Navy, Army and IAF finally agree to procure armed drones from US as MQ-9 Reaper in $3 bn deal....

Impressed with the performance of the two leased Sea Guardian drones, the Navy, Army and the Air Force will finally jointly procure 30 armed versions of the American unmanned aerial system in what could be a $3 billion deal, ThePrint has learnt.

The decision comes just before US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s visit to India later this month. Austin’s visit could be a precursor to the impending meet of the ‘Quad’ leaders — US, India, Australia and Japan. 

According to sources in the defence and security establishment, initially one of the three services were not clear about procuring the armed predator drones but now all three are finally on the same way. 

They added that the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh-led Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) could take a final decision on this “soon”.

If approved, this would be the first tri-service procurement since Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat was appointed to steer the Indian armed forces into a more united force, both in terms of operational doctrine and procurement.

According to the deal, India will be acquiring 30 MQ-9 Reaper or Predator B, 10 each for the three services.

The MQ-9B has an endurance of 48 hours and a range of over 6,000 nautical miles. It comes with nine hard-points, capable of carrying sensors and laser-guided bombs besides air-to-ground missiles, with a maximum payload of two tonnes.

The Navy, which is the lead agency for procurement of HALE (High Altitude Long Endurance) UAVs, will seek the Acceptance of Necessity (AON) from the DAC.

Indian Navy, Indian Airforce To Get Indigenous SAAW (Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon)

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) headed by the Defence Ministery cleared the procurement of the indigenously developed ‘Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon’ or SAAW for the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force.

Developed by the DRDO, SAAW has a range of around 100 km and weighs around 125 kg.

The weapon, which is being procured at an approximate cost Rs 970 crore, will give the Air Force and the Navy the capability to hit Enemy Airfields and Runways, Bunkers, plane Hanger from a standoff distance with high precision during conflicts.

Given that this weapon can be launched from standoff ranges, the aircraft launching it can remain at a safe distance from the enemy target. In many cases, the weapon can be fired by IAF fighters like Jaguar & Sukhoi-30 MKI from within the Indian air space.

Apart from SAAW, the DAC also cleared the procurement of Static HF Trans-receiver sets for field units of the Indian Army and the Air Force at an approximate cost of Rs 540 crore to enable seamless communication.

A Woman Fighter Pilot Could Fly Indian Airforce Rafale Very Soon

According to some reports, a female pilot could soon be operating a Rafale in IAF.

In a first, a woman fighter pilot is all set to be a part of the Rafale squadron of the Indian Air Force in Ambala, according to India Today.

The women officer, whose name has not been disclosed due to security reasons, is one of the ten female-fighter pilots currently under training. She will begin actively participating in duties along with the 17 Squadron soon. Indian Air Force formally inducted five Rafale fighter jets to the fleet of IAF’s 17 Squadron, the “Golden Arrows” at a glittering ceremony in Ambala air base.

The pilot has already undergone a full fighter training course and already knows hot to operate MiG-21 fighters. In India, IAF’s 10 women pilots have operated on a variety of aircraft including Su-30 MKI and MiG-29 UPG. 

Just four years ago, Flt Lt Avani Chaturvedi, Flt Lt Bhawanna Kanth and Flt Lt Mohana Singh became the first women fighter pilots in the country.

This may come as an achievement, however, India still has a long way to go.

Armed forces, in general, have a very low proportion of women personnel. The Air Force has the highest share of women officers in India at 13.9%. Whereas, there are only 6% female officers in Indian Navy. The Indian Army has an even lower proportion of women at only 3.8%.

New VL-SRSAM Launch System for Indian Navy by DRDO

VL-SRSAM is a quick reaction point defence system for use against supersonic sea skimming targets like AShM etc including aircrafts , UAVs , munitions etc.

India’s State Owned DRDO has started work on VL-SRSAM (Vertically Launched -Short-range Surface Air to Missile ) System based on Astra beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM).

VL-SRSAM will be developed in two variants for Air Force and Indian Navy. The air force will get high mobility Truck-mounted canister based VL-SRSAM and Navy will get Canister based VL-SRSAM for its frontline warships Each Vertical Launch Unit (VLU) houses 8 heavily modified quick reaction SAMs to engage incoming supersonic projectiles.

The cannisters are designed to launch missiles in hot-mode, i.e. ignition within the cannister itself & the VLU is designed to launch SAMs in quick succession incase there’s multiple incoming projectiles.

While DRDO is on the missiles range, but capabilities of a similar missile system should ensure at least 40-50 km in Astra Mk1 configuration and in future Astra Mk2, range will jump to 80km.

Astra missiles when in its initial developmental phase were tested from a ground-based vertical launch before developmental moved on to IAF’s front-line fighter aircraft like Sukhoi-30 MKIs.

DRDO keeping in mind possible development of any spin-off of a Ground-based Astra missile system had collected all telemetry data which could also validate its flight performance in the surface to air mode and found it to be capable of performing excellently well even in a surface to air mode.

VL-SRSAM family will consist of Truck Mounted command and control unit which includes a Radar sensor and 4-6 Missile firing units and replenishments support Truck for the Airforce variant, In Navy, VL-SRSAM variant will be integrated with main and secondary Radar system of the Warship for tracking and detection. The air force is looking for VL-SRSAM ADS which can be transported by C-130 or IL-76 when required, VL-SRSAM will supplement Akash SRSAM.

VL-SRSAM for its frontline warships which will replace aging Israeli supplied Barak-1 Point Defence interceptor missiles which were procured after India ended its Tri-service Trishul SRSAM.