X-47B A MILESTONE IN UCAV TECHNOLOGY

When the Navy's unmanned and autonomous X-47B aircraft touched down on the carrier deck of the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush Wednesday, it marked a defining moment for aviation and the end of a development program some 10 years in the making. With its place in history secure -- the X-47B is the first unmanned aircraft to make an arrested landing aboard an aircraft carrier, and that's only the latest of it's many "firsts" -- the experimental aircraft is slated for retirement, having met all of its program requirements and captivated Twitter for at least one afternoon. Though Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert indicated yesterday that the Navy may keep the drones active and out of museum hangars for a short while longer, yesterday's flights will likely be among the X-47B's last.
But for naval aviation and drone technology in general, the end of the X-47B program is just the beginning. The X-47B Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAS) that made aviation history Wednesday was one of just two built by Northrop Grumman for the Navy to demonstrate technologies that are pulling naval operations -- many of which were developed in the first half of the last century--into the digital age. These technologies include precision GPS and relative navigation systems that will become commonplace in future naval air wings (both manned and unmanned) as well as various technologies and strategies that will allow unmanned planes to work safely alongside their human-piloted counterparts.
Navy brass call this "digitizing the carrier airspace," and it represents a full-blown paradigm shift for the Navy as it begins the process of integrating unmanned aircraft -- including armed strike aircraft -- into its carrier-capable fleet. It also marks the beginning of the race for what's next. What's been lost amid the cheering for the X-47B is that the UCAS program was really less about the aircraft and more about the platform. With the platform in place, now begins the challenge of building the actual product.

X-47B PROGRAMME
The X-47B was born out of a need to incorporate unmanned aircraft into the naval fleet, largely for persistent intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and targeting (ISRT) missions. That is, the Navy wanted something fast and stealthy, and with a long enough range, that could essentially keep a constant eye on the areas surrounding its carrier groups while also helping manned fighters identify targets and, if necessary, deliver limited strike capabilities itself.

CAPABILITIES    
Such a drone would offer U.S. Naval forces a unique capability to deliver strikes in hostile airspace without putting pilots at risk and at ranges far exceeding that of manned fighter jets. This also serves the dual purpose of allowing the Navy's prized aircraft carriers to remain farther away from increasingly potent anti-ship threats like land-based medium range ballistic missiles (that's a thinly veiled euphemism for China).
The X-47B, in many ways, is that aircraft. Its sleek, tailless, "cranked-kite" batwing design offers it a reduced radar signature, and though its lack of a tail makes it less stable, the fact that it pilots itself via computer means it can make thousands of small corrections per minute to compensate. Human operators control the X-47B by telling it where to go and what to do, but the aircraft handles the actual piloting itself -- there is no aviator remotely controlling it with a joystick -- making it immune to such vulnerabilities as low visibility or good old-fashioned human error.
But more important than the aircraft itself is the technology underpinning it that allows it to trade data with computers and positional sensors aboard the aircraft carrier a hundred times per second. That, along with a new interface that essentially digitizes the many vocal commands and visual signals already used by carrier flight deck crews so that a computer can understand them, means that the Navy now has a platform in place that it can use to integrate any future robotic aircraft into its operations.

ITS BEGINNING RATHER THAN  END
Wednesday's landing of the first robotic airplane on an aircraft carrier is so significant, and that's why this is really a beginning rather than an end. UCAS was a technology demonstration program. Its follow-on program -- the Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike program, or UCLASS -- is where the aviation skunk works of some of the biggest names in aerospace are going to take this new platform and try to build a game-changing product for it -- an actual carrier-capable combat drone for active service in the U.S. Navy.

ARJUN MK-II GEARING UP FOR FINAL TRIALS

Arjun MK-II is all set and gearing up for its final Summer Trials which are to be held by end of next month or in early July before it hits productions. Indian army has asked for 93 improvements to the Arjun Mark II tank including 19 major modifications.

All the modifications suggested by the army had been successfully incorporated in the tank and will be ready for final trials by Indian army after which DRDO will seek clearance for production to start. Heavy Vehicles Factory (HVF) Avadi will need 30 months (Two and a half years) to deliver first batch of Arjun MK-2 to Indian army, DRDO is also hoping for fresh orders of Arjun MK-II from its current 126 placed by Indian army some time back.

 

MK-2 will see increase in weight from 62 tone to 67 tone. The suspension has been re-designed to handle up to 70 tone weight. Wheels are bigger in dimensions and have improved track length, MK-2 will be powered by the same MTU engine imported from Germany but it has been improved to carry extra weight of the tank but the top speed of the tank will be limited to 58kmph coming down from 72kmph seen on MK-1 Arjun. DRDO is working on indigenous powerhouse for future tanks but Integrations with Arjun can only happen if Army places order for 3 more Regiments of Arjun MKII (350). Otherwise it will only serve in next generation battle tank which DRDO is developing under Futuristic Main Battle Tank (FMBT) Program for Indian Army post 2020.

MK-2 will have improvements like missile firing capability, improved commander’s panoramic sight with night vision, Hunter killer capability, improved Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) , improved communication equipments along with better navigation aid , full frontal Explosive Reactive Armor (ERA), Mine plough , improved gun barrel , additional ammunition types.

ARJUN MK II

In Previous trials MK2 did not face any issues and Army was satisfied with its performance, DRDO has now completed all the improvements asked by Indian army on MK-2 variant and hopes Army will be satisfied after final rounds of trials and clears production of it along with fresh orders.

INDIA'S GEOSTATIONARY SATELLITE TO MONITOR MISSILE ACTIVITIES IN 6000KM OF RANGE

India has launched an ambitious India has launched an ambitious programme to use its array of geostationary satellites (G-sats) to monitor missile activities in an area of 6,000 km. to use its array of geostationary satellites (G-sats) to monitor missile activities in an area of 6,000 km.

India has launched an ambitious programme to use its array of geostationary satellites (G-sats) to monitor missile activities in an area of 6,000 km. With this, the country’s constellation of G-sats will become the first line of defence in its anti-missile shield. This programme is independent of the observation grid installed by defence and intelligence agencies. The advantage of using geostationary satellites is their fixed position at a height of 36,000 km and synchronised with the earth’s movement.

Allaying fears that this deployment could compromise India’s space policy, sources clarified that it is not meant as an offensive posture and data won’t be shared with any other country. “We’re using these satellites to warn us of an impending danger even as they continue with their primary tasks of transmission and meteorological observations,” sources said.

A top source told TOI that special lens and processing electronics are being developed to significantly improve the power of G-sat cameras and telescope. “The Centre has given ISRO the go-ahead. The programme is into a crucial development phase,” he said.

The project is aimed at installing sensitive surveillance equipment along with other payload on the G-sats. “They will capture the signature of any missile launch activities happening in a radius of 6,000 km.This signature will be transmitted to a central control unit which would initiate necessary counter-mechanism,” sources said.

The Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) is developing the interceptor missile which has entered trial phase. “Given their strategic position, we can even have exclusive facility to monitor a country or a particular region. Given the G-sat’s capability to map anything to a resolution of one metre, we will be able to capture the slightest of movements or even heat signatures,” sources said.

IS THERE CAN HAPPEN SOMTHING IN INDO-PAK RELATIONS.

It was 14 years ago when Nawaz Sharif was prime minister in Islamabad that Pakistan and India initiated the process of normalizing their ties. With the veteran leader's party once again set to gain a legislative majority in Pakistan, hopes are high in India that efforts to ease the decades-long animosity between the two rival nations will get a major boost.
As election results emerged indicating a victory for Nawaz Sharif's political party, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh extended an invitation to him to visit India, saying he hopes to chart a new course for their relationship.
The Indian prime minister had reason to reach out to the man set to emerge as Pakistan’s next civilian leader - Sharif has emphasized that he intends to pick up the remnants of a peace process he began with India in 1999.
In the intervening years, efforts by the two countries to move past their decades-long animosity have had their setbacks.
But Indian analysts are confident that under Sharif’s stewardship, things will get better. Lalit Mansingh, a former foreign secretary in New Delhi, calls the former prime minister the “best bet for India”.
“He is somebody with whom we have a degree of comfort because India has dealt with him, has had good results with negotiations when he was in power, so it is better to deal with him than deal with somebody new and inexperienced. The election victory is quite convincing, therefore he will have much more confidence in speaking for Pakistan when he negotiates with India,” Mansingh said.
Indian officials are hoping for some positive signals in the coming months. For a start, New Delhi wants Pakistan to boost bilateral economic ties by ushering in a liberalized trading regime. Pakistan has not yet implemented a commitment to give India Most Favored Nation trading status -- a move that many hope will now happen.
But while economic ties may get a push, improving diplomatic relations could be far more challenging.
Uday Bhaskar, a strategic affairs analyst, cautions that Sharif’s ability to develop better ties with India will be contingent on his relationship with the military, which he says still makes key strategic decisions for the country.
“Three issues that concern India -- Kashmir, the support to groups that are engaged in terror activities against India, and the management of nuclear weapons and missiles -- all three of these are outside of the purview of the civilian leadership of Pakistan. So unless he is able to bring about a certain rearrangement in the distribution of power in Pakistan and establish his own primacy, I think we should wait and watch,” Bhaskar stated.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars and come close to a fourth. Earlier this year, a war of words erupted between them as tensions spiked between their militaries along the disputed Kashmir border. 

But there is some optimism that this time around, the Pakistani military may not thwart peace overtures with India.
Bharat Karnad at New Delhi’s independent Center for Policy Research said the Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani is not likely to be a stumbling block.
“I think General Kayani has given ample evidence that he means to redirect his military’s efforts towards internally containing terrorist outfits and eliminating terrorism. He has made that his top priority. He is being very realistic and I think he needs to be commended for it. So this will dovetail with Nawaz Sharif’s political intent to have a rapproachement with India,” said Karnad.
In India, meanwhile, support for strengthening peace with Pakistan cuts across the political spectrum. That is important because New Delhi too heads into elections next year and could see a change in leadership.
Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party leader Prakash Javedkar recalls that the 1999 peace process with Nawaz Sharif began under a BJP-led government in New Delhi. He said he will be happy if that process is taken forward. He expressed happiness that "democracy has flourished" in Pakistan. A strong, democratic government in Pakistan will be good for both countries, Javedkar said.
That is the hope of many in India. A shared culture has facilitated linkages between their citizens since Nawaz Sharif was last in power, but their political divide has not been easy to bridge.

THE RUSSIAN SU-30SM (RUSSIAN VERSION OF SU30MKI)

Russia Finally Becomes An Su-30 Player . The Russian Air Force recently ordered another 30 Su-30SM two-seat fighters. Thirty of these were ordered back in April and deliveries to the Russian Air Force were to begin in six months and the first one did arrive six months later. All this was pretty impressive when you consider that Su-30SM flew for the first time last September 21st. All 60 SU-30SMs are to be delivered by 2016. Before this order Russia had only 11 Su-30s in service, far fewer than China and India. 

RUSSIAN SU-30SM

All Russia could afford until recently was the older Su-27. The Su-30SM is a Russian Air Force version of the Su-30MKI that has long been exported (to India, Algeria, and Malaysia). For the last two decades Russian defense manufacturers have survived on exports. The Russian military halted most procurement spending after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 (largely from financial mismanagement). In the last decade the Russian military has gradually resumed buying. Initially, the Russian military could not afford the best stuff (like the Su-30MKI). But that has changed, and now the Russian military is catching up. This is the first Su-30 model for the Russian Air Force that uses thrust vectoring (the ability of the engine to direct its exhaust a bit and enhance maneuverability). Both the Su-30SM and Su-30MKI are most similar to the two seat American F-15E fighter-bomber. The Su-30MKI, even though equipped with Western electronics, costs less than $40 million each, about half of what an equivalent F-15 costs. The Russian version will have Russian electronics and other Russian made gear but otherwise be nearly identical to the Su-30MKI. The Su-30MKI/SM can carry more than eight tons of bombs and hit targets over 1,500 kilometers away. The Su-30SM is able to use a large range of missiles and smart bombs.