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| Mi-17-V5 |
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| Mi-17-V5 |
A more powerful and versatile variant
of the Mi-17 military chopper is slated to arrive from Russia in 2-3
weeks to beef up the Indian Air Force fleet. It will be based in Punjab.
Sources confirmed that the
first lot of the latest Mi-17-V5 is to arrive in the next couple of
weeks and will be stationed at a major airbase in the southern part of
Punjab. The location has been chosen with care to cater to surrounding
areas.
Originally, the first
lot of Mi-17-V5 was expected arrive in March. These are part of the 80
choppers India ordered from Russia in 2008 by signing a contract with
Rosoboronexport, the state arms exporter. According to the Indian
Ministry of Defence, the deal is worth $1.35 billion (Rs 6,000 crore).
The
IAF aims to utilise the Mi-17-V5 helicopters for special heli-borne
operations, air-maintenance, transportation of troops and equipment,
search and rescue, casualty evacuation and in armed helicopter roles.
For
long, Mi-17 chopper variants have been used by para-commandos of the
Army and also the Special Operations Group of the NSG. The latest
variant will be able to drop 25 troops in one go and from multiple
on-board exit points.
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INS Kamorta, the first in a series of four anti-submarine corvettes being built by the Kolkata-based Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), a defence shipyard, will be delivered to the Navy in June 2012.
The shipyard, he said, was also constructing eight inshore patrol
vessels for the Coast Guard. “We have also concluded negotiations with
the Navy for construction of eight-Landing Craft Utility (LCU) for which
contract will be signed shortly.”
On the offshore patrol vessel being designed and built for the Mauritius Police,
he said the laying of keel for its first block would take place in
September. “Although the contractual delivery period for the
75-metre-long, 1,200-tonne vessel is 42 months, we are trying to advance
it.”
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At the MAKS-2011 August 16 revealed that the Defense Ministry refused to
buy from the RAC "MiG" 24 aircraft for the aircraft carrier "Admiral
Kuznetsov". Not only that the machine gives the characteristics of a
heavy Su-33, so still it turned out that she has a problem with the
onboard electronics. In addition, it is still unclear why the plane
crashed two months ago on trial in Akhtubinsk - literally fell apart in
the air during a complex maneuver.
Electronics ship "MiG" was originally created to supply to India. This
country, in 2004 we bought the cruiser "Admiral Gorshkov" aircraft and
29. The fulfillment of this contract has not yet been completed.
Western avionics of the native "guts" of the aircraft are incompatible
with Russian hardware. Therefore, for the Ministry of Defence RAC "MiG"
Russian Aircraft retrofitted devices - and their quality did not suit
the customer.
The military also talk about an inflated price of aircraft.
At the RAC "MiG" is calculated by year's end to finalize the on-board
electronics and sign the contract. "Otherwise, the company faces closure
after the Indian contract", - the deputy director of the Institute of
Military Studies, Alexander Khramchikhin.
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| Arjun Mark-II MBT |
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| Arjun Mark-II MBT |
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| Arjun Mark-II MBT |
Limited technical trials with some major and minor improvements on Main
Battle Tank (MBT) Arjun Mark-I, as part of MBT Arjun Mark-II, have been
carried out by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)
in the deserts of Rajasthan.
Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has cleared the
proposal for placement of indent for 124 Nos. of MBT Arjun Mark-II on
Heavy Vehicles Factory (HVF), Avadi, Chennai. Placement of indent by the
Army on Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) is being further processed.
The likely estimated cost of each MBT Arjun Mark-II with ail major/minor improvements will be approximately Rs.37 crore.
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| CIA |
WASHINGTON: Former station chief of the CIA in Islamabad, Robert
Grenier has said that the US must realise immediate threats being faced
by Pakistan and try to be on the same page with Islamabad. He also said
that he did not believe any one in the Pakistani leadership knew bin
Laden was hiding in Abbottabad.
Speaking to Express 24/7 correspondent, Huma Imtiaz, Grenier said that
he believed no one in Pakistan knew about Osama bin Laden’s presence in
Abbottabad, except his close confidants.
Gernier, who had headed the CIA Station in Islamabad in 2001, said that
though national interests of Pakistan and the United States were
divergent, Washington must put itself in Islamabad’s shoes.
Garnier said Pakistan faced some immediate threats it considers far more important to tackle first.
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Netherlands F-16
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Netherlands F-16
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Five F-16 fighters from the Netherlands are on their way to Chile as the government continues to cut expenditures.
The planes, which departed Monday from Volkel Air Base, are part of a 2009 sales agreement between the two countries.
The Dutch Ministry of Defense said the first two batches of F-16s --
totaling 12 aircraft in all -- were delivered in November 2010 and in
April of this year.
Six F-16s, manufactured by General Dynamics of the United States, were
to have departed for Chile Monday, but one could not leave on time and
will follow later this week.
The 18 fighter planes sold to Chile are one result of the defense policy
measures decided in 2007 to free up additional money for defense in the
form of proceeds from the sale of defense equipment.
In addition to aircraft, the Netherlands is also selling some of its artillery pieces and combat tanks.
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At the most recent Zhuhai air show, the premier event for
China’s aviation industry, crowds swarmed around a model of an armed,
jet-propelled drone and marveled at the accompanying display of its
purported martial prowess.
In a video and map,
the thin, sleek drone locates what appears to be a U.S. aircraft
carrier group near an island with a striking resemblance to Taiwan and
sends targeting information back to shore, triggering a devastating
barrage of cruise missiles toward the formation of ships.
Little is known about the actual abilities of the WJ-600 drone or the
more than two dozen other Chinese models that were on display at Zhuhai
in November. But the speed at which they have been developed highlights
how U.S. military successes with drones have changed strategic thinking worldwide and spurred a global rush for unmanned aircraft.
More than 50 countries have purchased surveillance drones, and
many have started in-country development programs for armed versions
because no nation is exporting weaponized drones beyond a handful of
sales between the United States and its closest allies.
“This is
the direction all aviation is going,” said Kenneth Anderson, a professor
of law at American University who studies the legal questions
surrounding the use of drones in warfare. “Everybody will wind up using
this technology because it’s going to become the standard for many, many
applications of what are now manned aircraft.”
Military planners
worldwide see drones as relatively cheap weapons and highly effective
reconnaissance tools. Hand-launched ones used by ground troops can cost
in the tens of thousands of dollars. Near the top of the line, the Predator B,
or MQ9-Reaper, manufactured by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems,
costs about $10.5 million. By comparison, a single F-22 fighter jet
costs about $150 million.
Defense spending on drones has become
the most dynamic sector of the world’s aerospace industry, according to a
report by the Teal Group in Fairfax. The group’s 2011 market study
estimated that in the coming decade global spending on drones will
double, reaching $94 billion.
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A Russian helicopter company is planning to develop the world's first
fifth-generation combat helicopter, which experts say would be able to
attack fighter jets and be invisible for radars, the Gazeta daily said
on Thursday.
"We are working on the concept of the fifth-generation combat
helicopter," the paper quoted the company's CEO, Andrei Shibitov, as
saying at a news conference in Moscow.
Shibitov did not specify the characteristics of the helicopter, but said
the company was going to spend some $1 billion on the project, with
more investment expected to be allocated from the state budget.
The official said the Mil design bureau had been working on a classical
rotor model, which features a large main rotor and a smaller auxiliary
rotor, while the Kamov design bureau had been developing a coaxial rotor
model.
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China has deployed more advanced and survivable solid-fuel nuclear
capable CSS-5 MRBM missiles against India as a 'deterrent posture',
Pentagon has said warning that a high degree of mistrust continues to
strain their bilateral ties.
The PLA has replaced liquid-fueled, nuclear-capable CSS-2 IRBMs with
more advanced and survivable solid-fueled CSS-5 MRBM systems to
strengthen its deterrent posture relative to India, the Pentagon has
said in its annual report on Chinese military build up to the Congress.
The report also says that Beijing is pumping in huge investments on
border infrastructure developments laying more roads and rail network
along the Sino-Indian border.
"Although this construction is primarily aimed at facilitating economic
development in western China, improved roads could also support PLA
border defense operations," it said.
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In the wake of a recent Pentagon report that China is moving advanced
CSS-5 ballistic missiles to areas close to the Sino-Indian border, New
Delhi is clearly taking no chances.
The government is now ready to induct the nuclear-capable Agni-III
ballistic missile — with a range of 3,000-3,500 km and capable of
hitting targets in China — into the Indian armed forces. It is also in
the process of acquiring 42 more Russian-origin Sukhoi-30 MKI frontline
fighters to “populate” airbases at Tezpur and Chabua in Assam to bolster
the eastern sector.
The government is also reportedly moving the strategic Agni-II missile
inducted earlier to areas near the Chinese border. These have a range of
around 2,000 km.
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The Iranian government has brought a lawsuit against the Russian
government to the International Court over Moscow's failure to deliver
S-300 missile systems to Tehran. The Iranian ambassador to Moscow,
Mahmoud Reza Sajjadi, held a news conference in Moscow on Wednesday to
complain to the Russian media and people.
Sajjadi said during the news conference that the S-300 shipment would
not be a violation of the UN Security Council's Resolution #1929, that
prohibits the sale to Iran of conventional weapons, including missiles,
tanks, military helicopters, warplanes and warships.
The Iranian diplomat told the reporters that President
Ahdmadinejad ordered the lawsuit in the hope that the court would rule
in favor of Iran and thus help Russia carry out the weapons shipment.
Iran and Russia signed the S-300 contract in 2007 during the Bush Administration. Russian leader Vladmir Putin became the de fact
arms dealer of the world by selling arms and weapons systems to countries such as Iran, Syria, Venezuela,
North Korea and others.
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Former Vice President Dick Cheney says in a new memoir that he urged President George W. Bush
to bomb a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor site in June 2007. But, he
wrote, Mr. Bush opted for a diplomatic approach after other advisers —
still stinging over “the bad intelligence we had received about Iraq’s
stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction” — expressed misgivings.
“I again made the case for U.S. military action against the reactor,”
Mr. Cheney wrote about a meeting on the issue. “But I was a lone voice.
After I finished, the president asked, ‘Does anyone here agree with the
vice president?’ Not a single hand went up around the room.”
Mr. Bush chose to try diplomatic pressure to force the Syrians to
abandon the secret program, but the Israelis bombed the site in
September 2007. Mr. Cheney’s account of the discussion appears in his
autobiography, “In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir,” which is
to be published by Simon & Schuster next week. A copy was obtained
by The New York Times.
Mr. Cheney’s book — which is often pugnacious in tone and in which he
expresses little regret about many of the most controversial decisions
of the Bush administration — casts him as something of an outlier among
top advisers who increasingly took what he saw as a misguided course on
national security issues. While he praises Mr. Bush as “an outstanding
leader,” Mr. Cheney, who made guarding the secrecy of internal
deliberations a hallmark of his time in office, divulges a number of
conflicts with others in the inner circle.
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The Pentagon issued fresh warnings Wednesday that China's military
expansion could stir up new tensions and provoke dangerous
misunderstandings
"The pace and scope of China's sustained
military investment have allowed China to pursue capabilities we believe
are potentially destabilizing to regional military balances, increase
the risk of misunderstanding and miscalculation and may contribute to
regional tensions and anxieties," Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense
for East Asia Michael Schiffer said.
"Such capabilities could
increase Beijing's options to use military force to gain diplomatic
advantage, advance its interests or resolve military disputes in its
favor."
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India has reportedly cleared a fifth generation Advanced Medium Combat
Aircraft (AMCA)to be developed by 2017 whose total cost is estimated at
$2bn.
According to a news report in The Hindu newspaper,
the Govt of India has released Rs. 100 crore($20 million) last month to
the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), an Indian government
controlled research body which has also developed the LCA Tejus fourth
generation fighter.
"AMCA, when developed and produced,
would probably be the first medium combat aircraft with 20 tonne weight
in the world. Similar aircraft being developed by the United States and
Russia are in the range of 30 to 35 tonnes," PS Subramanyam, ADA
Director and Programme Director (Combat Aircraft), was quoted as saying
in the news report.
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The Pakistani government has called on the US Embassy in the capital
Islamabad to phase out over 250 American officials in the country within
the next 30 to 40 days.
The US officials are reportedly assigned various duties such as logistic
support and audit and accounts monitoring. Most of them are said to be
involved in high-level espionage and anti-state activities, Pakistan's
The Nation newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The report added that US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter is coming
back to Pakistan after cutting short his vacation to deal with the
situation.
Tensions between Islamabad and Washington increased following a secret
US raid into Pakistan in May that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin
Laden.
Pakistani military has since been under pressure to explain why US
military helicopters freely carried out the operation on Pakistani soil.
Pakistan's defense ministry later ordered the United States to leave a
remote desert airbase in the southwestern Baluchistan Province.
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Taiwan plans to develop a long-distance precision-guided missile which
would be able to strike military bases along China's southeastern
coastline in the event of war, a legislator said Monday.
Taiwan's defence ministry has budgeted Tw$30 million ($1.04 million) for
developments including the design of the missile bases and safety
systems, said Lin Yu-fang, a lawmaker who sits on the national defence
committee.
But Lin, of the ruling Kuomintang party, said there were still only a few details available on the new weapon.
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China's first aircraft carrier Shi Lang, Currently on its maiden voyage, is
widely expected to have its shipborne fighter jets conduct simulated
landing trials Saturday, after a navigation ban and radio control notice
was put in place.
The landing trials will go ahead if weather conditions allow, but
fighters will take off as soon as they approach the ship instead of
actually landing, a source close to the trial told the Global Times
Friday.
The source also revealed that the jets to be used in the tests are
J-15s, a domestically made heavy fighter, dubbed the People's Liberation
Army navy's "Flying Shark."
The trials are aimed mainly at testing the radar system and optical
landing system of the aircraft carrier, which left its shipyard in
northeastern Dalian and began its first five-day journey on Wednesday,
the source said.
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India's air superiority Sukhoi-30MKI fighters will soon be converted
into 'Super Sukhois' by upgrading them with fifth generation combat jet
features, the Russian original equipment manufacturer Irkut Corporation has announced.
The upgrade will include a new cockpit, an upgraded radar and
advanced stealth characteristics to make the plane less visible to enemy
radar than the existing Indian Air Force (IAF) Sukhoi-30 fleet,
Irkut's president and chairman Alexy Fedorov said at the Moscow Air Show
here.
The IAF currently has five operational Sukhoi 30MKI squadrons numbering around 100
aircraft. It will ultimately have over 230 Sukhoi-30MKIs or 13 squadrons in its fleet.
The fleet is under licenced production at the Bangalore-based Hindustan
Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and the entire fleet will be upgraded to the
'Super Sukhoi' configuration.
'The upgrade will apply not only to the aircraft in service with the
Indian Air Force (IAF) but also to those yet to be delivered to India
and to be licence-manufactured by HAL,' Fedorov said.
Most significantly, the aircraft will be able to carry a heavier weapon
load, including the airborne version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise
missile, he added.
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DAPA announced that Korea will spend 1.84 trillion won to acquire 36
attack helicopters from overseas. Col. Tan Myeong-hoon of DAPA said the
AH-1W SuperCobra by Bell and AH-64D Block III from Boeing, will compete
with the EC-665 Tiger from Eurocopter of France and the T-129 from
Turkey.
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| PAK FA |
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| PAK FA And SU-35 |
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| PAK FA |
United Aircraft president Mikhail Pogosyan believes there is a market for 600 of the Sukhoi
PAK-FA fifth-generation fighter, which finally made its public
appearance at MAKS and is due to enter service with the Russian air
force in 2015 or 2016.
The prototype, one of two undergoing flight tests, is Russia's answer to the Lockheed Martin
F-22 stealth fighter. The first test flight was in January 2010, and
United Aircraft sid a total of 16 flights have been made. Two more
aircraft will join the flight test programme this year and a further two
in 2012.
Moscow has a requirement for around 200 of the single-seat aircraft,
while India plans to buy around 200 aircraft, which are likely to be
slightly larger and be twin-seaters. Its engineers and scientists are
working on this programme jointly with the Russians, and contributing
towards its development costs. Pogosyan believes another 200 export
sales could be added as foreign air forces look to replace or add to
legacy Soviet types. "There is a huge pool of MiG and Sukhoi customers
that know our aircraft. We have very close relations with these
customers," he said in an interview with Flightglobal at MAKS.
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| Russian Su-34 Fighter Bomber |
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| Russian Su-34 Fighter Bomber |
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| Russian Su-34 Fighter Bomber |
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| Russian Su-34 Fighter Bomber |
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| Russian Su-34 Fighter Bomber |
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| Russian Su-34 Fighter Bomber |
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| Russian Su-34 Fighter Bomber |
The Russian air force wants to procure 120 Sukhoi Su-34 strike aircraft, the service's commander has revealed.
Speaking at the MAKS air show
in Moscow, Gen Aleksander Zelin said five squadrons will eventually be
armed with the two-seat type, with each to have 24 aircraft.
The Russian defence ministry's procurement plan for this year
includes 12 Su-34s, and production activities at Sukhoi's NAPO plant in
Novosibirsk are gradually picking up.
Orders have been confirmed for 32 Su-34s so far, with seven of these
having been accepted into squadron service and a handful more being used
by the defence ministry's weapons-assessment units and industry.
The air force is now working with United Aircraft and Sukhoi to
firm-up contacts for follow-on batches, and intends to have 70 of the
aircraft operational in 2015.
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WASHINGTON: Pakistan is a partner in the fight
against terrorism and not a state that sponsors terrorism, said the US
State Department while elaborating on a statement by Defence Secretary
Leon Panetta who accused Pakistan of having links with terrorist groups.
At a discussion at the US National Defence University here on Tuesday,
Mr Panetta said that Pakistan had links with Lashkar-e Taiba and the
Haqqani network, which had complicated its relationship with the United
States.
Later, Washington-based Indian journalists raised the issue at a State
Department briefing, arguing that after Mr Panetta’s statement the US
had no option but to declare Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism.
“I think Secretary Panetta spoke to our concern about how these two
organisations operate and any relationship that they may have with
Pakistan, which is a subject that we talk about with Pakistan, which is a
different issue than a state being a sponsor of terrorism itself,” said
the department’s spokesman Victoria Nuland while explaining the US
position on this issue.
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Turkey has signed a government-to-government deal with the United States
to buy six Boeing-made CH-47 heavy-lift military transport helicopters,
the first such weapons in its inventory, a senior procurement official
said over the weekend. The deal is worth up to $400 million, the official said.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency, or DSCA, the Pentagon’s body
coordinating weapons sales, notified the U.S. Congress of a potential
sale of a total of 14 CH-47F heavy-lift helicopters for $1.2 billion in
December 2009. Congress gave permission for the sale later that month.
Because of financial constraints, however, the Undersecretariat for the
Defense Industry, or SSM, Turkey’s procurement agency, later wanted to
buy only six CH-47Fs, five for the Army and one for the Special Forces
Command, leaving a decision on the remaining eight platforms for the
future. Contract negotiations between the SSM, the U.S. government and
Boeing were launched last year.
“The contract was signed in late July,” the procurement official told
the Hürriyet Daily News. “After the helicopters begin to arrive, we plan
to make some modifications to them according to our needs.”
The six CH-47F Chinooks will be the first heavy-lift helicopters in the
Turkish Army’s inventory. Their deliveries are expected to begin in 2013
and end in 2014.
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T-50 stealth fighter developed by Russia will make its
first international public appearance at the MAKS airshow which went
underway in Moscow, where Moscow unveiled its newest space shuttle,
armed drones and a new range of upgraded weapons.
Two prototypes of the single seater jet, estimated to cost USD 6
billion, are expected to fly over Zhukovsky air field on the outskirts
of Moscow.
"The co-development projects of the two countries will remain
centerpiece of the Russian aviation industry", declared Mikhail
Pogosyan, President of the United Aircraft Corporation, makers of the
aircraft.
Sukhoi's T-50 made its maiden flight in January 2010 and is expected to
enter service by 2015. "The stealth fighter is progressing as planned
and the new engine for the plane will be ready in time", Pogosyan said.
The fifth generation Sukhoi T-50, also called the PAK FA for its Russian
abbreviations for a perspective frontline aviation complex, is meant to
be a rival to the US joint strike fighter F-22 Raptor.
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