Indian Supersonic Interceptor Missile Test Successful | Wheeler Island on May 15, 2016

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India, In its effort to have a full fledged multi-layer Ballistic Missile Defence system, on Sunday successfully test-fired its supersonic interceptor missile, capable of destroying any incoming hostile ballistic missile, from a integrated test range Wheeler Island, off Odisha coast. This project still in developmental phases and the test named "AAD-06".

"The test conducted to validate various parameters of the interceptor in flight mode has been successful," DRDO sources said.

Interceptor missiles are designed to take over and collide with the incoming Ballistic Missiles of hostile power through ballistic trajectory, and ultimately explode up in the atmosphere before reaching its intended targets.

Pakistan, the arch rival of India, paid grave concerns over the test. And vows to take this issue in the global forums.

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From A National Pride Tejas Gone National Shame Amid Stingent Failures

Starting in 1983, the Tejas fighter aircraft was touted as the marvel of Indian technology which would make an entire nation of a billion people proud, the dream however is yet to materialize. After having spent tens of thousands of crore rupees and almost three decades of development, the program has not brought pride but a national shame for India, all the while India’s enemies like Pakistan and China are building and exporting their own fighter aircrafts. In a recent report, it was stated that the aircraft now has some 53 technical flaws which have a crippling effect on its operational performance, there are serious problems with its radar and electronic warfare suites, the training variant is unavailable which makes training Tejas pilots an uphill task. 

 Not only that the reports suggest that the Indian content in Tejas is just 35% while the rest is imported from states like the United States, Israel, France and Britain. The story of failure doesn’t end here, after back to back delays; the aircraft is now incapable of housing a critical self protection system which will protect the pilot from enemy aircraft. The Indian Air Force has all but lost interest in Tejas as it was an aircraft of yesterday which is being pushed down its throat by an ultra nationalist Modi govt which lacks any strategic vision for India’s security interests. Its high time, the Indian govt decides to scrap this white elephant and direct funds to imported solutions like SAAB Gripen and other western fighter aircrafts to meet the ever rising threat from India’s enemies like Pakistan and China. 

The Tejas program is meant to do nothing more than satisfying the ego stock of the Modi govt which is bent on projecting India as a technological superpower while ignoring the genuine capability constraints faced by Indian aviation industry. This mindset has also been exacerbated by Indian Air Force’s JF-17 Thunder envy, a successful program across the border pulled off jointly by Pakistan and China. It seems as if Tejas is the only answer to ‘keeping up with the John’s’ for the Indian politicians and military brass in Delhi. The truth is, Tejas has utterly and truly failed, it’s time to scrap it and focus on real capability development for the Indian airforce.

Indian Last of All Nishant Drones Crashed

The Nishant was supposed to be the Indian Army’s premier, domestically-produced surveillance drone. But now it can’t be because all of them, every single one, crashed.

A Nishant Drone while flying.

The product of a development program dating to 1995 from India’s state-owned Defense Research and Development Organization, the Nishant was meant to be a medium-altitude drone in a similar class to the Israeli Heron, which India also operates.

The difference being that India would produce the Nishant itself, freeing the country from its dependence on foreign unmanned vehicles, just as China and Pakistan race ahead producing drones of their own.

During its brief lifespan, the catapult-launched Nishant could stay in the air for four-and-a-half hours. The drone carried no weapons. Returning to base, the Nishant would not land like an airplane, but deploy a parachute and float to earth.

It could not carry weapons, as it functioned strictly in a reconnaissance role — spotting for artillery, snooping on enemy troops and hoovering up electronic and signal information from the battlefield. Or at least, that was the plan.

Had Nishant worked out, the Indian Army would have bought a total of twelve and sent them to disputed Kashmir region and to track Maoist rebels in India’s interior.

But it was not to be. The four prototype Nishants entered service in 2011, and then started falling — not floating — out of the sky. The first two went down near the Pakistani border in April 2015. The third Nishant crashed in Rajasthan in early November.

There was only one left … and that crashed on Nov. 19.

Nishant drones, one of them crashed with what appears to be an undeployed parachute. Photos via Indian defense forums
The cause of the last crash appeared to be a parachute which failed to properly deploy.

“In the past DRDO has blamed poor handling by the Army for the loss of at least two systems,” the Economic Times reported. “However, the Army has contended that the system has failed to perform and has technical problemsduring the recovery phase that have not been sorted out.”

To the Army’s credit, it already operates dozens of Israeli drones with no apparent troubles. Retired Lt. Gen. P.C. Katoch, who led the Indian Army’s information systems directorate, blasted the DRDO for a “gross lack of accountability,” producing “schoolboy level” inventions and then bragging about its accomplishments with “false propaganda.”

“For their part, the DRDO in its usual manner has blamed the user for poor handling of the system, a point categorically denied by the Army,” Katoch wrote at SP’s Aviation magazine. “The irony is that this game has been [going] on for decades with no one held accountable in the DRDO.”

“The irony here is that while this monolith of DRDO cannot produce a worthwhile drone in 20 years, Pakistan has already developed and deployed its own armed drone.” Kaotch was referring to the Burraq drone, which Islamabad developed from the Chinese CH-3.

Nishant, however, is dead. With no more left and an obvious lack of faith in the drone, the Indian Army canceled the project for good.

Source: http://defence.pk/threads/every-one-of-india%E2%80%99s-nishant-drones-has-crashed.412783/#ixzz3uOIJs0GF

Is India's Main Battle Tank Finally Doomed?

Last week, the Indian Army released a global request for information (RFI) inviting responses by 31 July to develop a multi-purpose Future Ready Combat Vehicle (FRCV) in order to replace older license-built Soviet-era main-battle tanks (MBTs).

“The Indian Army is planning to design and develop a new generation, state-of-the-art combat vehicle platform for populating its armored fighting vehicle fleet in the coming decade. This vehicle, which will be called the future ready combat vehicle (FRCV), will form the base platform for the main battle tank which is planned to replace the existing T-72 tanks in the Armored Corps,” the RFI reads.

The Indian military envisions the FRCV system as a platform for as many as 11 different tracked vehicles, including light tracked, wheeled, bridge layer and trawl tanks, self-propelled howitzers (SPH), air defense guns, artillery observation post and engineering reconnaissance vehicles, and armored ambulances.

Additionally, the RFI notes that the FRCV “should be in the ‘Medium Tank’ category” and should “match contemporary MBTs in engagement ranges, all weather day/night fighting capability, depth of penetration and variety of ammunition.” The Indian Army wants the new FRCV ready for induction by 2025-27 – a deadline that almost certainly will have to be extended given India’s defense procurement track record.

Consequently, in the meantime, India will do well to continue upgrade its 1900 strong T-72 MBT force. New Delhi has so far failed to successfully mass-produce an indigenously developed modern main battle tank.

The recent RFI could also very well ring the final death-knell for India’s indigenously developed third generation Arjun MK-I main battle tank – a poorly designed vehicle (e.g., too much heavy armor versus too little horsepower) that encountered repeated delays due to a flawed procurement and testing process. Almost eighty percent of the 124-strong Arjun MK-I tank force is currently grounded due to more than 90 technical issues.

India has been working on an improved version of the Arjun, the MK-II, which has done very well in comparative trials with license-built Russian tanks such as the T-90M. It displays more than 93 improvements over the older version and contains 60 percent locally manufactured components. However, a decision to indigenously develop a new anti-tank missile to be fitted onto the MK-II will, in all likelihood, delay the induction of the upgraded platform.

India Test-fires Her First Nuclear-capable Cruise Missile ( Its the first test after failed maiden test)

First Indian origin sub-sonic cruise missile, with the name of Nirbhay, has a range of over 700 kilometres, the DRDO official said. Friday's test-fire was the second developmental trial of the missile. The long range capability Nirbhay is being developed by India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

 DRDO Nirbhay Cruise Missile, which will range 700+ KM when will be in-service

The missile's first test was carried out on March 12 last year from the same base but the flight had to be terminated mid-way, as deviations were observed from its intended course, however, what was the defects to terminate the test still unknown. The official added that Nirbhay has good loitering capability, effective control and guidance, high degree of accuracy as well as effective stealth features. 

 Pakistani Cruise Missiles, Formidable Babur LACM & Silent Hunter Ra'ad Air-Launched Cruise Missile.

The stealth features of Nirbhay is not known also, and how they'll will work. It has a sub-sonic speed, some observer starting compare it with NESCOM developed (Pakistan) "Babur" cruise missile though the official from DRDO didn't clear when this cruise missile will be in series production to add to the Indian missile inventory where Pakistan already swelling their cruise missile inventory with "Babur" (over 700 KM range, another submarine launched version in well under development) long range cruise missile and Air Launched "Ra'ad" (350 KM range) cruise missile. Both of them are efficiently nuclear capable. Among them "Ra'ad" is extremely stealth designed one, and can strike fully silently with very low altitude.

Babur LACM With The Distinct Developers (Scientists & Technicians) & Officials From Strategic Planing Division.

The test comes as India and Pakistan are engaged in skirmishes along the Line of Control (LoC) and the working boundary and also as India has conveyed to China that it could no longer be issued warnings by anyone saying the South Asian nation was now immensely powerful and held a prominent position on the international stage.

What makes Tejas a wholly indigenous fighter, or how? Tejas borrows its Delta-Winged design from F-16XL.

Tejas wing design is opposite of F16XLs design as shown in the Figure below. Tejas leading edge is low sweep, where as in XL its high sweep

LCA Tejas is not an whole indigenous design project, in fact, DRDO drawn help from abroad many times.

Also,the design of Tejas is called compound delta, while that of XL is called cranked arrow. Tejas has a compound delta wing design with a unique low sweep leading edge crank. This crank is different from that of XLs. Tejas crank is only visible in the side view.

Updated LCA Tejas Mk.2: Infographics

A schematic info-graphs of Tejas, here, shows what features will be includes in the upgraded version Mark-II. First flight target 2017:

Tejas aircraft deficient in at least 100 technical parameters: Experts

The light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas is deficient in at least 100 technical parameters, said experts associated with the project. They also alleged that the initial operation clearance granted to Tejas two years ago was given despite the aircraft not meeting various crucial technical parameters.

The experts said as the aircraft has not achieved crucial technical parameters, it continues to be flown only by test pilots and its performance parameters too need to be monitored by ground-based stations. They also said the engine of Tejas lacked sufficient power. Though the experts were hopeful that these issues would be resolved by the then end of 2013, still the issues aren't clear how those make the pathway to solve,  they admit complex technicalities pose serious obstacles.

In a press release issued in March, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) admitted the delay in completion of project "Development of Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), Tejas" and said it was hopeful to achieve Full Operational Clearance (FOC) by December 2014. "The LCA project, which though got delayed initially, is currently progressing on a fast track and is working on aggressive time schedules," it said.

"Productionisation of LCA is already going on. First series production aircraft were ready by the end of 2013, which aren't inducted still in the IAF. Indian Air Force has already placed order for 20 LCA in IOC configuration and another of 20 LCA in FOC configuration," added the release.

The Tejas aircraft is being manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The project 'Development of LCA' was sanctioned in August 1983 and Project Definition Phase (PDP) of LCA was completed in 1988. In 1990, a decision was taken to undertake LCA development in two phases. In the first phase to build 02 Technology Demonstrators (TDs) along with development of critical technologies including Multi Mode Radar (MMR) and in the second phase to build Prototype Vehicle0s, integrate weapons, sensors, and flight testing leading to Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) and Final Operational Clearance (FOC).

Recovery Parachute System for Indian LCA Developed by DRDO

Indian Govt. organization DRDO develops "Recovery Parachute System" for its LCA Tejas.Does it mean that this Light Fighter could drop straight down when flying in the sky? Its an obscure phenomenon, because Indian authorities and online defense forum members are sounding like " this is a fighter that there are no types exists like this one where F-16 C/Ds could match a little". The LCA program inducts an aerodynamic design straight from French "Mirages" and takes 30 years to develop an aircraft. HAL grasps some manufacturing capabilities by assembling Russian designed and ultimately final tested aircraft Sukhoi-30 MKI, specially made version for India.

Every year India loses pilots through the crushes of  "ancient bisons", the MiG-21s, so they feared about such crushes. And a little more doubt make them anxious about LCA. For this reason it is believed that Govt. wants a system which could minimize the damages and  loosing lives of pilots and ultimately refusal of pilots to fly these "premature" LCA birds.

The news about this "Recovery Parachute System" was published on defenceforumindia.com. Which is same as below_

[December 2005, defenceforumindia.com]

Recovery Parachute System

It is mandatory for a combat aircraft to demonstrate its spin recovery capability during flight test programme. The purpose of this system is to provide emergency recovery of aircraft from an inadvertent spin in case the aircraft controls are ineffective and are unable to pull it out of spin. The recovery is achieved by deployment of a parachute, which applies an anti-moment force at the rear of the out of control aircraft bringing its nose down further. This brings the aircraft into a controlled stabilized dive and helps it to come out of spin/deep stall.

DRDO has developed such parachutes for the flight test of LCA. The test altitude envelope for LCA (9500 kg weight) is 2 km to 12 km. The sequence of operation is as follows: 

 When a drogue gun is fired, the slug mass of the drogue gun moves rearwards and sequentially deploys the pilot chute at an aircraft wake distance of 23 m. When the pilot chute is stretched, snapping of the weak tie (48 kg) separates the slug mass of the drogue gun along with deployment bag of pilot chute. The chute then inflates and consequently pulls the packed main parachute. As the pilot chute moves rearwards the main parachute deploys sequentially. As soon as the main parachute is stretched, snapping of the weak tie (100 kg) separates the pilot chute and the deployment bag of main parachute. This allows the main parachute to inflate and produce necessary drag force of 32 kN, resulting in a yawing movement of aircraft. It then steepens the flight path angle (a-angle) of the aircraft. The aircraft can then be pulled out of spin by increasing its speed. The total operational time of the system is 3 s. When the aircraft comes out of spin, pilot jettisons the parachute by operating the release mechanism. The system has various redundancy/safety devices. When the release system fails, parachute can be separated through failure of weak link by accelerating the aircraft by 30 per cent.


Development work at sub-system level has been successfully completed and final qualification tests are under progress.

Preparations Are Underway For The Maiden Test Of The Agni-II Plus Missile

Agni-II Plus is a modified version of the Agni-II strategic missile and the test will be conducted from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) on Wheeler Island in the Bay of Bengal.

The success of this maiden flight test of a complete nuclear-capable missile, also known as Agni-II prime or A-2, developed by the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO), will set a new chapter in the India's missile programme.

According to Director General of DRDO V K Saraswat, the new missile would have a higher range, higher performance with respect to the thrust and weight ratio than Agni-II missile which has a range of 2,000 km.

Being an upgraded version of the Agni-II, the new missile, sources said, would be more accurate and powerful.

The new missile would perform more better at various levels in terms of accuracy, strength and distance covered in comparison to Agni-II missile.

The surface-to-surface missile can hit targets in between 2,500 km and 3,000 km thereby bridging the gap between the Agni II missile which has a range of 2,500 kms and the Agni III missile having a range of 3,000 km.

The Agni II Plus missile could also carry extra fuel and will have a new motor in its re-entry vehicle for better maneuverability and an improved navigation system.