SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG.

GTRE old tender documents that was floated for manufacturing of a Fan section in 2014 that could support a mass airflow of 100 kg/sec with fan weight of 180kg which is more than what could be required to develop a Dry Kaveri engine variant that requires 78 kg/sec is sparking speculation on social media that it could be a new engine development that has been codenamed ” Ganga”.

High 100 kg/sec Mass airflow demand suggests that the Dry Power generation requirement from the engine will be around 88kN and with an Afterburner section that could be in the range of 123-125kN Class of thrust that is similar to the Russian AL-31FP version with thrust vector control that is installed on Su-30MKI fleet that is currently in service with IAF.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG.

India has issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) for a launch of an experimental flight vehicle in the Bay of Bengal for the period from 07-09 December 2021 as per information provided by Twitter user @detresfa_. the designated area is 320km that indicates it might be an air-launched missile system possibly BrahMos-A but the missile is not a new untested missile system and possibly could be a test of new air to the ground-launched missile.

Off late, DRDO announces NOTAM but doesn’t follow up with any public confirmation of missile tests that often seem to be a case of technical delays but also rising speculation that some of the experimental trials of the under developmental missile system that are now not deliberately announced.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG.

Tom Cooper an Austrian author, journalist, historian, and illustrator with an interest in modern military aviation on his recent Facebook post said that reward to Master Sgt. Kyle Wilson, an Airman with the United States Air Force who was stationed at Shahbaz airbase, Pakistan, from March 2018-2019, serving as the Technical Security Team (TST) superintendent in 2019 confirms that he was instrumental in either saving one of the damaged F-16s or helped collect wreckage on time (i.e. before this could’ve been revealed in the public) after the Balakot brawl that happened between two air forces in the region after Balakot air strikes.

Wilson’s job was to ensure that Pakistan Air Force is not allowed to use F-16s against India, in violation of that US-Pakistani agreement for these aircraft but the airman was instead awarded for failing in his duty claimed cooper.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG.

Taiwan’s first indigenous submarine is now set to be launched in September 2023 and be delivered to ROC Navy in 2025 with assistance coming from India, Australia, Spain, Canada, and South Korea with British Companies leading in aiding the secretive program to build submarines in Taiwan amid rising tensions with China claimed a report by Reuters.

British Companies have helped Taiwan get workers, engineers, and ex-submarines from other countries including India in helping CSBC Corporation that’s in charge of manufacturing these submarines.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG.

Last year, Russia offered India to sell 3 Old Kilo-class Diesel-Electric conventional submarines and carry out Major Refit and Life Certification (MRLC) for three existing Kilo submarines in the Indian Navy for $1.5billion. 3 old submarines on offer to India have been decommissioned from the Russian Navy in 2020 and 2019 since then kept in storage as they moved forward with the construction of Project 636.3, an improved version of the Kilo-class.

Russia has offered 3 Old Kilo-class submarines for a $250 Million deal but after factoring in MRLC cost that is around $170-200 Million per ship, each ship will come to $260-300Million. MRLC carried out on a decommissioned ship will only add service life by 10 years but this will boost the strength of the kilo fleet back to the original 10 in the Indian Navy.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG.

Raksha Rajya Mantri Ajay Bhatt in a written reply to M. Mohamed Abdulla in Rajya Sabha said that the Kaveri Engine project that was sanctioned in 1989 with funds of 2105 crore has managed to develop 9 Full prototype engines and 4 core engines built and has completed 3217 hours of engine testing conducted along with 73 hours of Altitude tests & 57 hours of Flying Test Bed (FTB) trials and the program will continue to be used for as test vehicles for validating next-generation technologies.

Parliamentarians were informed that the Kaveri engine project has achieved a higher Technology Readiness Level (TRL) in many critical technology domains and those technologies are being used in the various engine development programs of the country.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG.

In 2020, MoD had placed orders for 250 indigenously designed and developed Astra missiles for the IAF’s fleet of Su-30MKIs and the Navy’s MiG-29K fighter aircraft. idrw.org has been told that the first tranche of Astra Mk1 BVRAAMs will start arriving from Bharat Electronics Limited in the first quarter of FY2022-23 as HAL already has upgraded several units of Su-30s.

Indian Air Force already has been delivered 50 pre-production Astra missiles in 2019 and had placed orders for 200 more Limited series Production Astra Mk1 missiles that are to be largely equipped on the Su-30MKI fleet. 50 Astra Missiles will go to the Navy that will be equipped on the deck-based Russian Mig-29K fighter jets for which already work has begun.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG.

LSP-7 LCA-Tejas Mk1 has reached Nashik to commence trials of the Russian-made Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-23 twin-barreled 23 mm autocannon gun that was recently revealed by Dr. Anantha Krishnan of Tarmak Media House. LSP-7 will carry out a fresh round of ground trials and calibration trials before it is cleared for flight testing sometime next year.

HAL had carried out the last round of Gun Trials in 2015 and IAF had granted FOC exemption due to which FOC Tejas carried 23 mm autocannon guns but were not cleared to operate them since certification was still pending that has recommenced now.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG.

Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) has been offered Brahmos-NG, a lighter sleeker variant of the Indo-Russian cruise missile that will be fielded in 2024 to be equipped on the Tejas Mk1A single-seater jets that are on offer in response to the tender floated for 18 jets. 1.5-ton Brahmos-NG is half the dimensions of the Brahmos missiles currently in service today with the Indian Air Force (IAF), Army, and the Navy and each Tejas Mk1A can carry two Brahmos-NG that can be used for Anti-Ship missile (AShM) and Ground strike missions.

Tejas Mk1A presently is not equipped with an anti-ship missile (AShM) as its role in Indian Air Force (IAF) is of air defense and close air support roles with a secondary role of the ground strike. RMAF is looking for jets that can be used primarily as air defense roles with a secondary role of maritime strike capabilities for which HAL Brahmos-NG was one of the missiles that were offered apparently.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG.

Isro chairman K Sivan speaking to Indian media talked about futuristic self-vanishing satellite technology that would enable spacecraft destruction, once its lifetime is over and Self-healing materials which can correct some of these defects by themselves even talked about quantum communication and advanced radars and other technologies that Chief says Isro is focusing on as part of the plan to prepare India for future.

But tall claims of the ISRO Chief have not gone well with the netizens who mocked him for the dismissal number of Orbital Launches in 2021 that has not happened due to the Covid pandemic this year. India has managed only two launches in 2021, the commercial PSLV mission in February which was a success, and the GSLV launch in August, which failed as the third cryogenic stage of the launch vehicle did not start.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG.

A Twitter user (@sanders_IMINT) who specializes in imagery intelligence (IMINT) has sported a Strategic Early Warning Dual Band Radar System that India has deployed at a facility on the western border that will be used for High accuracy tracking and classification of Ballistic Missiles, Air Breathing Targets, Satellites & Space Debris Mapping. Dual-Band Radar System in question is speculated to be ELM-2090 TERRA that Consists of the ELM-2090U ULTRA & ELM-2090S SPECTRA radar systems.

ELTA’s ELM-2090 TERRA is a strategic Early Warning dual-band radar system that is crucial to provide Early warning with high precision tracking of Ballistic Missiles, including accurate Impact and Launch point estimation. The TERRA system is designed to provide the advantage of the combined UHF and S-band radars, ensuring optimized detection and tracking performance on very long-range targets, such as – ballistic missiles and satellites.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG.

Vertical Launch – Short Range Surface to Air Missile (VL-SRSAM ) that was tested only at the start of this year for the first time to be mounted on the future Indian Navy warships to provide point air defense to the ship and its crew and replace aging Barak-1 Point Air Defense Missiles acquired from Israel will see Indian Air Force (IAF) variant that will be Truck mounted on the 4×4 light utility Military truck for easy mobility.

Trial of the IAF variant of the VL-SRSAM from a 4 Canisterised Mobile launcher system that will enable a 360° Vertical launch system has been fabricated and mounted on a Truck. VL-SRSAM can provide air defense coverage against a wide spectrum of threats such as attack aircraft, helicopters, UAVs, Sub-sonic cruise missiles, and stand-off weapons.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India next month for an annual summit and is expected to coincide with the delivery of the first S400 system that has started to arrive in the country but informed sources close to idrw.org have told that Russians are likely to also make a formal offer to India on the export of S500 system that the country already has developed and shown interest in supplying it to both China and India.

The S500 system is not seen as a step up over the S400 system but rather interesting addition to its capabilities that boost of its capabilities to tackle Hypersonic glide and cruise missiles that the S400 system can’t tackle.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG.

LA-5023 (SP-27), the 7th final operational clearance (FOC) standard aircraft after 6-7 months of delays due to CCP Delta Variant surge in the country has taken its first flight after it was snapped 2 days back by avid aviation sporter. idrw.org has been told that HAL plans to deliver at least more three FOC Tejas by end of the financial year, even though the target is 5 by March 2022.

The remaining 5-6 FOC Tejas are being planned to be handed over to IAF by the second quarter of FY2022-23 as work starts on the two Tejas Trainer aircraft. HAL’s first Flying Test Bed (FTB) for Tejas Mk1A that was supposed to take to the air by March 2022 might be revised to May or June 2022.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG.

Indian Air Force (IAF) and Indian Navy have been briefed by Israel Aerospace Industries subsidiary ELTA on its Scorpius-G (ELL-8256SB) a Next Generation Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) RF Electronic Countermeasures (ECM) jamming system that can be adapted for both ground-based and Naval platforms that company claims are the world’s first EW system “capable of simultaneously targeting multiple threats, across frequencies and in different directions.

According to IAI, Scorpius’ AESA’s multi-beam capability allows the system to “simultaneously scan the entire surrounding region for targets, and deploy narrowly focused beams to interfere with multiple threats across the electromagnetic spectrum.” Scorpius can effectively disrupt radar and electronic sensors, navigation, and data communications, the company said.