SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Amid the ongoing war in Ukraine, DRDO is now pushing for 100% indigenous content in Long-Range Land Attack Cruise Missile (LRLACM) program amid concerns that minor imported components for the missile can hit missile production amid war as seen with Russian Cruise missiles and learning from this experience it was decided to go full throttle on indigenisation of all future missile programs and in phases increase indigenous content in existing ones.

Long-Range Land Attack Cruise Missile (LRLACM) a 1500km sub-sonic cruise missile will have not only all major systems of Indian origin but also minor components to have a complete ecosystem in the country when it goes into production.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Russian offer to supply India with 21 units of the upgraded Mig-29UPG to beef up IAF’s falling Squadron levels might be scrapped permanently due to multiple reasons one being payment issues due to economic sanctions and also due to proper retirement plans already being chalked for the fleet.

MiG-29 twin-engine, multi-role fighters that were procured from 1984 onwards were upgraded to UPG standards and IAF still operates around 65 units as a frontline fighter jet that will go through a gradual phase-out from the service from 2029 onward and the full fleet likely to be decommissioned by 2035.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Indian Military plans to procure advanced MQ-9B drones are being spearheaded by Indian Navy and soon a deal for which head for a conclusion as tri-service after reassessment by a panel comprised of representatives from all three military branches agreed to procure 18 units instead of 30 units with six each while Naval variant will be outfitted with antisubmarine warfare capabilities.

The Navy is looking to procure two modular pods that are on offer that will broaden its anti-submarine warfare capabilities in efforts to hunt for Chinese submarines in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Indian Army has issued two separate Expression of Interest for the procurement of 65 Tactical Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems and Ten (10) Runway Independent (RWI) Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) with Ground Control System (GCS) and Remote Video Terminal (RVT) through Fast Track Procedure under Emergency Procurement.

Tactical RPAS (RWI) should be capable of Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) or Catapult launch ) should be capable of target acquisition by day and night. The RPAS should be equipped with sensors to enable transmission of MWIR and CCD camera imagery pictures of High Definition (HD) resolution. The system must be able to detect, track, recognize and identify the targets. with Upto 4000 M (13000ft) Operating Altitude with endurance should be 6 hrs or more.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Indian Air Force (IAF) is not considering importing intermediate jet trainers (IJT) due to delays over Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) HJT-36 program amid reports in Argentian media on IAF being interested in IA-63 Pampa III trainer aircraft produced in Argentina by Fabrica Militar de Aviones (FMA) with assistance from Dornier.

idrw.org has been told by Industrial sources that in early 2014 under the Previous UPA regime, IAF had issued a global request for information (RFI) to global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to pitch their products for a possible future acquisition due to delays in HJT-36 program.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) said that the country’s largest chopper manufacturing facility in the Tumakuru district of Karnataka is already prepped to make Russian Kamov Ka-226T light helicopters in the country along with LUH (Light Utility Helicopter) with annual production. run with these two types can hit 60 units.

Indian Air Force, Indian Army and Indian Navy want to replace nearly 400 Vintage Cheetah and Chetak light helicopters that were procured in the early 60s due to which it was decided that orders will be spilt between Ka-226T and LUH in equal numbers.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Pune-based Sagar Defence Engineering has secured an order for its Spotter drone from Indian Navy that the company claims will be delivered by October 2023. In 2021, Sagar Defence supplied 30 units of its Spotter drone that were inducted in 2022. Impressed with the performance Navy placed orders for 60 more units of Spotter drones.

Spotter Drone is used to detect threats and share crucial information in real-time to immobilize the threats. Spotter Drone is the first ship-based Tactical spotting multi-copter drone that has a flight time of 120 minutes on a single flight in a rough sea environment with an endurance of up to 20 km with a payload carrying capacity of 3 kg with the platform attaining speeds up to 45 mph.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Indian Navy while it is pushing hard to make another Vikrant Class Aircraft carrier at an estimated cost of ?23,000 crores (US$2.9 billion) but also has plans to develop a super aircraft carrier that will have 21,000-tons more displacement than the Vikrant Class Aircraft carrier in near future.

Vikrant Class Aircraft carrier has a displacement of just over 44,000 tons, Super Aircraft Carrier under consideration with have a displacement of over 65,000 tons and as per Navy estimate will cost over $5 billion considering it will feature more advancement due to CATOBAR configuration.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Breaching the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) mandatory 75% availability rate for contenders in India’s $20 billion Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft (MRFA) programme. According to Saab officials who spoke with idrw.org, the Gripen-E on offer to the IAF will have 90% availability rate across its fleet of 114 jets as a commitment from the company when it responds to the IAF’s yet-to-be-issued RFP.

The Gripen-E, a 16.5-ton aircraft, will be in the same class as the Tejas Mk2 and will also use the same engine from General Electric’s developed F-414 engine, which company officials believe will reduce IAF logistics and can be seen as an advantage for the company as well as a great supplement to the Tejas Mk2 programme.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Boeing that is planning to close down the production line of its F-18 E/F Superhornet facility in St. Louis by 2025 and is willing to move it to India if the Indian Navy agrees to procure the originally intended order of 57 jets under Multirole Carrier Borne Fighters (MRCBF) tender instead of the reduced number of 26 jets.

Navy chief, Admiral Hari Kumar recently said that both the F-18 and the Rafale fighter are being found acceptable by the Indian Navy for the indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, the Navy is looking to see how much ‘commonality’ there will be vis-à-vis the Indian Air Force’s Rafale.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Bengaluru-based Newspace Research and Technologies Pvt Ltd (NRT) has delivered two types of UAV, a Beluga hexacopter and a Nimbus Mk-III quadcopter to the Indian Army as part of the 100 Swarm drone contract that it secured from the Indian Army in 2021.

The last shipment of the Swarm drone was completed last week. NRT is expecting the possibility of more orders coming soon for its Beluga and Nimbus hexacopter that feature a 50km radius of operation and 3h endurance.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) owned upgraded Hawk Mk132 advanced jet trainer (AJT) that is called Hawk-i by the company will be used as a Testbed aircraft for the upcoming Hindustan Lead-in Fighter Trainer (HLFT-42) that was recently unveiled at Aero India 2023.

Hawk-i will be integrated with an indigenous Fly by wire system and indigenously developed Mission Computer and other systems such as secure voice communication and data link capability that will eventually find their way into HLFT-42 when work on the prototype begins in the next 4-5 years.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

Armenian delegation that was sent to India last year carried out a series of tests of the Kalyani Strategic Systems Limited (KSSL) developed 155-mm / 39 self-propelled howitzers called MArG (Multi-terrain Artillery Gun) that are mounted on a 4×4 wheeled Truck before it placed orders for the weapons system.

Kalyani officials claimed that MArG 155/ 39 Truck-mounted gun was developed in 8 months and was tested by Indian Army on behalf of the Kalyani group in Balasore and Pokhran before it was offered to Armenia which was looking for a similar weapons system for their high altitude operations in an area where it has an ongoing conflict with Azerbaijan.

SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG

India has issued Notices to Airmen (NOTAM) for a launch of a missile in the Bay of Bengal for the period from 15-17, and 20-22 March 2023 as per information provided by Twitter user Damien Symon@detresfa_.

The designated area for the NOTAM is just over 200km in length which indicates it might be a test of a ship-based cruise missile like ITCM or Brahmos or of an Air Defence system.

SOURCE: API

The Indian Navy carried out a successful precision strike in the Arabian Sea by ship-launched BrahMos missile with a DRDO-designed indigenous seeker and booster which for the first time replaced Russian systems in the missile but Hyderabad Magnetic Observatory and Alibaug Magnetic Observatory that uses magnetometers to record changes in the magnetic field including those on or near the Earth and in space observed some spikes which Richard Cordaro on Twitter claimed saw Hypersonic spikes.

Cordaro explained that ” Missiles often produce acoustic waves which penetrate our ionosphere, creating magneto-acoustic waves. Resulting in magnetic field fluctuations recorded on ground-based magnetometers”.