Midhani supplies titanium alloy for AMCA airframe
As India works to further strengthen its armed forces by equipping them with the advanced medium combat aircraft (AMCA), Midhani, has begun supplying the titanium alloy material needed to make the airframe for the aircraft.
The airframe is an important part of AMCA which
is being developed for the first time in India. Other structures come up on
airframe.
It was decided that the needed material would
be developed indigenously under the Atmanirbhar Bharat programme, the
technology for it was developed at Midhani. While five slabs have been supplied
so far, another seven will be supplied in due course for the work that has
begun on the AMCA.
When the advance fighter jet becomes a reality,
it will be a crucial arrow in the quiver of the Indian Air Force. With AMCA,
India will be joining an elite club of countries which have a fifth-generation
combat aircraft.
The plan is to have 120 stealth fighters to
give muscle to the IAF and also the Indian Navy. The aircraft design is by
Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) under the ministry of defence with DRDO
and HAL working on the project.
Going by what Indian Air Force chief RKS
Bhaduaria said last year, the DRDO has set a target to roll out the AMCA by
2027. In the second phase of the production, sixth generation technologies will
be included in the stealth fighter. Also by 2032, the IAF will have at least 18
squadrons of fighter jets if plans were to materialise.
Eurofighter Typhoon Shoots Deadly BVR Meteor
Missile In First Ever Flight Test
The German Air Force has successfully conducted
the first ever flight tests of the ‘Meteor’ air-to-air missile from its
Eurofighter Typhoon jet. India is among the nations that use the MBDA made
Meteor missile.
A video of these tests, which were conducted in
June, was shared by the German Air Force Times on August 2. The service, called
Luftwaffe, is yet to conduct live fire drills of the missile, which may be held
later this year.
The initial tests of the Meteor were
successfully conducted by the Luftwaffe’s Tactical Air Wing 74 from the
aircraft which was operating out of Neuberg Air Base in Bavaaria.
According to reports, two Eurofighter jets were
involved in the drills and the data obtained would be used for determining the
performance of aircraft.
MiG-29K and LCA-Navy to be part of Flight Deck
Certification of INS Vikrant
The INS Vikrant, which began trials of the
southern state of Kerala on Wednesday will be carrying out series of Sea based
trials for the next few months before it will be cleared to commence the Flight
Deck Certification trial that will involve Russian developed deck-based MiG-29K
fighter aircraft along with India’s locally developed LCA-Navy Mk1 fighter jets
that will carry out multiple launches and recovery of the aircraft over a week
at sea by mid of 2022.
To Certify Vikrant’s flight deck, the ship is
required to complete over 100 day and 20-30 night launches and recovery over a
short span of days to reach this milestone in Vikrant’s operational readiness.
Vikrant’s flight deck will also have to carry out multiple launches of
back-to-back deck-based fighter jets and also recover them minutes apart before
certification can be awarded.
Indian Navy is collaborating with the US Navy
to carry out Flight Deck Certification and Carrier Air Traffic Control Center
Certification of the INS Vikrant.
LCA Navy is a Technology Demonstrator program
that has demonstrated multiple launches and recovery of the aircraft from
India’s INS Vikramaditya aircraft carrier last year and will continue to be
used as a Technology Demonstrator program for the upcoming Twin Engine Deck
Based Fighter (TEDBF) of the Navy.
Indian state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics
Limited (HAL) has offered to develop LCA Navy based Lead-in fighter training
(LIFT) for advanced training of the next generation of pilots based on the
proposed airforce variant of LIFT that is under development.
India flexes muscles with new aircraft carrier,
task force
India is flexing its maritime muscles to
counter growing Chinese influence, conducting sea trials on its first
indigenous aircraft carrier and dispatching a task force for joint exercises
with the United States and other allies. The INS Vikrant, which began trials
off the southern state of Kerala on Wednesday, will be India’s second aircraft
carrier in operation.
The Indian Navy said the country has now join a
select group of nations with the capability to indigenously design and build an
Aircraft Carrier, which is a real testimony to the ‘Make in India’ thrust of
the Indian Government.
The new 262 metre (860 foot) carrier joins the
INS Vikramaditya, the Soviet-made Admiral Gorshkov that India bought in 2004.
The Navy said 44 other ships and submarines were being built indigenously.
It is also pressing the government for a third
carrier, with Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh saying the force could not
remain “tethered”. China, vying for influence in the Indian Ocean where New
Delhi has traditionally held strong hold, is currently building its third
aircraft carrier.
The Indian Navy said separately on Monday that
it was sending a task force of four ships to South East Asia, the South China
Sea and Western Pacific for two months of exercises including with Vietnam, the
Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, Australia and the United States.
The deployment seeks to underscore the
operational reach, peaceful presence and solidarity with friendly countries
towards ensuring good order in the maritime domain and to strengthen existing
bonds between India and countries of the Indo Pacific.
Game Changer: US Air Force Can Now Update Its
Fighters Electronic Warfare Systems Mid Flight and Mid-Battle
The US Air Force has reported that it recently
demonstrated a potentially revolutionary new capability to send updates for its
aircraft’s electronic warfare systems during flight, with this being tested
successfully on an F-16C Fighting Falcon.
The service said that this test represented an
important first step towards developing a more expansive Electronic Warfare EW
capability that could benefit its Cognitive Electronic Warfare concept - namely
to utilise advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning to rapidly
develop and deploy improved electronic warfare capabilities, including new
countermeasures, to respond to emerging threats.
The ability to do so is particularly valuable
as it could allow squadrons to very quickly adapt to enemy electronic warfare
countermeasures, for example if tackling an enemy air defence system built
around the S-400 or HQ-9B long range systems.
