AASM/HAMMER PGMs For IAF Tejas Mk.1 L-MRCAs

The Indian Air Force’s (IAF) decision to procure close to 400 Armement Air-Sol Modulaire (AASM) HAMMER (Highly Agile Modular Munition Extended Range) PGMs from the SAGEM subsidiary of France SAFRAN Group along with related RAFAUT-built AUF-2 dual ejector racks for arming its Tejas Mk.1 L-MRCAs is yet another significant step further in the IAF’s attempt to play a significant role as far as joint AirLand ground campaigns go.

Available in 125kg, 250kg, 500kg and 1,000kg versions, the variant that the IAF is procuring is the 250kg variant of AASM/HAMMER, whose primary targets will be the network of unmanned SIGINT stations (encased within white-coloured domes & often mistaken for airspace surveillance radars) and static sites housing Ukraine-origin MANDAT-B1E R-330UM jammers that have since 2011 sprung up at dominating heights all along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Secondary targets will be the high-altitude gunpits that have been constructed since 2017 at locations like the area north of Nathu La and at Chakung facing northeast Sikkim.

To be used in the opening hours of any future military conflict with either China or Pakistan, the 250kg AASM/HAMMER PGMs will enable the Tejas Mk.1s as well as the projected Tejas Mk.1As to launch such PGMs despite flying low at an altitude of 500 feet AMSL over the plains in the western front—a feat which gliding PGMs cannot achieve. When the battlespace is over high-altitude plateau areas or even over mountainous terrain, the Tejas Mk.1s/Mk.1As will be able to fly terrain-masking flight-profles (like flying over river-valleys) to evade detection by hostile ground-based air-defence networks and yet be able to launch the AASM/HAMMER from standoff distances.

This is because all versions of the AASM/HAMMER are propelled by a solid-fuel rocket motor allows the AASM/HAMMER to effortlessly cruise forward and change its altitude upwards for a pop-up cruise phase and vertical-attack in the terminal phase. A laser-homing variant of this PGM was once released from a Rafale that also designated (with a laser designator pod) the 90-degree off-axis target, at 15km range. The PGM launch was deliberately conducted on a partly cloudy day, with the PGM being initially guided toward the target by GPS, while the Rafale descended below the clouds to activate the laser of its LDP.

A Tejas Mk.1/Mk.1A will be able to carry four AASM/HAMMER PGMs, which will be launched in a vertical attack mode that can be selected from the cockpit. The laser-guided version can also be used against targets moving at 80kph--twice the limit of LGBs--and it is easier to operate from a single-pilot MRCA.

Weapons interfacing will be a seamless affair since the source-codes for the stores management system of the Tejas Mk.1/Mk/1A are owned by the DRDO’s Aeronautical Development Agency.

General Atomics MQ-9B Sky Guardian & Sea Guardian MALE-UAV, LYNX-U NGFCS & PGM Avionics

Pakistan Navy's First Type-054AP FFG Ready For Commissioning

The Pakistan Navy’s (PN) first of four Type-054AP guided-missile frigates (FFG) is expected to be commissioned early next month at China's Hudong Zhonghua Shipyard in Shanghai, following which the FFG will undertake its voyage to Pakistan, with replenishment-related port-calls being made in Malaysia and Singapore, and possibly in The Maldives and Sri Lanka as well. 

The PN had on June 1, 2019 inked a contract with CSTC for procuring two additional 4,000-tonne FFGs to add to the first two it had ordered exactly a year ago. The signing ceremony took place at Pakistan’s Ministry of Defence Production in Rawalpindi in the presence of the PN’s Deputy Chief of Naval Staff (Operations), Rear Admiral Faisal Rasul Lodhi. All four FFGs will be delivered by mid-2022. Designed by the China International Shipbuilding Corp (CISC) Group’s 701 Institute, the FFGs will be built by the Shanghai-based Hudong Zhonghua Shipbuilding Co.

The 4,000-tonne FFG’s design is derived from that of the PLA Navy’s Type 054A FFG. It will have an endurance of 21 days, length of 135 metres, range of 4,000 nautical miles (when cruising at 18 Knots) and top speed of 26 Knots. It will have 32 vertical-launch system (VLS) cells containing the LY-80N surface-to-air missiles (SAM), one 76mm HPJ-26 main naval gun, two 30mm HPJ-17 30mm Type 1130 close-in guns, a 24-cell FL-3000N point-defence missile system (PDMS), twin ET-52C triple-tube torpedo  launchers, one mast-mounted SR-2410C S-band active phased-array radar developed by the China Educational Instrument & Equipment Corp (CEIEC), twin six-barrel Type 87 240mm anti-submarine rocket launchers (with 36 rockets), twin Type 726-4 18-tube decoy rocket launchers, and eight inclined launchers housing the Harba anti-ship cruise missile (ASCM) variant of the Babur land-attack cruise missile (which itself is a China-developed clone of the Ukraine-developed Korshun cruise missile). However, it is expected that the ASCMs will be inter-changeable with eight inclined launchers of the 290km-range P-282/CM-401 hypersonic land-attack missile.

All four FFGs will be optimised for anti-submarine fleet control missions. Each FFG will be powered by four SEMT Pielstick 16 PA6 STC diesel engines.

The SR-2410C radar can track up to 150 targets per rotation. Limitations include air targets over Mach 3 and at ranges of more than 150km. The radar has a fire-control capability to track anti-ship cruise missiles, but only at a maximum range of 60km. It is also capable of tracking moving ground vehicles and surface ships. This radar has already been installed on the Bangladesh Navy’s first two Type 056 guided-missile corvettes—BNS Shongram and BNS Prottasha.

Overhead View Of PLAN Type-055 DDG

Need To Improve OTH-ISR in North-East India

Although the Indian Air Force is constructing dedicated MALE-UAV hangars (for both its Heron Mk.2s as well as those of the Indian Army) at its air bases at Panagarh in West Bengal, plus at Chabua and Missamari in Assam, and can also make use of Sikkim’s Pakyong Airport and the advanced landing grounds (ALG) of Arunachal Pradesh in Tezu (Lohit), Vijaynagar (Changlang), Pasighat (East Siang), Mechuka (Shi-Yomi), Walong (Anjaw), Tuting (Upper Siang), Ziro (Lower Subansiri) and Tawang (Tawang), there exists a need for additional dual-use airports within both Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh that will be capable of hosting both combat aircraft and turbofan-powered HALE-UAVs (like the Predator-C/Avenger) that can undertake over-the-horizon ISR missions for monitoring the PLA’s deployments and activities in areas inside the Tibetan Plateau that share borders with Sikkim, Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh.

It remains to be seen if the greenfield projects calling for the construction of new airports at Hollongi near Itanagar, Anini in Dibang Valley, Dirang in West Kameng—all in Arunachal Pradesh—will make provisions for hosting both combat aircraft and HALE-UAVs.

And shown below is the PLAGF helipad at Sarang (in Gar County) from which helicopters operate whenever they want to fly into Barahoti, Uttarkhand.

Similar helipads are now coming up near the PLA-BDR garrison camps at Kara and Bakah (both in Zanda County) from where PLAGF helicopters are expected to operate whenever they want to monitor Indian Army deployments at both Chumur in southern Ladakh and Kaurik in northeastern Himachal Pradesh.

GCS For Non-Available TAPAS MALE-UAV

Manik Turbofan For Nirbhay LACM