SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

The United States plans to expand military and technological ties with India as the Biden administration appears to concede that India will refrain from buying Russian equipment only if a similar or better system is on offer to India and this has opened up space to talks now of co-development of jet engines, drones, next-generation aircraft and naval vessels.

United States administration to stop India’s purchase of the S-400 system from Russia had offered Patriot (MIM-104), a long-range, all-altitude, all-weather air defence system first then upgraded its offer to the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), anti-ballistic missile defence system but that failed to prevent the purchase of S-400 system since it was seen as more than meets Indian requirements and much more cost-effective then American systems on offer.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) or the Ministry of Defence likely will be clearing key Naval projects like that of Generation Offshore Patrol Vessels (NGOPVs) and Next Generation Missile Vessels (NGMVs) that have been held up for some time now as the financial year nears end soon.

DAC accorded approval for the procurement of six indigenously designed next-generation offshore patrol vessels (NGOPVs) for the Navy for Rs 4,941 crore in 2018.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Indian Navy will soon submit and put forward its request to procure three additional Kalvari Class Submarines equipped with an upgraded system like Air-independent propulsion (AIP), to the Prime Minister-led Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) for project clearance.

French Naval Group has been roped in by the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders and Indian Navy to act as a consultant to overlook the integration of the DRDO developed Fuel Cell based Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) System into all six Kalvari class submarines including three more that are to be ordered soon.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

D4 Drone System Developed by the DRDO has been going through intensive trials across the country and soon will enter mass production to be deployed across the vulnerable western border with Pakistan that is using Hexacopters to drop weapons and narcotics in the Indian state of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir to fund terror activities in the region.

DRDO’s Drone, Detect, Deter and Destroy aka D4 Drone System can tackle any security threat within a 4 km radius and can take out micro drones by jamming the command and control links and further damaging the hardware of the drones.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Swedish defence manufacturer SAAB will commence deliveries of AT4CS single-shot weapons to the Indian Army in Q3 of 2023 contract for which was placed last January of 2022.

AT4CS can be fired from confined spaces such as from inside buildings, bunkers and other urban environments and offers a tandem warhead with a breach or blast mode, which is optimised to defeat enemies within buildings and to destroy structures, which can create a point of access into them.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

In June 2021, the Indian Army issued a request for information (RFI) on the planned procurement of 1,750 units of indigenously developed, amphibious tracked FICVs and Vendors who did not respond to the June 2021 RFI were given till 1 March 2023 deadline to express an interest.

The Indian Army announced on December 22, 2022, that an acceptance of necessity had been granted for the procurement of new Futuristic Infantry Combat Vehicles (Tracked), confirming that prototype trials after completion of TEC will begin in 36 months and L1 and L2 vendors will receive a 60:40 split order quantity for manufacturing of 1,750 units.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Indian Armed Forces have commenced taking deliveries of BrahMos with an Enhanced range of 450km from the previous range of 290km but BrahMos Aerospace already has commenced testing of the BrahMos-ER (Extended Range ) that will have a range of 800km and has plans for more tests.

BrahMos Aerospace has lined up more testing of the BrahMos-ER this year as the variant has a considerable upgrade and higher levels of Indigenization to the missile technology than the BrahMos Enhanced which has a 450km range.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Philippine Navy (PN) is considering arming India’s BrahMos cruise missile on its guided missile frigates that it had procured from South Korea after the Philippine Marine Corps (PMC) ordered three Coastal batteries of the BrahMos cruise missiles in 2022 to provide counter-attack capabilities within the Philippine exclusive economic zone is set to take deliveries soon.

PMC is eagerly waiting for deliveries to commence from India after Philippine Marine Corps’ Coastal Defense Regiment (CDR) personnel completed training to operate BrahMos Coastal cruise missiles last month which has caught the attention of the PN that is considering equipping a ship-launched variant of its warships.

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

Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral R. Hari Kumar speaking to the media has confirmed that Indian Navy has taken the program to develop locally diesel marine engines for warships and other associateships to replace imported diesel engines and is confident that the first engine will be ready in four years.

idrw.org has been told that defence PSUs like Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and private players like Kirloskar and Tata Power are working with Indian Navy in the development of diesel marine engines in the country.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Last Week at AVALON 2023 (Australian International Air Show) Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) announced that a tender for new advanced jet trainers will be issued soon as Airforce plans to decide between a new trainer by 2026, with a contract to be signed in 2027 to replace its fleet of Hawk 127 jet trainers by 2032.

RAAF is looking to procure 30-40 LIFT aircraft that will train both pilots and weapons system operators, serving as a bridge between the PC-21 and F-35A, EA-18G and F/A-18F combat aircraft.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Advanced Self Protection Jammer (ASPJ) developed for the Tejas Mk1A program that is currently undergoing developmental trials will enter production in early 2024 and emerge as a key-tech system on the Tejas Mk1A fighter jets.

Gallium Nitride infused ASPJ Pod will enter user trials sometime later this year with plans to enter a limited rate of production by early next year so that IAF will begin induction next year of the upgraded Tejas Mk1A has a combat-ready system.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Vayulink system developed by Wing Commander Vishal Mishra, a helicopter pilot with the Indian Air Force (IAF) to recognise all friendly forces on a battlefield including non-aerial combat system is all set to enter operational deployment with the IAF that will reduce any friendly fire incidents like that happens under the fog of war.

Vayulink ecosystem is an in-house developed tactical data link system that can communicate in real-time with all friendly assets so that they remain jammed-proof and are not targeted by their forces in event of war.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) actively considering using internal funding and then waiting for Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) sanction to develop the Indian Multi-Role Helicopter program which usually takes a lot of time to get clear due to bureaucratic delays that often takes time to sanction new project funds.

HAL has already completed preliminary design work and the next step would be to develop prototypes for carrying out developmental flights trials and to create production facilities which will require 11000 cores worth of funding but often major projects funds are delayed due to which projects take time to take off, due to avoid this HAL is considering pumping an initial amount for the program to keep it on schedule.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) drawing from its prior experience in the development of the TAPAS BH-201 medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (MALE) program is looking at a quick turnaround for the Archer-NG program which the company claims will be nearly identical in all major sensors and components and share same subsystems.

Archer-NG MALE UAV will feature Single Engine Twin Boom (SETB) design unlike Tapas UAV but will share a frontal fuselage, engine, Ground Control System (GCS) and wings but with only SETB and engine in pusher configuration being new design elements.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Hyderabad-based Grene Robotics has developed the ” Indrajaal” Anti Drone Dome will be demonstrating soon Indrajaal that is designed to protect a large area of 1000-2000 sq. km from a single node, against threats such as medium-altitude and high-altitude long-endurance (MALE and HALE) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), loitering munitions, UAV swarms, as well as guided munitions with a range of 40–60 km autonomously at an airfield in Hyderabad in the first half of 2023.

Indrajaal will also be integrated with a hard kill system that will include smart missiles, net launchers and mounted guns in certain military installations so that any ingress is taken out immediately.