SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

BrahMos Corporation after bagging orders from Philipines has scaled up its plans to develop and manufacture BrahMos-NG (Next-Generation) Cruise missile that will begin testing from 2024 onwards and is based on the tech that has been developed for its bigger sibling.

idrw.org has been told that BrahMos-NG is getting a lot of attention due to its small size and supersonic punch due to which many countries have shown not only interest but also are keen to have talks to procure them when it is ready for export.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Brigadier General Date Lau Kong Cheng who had a long career as a fighter pilot in Royal Malaysian Air Force has slammed his government and claimed in local Malaysian media that the proper Open International Tender process for the 2 systems is not adhered to and has been deviously aimed and manipulated towards selecting pre-determined systems i.e. Anka UAS [drones] and FA-50 FLIT-LCA [aircraft].

Cheng said that this has prevented all Tender bidders from Fair, Transparent, and Professional Evaluation and Comparisons of their Tender bid systems. These unscrupulous decisions and collaborated actions amount to an abuse of power and are indications of corrupt practices. These treacherous actions, if not prevented may result in the nation being denied the choice of the best performing, most value for money, cost-effective, and long-term viable systems for future credible defense.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

DRDO developed ATAGS and has been in news for having an excellent focus on targeting and fire control but its ignition was still based on the pyrotechnic primer and igniter materials to achieve reliable ignition. Most of the recent generations of the self-propelled howitzer have moved on to the laser ignition system, which has neither of these drawbacks of conventional primer and igniter that must be replaced each time the gun is fired.

DRDO has taken up work for the fabrication of a breech-mounted laser ignition system that already has been developed and soon will be tested on the ATAGS Gun. laser ignition system will last a long time and is useful when resupplying primer and igniter to the front lines of a battle to sustain combat operations, pose a significant environmental hazard and logistics burden.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Indian Air Force will take delivery of the last Rafale fighter jet by mid of December, 36th Rafale which has been flying testbed for Indian-specific enhancements in terms of hardware and software will now feature two more additional enhancements that were not part of the original framework that was agreed upon upon upon upon with French Dassault.

According to media reports, India-specific enhancements have grown largely due to the incorporation of the Rafale fleet into operational roles in a short duration, and two additional India-specific sensor requirements were felt and both IAF and Dassault agreed to get them integrated.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Delhi-based, Timetooth Technologies Private Limited has tied up with Defence PSU DRDO to collaborate on the development of a Military Exoskeleton under TDF Scheme, which aims to provide a major fillip to the defense manufacturing sector by encouraging the industry to innovate.

Timetooth is developing Military Exoskeleton that increases endurance and reduces injury risk during operations. The exoskeleton will use lightweight materials, hybrid actuation technologies, an efficient battery system, and anthropomorphic design studies.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

India has issued a second Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) for this month for a launch of an experimental flight vehicle in the Bay of Bengal for the period from 23 – 24 Nov 2022 as per information provided by Twitter user Damien Symon@detresfa_. The designated area for the NOTAM is 2200 km in length which indicates it might be a test of the Agni-1P Ballistic Missile Missile.

Chinese ballistic missile and satellite tracking ship ‘Yuan Wang 6’ and its sister ship ‘Yuan Wang 5’ both have entered IOR to monitor Indian missile tests.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

After Walking out of the Indo-Russian Medium Transport Aircraft (MTA) Program over differences in the choice of engine, Jayadeva E.P, Director (Operations) at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) at the Investor meeting said that Company is not planning to develop Medium haul Transporter locally in the country.

Last year idrw.org reported that HAL’s Chairman and Managing Director R. Madhavan in an interview had said that ” he is confident about the maturity level of indigenous capabilities in the aerospace sector along with private sector partners, India can come up with indigenous offerings not only for military transport aircraft but also for the complete spectrum of civil aircraft “.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Brazilain Aerospace major Embraer is scouting for local partners in India to develop modern turboprops that could significantly disrupt the Indian market dominated by ATR. Embraer is eyeing two variants, one with 70 and another with 90 seats and is in talks with Indian State-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and other Private sector companies for local assembly of the modern turboprop aircraft.

Embraer views the 70-seat variant as ideal for Indian carriers, where over 61 aircrafts ATR turboprops are currently flying in India by four airlines. Embraer claims that Turboprops are the perfect tool to serve thin point-to-point routes profitably, essentially because they are the most efficient aircraft on short thin routes, and there is still a big potential in India to link secondary cities between themselves, where passenger flows are not big enough for larger modules to be relevant.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

India has issued Notices to Airmen (NOTAM) for a launch of an experimental flight vehicle in the Bay of Bengal for the period from 16 – 18 Nov 2022 as per information provided by Twitter user Damien Symon@detresfa_. The designated area for the NOTAM is 315 km in length which indicates it might be a test of the Air Launched Missile.

There is speculation that it will be a repeat test of the BrahMos-A, an air-launched anti-ship missile that has been tested numerous times and is carrying out a final round of user trials.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

In event of full-scale war, India fears that present static rocket launch pads will be the first to be taken out to disable chances of India launching more low orbit to aid its military in the war, due to which it has initiated Project Vehicle for Defence Application (Veda) program under which it plans to develop 150-ton defense satellite launcher as a first component in the Mobile Defense satellite Ecosystems that it plans to create.

India is planning to develop a Mobile launcher that can put 650-700kg satellites into 700km Low-Earth orbit. The launcher will the ability to be assembled and launched within 72 hours so it should be modular and mobile enough that it can be transported without being detected.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

According to a report in ” Business Standard”, Kalyani Strategic System has won an order to supply nearly 100 units of 155 mm, 39 caliber howitzers mounted gun systems (MGS) from Armenia that are to be executed in the next 3 years. Kalyani in its Press Release had only confirmed that it has won a deal worth USD 155.5 million but had refused to reveal the client or the gun details.

TC-20 which is likely to be supplied to Armenia is a steel version of MArG 155 mm / 39 calibers ULH that weighs about 6.8 tons and has a range of 24.7 km, with assisted ammunition it can hit a target at a 30Km range.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

UAE-based Caracal, which has now tied up with an Indian company ICOMM, to locally manufacture its Gun in the country has claimed that it has responded to the Army’s requirement for sniper as well as close-quarter carbines (CQB) weapons with its offering of CSR 338 sniper rifle and Caracal’s CAR 816.

Caracal claims that both sniper rifles and the CQBs will have more than 60% of indigenous content as mandated by the Make in India initiatives and local manufacturing will start in the next few months.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Hindustan Lead in fighter Trainer (HLFT-42) will not be based on the old twin-engine Advanced Trainer Jet (AJT) called HJT-39 concept that was on offer by State-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in the mid-2000s. The HJT-39 concept was offered as a cheaper low-cost alternative to the BAe Hawk 132 but instead will be a clean slate design, but it failed to get IAF onboard as IAF didn’t want two AJTs types in its fleet.

idrw.org has been told that HLFT-42 Supersonic Trainer aircraft with a 5.5-6ton All-up-weight (AUW), in a single engine configuration will max out at 1.4Mach. But the final configuration is still being worked out and there might be some changes till the design is frozen. HLFT-42 will be an in-house program of the HAL and efforts are being made to be distant from LCA-Tejas Trainer aircraft even though it is also on offer as LCA-LIFT to the IAF.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

The Pune-based Kalyani Group is looking to bag its first export order for its Bharat 52, a 155 mmx52 cal towed howitzer that is based on a GC-45 howitzer, developed by Austrian Maschinenfabrik Liezen (MFL) 155 mm, 45-caliber gun which Kalyani had acquired including its technical know.

Bharat-52 which costs around 13-14cr per unit will see the supply of 70-80 guns to the former operator of the GC-45 howitzer. Saudi Arabia’s Military carried out trials in 2020 and was impressed with the major improvements that were done on the baseline GC-45 howitzer that Saudi Military is familiar with as it still operates them.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Indonesia might become the second export customer of the Indo-Russian Brahmos Anti-Ship supersonic cruise missile after Philippines as it has shown considerable interest in acquiring BrahMos Mobile Coastal Batteries from India.

Indo Defence 2022 Expo & Forum at Kemayoran, Jakarta had a BrahMos Pavilion that got high-profile visits from Indonesian military officials and idrw.org has been told that interest might soon move to initial talks in 2023 as Indonesian military has asked for an official presentation and financial details of the program.