Friday, January 19, 2018
Tuesday, January 9, 2018
When Application Of Sound Common-Sense Produces The Best Results
The Annual Army Tech Seminar (ARTECH-2018),
conducted at the Manekshaw Convention Centre, Delhi Cantonment, on January 8,
2018 also played host to displays of selected innovations of the Indian Army that
originated from both within the Indian Army, as well as from Indian industries.
Shown above is a Royal Enfield 350 motorbike that was modified last year into a three-wheeler for towing the in-service 120mm Thomson-Brandt AM-50 mortars along mule-tracks in
high-altitude terrain. When such 120mm mortars were ordered for deployment in
Sikkim during the Doklam standoff, it as discovered that an eight-man crew
would be required for dfisassembling each mortar, then strapping them up on a
mule-train, and then trudging along for nine hours in order to reach the final
destination. The Corps of Electrical & Mechanical Engineers then decided to
modify the Royal Enfield 350 motorbike into a towing vehicle, and attach an
Eicher-made small engine at the bike’s rear as a booster—all designed to tow the
120mm mortar. The end-result: such a contraption successfully deployed the
mortars within a timeframe of one hour while cruising at a speed of 30kph! This
modification kit has since been specified for all formations deployed
throughout the LAC in Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh
and Jammu & Kashmir.
HIMSHAKTI & HIMRAAJ CIEWS
The Himshakti/Himraaj CIEWS is a lightweight version of the Corps-sized SAMYUKTA Mk.2 EWS that has been in service since the beginning of this decade.
It was on August 27, 2015 that the the
Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) D-6, outfitted with the
indigenous Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS), successfully placed in orbit the
GSAT-6/INSAT-4E communications satellite, which is ISRO’s first satellite to
make use of an S-band unfurlable antenna having a diameter of six metres. This
antenna is now being used for five spot beams over the Indian mainland, which
will ensure connectivity with ahandheld devices for data, video or voice
transfer. The spot beams exploit the frequency re-use scheme to increase
frequency spectrum utilisation efficiency. GSAT-6 is the second satellite
launched by ISRO for strategic military requirements. In 2013, it had launched
GSAT-7, a dedicated communications satellite for the Indian Navy. The GSAT-6 is
a 2,117kg satellite that now provides quality and secure communications for
India’s armed forces. This also frees the IA’s soldiers from carrying bulky backpack
communications equipment, since very small handheld devices can now be put to
use (see photo below).
Monday, January 1, 2018
AAD Endo-Atmospheric Interceptor Headed For Systems Maturity
India’s Ministry of Defence-owned
Defence Research & Development Organisation’s (DRDO) Hyderabad-based Research Centre Imarat (RCI( and
its associated Sensors Research Society (SRS) has since 2012 accelerated
efforts to develop a theatre missile defence (TMD) system using the AAD
endo-atmospheric interceptor, which is specifically designed for neutralising the Pakistan Army’s China-supplied solid-fuelled
single-stage DF-11 (Hatf-3/Ghaznavi) 280km-range tactical ballistic missiles and
the North Korea-supplied liquid-fuelled single-stage Hatf-5/Ghauri-1/Nodong-1
IRBMs, both of which are conventionally armed. Presently, the Pakistan Army
deploys two Missile Groups each of the Ghauri-1 and Ghaznavi (grouped under two
separate Artillery Brigades, these being the Hyderabad-based Missile Brigade
South comprising Missile Groups 25, 35 and 40; and the Sargodha-based Missile
Brigade North comprising the 14, 28 and 47 Missile Groups).
Though the IAF had decided to acquire
TMD assets way back in 1996, it was the DRDO that first got into the act of
proposing a homegrown solution, for which it initiated the development of the
PAD/PDV family of solid-fuelled exo-atmospheric interceptor missiles and
AAD/AD-1/-2 family of endo-atmospheric interceptor missiles—with the AAD using
an active radar seeker sourced from Russia for terminal guidance (and the THALESRaytheon-supplied
S-band Master-A MFCR for mid-course guidance) and the AD-1/AD-2
rounds using medium-wave infra-red (MWIR) sensors for terminal homing.
Of the 15 test-firings of such
missiles that have been carried out since November 2006, the PAD was
test-fired only once, while the two-stage PDV was test-fired on April 20, 2014
and February 11, 2017. The PDV, which will take at least a decade to mature, is
designed to intercept MRBMs (with atmospheric re-entry speeds of 5km/second
more than 500km away) at an altitude of 150km. Though the PDV will be
cruising at Mach 5, it will be required to attain a peak terminal speed of Mach
11—made possible by the divert thruster placed on top of the second-stage. The
divert thruster will generate high lateral acceleration for the ‘end-game’.
Both the warhead and divert thruster will be fired simultaneously towards the
target once they are within the acquisition range of the PDV’s combined ARSEEK
Ku-band RF seeker and the MWIR seeker.
Development of the AAD endo-atmospheric
interceptor missiles has witnessed greater urgency, with the AAD being
test-fired on December 6, 2007; March 6, 2009; March
15, 2010; July 26, 2010; March 6, 2011; February 10, 2012; and November
23, 2012. Following a three-year interval, the AAD’s missile’s
test-firings commenced on April 6, 2015 and were followed by test-firings on
November 23, 2015; May 15, 2016, March 1, 2017 and December 28, 2017. The Mach
8 AD-1 is yet to be test-fired and it features all-composite rocket motor
casing, MEMS-based redundant micro-navigation system (RMNS), as well as
a new-generation MWIR sensor that employs semiconductors using indium gallium
nitride and aluminum gallium nitride alloys for the RCI-developed 1,024-element
staring focal plane arrays. The AD-2 missile’s terminal-guidance sensor will
operate in the ultra-violet bandwidth to give better solar radiation rejection.
The AAD’s flight trajectory is shaped through aerodynamic control out to an
altitude of 35km and
a distance of 200km when used for intercepting re-entry vehicles flying at
9km/second. It is able to sustain up to 30 G, thereby making it unstable. at an
altitude of 35km. It stands 7.5 metres tall, weighs around 1.3 tonnes and has a
diameter of less than 0.5 metres.
India’s ‘desi’ TMD system using the AAD
missiles is still another five years away from maturing, pending the
availability by 2020 of a full instrumented TMD test range costing Rs.1,000
crores that will be located at Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh (from where the
AAD interceptors will be launched from underground vertical-launch cells) and at
Rutland Island in the Andaman & Nicobar chain of islands, from where the
to-be-targetted ballistic missiles will be launched.
The Machilipatnam-based
facility will also house one L-band long-range tracking radar (a licence-built
clone of the EL/M-2080 Green Pine early warning radar) along with a
launch-control centre, plus a five-array S-band EL/M-2248 MF-STAR target
illumination/engagement active phased-array radar that will be mounted in a
shore-based structure (which will also house two-way SATCOM data-link antennae)
that will bear more than a close resemblance to the island of the Indian Navy’s
Project 71/IAC-1 aircraft carrier that is now undergoing fitting-out at the
Kochi-based Cochin Shipyards Ltd.
In other words, the Machilipatnam-based
facility will be similar in design and deployment layout to Lockheed Martin’s AEGIS
ASHORE system, which can be reviewed here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITQSKOny5Fk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_McwCnobEg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IveFdVsiJg
Friday, December 15, 2017
INS Kalvari S-21 SSK's On-Board Systems & Fitments
A unique feature of each of the Indian
Navy’s six Scorpene SSKs is an on-board tactical situational awareness display
console (above) of the kind normally found on SSNs, SSGNs and SSBNs. On this
single console, the SSK’s Commanding Officer can view overlaid electronic
navigation charts, the tactical situation picture, as well as a THALES-provided
track table interface to the US Naval Research Laboratory-developed display and
analysis tool set, called SIMDIS. The SIMDIS is a set of GOTS software tools in
use to support 2-D and 3-D analysis and visualization of the undersea
battlefield. SIMDIS allows an integrated real-time view of both time-space
position information (TSPI) and telemetry data, and it also provides an
intuitive view of complex system interactions before, during and after an event.
The sails of the Indian Navy's CM-2000 Scorpene SSKs (above) differ from those of the CM-2000 Scorpene SSKs of the Royal Malaysian Navy (below) in both looks and content, since the former play host to the VLF buoyant cable antenna suite.
Principal Weaponry
France’s Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA) has mandated
that the F-21 HWT will equip all French Navy
nuclear submarines. The F-21 has also been ordered by the Brazilian Navy. Naval Group has developed an important component for
safe deployment: an energy pack based on an aluminium/silver oxide electric
battery that needs seawater for activation—an element unlikely to be found in
the submarine. To meet submarine safety requirements, the F-21 will be launched
by a technique in which it is pushed out of the boat by a piston (rammer),
after which a valve in the torpedo opens and lets seawater into the battery to
activate it. The battery provides high energy density, and is sufficiently
compact that the overall length of the F-21 HWT—6 metres (19.6 feet) long with a
21-inch (533mm) diameter—is compatible with legacy launchers. One problem with
competitive torpedoes that are equipped with older-generation batteries is that
to achieve the energy for their missions and countermeasures, they need long
batteries, which add so much to their length that they no longer fit into
launchers. The torpedo must also have enough energy left once it has reached
its target to attack and sink high-value targets such as aircraft carriers and
frigates. This explains the importance of the primary battery as the energy
source. The UK, Russia, US and Sweden have chosen thermal systems as their
energy source. France specified the electric system because it is safe and
silent. In underwater missions, silence is of the utmost importance to avoid
detection by the enemy. This system enables a totally silent attack.
The F-21 is digital and operates
in depths of 15-500 metres, which means it can be used in littoral and blue-water
operations. In shallow waters there are “parasite” sounds that confuse
torpedoes, which home in on targets acoustically. The F-21 treats the sound
signals digitally with the same up-to-date processing as in modern warship
sonars, which enables the F-21 to largely overcome this difficulty. The F-21
weighs 1.2 tons, has a range of 50km, speed of 50 Knots., and 1-hour endurance.
It can attack multiple targets and has extended fibre-optic wire guidance that
is resistant to most countermeasures. The warhead contains PBX B2211, a
high-impulse, high-bubble-energy, insensitive explosive that conforms to NATO’s
STANAG-4439 and France’s MURAT (Munitions a Risques Attenues) standards. The
torpedo uses an all-electric “fuse-and-slapper” detonation technology. Primarily
used in guided-missiles, the plasma-based slapper system is more stable and
safer than the conventional electro-mechanical detonation systems in most
torpedoes. The torpedo configuration can be changed from a weapon to a training
device by just puting an exercise section on it instead of an explosive one.
One can also change the primary battery, providing it with a secondary battery
based on lithium-ion technology, which is reusable a great number of times.
Localisation Of Hardware Content
SANT (HELINA-ER)
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