Decoding A 1980s-Era Espionage Operation

Thus far, only one senior Indian Air Force (IAF) has gone public (see below) with a much-publicised espionage operation that had been mounted by the US in the early 1980s inside India.

In March 1983, India’s Intelligence Bureau (IB) finally had the proof it wanted. Singh was approached by AVM (Ret’d) Kenneth Larkins on March 20 and asked whether he would consider passing on classified manuals of USSR-supplied MiG-23MFs and MiG-25Rs in the Indian Air Force (IAF) inventory. On March 24, Singh informed AVM Raghavendran that the approach had been made and that Larkins had promised him Rs.30,000 for each manual. Singh was instructed to pass on a classified manual on the MiG-23MF’s avionics suite, which he did when Larkins visited him in his office at IAF Headquarters on April 3. On April 5, Larkins returned the manual along with a preliminary payment of Rs.10,000. When shown the details of the surveillance, Frank Larkins quickly confessed. His 10-page confession led to the arrest of two more members of the spy ring, Jaspal Singh Gill, a Delhi-based businessman and his employee, Lt Col (Ret’d) Jasbir Singh. He was recruited by a CIA operative who was an Attache at the US Embassy. He in turn recruited the Larkins brothers who were asked to recruit more people. The original CIA operative had left India in 1982 and handed over the network to Harry L Weatherbee, the CIA man named in Larkins' confession who was given 24 hours to leave India after the spy ring was busted in early November. On November 3, 1983 a posse of officers from the Special Branch of Delhi Police accompanied by IB sleuths quietly arrested Maj Gen (Ret’d) Frank Larkins from his Vasant Vihar house. AVM Kenneth Larkins was picked up simultaneously from his hometown of Lucknow just one week before he was scheduled to emigrate to Australia where his daughter lives.

However, it is now possible to connect two separate but related operations together, thanks to this book (see above) that was published early during the previous decade. From the contents of this book, one can safely infer that the wealth of information being supplied to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) since 1978 by Adolf Tolkachev, the Leading Systems Designer for the Scientific Research Institute for Radio-Engineering (Phazotron NIIR), was found to be too good to be true and consequently the CIA required a second source for confirming the authenticity of all the data that Tolkachev was providing. And that was the precise reason why the CIA launched a covert data-gathering operation in India by targetting those very weapon systems of USSR-origin that were then beginning to enter service with the Indian Air Force and Indian Army.

Over a six-year period (1978-1985), Tolkachev met with his CIA handlers 21 times on the streets of Moscow. Documentation supplied by Tolkachev by late 1983 had included: complete sets of engineering and technical data-packages of Phazatron NIIR’s Phazotron NIIR's N-003 Sapfir-23 X-band pulse-Doppler radar for the MiG-23MF, the 385kg N-019 Rubin RPLK-29/Sapfir-29 X-band pulse-Doppler radar with twist-cassegrain antenna and its successor, the NO19MP Topaz—both meant for the MiG-29B-12 and MiG-29B-13; complete sets of engineering and technical data-packages of JSC V Tikhomirov Scientific Research Institute of Instrument Design’s N-001 Myech/RPLK-27 X-band pulse-Doppler radar with twist-cassegrain antenna for the Su-27SK; complete sets of engineering and technical data-packages of the Zaslon RP-31/N-007 X-bnd PESA radar on-board the MiG-31; complete sets of engineering and technical data-packages of the Shmel 3-D radar for the Beriev A-50 AEW & CS from NPO Vega; and complete sets of engineering and technical data-packages of both 2K12 Kub MR-SAM family and the Buk-М1 MR-SAM. The Soviet news agency TASS announced on October 22, 1986 that he had been executed.

Detailed presentations on Adolf Tolkachev's espionage activities:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOe8rTGYVlM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jmJDXZVhVQ 

Aero India 2023 Expo Highlights

On-site hospitality, HAL-style!

Shown above are the AAM sub-systems that the IAF has been hawking since 2017 for indigenisation. No industrial takers of such offers as yet.

The above (generating 46kN thrust) is presently undergoing high-altitude tests at Zhukovsky in Russia. If a suitable afterburner can be developed, then this turbofan can become a likely candidate for powering the HLFT-42 LIFT.

HAL had to undertake a major re-design of the HTFE turbofan, which has resulted in developmental delays. The engine core will now be ready for high-altitude flight-tests by mid-2025. In contrast, development of the much more complex HTSE-1200 turboshaft engine (below) has made significant progress, including the commencement of high-altitude flight-tests of the engine core late last year. 

The SAFRAN Aneto-1K turboshaft engine that has been selected for powering the IMRH. That was the reason why this engine was exhibited at the SAFRAN booth. 

Below are the new HAL-developed products.

Shown below are some BEL-built products.

Shown below is the PG-HSLD precision-guided munition.

Bharat Dynamics Ltd stupidly labelled the anti-helicopter laser-guided CLGM as an ATGM.

Munitions shown by Bharat Dynamics Ltd.

CATS Project Poster.

Tejas Mk.1 maintenance training simulator.

Cooling system for the twin wingtip-mounted HBJ pods of the Su-30MKI.

MRF-built aircraft tyres.

The above missile is not a BVRAAM, but is a surface-launched supersonic aerial target.

Notice the changed configuration of the rocket nozzle? Even the twin lateral thrusters of HELINA removed to save the launch-helicopter airframe from damage.

However, the booth of Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL) continued to pass off the NAG as HELINA (see above) to all visitors, including official foreign delegations and senior Indian military officials! Perhaps, this was because the CMD of BDL is a former naval Commodore and hence is unable to distinguish between the NAG and HELINA!!!

Nose-mounted S-band AESA antenna is a new feature for the AEW & CS Mk.2 platform.

Above are the PGMs being produced by Adani Defence & Aerospace.

Adani-produced artillery ammunition rounds (above).

ELBIT Systems-developed SDR Manpacks built by Alpha Technologies/Adani Defence & Aerospace for the Indian Army.

HAL-built ALH Mk.3 of ICGS with nose-mounted ELTA-supplied EL/M-2022H search radar.

Helicopter-mounted low-recoil machine gun.

HAL is re-designing and upgrading the PTAE-7 turbojet to boost its fuel capacity for the CATS WARRIOR loyal wingman.

QR-SAM exhibits shown at the booth of Bharat Dynamics Ltd.

Guidance kits for artillery munitions shown at the IDEX pavilion.

Astra-1 BVRAAM and DARE-developed HBJ pod mounted on Tejas Mk.1 L-MRCA.

Tejas AF Mk.2 MWF

The ADA-designed TEDBF was shown as an insignificant exhibit.

DRDO-developed family of weapons ejector racks for a wide variety of MRCAs.

NUKON Aerospace-built quad-launcher (above) for the SAAW PGM. Shown below are the exhibits of the DRDO/Centre for Airborne Systems.

Pralay SS-BSM Poster.

DRDO-developed AESA RF seeker (left) and electro-mechanical RF seeker for BVRAAMs, QR-SAM, VL-SR-SAM and Akash-NG.

Below are posters of indigenous RF seekers. Presently, the solid-stated TWTs are being imported from JSC Agat of Russia. Indigenously developed solid-state TWTs are presently undergoing advanced flight-tests.

Shown below are posters of the Akash-NG E-SHORADS meant for the Indian Air Force. The RF seeker originally developed for the Astra-1 BVRAAM also serves as the baseline design for RF seekers developed for the Akash-NG E-SHORADS, QR-SAM and VL-SR-SAM.