SOURCE: GIRISH LINGANNA / FOR MY TAKE / IDRW.ORG.

Karnataka, located in southern India, has established itself as a hub for the country’s aerospace and defense industry. With a strong presence of top research and design institutions, a large pool of skilled professionals, and modern infrastructural facilities, the state has become a preferred destination for aerospace and defense. Bengaluru, in particular, has become a key player in attracting foreign investments in the sector, making the future look bright for Karnataka’s aerospace and defense industry.

SOURCE:  DEEPAK HILORI/ FOR MY TAKE / IDRW.ORG

Tejas Mk2, also known as Tejas LCA MK-II (Light Combat Aircraft), will soon enter the critical prototype construction stage after the Cabinet Committee on Security, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the Tejas Mark-2 project at a cost of more than Rs 10,000 crore.

The MK-2 is designed to have improved avionics, weapons, and aerodynamics compared to the earlier version, the Tejas MK-1. It is also planned to have more advanced engines and enhanced air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities. The Indian Air Force has placed an order for 83 Tejas MK-2 aircrafts to replace its aging fighter fleet.

SOURCE: DEEPAK HILORI/ FOR MY TAKE / IDRW.ORG

Brazilian Navy is on its way to becoming the seventh Navy in the world that has Nuclear powered submarine by the turn of this decade as it has started developing a 6000-ton nuclear-powered attack submarine, called Álvaro Alberto which is based on the French developed Scorpène-class submarine.

The Brazilian Navy only last year commissioned its first Scorpène-class attack submarine in Itaguaí, Rio de Janeiro. Both Indian and Brazilian Scorpène-class attack submarine has the same baseline design while they might defer internally it has nearly the same displacement of 1900 tons submerged.

SOURCE: SATYAJEET KUMAR/ FOR MY TAKE / IDRW.ORG

Modi government is trying to nudge Global Airline manufacturers like Airbus and Boeing to set up local final assembly lines for some of the popular narrow-body aircraft considering that both have predicted sales of over 2000 aircraft to India in the next 20 years. 

The Indian commercial aviation industry has made significant strides in recent years, but with the development of indigenous aircraft, it remained a cash cow for Airbus and Boeing which simply is just interested in selling aircraft and throwing crumbles in name of localization of components for their global supply chain that contribute minuscule to the Indian economy. 

SOURCE: RAJESH AHUJA / FOR MY TAKE / IDRW.ORG

In the 1990s, Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) was tasked to develop Nishant, a remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) to be used for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) roles on its borders with Pakistan and China. India was the first among its peers to have its own indigenous RPA/UAV program but fast forward to 2023, and India is still not where it wanted to be while even smaller countries have made rapid progress in the area.

Indian first RPA Nishant had it is the first flight in 1995 and was considered a great advancement at that time but technical issues and other changing UAV technology meant that ADE was not able to adapt fast to the changes nor was able to develop a product that met all user requirements.

SOURCE: RAJESH AHUJA / FOR MY TAKE / IDRW.ORG

Britain, Italy and Japan are to cooperate in developing a sixth-generation fighter, Few details were available before the scheduled announcement beyond the project’s named Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) and the fact the partners say they plan to have the fighter ready by 2035.

Japanese-European defence program will also see the development of a new engine advanced power and propulsion system that will see designing an electrical starter generator that was fully embedded in the core of a gas turbine engine, now known as the Embedded Electrical Starter Generator.

SOURCE: SATYAJEET KUMAR/ FOR MY TAKE / IDRW.ORG

The Saturn AL-31FP is a turbofan aircraft engine that is used on several military aircraft, including those operated by the Indian Air Force. The Indian Air Force operates a fleet of Sukhoi Su-30 fighters, which are powered by the AL-31FP engine. 

Over the year they have been several versions of the Saturn AL-31FP turbofan aircraft engine have been developed over the years, with various improvements and updates made to the design. Some of the improvements that have been made to the AL-31FP include:

SOURCE:  DEEPAK HILORI/ FOR MY TAKE / IDRW.ORG

India will commence work on the development of a new indigenous radar that will be customized for its Su-30MKI fleet replacing its huge N011M BARS Radar, which even after 25 years is still an impressive radar on any aircraft that has acquired a cult status as ” Mini AWACS” in the Indian Air Force due to its ability to see even small single-engine fighter jets as far as 200km.

Uttam Mk3 will be replacing a legendary Radar and it will be the biggest and most powerful radar that will be developed by India to date that will come with impressive performance and also allow the Su-30 fleet to remain relevant for the next 30 years.

SOURCE: SATYAJEET KUMAR/ FOR MY TAKE / IDRW.ORG

For Decades China was believed to have a relatively small nuclear arsenal compared to other nuclear-armed states, with estimates ranging from around 280 to 320 nuclear warheads. However, China has been steadily modernizing its nuclear weapons, including the development of new types of nuclear missiles and submarine-launched nuclear missiles.

Like other nuclear-armed states, China’s nuclear weapons program has been a source of concern and tension in international relations. The country has faced criticism for not being more transparent about its nuclear capabilities and for not participating in arms control negotiations, such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

SOURCE:  DEEPAK HILORI/ FOR MY TAKE / IDRW.ORG

India has the potential to be a significant player in the global defence export market. The country has a large and well-developed domestic defence industry, with both state-owned and private-sector companies involved in the production of a wide range of defence equipment, including military aircraft, tanks, artillery, and naval vessels. In recent years, the Indian government has made efforts to promote the defence export industry, including easing restrictions on defence exports and establishing a defence export organization to promote Indian defence products overseas.

Several factors contribute to India’s potential for growth in the defence export market. These include:

SOURCE: SATYAJEET KUMAR/ FOR MY TAKE / IDRW.ORG

Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari has pointed out ‘critical deficiencies’ being faced by the Indian Air Force (IAF), such as the shortage of fighter squadrons and force multipliers. Whether it is fighter jet procurement or procurement of force multipliers, IAF has been not only lagged but has unable to fix its procurement policies that no files seem to be moving in any direction even after years of knowing that squadrons numbers are down and need to be brought up in desired period or it will play catch up to its arch rivals China and Pakistan for decades to come.

The IAF currently has 31 fighter squadrons, while the authorized strength is 42. As some squadrons have been phased out in recent years, the number has decreased. There is an urgent need to accelerate inductions to close the gap, especially since China is actively bolstering its air power.

SOURCE: JOYDEEP GHOSH / FOR MY TAKE / IDRW.ORG

Looks like Indian Navy is repeating 1990s mistake. After the fist 2 Shishumar class submarines were built and delivered from Germany and 2 were built at Mazagaon Docks in India with last one rolling out in 1990. Once that was done the human resources, supply chain, setup all sat idle. Even after MDL pleaded with Indian Navy and government to issue order for atleast 1 more that expertise gained is not lost, the Indian Navy and government refused and by early 2000s everything was lost. Indian Navy and government instead started looking for new submarine in 2003 and we got Scorpène, the last of which is set to roll out next year.

Now we are sitting on piles of Type 209 ToT related document. If Indian Navy and government had ordered newer batches of 3 Type 209 subs every 5 years applying better technologies progressively, we wouldn’t have ever faced shortage as we see today and we wouldn’t have needed the Scorpène either with total 16 Type 209. Work on AIP going on side by side would have allowed one of the submarines to be used as test bed and after validation we would have started equipping our submarines with AIP by now. We can still test our homegrown AIP on the Type 209 starting 2023 and completing it by 2025.

SOURCE: RAJESH AHUJA / FOR MY TAKE / IDRW.ORG

In 2021, the Indian Air Force (IAF) cleared the procurement of ” RAMPAGE” a Long-Range Precise Supersonic Missile from Israel. RAMPAGE is a new long-range air-to-ground precision strike missile that can travel at supersonic speeds, and can be used to target Communication infrastructures, Air force bases, control towers, squadron buildings, Munitions storage, bunkers, Air defense sites, and Logistic centers.

Rampage is just an air-launched weapon of the EXTRA, a long-range artillery rocket that has been adopted to be launched from the air from a fighter jet like the Israeli F-16, Indian Su-30MKI, and Mirage-2000 without much modifications.

SOURCE: SATYAJEET KUMAR/ FOR MY TAKE / IDRW.ORG

Defense minister Rajnath Singh at the formal induction of the second of the four Visakhapatnam class destroyers, indigenously designed by the Indian Navy’s Warship Design Bureau and built by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL) said that India will do shipbuilding for the world.

India which has been designing warships like frigates and destroyers for the last 40 years is yet to sell such large displacement vessels while it has had some success with the sale of fast patrol boats and offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) up to 1300-tonne but has not been able to crack niche segment for Naval warships like frigates and destroyers for some time now and its crucial India gets its act right if it wants to be in top exporters of defense equipment in next 15-20 years.

SOURCE:  DEEPAK HILORI/ FOR MY TAKE / IDRW.ORG

India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), since 2015 has been working to make a lighter and more agile Agni-5 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that internally was referred to as ” MkII’. DRDO had started to plan to reduce the weight of the 50-tonne Agni-5, for which it has been working on replacing its older, heavier subsystems such as hydraulic to electro-mechanical actuators in favor of lighter, more reliable ones, many of which were managed by replacing maraging steel with lightweight composite materials.

Recent Media reports confirm that Agni-V has received a 20% weight reduction which means Agni-5 MkII now has a lunch mass of 40000kg with 1100kg nuclear payload that can deliver a warhead to a target that is 7000km. Agni-VI which was supposed to be the successor of the Agni-V with a range of 6000km with a similar payload is now negated with the development of the MkII.