Indian Navy's New Helicopter-Launched Missiles

After living for 14 years without helicopter-launched anti-ship cruise missiles, the Indian Navy (IN) will this June re-equip itself with such missiles with the arrival of about 100 Kongsberg HSMs that will arm the 24 Lockheed Martin/Sikorsky MH-60R shipborne naval multi-role helicopters that are on order for the IN.

It may be recalled that the IN had MBDA-built Sea Eagle subsonic helicopter-launched anti-ship cruise missiles that were service-inducted back in 1988 and were decommissioned in 2008.

The HSMs are likely to be followed by the DRDO-developed and Bharat Dynamics Ltd-built NASM-SR missiles. The maiden test-firing of the NASM-SR from an IN Sea King Mk.42B was conducted on May 18, 2022. At least nine more test-firings in both single-mode and ripple-fire mode will be required to be conducted before the NASM-SR is cleared for service-entry sometimes in 2025.

R & D work is also underway on developing a 130km-range, high-subsonic NASM-MR variant (usable by both airborne LRMR/ASW platforms and principal surface combatants) that will make use of the IMR seeker now board the BrahMos-1 Extended-Range supersonic multi-role cruise missile.

Mapping SS-BSM & Cruise Missile Storage Sites of India & Pakistan

 Indian Army SS-BSM Storage Sites

IA 333 Missile Group with SS-150 Prithvi at Secunderabad

IA 444 Missile Group with SS-150 Prithvi at Suratgarh

IA 555 Missile Group with SS-150 Prithvi at Stakna, Ladakh

IA 555 Missile Group with SS-150 Prithvi at Tangtse, Ladakh

IA 861 Missile Regiment BrahMos-1 Block-2 at Itarana

IA 881 Missile Regiment with BrahMos-1 Block-2 at Nasirabad

IA 1889 Missile Regiment BrahMos-1 Storage Facility at Misamari

IA SS-BSM & M-777 UFH Storage Area at Sigar, Arunachal Pradesh

IA SS-BSM Storage Area at Panagarh AFS

Indian Air Force SS-BSM Storage Sites

IAF BrahMos-1 Storage Facility at Baghdogra AFS

IAF BrahMos-1 Storage Facility at Chabua AFS

IAF BrahMos-1 Storage Facility at Halwara AFS

IAF BrahMos-1 Storage Facility at Jamnagar AFS

IAF BrahMos-1 Storage Facility at Naliya AFS

IAF BrahMos-A Storage Area at Thanjavur AFS

IAF Prithvi SS-250 Storage Facility at Sirsa AFS

IAF Prithvi SS-250 Storage Facility at Suratgarh AFS

     Pakistan Army BM & SS-BSM Storage Sites

PA SS-BSM & GLCM Storage Base at Masroor

PA SS-BSM & GLCM Storage Base north of Nawabshah

PA's BM Storage Area at Tarnawa

PA's BM Storage UGF at Jindar-1

PA's BM Storage UGF at Jindar-2

PA's Fatehjang BM Storage UGF-1

PA's Fatehjang BM Storage UGF-2

PA's Kirthar Mountains BM Storage UGF

PA's SS-BSM Storage & Launch Sites in Mangla

ANI Peddles FAKE NEWS About IAF Ordering JDAMs For Tejas LCA

It all began with a poster (below) displayed by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) in the India pavilion at the 17th Defence Services Asia (DSA-2022) exhibition, underway between March 28 and 31, at the Malaysian International Trade & Exhibition Centre (MITEC), Kuala Lumpur.

That the poster contained several inaccuracies is self-evident, especially when compared to another poster (below) that was designed and publicised by the DRDO last January.

ANI’s ‘Desi Patrakaars’ WRONGLY ASSUMED that since the HAL poster showed Boeing-built JDAMs, therefore the Indian Air Force (IAF) would be arming its Tejas Mk.1 and Mk.2 L-MRCAs with JDAMs.

However, a quick check at the US Defense & Security Cooperation Agency’s (DSCA) website reveals that the export of JDAMs to India was never proposed (see https://www.dsca.mil/tags/india).

Instead, the HAL booth at the DSA-2022 expo hosts a full-scale mock-up of the SAFRAN-built AASM Hammer precision-guided munition (PGM).

To give the benefit of doubt to HAL, it can well be that HAL showed the JDAM in its poster to assure the Royal Malaysian Air Force (TUDM) that in case it ordered the Tejas Mk.1A L-MRCA, then HAL would be able to integrate the JDAM (which the TUDM already has for its eight Boeing F/A-18D Night Attack Hornets) with the aircraft’s weapons management avionics suite.

The IAF on its part will be procuring NOT the JDAMs, but the PG-HSLD PGMs.

AVANI To Begin Upgrading T-90S MBTs From 2023

India’s state-owned Armoured Vehicles Nigam Ltd’s (AVANI) Avadi-based Heavy Vehicles Factory (HVF) will from next year begin undertaking deep upgrades of the Indian Army’s (IA) Russia-supplied T-90S MBTs. The total number of 46-tonne T-90S MBTs planned for procurement is 1,657—a figure that was firmed up way back in 2007. To date, 640 units have been procured from Russia (both as off-the-shelf units and those in semi-knocked-down condition, while another 600 have been built under licence, with the final tranche of 417 now being built (for equipping 10 Armoured Regiments).

The IA now wants to upgrade its 640 T-90S (that came from Russia) through the installation of a new digital hunter-killer fire-control system developed by TATA Power SED, which will include an autotracker correction-input device and a related muzzle reference system. In addition, a locally-developed auxiliary power unit (APU) will be installed, as will laser warning receivers, new commander’s panoramic sight with thermal imager, an uprated powerpack, a thermal imager-equipped driver’s sight, and four see-through-armour situational awareness optronic sensors. But the IA has decided not to opt for active protection systems.

On November 9, 2020 the IA had awarded New Delhi-based premier defence start up OshoCorp Global a Rs.1.325 crore contract for the development and supply of APUs under the Make-II guidelines of the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Initially, OshoCorp Global is required to develop four APUs (two each for T-90S and T-72M) for trials and approval and subsequently produce 3,257 APUs.

The commander’s panoramic sight has been developed by the DRDO’s IRDE laboratory and it will be built by state-owned Bharat Electronics Ltd. The MoD has just inked a Rs.1,075 crore contract with BEL for supplying such sights for 957 T-90S MBTs. The IRDE has also developed the driver’s night sight, which will be bulk-produced by MKU Ltd as the Netro TD-5100.

The 1PM-96MT ESSA-3 gunner’s sight (containing the THALES-supplied Catherine-FC thermal imager) will be retained on the T-90S.

The uprated powerpack for the T-90S will be the A85-3AX-diesel engine capable of producing up to 1,500hp (although it is presently dowrated at 1,350hp) that will be ordered off-the-shelf from Russia’s Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant, located about 350km south of Nizhny Tagil. This in turn will result in the T-90S’ power-to-weight ratio being hiked to 24hp/tonne. The 46-tonne T-90S (Ob’yekt 188S) are each powered by a 1,000hp V-92S2 diesel engine that deliver a power-to-weight ratio of 21.5hp/tonne.

What Goes Out Of The T-90S