SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Archer-NG which was unveiled for the first time at Aero India 2023 will be getting a critical system that will boost its capabilities in Maritime operations. Archer-NG will be equipped with an Israeli Airborne Maritime Surveillance Radar that will further enhance Indian Navy’s Maritime Surveillance and EEZ Patrolling capabilities.

Israeli ELM-2022U, a combat-proven long-range airborne multimode maritime surveillance radar that weighs only 75kg has been chosen to be used for the detection and automatic tracking of small targets in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Hyderabad-based VEM Technologies that has developed AsiBal, a third-generation man-portable fire-and-forget ATGM has plans to commence user trials of the ATGM along with support coming from the Indian Army that will grant them a clearance certificate for possible export of the weapons system.

AsiBal has completed internal trials by the company and it’s on offer to Indian Army and also to the export market once it gets clearance certification from Indian Authorities it will be offered to the interested customer while it offers it to Indian Army also which has huge requirements of its own.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Indian Air Force (IAF) recently received 3rd regiment of S-400 `Triumf’ air defence missile system from Russia and will be getting one more S-400 regiment later that year and the last which is the 4th S-400 regiment early next year in January-February.

Russia delayed deliveries of the last 3 regiments of the S-400 due to delays in payment from the Indian side which due to economic transactions by the western prevented the usage of the American-backed SWIFT payment system for transactions with Russia.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) recently showcased a revised design of the Indian Multi-Role Helicopter (IMRH) that has multiple changes in the engine housing casing and the exhaust system. IMRH is being conceived as a replacement for Mil Mi-17 utility helicopters, which form the mainstay of the Indian military’s heavy-utility rotorcraft fleet but HAL officials were not so eager to talk about the development of Heavy Class Attack Helicopter for the Indian Armed Forces.

HAL which has completed the development of the Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) is focusing on the development of the IMRH along with the Civil variant of the LUH which will remain a company priority for the time being but acknowledged that the IMRH program will provide many building blocks that can be used for other Heavy class helicopter program.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG.

Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) recently offered to supply six next-generation submarines under Government to government deal to India under the Project-75I Tender that will also involve joint development of some of the customized systems of these submarines received patience hearing from the Indian side and has been asked to provide more information on the offer.

India is keen to know the level of Transfer of Technology (ToT) that the TKMS is willing to give to the India under G2G deal since TKMS has decided to stay away from sending a formal response to the RFP issued by the Indian Navy for its submarine requirements.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG.

The Bengaluru-based ADE that had shared details of the High-altitude long endurance (HALE) class UAV that is under development with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited will play a crucial part in the HAL proposed Combat Air Teaming System (CATS), an Indian unmanned and manned combat aircraft air teaming system program.

HALE UAV which will be powered by a single TPE331-10 Turboprop Engine in a pusher configuration will second HALE Class UAV that will be part of the CATS program as HAL had revealed its plans to develop a HALE Class UAV that will be powered by a Turbo Fan Engine.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG.

Indian Navy likely by end of this month or by mid of next month will announce the winner of the 26-deck based fighter jet requirements for which it had tested Boeings F-18E/F super hornet and French Dassault Rafale Marine as a stop-gap measure before its starts inducting homegrown TEDBF fighter jets into its fleet.

Indian Navy is likely to back the purchase of 26 Rafale M which has 70% commonality with the 36 Rafale 3FR that is operated by the Indian Air Force (IAF).

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG.

According to a report in ” Business Standard”, Indian Army has started the trial process of the Indo-Isreali developed high-precision loitering munition system developed by UVision Air Ltd and Hyderabad-?based Aditya Precitech Private Ltd (APPL) called PALM 400.

PALM 400 is a long-range, high-precision loitering munition system with a low acoustic, optical, and thermal signature that can identify, track, and hit stationary and moving targets. Targets are relocated with pinpoint accuracy and minimal collateral damage.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG.

DR D.K Sunil (Director Engg-RD ) HAL has confirmed that CATS Warrior, an autonomous wingman drone capable of Auto take-off and landing with an All-up weight of 1600kg will commence its first flight by end of 2024 or in early 2025.

CATS Warrior which features an Internal Weapons Bay (IWB) will be able to carry DRDO-developed Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon (SAAW) precision-guided bomb plus two ASRAAM Close Combat Missiles for its protection.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG.

Alex Zino, executive vice-president of Business Development and Future Programme for Rolls Royce, in an interview with ThePrint, said US General Electric engines won’t be offering Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) of the new engine that India plans to develop jointly for the fifth-generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) program nor it will offer freedom to carryout modification to this engines in future.

idrw.org has reported that both Rolls-Royce and General Electric have been making an aggressive pitch to India to become engine partner of the AMCA program as talks with the French Safran company has fluttered due to a lack of willingness to provide India with niche core technology of the engine.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG.

DR D.K Sunil (Director Engg-RD ) HAL has confirmed that Optionally-manned combat aircraft(OMCA) that is part of the Combat Air Teaming System (CATS) to be based on the modified Kiran Mk2 Stage-II Trainer aircraft will have its first flight in an unmanned configuration without pilot inputs later this year.

OMCA Kiran will demonstrate auto take-off and auto-landing of the systems without any remote pilot inputs as modified Kiran is presently flying with remote pilot inputs.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG.

On the backdrop of India’s premier Private Defence sector company suffering a data breach with designs, diagrams and details of propellents and explosive details of some of the Indian weapons systems manufactured by them being dumped on the dark web for sale, Dr Girish S Deodhare, Director General of the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) claimed that contractors and outsourcing partners of India’s Tejas Mk1 and Mk2 and AMCA program will not face similar issues due to robust cyber defence in place of this program partners.

Deodhare confirmed that security audits are regularly carried out by ADA officials on outsourcing partners of India’s fighter jet programs and cyber security of the private sector companies is vetted before contracts are awarded to them by the company.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG.

DRDO’s Electronics & Radar Development Establishment (LRDE) will be involved in the development of a compact, active electronically scanned array (AESA), airborne surveillance radar for small and medium-sized unmanned platforms that are under development.

idrw.org has been told that Radar will be more energy efficient than other technologies used for AESA radars with self-cooling technology while weighing only around 25-30kgs so that it can be used on unmanned platforms.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG.

The Indigenous infrared search and track (IRST) system that is under development for the Russian Su-30MKI fighter jets and Tejas MkII fighter jets has entered the laboratory testing phase and soon more tests are been planned after which it will commence the airborne flight testing phase.

IRST system that also incorporates a missile approach warning system (MAWS) is capable of tracking multiple targets and offers a large field-of-view (FoV) and will be ready for integration into Sukhoi-30MKI within 12-18 months after completion of the laboratory testing phase.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG.

Twin Engine Deck-Based Fighter (TEDBF) program has achieved a critical milestone after ADA that had identified it as one of the most technology that will go into the TEDBF fighter jet which is a Wing Folding Mechanism that has been cleared after the engineering test model was developed and demonstrated.

A working scale model of the Wing Folding Mechanism will be developed and tested through its paces next as the design and the engineering model has been demonstrated.