SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Dr Abhay A. Pashilkar, Director, CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories confirmed that SARAS MK II, a 19-seat light transport aircraft that can presumably serve regional airports and reach India’s countryside, has undertaken wind tunnel testing and preliminary system design with next step is to create prototypes.

SARAS MK II is currently going through a detailed design phase and once drawings are completed it will enter the fabrication stage followed by a rollout and flight test that was to be done by end of 2024 or early 2025.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

AUKUS the trilateral security pact between Australia, the UK and the United States for nuclear attack submarine development will have no place for any other country even though they might be some cooperation with close allies like India but replicated deals with any other countries like India as per latest media report.

The United States has offered India cooperation within niche technologies like electronic warfare, cyberspace and quantum space and recently has offered India a joint venture to co-develop an engine for India’s 5th generation fighter jet program.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Indian State-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) want to reduce the manpower hour required for manufacturing the Tejas Mk2 program when it enters production and is looking at more automation like scanning to avoid visual measurement of the airframe, and automated hole drilling on assembly of the aircraft airframe to cut cost and overhaul manhour required.

idrw.org has learned that HAL plans to only build a portion of the aircraft and increase its supply chain so it is working on plans to outsource many components from Indian companies. Tejas Mk1A program has provided a base to build on the next level of manufacturing tooling and production line that will be stressed on reducing the time required to make jets but also reach the Medium rate of production (MROP) at the shorter duration.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Parliamentary standing committee on Defence (SCOD) in its report has informed Parliament that Indian Air Force (IAF) is short of Trainer aircraft against sanctioned strength of 388 with only 260 Trainer aircraft.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) developed IJT-36 subsonic intermediate jet trainer aircraft that was to replace the ageing Kiran MkII Trainer aircraft under Stage-II Trainer Program is seen as the biggest factor IAF doesn’t have fully sanctioned strength due to years of delays in the program.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

A Chennai based Start-up, Hawking Defence Services(HDS) has joined hands with Australian-based Amphibian Aerospace Industries (AAI), the manufacturers of the ‘Albatross’ amphibious aircraft to bring back Grumman HU-16 Albatross, a large, twin–radial engine amphibious seaplane as G-111T Albatross nearly 75 years back after its first flight.

HU-16 Albatross are still operational with the United States Air Force and Navy, but G-111T will come with a better engine that boasts a new Pratt & Whitney PT6A-X engine providing substantially improved performance, fuel economy and reliability and will be manufactured in a unit in Tamil Nadu gradually first with few components and later assembly of the whole aircraft in next 5 years.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will be inaugurating the new LCA-Tejas Assembly complex at the Aircraft Division, Nasik on 7th April which will further enhance the production capabilities of the LCA-Tejas in the country.

The Aircraft Division facility at Nasik that was lying idle after the completion of the production orders of Sukhoi-30MKI will be used to manufacture up to 5 additional LCA-Tejas aircraft either for Indian Air Force or for the export Market.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Pentagon which has received an application from American Aerospace engine major General Electric (GE) that is seeking permission to jointly manufacture and share engine technology with India has taken up the matter with competent authorities and the proposal is moving at a fast pace due to the urgency shown by GE which is keen to expand its business in India with multi-billion dollars engine deal for Indian fighter jet programs.

GE has sought permission to jointly develop a 110kn engine based on its F414 engine that will be used on India’s 5th gen fighter program called Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) and 5 Minus fighter program called Twin Engine Deck Based Fighter (TEDBF) for the Indian Navy.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Atul Dinkar Rane, CEO of Indo-Russian firm BrahMos Aerospace has confirmed that the company is working on a lighter version of the Brahmos missile, dubbed BrahMos NG (new generation); the missile is undergoing development and could have its maiden test flight by 2024-end.

BrahMos NG, an Air Launched variant that is under development for the Air Force will weigh only 1.5 tons which will allow it to be carried even on LCA-Tejas Mk1A fighter jets while delivering the same Mach 3 speed at fraction of the cost.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Indian Air Force (IAF) has told the parliamentary standing committee on defence that it will not be able to maintain a squadron strength of 29-30 squadrons in 2030 if the induction of 83 LCA-Tejas Mk1A and 114 jets under MRFA tender doesn’t happen in time.

IAF will start taking deliveries of Tejas Mk1A fighter jets in February 2024 and deliveries will be concluded only by 2028. Request for Proposal (RFP) for MRFA tender for procurement of 114 jets is yet to take off and as per media reports, it will happen later in the year or early next year.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Indian Air Force has sharply reduced its projected spending on procurement for FY24 as it sees delays in the supply of crucial military systems from Russia due to ongoing economic sanctions on the Banking system that has crippled the payment system for India.

IAF report also has hinted that deliveries of 2 remaining S-400 squadrons might be delayed over non-payment from the Indian side due to non-agreement between India and Russia over the mode of payment after economic sanctions.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Parliamentary standing committee on Defence (SCOD) that has tabled its report in the house have backed the Indian Navy’s proposal for the development of a third aircraft carrier as it prepares to induct INS Vikrant, India’s first aircraft carrier that is going through the final phases of sea trials.

SCOD supported Indian Navy in operating three aircraft carriers so that at least two aircraft are deployed and one is kept for repairs and maintenance. SCOD also backed the purchase of Deck-based fighter jets for its immediate requirement for two aircraft carriers.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Induction of Airbus A319-based Netra MkII Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AEW&CS) will commence from 2027-28 onwards as Six Ex-Air India A319 is currently being stripped out of unwanted Civil technology and will have a complete MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Operations ) before work on external structural will begin that will house sensors and other military-grade technology.

Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS) is developing an upgraded primary radar (PR), and secondary surveillance radar (SSR) for the program and also working with LRDE for the development of Uttam Active electronically scanned array radar to replace whether radar on the nose cone for 300° Radar coverage at all time.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

BrahMos Aerospace chief Atul Dinkar Rane said that the company has achieved 75 per cent indigenous capability of the missile system that went into production in 2004 with only 13% Indigenous systems.

BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd since is a joint venture will still be dependent on Russia for the supply of 25% of the systems for the BrahMos missile system which will remain the same till it is under production for the Indian Armed forces.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

ACSG Corp, a private sector company has begun research and development to develop low-cost aerostats, which is an inflatable balloons to strengthen the air defence environment in the country.

Major Vijay (retd.), spokesperson ACSG said that “We are studying existing deployments and exploring innovative add-ons to make surveillance more effective through aerostats. For border security applications, we are looking at elevated-awareness aerostats capable of persistent surveillance solutions with unique advantages over traditional ground-based radar and onboard surveillance systems”.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

The third Stealth Wing Flying Test Bed (SWiFT) Prototype is seen under fabrication at a facility in Bangalore for the first time showcasing the actual size of the 1-ton UCAV which is 13 feet long, with a wingspan of over 16 feet. SWiFT is a Technological demonstrator for the bigger 10-12-ton Ghatak UCAV (Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle) program that will be developed by 2026-27.

SWiFT is powered by an NPO Saturn 36MT turbofan engine that allows it to cruise at 0.6 Mach and weighs just 1100kg with an range of 250km (LoS). SWiFT can become an Unmanned combat drone program if desired by the Indian Armed forces since it can carry two hardpoints with 50kg payload each.