SOURCE: 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Continue readingSOURCE: 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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