DRDO's HSTDV Project A Multinational R & D Effort

And Here Come The SPICE-1000 PGMs For Punitive Cross-LoC Air-Assaults

A transformational change in counter-terror operations doctrine that originated two years is now set to be the ‘NEW NORMAL’. The Govt of India has mandated that the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) offensive air-delivered firepower replace the Indian Army’s fire-assaults (i.e. the IAF becomes the lead service-provider and initiator of kinetic operations) when it comes to undertaking sustained low-intensity military operations across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu & Kashmir in order to raise the costs for the Pakistan Army (PA) and maintain moral ascendancy all across the LoC.

Following negotiations that began two years ago, India’s Ministry of Defence on June 6, 2019 inked a Rs.300 crore contract with Israel’s RAFAEL Advanced Defence Systems under which the IAF will be acquiring on a fast-track basis (with deliveries taking place within 90 days of contract signature) an initial 100 SPICE-1000 precision-guided munitions (PGM) kits for fitment with 500lb, 1,000lb and 2,000lb bombs. Each SPICE-1000 kit costs about US$480,000.

The Spice-1000s, to be carried by the IAF’s upgraded Mirage-2000 M-MRCAs and Jaguar IS/DARIN-3 interdictor aircraft, will be used in conjunction with the already-acquired RAFAEL-supplied RECCELITE tactical recce pods, thereby enhancing the SPICE-1000’s ability to rapidly respond in engaging time critical targets (such as rear-area field artillery emplacements and their command/control fire-direction centres) located on reverse mountain slopes) from stand-off range.

The decision to acquire the SPICE-1000s came after it was realised that the IAF’s existing SPICE-2000 PGMs that are without glide-wings can go out to only 60km-range when launched from an optimum altitude of 3km along a shallow glide-path. However, this leads to the launch-aircraft being exposed to hostile MR-SAMs (Like the Pakistan Army’s LY-80E LOMADS) over contested airspace such as those prevailing within PoK. Hence, PGMs with high glide-ratios (more than 20) are required so that the launch-aircraft can launch the PGMs from longer distances without affecting the PGMs’ ability to undertake top-attack flight profiles in their terminal stages. The SPICE-1000 will allow the Mirage-2000s to attack their ground targets 100km away while cruising at launch altitudes ranging from 10,000 feet to 15,000 feet ASL.

The SPICE-1000 guidance comprises a forward section kit that houses the sensor package, an inner small wing-kit, and the control section replacing the tail of standard bombs. All in all, the SPICE-1000 has tail control planes and inner small wings totalling six control surfaces in four tail-control surfaces and the two control surfaces shaping the small wing. The resulting weapon has a range of 100km, with less than 3-metre Circular Error Probable (CEP). This PGM has day, night and adverse weather capability because of its dual infra-red IR/CCD-TV seeker and advanced scene-matching algorithms. At close-in ranges (20km), the PGM recognises the target and correlates it with the pre-loaded imagery (acquired either by overhead recce satellites, or RECCELITE or HUMINT) stored into memory. This capability translates into the ability to overcome target location error and GPS jamming. This PGM can also choose among 100 potential targets and multiple weapons can be released at the same time, thereby providing simultaneous attack against various targets located across a given tactical battle area.

Acquisition of such PGMs using optronic sensors has acquired added priority after an appreciable increase in the availability of  HUMINT resources (informants) throughout PoK (inclusive of Gilgit-Baltistan) since 2015, when Pakistan began the forcible acquisition of huge tracts of land from the native inhabitants of PoK with paltry financial compensation for the construction of hydroelectric projects (by diverting existing river-flows) and motorways under the auspices of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) masterplan. All this has led to enormous resentment and disgruntlement among the inhabitants of PoK, who are now determined to seek revenge by any and all means.

Apart from arming the upgraded Mirage-2000 and Jaguar IS/DARIN-3 platforms with the SPICE-1000/RECCELITE combination, there also exists the possibility of arming the 40 Tejas Mk.1s with the same combination, since the Tejas Mk.1 has already been qualified to carry the RECCELITE pod. Each Tejas Mk.1 therefore could eventually be armed with 2 x SPICE-1000s for launching them from standoff distances from within friendly airspace.

'Desi' Active RF Seeker For Astra-1 & Astra-2 BVRAAMs, QR-SAM & Akash-1S E-SHORADS

Technological convergence coupled with engineering innovation have resulted in the indigenous Ku-band active RF seeker developed by the DRDO’s Hyderabad-based Research Centre Imarat (RCI) being adopted for use by three different types of guided-missiles: the Astra-1 beyond visual-range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM), the land-mobile QR-SAM for both the Indian Army and Indian Air Force, and the Akash-1S E-SHORADS for both the Indian Army and Indian Air Force.

Given the huge requirement within a short timeframe for this seeker, parallel final-assembly lines are now being created within the state-owned Bharat Dynamics Ltd, VEM Technologies and the Kalyani Group.

It may be recalled that during the DEFEXPO 2018 expo at Chennai, Kalyani Group had unveilled its version of this seeker, which was then known as ‘Netra’. VEM Technologies, on the other hand, had been showing its version of the same seeker since 2015.

The maiden test-firing of an Akash-1S surface-to-air missile equipped with this Ku-band actiove RF seeker was conducted on December 5, 2017 from the Launch Complex-III at Integrated Test Range at Chandipur in Odisha. This was followed by two successive test-firings on May 26 and 27, 2019.

Following a final round of user-trials of the QR-SAM and Akash-1 before the year’s end, series-production of up to 4,000 rounds each of the QR-SAM and Akash-1S will commence next year.

The very same RF seeker will also equip the projected Astra-2 BVRAAMs powered by SFDRs.

About SDRs, Jaguar MAX & Alpha-S Multi-Purpose UAS

Certification-related testing of the DRDO/DEAL-developed High Frequency (HF), Very High Frequency (VHF) and Ultra High Frequency (UHF) software-defined radio (SDR-NC), covering a waveband of 3 megaHertz to 3 gigaHertz, has been completed, thereby paving the way for Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) to commence series-production of the SDR-NC units for all now Indian Navy principal surface combatants and submarines.

The SDR-NC accommodates 10 waveforms for carrying voice and data traffic with proprietary encryption and frequency-hopping communications security. In terms of data rates, rates of 9.6 kiloBits-per-second (kBps) are achievable when using the HF radio, although this increases to 200kBps when using the VHF radio. The SDR-NC comprises a single HF radio and two VHF transceivers. Given the size of the programme, BEL expects deliveries of the SDR-NCs to continue until around 2025. In the airborne domain, BEL is moving towards the third phase of testing of the airborne version of the SDR-NC.

The SDR-NC is also used as the transmitting/receiving platform for the Indian Navy’s Link-2 family of secure tactical/strategic data-link network that allows for seamless transmission and reception of data/imagery/voice inputs in real-time not only between different platforms, but also between different fleets—indigenous and multinational.

In other words, the SDR-NC/Link-2 combination is the Indian Navy’s answer to the US Navy’s Combined Enterprise Regional Information Exchange System (CENTRIXS), with the latter existing as long ago as the mid-1980s!

More information on the CENTRIXS is available here:

https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a473894.pdf

http://www.dodccrp.org/events/9th_ICCRTS/CD/presentations/6/003.pdf

The SDR-NC/Link-2 combination was operationally tested as recently as two days ago when the Barak-8 LR-SAMs fired by two Project 15A guided-missile destroyers were provided fire-control guidance by just one Project 15A DDG, i.e. the tactical air situation picture and target engagement was provided by only one warship, while the weapons were concurrently launched by two warships. This capability now also enables an airborne platform (like shipborne NMRHs and LRMR/ASW platforms) to acquire its target far beyond the warship’s horizon and relay the tactical surface situation picture to a warship, which will enable the latter to launch its long-range anti-ship cruise missiles without the warship’s Garpun Bal-E target acquisition radar ever acquiring and illuminating its surface targets.

Be it for warships, submarines or airborne platforms, the secondary transmitting/receiving systems for the SDR-NC/LINK-2 combination (apart from the VHF/UHF transceivers) are ORBIT-supplied OceanTRx (Rukmani) stabilised VSAT antennae that operate in the C, Ka, Ku and X bands.

The V/UHF transceiver has been undergoing testing on an Indian Navy-owned and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd-built (HAL) Dornier Do-228-101/201 turboprop. The third test phase is expected to commence by the end of this July, prior to the commencement of additional testing. Tentatively, BEL expects to commence production of the airborne SDR-NCs in 2020.

For the Indian Air Force (IAF), the combat aircraft-type to incorporate SDR will be the Jaguar IS/DARIN-3, which is expected to enter squadron service by this August. The SDR used is the HAL-developed SOFTNET SDR-2010.

The SDR-2010 was originally developed for the Super Su-30MKI project.

For the projected 83 Tejas Mk.1A L-MRCAs, the SDR selected is RAFAEL Advanced Defence Systems-developed BNET-AR.

Homegrown IFF Transponders Explained

BrahMos-A Test-Fired

The second test-firing of the BrahMos-A ALCM was successfully undertaken on May 22, 2019 when the BrahMos-A, after being gravity-dropped from a Su-30MKI’s fuselage, flew for its full range towards the designated land target set at the Car Nicobar Island.

The Su-30MKI had taken off from Thanjavur air base in Tamil Nadu.

On the very same day, a BrahMos-1 was successfully test-fired by a MAL of the Indian Army’s Eastern Command from Car Nicobar Island at 1450 hours as part of a joint training exercise with the IAF and Indian Navy.

BrahMos Aerospace had conducted the maiden successful test-firing of the BrahMos-A ALCM against a ship target in November 2017 in the Bay of Bengal off India’s eastern coast.

IAI-Delivered RISAT-2B Launched By ISRO

The 615kg RISAT-2B, delivered to ISRO by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to ISRO, was successfully launched on May 22, 2019. There will also be two identical IAI-delivered duplicate satellites, named RISAT-2B1 and RISAT-2B2, to be launched in the future, with 2B1 expected to be in orbit later this year. They all will orbit at an altitude of 555km. There are two new components on this launch vehicle—an indigenous microprocessor chip called Vikram and a low-cost MEMS-based Inertial Navigation System (INS) that works with the Indian version of GPS called NAVIC. Both these components are expected to be fitted into future ISRO-built rockets as well. Vikram and the MEMS-based INS were developed by Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL), Chandigarh and ISRO Inertial Systems Unit, Thiruvananthapuram, respectively.

The RISAT-2/TecSAR/Polaris overhead recce satellite launched in 2009. The ISRO-developed RISAT-1 was launched three years later in 2012 and operated for six years. In 2018, it was declared non-operational by ISRO.

ADA-Developed Flight Trajectory Optimisation Kits For Inertially-Guided Bombs