World Of Defense

Indian Elephant Trying To Counter The Evil Designs Of The Dragon

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Fri, 24 Oct 2014 06:10:00 +0000

India it seems has decided to disregard the Chinese warning regarding railway line on the Arunachal Border. Instead it will augment the plan with building 4 more railway links. Plus ITBP is acquiring cameras which will peer 20km inside the Chinese territories.

Readers might remember few weeks back the Chinese decided to issue a threat to India when it was made public that India will build 1800km long road along the border. China has been irked by its own mis-calculation that India will keep its side under-developed giving them a huge strategic advantage.

The Modi government has taken it a step further and has decided to build 4 more railway lines for the purpose of the troops. According to sources the proposed railway lines are

Misamari-Tawang Railway line 378 kms
Himachal Pradesh-Jammu and Kashmir, Bilaspur-Mandi-Manali-Leh 495 km
Assam-Arunachal Pradesh, north Lakhimpur- Silapthar line 240 kms
Assam-Arunachal Pradesh, Murkongselek-Pasighat-Tezu-Parshuram Kund-Rupai Siding line 256 km

The PM has already issued orders to the Minister of Railways for starting the survey and submit a detailed budget for this project with exact routes etc. Due to the terrain many obstacles will have to be overcome and the survey alone will take 2 years to complete.

These proposed lines will run through some of the most strategic areas giving our forces an advantage during any form of conflict.

Projects like these should have been initiated by the previous UPA regime during its 10 years of mis-rule but for unknown reason the Congress Government decided to keep India at a disadvantage. It is very rare in Indian history that we get 10 years of relative peace. Defense ministry should have used that time to improve the infrastructure but it refused to do anything.

Even ITBP after the recent border skirmish with China has accepted that it is very poorly equipped to take on an increasingly aggressive and dangerously adventurist chines army. Thus it has decided to buy cameras which can look into the Chinese territories upto 20 km and has started testing one of them by placing it on one of its outpost.

According to reports these camera with thermal imaging feature will be used to keep track of any medium to large scale movement of Chinese army over a fixed period. But it doesnot stop there instead plans are to lay fibre optics cable along the border to connect these cameras for real time monitoring by not only ITBP command HQ but Delhi too.

भारत सरकार सेना को लद्धाख मे नियुक्त करने की सोच रही है

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Sun, 28 Sep 2014 06:58:00 +0000

पहले एलएसी पर आक्रामकता और अब तिब्बत में चीनी सेना द्वारा निर्माण. इंटेल रिपोर्ट के अनुसार पीएलए के अनेक अनन्य निर्माण का पता चला है . रिपोर्ट है की चीन का सबसे अच्छा लड़ाकू विमान गॉंगखा एयरबेस पर देखा गया है.

शायद भारत सरकार ने चीन से उत्पन्न होने वाले ख़तरे को भाँप लिया है . तथा उन्हे आशंका है की बहुत जल्दी ही चीन कुछ असाधारण कदम उठा सकती है इसीलिये समाचार यह है की सरकार भारत चीन सीमा पर ITBP के स्थान पर सेना को नियुक्त करने की सोच रही है .

अभी चूमार मे घटित झड़प के बाद यह सोच और प्रबल हुई है .सेना ने जिस गति से 1500 जवानो को चीनी सेना के सामने तैनात किया और दुर्गम परिस्थिति मे पीछे हटने से मना कर दिया उसको देखते हुए सरकार ITBP के स्थान पर सेना को लद्दाख सीमा का भार देने का मन बना रही है .

मेरा अपना यह विचार है की ITBP की कमान सेना को हस्तांतरित कर देना उचित होगा. गृह मंत्रालय किसी भी ऐसे बल को संभालने मे असमर्थ है जो सीमा पर चीन जैसे दुश्मन के सामने हो. और चीन अर्द्धसैनिक बल का प्रयोग नही कर रही है हमारे सामने चीन की सेना PLA तैनात है.

असम ट्रिब्यून से बातचीत में डॉ सांगे ने बताया की चीन ने जबरदस्ती तिब्बत पर कब्जा करने के बाद और हाल के दिनों में देश को एक सैनिक छावनी मे प्रिवर्तित कर दिया है. उनके अनुसार चीन ने तिब्बत मे अपने ठिकानों का विस्तार करने की कोशिश कर रहा है. उन्होंने कहा कि सैन्य कस्बों की एक संख्या अचानक से बहुत बाद गयी है . हमे याद रखना चाहिए की तिब्बत का भारत के साथ एक लंबी सीमा है.

पांच प्रमुख सैन्य हवाई अड्डों का निर्माण किया गया है कि और छठवाँ निर्माणाधीन है.कॉंगपो सैन्य हवाई क्षेत्र सिर्फ 50 किलोमीटर की दूरी पर है अरुणाचल प्रदेश में अंतरराष्ट्रीय सीमा से.

चीन ने ल्हासा तक निर्मित रेलवे लाइन द्वारा अपने ZBD-03 बख्तरबंद गाड़ियों को लाने का भी अभ्यास किया है जो की बहुत महत्वपूर्ण साबित होगा किसी भी युद्ध मे .

इसके अलावा , लगातार दूसरे वर्ष के लिए , पीएलए सेना और प्लाफ ने पिछले साल 5,000 से अधिक मीटर की ऊंचाई पर क़िंघई- तिब्बत पठार पर , ब्रिगेड स्तर के युद्ध अभ्यास का आयोजन किया था

China new target of global jihad

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Sat, 27 Sep 2014 11:27:00 +0000

It is increasingly becoming apparent that China has or will become the new battle ground for Jihad's to rally. News coming out of China indicates a major incident in the troubled province of Xinjiang.
It is learnt that rioters had a free for all in the city of xxx, loud explosions could be heard and report says the casualty to be around 60-70 people. According to Chinese media this includes around 45-50 rioters and rest are civilians and policemen.

The ethnic muslim uyghur's are organising themselves for a showdown with the brutal communist regime. Not only has china publicly executed members of this community, it has put severe restrictions on their personal freedom. Some of these restrictions are quite similar to that put on Jews during the Nazi regime.

To further humiliate them, china has made its mission to resettle a large Han population in Xinjiang and these foreigners are now the wealthiest and most powerful community while the original dwellers of this land wallow in abject poverty.

The amount of religious persecution and repression is chronicled in this article.
Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, has just begun — but a number of China's 23 million Muslims won't be allowed to participate in the daily fast that is so central to the holiday, and in some cases are even barred from entering mosques. Authorities in Xinjiang, a largely Muslim semi-autonomous region in China's northwest, have sharply limited Ramadan observance for Muslim students, teachers, and civil servants, who are now prohibited from "fasting and other religious activities."

Read the full article here

Even teachers are being used to guard the entrance of mosques so that their students cannot offer a simple prayer. While civil servants have been forced to sign solemn pledges that they and their families will not fast during this holy month. While the communist party does not mind if han Chinese students go to church or monastery. Question is why two rules for two different communities.

So it should not come as a surprise then that score of these oppressed individuals in their misguided belief have turned to the new Caliphate and joined the ranks of ISIS.

Read about Chines in ISIS here.

If you want to know who these ethinic people are and what is the history of their land, please visit this page

Moles Or Morons In Indian Defense Establishment

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Wed, 17 Sep 2014 04:52:00 +0000

Not so surprising if you are an Indian and have a taste of the official bureaucracy, a file related to Hawk AJT acquirement has suddenly disappeared from the ministry of defense. As per the old routine ministry has ordered an inquiry to bring the guilty to justice swiftly....(read never)

The missing file dealt with 20 AJT's being procured for IAF's surya kiran aerobatics team. which has been cooling its heels for last three years due to no jets to practice with.

Readers might remember similar thing happened with another file dealing with MMRCA contract, which went missing and was handed back to IAF by a civilian under very-2 mysterious circumstances.

You can add this to the assertions of the intelligence agency which was quite clear that Mumbai attack of 26/11 was facilitated by a mole in the Government of India. They never caught him.

Followers of this blog may be reminded of the case where a military officer asked a subedar to copy some documents from his computer and gave him the password for the same. This particular person turned out to be a guy working for the enemy and was caught handing over files to the Pakistani embassy worker.

Few years back the army sent its computers for overhaul with the hardidsk with sensitive information to local computer retail shop.

So you can draw your own conclusion as to what is going on in New Delhi. It would be very naive on our part to believe that our establishment is not being targeted (successfully) for infiltration and espionage. Not every agent is James bond or wears a long black overcoat.

Tarek Fatah exposes Islamism

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Sun, 14 Sep 2014 04:44:00 +0000

Excellent speech by Mr.Tarek Fatah about the extent Islamic Jihad and its supporters have infiltrated the white house and Canada.

If you cannot see the content please watch it on youtube here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G03ddcUs1zQ#t=414

आइसिस के विरुद्ध ओबामा चारों खाने चित

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Sat, 13 Sep 2014 07:27:00 +0000

एक दो दिवस पूर्व ओबामा ने आइसिस के विरुद्ध अपनी रणनीति का खुलासा किया था आज ऐसी खबर आई है की लग रहा है की ओबामा को आइसिस ने शय और मात दे दी है.

ओबामा तथा हिलरी के प्रिय फ्री सिरियन आर्मी के कई घटक दलों ने आइसिस के साथ शांति समझौता कर लिया है . इन सब मे CIA द्वारा समर्थित और अमरीकी सरकार द्वारा पसंद किए जाने वाली सिरियन रेवोल्यूशनरी फ्रंट भी शामिल है. अल-नुसरा नामक एक भयानक और खूनी दल ने इस समझौते को रूप दिया है. इसके अनूसार सभी दलों ने एक दूसरे पेर आक्रमण ना करने का निर्णय लिया है . तथा सब मिलकर राष्ट्रपति असद के खिलाफ लड़ने का भी मन बना चुके है.

सीआईए समर्थित जो एसआरएफ कमांडर है उसने साफ रूप से कहा की वो किसी भी समूह के साथ मिलकर लड़ने के लिए तैयार है जो नुस्सायरी शासन के विरुद्ध युध के लिए उत्सुक हो . यह अमेरिकी सरकार और सीआईए के साथ घनिष्ठ संबंध वाला इंसान हैं .

दूसरी ओर श्री ओबामा ने निर्णय लिया है की वह वास्तविक षड्यंत्रकारी सऊदी अरब की मदद से इन्ही लोगों को प्रशिक्षित करेगा. उधर जर्मनी आईएसआईएस के इन सहयोगी दलों को हथियार भेज रहा है.

खबर यह भी है की सऊदी अरब पाकिस्तान से मिलकर एक नया आतंकी संघटन का निर्माण कर रहा है जो शियाओं का मूल विनाश करेगी.

अब असद के लिए मुसीबतें बढ़ रही हैं. संभवतया राष्ट्रपति की फ़ौजो को कई दिशाओं से बहुआयामी हमलों का सामना करना होगा. मुझे नही लगता की वह ऐसे ख़तरे का सामना कर पाएँगे. अगर राष्ट्रपति की सत्ता गिर गयी तो मान लीजिए शीया लोगों का भयानक नरसंहार होना निश्चित है.

ओबामा और उनकी सरकार अमेरिकी मतदाताओं द्वारा की गई सबसे बड़ी गलती साबित हो रही है .

CNN publishes most amateurish commentary on Iraq

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Fri, 12 Sep 2014 01:29:00 +0000

Here is another example of people writing an article without having the slightest idea about the situation, only mantra is write anything to attack the Government. Came across this master piece on CNN website.
She gives a 4 point resolution master plan for Iraq.

Obama can fight ISIS without bombs

Pro-military hawks must be pleased with President Obama's speech on Wednesday night about attacking ISIS. We're sure to hear many of them -- the same voices that have been hounding the President to take military action in the first place -- call for more extensive strikes and even American troops on the ground.

Let us discuss what Sally Kohn's 4 point formula is:

1) Cut access to guns and money.
Madam how does Obama cut access to gun and money when borders are controlled by nations with various interests and groups within those nations with different ideologies(some love ISIS, some hate them). Only way to seal borders is to use military. If you remember, outsourcing border duties to Pakistan came back to haunt the Americans later.

She mentions "US allies", which one is she talking about Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey......? Most of the so-called allies are instrumental in setting up this organisation and propping it up to break the Shia arc.

Turkey has opened its borders for ISIS to operate freely and helps in transportation of fighters from Syria to Iraq.

2) Fix Iraq's political rifts.
How does a foreign power fix the internal politics of a country. This is exactly what got Americans into trouble. They tried to fix Saddam Hussein and invaded Iraq. Unless political parties and different parts of the society in a country is willing to change, how can a foreigner do it. Remember Mr Paul Bremer's and Rumsefield understanding of Iraqi internal situation. Asking a country to play politics in another country smacks not only of foolishness at best but a superiority complex at worst.

Iraqi society does not comprise of just whites, blacks and Hispanics with majority Christians(all variety). Had that been the case, yes a simple nudge or a summit at camp David would have sufficed. Unfortunately as we have seen Iraq is a melting pot of different factions and they must have a secure environment with safety guaranteed to at least start thinking about unity. At the present moment due to the utter chaos, it is every man for himself.

3) Provide humanitarian assistance.
Please be kind enough to explain how do you send "humanitarian" assistance to Irbil or Mount Sinjar or Allepo when it is surrounded by heavily armed barbaric militia. What do you do airdrop food from the air, we all know that kind of strategy only works on a large area where accuracy is not important. Next is use helicopters to do the same for better distribution, but what about the mad mullah with a RPG sitting on a mountain top.

Even in an area as Kashmir, air-force had to scale down its operation after its helicopter's were stoned(not RPG). Same was the issue with Naxal affected areas, unless the ground troops could provide a sanitized area it was impossible for the choppers to operate.

How many UN peacekeepers are needed to distribute supplies in Africa?

Therefore madam your assertion about "Humanitarian" assistance without proper military force and air-cover is not only pipe dream but a sure way to hand over billions of dollars of supplies to ISIS.

4)Lead a truly international response.
Another point which shows that the author is truly unaware of the situation. How do you get UN members to agree to fight for America. As she herself mentions that the mess was created by the Americans and Obama in particular, thus going to UN would mean asking Russia and China to help clean America's mess. Good luck with that.

Relations with Russia at the present moment are touchy to say the least and after the Serbian treachery it is very hard for the Russians to believe anything USA says.
China has a stout policy of no interference.
Saudi is a sunni country and there troops in Iraq means Shias would be up in arms.
Reports are that Saudi's are pumping in millions of dollar in a new Sunni outfit called Jais-E-Islam with the hep of Pakistan.
UAE is the hub of fundraising for Al-Nusra and the likes.
Turkey will not lift a finger to help the Kurds.
Qatar and Saudi will try their best to use ISIS against Shias, plus destabilize Assad and Iran, thus there are no chances of them playing fair.
Direct Iranian involvement would mean handing ammo to Sunnis for sectarian conflict.
European countries are struggling with economy and some would shy away after the the original Iraqi blunder.

Does the author seriously believe that countries like Indonesia, Burma, Thailand, Japan, Australia, France, Egypt etc would commit troops/material for another US led misadventure?
Firstly getting a resolution for action passed in the security council is bleak possibility, secondly sending NATO troops is not really an international coalition is it?

So madam, please write a follow up explaining to us, how is your 4 point formula different from the Rumsefield era power point presentations.

With ISIS on ground and being a cohesive military unit, it is impossible for Iraq and Syria to stabilize and unless Obama gives up his favored "Get Assad" policy, resolution of any kind is bleak.

On the other hand recent tactical withdrawal by ISIS under air attack and ground offensive shows the limitation of its capabilities and a pointer towards the way forward.

Indian Navy and the Cursed P-75I

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 04:39:00 +0000

Seven years and this project has not got even started and now the Navy has accepted that all six submarines will be built in India instead of the earlier plan of importing the first two.

Since 2007 Defense Ministry and Finance Ministry have been playing a game of hide and seek for the Navies project P-75I. Even at the cost of our maritime security which is at its lowest ebb ever with India being down to just 13 ageing diesel-electric submarines, with only half of them operational at present.

Under this project navy wanted 6 submarines with land attack capability and air-independent propulsion. 2 of which were to be imported and 4 were to be built in-house in joint venture with the foreign vendor and Indian Shipyard. Even the shipyards were identified and ready. According to the original plan three were to be constructed at Mazagon Docks (Mumbai) and one at Hindustan Shipyard (Visakhapatnam) with technology transfer from the foreign company eventually selected.

The Scorpene project is already 4 years late and the first sub will role out may be in 2016.

In desperation the Indian navy has given into the demand of the Government to allow all the submarines to be built in India rather than importing the first two.

Even if the RFP is issued this year it will take another 3 years for the contract and another 7-8 yeas for the first submarine to be anywhere near operational.

Just compare this to the original plan. According to the envisaged plan, 12 new submarines were to be inducted to the navy by 2012, and was to be supplemented with 12 more submarines by 2030.

Another plan was:
The supersonic Brahmos will also be a principal missile to equip the six Indian Navy Project 75I submarines, for which the Indians are considering the Russian Amur class sub. Another sub being considered is the German Class-214. Plans to install the missile in the fifth and sixth Scorpene class submarines were cancelled after the Indian Navy decided to equip these subs with air independent propulsion (AIP), thus extending the submarine to its maximum length.

All these plans are now sound like castle in the air to me without any dose of realism.

So in order to have enough submarines to defend India’s maritime borders the Indian Navy can opt for 18 Scorpene Submarines, Why?
As mentioned earlier the RFP and production is going to take atleast 11 years, by which time our navies operational capabilities will become next to nothing.
Even if P75I selection is done by 2018 the first submarine will role out only by 2026 atleast and by that time Indian Navy will be left with just 6 Scorpenes. The 8 of the 13 subs India currently operate are on their last legs and by the time P-75I matures it will be all over for many of them.

China's 'expansionist' urge

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Sat, 06 Sep 2014 09:09:00 +0000

Two more instances of Chinese intrusion reported in East Ladakh; One in Demchok and the other in Towkhin in Ladakh. The Indian Army and the Chinese troops had a tough face off. As China's aggression along the LAC is increasing, will India take a tough stand?

1965, Maj. General Of Indian Army panics and runs like a coward

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Sat, 06 Sep 2014 05:34:00 +0000

Maj. Gen. Niranjan Prasad, the Indian general commanding officer in Lahore sector ran away, when Pakistani Army Defense Forces counter-attacked the intruding Indian military and the general was fired upon on Sept 6, 1965. "On learning that, Lt. Gen. Harbakash Singh and the corps commander drove in a Jonga (Nissan P60 Jeep) to the battlefront. Army commander found that the enemy (PAF) air attack had created a havoc on G.T. Road. (Indian) Vehicles were burning and several vehicles of 15 Division abandoned on the road, the drivers having run away, leaving some of the engines still running. Maj. Gen. Niranjan Prasad was hiding in a recently irrigated sugar cane field. As described by Harabakash Singh: "He (Prasad) came out to receive us, with his boots covered with wet mud. He had no head cover, nor was he wearing any badges of his rank. He had stubble on his face, not having shaved." Seeing him in such a stage, Harbakhash Singh asked him: "Whether he was the General Officer commanding a division or a coolie? Why had he removed badges of rank and not shaved? Niranjan Prasad had no answer."
If you cannot see the content please click here

Deal for minesweepers needed by Indian Navy may be in jeopardy

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Sat, 06 Sep 2014 05:07:00 +0000

Indian navy needs 24 minesweepers to clear mines laid by enemy warships and submarines. These mines can not only harm ships but they can virtually blockade sea ports and lanes. At present Indian Navy does not have the number, in case of emergency it will not be able to protect even one port.

Keeping this in mind a deal was signed with a South Korean company called Kangnam Corporation to buy 8 such ships. Plan was to import two ships from foreign vendors and then get the rest 6 built with technology transfer at Goa Shipyards. Unfortunately MoD has found out that this company used middlemen in the deal. As readers might be aware that using middlemen is construed as mal-practice by the MoD thus the deal may have to be scrapped.

In 2012 a BJP MP had written to the then defense minister about this deal being crooked and asked him to look into the matter. Among the other bidders for the minesweepers for the Indian Navy was the Italian firm Intermarine which was beaten by the South Korean firm’s bid. In fact, the other bidder went to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) against the selection of Kanganam Corporation. However, the defence ministry and the Indian Navy explained to the CVC that the selection of the South Korean firm was made since they were the lowest bidder.

It is also learnt that Defense Ministry has en-cashed the bank guarantee given by the South Korean Firm. The case has been sent to Attorney General for his views.

Western Naval Command which has only one such warship left in its inventory has been forced to find novel ways of using other ships to carry out these dangerous tasks. they now rely on the portable, ‘clip-on’ side scanners which can be mounted on any of the other ships to perform mine sweeping tasks. “They are good but they are alternate measures. Every ship has a task to do and by making substitutes, there is always an area that you are neglecting,” said an officer. He added, “Today, almost every procurement in our country stands delayed. Minesweeper ships are just one of them.” The last of these minesweepers were inducted in the late 80s. In the two decades which have gone by, there has been little thinking on replacing these ships.

New Chinese road detected on the border.

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Fri, 05 Sep 2014 04:41:00 +0000

Indian armies patrol party has spotted a new road link to Pangong. Due to the serious repercussions feared by the army and the general penchant for Chinese to grab Indian territory, army has intensified its patrol along that area. This was spotted on 18th of August since then LAC patrolling has been increased.

Readers might remember the Chinese People's Liberation Army(PLA) advancing several kilometer inside Indian territory at Demchok on July 28th. This lead to a heated argument with the Indo-Tibetan border Police (ITBP) jawans on the Indian side

China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) has made several attempts to enter into the Indian territory, triggering tension along the international border.

On July 28, the Chinese troops intruded in Demchok in Southern Ladakh after which the Chinese military and soldiers of the Indo-Tibetan border Police (ITBP) had a verbal altercation for about half an hour. The Chinese military later withdrew.

At around April last year China had sent a platoon or more men to set up tents inside our territory in Depsang in Daulat Beg oldi sector. They stayed put until we had to abandon and remove fortifications from some of our posts in Chumar.

The new Central government in India has already made up its mind to go full throttle to develop border roads on our side facing China. It is evident that GoI has seen through the expansionists theme running through the Chinese government. India is not the isolated victim, same has happened with Vietnam, Philippines and Japan. The common thread is China forcibly and surreptitiously grabbing land and sea area of militarily weaker nations.

Ministry Of Defense admits that nearly 80 critical border roads have been stuck for many years in the due to environmental hurdles. These include crucial GS (General Staff) roads that link border outposts and camps to the main road head. We must take it with a pinch of salt though because MoD is legendary for messing things up. Some years ago they could not find enough workers to work on these roads so blaming every other ministry for their failings is pretty damn easy.

The new environmental minister of India has removed all hurdles plaguing these projects. Some rules have been modified so that construction may be started without clearance from his ministry. Plus the compulsory afforestation rule for every project has been waived off too.

In fact, the Defence Ministry has also been working on a legislation to ensure exemption of strategically significant projects — especially those along the LAC — from green regulations that may be hampering progress.

रक्षा अधिग्रहण परिषद के निर्णयों का विश्लेषण

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Sun, 31 Aug 2014 06:19:00 +0000

सबसे पहेले ४०० हेलिकॉप्टर की बात करते हैं . यह हेलिकॉप्टर चेतक और चीता की जगह लेंगे क्यूंकी यह दोनो पुराने हो चुके है. हेलिकॉप्टर का काम उचाई पर हमारे ठिकानो को रसद, वीक्षण, हताहत निकासी और सेना के जवानो को पहुचाने का है . HAL नेअभी तक कोई भी हेलिकॉप्टर इसके लिए निर्माण नही किया है . उसकी योजना अनुसार LUC नामका एक हेलिकॉप्टर बनेगा . उसका कोई भी उड़ता हुया मॉडेल नही है . अत: ४-५ वर्ष लग जाएँगे इसको आने मे . तब तक हमारी सेना उचे पहाड़ो पर क्या करेगी उसका अनुमान आप लगा सकते है.

इन ४०० मे से HAL को २०० हेलिकॉप्टर का अनुबंध प्राप्त होना लगभग तय है और अगर कोई निजी कंपनी कोई और हेलिकॉप्टर नही लाती है तो पूरे ४०० हेलिकॉप्टर HAL को मिल जाएँगे.

इसका फायेदा यह होगा की हमारी बहुत बचत होगी और हम किसी के भरोसे नही रहेंगे (एंजिन और कुछ एवियानिक्स के अलावा) किंतु HAL की कार्य प्रणाली बहुत ही घटिया है उनके द्वारा निर्मित अधिकतर आयुध 3rd क्लास होते है तथा १ साल का काम वो ४ साल मे करते है .
अतः मेरी इच्छा है की टाटा, अशोक Leyland इत्यादि अगर हेलिकॉप्टर का निर्माण करे तो बेहतर होगा .

दूसरा बड़ा फ़ैसला और मेरे हिसाब से बहुत ही महत्वपूर्ण फ़ैसला Active Towed Array Sonar के संदर्भ मे लिया गया है जिसके लिए मैं बहुत प्रसन्न हूँ . आप यकीन नही करेंगे किंतु हमारे नये यूधपोत इस सोनार के ना होने के कारण पनडुब्बी के लिए आसान शिकार हैं और चीन का पनडुब्बी बेड़ा बेहद खतरनाक और विशाल है .
DRDO ने कई वर्षों तक हमारी नौसेना को मूर्ख बनाया और अंत मे हाथ खड़े कर लिए.

तीसरा फ़ैसला भी बहुत अच्छा है ४० अर्जुन tank पर आधारित catapult artillery सिस्टम खरीदने के लिए एक प्रस्ताव को मंजूरी दे दी. आप शायद भीम नामकself-propelled howitzer के बारे मे जानते होंगे कुछ वर्ष पूर्व T-७२ tank के उपर Denel कंपनी का तोप लगा कर एक बहुत ही शक्तिशाली self-propelled howitzer बिल्कुल तैयार था किंतु Denel के विरुद्ध कुछ मामले सामने आए और यह प्रॉजेक्ट धरा का धरा रह गया .

चौथा और बहुत ही बड़ा फ़ैसला chinook और अपाचे हिलिकॉप्टेर के विषय मे है, chinook एक बहुत विशाल हेलिकॉप्टर है जिसका विश्व मे कोई सानी नही है mi-26, रूस द्वारा निर्मित हेलिकॉप्टर का सर्विस रेकॉर्ड बहुत घटिया है . तथा यह फ़ैसला भारत के महामात्य के अमरीका दौरे को ध्यान मे रखते हुए किया गया है.
Apache मेरे हिसाब से दुनिया का बेहतरीन लड़ाकू हेलिकॉप्टर है जिसने अनेक यूधभूमि पर आपना लोहा मनवाया है

एक और फ़ैसले से मै बहुत प्रसन्न हूँ इंडियन आर्मी ने स्पाइक anti-tank guided missiles की खरीद पर ज़ोर दिया था किन्तु अमरीका ने अपने बहुत की ख़तरनाक javeline missile ka साथ मे निर्माण करने का प्रस्ताव रखा है यह हमारे लिए बहुत लाभदायक हो सकता है अत: स्पाइक की खरीद अभी स्थगित कर दी गयी है .

किलो क्लास पन्नडूबी के मध्य जीवन उन्नयन का निर्णय भी नौसेना के लिए लाभदायक सिद्ध होगा.हमारी नौसेना के पन्नडूबी गिनती मे बहुत कम और पुराने हो चुके है जो किसी भी प्रकार चीन का मुकाबला करने मे और हमारे विशाल सागर क्षेत्र और तट रेखा की सुरक्षा के लिए परिपूर्ण नही है. रक्षा मंत्री ने कुछ दिन पूर्व स्कॉर्पीन पन्नडूबी को जल्द से जल्द सेवा मे लाने का भी आदेश दिया था , इन फ्रांसीसी पनडुब्बियों को 4-5 साल पहले ही सेवा मे आ जानी चाहिए थी किंतु हमरे लचर रक्षा उत्पादन उद्योग के चलते वह आज भी निर्माण चरण मे ही अटकी हुई है.

तेजपुर स्थित 4 कोर ,3 कोर दीमापुर आधारित और 14 कोर लेह आधारित के तहत चीन सीमा पर तैनात सेना के जवानों के लिए मोबाइल संचार प्रणाली का नेटवर्क स्थापित किया जाएगा . युद्ध और शांति के दौरान बिना संचार व्यवस्था के सेना की कार्य क्षमता नगण्य हो जाती है. तथा दुश्मन सबसे पहले हमारी स्थिर संचार व्यवस्था को निशाना बनाएगी.

अंत मे 118 अर्जुन MK2 Tanks की खरीद का है DRDO की मंशा यह थी की अर्जुन कम से कम 300-500 के बीच मे हो ताकि आपूर्ति लाइन ठीक से काम करे और मुनाफ़ा भी दे . हो सकता है की सरकार और सेना पहले इन Tanks को उपयोग करके देखना चाहती हो फिर और नये अर्जुन MK2 ख़रीदेगी. हो सकता है की इस समय अर्जुन पूरी तरह से परिपक्व नही हुया हो किंतु हम अगर इसको उपयोग मे नही लाएँगे तो कैसे पता चलेगा इसकी क्या कमियाँ है और अगले संस्करण मे कैसे उसे और सुधारा जाए. कोई भी Tank पहले संस्करण से बिल्कुल सही नही बनता है. आप किसी का भी उधारण देख सकते है चाहे वो इज़्रेली मेरकावा हो या फिर जर्मन लेपर्ड.
हर देश ने धीरे धीरे घर मे निर्मित वस्तु को सुधारा है. अगर कल रूस हमे टी-90 देने मे असमर्थ भी हो फिर भी हमारे पास अपने घर मे बना अर्जुन होगा तथा टी-90 के मुक़ाबले यह सस्ता भी होगा आगे चलकर .

जैटली जी ने शुरआत अच्छी करी है आशा करता हूँ की उनके आदेशो पर तीव्रता के साथ अमल भी किया जाएगा .

Two Bangladeshi among five arrested in India

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 05:32:00 +0000

A senior official of Border Security Force (BSF) in Agartala said the arrests were made on Thursday.

Their detention reinforces the assertions that Mizoram is being used as a corridor by gun runners, and insurgents of northeast India and Bangladesh for transporting arms and ammunition and drugs from Myanmar and Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) inside Indian territory.

“Aizawl frontier BSF along with Mizoram police during search of a vehicle on the airport road apprehend five Chakma youths,” said BS Rawat, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of BSF.

He said five M-16 rifles, 5100 round of live cartridges of M-16 and AKs, 10 cell phones and Indian rupees 60,000 and documents were found on them.

For the complete story click here

Tata to build aerostructure for Pilatus

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 05:27:00 +0000

In a major boost to manufacturring sector as laid down by the roadmap introduced by the new PM, we have learnt that Switzerland based Pilatus Aircraft Limited and Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) have entered into an agreement for manufacturing aerostructures( which includes the airframe of the plane with fuselage, cockpit, fins, rudders, wings etc).
The Swiss company supplies the PC-7 MkII Trainer aircraft to the I.A.F.

I.A.F has already put in an order fro 75 such aircrafts.

"We are delighted to enter into a relationship with TASL, which is known for its high quality aero structure assembly capability, proven to many prestigious international aircraft original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Tata is without doubt a partner of choice for Pilatus in the continued expansion of its portfolio of international subcontractors. The partnership is also important in the context of Pilatus' offset obligation resulting from the sale of the PC-7 MkII Training Aircraft System to the Indian Air Force", CEO of Pilatus Aircraft, Markus Bucher, stated in a press release.

"We are pleased to enter into a partnership with Pilatus, known for its technology leadership and excellence in the business jet and trainer aircraft segment. It is a matter of pride for us that Pilatus has found Tata Advanced Systems to be the partner of choice in its global supply chain. This significant initiative is testament to the strong performance demonstrated by Tata Advanced Systems in recent years to become a supplier of choice for Aerostructures manufacturing. Our desire is to further strengthen this partnership with Pilatus to develop capabilities for complete aircraft manufacturing in India, which will meet the needs of the Indian Defence Forces." TASL chairman, S Ramadorai, said.

What should we expect from PM Modi's visit to Japan

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 03:34:00 +0000

With PM Modi's visit to Japan, what should we expect???

1) Japan pressing for bullet train project.

2) Would Japanese lawmakers back Indian Civil Nuclear Deal???<Abe is one person>

3) With the Liability law proving a bridge too far for most companies, would Japanese shy away too???

4) Can the Japanese bring their manufacturing sector to India and make it a hub??

Japanese expect that strong Modi Government would expedite the process for ongoing big ticket projects such as Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor including smart community projects, Dedicated Freight Corridor (the new construction of railways dedicated for freight transportation) and Chennai Bangalore Industrial Corridor. Japan wants to see implementation of these major economic projects accelerated, as well as prompt resolution of investment-related concerns.

5) With huge Chinese army in an eyeball confrontation with our Army over a big land mass, how much room PM Modi has for maneuver .(No American Army Base here and Chinese def minister statement is categorical about use of army anytime)
6) Investment in Indian Infra is it lucrative enough?? (Over zealous courts and weird tax laws)
In 2003 only 250 Japanese companies were operating in India and now there are 1100, unfortunately Japanese see the chronic problem of Indian infrastructure as an impediment to rapid scaling up of investment.
7) Will the Japanese agree for joint production of US-2 aircrafts in India, if we agree to no sale to third party?
8) What is the strategic vision vis-a -vis China, is there a common ground to act upon or it is just castle in the air??

9) Japanese economy is slowing down again with an ageing population and draconian labor laws.
This an area where India can be of help by providing cheap labor and a huge population. Thus a company invested in India can make more profits even though Indian labor laws are not the best either.

LCA-Naval completes successful supersonic flight

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 10:43:00 +0000

Courtesy Livefistdefense.com

Without much fanfare and circus, LCA-N has just completed its maiden supersonic sortie.
It was so quietly done that most people missed the news and only now some information is appearing.

It flew at Mach1.1 with another Tejas from IAF chasing it, this is a great achievement for the STOBAR version of LCA-N because after 2012 it was going through a redesign of its landing gear.

More Details

Garuda 5 exercise begins in Jodhpur

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 10:30:00 +0000

Garuda-5 Update

70 member French Airforce team has landed in Jodhpur for the Garuda-5, this event has got quite a bit news coverage because French airforce will be using 4 Rafale multi-role fighters against Indian Su-30MKI,MiG-27 and MiG-21.

The two air forces would be engaged in various missions ranging from close combat engagement of large forces, slow mover protection, and protecting and engaging high-value aerial assets in the exercise at the strategic airbase near Indo-Pak border.

The airchiefs of French and Indian airforce would be flying the Raflae and Sukhoi.

It will help the Indian side understand the best way to use Rafale by watching it in action in the hands of french pilots and the French team will get a first hand experience of the needs and thinking of the Indian pilots. Added to that is the exchange of ideas for maintaining and servicing such high end products between the ground crews of both the forces.

Defense minister Jaitley is scheduled for a visit.

Rafale Details

Rafale is a twin-jet combat aircraft capable of carrying out a wide range of short and long-range missions, including ground and sea attacks, reconnaissance, high-accuracy strikes and nuclear strike deterrence. The aircraft were developed for the French Air Force and Navy. France's Air Force and Navy ordered 180 (132 for the air force and 48 for the navy), 100 aircraft had been delivered by the end of 2010. The Rafale entered into service with the French Navy in 2004 and with the French Air Force in 2006. Ten aircraft are operational on the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier.

Shang class submarine on patrol in Indian ocean, where are our subs???

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Sat, 31 May 2014 16:14:00 +0000

China had informed the Indian MEA that one of their nuclear powered attack sub would be entering Indian ocean and would patrol it for two months starting from December 13,2013 to February 12,2014.

It was the "shang" class sub other wise known as Type 093.

Indian intelligence RA&W in one of its report has clearly predicted a carrier battle group being deployed in Indian ocean in the next 3-4 years.

This will be done to demonstrate China's capability to protects its interest in Africa and west asia.It may seem as a muscle flexing move by Chinese to force countries on the Indian Ocean to bow to its will.

While this was going on guess what was Indian Navy doing? Yes you guessed it , we were waiting for the appointment of the next navy chief.

The navy that considers Indian Ocean as its own backyard is suddenly faced with a submarine with land-attack as well as anti-ship cruise missiles. China already has two of these and reportedly building 4 more.

Indian navy now has only 10 old fashioned kilo class subs and 4 german shishumar class. Added to this is one Akula class sub on lease from Russia.MoD is still not ready to build 4 SSN's to escort our SSBN and go on patrol with our Aircraft Carrier.

The SHANG's range and weaponry will give the PLA its first non-nuclear global strike capability. As with the Song SSK, the new submarine incorporates advanced quieting with a hydrodynamically efficient hull form, a single shaft and a highly skewed 7-bladed propeller.
The submarine is equipped with torpedoes, antisubmarine warfare missiles, and a submarine-launched antiship cruise missile, possibly a follow-on to the C801, as well as the projected Land Attack Cruise Missile. Despite the early rumors that the Type 093 was based on the design of the Russian Victor III class nuclear attack submarine, it appears that the two submarines bear no resemblance in appearance. However, it cannot be ruled out that Russian technologies were being incorporated into the Type 093's design.
While there is no direct indication of Russian technology transfer to China connected with this program, Beijing's next-generation nuclear submarine programs reflect Russian influence.China's new indigenously produced nuclear attack submarine, the SHANG class, benefits greatly from Russian technology and design - it is armed with both ASCMs and LACMs. The Type 093 is estimated to be 6,000~7,000t displacement when dived, significantly larger than the 4,100 -4,500tons (surfaced) and 4,500-5,500 (dived) displacement of the earlier Type 091 Han class.
As revealed by the submarine model and Modern Ships photograph, the submarine features a water-drop shape hull, with a pair of fin-mounted hydroplanes and four diving planes. The submarine is fitted with sophisticated sonar systems, including bow-mounted sonar and H/SQC-207 flank-mounted sonar. Three flank-mounted sonar arrays are clearly visible on the hull of the submarine.
The Type 093 submarine has six 533mm bow torpedo tubes (4 above, 2 below), and is presumed to be equipped with a range of anti-submarine and anti-surface vessel torpedoes of wire-, acoustic- and wake-homing, based on both Chinese and Russian designs. The torpedo tubes can also be used to launch Chinese indigenous YJ-82 anti-ship missiles. Some reports suggested the capability of launching land-attack cruise missiles (LACM), but this cannot be confirmed.

Read the complete article here

Higher FDI In Defense a master stroke or a lame duck initiative?

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Sat, 31 May 2014 01:43:00 +0000

Unfortunately, unless new investments are made in R&D, modern factories, personnel Indian defense industry is going to stagnate.
Till now India has not been able to attract any FDI in our defense sector as told by Anthony to the Parliament.
We do not have the modern technology to make everything in India.
Lets take the case of Arihant, we could not have built the nuclear reactor in the next 50 years, it was the Russians who stepped in and gave us the technology to do so.
Next are the destroyers we are building, actually the word should be assembling, none of the high end components being put in those destroyer are Indian.
Then comes the case of Arjun, again we have bought 50 equipments from 50 different sources and assembled it thus the quality is so "ify".
Now why is no money flowing into FDI or the private sector not bothering to come in a big way.
PROFIT........ As civilians we look at the finished product but the case is drastically different for the three services, after we buy a Mirage2000, every time it fly's a small part inside that huge body either finishes its life term or is about to, where do we get these parts from????
1) Cannibalize our own Mirage200 to have at least one in the air.
2) Ask France to give it, If france has stopped the assembly line it will just say sorry.
3) Look for other countries who have spare parts, if we find some, they will try to cheat us by selling old spare parts or asking 100rs for 1rs product.
4) Build our own!!!!!!!
4th point is where privates sector comes in.
So IAF needs 10000 of these small parts for the next 5 years.
Fine, a private player with the help from the french sets up a factory to build these parts, it supplies 10,000 parts to the IAF within one or two years, now what??????
What happens to the factory????The equipments??? The workers???? The Investment????

This is the huge bottleneck in our Private/FDI policy.

Just imagine if the French move their production of some high end lethal weapon to India and after 500-1000 unit we say ok now stop production because we will not allow you to sell these items to anybody else. You can imagine the four letter word French will throw at us.

Thus no FDI or privatization policy will work unless we can assure profits to the private sector.

These views have been formulated after talking to a Gen(retd), Air Marshal(retd) so this is the situation on the ground.
Given below is an excellent article written by Maj Gen Mrinal Suman
fdi in defence dispelling the myths

Government wants to raise FDI in defense

NEW DELHI: The department of industrial policy & promotion (DIPP) has prepared a draft Cabinet note that proposes to allow up to 100 per cent foreign direct investment in defence as part of its plan to boost domestic manufacturing. The move comes two days after Nirmala Sitharaman took charge as the new commerce & industry minister. Defence Minister Arun Jaitley had indicated on Tuesday after taking charge of the ministry that he would consider the issue of FDI in the sector.

Extended Range Pinaka Mark II Tested Successfully

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Fri, 30 May 2014 10:32:00 +0000

The extended version of the Pinaka multi-barrel rocket system was tested successfully in Odisha.

The original system which saw action during Kargil war and was instrumental in flattening enemy positions had a range of 39-40km. This version has a range of around 60-65km.

This system can fire a salvo of 12 HE rockets weighing 1.2 tonnes in 44 seconds, neutralizing a target area of 3.9 km2. The system is mounted on a Tatra truck for mobility.

PXE Director R Appavu Raj confirmed that all three tests were successful meeting the mission objectives. “The rockets travelled nearly 61 km as coordinated thus proving the efficiency and capability of the system. The tracking radars have monitored the movements of the rockets till the point of impact,”

This a home grown solution capable of taking out enemy bunkers due to the different kind of warheads it can carry.

Warheads:

Fragmentation high explosive
Incendiary
Anti-Tank and Anti-Personnel minelettes
Anti-Tank bomblettes

Russians want to place three GLONASS ground stations in India

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Thu, 29 May 2014 13:34:00 +0000

It has been in the making for quite a few years but now senior Roscosmos official confirmed that they would like to outsource GLONASS navigation equipment manufacturing to India.

It is believed that the countries may start the process in earnest after a visit from a Russian team in June or July.More information could be found at the page inside the frame.
Things are moving in a direction where India may sign an agreement with the Russians for the deployment of three GLONASS stations here. This was confirmed to some newspapers by Sergey Savelyev, deputy head of Roscosmos.

Unknown to us is the fact that we have been using Russian tech for some time now. Not only civilian applications like IPhone4 but India Army uses these signals too. Some of the satellites for this network has been launched from India. Many big chip set manufacturer in India utilize this technology some of them are Qualcomm, Broadcom, STMicroelectronics.

“We would like to place our own GLONASS ground stations here, as well as jointly produce user equipment and work together on the implementation of technologies such as the ERA-GLONASS. It would be interesting to create a joint venture in India,” Savelyev said.

Some of the related news articles could be found here

India strikes deal with Russia on Glonass
SANDEEP DIKSHIT
Now, it can get precision signals from Russian constellation of satellites
A day before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived here last weekend for his annual summit with the Russian leadership, an Indian defence team of scientists and defence brass returned to Delhi after inking an agreement for receiving precision signals from Glonass, Russian constellation of satellites.

These signals will allow missiles, including those fired from nuclear submarine Chakra, to strike within half a metre of distant targets.

Glonass is an alternative to the U.S.-controlled Global Positioning System (GPS).
.
Indian military's access to Glonass has been considered important enough to find a mention in half-a-dozen joint statements issued after India-Russian annual summits.

As has been the case earlier, the issue lay in an indeterminate state for long time after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh discussed it with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during their meeting in Delhi last year.

india-strikes-deal-with-russia-on-glonass

Russia and India navigational satellites launched
by Simon Chester on 1 April, 2014 in GPS & Navigation

On 24 March, a Russian Soyuz rocket launched a Glonass navigation satellite into orbit from Russia’s northern Plesetsk space center, inserting a Glonass-M satellite into orbit where it is now functioning normally.

Additionally, India’s latest navigational satellite, IRNSS 1-B, will be launched on board a PSLV C-24 rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota on 4 April. The Glonass-M satellite (designated number 54) was manufactured by ISS-Reshetnev and is designed for a seven-year operational life.

It is planned that five satellites of the Glonass-M series will be delivered into orbit in 2014 in order to maintain the national navigation system GLONASS in its full operational capability. Three satellites will be launched in a batch of three, while the rest two will fly into orbit in two single launches.

Russia and India navigational satellites launched

Drone Footage OF IAF C-130J Landing At Daulat Beg Oldie

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Thu, 22 Aug 2013 12:16:00 +0000

Courtesy http://www.livefistdefence.com/2013/08/video-drone-footage-of-iafs-c-130j.html

LCA Tejas Mk-II Prototype Hitting The Skies Near You By 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Thu, 22 Aug 2013 12:06:00 +0000

Courtsey Idrw.org

News coming from HAL reveal that first prototype of the LCA Tejas Mk.2 may be unveiled for the world in 2014.

At present HAL is looking to install a solid dependable line for various units of this craft. The following statement gives us a hint of their goal.

“HAL-ARDC is taking up for development and qualification of certain LRUs required for catering to LCA-Mark 2 version. The first prototype aircraft is slated for built during 2013-14, while series production(s) are planned for induction to fleet which is stated to be taken up in two phases commencing from 2016 onwards.”

Even though work seems to have begun on a war footing by getting a metal mockup ready and they have also floated numerous contracts for various plane parts like composites etc yet the author is a bit skeptical about the HAL's capability to stick to the time line. Not only that but 2014 is also the year in which MK-I is supposed to get operational clearance. Looking at HAL's previous abysmal record this project looks like another one for the history books.

Chinese Troops Come 20 km Inside India. Is India Heading For 1962 Again

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Thu, 22 Aug 2013 11:40:00 +0000

Are the chinese sending troops inside Indian territories at various places for probing our preparedness or lack of it. Are these troops part of reconosaince mission of the larger invading force lying behind? These are some of the questions being asked by Indian public. Sadly though no answer is forthcoming from a Government which has been bogged down by corruption and nepotism. The opposition is completely fractured most of them are in the Governments pocket due to pending court cases and investigations. To top it all the Indian economy is in a free fall with the Central bank and the finance minister unable to do anything but to watch helplessly as the dream of a strong economy burns.

Under these circumstances China has chosen an opportune moment to turn the screws. Slowly it is becoming clear that there is a method to these seemingly unconnected events of Chinese troops coming inside Indian territories and camping for few days or weeks.Some people suggest that these are pressure tactics, while that may be true to some extent, it is belief of the author that these movements are part of a plan by the Chinese army to access the ground realities and map the geographical terrain behind the enemy lines. This move can only one thing that they are preparing for an assault which will carry their troops deep inside Indian territory. Instead of being surprised by some unforeseen circumstances the Chinese Generals are finding out what kind of situation their forces will face once inside India.

The second target may be to gauge the extent of Indian Armies preparedness to fight back.

Once all the pieces fall into place then the Chinese will make their move. One of the pieces being Pakistan, last time around they did not have support of the Pakistani's when they invaded but this time around they want to give their ally enough time for preparing a strong attack on the western borders of India.
In Jammu,Kashmir and Ladakh region Indian army will be caught in a pincer movement by the Chinese and the Pakistanis due to the connecting highway. Only sticking point for them is the Indian army posted at Siachen.

Another problem could be Daulat Beg Oldie landing strip thus they have tried to push some men and find out the situation in that area too. The audacious intrusion into the Depsang Bulge, a table-top plateau, threatened to cut off India's access to some 750 sq km area in northern Ladakh: an area roughly half the size of Delhi. The face-off site was just about 35km south of the strategic Karakoram Pass, which is at the tri-junction of China-Pakistan-India borders, and overlooks the Siachen Glacier-Saltoro Ridge to the west and the Indian observation post in the Chumar sector to the east.

Indian Army and ITBP sends patrols to Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) and the Karakoram Pass. These patrols start from a place called Sasoma aound 80 km from Leh and then move on foot across the Saser and Depsang passes which are situated at a height of in excess of 16,000 feet. Thus loss of the Depsang Bulge would have cut off access to the areas north of the passes.

Indian Army Officers who were posted there say that this area is the only good staging area in the entire region from where Indian army may gather its men and machine to launch an offensive. This is because the bulge is the only wide open land in the region which is full of high jagged ridges of the Karakoram range in the north and Ladakh range in the south.

India armed forces hold the airstrip dear as it can be used for deploying mean and material in the region to cut off Karakoram highway between China and Pakistan. This was demonstrated by the 90 minute flight by IAF's C-130J aircraft from Hindon airbase.(Read details Times Of India News Site )

It is a well known fact that China has taken over the Gilgit-Baltistan area and now are the masters enslaving the local population. Exploiting their natural resources, putting the men and women of that area to work as their slaves basically like a horde of locust they are just devouring the land. To these new masters of Gilgit-Baltistan Daulat Beg Oldie presents a real challenge. Which in turn will put their Gwadar and Karakoram highway connection plan in jeopardy too. China wants a port on Arabian sea and Gwadar is already leased out to them.

At times of emergency this air strip can be used to support Indian troops on the Siachen glacier too.

Now the latest provocation has come in the Arunanchal Pradesh border. It is the fervent hope of the author that Indian Government should put all its effort in war preparedness. This task should be taken up as a national emergency with all non-essential resources being directed toward that area.

Primarily all the environmental or political or monetary block should be removed for building roads in this area in a war footing. The mountain corp should be raised and activated as soon as possible. Though the navy mandarins have a counter view. They believe that India can cripple China and Pakistan completely if given opportunity.
Read The Counter point here

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Unfortunately the situation in India is very similar to that of 1962, just like Nehru PM singh lives in a dream world of peace and panchasheel, refuses to look at the reality and has completely destroyed the war making capability of the nation as a whole. Example being mumbai attack which had the whole country up in arms but the pacifist did not let the army do anything thereby destroying the morale of the army. Next attack on the army was forced ouster and the mud slinging on the capable General called Gen(retd) V.K Singh. The same thing happened pre-1962 with Gen Thimaiyya and Nehru. Just like 1962 we have a good but incapable/unsuitable man as defense minister who is firmly a party man not a strategist. Thus the winds are blowing in favor of the Chinese once again.

Why is Daulat Beg Oldie So Important?

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 05:48:00 +0000

Daulat Beg Oldie Standoff: An Assessment
V. Mahalingam
The logic of Chinese encroachment

Legally speaking China has no business to be in areas beyond its borders. Its border ends at Xinjiang, which was incorporated into the Chinese empire when it was conquered by the Mongol leader Genghis Khan in the 13th century. Known to the Chinese as Xiyu (“Western Regions”) for centuries, the area became Xinjiang (“New Borders”) upon its annexation under the Qing (Manchu) dynasty in the 18th century.1 The then borders did not include areas of present Chinese claims.
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LOC Skirmishes What is the real story?

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Tue, 20 Aug 2013 05:15:00 +0000

For the past few weeks India and Pakistan have been trading heavy fire on the Line of Control(LOC) yet nobody knows what are the actual reasons for Pakistan challenging India for a firing match which it knows it cannot win. It tried to instigate a reaction by beheading Indian soldiers and ambushing an Indian patrol.Why?
On the Indian side most citizens are up in arms for what is perceived as Government apathy towards the casualties and cold blooded murder of soldiers on LOC. There is a mob frenzy which seeks bloody retribution.
My question is a bit more involved than just joining the Pakistani's in a duel. Why would Pakistan escalate tensions on LOC for what purpose and why now?

Lets look at the simplistic answer,

Pakistanis are an evil race which lives, drinks and dreams of war with Indian republic.
Pakistan wants to push in more infiltrators under the cover of heavy firing.
Pakistan Government has lost control over its commander who are driven by jihadi mentality.

All these explanations though plausible are not probable. Let's look at point no 2 infiltrators are pushed through specific paths and firing or shelling there makes sense but this is more wide spread and acts by the Pakistani Border Action Team defies logic because they know this will push the lackadaisical Indian Government into taking action. So there must be a more sinister plot afoot.
As to point 3 as much we would like to believe it to be true and give Nawaz Sharif the PM of Pakistan a clean chit the pretext to that point isn't true. While Nawaz may not control Pakistani army to the full extent yet its rank and file haven't been infiltrated to a large extent as of now. General Kayani remains in full control of his armies thus it cannot be a renegade general performing these acts.
Therefore what is the point behind all this?

The answer may lie in many points and the Pakistanis may be trying to hedge their bets on multiple issues. We all know that the so called dove Nawaz Sharif has activated the dormant Kashmir Cell of the Pakistan Government as soon as he took oath of office. This cell's sole responsibility is to put Kashmir on the international forum and by overt or covert means force India to a discussion on Kashmir in UN or other places. His parties provincial government is bankrolling terrorist organisations responsible for countless attacks on Indian cities including Mumbai. Yet he talks of peace. What Nawaz Sharif has guessed and rightly so is the predisposition of Indian Government towards peace come what may and the romantic idea in PM Singhs mind that Nawaz Sharif and the people of Pakistan are basically a hostage of General Kayani. Thus they must do everything in its power to support Sharif against Kayani.
Keeping this in mind Pakistan wants to play good cop and bad cop routine by asking its military to kill as many Indian soldiers as it can and push infiltrators into India for jihad. If their guess is correct PM Singh will force the Indian military to give a token timid response to assuage the public. This will have two fold effect, firstly it will de-moralize the soldiers on the ground reducing their efficiency against the terrorist and make the international community jittery about a possible confrontation between nuclear powered nations. thirdly it will cement the theory in the minds of PM Singh and Foreign minister Khurshid of India that this is the handiwork of Kayani to embarrass poor helpless PM Sharif.
Due to the nervousness of International Community we have already seen noises being made by some western powers for talks between India and Pakistan while Mr Khurshid has categorically stated the Governments resolve to talk peace. They have successfully marginalized the Indian army into a glorified mall security guard. Emboldened the secessionist factions in India.
On the other hand if the Government of India thus react into doing something drastic then Pakistan will be ready for it and it will give excuse to China to jump into the fray. This is the ultimate goal of Pakistan is to involve China in Kashmir war thus paving the way for annexation of Kashmir to Pakistan.

Instead of joining Pakistan in a gunbattle India should escalate the war on fronts where Pakistan is weak and a decisive move by the Indians will cause huge losses. this will make Pakistans forked tongue strategy too costly to maintain. Indians should get rid of their romantic notions about the Pakistani people and their establishment. Just like one Gandhi does not make every Indian a saint in the same way one Pakistani singer does not make every one of them sufi mystics.

Israeli's Stabbed Georgia In The Back, Helped The Russians To Hack Georgian Drones

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 12:21:00 +0000

A swap deal between Russia and Israel in 2008 provided the Russian military with secret codes for Georgian drones, while Jerusalem obtained access to information on Iranian missile systems, according to fresh publications by Wikileaks.

Georgia purchases its unmanned aerial vehicles from Israel, which later gave Moscow the "data link" code in exchange for codes for Tor-M1 missile complexes that Russia sold to Iran, said a leaked letter attributed to Stratfor private intelligence company.

Whistleblowing site Wikileaks announced on Sunday that it started to publish some five million emails by Stratfor, or Strategic Forecasting Inc., a Texas-based intelligence company founded in 1996 and attested by media as the “shadow CIA.”

Stratfor said that at least some emails could be authentic, but did not elaborate. The company’s website was hacked in 2011 by a group of politicized hackers known as the Anonymous.

Stratfor’s alleged email on the Russian-Israeli swap cited an unnamed source described as a “former Mexican cop, Latam military analyst.” Georgia tried to purchase new drones from a private defense contractor in Mexico in hopes of replacing those compromised in July 2008, a month before its five-day war with Russia over the breakaway province of South Ossetia, in which Russia emerged victorious.

Georgian officials also sought to purchase additional ammunition and helicopters, but the deal fell through because the supplier, Idra, was “advised that it would raise a lot of political complications between Mexico and Russia,” the source said.

“The Georgians were pretty much looking for anyone who would sell to them and were willing to pay top dollar,” the letter said, adding in parantheses: "(This shows how frantic the Georgians were in July knowing that war is coming.)"

Tbilisi later tried to sell the compromised drones to neighboring Azerbaijan, but it remains unclear whether the deal was completed, the source said.

No governments implicated in the deal have commented on the leak as of Wednesday afternoon.

Stratfor’s alleged emails disclosed earlier also named Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika as an informant of the company, saying he supplied it with data on turf wars in the Kremlin. Chaika’s office dismissed the report as “provocation.”

Get Your Act Together, Says Anthony to HAL

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 12:13:00 +0000

The Defence Minister Shri AK Antony today asked the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to realign its business processes for strategic alliances and joint ventures, as also, to step up R&D efforts to remain globally competitive.

Addressing a meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to his ministry, Shri Antony said HAL should partner with design laboratories like DRDO and CSIR for the development of indigenous aircraft, engines and systems. He said, what is more, HAL should adopt best practices followed by the global leaders in the field of project management, quality control systems, vendor deployment and supply chain management.

HAL, the leading Defence Public Sector Undertaking, has a turnover of over Rs.13,000 crores and is set for a quantum jump with the planned acquisition and production of Light Combat Aircraft, Light Utility Helicopter, Medium Multirole Combat Aircraft, Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft, Multirole Transport Aircraft, Basic Trainer Aircraft in its assembly lines in the coming years.

Shri Antony said the opening of defence production to the private sector and the introduction of offset clause in defence procurements should provide the necessary fillip to the entry of several players from the private sector into the aircraft industry.

Keeping in mind the mammoth role that the HAL would assume in the coming years in the aerospace industry and the challenges that it would face, the government has set up an expert group under the chairmanship of Shri BK Chaturvedi, Member, Planning Commission to suggest measures to strengthen and restructure HAL.

The expert group has already met twice and is expected to submit its report soon. Among other things, the Group will suggest how best the spin offs from HAL order book can be earnest to ensure better involvement of the private industry in the defence sector. It will also suggest measures to enhance the synergies between HAL, the private defence sector and the civilian industry. The expert Group will assess the future technological and human resource requirements of HAL keeping in view the upcoming and emerging futuristic aeronautical technologies.

Taking part in the discussion the Members of Parliament appreciated the role played by HAL in the defence arena of the country over the years. They, however, pointed out certain shortcomings such as the delay in the induction of the Light Combat Aircraft in the Indian Air Force, delay in the development of Kaveri Engine, delay in phasing out of Mig-21 aircraft and lack of an aggressive strategy to export HAL products.

Replying to queries, Shri Antony said the government has taken a number of measures to acquire the most modern aircraft for the Indian Air Force in the coming years. Some of the aircraft have already been inducted into IAF and others are in pipeline. Shri Antony was optimistic that from 2020 onwards most of the airframes and platforms of the Indian Air Force would have incorporated new technology. Speaking at the meeting, the Minister of State for Defence Dr MM Pallam Raju said HAL today faces multifarious challenges. He said while the organisation has evolved over the last 70 years by producing some of the finest human resources and products, in future, HAL would increasingly play the role of system integrator.

The Members of Parliament who attended the meeting included Shri Manish Tewari, Shri Naveen Jindal, Shri Suresh Kalmadi, Shri Brijbhushan Sharan Singh, Shri Kalkesh N Singh Deo, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, Shri SS Ramasubbu, Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Shri Balwant alias Bal Apte, Dr. Mahender Prasad, Shri HK Dua and Shri Ishwar Lal Jain.

US Gifts Pakistan Two More Spy Planes

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:40:00 +0000

The Pakistani navy took delivery Tuesday of two state-of-the-art, US-made surveillance aircraft nine months after Islamist militants destroyed two similar planes, officials said.

Pakistan said the P3C aircraft, modified with the latest avionics, are designed to improve surveillance in the North Arabian sea, one of the world's most important shipping routes deeply troubled by Somali piracy.
"The two aircraft have been delivered to the Pakistan navy. These aircraft have been provided under the foreign military funding programme," a spokesman for the US embassy in Islamabad said.

Relations between Pakistan and the United States were severely damaged last year by a covert American raid that killed Osama bin Laden and air strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, and the alliance remains tense.

The navy said the aircraft would help "maintain requisite vigil in our vital area of interest in the North Arabian Sea", which it said was "home to intense maritime activity both legal and illegal and thus warrants continuous guard".

Pakistan is to receive six P3C aircraft from the United States in three batches. The first two, received in 2010, were destroyed during a 17-hour siege of a key naval base in Karachi last May blamed on the Taliban.

The attack killed 10 personnel and deeply embarrassed the military, just three weeks after bin Laden was killed in the garrison town of Abbottabad.

Tel Aviv To Deploy Iron Dome

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 13:57:00 +0000

The Israeli military will deploy a battery of rocket interceptors from its “Iron Dome” system in the Tel Aviv region on Feb. 20, a military spokesman said Feb. 19.

“Iron Dome is being incorporated into the heart of the Israeli military. As part of this process, the system is deployed in different sites and will be in the Gush Dan region (of Tel Aviv) in the coming days,” he said in a statement that clarified the deployment would begin Feb. 20.

This deployment “is part of the annual training plan for this system”, he added.

The decision to site an Iron Dome battery at Tel Aviv comes amid heightened regional tensions and speculation about a possible Israeli attack targeting Iran’s controversial nuclear program.

Israel has denied that a decision has been taken to launch a pre-emptive strike on Iranian nuclear facilities.

The first battery of the unique multi-million-dollar Iron Dome system was deployed last March 27 outside the southern desert city of Beersheva, after it was hit by Grad rockets fired by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. On April 4, the system was also deployed around the southern port city of Ashkelon.

The first of its kind in the world and still at the experimental stage, it is not yet able to provide complete protection, but it has successfully brought down several rockets fired from Gaza.

Designed to intercept rockets and artillery shells fired from a range of between 4 kilometers and 70 kilometers (3 miles and 45 miles), Iron Dome is part of an ambitious multi-layered defense program to protect Israeli towns and cities.

Two other systems make up the program — the Arrow long-range ballistic missile defense system and the so-called David’s Sling, or Magic Wand, system, intended to counter medium-range missiles.

The Cowards And The Heroes Of 1962

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 06:31:00 +0000

In our scriptures it is written वीर भोग्य वसुंधरा meaning the brave shall enjoy the pleasures of earth. I wonder how true that quote is ?? The following article shows the two faces of Indian Army during the 1962 war. At one end were the cowards known as "Kaul Boys" on the other were people like Shaitan Singh and Hoshiar Singh. On one end of the spectrum was fear, panic, mendacity and pure cowardice on the other end was cool calculated, pure unadulterated bravery.

The following article only just touches upon the stories of those men who died fighting for India and of those cowards who lived happily to be rich and prosperous, with their son's and daughters enjoying all the comforts of this world. Please read this article.

Your browser is unable to render frames please CLICK HERE to read the original article.

Rantings Of The Chinese Communist Media Blames Indian Democracy For All Evil

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 20:25:00 +0000

Beijing: Blaming India and its multi-party political system for the delay in solving the vexed Sino-India border issue, Chinese state media on Wednesday said the two sides were "far away" from reaching a "fair" agreement due to "suspicion and distrust", which is also impeding progress in bilateral ties.

Though the 15th round of border talks were concluded last month leaving a "good trend" in the bilateral relations, some contradictions and issues are still severely disturbing the normal development of the China-India relations, a write up in the People's Daily online said today.

"The first issue is the China-India border negotiation. China and India have held 15 meetings of special representatives for the border issue.

"Although the meetings have made many positive achievements, it is still far away from reaching a fair, just and reasonable agreement," the write up in the opinion page said.

The main barrier still comes from the Indian side as Indian media insist that the border line between China and India should be based on the "McMahon Line" left by British colonists, it said also India believes that the border dispute between the two countries covers not only the eastern region of 90,000 square km but also 30,000 sq km in the western region.

"This wrong argument, which totally disregards the history, still has supporters in India," it said.

Yet another reason that delaying the agreement was India's multi-party political system as well its society which is extremely complicated, it said.

"Various Indian political parties have different understandings on the China-India border issue, and therefore, it is hard for them to reach an agreement on the issue," it said.

The Daily also referred to India's concerns about China-Pakistan ties.

"There are still misunderstandings about the China- Pakistan relations. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the Indian government for the most part believes that China has adopted an "equal justice" policy in handling India-Pakistan relations, not only attaching importance to developing relations with Pakistan, but also paying attention to the bilateral relations with India," it said.

There were concerns about Gwadar port and Chinese navy coming to India's door step and "inflow of nuclear technology from China to Pakistan", it said.

Referring to India's concerns about Chinese troops in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK), it said they were the personnel sent by China to assist Pakistan in the earthquake relief work.

"The China threat theories like these are quite popular in India. Indian public opinion still holds that at present China is looking for a balance in relations between India and Pakistan to seek the best interest in South Asia and that once the India-Pakistan situation has changed, China will give full support to Pakistan and use Pakistan to curb and combat India," it said.

"Through the above contradictions and problems between China and India, the information passed to the people is that China and India do not have enough mutual trust.

"Suspicion and distrust are still the biggest obstacles to developing friendly relations between China and India," it said.

The governments of China and India should both "stand on a higher level, and take a broader perspective, to enhance mutual trust and eliminate the problems and give full play to the wisdom and talents of the people of China and India, to creatively draw a beautiful blueprint for the final settlement of the China-Indian conflicts and problems," it said.

Sukhoi T-50 Better Than Raptor And J-20 So Says Russia

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 21:00:00 +0000

The number of Russia's Sukhoi T-50 5th generation fighters involved in test flights will be increased to 14 from three by 2015, Russian Air Force Commander Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin told RIA Novosti on Monday.

“There are three fighters already in tests, another three are expected to be tested in the nearest future. The entire number of aircraft planned for test flights is 14,” Zelin said.

The T-50, developed under the program PAK FA (Future Aviation System for Tactical Air Force) at the Sukhoi aircraft design bureau, made its first public appearance at the MAKS-2011 air show near Moscow on August 17, 2011.

The fighter, which is being developed in partnership with India, made its maiden flight in the Russian Far East in early 2010. Zelin also said that Russia’s T-50 outstripped its U.S. and Chinese analogues.

“After a comparative analysis of the fighter’s characteristics with the U.S. F-22 Raptor and Chinese J-20 stealth aircraft, we can conclude that PAK FA exceeds the foreign analogues in maximum speed, flight range, maximum takeoff weight and the maximum overload value,” Zelin added.

Russia has been developing its fifth-generation fighter since the 1990s. The country's top military officials have said the stealth fighter jet, with a range of up to 5,500 kilomeeters, should enter service with the Air Force in 2015.

Tejas Naval Version Is An Unfortunate Necessity For India

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 13:45:00 +0000

Tejas Naval version was recently in the news for all the wrong reasons. Specially when the Navy Chief took on DRDO for failing to meet the deadlines for the Naval version. It is indeed true that in the Royal mess of the whole Tejas saga, Naval version ia a glorious chapter of missed deadlines, unfulfilled promises and general lackadaisical attitude typical of Indian Government Sector

Speaking to The Hindu at Port Blair, Admiral Verma has been quoted as saying, "They [ADA] focused largely on the Air Force programme and the LCA [Navy] did fall behind…. There have been many promises made by the ADA but they failed us... It is often said that there is only 15 per cent difference between both versions. The Navy has always maintained that it may be 15 per cent in terms of material and systems, but it is a substantial part. And they [ADA] underestimated it."

This is not the only time Tejas Naval version has come in for criticism. Even IAF officer's have been highly critical of the program and expect it to be scrapped.

The naval variant will feature

Arrestor hook

Drooped nose for better cockpit visibility

LEVCONS and fore plane to reduce landing speed

Auxiliary air-intakes

Strengthened undercarriage and fuselage and a fuel dump system.

Auto throttle function reduces pilot load by maintaining constant angle of attack during the critical phase of a flare-less carrier landing

Fuel Dump System enables safe landing by reducing weight in event of an emergency landing immediately after launch from Carrier

Maximum T/O from a carrier will be restricted to 12.5 tons, with the max external load being reduced to 3.5 tons.

LCA Naval Problems
At the roll-out of the first Naval LCA NP1 AT Bengaluru on July 6, 2010, ADA Director, Dr P.S. Subrahmanyam, said the aircraft aircraft still needs to shed 400 kg and the landing gear has to be perfected.

Former IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Srinivasapuram Krishnaswamy wrote in a newspaper column, "A naval variant of the LCA seems unlikely to ever land on a ship’s deck. It may probably need a new engine apart from lots of testing and modifications. There is little demonstrated stamina to take these risks."

Looking at this kind of pessimism many of my readers have emailed me their opinion that we should scrap the naval version of Tejas and go for modern air-crafts from western countries or Russia. The readers choice is with F-35(B/C), Grippen, Mig-29K, Naval Typhoon. While these planes are extra-ordinary in their advertised potency, unfortunately they are all "DREAM MACHINES" except for Mig-29K(outdated) none of the planes exist except on paper.

Lets take the example of F-35B. The US Navy does not want it and they are only accepting this air-craft due to the immense pressure being put by the civilian administration. It's gained weight during development, but more importantly, the Navy isn't sure that the capabilities it provides are what they want to spend more money on. It's tempting to scrap it and go with an alternative, from a company with recent carrier-jet experience. The obstacle is a headstrong Secretary of Defense who's staked his reputation on the joint program, but the signals are clear: the moment he's gone the Navy's going to bail.

On 6 January 2011, Gates said that the 2012 budget would call for a two year pause in F-35B production during which the aircraft may be redesigned, or canceled if unsuccessful. Gates stated, "If we cannot fix this variant during this time frame, and get it back on track in terms of performance, cost and schedule, then I believe it should be canceled." The probation was ended by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on 20 January 2012 because of progress made over the past year.

Problem with going in for either F-35B or F/A-18 is the binding and humiliating contract which we will have to sign. Basically it will be the US command which will give us permission to operate these machinery if it fits in their strategic view. Unfortunately that is not something which is acceptable to India thus you can forget about any American fighters coming to India in the near future.

The second problem we have forgotten is the problem with STOVL and STOBAR vs CATOBAR configuration. India does not have any operational STOBAR Aircraft Carriers but the next generation will be all STOBAR including the GORSHKOV. While the current AC in service is STOVL.

There are three main configurations of aircraft carrier in service in the world's navies, divided by the way in which aircraft take off and land:

Catapult Assisted Take-Off But Arrested Recovery (CATOBAR) - these carriers generally carry the largest, heaviest, and most heavily armed aircraft, although smaller CATOBAR carriers may have other limitations (weight capacity of aircraft elevator, etc.). Three nations currently operate carriers of this type: the United States, France, and Brazil for a total of thirteen in service and potentially two more when the Royal Navy's Queen Elizabeth class is complete.

Short Take-Off But Arrested Recovery (STOBAR) - these carriers are generally limited to carrying lighter fixed-wing aircraft with more limited payloads. STOBAR carrier airwings, such as the Sukhoi Su-33 and future Mikoyan MiG-29K wings of the Admiral Kuznetsov are often geared primarily towards the air superiority and fleet defense roles rather than strike/power projection tasks which require heavier payloads (bombs, air-to-ground missiles). Currently, only Russia possesses an operational carrier of this type, with India and China each preparing a similar carrier.

Short Take-Off Vertical Landing (STOVL) - limited to carrying STOVL aircraft. STOVL aircraft, such as the Harrier Jump Jet family and Yakovlev Yak-38 generally have very limited payloads, lower performance, and high fuel consumption when compared with conventional fixed wing aircraft; however, newer STOVL aircraft such as the F-35 have much improved performance. This type of aircraft carrier is operated by India, Spain, and Italy with five in active service; the UK and Thailand each have one active carrier but without any operational STOVL aircraft in inventory. Some also count the nine US Amphibious Assault ships in their secondary light carrier role boosting the overall total to sixteen.

Now we have limited options... F-35B which is still going through trials and is a bloody costly machine...comes with dog collar and leash, Mig-29K are out-dated and not in production anywhere. Or go for Rafale-M which again works on CATOBAR carrier De-Gaul.F/A-18 are too heavy for STOVL/STOBAR carriers.

So my friends you tell me if we can afford to scrap Naval Tejas when we have only one aircraft available for all our future AC's?

Coward Evil Communist Attack Again

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:54:00 +0000

Four BSF officers, including a Commanding Officer, were today killed in an IED blast by suspected Maoists in Malkangiri district of Odisha.

The BSF squad was targeted at around 1 PM in the Janbai area of the district, under Chitragonda police station area, 465 kms from here, and its jungles are a Naxal hotbed as it touches the borders of two other states-- Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, making it a corridor for Maoists.

According to initial reports, the officers were returning in their vehicle after attending a meeting with the district administration.

The victims have been identified as Commandant (107 battalion) G R Khaswan, his Second-in-Command Rajesh Sharan, Inspector Ashok and Assistant Sub-Inspector and radio operator of the squad Jitendra.

A Border Security Force (BSF) company is located in the area where the blast occurred.

The area witnesses a huge inter-state movement of armed Maoist cadres, a senior official said.

Interceptor Missile For India' Ballistic Missile Shield Tested Successfully

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:29:00 +0000

As part of its plan to deploy a two-layer ballistic missile defence system, India on Friday successfully test-fired its indigenously developed supersonic interceptor missile from the Integrated Test Range off Orissa coast.

A surface-to-surface target missile - a modified 'Prithvi' – was first lifted from the launch Complex-III in ITR at Chandipur, 15 km from here around 10:13 hours, defence sources said.

The missile tracking network consisting of long range and multi-function radars and other range sensors positioned at different locations detected and identified the incoming missile.

The interceptor missile at Wheeler Island, about 70 km across the sea from Chandipur, with a directional warhead was launched at about 10:16 hour and ground and on board control guided it to the target, the sources said.

The last flight of interceptor missile was conducted on March 6, 2011.

(Press Release)
DRDO AIR DEFENCE MISSILE AAD-05 HAS SUCCESSFULLY HIT BALLISTIC MISSILE AND DESTROYS THE BALLISTIC MISSILE AT A HEIGHT OF 15 KMS OFF THE COAST OF ORISSA NEAR THE WHEELERS ISLAND. A MODIFIED PRITHVI MISSILE MIMICKING THE BALLISTIC MISSILE WAS LAUNCHED AT 1010HRS TODAY FROM ITR CHANDIPUR. RADARS LOCATED AT DEFERENT LOCATIONS HAVE TRACKED INCOMING BALLISTIC MISSILE. INTERCEPTOR MISSILE WAS COMPLETELY READY TO TAKE OFF AT WHEELERS ISLAND. GUIDANCE COMPUTERS HAVE CONTINUOUSLY COMPUTED THE TRAJECTORY OF BALLISTIC MISSILE AND LAUNCHED AAD-05 INTERCEPTOR MISSILE AT A PRECISELY CALCULATED TIME. AAD-05 INTERCEPTOR MISSILE INITIALLY GUIDED BY THE INERTIAL NAVIGATION SYSTEM WITH THE TARGET TRAJECTORY CONTINUOUSLY UPDATED BY THE RADAR, THE ON BOARD GUIDENCE COMPUTER GUIDED THE AAD-05 INTERCEPTOR MISSILE TOWARDS THE TARGET MISSILE. THE ONBOARD RADIO FREQUENCY SEEKER IDENTIFIED THE TARGET MISSILE AND GUIDED THE AAD-05 INTERCEPTOR MISSILE CLOSE TO THE TARGET MISSILE AND HIT THE TARGET MISSILE DIRECTLY AND DESTROYED IT. WARHEAD ALSO EXPLODED AND DESTROYED THE TARGET MISSILE INTO PIECES.

RADAR AND EOTS SYSTEMS HAVE TRACKED THE MISSILE AND ALSO RECORDED THE FRAGMENTS OF TARGET MISSILE FALLING INTO THE BAY OF BENGAL. IT IS ONE OF THE FINEST MISSIONS WHERE THE INTERCEPTOR HAS HIT THE INCOMING BALLISTIC MISSILE DIRECTLY AND DESTROYED AT A 15 KMS ALTITUDE. INDIA HAS JOINED A VERY FEW ADVANCED COUNTRIES, WHO HAVE THESE BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENCE CAPABILITIES. INDIA IS THE FIFTH NATION TO HAVE THESE CAPABILITIES IN THE WORLD. THE MISSION WAS CARRIED OUT IN THE FINAL DELIVERABLE USER CONFIGURATION MODE.

SCIENTIFIC ADVISOR TO RAKSHA MANTRI DR. V.K. SARASWAT HAS REVIEWED THE TOTAL CONFIGURATION AND MISSION AND ALSO WITNESSED THE LAUNCH. SHRI AVINASH CHANDER CHIEF CONTROLLER R&D (MSS) AND SHRI P VENUGOPALAN DIRECTOR DRDL CARRIED OUT THE FLIGHT READINESS REVIEW OF BOTH THE TARGET MISSILE AND INTERCEPTOR MISSILE.SHRI DS REDDY, PROGRAMME DIRECTOR AIR DEFENCE SYSTEM ALONGWITH HIS TEAM HAVE CARRIED OUT ALL THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE LAUNCH SUCCESSFULLY. SHRI SP DASH DIRECTOR ITR, DR SK CHAUDHURI DIRECTOR RCI AND SHRI SATISH KUMAR DIRECTOR SPIC AND OTHER TOP DRDO SCIENTISTS WERE PRESENT DURING THE MISSION. THE MISSION WAS ALSO WITNESSED BY THE SENIOR OFFICIALS OF TRI-SERVICES.

RAKSHA MANTRI SHRI AK ANTONY HAS CONGRATULATED ALL THE SCIENTISTS FOR THE SUCCESSFUL DEMONSTRATION OF BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENCE.

Ancient F-7PG Flown By Pakistan Air Force Crashes Killing The Pilot

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:37:00 +0000

A Pakistan Air Force (PAF) pilot was killed on Wednesday when his aircraft crashed in Pashin district, some 70 kilometres north of Quetta. A statement from the Air Headquarters Islamabad said the fighter jet F-7 PG was on a routine training mission when it crashed 24 nautical miles north of Quetta.

“It was a Chinese-made F-7PG training aircraft,” Air Commodore Anis Mirza told AFP.

Sources said the aircraft crashed in the mountains between Tora Shah and Band Khushdil Khan area, 10 kilometres from Pashin. They said the pilot had been identified as Tauseef Ahmed.

No loss of civilian life or property on ground had been reported, the statement said, adding that an inquiry had been ordered to determine the cause of the accident.

It was the fourth air force jet to crash in training in over three months.

Two pilots were killed in the other incidents and a helicopter crash last June killed four military personnel.

Pakistan is currently the largest non-Chinese F-7 operator, with ~120 F-7P and ~60 F-7PG. The Pakistan Air Force is to replace its entire fleet of F-7 with the JF-17 multirole fighter, all F-7P are planned to be retired and replaced with JF-17 Thunder aircraft by 2015.

Grand-Daughter And Great Grand-Daughter Of Baloch Nationalist Leader Slaughtered

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:07:00 +0000

In another instance of genocide against Balochistan, the grand daughter and great grand-daughter of the famous Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti were killed in Clifton Area of Karachi. This was done by the IS-Military combine to send a message to leaders of Balochistan Republican Party. Sounds like mafia, oh yes it is. This is the same government India wants to play Aman Ki Asha(Hope For Peace) with. Just imagine what the actual colors of these snakes are.

<a href='http://video.in.msn.com/?mkt=en-in&vid=3849b8f0-064f-40b6-ab55-e4d736a8e747&from=&src=v5:embed::' target='_new' title='Karachi: Nawab Bugti's granddaughter killed' >Video: Karachi: Nawab Bugti's granddaughter killed</a>

Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti was once governor of Balochistan, a former interior minister, and eventually a rebel killed in a military operation in August 2006 by then president Pervez Musharraf's regime. While Jhumar (34) is Brahmadagh's daughter who was married to Balochistan member of provincial assembly Mir Bakhtiar Domki, Jaana Domki was their daughter. They were both shot dead near Gizri flyover of Karachi.

The driver of their vehicle was also killed. According to an eyewitness, a helper of the Domkis, who survived the attack, the attack took place a short distance from Jhumar's maternal uncle's home in the heavily policed Clifton area. A police unit was looking on, reported Baloch nationalist website, Balochwarna, quoting the eyewitness.

It reports that a black car intercepted Jhumar's car in Clifton around midnight. A man in black salwar kameez, wearing a black face mask, jumped out of the car and shot the driver, Barkat Baloch, as they tried to get away. The driver was killed on spot.

Then the assailant opened the rear door when two bikes accosted the car. Jhumar offered her jewellery, phone and valuables to the man thinking he was a robber. In response the killer said he didn't need her valuables; he was there to kill her and her daughter. Jhumar was then made to witness the brutal killing of her daughter, Jaana. Jhumar was then shot over a dozen times in the head, face and neck at point blank range and was left in a pool of blood.

US to support an independent Balochistan; congressional hearing convened for discussion Washington: (Wednesday, February 08, 2012) Completely disregarding the currently deteriorated state of affairs between the two countries, the United States is all set to support an independent Balochistan. According to the news, the US committee on Foreign Affairs has convened a congressional hearing today to hold an exclusive discussion on state of human rights affairs in the largest province of Pakistan.

US to support an independent Balochistan; congressional hearing convened for discussion

Russia completes trials of new Talwar class stealth frigate

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:31:00 +0000

The final trials of a new Talwar class stealth frigate for the Indian Navy has been completed in Russia.

The frigate, whose testing was held at the Yantar shipyard in Russia's Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, is armed with BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, Ria Novosti reported.

Russia and India signed a USD 1.6 billion contract on construction of three modified Krivak III class (also known as Talwar class) guided missile frigates for India in 2006.

The first frigate, the Teg, was scheduled for delivery in April 2011, but funding shortfalls have delayed the work, the report said.

Two other Talwar class frigates, the Tarkash and the Trikand, are at various stages of construction and testing at the Yantar shipyard, and their delivery dates are unknown.

The three frigates are each armed with eight BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles.

They are also equipped with a 100-mm gun, a Shtil surface-to-air missile system, two Kashtan air-defence gun/missile systems, two twin 533-mm torpedo launchers, and an antisubmarine warfare (ASW) helicopter.

Russia has previously built three Talwar class frigates for India - INS Talwar (Sword), INS Trishul (Trident), and INS Tabar (Axe).

Marines practice amphibious war, storm US beaches

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:06:00 +0000

A small group of Marines trudged onto the beach sands in pitch-black night with an armada of US Navy warships sailing just off the shore. Their mission: root out insurgents that threatened to attack another American force to the south.

Military officials say the operation being conducted in Virginia and North Carolina is the largest amphibious training exercise they've attempted in at least a decade. Marines have been fighting wars in landlocked countries like Iraq and Afghanistan for years, and many have never even set foot on a Navy ship. That's of particular concern as the military shifts its strategic focus toward the coastal regions of the Middle East, such as Iran, and the Pacific, where North Korea and China are drawing increasing attention from the US.

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Rickety Pakistan Air Force Gets New F-16

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:59:00 +0000

Islamabad: With an eye to India's increasing military power which has left a yawning gap between the two arch rivals, Pakistan on monday received the last of 18 F-16 fighter jets from the US.

The Dawn reports the primary consideration for purchasing the new aircraft was to improve the fighting capability of Pakistan Air Force (PAF) vis-à-vis the Indian Air Force.Though the stated aspect was IAF yet these F-16's were conspicuous by their absence during Kargil war when IAF carried out heavy bombing of Pakistani Army on the Line Of Control. PAF did not raise a finger to help its own men while they were being slaughtered.Some might call it cowardice but I call it excellent practical approach of PAF. Instead of having their assets destroyed they kept them safe. This strategy had two fold advantage one the general public was assured that PAF is ready and will protect them as and when needed plus kept the foolish western countries wary about nuclear strike.(Which again was a royal bluff)

The last F-16D Block 52 aircraft as well as the first two of the upgraded fighter jets have arrived in the country.

The fighter aircraft is equipped with state-of-the-art avionics suite and latest weapons with night precision attack capability.

"One F-16D Block 52 and two F-16 Block 15 MLU (Mid Life Upgrade) aircraft arrived today from the US at PAF Base Shahbaz (Jacobabad)," PAF said in a statement.

"The arrival of last F-16D Block 52 aircraft marked the completion of delivery of 18 aircraft of this category. The other two F-16 Block 15 aircraft ... were earlier sent to USA for Mid Life Upgrade," it further said.

The F-16 programme included purchase of 18 new jets, upgrade of 35 older aircraft and those purchased from the US under Excess Defence Articles (EDA) programme, and procurement of munitions.

The F-16 aircraft sale to Pakistan was announced in 2005.

WikiLeaks expose of leaked US diplomatic cables show that the deal was meant to assuage Pakistan's fears of an "existential threat it perceived from India".

The diplomatic cables suggest that the purpose of the sale was to divert Pakistan's attention from "the nuclear option", and give it "time and space to employ a conventional reaction" in the event of a conflict with India.

How can a handful of old air crafts with no chance in hell of matching Indian Fighters keep PAF safe is beyond me but it seems to keep the gullible Pakistani people happy. These aircrafts can be used to bomb the living daylights out of innocent Balochistani Freedom Fighters. So I guess the F-16's will cover itself in laurel by destroying every village every herd and every village school in Balochistan.

US Congressional hearing may spell trouble for Pakistan

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:23:00 +0000

The United States (US) Committee on Foreign Affairs is set to convene a congressional hearing on Wednesday (February 8), for an exclusive discussion on Balochistan.

The extraordinary event has generated great interest among followers of Pakistan-US relations, as the allies’ mutual relationship seems to be deteriorating. The powerful House of Representatives committee oversees America’s foreign assistance programs and experts believe it can recommend halting US assistance to Pakistan over human rights violation in Balochistan.

Calls for ‘independence’
While Islamabad has strictly treated Balochistan as an internal matter, the debate on such a divisive topic by the powerful committee has highlighted the level of American interest in Balochistan and its support, if any, for the nationalist movement. On its part, Pakistan has kept Washington at arm’s length on the Balochistan issue, by refusing to grant it permission to open a consulate in Quetta.

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Russia Will Complete Air-Launched Missiles for T-50 by 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 02:30:00 +0000

Russia will complete development of advanced tactical air-launched missile systems for the Sukhoi T-50 fifth-generation fighter within the next two years, the head of the Tactical Missiles Corporation (KTRV), Boris Obnosov, said

“The development of Kh-35UE (AS-20 Kayak), Kh-38ME, Kh-58UShKE (AS-11 Kilter), and RVV-MD (AA-11 Archer) class missiles will be completed in 2012-2013,” Obnosov said, adding the missiles were currently being tested.

By the time the T-50 fighter enters service with the Russian Air Force in 2014, its missile systems will be fully operational, Obnosov said.

Some of the missiles intended for the fighters – such as Kh-31PD (AS-17 Mod 2) class missiles – have already been tested using Sukhoi Su-34 (Fullback) fourth-generation strike aircraft and put into serial production, he added.

According to KTRV, the Kh-35UE tactical anti-ship missile has a maximum range of 260 kilometers; the supersonic Kh-31PD anti-radiation missile for use against air defense systems, can fly up to 250 kilometers; the Kh-58UShKE missile, designed to destroy pulse radars, can hit targets within 245 kilometers, and the short-range RVV-MD air-to-air missile has a maximum range of 40 kilometers.

The T-50, developed under the PAK FA (Future Aviation System for Tactical Air Force) program by the Sukhoi OKB, is Russia's first new major warplane designed since the fall of the Soviet Union. The jet made its maiden flight in January 2011 and two prototypes have since been undergoing flight tests.

Indian Republic Day Videos

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 02:14:00 +0000

This video shows the might and diversity of India as showcased in the Republic Day Parade of 26th Jan, 2012. Every Indian should bookmark this video for future reference. It will be great to see how Indian military might evolves over the next 10 years or so.

This video is courtesy of Ashish Divay. Please support the original author by visiting his blog at http://ashsworldonline.blogspot.in/

Rafale The New Indian Air Force Fighter

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:33:00 +0000

Now that French aviation major Dassault’s fighter jet ‘Rafale’ has emerged victorious in the dog-fight for India’s multi-billion dollar contract for 126 new-generation fighter jets, here’s a closer look at the beast we have bet on. <p>Sorry! your browser is unable to support frames. Please <a href="http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/decoding-rafale-the-beast-india-bet-upon_756114.html" target="_blank">Click Here</a>to read the orginal article.</p>

NACRA: Smart phone technology takes leap to battlefield

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:06:00 +0000

(copyright www.navair.navy.mil) Using commercially available "smart phones," NACRA project coordinator Ashley Morgan sends and receives streaming video, voice and text across an encrypted/tactical 4G network during a recent demonstration of digital interoperability technologies hosted by NACRA and the NAWCAD's Surface-Aviation Interoperability Lab. Hovering near him, NACRA's testbed helicopter provided the 4G "cell tower in the sky" for the demo.

NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND, PATUXENT RIVER, Md. -- A joint demonstration involving multiple defense agencies and several aerospace companies proved that smart phone technology can be used to improve battlefield awareness.

A tactical digital network, featuring advanced digital radios, hand-held cellular smart phones, a helicopter-mounted “cell tower in the sky” and a boarding party in the Chesapeake Bay recently completed a joint interoperability demonstration.

“This is a big deal because until recently, we’ve not been able to communicate between devices in a tactical networked environment without extensive preplanning and coordination,” said Cmdr. Chris McMahan, Naval Aviation Center for Rotorcraft Advancement demonstration coordinator. “Today’s data links are mostly point-to-point networks where ad hoc connections aren’t possible."

Participating teams displayed ad hoc data sharing on a simulated battlefield in a December exercise by using hand-held cellular smart phones to send and receive real-time video, voice and text sharing between a small-boat team on the Bay and the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division’s Surface/Aviation Interoperability Laboratory.

The participating teams included NACRA, SAIL, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and aerospace companies Northrop Grumman and Rockwell Collins. “It’s the same idea as accessing the Internet from a smart phone or a Wi-Fi-capable notebook to share email or a video with a friend,” explained McMahan. “The Internet doesn’t care what your device is as long as it uses the right protocols. This is the same thing, only we’re doing it encrypted in a tactical environment where we have to bring our own mobile cell tower mounted on the helicopter.”

And while that might seem routine for civilian Internet users, it’s challenging in a secure tactical arena.

“We’re trying to achieve ‘platform agnosticism,’ where you don’t have to preplan participation,” McMahan added. “Much like how we’re able to access the Internet via any number of available devices and modes, we wanted to demo an encrypted tactical network where the data is important and the devices are relatively transparent.”

Specific network capabilities included Quint Networking Technology, 4G/LTE wireless networks, L band, C band and UHF radios, PRC-117G radios, Blue Force Tracker and a 3G/4G LTE transmitter mounted on one of NACRA’s testbed helicopters.

Key to the demo was DARPA’s Tactical Targeted Network Technologies -- an Internet Protocol (IP) based, high-speed, dynamic, ad hoc network hosted by the Rockwell-Collins QNT networking radios. The Naval Air Warfare Center’s SAIL acted as a ship, providing a sea-based node to the network, demonstrating the ability to access an IP-based network from the sea.

Indian Army To Hold Several Military Exercise

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 10:53:00 +0000

Some of the world elite military powers, which include the US, Russia and France want to learn from the Indian army and thus will hold war games with the IA. Not to be left behind smaller friendly countries are gearing for war games too. The exercises are not only related to urban warfare a forte of IA but it will include mechanized columns and infantry formations as well.

Indian Army will hold around 15 exercises this year with friendly foreign countries including the who's who in the global arena, army officials said.

In its immediate neighbourhood, Indian Army will conduct these joint training exercises with Bangladesh and Singapore.

'Bold Kurukshetra' with Singapore army will kick-off the war games in Babina near Jhansi in March. The two sides will field their mechanised forces in the training engagement.

The schedule and nature of exercises with other countries are yet to be decided, but anti-terrorism drills and urban warfare is going to be an important part of all of these war games, officials said.

The army troopers will also engage the American mechanised forces in the deserts of Rajasthan in the exercise 'Yudh Abhyas' which will see the US fielding its tanks there.

The US had participated in exercise 'Yudh Abhyas-2009' with the Indian Army, when it had taken its Stryker infantry armoured vehicles outside of its operational area to a foreign land.

Indian Army had participated in the exercise with its mechanized infantry battalions. Similar exercises have also been planned with the armies of France and Russia.

Last year in October, troops of Indian and French armies had conducted a joint exercise-'Shakti-2000' in the hills of Ranikhet in Uttarakhand.

The fourth round of 'INDRA' series of joint exercise between Indian and Russian armies was also conducted in 2010 in Uttarakhand.

Successful test-flight of Lakshya-II

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:44:00 +0000

Two days after a successful trial, the advanced version of pilotless target aircraft (PTA) Lakshya-II was again successfully flight- tested at the Integrated Test Range (ITR) near here today. The 11th flight demonstration was held from a mobile vehicle at launch complex-3 of the ITR, about 15 km from here. A similar trial had been conducted on Wednesday. "The entire flight was pre-programmed and was totally successful," defence sources said. Lakshya-II flew at sea skimming height of about 15 metres. "In a flight lasting over 30 minutes, it was made to dive down from an altitude of around 800 m to just 12 m and maintained the requisite altitude for the specified time before demonstrating auto climb-out," they said. It demonstrated various technologies and sub-systems to prevent loss of mission, engaging and flying in way point navigation mode while carrying tow targets. During the flight, one of the tow targets was released and the other was deployed while way point navigation was on. Lakshya-II has been designed and developed by Bangalore- based Aeronautical Development Establishment, a premier DRDO lab specialising in UAVs and flight control systems, they said.

Carrier Vikramaditya Ready for India After Eight Year Wait

noreply@blogger.com (Sudeep Mukherjee) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 11:21:00 +0000

A Russian aircraft carrier which is being refurbished for the Indian Navy will begin sea trials in May for the first time in two decades and is to be handed over to India by December 2012, a shipyard official said on Tuesday.

The purchase of the Soviet-built Admiral Gorshkov was agreed in 2004 with delivery initially due for 2008. The delivery date slipped on numerous occasions and the final price for the ship has more than doubled.

The cost of refurbishing Gorshkov, to be renamed INS Vikramaditya, has gone up from $947 million to $2.3 billion. “The vessel is expected to undertake sea trials at the end of May,” Sergei Novosyolov, deputy director of the Sevmash shipyard in the far northern port of Severodvinsk, which is refitting the 45,000-ton ship which Russia took out of service in 1992.

Russia is one of India’s largest suppliers of military hardware. Ninety-six Indian specialists are currently being trained to operate the ship, Novosyolov said, adding that the final number of those to be trained is 1,401.

Last week, a Russian military source said Russia would hand over the nuclear-powered Nerpa submarine to India by the end of the month.