36th Rafale to have all India specific enhancements, arrives January 2022
France will deliver three Rafale fighters per month for the next three months with the last of the 36 contracted omni role fighters carrying all 13 India specific enhancements to be delivered in January 2022.
Already India specific enhancements have been
included in Hammer air to ground, SCALP land attack and Meteor air to air
missiles used by Rafale with more range, more height and more accuracy.
While the India specific enhancements remain
classified, they are understood to be pertaining to more powerful radio
altimeter, radar warning receiver, low band jammer, flight data recorder, high altitude
engine start up, synthetic aperture radar, ground moving target indicator and
tracking, infrared search and track, helmet mounted display, missile approach
warning systems and very high frequency range decoys.
India’s Astra Missile Family continues
to expand
Astra Mk1 program has major boots in India’s Air to
Air missile technology and now defense research agencies have started working
on 4 more Air to Air missile programs that will free India from its dependence
on international vendors.
Astra Mk1 program is getting major upgrades with a
new AESA radar seeker where tracking will be more accurate and improve on its
range in the No Escape Zone.
India is also working on short to medium range
imaging Infrared guided Astra missile. The missile will feature Thrust Vector
Control so that it can pull higher Gs and allow better manoeuvrability at close
range of the target. The second variant will likely carry a dual mode seeker
technology that will see both radar and infrared for successful engagement.
Long range air to air Astra Mk2 missile will feature
new Dual Pulse motor that will improve its range to 160-180 kilometers.
Astra Mk3 will be based on the Solid Fuel Ducted
Ramjet propulsion system presently under development and can be classified as a
new very long range Indian air to air missile with a range from 70-340 kilometers
against AWACS/Tanker size targets.
Indian Army Kicking up the procurement
of swarm drones
Tiny rotors whirring, the quadcopters raced across
the field, their electronic eyes scanning the ground. After a 15-minute flight,
the drones located their target, a T-55 battle tank. Their cameras matched its
image with a library of onboard targets. The drones then proceeded to drop
their payload on the tank.
The demonstration was performed at an army
cantonment in Secunderabad this August as officials from the Indian Army’s
Simulator Development Division tested drones fielded by a handful of private
vendors.
This is the concept the army was looking to prove:
the ability of drone swarms to demolish tanks over the horizon, beyond the
range of ground based anti-tank missiles.
Based on these tests, the army last month placed two
fast track procurement orders, worth Rs 100 crore each, with two private firms
to supply a weaponised swarm of 50 drones with a 25 km range.
MIDHANI dispatches titanium &
super alloy products for HAL’s LCA Tejas & ALH Helicopter
MIDHANI has been supplying various critical raw
materials and products of titanium alloys, speciality alloys, superalloys,
special steels to meet the strategic need of HAL, space, defence and nuclear
power programs of India.
MIDHANI had developed more than 50 high performance
alloys used in the manufacturing of fighter aircraft and Helicopters for HALL
and the Indian Air force. In the past, these alloys were procured from foreign
vendors by Indian companies.
MIDHANI has recently supplied a titanium alloy-based
airframe part of AMCA developed for the first time in India.
Further, MIDHANI & HAL are working together in
setting up a joint facility for the development and production of composite raw
materials. Composite raw materials are used in platforms like fighter aircrafts
& helicopters.
How Capable Are Pakistan’s New VT-4
Battle Tanks? Why New Chinese Supplied Armour Could Be a Game Changer?
The Pakistani Army became the third operator of the
Norinco VT-4 battle tank in late 2020 or early 2021, after an order had been
placed earlier for VT-4 tanks. This reportedly came after a performance
demonstration which had impressed Pakistani military officials.
VT-4 took the place of the most capable tank by far
in the Pakistanis arsenal. The tank's GL-5 active protection system is
particularly highly regarded, and can detect incoming projectiles and fire
pairs of rockets at them with the double detonation sufficient to neutralise
most threats.
The VT-4 tanks 1,300 horse power diesel engine is
also considered very powerful for a vehicle of its size, with the tank
benefiting from torsion bar suspension, an integrated hydraulic transmission
system and automatic gear transmission for steering and acceleration.
The VT-4's 125mm main gun has access to a range of
advanced specialised munitions to engage heavier targets. Chinese penetrative anti-armour
rounds are expected to pose a major threat even against well defended enemy
armour such as the Indian T-90s, and possibly even the upcoming T 90MS.
