SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Kaveri dry engine meant to power India’s first stealth, unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), the Ghatak will commence simulated high altitude tests and flight test bed testing in Russia after suffering a year-long delay due to the ongoing war with Ukraine and Russia. Kaveri Dry engine will soon be shipped to Russia’s Gromov Flight Research Institute near Moscow.

idrw.org has been told that the modified Ilyushin (Il)-76 fixed-wing, four-engine turbofan aircraft will be used to replace one of the engine bays with a Kaveri Dry engine so that it can be used to simulate and record engine performance at 40,000 to 50,000 feet.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

7 Base Repair Depot (BRD) has completed work on the refurbishment of Russian-supplied air-to-air missiles like R-27, R-73, and RVV-AE (R-77) missiles that now can be used as part of an Air defense system called SAMAR. 7BRD is now capable of the refurbishment of gyro stabilization coordinator assembly, electronic circuit, and klystron with waveguide assembly in this missile that is given them new lease of life to be used as Surface launched Interceptor missiles.

Russian-supplied Air to Air missiles generally have a very limited flight shelf life and are prone to malfunction increasing risk to the safety of the pilot and aircraft they are flying. Refurbishment of this missile fixes many of the problematic issues and brings back its effectiveness but to avoid possible safety hazards it was decided to turn them into a low-cost Air Defence System to get rid of existing inventory in a better way that has completed their flight shelf life.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

In recently held talks between Armenian and Indian officials on the sidelines of the Defexpo 2022. Armenia has shown interest in acquiring Indian Private sector made loitering munition and has narrowed offers from Tata Defence systems and Solar Group that have developed different loitering munition for the Indian Army.

idrw.org has been told that Armenia which operates Russian supplied 9K720 Iskander mobile short-range ballistic missile system has also shown interest in India’s Pralay, a Canisterised tactical, surface-to-surface, and short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) for battlefield usage.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Plans to delay the rollout of the Tejas MkII Prototype to cater to demands of higher indigenous content will not affect the start of the production claimed Dr. V Madhusudana Rao, LCA Mk2 Project Director at Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA). idrw.org has been told that production will start from 2028 onwards as IAF is no longer insisting on IOC or FOC standards anymore as both have agreed on a basic standard.

Rao claims that production aircraft will start deliveries after clearance of basic weapons trials on the jets that include BVRAAMs, CCMs, and 2-3 types of PGMS, Bombs, a standard that is been followed the world over. Other additional weapons that will be part of the aircraft will be added while squadrons are being formed from 2028-2032 when most of the weapons will be tested and cleared for operational usage.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Companies that are part of supply chains for the Tejas Mk2 program have been approached by the Ministry of Defense (MoD) and HAL to start a separate Private Sector consortium led production line that can manufacture Tejas MkII fighter jets for the export market as recently revealed as much as 16 countries have shown interest in the program.

Many countries are seeking details of the Tejas MkII program since it is a Medium class fighter jet that can replace many 80’s era fighter jets like Mig-29, F-16, and Mirage2k that are in abundance and are aging very fast. idrw.org has been told that the Tejas MkII export chances are much more than Tejas Mk1 since it is a much more capable aircraft of Medium class that many countries operate and are planning to procure to replace older ones.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Argentinian delegation led by Lt Gen Juan Martin Paleo, Joint Chief of Staff of the Argentine Armed Forces visited the HAL Facility in Bangalore yesterday where they were given access to the LCA-Tejas manufacturing facility and ground simulators in a bid to secure orders for 12 jets that Argentinian airforce is planning to procure for its fleet.

A team of Pilots from the Argentinian Air force and Army were also given access to India’s Prachand Light Combat Helicopter and also flew a sortie in a Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) piloted by senior HAL test Pilots near the facility.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

CB Ananthakrishnan, Chairman and Managing Director, HAL, speaking to the media has confirmed that upgraded Tejas Mk1A fighter jet program is on track and the first aircraft will be delivered to the Indian Air Force head of schedule in February even though the contract had a deadline of March 2024.

HAL chief claimed that all parts and components for the manufacturing of this upgraded Tejas Mk1A have been already contracted including a deal for more engines. HAL facility is currently manufacturing 18 Tejas Trainer jets that were ordered by the Indian Air Force.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

The fourth fighter jet program that India is developing will be a deck-based fighter jet to replace the accident-prone Mig-29K on the present aircraft carrier will be incorporating all the 5th gen technology that is under development for India’s 5th gen AMCA fighter program confirmed ADA officials to idrw.org.

TEDBF will incorporate smart data fusion from multi-spectral sensors to provide identification, location, jamming, and decoying against a wide range of threats, it will carry the same technology as AMCA which will make it a unique fighter jet among its contemporaries.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

India’s second ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) INS Arighat will be having early commissioning into the Indian Navy as the nearing completion of its sea trials. Arighat has been often spotted on satellite imagery for the last two years as it had started with port trials that later moved to full-fledged sea trials.

Arighat is the sister ship of lead Arihant that recently test-fired a Submarine-launched ballistic missile first time as part of the training launch drill of the crew. Arighat is capable of carrying 12 K-15 Sagarika missiles, which have a range of 750 km, or four 3,500 km range K-4 missiles.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Nirbhay cruise missile program that has morphed now into Indigenous Technology Cruise Missile (ITCM) a test bed program to evaluate GTRE developed Small Turbo Fan Engine (STFE) called Manik is in the final phase and will be concluded by mid of 2023 after demonstration of the STFE engine performance for the whole range of 1000km in next few months.

The ITCM program once concluded will be used to develop land-based Long Range Land Attack Cruise Missiles (LR-LACM) for the Indian Army and ALCM ( Air Launched Cruise Missile ) program for the Indian Airforce and Indian Navy.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) and Dassault Aviation Ltd have entered into an MoU that will clear the path for the integration of the Indian-made weapons system on the Rafale fighter jet. Indian-made Astra Mk1, Mk2, and Mk3 Beyond Visual range air-to-air missiles will be the first missile systems that will be integrated into the French build Rafale fighter jets.

BDL also has plans to integrate DRDO-developed long-range precision-guided anti-airfield Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon (SAAW) on the Indian Rafale fleet. MoU will clear India’s plans to export these weapons to other Rafale operators in the region that are interested.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

155mm/52 cal Mounted Gun System that is based on the ATAGS heavy artillery gun will start trials soon as many systems that are part of the MGS have already undergone successful trials. idrw.org was told by officials that light ATAGS was developed to be mounted on a cross-country truck and loses some of the features due to this.

MGS will have excellent shoot and scoot capabilities that can operate fat desert and high altitude areas with a maximum firing range of 45km. ATAGS MGS gets an armored cabin with electronic controls to deploy a system for shoot and scoot.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

DRDO finally confirmed some of the features of Air-Launched RudraM-II and RudraM-III that are under development to be equipped on some of the fighter jet types that are in the Indian Air Force inventory. DRDO officials told idrw.org that most of the design and development work on this missile have been completed and developmental trials from the two modified Su-30MKI will commence soon.

RudraM-II has been designed to be operational with Su-30MKI and Mirage-2000 and has a range of 300km when the missile is launched from 15km altitude at Mach 0.8. RudraM-II has a solid rocket motor for its propulsion and has INS+SATNAV for navigation. RudraM-II has an IIR seeker and can carry a 155kg or 200kg warhead that can be used to take out radar installations, bunkers, airstrips, and air hangers. RudraM-II has a peak speed of 5.5 Mach and a Terminal stage speed of 0.9 Mach.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

TATA-DRDO developed WhAP 8 x 8 Amphibious Wheeled Armoured Vehicle that was inducted into the Indian Army earlier this year in limited numbers will be facing serious competition from two more Indian Private sector companies that are planning to develop their 8 x 8 Amphibious Wheeled Armoured Vehicle in near future.

Larsen & Toubro showcased a scaled model of the Showcase 8×8 Wheeled Armoured Fighting Vehicle at DefExpo 2022 that is based on a new design but will use equipment and systems developed by the DRDO that has transferred some of the ToT to the Private sector company.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

DRDO has commenced work on the development of an Armed variant of the Tactical Airborne Platform for Aerial Surveillance-Beyond Horizon-201. idrw.org was informed by DRDO officials that the unarmed variant of Tapas has demonstrated benchmark performance among its contemporaries and most of the developmental trials have been completed pending a few flight altitude trials beyond 30,000 feet and the program will be concluded by August 2023.

TAPAS-BH-201 will be 40% cheaper than any MALE Class UAVs that are available in Export Market and Armed Tapas was a logical step forward in its next development phase. ADE and HAL are also working on a low-cost single-engine MALE UAV that we covered in our previous report that will borrow most of the technology from the Tapas program and will also include an armed variant.