India-Japan Military-Technical/Military-Industrial Cooperation Takes Off

The first-ever military-technical/military-industrial cooperation projects between India and Japan have now entered the negotiations stage, after being green-lighted by the second Japan-India 2 + 2 Foreign and Defence Ministerial Meeting in Tokyo on September 8, 2022 (held between Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, Yoshimasa Hayashi, Minister of Defense of Japan, Yasukazu Hamada, Minister of Defence of India, Rajnath Singh and Minister of External Affairs of India, Dr S Jaishankar), with the Sixth India-Japan Joint Working Group on Defence Equipment and Technology Cooperation also being held concurrently.

The principal cooperating agencies from the two sides will be India’s Defence R & D Organisation (DRDO), the Indian Navy’s (IN) Weapons & Electronics Systems Engineering Establishment (WESEE) and Japan’s Japan's Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA). Together, the two will mentor and handhold the concerned military-industrial entities of both countries that will cooperate in developing two customised products: an integrated mast for the IN’s future principal surface combatants; and a new-generation Combat Information Centre (CIC) making widespread use of augmented reality technologies.

These two end-products will find application on board the IN’s projected seven Project17AU upgraded FFGs worth Rs.25,000 crore, five projected NG-DDGs worth Rs.50,000 crore and eight NGCs worth Rs.33,000 crore. The NORA-50 UNIted COmbined Radio aNtenna (UNICORN) integrated mast, which is already on board the 30FFM FFGs (22 to be procured) of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force, features a bar-shaped dome that houses the antennae for tactical data-links, tactical air navigation system (TACAN), communications suites and ESM/EW/ELINT suites. The UNICORN has a shape designed to reduce the radar cross section (RCS), which makes it stealthy.

The ‘Advanced Integrated CIC’, developed by Mitsubishi Electric Co (MELCO), contains the OYQ-1 combat management system (CMS) and OYX-1-29 information display & processing system (IDPS). It features a circular arrangement and comprises an outer rim, with 14 multifunction consoles (plus two extra seats), all facing the wall; and three rows at the centre of the circular arrangement comprising a central helm station, four additional multifunction consoles (likely for the commanding officer and his XO), and two large horizontal tactical tables likely for cooperative mission planning and navigation purposes. According to MELCO, the 360° giant screen can be used to display the direct surroundings of the FFG by fusing the feed and data from the many on-board optronic and radar sensors.

Such augmented reality technology will greatly assist the crew in the field of navigation, asymmetric warfare and even in the phase of launch and recovery of unmanned surface vehicles. In addition, the ‘video wall’ can display any and all information typically displayed on multifunction consoles. For instance, information from the engine control room, and typically displayed as part of the integrated platform management system (IPMS), can now be displayed in the CIC thanks to the video wall. Also, tasks such as engine control, damage control and fire-fighting control can now be undertaken from inside the CIC. The two large tables with built-in monitors and touch-screen controls will prove useful for examining digitised navigational charts (ECDIS) and other situational awareness data collaboratively.

From Japan’s side, the principal military-industrial players will be Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and its MELCO subsidiary, and Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding. From the Indian side, the principal military-industrial players will include the MoD-owned Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (which has to date built integrated masts for the IN’s three Project 15A DDGs and four Project 15B DDGs and is building four more for the under-construction Project 17A FFGs), and the MoD-owned Bharat Electronics Ltd.

Western FMBTs Profiled

The General Dynamics Land Systems AbramsX MBT features an autoloader, unmanned turret, hybrid electric powerpack that gives 50% more fuel efficiency, and reduced weight for improved mobility. It weighs about 62 metric tonnes and has a power-to-weight ratio of 25 hp/tonne.

Main Ground Combat System (MGCS) has been co-developed by Rheinmetall and KNDS, a joint venture consisting of Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and Nexter Systems. The MGCS weighs 61.5 metric tonnes and has a power-to-weight ratio of 25 hp/tonne.

Another option from the same Franco-German OEM partnership is the E-MBT (above), which has a four-man crew concept (2-man turret, two-person chassis). The turret hosts a 30mm RCWS for shooting down UAVs. In addition, the E-MBT is ready for the integration of ASCALON (140mm smoothbore cannon) and other turrets in the future.

The 59-metric tonne Rheinmetall Panther KF-51 MBT with 130mm L-52 smoothbore cannon has a power-to-weight ratio of 27 hp/tonne.

Nexter Systems’ Leclerc MBT Scorpion/XLR weighs 57 metric tonnes and has a power-to-weight ratio of 27.52 hp/tonne.

The 48-metric tonne Mitsubishi Type-10 MBT (below) is powered by a 1,400hp diesel engine and has a power-to-weight ratio of 27 hp/tonne.

From the above, the following can be inferred: 1) The Heavy-MBTs are here to stay at least for the foreseeable next 20 years.  2) Thanks to High-Nitrogen Steel (HNS), weight reduction of Heavy-MBTs is now possible, with as much as 8 metric tonnes being reduced. This in turn has resulted in new-generation MBTs weighing not more than 60 metric tonnes, and this in turn enables them to achieve favourable power-to-weight ratios required for high mobility on the battlefields. 3) The Heavy-MBTs’ new-generation turrets will become totally unmanned, with the tank crew being accommodated in the hull. 4) The principal armament will be 120mm or 130mm or 135mm smoothbore cannons, while the turret-mounted RCWS will contain 30mm HMGs (capable of shooting down mini-/micro-UAVs) that will replace the existing 12.7mm HMGs. 5) The turret-mounted ammunition autoloaders will be designed for handling only unitary rounds of various types, thereby doing away with the rotating carousels carrying two-unit rounds. 6) The content of vectronics will increase on account of the incorporation of see-through-armour suites, active protection suites, all-electric gun-control/turret traverse systems, and health-and-usage-monitoring suites. 7) The 1,500hp diesel engine coupled to an automatic transmission will continue to be the favoured powerpack. 8) Lastly, the turrets will be able to accommodate launchers for both mini-UAVs for battlefield surveillance and for short-range loitering PGMs.

New-generation Light Tanks, weighing not more than 35 metric tonnes and powered by 1,200hp powerpacks, will have high power-to-weight ratios as well, but they will be employed as part of mechanised Battalion-sized quick-reaction combined-arms integrated battle groups capable of dominating high-altitude mountain passes and river-valleys over mountainous terrain. However, they will have to be accompanied by 8 x 8 vehicles armed with anti-armour guided-missiles like the helicopter-launched RAFAEL Spike-NLOS missiles.

GDLS MPF Light Tank

BAE Systems M-8 Buford Light Tank

NORINCO VT-5/ZTQ-105/Type 15 Light Tank

Hägglunds-Bofors-BAE Systems CV-90-120T Ghost

Hanwha K-21 Light Tank

Boxer Light Tank

PL-01 Light Tank

CVRDE-Designed ZORAWAR Light Tank

PRACHAND LCH Is Defenceless...As Of Now

In March 2020 the Cabinet Committee on National Security (CCNS), which met under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had approved procurement of 15 Limited Series Production (LSP) variants of LCH at Rs.3,887 crore along with infrastructure sanctions worth Rs.377 crore. Of the 15 helicopters, 10 are for the Indian Air Force (IAF) and five for the Indian Army (IA). Eventually, the IA plans to procure 97 LCHs and the IAF 65. 

The IA raised the 351 Army Aviation Squadron on June 1, 2022 in Bengaluru and received its first three LCHs on September 29. The fourth LCH is expected by the last week of October, after which the 351 Army Aviation Squadron will move to Missamari by the month’s end. The fifth LCH is expected to be delivered by late November. Presently, the Army Aviation Corps has three Brigades at Leh, Missamari and Jodhpur, and operates around 145 Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH), 75 of which are the Dhruv WSI/Rudra weaponised variants. Another 25 ALH Mk.3s are on order, which will be inducted within two years. The IA will also start receiving six AH-64E Apache attack helicopters in early 2024, which had been contracted under an estimated US$800 million deal with Boeing in February 2020. In addition, the IA is also pushing a case for 11 more Apaches, for which negotiations are under way.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) had formally inducted four ‘Prachand’ LCHs into 143 Helicopter Unit ‘Dhanush’ at Jodhpur Air Force Station on October 3.

Back in 2015 during the Aero India expo at Bengaluru, HAL Chief Test Pilot Retired Wg. Cdr. Unnikrishnan had told me that the RWR, LWR and MAWS sensors would most probably be installed along the twin stub-wings of the LCH. As of now, neither the IA LCHs nor the IAF PRACHANDs have an on-board self-protection suite comprising radar warning receivers, laser warning receivers, missile approach warning systems and countermeasures dispensers--all of which exist on board the IA and IAF Dhruv WSI/Rudra helicopter gunships. To make matters worse, the HELINA/Dhruvastra anti-armour guided-missile suite remains elusive as well for both the Dhruv WSI/Rudra and the LCH! Will IA HQ and IAF HQ both claim that all such suites will find their way on board the SP-series LCHs? We shall see. In addition, both the IA HQ and IAF HQ should be asked if any other army or air force in the world is flying attack helicopters that are devoid of self-protection suites. If not, then what pleasures do the two armed services HQs derive from being the global exception to the norm. Or will both LCH variants cruise only within friendly airspace during wartime? This is highly embarrassing, to say the very least.