SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK

Two world powers are in an intense war in attempts to grab lucrative contracts to be part of India’s multi-billion dollar nuclear submarines program without raising the eyes of the world community. Both Russia and France want to be India’s Strategic depth partner in defense technology but the race is to take each other place in terms of offering technologies that are not often traded or sold unless it is to close friends and allies.

American and United Kingdom joined hands to develop nuclear-capable attack submarines for Australia to thwart any Chinese Naval activities in Indian Ocean Region in mind, the same games are being played in the power corridors of India where both countries are eager to help India achieve the same.

SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK

What started as an offshoot of the Astra Mk1 program now has turned into a full-fledged program that will see an extensive redesign of the current Astra Mk1 while maintaining the same airframe and aerodynamics for the development of new air-to-air missile system that will feature an infrared and radio frequency seeker in a single missile casing.

Infra-red homing missile tentatively classified as Astra-IR by the local media started as a variant but now has turned into a full-fledged engineering program that will see new technology incorporated into the missile for the development of a medium-range air-to-air missile that can even be fielded on 5th gen platforms.

SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK

The world’s second-largest maker of aircraft engines, Rolls-Royce has offered to jointly co-develop a new engine for India’s 5th generation AMCA program in recent talks with the delegation of DRDO-GTRE officials have opened up to its commitment to co-produce new engine that can generate 110kN class of thrust and also has a potential 20% Growth when required along with full Intellectual property rights (IPR).

The new engine will be an advanced derivate of the EJ-2OO that was conceptually cleared for future fighter jets but never went into production. What’s on offer to India will have much more core growth prospects as requested by India and an uprated derivative of the same engine will be able to generate 132kN class of thrust for future Indian 6th gen program or AMCA Mk3.

SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK

The Dry Kaveri engine core is now being made stable due to critical breakthroughs in key technologies over the years, leading to successful certification of the engine that might be completed by 2026. Dry Kaveri engine can generate a 46kN Class of thrust that will be used in the Indian Unmanned Strike Air Vehicle (IUSAV) program but DRDO has now started working on a new afterburner section that is not for the IUSAV program but might be used for a new derivate that might be cleared post-certification of the Dry Kaveri engine program.

idrw.org has been told that proposal under consideration if the Dry Kaveri engine program meets the deadline and enters production could be to develop an uprated core that can generate 57-60kN class of Dry thrust which when mated to the afterburner section can generate a maximum thrust of 85-90kN. This engine will be ideal to be equipped on the Tejas Mk1A fleet when they are due to engine change sometime in the mid-2030s.

SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), an Indian state-owned aerospace and defense company has turned its focus on the development of Indian Multi-Role Helicopter (IMRH) and Naval DMRH helicopters that will be replacing Mi-8/Mi-17 Helicopters in the Indian Army and Indian Air force fleet and Seaking in the Navy. With the Completion of the Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) and Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) program with the production facility already up and running only waiting for orders, its core research team has plans to work on two pathbreaking helicopter programs that will see the use of Coaxial rotor and tiltrotor propulsion.

While HAL has proposed to the Armed forces that it will work on next-generation helicopters post completion of the IMRH program sometime in 2032, the development of Coaxial rotor propulsion for a next-generation medium-lift-sized helicopter that might also include a pusher propeller configuration has not been ruled out.

SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK

Indian Air force which operates a large Su-30MKI fleet has plans to upgrade these jets with Indian-made avionics and weapons so that they remain relevant till 2045 but post that fleet will be replaced with a next-gen fighter jet. While India is focusing on the development of 5th gen AMCA fighter jet for the time being but the focus will start shifting towards 6th gen successor from early 2030 onwards said officials while speaking to idrw.org.

United States, China, and some European countries have started work on 6th gen fighter jets that will go into production sometime in 2035-40, and it’s important that India too start preliminary research work on 6th gen fighters so that it becomes reality by 2040-45.

SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK

Russian Cruise missile usage in the ongoing war with Ukraine has come as an eye opener for Indian military planners as Russia after 6 months of the war nearly has depleted its cruise missile arsenal after high usage initially in the war which has prompted Indian military planners to diversify it cruise missile program in the coming year that has been the domain of the Defence PSUs till now and have done a miserable job on it.

Private sector companies that have been working in the development of turbojet aero engines for cruise missiles might be getting funds from the government and many Private sector companies that have shown interest in carrying out the development of sub-sonic cruise missiles and have submitted proposals are been considered to take up after consultation with Tri-service.

SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK

The Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) has roped in the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur to do the wind tunnel model design and fabrication work of the scale model of India’s upcoming High-altitude long endurance (HALE) class UAV as per the latest tender details. HALE UAV design which leaked last year will be a double boom, twin-tail design powered by a turboprop aircraft engine in Pusher configuration.

ADE has plans to fabricate two prototypes that will be used for developmental trials after Wind tunnel testing is concluded. New Unnamed HALE UAV will be bigger than the Rustam-I (720 AUW) and it can be argued that it will be around a 4-ton AUW (All Up Weight) Class UAV that will be put above MALE Class Rustam-2 UAV (1.8-ton AUW).

SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK

A spate of hectic visits from the top brass of the Indian Navy to check the progress of the development of the Twin-Engine Deck Based Fighter (TEDBF) has been confirmed to idrw.org that the Preliminary work has commenced by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) in coordination with the Naval Project Office that is in charge of overseeing the program on behalf of the Indian Navy that will set the ball rolling sometime in 2023 where Navy plans to move papers for clearance of official grant of the program from the Central Government.

idrw.org has been told that ADA has estimated the TEDBF program will require nearly 13000-Cr for which it plans to get ready with the preliminary design review (PDR) done before files are moved to New Delhi for official clearance for the grant. A comprehensive design review (CDR) another critical milestone of the program is expected by end of 2024 or early 2025 will allow the start of metal cutting and procurement of the components and sub-systems for assembly of the first jet.

SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK

IAF’s mega $20 billion Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft (MRFA) project might see the issue as an important milestone that will be achieved when the Request for Proposal (RFP) will be issued by the Indian Air Force (IAF) in late 2023. Dassault Rafale has offered its Rafale F4-1 standard to India and might be seen in the driver seat due to past orders of 36 Rafale F3R fighter jets that it got from India but the Eurofighter consortium bid might stage an upset.

Eurofighter Tranche 5 combat aircraft is what will be offered by the Eurofighter consortium when IAF issues RFP and has plans to undercut Rafale F4-1 offer by Dassault in terms of fly-away cost which could put India and Dassault in a peculiar situation that might force Dassault to undercut its price more.

SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK

Commissioning of the first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier is just around the corner but the Indian Navy has intensified its lobbying for the development of the second aircraft carrier as both the Naval design Bureau and Cochin Shipyard have gained tremendous experience in the development of such a behemoth ship that both are keen to follow up with the development of another aircraft carrier.

Cochin Shipyard already has offered to develop a second aircraft carrier that is based on the IAC-I design and has the same displacement (45000-T) in 5-7 years but the Navy is still trying to secure Government funds for the development of an aircraft carrier that has a displacement of 65000-T.

SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK

In 2016, Pakistan walked out of a deal to procure 8 U.S.-made F-16 Block-52 fighters deal valued at $699 million after US administration refused to fund the deal, since then Pakistan’s plan to modernize and acquire modern weapons for its F-16 fleet has just gotten more difficult, as US administration has been choking Pakistan’s plans to acquire surplus F-16 from other countries.

Without the written consent of the United States, the transfer of US-made weapons in this case F-16s, to a third country like Pakistan is near impossible even though surplus F-16s are popping up more now since many countries are acquiring F-35s and have plans to sell off their F-16 fleet gradually.

SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK

Recent clashes in Ukraine have cemented the Indian Army’s tactical call to back Swarm technologies over procurement of the Armed MALE Class Unmanned Aerial Vehicles as the Army starts inducting Indian-made Swarm drones that can be armed to take out vital targets on the battlefield.

While the Indian Army is not running out of operating Armed MALE Class UAVs in near future but it has found that they are limited by their utility and have a poor record when it faces a rigid air defense system. idrw.org has been told that Army Top Brass believes that Swarm drones due to the nature of their size and cost and their decentralized approach to the wide target area and their ability to hit different targets instead of one target make them more lethal while decreasing the losses from defensive fire.

SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK

India’s third nuclear-powered submarine which was quietly launched last year without much fanfare and was sported multiple times on satellite imaginaries going through its final integration at the fitting out dock will be heading for sea trials from mid of 2023 as per information provided to idrw.org.

S4 is based on the Arihant-class design with an additional 1000-Ton plug that makes it longer than its predecessor (S2 and S3). S4 is the first submarine that will have an enhanced pressurized water reactor (83 MW) that is optimized for higher output.

SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK

Following the release of a Request for Information (RFI) to the industry in June 2020 by the Royal Australian Air Force for lead-in fighter trainer (LIFT) aircraft to replace its fleet of 33 BAE Systems Hawk 127 trainer aircraft that was responded by the Boeing with its T-7A Redhawk, Korean Aircraft Industries (KAI) with the T-50, Lockheed Martin with the T-50A version of the T-50, Leonardo with the M-346 Master, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) with the LCA-LIFT, RAAF has begun process to start technical screening of the aircraft on offer.

RAAF plans to retire its BAE Systems Hawk 127 from 2031 onwards but has started the process to streamline OEM offers that were received on its RFI. The government of India (GOI) had offered G2G (Government to Government) deal for the supply of LCA-LIFT Trainer aircraft to Australia earlier this year but that was rejected since RAAF is yet to frame the technical requirements that it wants from the LIFT that it plans to acquire.