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

Dr Girish S Deodhare, Director General of the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) has 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.

Deodhare while speaking to “Business Standard” said that ” TEDBF is not a fourth-generation fighter, but is generation-five minus aircraft”. idrw.org in past had reported that TEDBF will be called “5th generation minus” fighter a term coined first by the U.S. Air Force.

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

India’s Dry-Kaveri engine, a non-after burner engine at the Russian High Altitude Test Facility went through its paces at simulated altitudes of 43000 ft where it also managed to generate 48.5kN of thrust much more than the benchmark target set at the 46kn that it had to demonstrate.

Dry-Kaveri clearing one of the main flight envelope is crucial for the HALE-Class Stealth aircraft that it will power under the Futuristic Unmanned Fighter Aircraft (FUFA) program that will feature Internal Weapons Bay (IWB) to be used for Deep-Air Strikes in contested Airspace.

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

India’s start-up Sagar Defence Engineering along with Abu Dhabi-based EDGE Group will be working to develop a 12.8m unmanned surface vessel (USV) that can be configured to support a range of information-related duties such as mine countermeasures (MCM); anti-submarine warfare (ASW); and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR).

EDGE Group will be providing a transfer of technology (ToT) for the program to the Sagar Defence Engineering 120 USV that features propulsion Delivering speeds above 55 knots and comes with a remote weapon station (RWS) 12.7mm gun.

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

Youngje Kim, Vice President, Indo-Pacific Region, Military Systems, GE Aerospace said they wait for final clearance from the (US) government that could clear the path to locally manufacture the F414-INS6 engine for India’s Tejas Mk2 and AMCA fighter program.

Kim also cleared doubts that engines will not merely see an assembly of engine parts in India but will include co-production and transfer of technology.

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

Indian Air Force (IAF) has changed from its plans to procure an additional C-295M from the original order of 50 Transporter for its fleet as An-32 replacement aircraft after it floated a tender of the Medium Transport Aircraft (MTA) that was intended to replace ageing An-32 Medium-haul Transport aircraft.

IAF placed an order for 50 C-295M to replace its ageing fleet of Avro Hawker Siddeley HS748, turboprop military transport. Coast Guard will buy six more of its requirements and additional 15 units will be procured for Coastguard and Indian Navy. IAF initially was considering ordering more C-295M but has dropped this plan.

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

Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) along with the Vehicles Research Development Establishment (VRDE) is carrying out proof of concept and evaluation for the development of a 220 hp aero diesel engine that will be integrated into the Tapas and Archer-Ng program.

Tapas has begun taxi trials with the new uprated 180 hp aero diesel engine and soon will have its first flight, 220 hp aero diesel engine will commence preliminary trials in the next two years as it is an uprated variant of the same engine that is currently going trials.

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

GE Aerospace officials have confirmed that it has supplied nearly 60 F404-GE-IN20 engines to power India’s Tejas Mk-1 Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) program and more than 99 more engines as per the 2021 orders will be supplied entirely by 2028-29.

GE will start supplying fresh batches of F404-GE-IN20 engines from 2024 onwards in multiple batches till 2028 as HAL starts deliveries of the first batch of four Tejas Mk1A fighter jets from March 2024 onwards.

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

In response to RFI issued by the Indian Air Force (IAF), it has received three bids from three aerospace manufacturers but IAF has extended the deadline for submitting the bids now to the end of March due to requests from some of the Companies.

Lockheed Martin has offered its C-130J Super Hercules, a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft that is already in service with IAF under Transfer of Technology (TOT) clauses so that the aircraft could be assembled in India likely by Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) with an expected unit cost of the aircraft hovering around US$75.5 million with a payload capacity of 22-tons.

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

Honeywell Aerospace will be supplying its TPE331-10 Turboprop Engine that will be used to power India’s upcoming High-altitude long-endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is currently under development by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

TPE331-10 Turboprop Engine has a power output of 940HP and an older variant is also used on the Dornier aircraft manufactured by the HAL that also includes the license agreement of the engine.

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

On the sidelines of Aero India 2023, Rostec officials held talks with the State-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) officials on a possible joint bid for the sale and assembly of the Ilyushin Il-276 medium-airlift military transport aircraft in the country.

idrw.org has been told that initial talks involved a detailed presentation of the plane on offer and its plans for a possible tie-up with the HAL for local manufacturing of the transporter in India.

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

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will pay a State visit to India and is keen to push for the government-to-government route for the supply of six next-generation advanced conventional submarines for an Indian Navy as it has decided to stay out of the Project-75I tender due to liabilities clauses.

Germany has offered its HDW Class 214 Submarine along with the South Korean KSS-III diesel-electric attack submarine are the only two candidates that meet the technical and financial conditions under the Project-75I tender floated by the Indian Navy but Germany has decided to stay out of the tender process and is now pitching for a G2G deal.

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

In an interview with CNBC TV, Cmde Siddharth Mishra (Retd), Chairman & Managing Director of Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), confirmed that the DRDO-developed Quick Reaction Surface-to-Air Missile (QRSAM) will undergo further user trials by the Indian Army later this year, which will continue until the end of the year, and the company expects orders from the Indian Army by the end of 2024.

The Indian Army requested that the QRSAM be modified to improve its performance against low hovering helicopters, after which the DRDO modified the Radar system of the Air Defence system.

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

Boeing has pitched its KC-46 Pegasus, an American military aerial refuelling and strategic military transport aircraft to the Indian Air force (IAF) at the recently concluded Aero India 2023 but Boeing officials also confirmed to idrw.org that is it ready to provide all the support required for the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) proposed plans to convert pre-owned B767 aircraft into cargo configuration with air refuelling and transport capacity.

IAI and HAL plan to soon procure Six B767-300ER aircraft from a pre-owned market for which they are looking to procure jets that are between 7-10 years of age so that they can be in service for the next 20 years with the Indian Air Force (IAF).

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

Indian Air Force older generation Mi-17 medium-lift helicopters are in for a major upgrade, with plans being firmed up on retrofitting them with advanced avionics and electronic warfare suits along with multisensor payload like short wave infra-red (SWIR) REV III multisensor optical payload locally along with weather radar.

50 older Mi-17 helicopters along with 32 latest Mi-17V helicopters will be modified with upgraded smart multi-function displays, weather radar, traffic collision and avoidance systems and air data systems.

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

Rosoboronexport has responded to the Indian Army’s requirement for a Light Tank for the Ladhak region with its Sprut-SDM1 tank which the officials claim can be implemented in India within the framework of a large-scale program of Russian-Indian technological cooperation.

Sprut-SDM1 which is equipped with a 125 mm gun that can fire both Mango and Invar munitions which are designed to take out tanks that are equipped with Reactive Armour.