DTN News - INDIA DEFENSE NEWS: Indian PM Manmohan Singh's $ 5 Billion Shopping List For C-130 J Hercules Aircrafts, Apache Attack + Chinook Heavy Lift Helicopters And More

Defense News: DTN News - INDIA DEFENSE NEWS: Indian PM Manmohan Singh's $ 5 Billion Shopping List For C-130 J Hercules Aircrafts, Apache Attack + Chinook Heavy Lift Helicopters And More

 Sources: K. V. Seth - DTN News and  Sudhi Ranjan Sen
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - September 28, 2013:  India is set to buy American defence equipment worth five billion US dollars and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who left for the United States today, is carrying a long shopping list.

Among the hardware that India is looking to purchase are six additional C-130 J Hercules Medium Lift Aircraft, 22 Apache Attack Helicopters, 15 Chinook Heavy Lift Helicopters and about 140 M-777 ultra-light towed Howitzers. Contracts for all of these are expected to be signed before the current financial year is over.

The US-made Apache Attack helicopters will replace India's ageing fleet of Russian-made M-35 helicopters and will cost India about $1.4 billion.

Although the US lost the $15 billion tender for the supply of Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft or MMRC to France in 2011, it has in the last decade sold weapons systems worth $8 billion to India and is poised to edge out Russia and Israel as New Delhi's biggest defence equipment suppliers.

The US has recently proposed co-producing aircraft like the C-130 J Hercules and the number of joint military exercises that India has carried out with the US in the last 10 years too now exceeds those with traditional defence partners like Russia, UK and France.

It was perhaps this apparent closeness that provoked Victor Komaradin, who headed a Russian delegation at Aero-India 2013, to observe that "although Russia has virtually created Indian Defence industries in the 1960's and 70's, little attention is being given to the Russian contribution in building India's defence capabilities."

The big purchase order also underscores the fact that despite claiming to be a regional power, India still imports about 70 per cent of all its weapons and equipment.

According to a March 2013 report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute - an independent research body that specialises in conflict and arms sales - New Delhi replaced Beijing as the world's top arms importer accounting for 12 per cent of global arms transfers between 2008 and 2012. China accounted for about six per cent.

*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth - DTN News and  Sudhi Ranjan Sen
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News - INDIA DEFENSE NEWS: Russia, US Compete For Indian Defense Contracts

Defense News: DTN News - INDIA DEFENSE NEWS: Russia, US Compete For Indian Defense Contracts

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Rajeev Sharma - Russia Beyond The Healines

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 30, 2013: While Russia and the United States are engaged in intense competition (often cut-throat, in many areas), they are increasingly locking horns on increasingly familiar turf: lucrative defense deals emanating from India.

Both Russia and the U.S. have had their share of successes and failures in winning Indian defense contracts. In 2012, the U.S. won a 1.4-billion-dollar contract from India for 22 AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopters, while Russia received from India a 1.6-billion-dollar deal for 42 Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets and another deal worth $1.3 billion for 71 Mi-17 helicopters.

The Russian-American see-saw battle for eating into the Indian defense pie is likely to continue for many more years, as both arms exporters are unable to satisfy the Indians by 100 percent. While the U.S. is loath to sell some of its most advanced weapon systems to India and transfer technology, the Russians have been unable to keep their deadlines in supplying weaponry to India.

However, in this context, a big point in favor of the Russians is that they readily transfer technology on which India invariably insists.

The Tejas Engines Deal

Just a few days back, the U.S. finalized a 558-million-dollar deal with India for supplying 99 jet engines to be used in the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas MK II, which is being developed by India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO).

The deal may well be more than double its present value (or worth about $1.2 billion), as a clause of the contract stipulates that ,though the present order is only for 99 engines, India will have the option of ordering 100 more engines in the future.

The Tejas story, however, is not so much about the U.S.-Russia rivalry, because both the Western powers are engaged with the Indians in their own different ways. Two years ago, India selected the American company General Electric (GE) over its European rival Eurojet 2000 for the LCA Mark II program.

Ideally, India would like to have 42 squadrons of fighter aircraft; but it currently has only 34, which may dip to just 26 in 2017 if the Rafale aircraft are not inducted by then. This explains the strategic importance of the indigenously-developed Tejas for India. India plans to induct two squadrons of the LCA Mark I, to be followed by delivery of LCA Mark II aircraft.

The American involvement in the three-decades-old Tejas project (which has already cost the exchequer over $ 4.5 billion) began some years after India started the project in 1983. Then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi asked the U.S. for help in the project, as part of his bigger plan to improve ties with the country.

The Americans readily agreed and the U.S. Air Force was selected to help India in testing fly-by-wire technology for LCA. The U.S. also offered GE F-404 jet engines to power LCA prototypes – a proposal that India was prompt in accepting.

The Russian Involvement

Russia, too, is involved in a significant way with the Tejas project.

While the main structure and sub-systems of the aircraft are indigenized, the remaining parts are imported. The most crucial of the imported parts is the aircraft engine that is currently being made by GE. The DRDO has been working on developing a suitable engine called Kaveri, which is undergoing tests in Russia and will be brought back to India after certification.

India and Russia signed an agreement for loan of a TU-16 Russian twinjet on which the Kaveri engine will be mounted. The Indo-Russian agreement also stipulates a high-altitude test facility for testing Kaveri’s operations in hot-and-high conditions. However, the high-altitude test facility in Russia has not been able to give a flawless performance and has failed thus far to meet the envisaged parameters of the engine.

Long-range bomber Tu-16 at the Military planes museum on the Dyagilevo airfield. Source: RIA Novosti / Alexei Kudenko

Confronted with persistent failures and delays, the Indian government decided in late 2008 to isolate the Kaveri engine project from the main LCA project. Until Kaveri gives 100 percent satisfactory results, Tejas will be powered by American engines.

About Tejas

“Tejas” (Sanskrit for “radiance”) is the world’s smallest fighter aircraft. This lightweight, multi-role, single-engine tactical fighter is being designed and developed as a single-seat fighter aircraft by Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA); it is being manufactured by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian air force to run on GE-F404 engines manufactured by the American company GE.

Tejas can fly at a maximum speed of 2,205 kilometers (1,370 miles) per hour and at a maximum altitude of 15,200 meters (just under 50,000 feet). Its range is 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) and it weighs about 5,450 kilograms, (12,000 pounds) with maximum take-off weight of 13,500 kilograms (about 30,000 pounds).

Tejas has already missed several deadlines, and the latest assessment is that it will become operational later this year, though its full combat-ready status is unlikely to be achieved before 2015.

The unique selling point of the Tejas is its indigenousness. Right now, Tejas is 65 percent Indian, but this figure will soon reach 75 percent. However, VK Saraswat, scientific advisor to the Indian defense minister, insists that no country opts for 100 percent indigenization, since it is not cost effective and requires huge infrastructure.

Future Scenario

The Russian-American rivalries for garnering Indian defense deals are bound to intensify. Currently, over 70 percent of India’s defense equipment is of Russian origin, but this is set to change substantively. In fact, the phenomenon has already started.

India is set to spend tens of billions of dollars within the next few years on modernizing its defense forces. The rules of the game have rapidly changed for the Russians. Any arms-exporting country that wants to increase its defense business ties with India can do so only when it ensures timely delivery of top-quality equipment at highly competitive prices.

Rajeev Sharma is a New Delhi-based journalist, author and strategic analyst who regularly writes for several leading international media outfits. He can be reached at bhootnath004@yahoo.com.

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*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Rajeev Sharma - Russia Beyond The Healines
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: Prince Harry Coming Home From Afghanistan ~ Recalls Killing Taliban

Defense News: DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: Prince Harry Coming Home From Afghanistan ~ Recalls Killing Taliban

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Jill Lawless - London — The Associated Press
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 21, 2013: Capt. Wales is coming home to be Prince Harry once again.

The British Ministry of Defence revealed Monday that the 28-year-old prince is returning from a 20-week deployment in Afghanistan, where he served as an Apache helicopter pilot with the Army Air Corps. It did not immediately divulge his exact whereabouts.

In interviews conducted in Afghanistan, the third in line to the British throne described feeling boredom, frustration and satisfaction during a tour that saw him kill Taliban fighters on missions in support of ground troops. He also spoke of his struggle to balance his job as an army officer with his royal role – and his relief at the chance to be “one of the guys.”

“My father’s always trying to remind me about who I am and stuff like that,” said Harry, the younger son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana. “But it’s very easy to forget about who I am when I am in the army. Everyone’s wearing the same uniform and doing the same kind of thing.”

Stationed at Camp Bastion, a sprawling British base in the southern Afghan desert, the prince – known as Capt. Wales in the military – flew scores of missions as a co-pilot gunner, sometimes firing rockets and missiles at Taliban fighters.

“Take a life to save a life. That’s what we revolve around, I suppose,” he said. “If there’s people trying to do bad stuff to our guys, then we’ll take them out of the game.”

Harry’s second tour in Afghanistan went more smoothly than the first, in 2007-2008, which was cut short after 10 weeks when a magazine and websites disclosed details of his whereabouts. British media had agreed to a news blackout on security grounds.

This time, the media were allowed limited access to the prince in return for not reporting operational details.

A member of the air corps’ 662 Squadron, the prince was part of a two-man crew whose duties ranged from supporting ground troops in firefights with the Taliban to accompanying British Chinook and U.S. Black Hawk helicopters as they evacuated wounded soldiers.

He said that while sometimes it was necessary to fire on insurgents, the formidable helicopter – equipped with wing-mounted rockets, Hellfire laser-guided missiles and a 30mm machine gun – was usually an effective deterrent.

“If guys get injured, we come straight into the overhead, box off any possibility of an insurgent attack because they look at us and just go, ‘Right, that’s an unfair fight, we’re not going to go near them,’” Harry said.

Harry shared a room with another pilot in a basic accommodation block made from shipping containers, and passed the time between callouts playing video games and watching movies with his fellow officers. His security detail accompanied him on base, but not when flying.

“It’s as normal as it’s going to get,” Harry said of the arrangement. “I’m one of the guys. I don’t get treated any differently.”

But he said he still received unwanted attention at Camp Bastion, which is home to thousands of troops.

“For me, it’s not that normal, because I go into the cookhouse and everyone has a good old gawp, and that’s one thing that I dislike about being here,” he said. “Because there’s plenty of guys in there that have never met me, therefore look at me as Prince Harry and not as Capt. Wales, which is frustrating.”

Ever since Harry graduated from the Sandhurst military academy in 2006, his desire for a military career has collided with his royal role. After his curtailed first Afghan deployment, he retrained as a helicopter pilot in order to have the chance of being sent back.

The speed and height at which Apaches fly make them hard for insurgents to shoot down, but Harry’s squadron commander, Maj. Ali Mack, said the prince had still faced real danger.

“There is nothing routine about deploying to an operational theatre – where there is absolutely an insurgency – and flying an attack helicopter in support of both ISAF and Afghan security forces,” Mack said.

The danger was underscored soon after Harry arrived at Camp Bastion in September, when insurgents attacked the adjacent U.S. base, Camp Leatherneck, killing two U.S. Marines and wounding several other troops.

Harry said he would have preferred to have been deployed on the ground with his old regiment, the Household Cavalry, rather than spending his tour of duty at Camp Bastion, a fortified mini-city replete with shops, gyms and a Pizza Hut restaurant.

Harry said it was “a pain the arse, being stuck in Bastion.”

“I’d much rather be out with the lads in a PB (patrol base),” he said. “The last job was, for me personally, better.”

Despite the frustrations of base life, Harry said he relished the flying: “As soon as we’re outside the fence, we’re in the thick of it.”

“Yes, OK, we’re supposedly safe, but anything can go wrong with this thing, but at the end of the day we’re out there to provide cover and protection for the guys on the ground,” he said.

Many of Harry’s family have also seen combat – most recently his uncle, Prince Andrew, who flew Royal Navy helicopters during the 1982 Falklands War. His grandfather, Prince Philip, served on Royal Navy battleships during World War II.

His older brother William, who is second in line to the throne, is a Royal Air Force search-and-rescue pilot. He, too, has expressed a desire to serve on the front line, but officials consider it too dangerous.

Harry said he thought William should be allowed to serve in combat.

“Yes, you get shot at. But if the guys who are doing the same job as us are being shot at on the ground, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with us being shot at as well.

“People back home will have issues with that, but we’re not special. The guys out there are. Simple as that.”

He said that while William was envious of his Afghan experience, his elder brother’s job had its advantages.

“He gets to go home to his wife and his dog, whereas out here we don’t,” Harry said. “We’re stuck playing PlayStation in a tent full of men.”

After the respite from scrutiny, the prince is returning to a Harry-hungry media eager for images of the eligible bachelor, and stories of his off-duty escapades.

Just before he went to Afghanistan, Harry hit the headlines during a game of strip billiards at a Las Vegas hotel. He apologized for the incident. “It was probably a classic example of me probably being too much army, and not enough prince,” he said.

But the prince did not attempt to hide his frustration with the intense coverage he faces. “I probably let myself down, I let my family down, I let other people down,” Harry said. “But at the end of the day I was in a private area and there should be a certain amount of privacy that one should expect.”

Later in the year, he hopes to join a group of injured servicemen on a charity race to the South Pole, and in July he is due to become an uncle when William’s wife Catherine gives birth to her first child.

Harry said that he “can’t wait” to be an uncle, but hoped that Kate would be given privacy during her pregnancy.

And he conceded that he felt more comfortable as Capt. Wales than as Prince Harry.

He said he tried to balance three facets of his life – “one in the army, one socially in my own private time, and then one with the family and stuff like that.”

“So there is a switch and I flick it when necessary,” he said. “Army comes first. It’s my work at the end of the day.”

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Jill Lawless - London — The Associated Press
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News - CHINA DEFENSE NEWS: China Bulk Inventory of Attack Helicopters Are The Z-10

Defense News: DTN News - CHINA DEFENSE NEWS: China Bulk Inventory of Attack Helicopters Are The Z-10
*DTN News has enhanced and further elaborated on the subject of the relevant topic respectively for the benefit of the readers with due respect to the author of this article ~ "China Goes All In With The Z-10"

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Strategy Page

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 9, 2013: China’s new Z-10 helicopter gunship is apparently in mass production. In the last year the Z-10 has been photographed serving with four of the five aviation brigades in the army. There is a squadron (12 helicopters) of Z-10s in each brigade. The move to mass production of the Z-10 was a surprise because this aircraft has been in development for over 14 years and the several prototypes encountered numerous problems. This led to failed attempts to buy or steal helicopter gunship technology from Russia and South Africa.

Two years ago some of the Z-10 prototypes were sent to Chinese Army aviation units for field testing. While not a failure, the newer and lighter Z-19 was apparently seen as a better candidate for mass production. Work continued on the Z-10 because the Z-19 is basically an armed scout helicopter. China always wanted something more like the American AH-64 Apache. That would be the Z-10, at least once all the development problems were overcome. The seven ton Z-10 is smaller than the 10 ton AH-64 and also has a crew of two. The Z-10 is armed with 30mm autocannon and can carry up to a ton of rockets or missiles.

For three years now the Z-19 armed scout helicopter has been spotted in the air, most recently painted in military colors. The Z-19 was earlier known as the Z-9W. The Z-19 is yet another Chinese helicopter based on the Eurocopter Dauphin (which has been built under license in China for two decades). The Z-19 is a 4.5 ton, two seat armed helicopter. It can carry a 23mm autocannon and up to half a ton of munitions (missiles, usually). Cruising speed is 245 kilometers an hour and range is 700 kilometers. The Z-19 is basically an upgraded Z-9W.

Z-10 Thunderbolt

An Army Aviation Z-10 attack helicopter is shown here. Co-developed by the 602 Institute, CHAIC and HAIG as the first dedicated modern attack helicopter for PLA Army Aviation since 1998, Z-10 is generally believed in the same class as South African Rooviak and Italian A129, yet still not as capable as American AH-64 Apache. 

The helicopter adopts a standard gunship configuration with a narrow fuselage and stepped tandem cockpit with the gunner in the front seat and the pilot in the backseat. The fuselage appears to have a stealthy diamond shaped cross section to reduce RCS. It also have a 5-blade main rotor made of composite material and an AH-64 style 4-blade tail rotor. All the vital areas of the fuselage including the cockpit and fuel tanks are believed to be protected by the armor plates. 

It weighs about 5.5 tons and was powered initially by two P&W PT6C-76C turboshaft engines (rated @ 1,250kW each) on the prototypes. However domestic developed engines (upgraded WZ-9) are being used in production batches due to the embargo imposed by the west. Its rotor and transmission systems may have been designed with extensive technical assistance from Eurocopter France and Agusta. 

Its main weapon are 8 newly developed KD-10 ATGMs in the same class of American AGM-114 Hellfire. A 23mm cannon is mounted under the chin, aimed via gunner's helmet mounted display. Also up to 8 PL-90 AAMs can be carried against enemy helicopters and slow-moving fixed wing aircraft. Its range can be further extended by external fuel tanks. Similar to AH-64, Z-10 features nose mounted PNVS and TVDS housing FLIR, TV camera, laser range finder and designator. RWR and radar jammer antennas are installed on both sides of the forward and aft fuselage. In addition, two laser warning receivers was installed on top of the pylon tips. The helicopter may have been fitted with an integrated communication/navigation system, a comprehensive ECM suite, IFF, chaff/flare launchers, 1553B data bus, HOTAS and a glass cockpit. 

The development started in 1998. 2 prototypes were built in 2003 and 6 more were built in 2004. The first flight of 02 prototype took place on April 29, 2003. Several Z-10 prototypes powered by PT6C-76C engine were evaluated by the Army in 2007. However the production was halted due to the embargo of PT6C-76C engine imposed by the Canadian government. 

In 2009 it was reported that an "optimized" version (Z-10A?) was under development and expected to enter the mass production. This version is powered by the less powerful WZ-9 engines (~1,000kW) thus was forced to have its weight reduced by eliminating certain less-critical parts such as less armor protection, smaller PNVS/TVDS on the nose similar to that of Z-9WA and a smaller weapon load. 

The first batch of 12 Z-10s entered the service with PLA Army Aviation (S/N LH951xx) in late 2010. More Z-10s are entering the service with the Army (S/N LH981xx,961xx, 941xx, 991xx) since late 2011. However some still carry the original PNVS/TVDS installed on the prototypes but are powered by WZ-9 turboshafts. This version also features additional equipment such as anIR jammer (?) installed on the cockpit roof. It has been speculated that Z-10 could be powered by the new WZ-16 turboshaft engine (~1,500kw) in the future.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Strategy Page
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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