BY : IANS

There are no restrictions on the manner the Indian Navy deploys a troop carrier it has purchased from the US, a top American official said Friday. “There is no unique language associated” in the contract for the purchase of the USS Trenton, now renamed the INS Jalashva, US Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter told reporters here.

“We do not limit the use of a ship by a sovereign nation in support of its national defence objectives,” Winter added.

His remarks came in response to objections raised by India’s Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) that “restrictive clauses” in the $50.63 million deal for the purchase of the ship “raise doubts about the real advantages” of the acquisition.

There were “restrictions on the offensive deployment of the ship” the CAG maintained in his report tabled in parliament earlier this month.

BY : JINSA Editorial Assistant Amrith K. Mago

Israel is expected to train four battalions of nearly 3,000 Indian soldiers for specialized anti-insurgency strikes, adding to their training in desert, mountain, jungle, and counter-hijacking and hostage crisis situations. New Delhi's turn to Jerusalem for combat soldier expertise is due, in part, to disappointing results in border clashes with Pakistani forces and to last year's suicide attack by Muslim terrorist infiltrators on Indian Parliament members. Among the many tasks expected of them, the newly trained Indian troops are expected to stop infiltration by Pakistani terrorists into India via the contested Kashmir region, according to the Jerusalem Post, Feb. 3, 2003.

Presumably to equip these soldiers, India recently concluded a $30 million agreement with Israel Military Industries (IMI) for 3,400 Tavor assault rifles, 200 Galil sniper rifles, as well as night vision and laser range finding and targeting equipment. The purchase seems to demonstrate a broadening of the defense trade relationship beyond Indian purchase of Israeli high-tech electronic systems. For decades, New Delhi has bought most of its Air Force and Army hardware from Russia. To pay for all of this, the Indian defense budget has grown considerably and is expected to reach $100 billion in the next decade.

BY : OUTLOOK INDIA



Since October last year, the ace pilots of the IAF's frontline Sukhoi-30 MKI, the Russian-manufactured fighter aircraft with nuclear strike capability, have spent more time on the ground than in the air. What's keeping the high-flyers idle is an acute shortage of tyres for an aircraft that is all set to become the backbone of the IAF by 2014. So serious is the supply crunch that in January and February this year, the IAF inventory for the Su-30 was down to a mere 10 tyres. The tyres, of course, are specially made for the fighter aircraft and designed for high wear and tear. A senior IAF officer told Outlook ominously, "If we don't have adequate number of tyres, our aircraft will not be in a position to deliver in an emergency." Crucially, a clause in the Sukhoi procurement agreement makes it mandatory that spare parts, including tyres, for the aircraft, unless indigenously manufactured in India, must be purchased from a firm registered in Russia.

Some crisis buying now has ensured that the tyre inventory has come up to a hundred. But that's still far short of the minimum three years' reserves the IAF has to hold as per mandatory requirement. With such acute shortage, the IAF's 60 Sukhoi fighters (about four-and-a-half squadrons) have had to curtail their flying hours. Incidentally, every aircraft requires four tyres.

Indeed, a defence ministry delegation had landed in Russia last November (just before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit) to try and resolve the crisis. Bimal Julka, joint secretary (air), tried in vain to sort out the issue with his Russian counterparts. Air headquarter sources say the Sukhoi tyre issue was part of the agenda when the PM visited, but both sides stuck to their positions and the negotiations meandered.

BY : TNN

: Here's a real shocker: India, which fancies itself as an emerging superpower, currently does not have an operational aircraft carrier cruising the high seas to project power and guard its huge maritime interests.

The country's solitary aircraft carrier, INS Viraat, with its complement of Sea Harrier jump-jets, helicopters and 1,500 crew, is out of action at the Mumbai harbour.

The ageing 13-storey-high carrier will remain docked till at least July 2009 - first at Mumbai and then at Kochi - for an elaborate life-extension refit, say top sources.

This potentially dangerous state of affairs is a direct outcome of the failure of successive governments to undertake long-term defence planning to build military capabilities in tune with the country's geostrategic objectives.

BY : RIA Novosti





Russia has dismantled another six outdated Topol mobile missile systems under a major international treaty on strategic arms reductions, the Strategic Missile Forces said in a statement on Thursday.

"We scrapped six outdated Topol mobile systems between March 17 and 26," the statement said. "It is the first such procedure conducted this year."

The systems were based in the Udmurt Republic in eastern Urals.

BY : The Age

RAAF fighters of the future could be outgunned by new Russian-built aircraft which carry far more missiles and fire them in salvos to make a hit more likely, an air power expert believes.

Dr Carlo Kopp, head analyst with the defence think tank Air Power Australia, said the side that could fire the most missiles stood the better chance of winning in this type of beyond visual range (BVR) combat.

Dr Kopp said the most optimistic scenario for the RAAF showed it losing one Super Hornet or one Lockheed F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) for every Sukhoi Flanker shot down.

Current and future RAAF air dominance is based on detecting targets at long range then destroying them using missiles such as the AIM-120 AMRAAM (advanced medium-range air-to-air missile).

AMRAAM has an extensive combat record and has successfully shot down Russian built aircraft in conflicts in Iraq, Kosovo and Bosnia.

BY : TNN

Faulty ejection systems are one of the major reasons for loss of highly trained fighter pilots during contingencies. Last year itself, the Indian Air Force (IAF) lost seven pilots in crashes.

In an attempt to find a solution to the problem, Pune-based Armaments Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) has developed a pilot ejection system for use in the light combat aircraft (LCA), world's smallest, light-weight, multi-role combat aircraft which will be inducted into the IAF soon. The ejection mechanism relies on a canopy severing system and a power cartridge system for smooth ejection of the pilot, both on air and on ground.

Speaking to TOI, ARDE director Surendra Kumar said, "The severing system weakens and cuts the canopy. The rocket cartridge fitted to the pilot's seat is fired to ease the lever allowing the pilot to fly out vertically while the canopy is flung open."

BY : Forbes



There's no doubt that March has been a turbulent month for Boeing--the company recently filed a formal protest of the award of a $35 billion contract for air force refueling planes to a team headed by Northrop Grumman and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co.

Then the leasing company that's the largest customer for Boeing's (nyse: BA - news - people ) 787 Dreamliner gave word that structural changes to where the plane's wings attach to the fuselage would further delay the 787's first flight by three to six months.

In the past 30 days, Boeing shares have slid 8.13% vs. a flat S&P 500.

But smoother skies could be ahead, thanks to prospects for an extended civilian aerospace up-cycle and the little-noted possibility that Boeing could see an increase in foreign military sales.

BY : Ravi Sharma For The Hindu

India’s two-decade quest for an engine that will power the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas has taken another twist with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) setting up a committee that will scout worldwide for an engine.

The formation of the committee is also an admittance that the indigenous Kaveri combat aircraft engine, which is under development by the Bangalore-based Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE) to be the eventual Tejas’ power plant, will, in its present design configuration, not be able to do so.

Headed by K.V.L. Rao, a former director with the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), the committee has representatives, including from the Air Force, the ADA and the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

BY : THE HINDU

Agni-1, India’s workhorse missile with a range of 700 km, has attained full operational capability following a successful test-fire from the Wheeler Island, off Orissa coast on Sunday.

At 10.15 a.m. scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation and the Indian Army (main user) launched the surface-to-air Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM). In about nine minutes, the missile attained its desired distance, trajectory and demonstrated its operational capabilities.

Describing the test as a ‘complete success’, Dr Avinash Chander, Director, Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL) and Programme Director of Project Agni, said, “The terminal data tracked by two naval ships and total performance from the radars at the Interim Test Range (ITR) showed that the missile performed to its optimum capacity exactly as expected.”