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

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has signed a contract with Nigerian Army for imparting basic helicopter flying training phase-I to six Nigerian Army Officers at Rotary Wing Academy (RWA), Bengaluru in line with Govt’s vision to promote Defence Exports.

Contract signed virtually by the Chief of Training, Nigerian Army Maj Gen. O F AZINTA & GM, Helicopter, HAL B K Tripathy, in presence of DA HCI Col. Sachin Dubey in Abuja & Dy. DA HCN, Delhi Lt. Col. Salami in Bengaluru. Boost to Defence Cooperation between the two countries.

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

Indian Air Force (IAF) team has commenced training on the S-400 air defense system in Russia and deliveries of which are expected from November this year, and activation of the first regiment likely to take place by April next year, that when sanctions under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) is likely to apply on India for procurement of the S-400 system.

New Delhi appears to be determined to proceed with the $5.2-billion deal, and not make any U-Turns on the deal even after being offered lucrative counter-air defense systems from the United States and, likely, Biden administrations might ignore calls from his generals and impose sanctions on India after S-400 system goes critical and is activated by the IAF next year.

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

Former Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit in an interview with Political commentator and Journalist Najam Sethi has acknowledged that Islamabad stands that talks between Indian and Pakistan will resume only when India will restore Article 370 in the Kashmir Valley is a nonstarter and even if there is regime change in India in the next election and main opposition party Indian National Congress comes to the power it is unlikely they will be in a position to restore Article 370 in the Kashmir Valley.

Basit came hard on Imran Khan’s Kashmir policies and said that by declaring that the war is not an option at the Pakistani Parliament let out pressure of possible conflict in the region and prevented intervention of others in the Kashmir issue. Basit advocated heating the Line of control to put pressure on India.

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

India’s 3rd Generation Man-Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile (MPATGM) developed by State-owned DRDO will be tested soon in a Production-ready unit that will have all major components of the missile system like the command launch unit (CLU), warhead, and a laser designator that will be assembled for the first time.

Last tested in 2019, the MPATGM development phase has been delayed to the pandemic situation but now plans are to complete its development trials by end of this year if results are found satisfactory it will pave way for the start of the user trials, before it is cleared for production next year.

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

Running low on funds, the Pakistani military calls for Truce on Line of Control (LOC) with the Indian Military rather was much to do with the escalating cost of the operations and ammunitions along the LOC than for desire for peace with India. Indian Army’s counter fire, along with the advancement of firepower provided to the troops as come borne for India and a headache for the Pakistani Army.

Pakistani journalist and geopolitical analyst Najam Sethi has claimed that the cost of routine firepower towards the Indian Army was taking a toll on the budget of the Pakistani military that is already under crisis due to the staggering defense budget for the last few years, but high inflation in the county has forced it military for a marginal pay rise while the budget more or less remains the same. Sethi claimed that truce is tactical to save cost and reduce ammunition usage since the Indian Army can afford this cross-firing but it was taking a toll on the Pakistani Army reserves and budget.

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

According to a report in the latest edition of the India Today Magazine. Indian Navy has started work on the construction of the Six Nuclear Attack Class of submarines that will feature a revolutionary new age pumpjet propulsion system and a new nuclear-powered 150MW pressurized water reactor (PWR) system, along with a 1500km ranged BrahMos-2 Submarine Launched Cruise Missile system (SLCM).

Six SSN that will be ready for induction into the Indian Navy from 2032 onwards and will have a 6000 ton of submerged displacements with eight 533mm torpedo tubes, along with a vertical launching system (VLS) for 1500km BrahMos-2 and 2500km ITCM SLCM. SSN will have a top submerged speed of 35 knots and a crew of 100 Submariners, but some of the features can change since design work is still ongoing.

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

Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) has issued tenders for procurement of 3 units of 20 x 8 multi-touch screen Large Area Display (LAD) for the LCA-AF Mk2 program. as per tender documents that idrw.org has gone through, as set a requirement for a led backlight based AMLCD and AMOLED based display technology that complies with MIL-STD and DO-160 environmental and EMI/EMC, weighing not more than 10 kgs from Indian vendors.

LAD should also have features to have 2–4 screens to be combined for split-screen and picture-in-picture with zoom capabilities and allows the pilot with a highly configurable display that allows for customized views.

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

Malaysian officials have debunked, claims made in the Korean media report, that claimed that South Korea made FA-50 and Chinese made JF-17 are the only two finalists left in the Royal Malaysian Air Force’s (RMAF’s) light combat aircraft/lead-in fighter trainer (LCA/LIFT) program to replace a number of its current platform types soon. RMAF insists that the evaluation is still an ongoing exercise and the air force is yet to evaluate all the proposals yet.

RMAF plans to procure up to 36 LCAs with options for 26 more, but the initial number might be only for 12 jets, while the rest are kept for follow-on orders. RMAF Team will be visiting India next month possibly to evaluate the LCA-Tejas aircraft and also check out the manufacturing facilities in India. HAL facilities in Bengaluru will be showcasing its new aircraft under development and also its Tier-II supply chain. RMAF Team might also get a tour of the airbase where the first LCA-Tejas Mk1 squadron is based.

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

The Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) has issued tenders for the development of a high-speed wing tunnel intake model of the AMCA at the estimated cost of under 60 lacs to further study and collect data on the intakes after AMCA incorporated Diverterless supersonic inlet (DSI) intakes after it went through a major redesign in its design.

VEM Technologies Private Limited also has started work on the 1:1 Scale model of AMCA that will go for the Outdoor Radar Cross Section (RCS) Test Measurement facility of RCI at Dundigal, Hyderabad, later this year that will help identify actual RCS measurement that already has been predicted by the RCS simulation software developed by the NAL but 1:1 Scale model will help prove the measurements that the software had predicted. The 1:1 Scale model of AMCA will use radar observing components that have been developed for the engineering model of the aircraft.

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

Fresh tender documents for the supply of power supply and relay units for the Astra Mk2 program now confirms what was speculated for a while now that the Astra Mk2 will be the first Indigenous air to air missile that will feature an Ejection Launcher that is designed for the carriage and release of air to air missile from the fast jets which also ensures better safe missile separation on launch even in the most extreme of the flight conditions.

Another advantage of the Ejection Launcher is that it can be used on conformal stations such as those on the underside of the aircraft that offer reduced radar signature from the traditional wing pylon stations. Ejection Launcher comes as a combined pylon and launcher unit that is usually seen under the fuselage on modern high-performance fighter jets to reduce weight.

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

India has issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) for a launch of a BrahMos missile from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands territory from 14-16 April 2021. as per information provided by the Twitter user @detresfa_. The anti-ship version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile has been tested from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands territory quite often.

Indian Air Force has raised a new squadron of Su-30 MKI fighter jets last year at the Thanjavur air force station in Tamil Nadu, where the fighters are equipped with the air-launched version of the 2.5-tonne BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, that flies at nearly three times the speed of sound.

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

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held extensive talks with his Kazakh counterpart Lieutenant General Nurlan Yermekbayev recently that focused on defense industrial collaboration between the two countries. Kazakhstan is seeking India’s help in the modernization and upgradation of its predominately Soviet/Russian aircraft. Kazakhstan is also seeking cooperation in the co-development of aircraft component

Kazakhstan is seeking components and sub-systems to be procured from and BEL for the upgradation of the Mil Mi-17 fleet operated by the Kazakh Air Defense Forces. Alpha Design Technologies Private Limited (ADTL) is supplying smart displays, a new cockpit, transponder, Digital Voice Recorder (DVR), Missile Launch Detection System (MILDS) for the Mi-17 Helicopter that has caught the eye of Kazakhstan as per information provided to idrw.org.

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

Based on the outcome of the preliminary design review of all systems, certain changes were brought to the Orbital module to meet the design constraints and it looks like the latest Gaganyan Crew module will be able to support only Two Indian astronauts instead of earlier plans to carry three Indian astronauts to space on a seven-day mission.

Isro has not officially confirmed this latest revision in the designs of the Gaganyan Crew module and if it will only carry two Indian astronauts for its first space mission. Four Indian astronauts who have been trained at Russia’s Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center near Moscow are back in India and are continuing their mission-specific training in India.

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

The Indian space agency is likely to test RLV (Reusable Launch Vehicle) Landing Experiment later this year so that it can commence the Orbital Re-entry Experiment by next year. The landing Experiment will see the RLV wing-body will be carried using a helicopter and released at a distance of ~4-5 km ahead of the runway with a horizontal velocity. RLV will then glide and navigate towards the runway, and land with its landing gear deployed at a place called Chitradurga in Karnataka.

Next in 2022, RLV will ascend into orbit, stay there, re-enter and land on a runway like an airplane. 1:8 scale RLV has been developed for this experiments along with that New system like Landing gear, Parachute, Hook beam assembly, Radar Altimeter, and Pseudo lite were developed and qualified.

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

India’s indigenous aircraft carrier 1 (IAC 1) INS Vikrant will soon be getting air defense cover from the long-range surface-to-air missile (LRSAM) system after the Navy started integration work of the missile system onboard INS Vikrant. The LRSAM is a joint development by the IAI and the DRDO, that has a range of 70+km and offers broad aerial and point defense against a wide range of threats to the marine arena from the air, sea, or land.

INS Vikrant will also be getting DRDO developed Vertical Launch Short Range Surface to Air Missile (VL-SRSAM) that will supplement the LRSAM system for intercepting aerial threats to the aircraft carrier. VL-SRSAM has a range of 40km and they are talks of DRDO working on an extended LRSAM-ER variant for the Indian Navy which will feature an additional booster stage that will enable it to take down aerial targets at a range of 150+km.