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Inside this issue: Inside this issue:

4 Tejas Mk-2 will incorporate 5 gen fighter elements

Tejas Mk-2 will incorporate 5 gen fighter elements

6 7 SEA HARRIER RETIREMENT Sea Harriers and Mig-29k dog fight over Goa

8 AURA: Missiles India’s Ballistic New Dawn of New Age

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EDITORIAL PANEL
MANAGING EDITOR
AJAY NAIK

US leaving be nuclear powered Aircraft carrier IAC-3 might Afghanistan in 2011 – Reason and Impact for Pakistan 14 11 The MMRCA Game We Need It-Points & MMRCA Deal: Why Counterpoints India’s artillery woes: Indian Navy’s indigenous ship building: A success story 18 13

EDITORIAL ADVISOR
VINAYAK SHETTY RAKESH SHARMA

EDITORIAL PANEL
VINAYAK SHETTY AJAY NAIK SUJIT KULKARNI SANKAR BALU SUJIT KULKARNI NEERAJ KAKAR

Did we IAF’s strategic airlift capability: really reach the moon?

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AMCA/NGFA (Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft or Next Generation Fighter Aircraft) 20 Star Wars VII - The KALI strikes back 23 26 27 29

DINAKAR PERI JOYDEEP GHOSH

Super Carrier required for BrahMos Strategic Long Bombers: Mission Accomplished.

Email Managing Editor [email protected]

Conventional Submarines: Their new found role

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SECURITY SEPTEMBER MONTHLY MAGAZINE FOR DOWNLOAD

Idrw.org have launched a new free online Monthly Magazine for the readers and members of idrw.org called has " SECURITY " , and below you can also find a link to last months issue , happy reading , please do drop by and email your suggestions ,comments etc At [email protected]
h p://www.megaupload.com/?d=DTJCP1N5

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Tejas Mk-2 will incorporate 5 gen fighter elements
Vinayak Shetty security Editorial Panel

Tejas MK-1 is fast approaching its IOC which will happen in December 2010 , but ADA officials have already done their preliminary design of Tejas Mk-2 , and to avoid further delays , Two Tejas MK-2 were designed keeping in mind the dimensions provided by two Engine manufactures who were in race to provide 100 + plus engines to the Tejas Mk-2 program . Ge’s F414IN engines were logically chosen for the Tejas Mk-2, since they had same dimensions and length of F-404 engines which were powering Tejas MK-1 .but Tejas Mk-2 as per sources will incorporate advance technology developed keeping in mind MCA over a decade has a parallel in house development now officially known has AMCA. India currently is working on Indigenous AESA again with inputs from a international partner. Officials close to the program have told www.lca-tejas.org that major avionics will be ready for the aircraft within next two or three years, Tejas Mk-2 will have lot of key elements which will find its way into AMCA and FGFA later. Tejas MK-2 will also have a newly laid out cockpit layout with better computing power since it also be housing new mission control computer, Samtel Display Systems (SDS) is also working on touch based Multi Function Displays (MFD) for Tejas Mk-2 , which will later find its way in AMCA too . Tejas Mk-2 will also see structural changes in the aircraft which will be noticeable in wider wing span to carry extra weapons load along with extra fuel, aircraft will also have large air intakes to let the high thrust engine generate additional power for the aircraft, engine change for Tejas Mk-2 will result in the rear fuselage being changed too . Commonality between Tejas Mk-1 and Tejas MK-2 will be digital Fly by Wire (FBW) Flight Control System (FCS) along with some avionics which both aircraft will share, but sources also told us that FBW Software will require some modification in them to support structural changes which Tejas MK-2 will have. When asked about development of Tejas MK-3 sources told us that it all depends how Tejas Mk-2 develops and how IAF responds to it , further development can happen but AMCA will be logical choice if it comes out in time for IAF rather then Tejas MK-3 .

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INDESEC Expo 2010

India's only exhibition and conference dedicated to homeland security
INDESEC Expo 2010 is India’s only exhibition and conference dedicated to homeland security. Building on the phenomenal

success of 2009, INDESEC Expo 2010 maintains its total focus on the Indian Governments urgent need to procure the most advanced technological solutions to meet their homeland / national security requirements. Senior visitors will include ministers and decision makers from the Ministry of Home Affairs, central police and paramilitary organisations, the intelligence services, Ministry of Defence, Coastguard, individual state ministries and senior police representatives – the people in india responsible for determining and meeting India’s maritime, border, airport, transport, critical infrastructure security and disaster

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SEA HARRIER RETIREMENT
Vinayak Shetty security Editorial Panel

Indian navy plans to retire Sea Harrier VTOL/STOVL jet fighter from its service from 2014 onwards , Naval officials based in Ins Hansa have confirmed this report , Ins Hansa is also a major base for Naval fighter squadrons and currently has Sea Harriers , recently acquired Mig-29k along with Kiran-Mk2 aircrafts . India Acquired 30 jets in mid-80’s and later ten more were acquired in late 80’s , bringing this numbers to 40 jets which included single and two seat aircrafts used for training purpose , Sea Harriers operated from the aircraft carriers INS Vikrant and INS Viraat. Sea Harriers had very troublesome history with Indian navy, jet was very difficult to master and operate , 28 jets were lost in this short service of 25 years with Indian navy , recently many of the jets have been upgraded with Israeli Elta 2032 MMR radar which enabled it to fire Rafael 'Derby' medium range BVR air to air missile , almost 14 jets were upgraded with this new radar giving it BVR capability along with mid-air refueling probe which was re-installed in them to carry midair refueling . Even with upgraded Sea harrier has been lost in accident recently which killed its co-pilot of the Goa coast, Indian Navy in 2005 has decided to purchase 8 retired British navy Sea harrier to keep a Squadron of this VTOL fighter jets till 2020, but the plans to bring additional jets with additional engines fell flat since, price for acquisition and up gradation turned up to be in the higher side. Since this jets have already been retired from British navy in 2006, spares are getting harder to come, with a small numbers of jet it possesses decision to retire them was made recently, retirement will start from 2014 onwards,

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Indian navy also recently signed contract to acquire more 29 Mig-29k for its aerial operations and it fully committed to Countries Naval-Tejas fighter jet program, first flight of Naval-Tejas is expected by early 2011. Indian navy also wants to acquire more 40 modern jets other than Mig-29k and Naval Tejas, and already has send RFP to international Aircraft manufactures, many defense have hinted that additional aircrafts from IAF’s MMRCA aircraft deal might go to Navy. Since this jets have already been retired from British navy in 2006, spares are getting harder to come, with a small numbers of jet it possesses decision to retire them was made recently, retirement will start from 2014 onwards, Indian navy also recently signed contract to acquire more 29 Mig-29k for its aerial operations and it fully committed to Countries Naval-Tejas fighter jet program, first flight of Naval-Tejas is expected by early 2011. Indian navy also wants to acquire more 40 modern jets other than Mig-29k and Naval Tejas, and already has send RFP to international Aircraft manufactures, many defense have hinted that additional aircrafts from IAF’s MMRCA aircraft deal might go to Navy.

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AURA: New Dawn of New Age

Vinayak Shetty security Editorial Panel

Scenario Year 2022 major infiltration is taking place on the Line of Control in Uri Sector of north Kashmir, small pack of 10 to 12 Pakistani Terrorists are trying to sneak into Kashmir. but they have little idea that Two Hunter Killer UCAV developed under India’s prestigious AURA (Autonomous Unmanned Research Aircraft) have tracked their movement using infrared and motion sensors and are losing altitude fast, this new breed of Stealthy UCAV hunt in pairs and can be on CAP (Combat Air Patrol) 24 hours a day, powered by a modified Kaveri K10 engine armed with four Air to Surface missiles and 2 Air to Air missiles for their own self protection. UCAV have already alerted movement of intruders to the zonal head quarters and soon go head confirmation comes from Head quarters , both UCAV fire ASM at the intruders and terrorist have no idea what hit them , half of them are killed near loc and others run and hide in a abandoned concrete shelter UCAV is able to track their movement and sends a video feed to the Zonal Army Head quarter for reinforcement , well reinforcement comes in shape of Bomber UCAV again derivate from AURA program , bomber UCAV is able to carry large LGB or joint direct attack munitions ,powered by two modified I SECURITY I OCTOBER 2010
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Kaveri K10 engine , it is much bigger then Hunter UCAV but is able to carry more payloads .As soon it arrived at the scene of action Hunter UCAV starts moving out area of operation, Terrorist seeing UCAV move have a sign of relief but they have no idea that soon whole complex where they are hiding will be brought to ground in seconds. This is just a possible scenario where future UCAV of India will operate.

Why a UCAV? Longer CAP: Fully Autonomous Unmanned Combat aircraft will have longer endurance in war or in conflict zone since everything is controlled by on board computers level of efficiency from take off to landing will be same ,fatigue and stress factors will be negligible since pilot is absent .

Design of UCAV: it has been openly discussed and told by Aviation community that design of aircrafts is limited to “Human endurance “ UCAV will always have design advantages over manned aircrafts even if they are stealthy in nature, risk to pilots live in combat zone is also reduced since UCAV will not need one, another major advantage will weight since UCAV will not require any pilot-support systems this will reduce weight in the aircraft and will enable it to better utilizes space for other purpose , which in turn can reduce size of the airframe of the aircraft , with same payload that a manned aircraft might have .

Lower R&D Cost: Why many of the European Countries are engaged in development of UCAV on other hand same countries are cutting down their own defense budgets in time of recession in their Economy? that Simple, development of new 5 Gen Fighter aircraft will be tremendous pressure on already shaky economic of this countries and since many of them will be operating American –European Jointly developed F-35 soon, need for a new manned 5th Gen aircraft have disappeared and many of them have been actively working on UCAV which will have half the cost for development of a stealthy Fighter or Bomber aircraft, but also be cheaper to operate in future since it will also reduce training of pilots and support crew.

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Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle Technological Challenges for India? Well India has taken baby steps for the development of its own Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for surveillance but not to be fooled , almost each and every lab of DRDO and HAL has been working on different types of UAV from Hand held battle field UAV to be operated by foot soldiers to larger MALE ,HALE type of UAV’s for Countries armed forces . sharing of many of the technology or spin offs from this program will help ADA help in development of AURA UCAV’s ,other than this following new developments needs to take place for UCAV . *Reconfigurable control station for multi Situational operations. *Development and integration off-board/onboard sensors, weapon targeting, and load outs. *Battle management sensors for better Situation Awareness among similar or other UCAV. *Full autonomy Mission computers which will enable it to think for its self in the whole assigned missions.

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US leaving Afghanistan in 2011 – Reason and Impact for Pakistan & India
Sankar Balu. security Editorial Panel

As we’re eagerly waiting for 2010 to end, the year to come 2011 will have a big impact on India, Iran, Pakistan and Israel. To understand this, we need to review few of the key Geo-Political NEWS unfolding in the last few months.

Picture courtesy, Foreignpolicy.com

1) US don’t want to stay beyond 2011 in Afghanistan (see here) – We all might’ve heard this very often nowadays, if not outside US, in US it’s talk of the town, that too 2012 election campaign is nearing. This is also partly due to the commitment US President Obama had made during his 2008 presidential election campaign and considering that they’re not going to get anything out of Afghanistan, useful and anyway Taliban had moved their bases to Pakistan. 2) Afghan President Karzai confirms Taliban talks (see here) – As per the US/ International media, this is the latest NEWS for Today. This is not only a Treat to Pakistan; it’s a pre-cursor to 2011/2011 US moves. This move is making Afghan Karzai government, a corrupt one, as by any means, known by everyone including US, but, the later doesn’t have any other choice other than that. I SECURITY I OCTOBER 2010
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3) “The cancer is in Pakistan”, Obama – Yes, this NEWS had its course outside US and made headlines all over the world, especially Indian media, and yes, the GOI too. Do we sense anything here, No? Considering Obama is a weak President in US, in 2010 November US election, the Democrats are going to lose the congress, the one and only thing Obama can make Republicans accept after November 2010 would be, calling for a War against Pakistan/Iran, right ? 4 ) Israeli Prime Minister visits Moscow, puts pressure to Russia for Iran sanctions – The news about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s highly publicized secret visit to Moscow (see here) by UK media “The Sunday Times” was denied by few, but, people who follow Iran Nuclear sanctions might’ve believed it to be true, without knowing whether that would work on Oct 7th ’10. Yes, you’ll believe that on Oct 11th ’10, that it worked, read on. 5 ) “Russia cancels S-300 missiles to Iran will return $166.8 million”, RIA Novosti – Yes, now we believe it worked. This is crucial step for making Iran aware that US is readying for a WAR with Iran, if need be so. Now, it’s time for us, to analyze these three distinct NEWS (as 1 & 2 and 3 & 4 are related one’s), to understand what US is intended to do with Afghan, Pakistan, Iran and how it’s going to impact Pakistan and India. Let’s go step by step again, this time by linking, each of these distinct NEWS, on the Geo-Political space happening in 2010, how it may unfold in 2011/2012, the time 2012 US Election unfolds. As US had already decided, based on inputs that Iran is very close, not decades, but just years away from having Nuclear Weapons, which in near clear terms, not at all acceptable to Israel/US and other regional Middle East nations. US is just preparing for the Next WAR against Iran with these, hence setting the stage for leaving Afghan, allowing Taliban to rule Afghanistan in an ISI dictated Democratic manner. To do this, US had to leave Afghan, allow Pakistan more control over Afghan, which by any means doesn’t need India to have a greater say in Afghan. This is definitely required by US; otherwise they can’t regroup for Iran WAR, if required in 2011/2012.

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Now, Pakistan had upstaged India in Afghan, by having US to have Karzai talk to Taliban, making Taliban a legitimate one, right in the Afghan government. By this India had to manage Kashmir as a separate issue, Afghan as another issue, which India thought will have a greater say, once, if at all Afghan is rebuilt. This option is also ruled out with US backing out from the plan, India left out with two options. As now it’s clear after Indian officials talking to Hadley, it was ISI who did Mumbai attack, not as US told in the beginning, it needs to go out in PoK for a Military preemptive strike. This I don’t’ think it’s going to happen, will never happen based on previous incidents. Sit and watch Afghan + pro-ISI (Taliban) takeover Afghan, Pakistan move all the troops to PoK again, Mushraf come to power/Pak Military do another coup attempt, and try to infiltrate to J&K or wait for another Mumbai style attack, as Hadley mentioned the Indian officials, there’ll be another attack. This is the likely one going to happen, at this time, it’ll be 2012/2013, US will be busy with Iran, we again push Pakistan out of LOC, and come back and watch again what ISI is going to do next.

Let’s see what happens, do we’ve any other option ?

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MMRCA Deal: Why We Need It-Points & Counterpoints
JOYDEEP GHOSH Security Editorial Panel

Why Gripen Is a Good Choice for MMRCA

IAF is desperately short of fighters with its strength now below 32 squadrons, and expected to go down further with more aircrafts being retired. While a sanctioned strength is 39.5 squadrons with healthy level of 44 squadrons which India reached only in mid 80s, the aging MiG21 retirement and delay in induction of Tejas meant India had to go for MMRCA. With the announcement date for MMRCA deal winner coming near people are talking a lot of things. Here is a comparison and reasons why Gripen is favorite to win the MMRCA deal of 126 aircrafts with option for 74 more. Here a few things need to be clearly mentioned a) MMRCA deal was launched to replace MiG-21s. b) The aircraft chosen has to be a 4.5 generation aircraft with all latest systems. c) The aircraft has to be a low cost fighter that is easy to maintain.

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Eurofighter 1) Some said Eurofighter held the edge with the 99 EJ-200 engine deal for Tejas Mk2 almost in its pocket. A) But then grounding of Eurofighters across Europe due to concerns over faulty ejection seat (that killed a Saudi pilot) is a major setback. B) The DOD announcement that GE414 has been selected for Tejas Mk2 pretty much cuts out Eurofighters. C) Deliveries can be a problem as the aircraft is assembled at one place after sourcing it from various other units. D) Eurofighter is a double engine heavy class fighter that’s expensive to buy and maintain. E) It has some US parts; if the US gets upset with India over any issue it can be problem to keep them flying. Super Hornet 2) The selection of GE414 as Tejas Mk2 engines has bolstered the chances of F/A-18 Super Hornet as its powered by the same engine. But chances of Super Hornet are bleak because A) Super Hornet is very expensive to buy as well as maintain, IAF has specified it wants a aircraft that’s low cost and easy to maintain. B) Super Hornet are double engine heavy class aircrafts C) India will be required to sign CISMOA, BECA and various other agreements before IAF can use these aircrafts to maximum D) If the US gets upset with India over any issue, it can starve India of crucial parts, software packages to keep them flying. E) Its nearly 30 year old design.

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Rafale 3) Like F/A-18 Super Hornet has everything going for it because it has virtually no US parts, is a very latest design. But its chances dwindle when we look in to the following A) Its twin engine heavy class aircraft that’s expensive to buy and maintain. B) It’s in service with just with French forces. C) Deliveries have been behind schedule. D) It lost out on several deals earlier, considered a black mark. E) It has some US parts; if the US gets upset with India over any issue it can be problem to keep them flying. Mig-35 4) Mig-35 is from the trusted old friend Russia, but there are several problems leading up to its non selection A) Based on Mig-29 its still an experimental aircraft with all sorts developmental work still needed to be done. B) IAF does not want to put all its eggs in Russian basket. C) Its priced low but like all other Russian aircraft is expensive to maintain in the long run. F-16 5) One of the most widely used and combat proven aircraft in jet era F-16 in its IN version has no chance of winning it, because A) Its over 30 year old design B) Its in service with PAF a disadvantage that IAF cant let itself exposed to, even if US says India has been offered a design leagues ahead of what PAF has. C ) India will be required to sign CISMOA, BECA and various other agreements before IAF can use these aircrafts to maximum I SECURITY I OCTOBER 2010
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D ) If the US gets upset with India over any issue, it can starve India of crucial parts, software packages to keep them flying. Gripen 6 ) Gripen NG in its IN version has the brightest chance of winning the MMRCA deal. Though some said it will kill Tejas but its not the fact because A ) Maturation limit of Tejas is likely to be similar to Gripen NG. If India selects Gripen NG, then Tejas & Gripen will compliment each other. B ) Being single engine aircraft and developed around the millennium design the aircraft is the latest C ) Its low cost and easy to maintain compared to other jets D ) Is a purely commercial deal with no political constraints attached? E) If selected Saab is willing to setup a entire production unit in India itself in association with HAL and work on further developing Gripen F ) Gripen selection and production in India will help DRDO and HAL to expedite the development and roll out of Tejas Mk2 & 3. G ) Since both Tejas Mk2 and Gripen NG IN will use the same engine, i.e. F414, with India going for licensed production of this engine from USA it cuts out chances of interference from USA, the only major US component on the plane. H ) Option for further development on AESA radar, thrust vectoring for Tejas an added advantage I ) Once India goes for buying cheaper Gripen, Pakistan can be kept out of the deal to buy it in future as we know it’s financially difficult to them to buy F18, EF, Rafale. J ) It is reportedly the only aircraft to have cleared the Leh trails. All these points very much prove that Gripen is the front runner for winning MMRCA deal but in the end it will be ultimately a political decision. I SECURITY I OCTOBER 2010
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Indian Navy’s indigenous ship building: A success story

Dinakar Peri security Editorial Panel

On 20 April 2010 the country's first Anti Submarine Warfare Corvette (ASWC) for the Indian Navy under project P28, the 2500 tonne INS Kamotra was launched at the Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) in Kolkata. Four are of them are on order and in all 12 are intended to be built. On 29 April 2010 the Indian navy commissioned the indigenously built multi-role stealth frigate INS Shivalik and at 5300 tonnes it is the largest stealth frigate in the world. The hard to detect warships will form a crucial component of the Indian Navy for the first half of this century. These events herald the strides India has made in ship building and the coming of age of its shipyards. It can be undoubtedly said that the navy is the only service of the Indian armed forces carrying out modernization and indigenization with a long term plan with indigenization being the mantra. Setting aside the depleting submarine levels and delays in newer sub-surface inductions, the overall modernization and strategic planning of the Indian navy is going at a commendable pace with all the bureaucratic bottlenecks and political laxity notwithstanding. Even the Scorpion submarine project after all the delay is finally on track and construction is picking pace. There are currently as many as 39 warships and submarines on order with various Indian shipyards not including a couple of recently approved projects. The navy’s Directorate of Naval Architecture and the shipyards have come a long way from designing and constructing small offshore vessels to constructing aircraft carriers.

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Recently the defense ministry has given the green signal the much awaited Rs.50,000 crore project to manufacture the second line of conventional submarines after the Scorpene’s with the help of a foreign collaborator. After the recent nod to the over Rs50,000crore project for a second line of six submarines, the defense ministry has cleared another major program to indigenously construct four guided-missile stealth destroyers. Designated Project-15B for the four destroyers and valued around Rs.30,000 crore, it has been sent for final approval to the finance ministry. The P-15B program will be undertaken at Mazagon Docks (MDL) after the three Kolkata-class destroyers being constructed there under a long-delayed Rs 11,662-crore project, are finally delivered in 2014. The P-15B is basically a follow-on project of the 6,700-tonne Kolkata-class destroyers and will feature greater stealth and advanced sensor and weapon packages. The government also approved the construction of seven follow-on stealth frigates of project P17 (Shivalik class) to be constructed by MDL in Mumbai and GRSE in Kolkata. As is known, the construction of the indigenous aircraft carrier being built by Cochin shipyard Ltd. is going smoothly and should be launched to sea by this year end and commissioned in 2014. At 40,000 tonnes this is the largest ship ever built in India and with this India becomes only the seventh country in the world to design and construct aircraft carriers. The design for the IAC-II is also underway and this will be a much bigger and more sophisticated compared to IAC-I displacing about 65,000 tonnes. But on the downside, the rate of building is very slow and doesn’t match the rate of phasing out of ships from service. Even the Navy chief has expressed displeasure over the delay in executing orders. The shipyards need to undertake a huge modernization drive to cope with the increasing qualitative and quantitative demands. Recently few private Indian conglomerates have forayed into ship building and have established world class facilities. The government and Navy should encourage and give an impetus to the private sector to strengthen the Indian military industrial complex. With the changed threat perception after 26/11 combined with the aggressive Chinese foray into the Indian ocean region with its string of pearl’s strategy and the soon to expand exclusive economic zones have all highlighted the need for a strong Navy and finally the government seems to have woken up to the harsh reality. Slowly but surely, India is building a powerful three-dimensional blue-water Navy to protect its geo-strategic interests stretching from Hormuz Strait to Malacca Strait and with the indigenous route, is saving billions of precious foreign exchange. Hope the other services of the armed forces also take a leaf out of the Navy’s book for their modernization process.

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IAF’s strategic airlift capability:
Dinakar Peri security Editorial Panel

There is a huge modernization drive underway in the Indian Air Force to augment the transport fleet with life extension programs for existing platforms and the induction of new heavy and very heavy lift aircraft as most of the aircraft have reached the end of their operational life. The airlift capability has come under criticism during the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, when NSG commandos had to be airlifted from Manesar near New Delhi where NSG are based but were delayed due to non availability of large aircraft there at that time and an IL-76 was called from Chandigarh. Learning from the lessons the government has charted out a blueprint to augment the fleet on a priority basis. The An-32’s and IL-76’s procured from Russia in 80’s have served very well but are now technologically obsolete, maintenance intensive and have almost reached the end of their service life. AN-32: This is the workhorse of the transport fleet of the air force and the 105 AN-32 medium transport planes are undergoing a complete overhaul and complete systems upgrade in Ukraine under a $600 million deal signed in June 2009 of which 10 have already been sent and two of the refurbished planes are to be delivered this month. This will extend the service life of the fleet by 15-20 years from the current 25 years. Under the agreement, 40 aircraft will be upgraded in Ukraine while the remaining 65 will be done at IAF’s base repair depot in Kanpur. The AN-32 is considered to be the lifeline of the armed forces in the Jammu & Kashmir and northeast where soldiers depend on it for rations and supplies. IL-76: There are 17 IL-76 heavy aircraft in the IAF inventory which are extensively used for strategic airlift operations but have almost reached the end of their life and are also undergoing a limited service life extension. It has a payload of 45 tonnes and has a crew of six. With the disintegration of the Soviet Union, like for much other military hardware, there is a shortage in availability of quality spares and the aircraft itself is out of production I SECURITY I OCTOBER 2010
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MTA: In September, India and Russia concluded an agreement to set up a joint enterprise to co-design and develop a Multirole Transport Aircraft (MTA) for the Indian and Russian armed forces and eventually export to mutually agreeable third countries. The initial requirement is 100 aircraft for Russia and 45 for India. With a payload of 20 tonnes, top speed of 800 kmph and service sealing 12km it will be a replacement to the AN-32 and is yet another milestone in the Indo-Russian strategic partnership and evolving relationship in co-developing weapons and weapon systems. The aircraft will have two engines, state of the art features such as fly-by-wire, full authority digital engine control, modern avionics and glass cockpit. The total development cost is expected to be approximately $600 million to be equally shared by both the sides. The first flight is expected to take place in six years. Going by the successful joint development of BrahMos by India & Russia, this project is going to be a success and will set a benchmark in its category. C-130 Super Hercules: The tactical airlift capabilities of the armed forces will get a shot in the arm by December when India will receive the first of the six Lockheed Martin built C-130J Super Hercules airlifters purchased for $1 billion. Last week the first C-130J with IAF overalls has undertaken its maiden flight and will undergo further certification and user trails before transfer to India. The aircraft is capable of operating from rough, dirt strips and is the prime transport for air dropping troops and equipment into hostile areas. It signals a paradigm shift in the capacity of the Indian armed forces to carry out special operations. These will be mainly in use by Indian Special Forces and for the first time, the IAF will be able to conduct precision low-level flying operations, airdrops and landings in blackout conditions as the aircraft will be equipped with an infrared detection set (IDS) and other In India specific equipment and the manufacturer has even offered a long term maintenance contract to ensure that 80 percent of the fleet is available at any given time. It is a multirole aircraft and the same aircraft can be midified to perform various roles. The required facilities like hangers and maintenance facilities are being set up at IAF’s Hindon airbase outside New Delhi where the aircraft will operate from and a cockpit simulator is also being installed for training purposes. There is an option in the deal to purchase six more aircraft which the Air force is contemplating to exercise.

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C-17 Globemaster: Indian is further looking to augment the force with the Boeing built C-17 Globemaster III very heavy transport aircraft from the US through the foreign military sales program in a deal worth over $3 billion and preparations are underway to ink the deal during President Obama’s trip to India in November. The C-17 is the only plane in the very heavy category with a maximum payload of over 77 tonnes and can take off and land in 3000 feet or less. Reportedly, India is looking to rise the number from 10 to 16. Despite its massive size it can be operated with a small crew of three, thanks to its high degree of automation and power assisted systems. With these inductions and upgrades in place by 2015, the airlift and special operations capabilities of the Indian armed forces will see a radical transformation in their ability to undertake out of area operations and respond to contingencies.

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Rafale – The obvious choice for India’s Strategic Forces Command
Neeraj Kakar security Editorial Panel

What is strategic forces command: In January 2003 the cabinet committee on security formed the Executive Council & Political Council of the Nuclear Command Authority to be chaired by the National Security Advisor and the Prime Minister respectively, who would thereon decide and authorize to push the nuclear button. The directives of the NCA are operationalized by the Strategic forces command (SFC) which formulates the nuclear war plan, handles the storage of India’s some 100 odd nuclear warheads and their delivery systems. The need for a strategic bomber: For many reasons and circumstances the country has gone through in the last seven years, for many strategic war plans that were put on the table for discussion at Sena Bhawan, for the failed missile tests marking them unreliable for nuclear delivery, the SFC has finally decided to order its own fleet of strategic bombers which are reliable enough to ensure a nuclear bomb delivery.

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India’s nuclear triad is hardly operational. The K-15 is not yet operational; neither does it have the range to hit Lahore, while safely sailing in the Arabian Sea. The Prithvis and the Agnis do not have the reliability that is required when you are shooting something like a N-bomb across the border. The Brahmos does not have enough range to hit Beijing, or hit Karachi without mobilizing the warheads far away from their trenches making them vulnerable to detection thereby losing the surprise and probably face neutralization. The IAF however does have the SU 30 MKI, MIG-29 and Mirage 2000 which can deliver the bomb embedded in Moskits or as gravity bombs, but in a war, each IAF plane will be committed to a mission thus not leaving the SFC with anything at hand to plan, rehearse and prepare for a second strike. So the SFC now needs its own aircraft to ensure that there are no hiccups at the time of war. The Mission: So what does it take to air drop a nuclear weapon? Well the B-29 super fortress could do it. But times have changed. Today the bomber has to be stealthy, laden with the most latest of ECCM and jammers to be able to cross the border without activating the SAMs, It needs to be a robust platform and a heavy lifter to carry a 1000 pounder along with fuel pods enough to make the round trip from central India, say Pune. And at the same time it has to be a great dog fighter to be able to make its journey back evading the F-16s that would have scrambled by then. So one thing is clear, it needs to be a multi role fighter- stealthy, maneuverable and with substantial external load capacity. Nothing but the Rafale: The SU-30 MKI is mainly an air superiority fighter, it is meant for defending, or to provide cover. While it does have the capability to strike deep inside Pakistan, it is much more vulnerable to detection, being a heavier, bigger aircraft. With a high RCS it doesn’t really fall into the stealth category. The Eurofighter while being extremely stealthy and a great dogfighter, is not a great air to surface weapons delivery platform. The F-16 & The FA-18 super hornet have to be kept out of the SFC hangars I’m sure, considering that Pentagon is never, in all practical sensibilities, going to allow us to use them for Nuclear weapons delivery. MIG 29 is an old platform, already running out of steam and probably spares too. I don’t think anyone is interested in buying a MIG nowadays. Infect after the merger, Sukhoi is not even interested in selling them. The Rafale is the Knight in shining armor. It is a proven ground attack platform, it has the best avionics, ECM and ECCMs, It’s soon to get a top rated AESA. The cockpit is a pilot’s dream. It’s proven its mettle in Afghanistan, and guess what, has a carrier version too, just in case we start drooling… Tools and reuse: However what really goes in the favor of the Rafale is that the Indian Air Force is more than happy with its older sibling - the Mirage 2000. In fact the Rafale had almost been finalized as the MMRCA, before the Americans got interested in the deal and the French quoted too high a price as a spoiler. The Mirage 2000 was used extensively to drop 1000 pounders with pin point accuracy at Kargil heights. India already has the capability to refurbish Dassault aircrafts. Rafale is going to be absorbed into the force mush easily. And it is also going to help us save a fortune on pilot training, tools and many reusable components.

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Geopolitics: What is strikingly co-incidental is that the number of aircraft that have been put out on paper (40) as a requirement by the SFC exactly matches with what was offered by the French last year as a fast track deal. Sarkozy will be here in December; right after Obama would have made the MMRCA pitch for Boeing in return for ‘something’ at the Security Council. However the French have the guts and I’m sure the ‘frank’ will to veto it out. And that is why the Rafale will be chosen as the stallion of the Strategic Forces Command.

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NEW ENTRY IN NAVAL AVIATION MUSEUM GOA
Vinayak Shetty security Editorial Panel

A Big surprise waited me at Indian Navy lonely Naval Aviation Museum in Goa, I have visited NAM many number of times but other than some minor changes I could never find anything more, I usually visit nearby INS HANSA base to keep touch with my friends there, but this time after visit with them, I decided to go to NAM. Nothing much had changed same Sea Harrier, Sea Hawk, Sea King ASW Helicopter greeted me, has I was almost ready to exit NAM I spotted something in orange I had never seen before, closer I went I was surprised to see Northrop built Chukar III aerial target drones on display, I never knew that Indian Navy had them in their possession. Back at my house little search on internet never hinted that Indian navy had operated them.

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MQM-74C Chukar III earlier production variant was exported to many NATO countries and more than 1,600 were produced, but what’s surprising is that Internet could not fetch me much info on their Indian navy connection. Two more of MQM-74C Chukar III was kept little further from the lonely MQM-74C Chukar III, it seems to be recent addition or did they come with INS Jalashwa (L41) Formerly the USS Trenton, it was procured by India for USD 48 million. It entered service in 2007, becoming the second largest ship of the Indian Navy May be someone with better information will email me their information in regards to their service with Indian navy.

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S-400 Surface to Air Missile – The last Defender NJS security Editorial Panel The Triumf S-400 is a new generation of air defense and theater anti-missile weapon developed by the Almaz Central Design Bureau as an evolution of the S-300PMU family. This new system is intended to detect and destroy airborne targets at a distance of up to 400 km (2- 2.5 times greater than the previous S-300PMU system). And it has maximum speed up to 12 mach, can easily detect and destroy enemy aircraft and in coming Ballistic and Cruise missiles . The Triumf system includes radars capable of detecting low-signature targets. and the anti -missile capability of the system has been increased to the limits established by the ABM Treaty demarcation agreements -- it can intercept targets with velocities of up to 4.8 km/ sec, corresponding to a ballistic missile range of 3,500 km. It is important to note that no F/A-18 variant, nor the Joint Strike Fighter, were designed to penetrate the coverage of the S-300P/S-400 systems. The survivability of these aircraft will not be significantly better than that of legacy combat aircraft. and its range is claimed to be at least twice that of the MIM -104 Patriot SAM (Surface to Air missile )system. At present no other SAM’s in world has capable more than Triumf in long range . Israel and United states has known plan to have airstrikes against Iran , in the name of its nuclear capable . Even though Iran has better capable resources in Surface missiles / Aircrafts/Naval warfare , Israel mainly objected for supply of S-300 SAM systems from Russia to Iran, because theses Sam’s have capable to engage any aircraft / missiles from Israel, that could make more difficult for both US & Israel Fighter Jets . According to Russian sources, the S-400 is capable of detecting and simultaneously engaging six targets and it has flight ceiling of 40 kms with cold launch ejection system. At present Russia Operates 5 battalions as of 2010 and will arm more before 2020. India already has 6 Sqns of S-300 SAM systems which is less capable than Triumf S-400 in all aspects , India bought these systems in earlier days to defend incoming Pakistani M11(supplied by china) and other surface to surface missiles , but India so far has not realized the need of S-400 against its dearest Chinese missiles from north east , these things should not realized in war times . India’s AAD is still in development and testing stages , it takes much more tests to get certify. At least to save our valuable bases close to China need this type of protection . Even china has more numbers of S-400 and has plans to produce massive numbers for its self defense.

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Why The Hell We Need MMRCA-An Argument Against
JOYDEEP GHOSH Security Editorial Panel

We all know IAF is desperately short of fighters with its strength now below 32 squadrons, and expected to go down further with more aircrafts being retired. While a sanctioned strength is 39.5 squadrons with healthy level of 44 squadrons which India reached only in mid 80s, the aging MiG21 retirement and delay in induction of Tejas meant India had to go for MMRCA. With threat from China looming large and people saying China likely to attack India in 2012, we need to get aircrafts in the air very fast. Here is how we can make do without MMRCA 1. We are entering into US$2.1 billion TOT deal with Dassault for upgrading our 56 Mirage 2000 (a 4 generation aircraft) so that they continue flying till 2025 and beyond till our latest fighters start arriving (LCA,AMCA, FGFA, more Su-30MKI). Few points should be noted a. UAE is reportedly exchanging all its 68 Mirage 2000 with Rafale and Dassault will buy them back (as it did with 12 Mirage 2000 of Qatar, which India wanted to buy but backed out due to high price) to export to other countries. b. A South American country which has Mirage 2000 kept in storage is planning to sell (over 10 in nos) them back to Dassault. 2. India is going for US$ 12 billion MMRCA deal for 126 aircrafts (essentially 4.5 generation) from 6 contenders with TOT to tide over our shortfall in aircraft numbers. Few points should be noted a. India reportedly doesn’t want to buy Mig 35, being wary of putting all eggs in one Russian basket. b. India reportedly doesn’t want to go for Gripen (it will not help forge greater political/ economic ties), c. The Rafale/Eurofighter are both good aircrafts but very expensive. d. F-16 is already 30 yr old platform and in service with PAF and F-18 Super Hornet is very expensive. e. India is wary of saying no to US as it can hamper our future deals and antagonize the US with ramifications in political, economic and other areas.

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Then what we should do
1. Instead of going for MMRCA deal for 126 aircrafts (whoever will be lucky), the first

of which will arrive only by 2014; we can easily buy the nearly 90 Mirage 2000 sold back to Dassault (by UAE, Qatar, and a South American nation) in relatively good flying condition before 2012. These will start arriving before start of 2012 if selected
2. With TOT for upgrading our own 56, we can have 146 Mirage 2000 by 2012 (if all buy

backs for 90+ Mirage 2000 go well and we purchase them from Dassault). Then we can steadily upgrade all of these for our requirement (to 4.5 generation), the only thing missing possibly will be a AESA radar, and thrust vectoring.
3. Once we start upgrading, we can sign a deal with Dassault to manufacture 100 more

Mirage 2000 in India becoming sole manufacturer of these. We should remember Dassault had offered Mirage 2000 TOT for production in India itself in 1980s and but India refused. Its known that India is now the sole maker of Jaguars and if its same for Mirage 2000 what is the problem.
4. We can also keep 40 Mirage 2000 exclusively for nuke strike mission as wanted by

SFC, and we know it’s a top contender for the deal if RFP is given.
5. If we try to find which will be more costly? The MMRCA deal for 126+74 option that

will ultimately cost around US$17-18 billion or the upgrade of 56 Mirage 2000 and buying the 90+ Mirage 2000 from other countries (through Dassault) + making 100 in India that will cost around US$10-11 billion at the maximum. It turns out that the second option is a better option, so India should cancel MMRCA deal and go for Mirage 2000.

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American heart for Tejas
Pratik Sawerdekar Security Editorial Panel

Defense community in India was once again taken by surprise when an almost certain contract of 99 engines for the country’s most ambitious military project went not to the Europeans but the American’s. Many believed that Eurojet’s EJ-2000 was certain to win given the fact that it had IAF’s support and was expected to be the lowest bidder. But it was the Americans who prevailed just by luck. Now LCA-Tejas Mk-2 will be powered by General Electric’s GE-414 engine also used by F/A-18 Super Hornet and SAAB JAS-39 Gripen. Eurojet as a matter of fact is believed to be the lowest bidder but it submitted its revalued figures just a day before the deadline hence the committee evaluating the offers didn’t had enough time to go through the revalued offer and hence the earlier submitted bid was taken into consideration which was higher than that of American firm’s bid. Now since both the engines meet all the requirements the committee declared the GE-414 as the winner as it was the lowest bidder. Many people were disappointed by the news and declared that India succumbed to US pressure. We may not know the entire truth but the chances of the above story being true and “US pressure” being false is very likely. GE Aviation is a financially much stronger company than Eurojet and it is a subsidiary of General Electric which is a “multi-hundred” billion dollars company. Also the GE-414 program has backing of American Govt. thus lot of financial support too. The GE-414 engine has also paid its R&D cost as around 1000 of these engines are already built and scores more are on order thanks to US Navy’s massive orders of Hornet fighters.

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not only means that GE-Aviation is in a better position to provide the engine at lower cost but also keep the price low after the contract is signed. They for instant are providing tools and equipments to HAL to manufacture these engines for free where as the Eurojet is charging for it. We could have expected cost escalation with Eurojet as it did make mistakes while bidding. The potential of this deal is huge; it will make the Super Hornet and Gripen cheaper in the MMRCA competition. This means the GE-Avaition not has a contract of 99 engines plus 50 in option but also has chances of winning 126-252 engines with option of 64-128 more. Also every aircraft needs atleast one engine change in its life time hence in longer term GE-Aviation can end up supplying upto 700 engines to India. Many have raised alarm that India will have to depend upon the Americans even for their own aircraft. This is true, as USA is known for changing its policies and imposing sanctions within a short span of time but Indo-US relation has grown and US sees India as an important ally against China and hence would like to keep the relation warm. Even if we look this in a most negative sense we can come to a conclusion that it is still the best possible move by India. This is because if in next 3-4 years US imposes sanctions on India, we cannot expect the Europeans to keep supplying the EJ-2000 had they won the contract and support the Tejas program as European Union follows the US decisions blindly and won’t supply EJ-2000 either. Thus, sanction threat is not all gone if the Eurojet engine was chosen. Secondly time frame is important, if by the time US imposes sanctions and we have learnt how to build the engines than it won’t be a issue as HAL in past has proven that it can maintain American engines without their support and since we have learnt to build the engine on our own we can keep doing it with sanctions denying GE support. Ultimately India seems to have played its cards right and has given its most ambitious project a final boost. India can now truly focus on getting the Mk-2 variant developed and hope for quick production to replace IAF’s obsolete fleet.

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E-ZONE

BLACK SQUADRON
Introduction This is story based on Two ex IAF pilots inducted into a Black Squadron flying EW version of NGFA , operated by our intelligence agencies ,is story is based in the year 2020 this is totally fractious characters and events which never have taken place or likely to take place , this story is brain child of Vinayak Shetty , and totally his imagination . This is done to keep interest in magazine and also for Entertainment purpose only Plot Story involves two Serving IAF Sukhoi Su 30 pilots who are kicked out IAF due to an incident ,which will be revealed in first episode and how they are approached by nonexistence Squadron operated by our Intelligence agency and it will cover their adventure ,missions, and other things they are made to do when flying in this “ BLACK SQUADRON “. Next Month we will carry the first Episode , to keep viewers interaction at maximum , we are letting viewers suggest names of the pilots and also squadron they were operating before been kicked out , and also reason of they been kicked out , they can also send missions and operations they are likely going to conduct in future episodes. Any one Good in Photoshop or Corel Draw can also design a Electronic warfare based NGFA based on Pak-FA , and Squadron patches for the Pilots We are proud to announce the name of the first episode

DRAGONS CAVE
(Spoilers : Mission Inside Chinese territory)
Please send your suggestions and art work ,stories to [email protected] I SECURITY I OCTOBER 2010

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