SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence (SCOD) has advised the Indian Air Force (IAF) to reduce the number of aircraft types in its fleet to have fewer operational as well as maintenance issues and to enhance the efficiency of the fighter fleet, IAF fighter fleet typically consists of 6-7 different fighter types procured from different countries.
IAF has reportedly told SCOD that it procures a mix of low, mid and high-tier fighter jets for different operational roles but in future, it plans to achieve certain commonalities with Made in India fighter jets that will share certain levels of commonality either because of engine or avionics.
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
India’s defence export list that has been revealed by the Ministry Of Defence (MoD) confirms that sales for last year also included the indigenous Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) 155 mm/52 calibre howitzer Guns from Armenia instead of Truck mounted 155 mm/52 calibre howitzer Guns.
Last year Defence ministry remained mum on which Artillery Gun System was procured by Armenia that will be manufactured by the Indian Private sector company Bharat Forge, part of Kalyani Group.
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
Indian Army is looking to procure 90-95 units of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited developed Prachand, a light attack helicopter from an originally envisioned fleet of 114 units. Indian Army will be operating 5 units of Limited Serial Production (LSP) batch of Prachand to carry out final internal trials before it inks the final order for the fleet.
Indian Army is also waiting for the commencement of trials for the Helina Anti-Tank Guided Missile System trials from the Prachand which HAL plans to start from mid of this year and be concluded by end of this year.
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
The Indian Army intends to reduce 60% of its mules by 2030, a critical component of animal transport convoys used to reach extremely exhausting and inhospitable conditions along the Line of Actual Control in areas ranging from Tawang to Ladhak.
The Army wants to buy four-legged robotic mules that can move autonomously across different terrain, self-recover, and avoid obstacles.
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
US administration might be in process of granting an export license along with approvals for the Transfer of Technology (ToT) to General Electric conglomerate for the development of a new high-trust engine for India’s 5th generation AMCA program but the technology that will be used to develop a new jet engine based on the baseline F414-INS6 engines is already dated and will be outdated when it enters into production on AMCA Mk2 jets in 2035.
AMCA Mk2 program will revolve around a new engine that can have an “Adaptive cycle” engine, that is designed for maximum efficiency across subsonic, transonic, and supersonic flight speeds. The engine should offer Supercruise capability without engaging afterburners at 1.4 Mach and has Thermal Management (TM) to remove excessive heat without affecting its thermal signature and not reduce its efficiency in Hot-Humid Indian conditions which GE offers lacks.
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
On April 7, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will inaugurate the new LCA-Tejas Assembly complex at the Aircraft Division, Nasik, which will expand the country’s LCA-Tejas production capabilities that can be further enhanced if required to meet the demands of exports orders.
idrw.org has been informed that HAL from its two Bangalore production facilities will be able to manufacture 16 jets annually and an additional 5 from the Nasik Plant, which can be increased by 10 units annually if export orders for Argentina or Egypt are closed.
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
The Indian Navy is collaborating with Indian private sector companies to develop a family of unmanned vehicles powered by a ground-based power source and capable of patrolling or gathering intelligence along India’s vast coastline.
Tethered Underwater Drones will allow the Indian Navy ability to travel longer distances underwater which could increase endurance from a few hours to 1-2 days for 24×7 monitoring of an area of interest.
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
Indian Air Force (IAF) plans to approach Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) by the Second quarter (Q2) of the financial year to get Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for the procurement of 114 jets under Multi-role fighter jets (MRFA) based on proposals moved by Air Headquarters with the approval of the concerned Service Chief.
AoN will confirm the projected requirement related to the operational situation. AoN is often accorded to a particular weapon system or equipment at the beginning of the procurement process post which IAF will issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) later this year or early next year as per information provided to idrw.org.
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
India’s plans to develop a 110kN thrust class engine for the AMCA Mk2 programme will necessitate the development of an engine that can accommodate future planned upgrades to the aircraft and future variants while maintaining its power and thermal management system (PTMS) without reducing the engine’s life expectancy and increasing overhaul maintenance costs or decreasing MTTF (mean time to failure).
idrw.org has been told by informed sources that in the latest round of discussions, DRDO’s GTRE and IAF are specific that the new engine should have a Dry thrust of 75kN that will give Maximum thrust with an afterburner at around 110kN initially and later it should be able to accommodate another 10kN to around 120kN without requiring any Engine Core Upgrade (ECU).
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
Russian Administration at the highest level is considering clearing, India’s request for the hypersonic cruise missile technologies that will be required to develop BrahMos-2K. India and Russia had announced plans to develop a hypersonic cruise missile of the BrahMos-2K almost a decade back but later Russia was hesitant.
Russia was not keen on the BrahMos-2K programme later with India due to a West-backed Hypersonic Missile Nonproliferation proposal that wanted to limit the sale and transfer of technology of the Hypersonic missile, which included hypersonic glide vehicles and hypersonic cruise missiles.
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
State-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) was recently awarded a contract worth Rs 6,828 crore for manufacturing 70 HTT-40 aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF) has decided that the Basic Trainer Aircraft (BTA) will be manufactured in Bangalore and Nashik instead of having only one production line at Nashik.
HAL has not allocated the number of aircraft that will be manufactured at each facility but the majority will likely be done at the Nashik facility that has been lying idle after the closure of the Sukhoi-30MKI production line and a small area will also cater to the assembly of 5 LCA-Tejas jets.
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
Paris-based ” Intelligence Online “, a daily publication on global intelligence has claimed that French-designed MILAN-2T, a man-portable (Infantry) second-generation ATGM has been supplied to Ukrainian Military from an unknown manufacturer with serial numbers and other details been scrapped.
The report claims that front companies might have been used to procure this weapon from countries that still manufacture them and reports hint that it might have come from India’s state-owned Bharat Dynamics Ltd which still manufactures them in India for Indian Army which has been operating it since 1981.
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
Bangalore-based Genser Aerospace Private Limited that had showcased a full-scale model of its RAJAS–Rakshan in 2021, a Business jet that can be configured to be used as a defence aircraft is setting up an aircraft manufacturing plant at the Kanpur node of UP Defence Industrial Corridor (UPDIC) by 2024.
Genser officials said that RAJAS–Rakshan is under development in collaboration with the Aerospace Foundation Of India (Aerofi) for over 5 years and the aircraft can accommodate 2 crew with 7 passengers. RAJAS–Rakshan will have an All-up-weight of 5-tones that will be powered by a twin-turbofan engine that can cruise at 0.7 Mach and has a range of 4000km.
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
French-speaking Military Online Portal ” Avions Legendaires ” Has claimed in its report that India might announce Dassault Aviation Rafale M as winner for Indian Navy’s Deck based fighter requirements for 26 units around PM Modi’s visit to Paris later this year.
According to the portal, the Indian Prime Minister will be Chief Guest at the Bastille Day military parade that is to be held in Paris on July 14, 2023, even though there is no confirmation from the Indian side yet on Modi being asked to be Chief Guest at this event.
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
Bengaluru-based Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), has started the process to fabricate and install Tejas Mk2 Simulator at the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) facility in Bengaluru that will be used to train Test Pilots that will eventually fly actual aircraft around 2026.
Test Pilots are often used to gauge and get a first-hand view of what a fighter aircraft’s cockpit will look like and to also provide feedback on the layout of instruments to carry out further improvements before Developers finalize the design layout of the cockpit for the production aircraft.
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