SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
Pune-based Sagar Defence Engineering demonstrated its “Varuna” India’s first passenger drone that is capable of carrying 130kg human upto range of 25-30km with an endurance of 30 minutes to 20 African Military Delegates that are in the country for the India-Africa Army Chiefs conclave in Pune.
The “Varuna ” drone was designed for the Indian Navy which wanted to transfer its personnel from one warship to another at high sea, while on the move in case of a medical emergency or for transfer of cargo or spares.
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
Dr Girish S Deodhare, Director General of the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) recently classified Twin Engine Deck Based Fighter (TEDBF), a canard delta wing, twin-engine, carrier-based, multirole combat aircraft currently under development for the Indian Navy as a “5th generation minus” fighter and it seems it will feature some of the characters of the Stealth fighter jets too even though it’s not a 5th gen fighter.
idrw.org has been told that TEDBF will feature Serpentine-shaped ducts along with Diverterless supersonic inlet (DSI), a feature that will be first seen on the 5th gen AMCA fighter jets to conceal the engine compressor face from radar waves.
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
CCP mouthpiece in its latest report claimed that South American country Argentina is close to inking a deal with China for the purchase of JF-17 fighter jets that will also see the setting up of a production plant for local assembly of the jet in the country with export rights.
Reacting to this news A week ago, US Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar said “The Chinese fighter factory in Argentina is the worst.” According to Salazar, Buenos Aires intends to install a JF-17 factory, which a . he described as “Play with the devil.”
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
Incubated at IIT Madras, Chennai-based The ePlane Company will be soon demonstrating a hybrid Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) that has a take-off weight of 200 kg including 50 kg of payload for a distance up to 200km with 160kmph speed has caught the attention of the Indian Army that is looking to develop Army specific variant with the company for its usage.
The company plans to test the UAV that has Eight sets of propellers to facilitate the vertical landing while four sets of forward propellers will enable it to cruise through the air in the next two months.
Continue readingSOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
Dr Abhay A. Pashilkar, Director, CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories talking to ” Economic times” claimed that RTA-90 (Regional Transport Aircraft) seat turboprop aircraft, will require funding of $2 billion to be executed under a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) Model that will engage program with Private sector companies in the country.
Pashilkar said that $1 billion will be required for full-scale engineering development and another $1 billion for the development of Porotypes and to set up a production line in the country with Industrial partners.
Continue readingSOURCE: 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.
Continue readingSOURCE: 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.
Continue readingSOURCE: 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.
Continue readingSOURCE: 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.
Continue readingSOURCE: 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.
Continue readingSOURCE: 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.
Continue readingSOURCE: 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.
Continue readingSOURCE: 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.
Continue readingSOURCE: 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.
Continue readingSOURCE: 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.
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