Rs 26k-crore order for building Tejas Mark 1A to open door for Mark 2

The first of a two-part series focuses on how Tejas Mark 1A will act as a bridge between the Tejas Mark 1 and the Mark 2 fighter

After months of negotiations, the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) have fixed the price of the Tejas Mark 1A light combat aircraft (LCA) at about Rs 310 crore per fighter, say Ministry of Defence (MoD) sources involved in the negotiations.

Now HAL is awaiting a formal contract, worth some Rs 26,000 crore for building 83 Tejas Mark 1A fighters that the MoD has already green-lighted for purchase. According to the agreed schedule, delivery of the Mark 1A will begin 36 months after the contract date. If the order is placed at the start of 2020, Tejas Mark IA deliveries will start in 2023. With 16 fighters to be delivered each year it would take another five years to deliver all 83 fighters – that is by 2028.

“We should be signing the contract very soon”, IAF boss, Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria, had said on October 4. That is now imminent. Girish Deodhare, chief of the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) – the Defence R&D Organisation (DRDO) agency responsible for the Tejas programme – spoke exclusively to Business Standard about the Tejas Mark 1A fighter. He described it as a bridge between the current Tejas Mark 1 and the Mark 2 fighter that ADA is developing. He says the latter will be, from the standpoint of size, sophistication and capability, far superior to the Mark 1 fighter.

While the Mark 1A light fighter will have the same fuselage and General Electric (GE) F-404 engine as the Mark 1, the Mark 2 will be a significantly larger medium fighter with the more powerful GE F-414 engine.

India may buy Rs 6,000 cr-worth of air missiles from US to shield Delhi

Once the deal is inked, the deliveries will take place in two to four years

India has begun the way toward procuring the National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System-II (NASAMS-II) from the US to completely verify its airspace against aeronautical dangers going from automatons to ballistic rockets. A safeguard service source told Times of India, “the US is probably going to send the last draft of the ‘letter of acknowledgment’ for the clearance of NASAMS-II to India under its remote military deals program, at an expense of over Rs 6,000 crore, by July-August.”

When the arrangement is inked, the conveyances will occur in two to four years, as indicated by a report distributed in TOI. The NASAMS-II will be utilized alongside indigenous, Russian and Israeli frameworks to build up a multi-layered rocket shield over the National Capital Territory of Delhi. According to the proposed generally speaking air resistance plan for Delhi, the deepest layer of security will be through the NASAMS. Resistance acquisitions board (DAC), led by India’s Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, had in 2018, endorsed the “acknowledgment of need (AoN) for the securing of NASAMS-II.

What is NASAMS-II?

NASAMS-II is an overhauled form of the Kongsberg Defense and Aerospace/Raytheon National Advanced Surfaceto-Air Missile System (NASAMS) and highlights new 3D versatile observation radars and 12 rocket launchers for speedier response. The new air-safeguard framework will in the end supplement the since quite a while ago deferred indigenous two-level ballistic rocket barrier (BMD) shield that is in a propelled phase of improvement by Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO).

A NASAMS battery comprises of up to 12 multimissile launchers, every one of which can convey six AIM-120-arrangement propelled medium-go aerial rockets (AMRAAMs) or other surface-to-air rockets (SAMs); up to eight A/MPQ-64 Sentinel X-band 3D radars; up to four Fire Distribution Centers (FDCs); and up to four MPS 500 electrooptical/infrared (EO/IR) sensor framework vehicles…

Mission Shakti: India’s anti-satellite test sends a stark message to China

Foreign ministry said that India wasn’t engaging in an arms race, but asserted that “with this test, India joins an exclusive group of space-faring nations consisting of USA, Russia and China

One month after an ageing Indian Air Force jet was shot down in a dogfight with neighboring Pakistan, New Delhi has demneighbouring new weapons capability aimed at another, more powerful geopolitical rival: China.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi used a national address to announce India had “established itself as a space power” by sending an indigenously designed ballistic-missile interceptor up 300 kilometers (190 miles) to destroy a satellite orbiting the Earth. The move — with political overtones just weeks ahead of a national election — sends a stark message to India’s nuclear-armed rivals, China and Pakistan, and changes Asia’s strategic calculus by proving India has the ability to knock out enemy satellites.

The development suggests India, which has long struggled with a lethargic military-procurement process and outdated defense technology, is getting closer to sitting alongside China, Russia and the U.S. as countries with the ability to disrupt enemy communications networks. The move comes weeks after India sparred with arch-foe Pakistan in the skies over Kashmir, a disputed border region where China also has territorial claims.

“Essentially, India is saying that we are a strong and capable military power — it’s not specific to any one country, but it is a message to all of India’s adversaries,” said Ajey Lele, a retired Indian Air Force group captain who’s now a senior fellow at the Ministry of Defence-funded Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. “If somebody wants to do something to our satellites, we have the capability to do this to your satellites…

Click Here: Mission Shakti

India successfully tests ASAT missile, joins space superpower club

The tracking and interception capabilities that went into Mission Shakti have been available with the DRDO for over a decade

Current Affairs: On Wednesday morning, 300 kilometers over the Odisha coast, a ballistic rocket guard interceptor created by the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) struck a satellite in a low earth circle, crushing it into pieces. Head administrator Narendra Modi declared the accomplishment of the test, codenamed Mission Shakti, on TV and Twitter. Proclaiming that “there can’t be a more prominent snapshot of pride for any Indian”, he stated: “In the voyage of each country, there are minutes that bring most extreme pride and historically affect ages to come. One such minute is today. India has effectively tried the counter satellite (ASAT) rocket.”

The Prime Minister said India had enrolled its name among the space superpowers. “Up until this point, just three nations were in this club – America, Russia and China. Presently India has turned into the fourth nation to build up this capacity,” he said.

The following and capture attempt abilities that went into Mission Shakti have been accessible with the DRDO for over 10 years. It started building up these after China’s fruitful ASAT test in 2007. On March 18, 2008, at that point DRDO boss, Dr VK Saraswat (presently a NITI Aayog part), had informed the media in New Delhi that blocking an approaching rocket terminated from 2,000 kilometers away required a similar innovation required for shooting down a satellite. Asserting that the DRDO effectively had that capacity in 2008, Saraswat had stated: “We have worked, starting at now, ABM (ballistic missile destroying rocket) frameworks with interceptors to draw in 2,000 kilometer-class of targets.”

How A-SAT can destroy enemy’s ability to use space technology against India

This capacity will deny any enemy, the utilization of satellites and other space-creates, as a stage for any hostile tasks against India

Current Affairs: India on Wednesday advanced into a tip top club of “room super powers” as its enemy of satellite rocket A-SAT shot down a live satellite on a low earth circle, at a separation of 30 km, in only three minutes. So far just three nations – the US, Russia and China – had this innovation.

‘Mission Shakti’ is an achievement in innovation and the nation has exhibited its ability to prohibit and capture a satellite in space dependent on indigenous innovation, said specialists. An External Affairs Ministry proclamation said the objective satellite was one of India’s current satellites working in lower circle.

“The test was completely effective and accomplished all parameters according to plans. The test required a very high level of exactness and specialized ability. The centrality of the test is that India has tried and effectively shown its ability to prohibit and catch a satellite in space dependent on total indigenous innovation,” it said. “The capacity accomplished through the A-SAT test gives solid discouragement against dangers to our developing space-based resources from long range rockets, and multiplication in the sorts and quantities of rockets,” it said.

In a meeting, previous Isro Chairman, G Madhavan Nair said that China, USA and Russia have effectively exhibited their ability. India has directed the satellite test with all security insurances. “This is a leap forward in innovation,” he included…

Click Here: A-SAT Missile