SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Warship Design Bureau (WDB), India’s nodal design agency when it comes to warships and submarines is in charge of India’s 1st gen Nuclear Attack submarine program and one of the technologies it wants to incorporate is the Pumpjet propulsion technology that comes with unique advantages of its own but is also costlier and more complex than a traditional propeller.

While the final configuration of India’s Nuclear Attack submarine program is yet to be finalized, the Navy and WDB have started testing small-scale models of the Pumpjet propulsion technology for research and development purposes that might eventually lead to manufacturing of the full-scale Pumpjet propulsion for the submarines.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Konkurs-M, anti-tank guided missiles, manufactured by Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), Hyderabad are being restocked by the Armenia army as part of its replenishment drive to rebuild its inventory.

Armenia like many former Soviet-union countries also operates large quantities of Soviet-era weapons like anti-tank guided missiles and in recent times also procured some of them from India that continues to manufacture them under license from Russia. Konkurs-M is a second-generation, mechanized infantry anti-tank guided missile, to destroy armored vehicles equipped with explosive reactive armor.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

India has issued Notices to Airmen (NOTAM) for a launch of an experimental flight vehicle in the Bay of Bengal for the period from 15-16 Dec 2022 as per information provided by Twitter user Damien Symon@detresfa_.

The designated area for the NOTAM is 5400 km in length which indicates it might be a test of the Agni-5 Ballistic Missile Missile. speculation is also that it might be a test of the new K5 SLBM that has a range of 5500km, but it is most likely the case.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

The elite fighter pilots of the Indian Navy after a gap of two years will commence aviation flight trials onboard the newly commissioned INS Vikrant after Russian manufactured INS Vikramaditya was out of service for maintenance work. INS Vikrant has left for the deep sea to commence trials that will include Deck-based fighter jets like Mig-29K and LCA-Navy Mk1.

INS Vikrant already has been incorporated with the Indo-Israeli LR-SAM Air Defence interceptor missile and soon will also be getting the MRSAM, along with the MF-Star radar by early 2023. INS Vikrant already has incorporated RAN-40L 3D air surveillance radar, DRDO-developed Shakti Electronic Warfare suite.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh co-chaired the 4th India-France Annual Defence Dialogue with French Minister for Armed Forces Sebastien Lecorn. Singh reportedly has told its French counterpart to come up with a final offer so that India can finalize a joint venture to co-develop a 110-130kN Class of jet engine for its AMCA program.

idrw.org has been told that the Defence Ministry has told Indian GTRE and DRDO to fast-track talks with prospective bidders in the program so that once CCS clearance for the AMCA program is granted it can take up CCS Clearance for joint development of the new engine by end of 2023 or in 2024.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

The Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) plans to develop a new air-to-air missile that will have a range greater than the present (Astra Mk2) but will have a similar range to the air-breathing ramjet air-to-air missile (Astra Mk3 ) that is under development. Air-breathing ramjet propulsion beats traditional solid fuel in terms of range but is too costly to acquire in large numbers.

DRDO plans to develop a new air-to-air missile that has traditional solid fuel propulsion but with a wider dimension that will allow it to reach the 280km+ mark while costing half as much that could have cost for an Air-breathing ramjet propulsion BVRAAM.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) are in talks for the development of a modified variant of the Indian Multi-Role Helicopter (IMRH) that meet its requirements. ICG requires about 14 new helicopters for surveillance tasks as well as several offshore security-related activities.

ICG previously had floated an International tender that was responded by Russia and Airbus offering their Kamov KA 32A11M and H225M helicopters respectively. Russia withdrew its Kamov KA 32A11M from the race which made the H225M helicopter on offer a single vendor situation due to which it had to be canceled.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

India has issued Notices to Airmen (NOTAM) for a launch of an experimental flight vehicle over the Andaman & Nicobar Islands for the period from 29 Nov – 01 Dec 2022 as per information provided by Twitter user Damien Symon@detresfa_.

The designated area is often used to test the anti-ship version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile jointly by the Indian Navy and the Andaman and Nicobar Command.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Top defense officials from Argentina last month visited LCA -Tejas Division in the HAL facility in Bengaluru and as per media news coming in Argentina had asked for a hands-on trial of the Indian fighter jet by their top pilots which is likely to happen sometime in 2023.

Argentina has conveyed that it wants a trial process and evaluation process before it finalizes a jet. Argentina has shortlisted 3 fighter jets for its initial requirements for 12 fighter jets which are the Danish F-16, Chinese JF-17, and Indian LCA-Tejas, and wants its Test Pilots to perform evaluation flight Trials.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

India’s Kalyani Strategic Systems Limited (KSSL) is developing a 155 mm / 52 caliber Gun known as Mountain Artillery Gun Extended Range (MArG-Er) as per a report in the Janes Intel. MArG-Er will be an upgraded gun that is based on the 155 mm/39 caliber Ultra-Light Howitzer.

MArG-ER will weigh less than 8 tons and will have a firing range of 41 km. MArG-ER will be a 155mm, 52 calibers towed howitzer. It is not clear at this point if there also be a Truck mounted variant of the MArG-ER.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

The Brazilian Army has selected the Centauro II 120 mm system made by Iveco–Oto Melara for its requirements. In mid of this year, the Brazilian Army Logistic Command issued a Request for Proposal for an 8×8 armored car armed with a 105 or 120 mm gun. TATA-DRDO developed Kestrel was offered to the Brazilian Army.

Brazilian Army announced that Eitan, Kestrel, and Wahash FSV vehicles respectively were disqualified because it was considered a prototype or belonged to a pilot batch indicating it was not widely accepted by any other operator.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

The government’s Heavy Vehicles Factory in Chennai is a buzz with activities to commence production of the Arjun Mk-1A Main Battle Tank (MBT) after DRDO secured orders for 118 units worth Rs 7,523 crore last year. With the activation of the production line after a long pause, idrw.org had been told Indian Army was approached by the DRDO to consider ordering more Arjun Mk-1A while it still works on the General Staff Qualitative Requirements (GSQRs) for the future main battle tank (FMBT).

This request comes against the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Ukraine where Russian Main Battle Tanks have not only underperformed but were proved to be quite vulnerable to the modern anti-armor weapons systems that were supplied by the western countries to Ukraine.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Pravaig Dynamic, a Bangalore-based EV startup, unveiled its all-new electric Military Utility Vehicle called Veer which is based on the Defy SUV that the company has launched. Veer is powered by a 90.2kWh battery that delivers 402bhp and 620Nm of torque to all four wheels. It has a length of 4960mm length and 234mm of ground clearance.

The manufacturer claims a range of 500km on a full charge and the battery can be charged from zero to 80 percent in 30 minutes using rapid charging technology.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

The U.S. government is willing to authorize the sale of an Ex-Danish F-16 under very restrictive conditions, which has made a deal to procure an Ex-Danish F-16 at a ballpark figure of $15 million per unit very unattractive. Argentina’s search for fighter jets might have come down to just two which are left in the race that is Indian Tejas and the Chinese JF-17 which will include the off-the-shelf purchase of 12 jets directly from the vendor and local production rights that will allow its state-owned Aerospace company Fabrica Militar de Aviones (FMA).

idrw.org has been told that Argentina has told both vendors that it plans to locally manufacture jets likely in a semi-knocked-down kit (SKD) with Argentinian equipment that may see the procurement of further 30 jets in long run.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Tata-Airbus are considering developing a Civilian varaint of the C-295MW transport aircraft that can carry 42 passengers and 5 crew members to be used under the Regional connectivity scheme launched by the government of India.

While plans will start unfolding when the manufacturing of the aircraft takes off to meet the order given by the Indian Air Force. Aircraft can operate from short take-off and landing capability on semi-prepared runways could be ideal to connect to smaller regional airports that are coming up on the radar of the government of India to boost regional connectivity.