SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK

The integrated wind tunnel model of the AMCA Mk1 shows some of the design characters that will be included at least in the Mk1 variant of the jet from the start. The scaled Model showcases a Diverterless Supersonic Inlet (DSI) that will addition of the 3D bump will help in concealing engine blades from radar waves from bouncing back to their source, and serpentine air intake will further improve the stealth and design elements of the aircraft.

AMCA sports an advanced Infrared search and track sensor (IRST) in the traditional position installed atop the aircraft’s nose, near its windscreen, there is chatter that the IRST system is retractable which will make it the first of its kind. Although the placement of the IRST sensor will hurt the radar signature on the forward fuselage section, it could be a stop-gap measure at least for the initial prototypes till DRDO can come up with its own Distributed Aperture System (DAS) style system in Mk1 or Mk2 variants of the jet.

SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK

Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari on his two visits to the HAL facility in Bangalore was not only briefed about the progress made on Tejas Mk1A, LCH, and HTT-40 aircraft program but idrw has been told from reliable industrial sources that the Chief was also shown first Tejas Mk2 that is under assembly in a separate facility and was also briefed about the progress made on the program.

Chief last month confirmed that IAF has committed to procure six squadrons of Tejas Mk2 when it is ready for induction and in his meetings with the HAL officials he asked the program to be fast-tracked and also offered his full support to complete its developmental trials, which already has a new IAF team that has been deputed to coordinate with the HAL.

SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK

While talks with French aerospace engine major Safran might be progressing well but the British engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce is also eyeing a deal to co-develop a 110kn class thurst engine with India is still not out of the race as talks with both prospective partners are still ongoing confirmed industrial sources close to idrw.org.

Negotiation with Safran in terms of workshare agreements and other details have been discussed in detail along with other aspects of payments. Some of the agreed terms have been that the engine be produced in India and India could possess intellectual property rights that involve the ability to export the engine to other countries without any restrictions.

SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK

After the Ministry of Defence (MoD) cleared the design & development of the Airborne stand-off jammer program under the Make-I category of Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020. Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has started the process of developing all the communication and radar jammers plus electronic support measures (ESM) equipment for the program and by mid-next year or end will place orders for six Bombardier Global 6000 long-range business jets for conversion into stand-off jamming platforms as part of the country’s Airborne stand-off jammer program.

idrw.org has been told that DRDO plans to use derivates of the surveillance and fire-control radars and feasibility studies of the program were accepted by the Indian Air Force (IAF) late last year and the program will be developed in close association with various DRDO affiliated labs that will be involved in the development of its sensor package.

SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK

India’s ambitious plans to build six new conventional submarines with Air Independent Propulsion System (AIP) under Project 75 India remains stuck due to a lack of response from the OEMs that required the Indian Navy to extend tender bid dates till the end of this year but not many are still convinced that in a matter of six months they will be a change of heart and there will be different responses after several countries withdraw for various reasons.

According to ” The Print ” Naval Design Bureau is working on a conventional diesel-electric submarine with AIP technology an in-house project under the Project-76 program might have a completed design phase in another year and a half. It is not clear if Project-76 will supersede in case of Project 75 India again becomes a non-starter but these indigenous efforts might mitigate the risk of further dwindling of the submarines fleet.

SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK

After India and France once they ink a deal for the development of an afterburning turbofan jet engine for the AMCA program, the program will move to the second phase immediately where the preliminary conceptual design work will begin based on the studies that were provided by Safran and approved by GTRE that are proposed roadmap for the engine development in the country.

idrw.org has been informed that the GTRE is also scouting for the private sector that will be part of the jet engine program, these companies will not only supply components and spares but also help absorb the Transfer of Technology in the country so that most of the Hot Core section of the new engine can be produced in India without any supply coming from France.

SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK

Talks with French Aerospace engine manufacturer Safran might be concluded by end of this year along with the workshare agreement between Safran and GTRE. To make this joint venture profitable and also ensure both companies along with their supply chain (MSMEs) both in India and France recover their investments, idrw.org has been told that India will agree to procure nearly 1000 engines coming out of the new joint venture that will be used to initially to power AMCA Mk2 and other future programs in the country.

Safran and GTRE are working out a deal to co-develop a 110-120kN thrust class of engine for the AMCA Mk2 program and also a future variant of the 130kN class of thrust. Indian Air Force (IAF) has committed to procure 80 AMCA Mk2 and 40 AMCA Mk1 that for its entire service life will have 6 engine changes per aircraft and 4 engine changes for MK1 which means nearly 640-700 engines will be required just for the AMCA program.

SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK

LCA-Navy Mk1 gets a special flight control law mode that allows hands-free take-off, to reduce the pilot’s workload as the aircraft leaps from the aircraft carrier ramp and automatically puts the aircraft in an ascending trajectory. Developers of India’s 5.5 Gen AMCA fighter jet wants to take autonomous technologies much further in the next-generation fighter program and have started work on a fully automatic vision-based Autonomous Taxi, Take-Off & Landing (ATTOL) system.

Image recognition technology and other sensors will be installed on the aircraft to allow it to taxi aircraft from the hangar to the main runway and move throttle levers to the take-off setting to accelerate automatically while maintaining the runway centerline with default take-off speed before its nose-up and in the aircraft is the air.

SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK

After India and United States suspended an ambitious plan to collaborate on jet engine technology under the much-touted Defence Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI) in 2019 after the US was unwilling to transfer the high technology that was much needed for the engine program to take off.

A reliable source to idrw.org who wants to be anonymous said that talks with French Safran have progressed considerably for American General Electric to make a late entry and it is still not clear what new they are willing to offer when they have refused to transfer core technology after years of negotiation due to control export regime restrictions of the then government.

SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK

The State-owned Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has confirmed the conclusion of the carriage and separation trials of the Astra Mk3 Beyond Visual Range air-to-air missile that has a maximum range of 340km and now DRDO is preparing to assemble a fully integrated missile that could be used for the first developmental trials sometime in mid of next year.

Astra Mk3 FT-01 and FT-02 missiles were used for separation trials that took place sometime earlier this year from the frontline Su-30MKI jets. Astra Mk3 will have the same length and dimension as the Meteor missile but will weigh 218kg which is 28kg more than the Meteor missile in its class.

SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK

State-run aerospace behemoth Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) management is trying to draw up support for the development of an indigenous Medium Transport aircraft Program in the country by having talks with many public and private sector players that could be part of the supply chain for yet to be the proposed program.

Last year idrw.org had reported that HAL’s Chairman and Managing Director R. Madhavan in an interview had said that ” he is confident about the maturity level of indigenous capabilities in the aerospace sector along with private sector partners, India can come up with indigenous offerings not only for military transport aircraft but also for the complete spectrum of civil aircraft “.

SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK

DRDO has been carrying out Research and Development to develop a missile based on the LFRJ (Liquid Fuel Ramjet) Engine for STAR (Supersonic TARget), a target missile capable of hitting Mach 2.5 speed to help surface warship crews practice how to detect and defeat incoming supersonic anti-ship missiles. STAR can be launched from the ground and ships using a Catapult-launched system and has a range of 55-175km with RCS of 0.2-1.9m2 and a shelf life of 10 years.

DRDO also has plans to develop air-launched variants of STAR (Supersonic TARget) that can be used as Anti-AWACS and Anti-Radiation missiles for the entire Tejas Mk1A and Mk2 fleet. idrw.org has been told that the baseline STAR variant is already at prototype stages and likely will be tested later this year.

SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK

A New variant of the American afterburning turbofan engine called F414-GE-400 that can generate 116 kN class of Thrust, which is way more than its current predecessor F414-INS6 (98 kN) will be available from 2024-25 onwards for the United States operated F-18E/F Super Hornet fleet and same will be made available for all the existing operators of the F414 powered jets in plug and play configuration without requiring any changes to the air intake or any need for modification to the lower rear fuselage of the aircraft or its engine bay.

In 2021, GE Sales officials made a presentation on the new engine variant to Indian officials that is currently under development at the request of the US Navy and the same will be offered to all prospective clients. India already had placed orders for 99 414-INS6 (98 kN) engines to be used for the Tejas Mk2 program and had received 12 units initially to be equipped on the first few Tejas Mk2 and prototypes of the AMCA that are to be used for developmental flight trials.

SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK

French engine giant Safran and India’s Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE) are giving final touches to the ongoing negotiation for the joint development of a 110-kN (kilo Newton) engine to power India’s 5.5-generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) jet, where India will be investing nearly €1 billion into the program but will still end up sharing Joint Intellectual Property (IP) rights with France for the engine.

Intellectual Property (IP) and Transfer of technology (ToT) for the core of the engine have been the bone of contention between Safran and GTRE in all talks that have been going on for a while now. While India has been assured ToT for the Core engine that includes the right to carry out improvements and up-gradation of the critical components throughout engine service life in production, Safran will continue to hold Joint IP rights on most of the ToT that will happen on the core engine.

SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK

The Philippine air force is looking to procure light multirole fighters that can be used primarily to fight insurgents. The Philippine air force operates FA-50 from South Korea which is classified as light combat aircraft but Manila wants light jets that are much more capable than their recent acquisition and are far more capable fighter aircraft.

The Philippine air force had evaluated Saab Gripen and Lockheed Martin F/16V but then-President Rodrigo Duterte had called F-16 fighter jets “utterly useless” because his Air force needs lighter combat aircraft to fight insurgents which F-16 is not capable of.