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/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.
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:
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
