs in one basket")
After ratification, delay making policies for private participation in nuclear sector.
Allow immediately imports of dual use technology. (irrespective of any situation , the technology once acquired cannot be taken back, we can always copy it and make claims of being indigenous)
Allow dual use tech in renewable energy resources & other high tech areas. ( we should use that to develop technology to do nuclear testing simulations, so that we do not need to test other weapon ever again).

These are some of the steps that India can take.

Now it is upto our leadership to decide the path to undertake.

Crude Consumption.... An Mass Media Mis-Propaganda

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 11 May 2008 07:35:00 +0000

Everytime, there is rise in the price of the crude oil, all the media rants about the increasing consumption of Oil by developing nations like India and China and their huge apetite for the hydrocarbons. The responsibility of price rise without any justification is put squarely on these countries without providing any facts or figures supporting for it.

First of all, we need to understand that while comparing between any two entities the parameters need to be selected very carefully. It is rightly said, "Statistics are like mini-skirts, which reveal too much while covering vital things" The parameters of statistics are of utmost importance. As when defining whether a country is developed, developing, under-developed or undeveloped, the criteria used is either PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) per capita GDP or even plain vanilla PCI(Per Capita Income) in a single currency, to get an proper comparative idea, the same technique needs to be used while determining the consumption of crude oil by various states.

The basic argument used by all media is that more than 30% of the increased consumption of oil is cornered by the countries like china and India. But is that info pr0per to confer that the consumption of these countries is very high? Is increase in consumption the only parameter to judge it? Absolutely not... The absolute consumption of the oil is also important as compared to the increased consumption. Then there is a question, the total till date consumption of oil by all the countries? These developed countries have been guzzling oil at an alarming rate for past few decades. Had they not consumed at such an alarming rate, we would not have faced crisis situation today. countries like US would always like to point a finger which is not directed towards them. Who is going question them?

What is the consumption of these so called oil guzzlers? How much oil do developing countries consume as compared to other western countries and US?Now to understand better lets look at some figures:

US was consuming 20.5 million barrels of oil per day in 2006. While India was consuming 2.5 million barrels of oil and China was consuming 7.2 million barrels per day.
The US consumption is more than 8 times of India. That means 1% increase in oil consumption is equivalent to 8.5% increase in consumption of India.
India's total consumption of oil is equal to US's 1 1/2 months oil consumption.
India's population is more than One Crore (i.e. one Billion) while US population barely exceeds 300 million that means India has three times more population to support than US while consumption is one-eigth.
If we convert those consumption figures to per capita, then we could say that India's per capita consumption is 4% as compared to that of US.
The Per Capita consumption of energy by US is 68.81 barrels per person per year while India's consumption is 2.18 barrels per person per year. that is more than 33 times!!!!!

Where are these facts when Fatih Birol, chief economist of the International Energy Agency talks bull shit whilst saying that "The rapidly growing appetite for fossil fuels in China and India is likely to help keep oil prices high for the foreseeable future - threatening a global economic slowdown,"

Have they ever gone through these figures? Do they know how much is one barrel of oil?

One barrel of oil is equivalent to around 160 litres. that means a US citizen consumes about 11,000 litres of oil and oil equivalent per day!!!??????? Consider the mind boggling figures when I say 300 million population of US means 3264,000,000 litres per day i.e. about 3.2 billion litres per day. That is 1,191,360 million litres per year !!!!!!

These figures are completely mind boggling. I personally feel that there is huge mass media mis-prpoganda being done about the oil consumption by countries like India. Completely irrelevant data (no false) is being fed to general public and then completely baseless inference is being drawn.

In this world where in a democracy, Media is considered to be fourth pillar of democracy, I feel the Indian media should vociferously try to present a correct picture to the Indians and the world. Mass Media was used as a weapon even in the days of second world war and later in the Cold War Era...

I warn all of you to not fall victims to this propoganda. Try to question the data and analyse it before drawing any conclusion from it. Even Indian leadership should take effort to present correct picture all the citizens. Complete facts should be presented and then the person should be allowed to draw the conclusion. Do not accept the conclusion drawn by others. (especially western media)

Though concerned about the Global climate change, the developed countries like US have outrightly refused to decrease the emission of GHGs (Green House Gases). They rant about developing countries food consumption has led to increase in food prices. Do they know how much they consume or how much food they waste? (that would be another post to discuss about)

Our Foreign Policy should include mass media propoganda as to increase awarness about the issues and mis-conception. They should take help of this powerful force which could help to change the opinion of the general public and allow to take the right decisions.

Agni III IRBM or ICBM

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 07 May 2008 18:18:00 +0000

Length : 17 metres

Diameter : 2 metres

Range: 3,000+ km

Payload: 1,500 kg

War head Type: Nuclear also

Velocity : 4km/sec

What is Agni III?

Some tout it as IRBM. some argue over that it is an ICBM in the veil of IRBM. The official stand is that Agni III tested by India on May 07, 2008 was an 3000+ km range missile with a capacity of around 1500 kg war head.

The question is what is IRBM & what is ICBM? then may be we can answer what Agni III represents. but alas there is no definite definition of even that. If you try and scourge few forums you would realise that the discussion everywhere is Agni III is an ICBM in the veil of IRBM. As the payload is of 1,500 kg, if it is reduced to 1000kg then the range of the missile would increase by almost 50% i.e. it could reach target of more than 4,500 km.

This stand could be vindicated by the Russian general's statement that the development of Agni III closely follows that of Russian SS-20 missiles & the range of Agni III can breach 5,000km.

Anyways the policy followed by Indians is quite impressive by packaging the ICBM range missile as IRBM and avoiding a controversy regarding it. This kind of diplomacy shows the coming of maturity of the Indian International Political stance.

The important factor should be there should not more delay in testing the other advanced and improved versions of this missile.

K-15 Code name for Sagrika--Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:29:00 +0000

India on Tuesday, February 26, 2008 successfully testfired tactical submarine-to-surface Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile(SLBM) 'Sagarika' codenamed K-15. The test was conducted from a 50 metre submerged pontoon off the coast of Vishakhapatnam. The missile will be mounted on much touted India's nuclear submarine Advanced Technology Vehicle (ATV), which is in developmental stage.

India had earlier also conducted a test of this missile but was declared as partial success because of course deviation.

Missile Stats:

Length : 8.5 Metres

Diameter : 1 metre

Weight : 7 tonnes

Payload : 500 kg

Nuclear Ready : Yes

Range: 700 Km

Stages : Two

Developed by: Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) Misile Complex, Hyderabad, Defence Research & Development Laboratory (DRDL), Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL), Research Centre Imarat(RCI)

DRDL : Misssile design & development

ASL : Motors & Propulsion Systems

RCI: Avionics, including control & guiding systems & inertial navigation systems

The test has put into select club of countries with a strategic deterrent forceat sea. The other countries who have this capability are United States (Trident-11,300 km ), Russia (Bulava-10,000km), France (M4 - 5,000km) & China (JL-1, NA, JL-2- 8,000km under development).

The India has also now completed one more leg of Nuclear Triad for minimum deterrence. India already has AgniI, Agni II, Prithvi as Surface to Surface Ballistic Missiles. Sagarika will defeintely add punch to deterrence by providing sea based launch capacity. India is also working on its surface to air missile Akash & Trishul, Air-to-Air missiles Astra, anti tank missile Nag.

Defence Expo 2008.. Spawing MilBus in India...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:46:00 +0000

The ongoing Fifth International Land & Naval Exhibition system, DEFEXPO 2008 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi has generated lot of heat & flutter among the aspirant buyers & dealers of arms & armaments.

475 defence manufacturers, 30 countries, 32,000 square meters area, staggering launch of 91 new products ranging from radars, to communications systems, torpedoes, anti-mine vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles is bound to turn lot of heads towards India. RIA Novosti reports that with India arms spending, around $30 billion on arms spend in 2007, has acquired global dimensions. Indian private sector is vying for atleast 30% of that pie which would amount to $10 billion which is India expects, the public sector won't be able to absorb. India's spend on arms will be around 2.5% of the GDP which is huge amount considering India being 4th largest economy in the world.

A great number of collaborations & negotiations between Indian companies & foreign defence equipment manufacturers have also been anounced. some of those notably are

TATA Advanced Systems (India) sign MOU with Israeli Aerospace Industries to manufacture and develop missiles, pilotless aircrafts, electronic warfare systems, radars and other security systems and defence equipments.
TATA has also tied up with European Defence and Aerospace Consortium for developing advanced tactical communications system project for Indian Army.
TATA also made a contract with US based Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation for manufacturing cabins for Sikorsky’s S-92 helicopters.
TATA also made a joint venture of the company with American aircraft major, Boeing, which is touted as the largest deal of the EXPO.
Mahindra Defence Systems (MDS), a part of the Mahindra & Mahindra Group, is in advanced negotiations for a strategic alliance with Whitehead Alenia Sistemi Subacquei (WASS). The proposed underwater defence JV with WASS will jointly address the Indian requirement for underwater defence bringing to the country's armed forces affordable world-class underwater defence systems.
European naval defence systems major DCNS Group announced that it would set up its Indian subsidiary to facilitate ongoing and future projects.
DCNS has recently signed agreements with Kirloskar Oil Engines for integrated platform management systems and with Walchandnagar Industries Ltd. propulsion system parts for the next generation ASW (anti-submarine warfare) corvettes being built for the Indian Navy.

There is still a day remaining & lot of exuberance is still being showcased. This binneial event is touted to be largest of its kind. China has remained away from the EXPO while Pakistan was invited to it.

This EXPO has created lot of exuberance in the Indian Private sector to grab a slice of the Indian Defence market. This will naturally aid to the MilBus(Military Business nexus) in India. Indian defence minister also announced that midllemen will be completely eliminated & has also trying to reduce lot of procedural hiccups while sourcing defence deals.

Indian Goverment does not place orders with the private sector company which does not have less than 26% equity owned by foreign collaborators. It is expected that this norm may be relaxed, which will definitely provide a huge boost to the industry here...

Twist to Tawang Saga...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 17:25:00 +0000

India has atlast decided to offer some resistance to China's unchequered moves.... Beijing lodged a verbal protest over the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh's description of Arunachal as "Our land of the rising sun". External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee asserted that "Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part" of India, and that "the PM can visit any part of the country".

This sharp reaction was infact very necessary for a quite long time. India has not been reacting sharply to chinese overtures over the Tawang. In a sense, New Delhi has only itself to blame for looking over its shoulder every time it mentioned Arunachal, fearful of allowing the sino-Indian boundary question to overshadow the narrow meeting ground between the two countries on various confidence measures.

Although China has given up its territotiral claims over sikkim, it reluctance to do the same regarding the Arunachal Pradesh shows its stubborness & ununderstanding nature. The Chinese have not yet declared their version of maps delineating the border areas. This itself shows that China is reluctant to settle the border row in amicable way. The more we try to avoid the confrontation is to allow them to make more noise regarding their stance on the issue and beware the tin which makes more noise is always visible..

India needs to make more noise about its stand as CBMS are not gonna make any headstart towards amicable settlement..

Pakistan to mass produce JF-17 Single Seat Multirole Chinese Fighter Aircraft

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:57:00 +0000

Pakistan began on Tuesday Jan 22, 2008, the mass assembly of a JF-17 fighter at an aircraft-manufacturing plant in the northwest of the country, national television reported.

The JF-17 Thunder, also known as the FC-1 "Chao Qi" Fierce Dragon in China, is a single-seat multirole fighter aircraft developed by China. It is based on the design of Russian MIG 33, which was rejected by Russian Airforce. Earlier the costs odf these planes was said to be $10 million but the curretn reports suggests that the costs have escalated to $20 million per piece with production of 300 planes. Earlier the serial production was to be started in Jan 2006 but got delayed due to modifications/upgradations sought by pakistan air force.

China had made a deal with Musharraf in 1998 to manufacture 150 such aircrafts in Pakistan. About 50% of the on-board equipment and avionics for the fighter will be manufactured in Pakistan at the Kamra plant, while the rest of the assembly parts are to come from China.Pakistani Air Force Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed, said last year that 15 aircraft would be manufactured in 2008, and a further 20 next year, with an ultimate goal of achieving the capability to manufacture 25 to 30 aircraft per year.Pakistan has announced that it could procure 150-300 aircraft to meet the tactical and strategic needs of its Air Force and to replace the Chengdu F-7P fighters in current service.Beijing delivered two $20-mln JF-17 fighters equipped with Russian-made RD-93 engines to Pakistan in March 2007, prompting Indian protests. India claimed the deal was a violation of the end-user agreement between Russia and China.

The JF-17 is a light weight, all weather, multi-role aircraft having a capability to fly at a speed of Mach 1.6 and a high thrust to weight ratio. The aircraft has the ability to engage targets at all speeds and altitudes within the conventional flying envelope. In the surface attack and interdiction role, the aircraft can strike at long distances. The combat jet has been installed with an advanced flight control system, which is a mix of conventional and fly-by-wire controls, making it highly agile and manoeuvrable.
The aircraft would be capable of carrying short-range, beyond visual range, anti-ship as well as anti-radiation missiles. Additionally, the carriage of high and low drag bombs, laser guided bombs, run away penetration bombs and cluster bombs would be catered for.

TECSAR ..... Unvisible Eye in Sky

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 09:31:00 +0000

Amidst much secrecy, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) agency has successfully launched the Israeli satellite TECSAR.The 350 kg satellite also referred to sometimes as Polaris is being launched from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh using the Indian workhorse rocket the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).

Considering the extreme geopolitical sensitivity of the launch, ISRO has made no formal announcement for this mission. This satellite is considered to be spy satellite of Israel.

TECSAR can take high resolution pictures even in clouded and foggy weather. It is most advanced satellite ever made by Israel. There are also rumours of India having entered into data sharing arrangement for the satellite launched from Indian shores.

Surface to Air Missile - Akash

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:15:00 +0000

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Wednesday successfully test-fired the Akash surface-to-air missile from the Chandipur-on-Sea launch station. Today’s launch is one amongst the series of tests that are being carried out by the premiere defence research organisation. Akash was last tested on the 14th of this month from the same place.

While terming the test a success, senior defence officials said that the top-of-the-line missile had followed expected trajectory and hit a flying target effectively.

However, this series of tests is not the first for Akash as it had been tested earlier too, last being in January, 2007.

The 700-kilogramme Akash can track 100 targets simultaneously with onboard radar while moving at a speed of 600 metres per second. It has been designed to deliver a 55-kilogramme warhead across 27 kilometres in 50 seconds.

Akash testing gains significance as it has come days after the government announced plans to enhance India’s nuclear capability by developing missiles capable of hitting targets 6,000 kilometres away.

Moreover, Pakistan had also earlier in the month tested their nuke capable missile Ghauri that has been specifically designed to neutralise India’s Prithvi class of missiles.

India's Indigenous Missile Defence....

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 13:45:00 +0000

Dear Readers,

Starting from today, I am introducing a new series of posts related to India's Defence. All these posts will have the tag of defence updates..... I will also continue giving analysis & recommendations on India's posture in defence & International Politics. Those articles require quite a deal of time to be dwelt upon. nevertheless, efforts will be made to post articles more frequently.....

India's Indigenous Missile Defence....

On December 6th, 2007, India tested indigenously developed supersonic interceptor missile. This very first test itself was a success. This will give boost to India's defence capabilities keeping in mind the latest political developments in neighbouring Pakistan and recent missile tests by it...

India's Cryotech!!! Really India's!!???

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 18:11:00 +0000

(For full resolution photo click here)

Almost everybody has been lauding about India's successful testing of "Indigenous" cryogenic engine for full flight duration of 720 seconds on November 15, 2007 for upper stage of India's GSLV. Ground test for 480 seconds was conducted in August 2007.

ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair while delivering the thirty-second foundation day lecture on `Space Technology Development - Management Perspective' at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore said that "we have completed the qualification of indigenous cryogenic engine. It is as good as Russian one."

Now, does that mean it is almost as good as the one we got it from Russia or we have made a engine comparable to Russian one is anybody's good guess. Vijainder K thakur claims that the Indian cryogenic engine is none other than Russian oxygen/hydrogen liquid-propellant rocket engine KVD-1. It is the only one of its kind in the world. The reasoning & the references given by V K thakur are found to be quite credible. (he has also listed references at the end of the article) The article mentions that India had entered into $120 million contract for supply of 2 KVD-1 cryogenic engines & complete transfer of technology with the Glavkosmos. In 1993 US forced Russia to cancel that contract citing violation of MTCR(Misssile Technology Control Regime). Glavkosmos renegotiated the contract to exclude transfer of technology and the sanctions were lifted by US. later ISRO exuded confidence of bulding own engines but faltered in its development. The development is in process since 1986. In december 2001 we renegotiated the contract & further development of launch was collaborated, that also meant that Russia will also help in development of current technoogy.

There are some other aspects which tells us that the engine is definitely indigenous but not exactly true to its term. The Engine developed may be indigenously but the tech has not been sold to us by the Russians rather stolen by us from Russian Cryogenic engines supplied to us for our own GSLV launchings.

You would recall that India entered into contract with Russia for supply 5 cryogenic engines for launches og GSLV in December 2001. Except for the failure of the launch of GSLV F02 in July 2006, all the other launches were fairly successful. The official reason for failure of F02 launch was said to be faulty regulator in one of the Four strap on boosters to the launch vehicle. My wild guess was that the ISRO is not so naive to make a mistake in strap on booster. Rather the failure was because of the Faulty Cryogenic engine fitted in the launch vehicle. The original engine was used by India to copy the tech involved in it. Nowhere did anybody discuss about what happened to the cryo part of launch vehicle. By placing the blame on the strap-on booster, gaze of all was shifted away from cryo part. The realty must be that cryo engine was used by Indian scientists to develop our so called very own engine.

Vijainder Thakur is correct in assessing that ISRO has not told the complete truth. India has really been facing lt of hassles in developing critical technologies. rather they be for MBT Arjun, missiles under IGMDP (Integrated Missile Development Programme), Ummaned Arial Vehicles or Bullet Proof vests for Armed forces. All have seen major failures. None of the above said programmes have had successes to the considerable levels.

The real test of Cryogenic engine does lie in testing but successful launching of GSLV having indigenous engine.

Pakistan----Unstable Neighbourhood

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 12:57:00 +0000

The recent turmoil in our neighbourhood has left evrybody in an uneasy situation. Pervez Musharraf's recent actions seem to suggest a nation to be on brink of collapse, even though reconciliatory voices are being made by the President.

To end the crisis of leading the country on two fronts i.e. militarily & politically, the ongoing president sought a middle way out by having a US brokered deal with former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Even after packing of Nawaz Sharif to Saudi, everybody was convinced that Musharraf wanted to step down as military ruler and take over the reins as the civilian President of the country.

Benazir Bhutto, former Prime Minister of Pakistan entered into deal with musharraf wherein she would be allowed to come back to Pakistan and take part in elections and Musharraf would step down as Military leader and assume the post of civilian President.

But even before drying the ink of the deal, the volte-de-face by Bhutto as to raving about actions of musharraf immediately on landing in pakistan sent a wrong note of her intentions. Bhutto instead of trying to have fair elections started ranting about musharraf and his cronies. This has lead to a peculiar situation, where though a military leader was ready to accede power to politician, the ramblings have lead a question mark on Bhutto's intentions.

Evrybody is trying to call Musharraf's actions as unwarranted, but has anybody thought what would happen, if a person like Benazir Bhutto comes to power? the lady who has been already facing charges for her role in rampant corruption in the state. the lady who immediately changed her tune once reaching pakistan. the lady who does not recognise the immediate situationin hand and instead goes on offensive against the person who brought her in pakistan back.

Musharraf is in a unique situation, where all his efforts to change pakistan have failed. Extremists have increased the hold over the state. Military itself has been echoing misgivings about their general. whatever little crackdown of militants has turned ISI against the government.

If there is no stable ruler (whether military or political) in pakistan, it will have grave consequences on India too. India at this juncture is having a party with its economy zooming, rising stock markets, burgeoning forex reserves, strong currency and buoyant growth in economic health. India cannot afford to have a failed state in the neighbourhood. It will bring the chaos of Afghanistan to our doorstep. It will unreasonably increasse our defence expenditure and bring an abrupt end to the party.

India needs to make sure (by hook or crook) that Pakistan does not end in civil war and become a headless chicken with no effective control over its defence & nuclear material. Our intelligence system needs to be bolstered at this moment to understand the exact temperature within the neighbouring state.

But alas our politicians are interested in their own (read political party) affairs than about our nations....

"EKA" Fastest in Asia, 4th fastest in world, Supercomputing Elite in India now....

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 16:23:00 +0000

India's Tata Group has catapulted India into a new league by launching Asia's Fastest Supercomputer named "Eka" which means number Uno in sanskrit.

The supercomputer at Computational Research Laboratory(CRL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Sons Ltd., has been adjudged fourth fastest supercomputer according to Top 500 supercomputer list, the International Conference for High Performance Computing.

Some Info:

"Eka" has been developed jointly by CRL and Hewlett Packard. The system has peak performance of 170 teraflops(Trillion Floating Point Operations) and sustained performance of 117.9 teraflops as LINPACK benchmark. The system has 1800 nodes. It has been developed using HP's Cluster platform 3000 BL460C system. It uses quad core clovertown processors from Intel.

It has incorporated CLOS architecture and uses fibre based infiniband interconnect technologies. It has Linux Operating System. The cost of the machine is $30 million wholly financed by Tata Sons Ltd. It uses 14,240 processor cores.

CRL has 2.5 MW captive power installed for "Eka" at pune. 20% of the staff at CRL comprises of PhDs. CRL was incorporated in February 2006 and its facility is in Pune spread over 4,000 sq ft area. The company plans to increase its staff strength from 60 to 90 by the fourth quarter of this year.

Comparatives:

The IBM's Blue gene has been adjudged as fastest supercomp in the world with performance of 478 teraflops which is more than three times that of "Eka". The second fastest machine is also from IBM blue gene range wih speed of 167.3 teraflops installed in Germany. The number three system is from New Mexico Computing Applications Center (NMCAC) with speed of 126.9 teraflops.

The second ranked supercomputer in India, rated 58th in the Top500 list is at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. Others are ranked 152, 158, 179, 336, 339,340 and 371.

Quotes:

Ratan Tata, Chairman of the Tata Group said:

"High performance computing solutions have an ever-increasing role in the scientific and new technological space the world over. The Tata Group has supported this development activity and is extremely proud of the team that has developed and built this supercomputer, which is now ranked as the world's fourth fastest. I am sure this supercomputer and its successor systems will make a major contribution to India's ongoing scientific and technological initiatives."

S Ramadorai, chairman of CRL and CEO and MD of Tata Consultancy Services said:

"CRL's supercomputer, EKA, has put India at the forefront of high performance and supercomputing technology globally. EKA gives us the ability to address applications in multiple disciplines including software development and research, The successful launch of the supercomputer has been driven by an exemplary team at CRL working collaboratively with scientists across the Tata Group."

Mr. Balu Doraisamy, Managing Director, HP India Sales said:

“HP is honored to partner with Tata CRL, a leading name in the field of High Performance Computing, from the inception stages of the project, all the way through its production. We are proud to work collaboratively with Tata CRL to take forward their vision of being a global leader in HPC, building scalable and cutting-edge supercomputer architectures while making affordable research in India a reality.”

Operability:

In the near term, CRL is targeting and developing applications such as neural simulation, molecular simulation, computational fluid dynamics, crash simulation, and digital media animation and rendering. The long-term application areas would include: financial modelling, seismic modelling, geophysical signal processing, weather prediction, medical imaging, nanotechnology, personalised drug discovery, real-time rendering, and virtual worlds among others. CRL also intends to offer high-performance and supercomputer system integration, research, applications and software services to its customers around the globe in the area of high-performance computing.

EKA can be applied in the fields of automotive engineering (cross simulation), drug discovery and nanotechnology, according to a company presentation.

Israel's raid on Syria -- What is law?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 04:09:00 +0000

Last Month, Israel carried out a surprise raid on Syria alleged Secret Nuclear Reactor. No explanations, no clarifications was given for the raid. After the raid, reports emerge of possible nuclear reactor being bombed out. Satellite images are circulated around the world wide web and quietly votes are garnered for the act.

Neither Israel not US (staunch ally of Israel) have made any comments on the raid carried out. The news is just buried out. While as any comments by the so called Axis of evil or an of the nation opposing US are widely discussed and explanations are sought, sanctions are planned, threats are issued. Why this double standards bu these nations.

Does Syria does not have any rights? Do all the survival rights reside with only Israel and those believing in Israel? & Why when Turkey wants to oust kurdish rebels, so much opposition is meted out, while an unauthorised, illegal, unwarranted raid is carried out on a nation, no single word is being uttered?

Everybody knows that US does not give a damn what happens to other countries till its interests are concerned. US while attacking Iraq did not care whether it had WMD or not. It does not care whether what happens to beacuse of global warming and does not sign kyoto protocol.

yeah, but it does care what statements did Ahmedijinad makes, what Turkey thinks about kurds?

It is glad to know that, though after a month, El- Baradei has lasheds out at Israel for its taking the law into their hands. Israel should be tried in international court of law for violating other countries airspace. It should be made to compensate Syria for the damage caused.

If countries like Israel & US will not follow International law, what could we expect from nations who are ruled by dictators & ruthless military regimes?

Tejas (Light Combat Aircraft Weaponised), test fires combat missile

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 04:21:00 +0000

Light Combat Aircraft developed by India and rechristened as "TEJAS" has formally tested a combat missile. It fired a short range combat missile to test the endurance and flutter disturbances not only on high altitudes but also while firing of missiles.

This test has demonstrated that Tejas is now worthy of armament integration. This missile is developed by Hindustan Aeronautics limited (HAL). Contributions were also made by NAL (National Aerospace laboratories) and IAF (Indian Air Force).

Tejas has till now recorded total of 763 sorties but is still away from being declared as operational. It has the latest fly by wire technique installed in it, which is a state of art technology. The expected date to be operationalised is 2010. It made its maiden flight in 2001.

Pact with Singapore---Securing Boundaries

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 09:04:00 +0000

On 9th October, India and Singapore signed a long term defence agreement, wherein both the countries will conduct joint training and give fresh impetus to defense tis between both countries.
India will lease out military bases to Singapore for five years on payment bases. Kalaikunda base is being leased out where singapore will station most advanced F-16 fighter aircrafts. India will also get to learn a great deal about the advanced technologies used by that nation. singapore has one of the most advanced military forces in the world.

Singapore has one of the highest per capita expenditure on defence in the world. The armaments maintained by it one of the most sophisticated. The pact will give India a paak into the advanced technologies in the world of defence.

Singapore has simliar kind of pacts with nations like France, US, Australia and Taiwan.

India and singapore have been jointly patrolling in the Indian Ocean for security to the commercial vessels in malaicca straits.

The deal will also provide intelligence inputs to India on high seas.

Update on Brahmos

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:16:00 +0000

The first likely customer of Indian Russian joint venture production, Brahmos Missile seems to be Malaysia. The missile is being touted as "Universal Supersonic Cruise" Missile.

Brahmos Aerospace Private Ltd's chief executive officer Dr A. Sivathanu Pillai said India would only sell the sophisticated missiles to countries that are friendly and those considered as strategic partners in India's security equation.

This missile is said to be three times faster than American Tomahawk cruise missile.

It is expected that 1000 such missiles would be sold in the first phase.....

Cartosat 2A --Is it military?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 06:57:00 +0000

For quite some time now, India has been bracing itself for the launch of Cartosat 2A, so called weather satellite. But is it so? The kind of specifications like less than 1 metre resolution with a swath of 10 km, all weather photography and adavanced imaging & its processing. Cartosat @ had storage capacity of 120 GB, considering that 2A may have lot more than that.

It is said to piggy back ride with Israel's spy satellite some time in firsat quarter of next calendar year. The kind of technology incorporated in the satellite does give rise to speculations of its intended use. Now with ISRO making statements like " We are not concerned with what user does with the data generated from the satellite" gives strength to the suspicions as Indian Governemtn will be the prime agency using its data..

The kind of delay in launching Israelly satellite along with Cartosat 2A also gives hints that India is trying to tie up with Israel for possible use of data generated by cartosat 2A by both India & Israel in amicable ways. that ways India will be able to reduce launch costs by piggybacking, recover money spent on making satellite by clinching intelligence deal with Israel..

Quite an intelligent move....