SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

After the Parliamentary standing committee on Defence (SCOD) came hard on Modi Government for lack of progress in the procurement of fighter jets for the Indian Air Force (IAF), the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) recently had a meeting with the head of DRDO, ADA and HAL and came hard on shifting schedule in the Indigenous Fighter jets program specifically Tejas MkII (17.5 tonnes) and AMCA (24.5 tonnes) program without which IAF Fighter Squadrons levels will be below 10-12 Squadron less than sanctioned strength.

Last September, Cabinet Committee on Security cleared the project to develop Tejas MkII at a cost of over Rs 6,500 crore, in addition to the Rs 2,500 crore earlier sanctioned for it. MkII will succeed fighters like Mirage-2000s, Jaguars and MiG-29s in the Indian Air Force’s combat fleet and PMO has called ADA and HAL to ensure that it enters production by 2028-29 as assured while getting CCS Clearance.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

In a recent interview with ABP News, Ex-Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria stated that after procuring 5 regiments of S-400 Air Defense System from Russia, the Indian Air Force (IAF) will procure 5 regiments of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) developed Extended Range Air Defense System (ERADS) with two interceptor missile systems.

ERADS will have an ERSAM (Extended Range Surface to Air Missile) Interceptor missile with a range of 150km for fighter-sized targets and an XRSAM (eXtra Long Range Surface to Air Missile) Interceptor missile with a range of 250km for fighter-sized targets and 350-400km for Force Multiplier size targets like AWACS/FRA.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

The commanding officer of IAC Vikrant, Vidhyadhar Harke, stated that the plan to have at least three aircraft carriers for securing the Indian coastline was devised in the late 1950s and that India must stick to the plan and work on procuring more Aircraft carriers because India can now make it the country.

Harke recalled that the post-independence Navy desired four aircraft carriers, but the government later agreed to at least three aircraft carriers. India only had two aircraft carriers at most, and the need for a third aircraft carrier has persisted for decades.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

India’s state-owned Indian Space Research Organisation that is working on a three-stage, reusable rocket called Next-Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV) will hit its first major milestone when the design of the NGLV will be ready by late this year or early next year.

NGLV is planned to carry a 10-tonne payload to the Geostationary Transfer orbit (GTO) or 20 tonnes to the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) that will help bring down launch cost per kg to $3000 an Industry benchmark set by the SpaceX Falcon 9 heavy-lift launch vehicle.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Aeronautical Development Agency has approached Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) for the over Rs 15,000 crore project to build the fifth-generation advanced medium combat aircraft (AMCA) in the country after final clearance from Indian Air Force after it accepted the critical design review (CDR) recently.

The acceptance of the CDR by the Indian Air Force (IAF) opens the way for ADA to begin releasing drawings for the first few prototypes to HAL and its associated partner in the programme, but CCS approval is required first so that the programme can be infused with funds to begin fabrication and ordering of the components and parts.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Officials from Rolls-Royce confirmed that it has already received an export license from the UK government for combat engine technology transfer to India for combat engine development with a unique co-creation model in which the Intellectual Property (IP) for this key technology will be developed and owned in India for the AMCA (Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft) programme.

American rival General Electric (GE) also has applied for an export license from the US administration that will pay the way for the co-development of a combat engine for India’s AMCA program and has received support from the US congressman for such programs with India but it is still waiting for clearance.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Tejas Mark II will be going through air intake test certification in France in May-June this year at the revered S1MA facility that is operated by France’s aerospace research agency Onera.

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) are often used to test air intake design to collect data on AOA (angle of attack) and airflow at different speeds but such wind tunnel facilities are used to verify those data before aircraft production commences. S1MA facility is equipped with a Continuous-flow wind tunnel, for Atmospheric, Mach 0.05 to Mach 1 tests.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

The German Defence Minister is expected to visit India next month with a formal proposal to India on its previous offer of a Government-to-Government (G2G) deal for the sale of six ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems Next-Generation submarines.

idrw.org previously reported that after Germany made an informal offer earlier this year, India requested Germany to send a formal offer because India also wants to know details of ToT and other liability conditions. After all, these submarines are to be built in Indian shipyards under licensing agreements and with ToT between Mazgaon Docks Ltd. (MDL) and Larsen & Toubro (L&T).

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

According to prominent Journalist ” Saurav Jha “, the Royal Saudi Army that had carried out Desert trials of Pune-based Kalyani Group manufactured Bharat 52, a 155 millimetre (mm), 52 calibres (cal) towed howitzer and Garuda V2, a 105 mm gun mounted on a light vehicle chassis for added mobility in 2020 has placed orders with India for one of the systems of late.

Royal Saudi Army operates the GC-45 howitzer, a 155 mm howitzer that was designed by Gerald Bull’s Space Research Corporation (SRC), the company that was later acquired by the Kalyani Group. Bharat 52 is a GC-45 howitzer in modern Avatar with an upgraded 52-cal barrel with overhaul major improvements in electronics.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Lockheed Martin and Boeing have begun work on the integration of the AGM-158C LRASM (Long Range Anti-Ship Missile), a stealth anti-ship cruise missile developed into P-8A Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) with plans to conclude flight testing and platform integration trials by 2025.

idrw.org has learned that Indian Navy which operates 12 P-8I Neptune Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA)has been eyeing a long-range Anti-Ship Missile for its P-8I fleet for a while now and likely will be interested in the purchase to supplement its AGM-84L Harpoon Block II AShM. Indian Navy has a potential requirement for 100 Next-Gen AShM and LRASM might be on offer to India for its Requirements.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

India and Russia might allow a formal round of talks between two agencies that will be involved in the development of BrahMos-II Hypersonic Cruise Missiles (HCM) later this year as India might get some of the technology from the Russian 3M22 Zircon HCM program.

BrahMos Corporation, a Joint venture between an Indian and Russian company that worked on the BrahMos Supersonic cruise missile will be involved in the program again and India has shown a key interest in the development of a ship-based HCM program to increase its offensive capabilities in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) sources indicated to idrw.org,

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited or Midhani, the Defence Ministry public sector metallurgy unit, has produced a Titanium alloys hub using state of art Titanium casting technology that will reduce the weight of the main battle tanks as per Dr SK Jha, CMD of Midhani.

Titanium alloys have a high strength-to-weight ratio and excellent corrosion resistance, which results in lower maintenance costs.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

India-made Israeli Tavor X 95 rifles made locally in India by Punj Lloyd Raksha Systems under licence from Israel Weapons Industries (IWI) which is already in service with the army’s Special Forces, Navy’s MARCOS and IAF’s Garud Commandos, besides the Border Security Force is getting attention from many African militaries that are keen to conduct locally trials of the Guns for evaluation purposes.

Tavor X 95 rifles assembled in India based on 100 per cent transfer of technology from IWI. The Tavor X95 (also referred to as the MTAR-21) is the variant of the Tavor that was selected as the future standard infantry weapon of the IDF in 2009.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

In the first-ever joint conference between the Indian and African army chiefs in Pune, with 10 army chiefs from Africa as attendees and 31 representatives from the office of the Army chief, India has made the pitch to supply a whole range of Indian-made weapons to the African countries ranging from Akash Air Defence System, Pinaka Rockets to Arjun Main Battle Tanks as many countries are now thinking of shifting from Russia for their weapons requirements.

India is further increasing its line of credit to African countries to procure Indian-made weapons and also has offered deferred payments and lower interest rates from Indian banks with assured local and regional offices of Indian defence companies for procured weapons systems.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

India’s defence export list has been revealed by the Ministry Of Defence (MoD) confirming that India has secured export orders for the first time for its indigenously developed Akash air defence missile systems that are already in service with Indian Army and Indian Air force.

But MoD has not revealed the export customer for the Akash air defence missile system yet with speculation with it either being Armenia or Sudan.