Defence

Government has appointed Lt Gen Manoj C Pande, presently Vice Chief of the Army Staff, as the next Chief of the Army Staff with effect from the afternoon of April 30, 2022. Born on May 06, 1962, Lt Gen Manoj C Pande was commissioned on December 24, 1982 in the Corps of Engineers (The Bombay Sappers) of the Indian Army. During his long and distinguished service spanning over 39 years, he has served in a variety of Command, Staff and Instructional appointments. The Command appointments of Lt Gen Manoj C Pande include Command of an Engineer Brigade in the Western Theatre, as part of Strike Corps and an Infantry Brigade along with Line-of-Control in Jammu & Kashmir. Other important Command appointments include a Mountain Division in the high-altitude area of the Western Ladakh and Command of a Corps, deployed along the LAC and in Counter Insurgency Operations area of Eastern Command. In the rank of Lt General, the officer has held important appointments including that of Commander-in-Chief of the Andaman & Nicobar Command and as the GOC-in-C of the Eastern Command at Kolkata before getting appointed as the Vice Chief of the Army Staff. Lt Gen Manoj C Pande is an alumnus of National Defence Academy and has undergone courses at Staff College, Camberley (UK), Army War College, Mhow and National Defence College, New Delhi. For his illustrious service, Lt Gen Manoj C Pande has been conferred with Param Vishisht Seva Medal, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and Vishisht Seva Medal.

New Delhi; Monday, 21 Feb, 2022: The Hon’ble President and Supreme Commander of the armed forces of India, Ram Nath Kovind reviewed the Indian Navy Fleet at Visakhapatnam on 21 Feb 22. With the theme ‘75 years in Service of the Nation,’ Indian Navy showcased its latest state-of-art indigenously built combat platforms during the 12th edition of the Fleet Review which was also conducted as part of the 75th anniversary of India’s Independence being celebrated as ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’. After a 21-Gun Salute and Ceremonial Guard of Honour, the President embarked on the Presidential yacht, INS Sumitra, an indigenously built Naval Offshore Patrol Vessel designated as the Presidential yacht. The President was received by the Hon’ble Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh and Admiral R Hari Kumar, the Chief of Naval Staff. The Yacht sailed past 44 ships from the Navy, Coast Guard, SCI and MoES lined up in four columns at anchorage off Visakhapatnam, exhibiting the nation’s maritime power in full display. A spectacular flypast was conducted as a part of the static review of the Fleet. During the final stage of the review, a mobile column of warships and submarines carried out high-speed steam past alongside the Presidential yacht. Several enthralling waterfront activities by Parade of Sails, Search and Rescue Demonstration at Sea, Aerobatics by Hawk aircraft and Water Para Jumps by the elite Marine Commandos (MARCOS) held the guests mesmerised. As the presidential yacht passed between the review columns, each ship dressed in full regalia, manned by her ship’s company saluted the President with traditional “Three Jais” in a demonstration of the unconditional allegiance to the country and the Supreme Commander. The Hon’ble President also witnessed demonstrations in the form of a composite flypast by 55 aircraft including Chetaks, ALH, Sea Kings, KAMOVs, Dorniers, IL-38SD, P8I, Hawks and MiG 29K. Addressing the Fleet during the Review, the Hon’ble President said that the Indian Navy’s constant vigil, prompt response to incidents and untiring efforts have been highly successful in ensuring Safety of the seas and of the maritime commons which are critical to our trade and energy needs. The President expressed his happiness on the Indian Navy becoming increasingly self-reliant and being at the forefront of the ‘Make in India’ initiative. He noted that about 70 per cent of the contents of several warships and submarines under construction in various public and private shipyards across the country are indigenous. He said that it is a matter of great pride that India has built nuclear submarines and soon we would have our indigenously built aircraft carrier, ‘Vikrant’, joining the service. He added that the development of indigenous naval shipbuilding capabilities is an impressive contribution to the making of an ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’. (full transcript of the address by the Hon’ble President during the review is attached). The Review was followed by the release of a special First Day Cover and a commemorative stamp by the Hon’ble President in the presence of Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh and Minister of State for Communication Devusinh J Chauhan.

Odisha,20th January,2022: BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, with increased indigenous content and improved performance, was successfully test-fired from Integrated Test Range, Chandipur off the coast of Odisha at 1030 hrs on January 20, 2022. The launch was conducted by Brahmos Aerospace in close coordination with the teams of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). In this text-book flight, the missile followed the predicted trajectory meeting all mission objectives. The flight test is a major milestone in the way forward for BrahMos programme. The highly manouverable missile cruised at supersonic speed for its maximum range and all mission objectives were met. The missile was equipped with the advanced indigenous technologies and followed a modified optimal trajectory for enhanced efficiency and improved performance. The missile with the modified control system has been fine tuned to achieve an enhanced capability. This flight test was monitored by all the sensors of the range instrumentation including telemetry, radar and electro-optical tracking systems deployed across the eastern coast and the down range ships. Teams from DRDO and NPOM, Russia participated in the test. BrahMos Aerospace, the joint venture between DRDO and NPOM, Russia, has been continuously upgrading the powerful, highly versatile BrahMos to increase its effectiveness and lethality against sea and land targets. BrahMos is the potent missile weapon system already inducted into the Armed Forces. Raksha Mantri ajnath Singh has complimented the Brahmos, DRDO teams and industry for the successful flight test.Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman DRDO Dr G Satheesh Reddy appreciated the scientists and engineers for continuously putting efforts to maximise the weapon systems efficiency and more focus on indigenous content. Director General, BrahMos Atul D Rane congratulated the joint teams of NPOM, Russia and DRDO teams involved in the test. News Source: PIB

BY ANOOP PREMACHANDRAN Last year while the country was confronting the hardships caused due to Covid pandemic, Govt of India announced a visionary strategy of Atmanirbhar Bharat in conjunction with ‘Make in India’ programme. Such a grand scale thrust on indigenous products was very welcome to provide a boost to economic and industrial sectors of India in the international arena. The Indian aerospace industry has marched on from an old concept of “best in the industry” towards “excellence in industry”. Now we are moving to Atmanirbhar Bharat or self-reliance and eventually would achieve highly sustainable aircrafts, air systems, aero engines and its associated components from our own Bharat. Indian Defence Aerospace Industry – A Flying Success Self reliance or Aatmanirbharta is the need of the hour. Thanks to several Indian Industrial giants, brand India has steadily gathered a staunch value for money and product reliability. Indian Aerospace industry too has embraced indigenisation despite several technological and management hurdles. Aircrafts made by HAL, started taking to skies way back in 1951. Since then, our Indian aeronautical industry has grown by leaps and bounds. Indian Defence Aero industry depicts glory of its indigenisation by the name ‘Tejas’ (LCA)- an advanced fighter jet. Aerospace cluster is on a constant path of booming success. Aatmanirbharta revolution kick-started by the GoI, has shifted gears with full throttle. Defence Agencies like DRDO, CEMILAC, DGAQA and NAL have come together and developed several advanced versions of defence Indigenous Light combat/Utility Helicopters, aero engines, components, airborne systems and Transporter aircrafts SARAS. Advanced air systems like UAVs and Drones designed are under final testing and show promising results. The participation of several Indian manufacturers and private players is the key highlight of this success. Quality Evolution a Foundation to Atmanirbharta Since the medieval times, the world understood the importance of Quality in the finished products. The very conceptualisation of HAL back in 1950s, and Vikram Sarabhai Space centre in 1963in itself were a few golden steps towards self-reliance in the Aeronautical industry. Quality improvement and advanced techniques were swiftly adopted to become the best in the industry. Today we have multiple levels of Quality standards like AS9100D, Indian Military standards, procedures and guidelines issued by Regulatory agencies etc. in place to ensure safety and achieve reliable results. Continual Quality Improvement- Nirantar badlav for Nirbhar Utpaad Light Combat Aircraft -Tejas is the best branded masterpiece indigenous Atmanirbhar product, our Indian Defence aeronautical industry has seen in the skies today. A seamless amalgamation of various Indian Organisations like ADA-DRDO, HAL, DGAQA, CEMILAC and IAF/Navy and their concerted efforts is the crux of its success. The point of admiration is about the plenty of mistakes made during the development of LCA-Tejas and the earnest intent by all the concerned to quickly rectify and reset the course back on track with continued product improvement. The latest news bit of LCA Tejas stealing the limelight during Dubai air show reflects the formidable spirit of Atmanirbharta of Indian defence aerospace industry. HAL indigenously developed LUH/LCH helicopters with supreme performance capabilities are the sweet fruits of years of hard work and unmatched feat of Indian aero-industry calibre. Doubtful “Desi” Vs Reliable “Made in India” Product – A complete change in mind-set Over the years of industrial growth in our country, a strange sense of suspicion on our own abilities and hence on the quality of our own products had got imprinted in our psyche. This led to injecting further stringent Quality checks to rule out any slightest possible doubt on the product. I would like to call this as a blessing in disguise. The more our own products were being subjected to rigorous testing, the greater it boosted our confidence. Subsequently, this enhanced reliability of our present day products and satisfactory Customer experience. While we were importing finished foreign products from best OEMs around the world, we kept our focus on reverse engineering for breaking the dependency at some point of time. In this bargain, our quest for superior grade material to superior processes and technology has yielded results in manufacturing products which are fabulous than the OEMs. What more can we ask for, if our customers are happy about a made in India product. Quality Ownership Drops of water makes an ocean. Holistic Atmanirbharta is achieved by collating specific individual contributions. The baseline is “my product” or “my process” should be reliable and compatible. Imagine a scenario where all our individual assigned tasks is so perfectly achieved that it would not require any more re-work, checks or introspection. Imagine the complete process where the combination of such perfect individual process would give rise to a total perfect product. Imagine the benefits such a perfect process would provide in terms of financial profits and ease of efforts. However this concept is just theoretical. But our intent towards achieving close to this total perfection can be given a try. When “my work” or “my process” is reliable, it will add to the final product’s reliability. And thus the Indian Atmanirbharta vision would soon be a reality. Quality Upgrade in Industry 4.0– Gateway to Atmanirbharta Quality in parlance of Industry 4.0 is an all-encompassing concept. Industry in general has come ages away from old quality aspects which used to be a separate activity or a separate department. Instead in Industry 4.0, Quality aspects are absorbed into the design stage itself. The tedious job of inspection is eliminated due to perfection in process by automation and near zero scope of errors. Many of our imported or licensed products are on the brink of obsolescence. While variants of aircrafts, machinery and components are ageing, present level technology is racing towards sophistication and automation. To mitigate the threat of abrupt phasing out, we welcome the benefits of Upgrade projects. It is also a necessity to hand hold the small scale companies and vendors who support the repair and maintenance of ageing components. Despite several powerful and disruptive technologies prevailing in the industry, due to binding constraints, we have to blend

4th Jan 2022,New Delhi: The Indian Navy’s Boeing P-8I aircraft commenced operations from INS Hansa, Goa with two aircraft arriving on 30 December 2021. The aircraft were inducted after fitment of indigenous equipment and Flight Acceptance Trials. On arrival, the aircraft were welcomed by a MiG 29K formation. The Indian Navy had acquired the first batch of eight P-8I aircraft in 2013 that are stationed at INS Rajali, Arakkonam. The second batch of four additional aircraft will be based at Indian Naval Air Squadron 316, to be commissioned at INS Hansa. (News Source:PIB)

New Delhi, 23 DEC 2021 DRDO successfully conducted the flight test of Indigenously developed High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) Abhyas from Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur off the coast, Odisha. During the flight trial, High subsonic speed trajectory at a very low altitude with high endurance was demonstrated. Two boosters provided initial acceleration during launch and a small turbo jet engine is used to sustain high subsonic speed with long endurance. The indigenous data link designed by Bengaluru based Industry partner has been successfully flown and tested during the flight. The performance of the system during the entire flight duration has been confirmed from the data captured by various Range instruments deployed. Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), bengaluru based DRDO laboratory along with other DRDO laboratories has developed this indigenous unmanned aerial target system to meet the requirement of aerial targets of Indian Armed Forces. The aircraft is controlled from a ground based controller and an indigenously developed MEMS based Inertial Navigation System along with the Flight Control Computer which helps it to follow the pre-designated path in a fully autonomous mode. Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh said that the successful test is noteworthy testimony of synergy between scientists and industry. Secretary DD R&D & chairman DRDO complimented scientists of the laboratory, their team members and associated industry partners for the successful development efforts. (News Received from PIB Delhi.)

Bengaluru, December 16, 2021: The LCA Tejas Mk1A programme got a shot in the arm today as Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) received an order worth Rs. 2,400 crores from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the manufacture and supply of 20 types of airborne electronic systems to be fitted on the fighter aircraft. The order was received by Mr Manoj Jain, General Manager (EW&A)/BEL-Bengaluru from Mr E P Jayadeva, General Manager (LCA Tejas), HAL, in the presence of Mrs Anandi Ramalingam, CMD, BEL, and Mr R Madhavan, CMD, HAL. The order spanning five years from 2023 to 2028 involves supply of critical avionic Line Replaceable Units (LRUs) related to Digital Flight Control Computers, Air Data Computers, Weapon Computers, LRUs related to Radar Warning Receiver (RWR) and Head Up Display. The LRUs have been indigenously designed and developed by Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), DRDO Labs, Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), Combat Aircraft Systems Development and Integration Centre (CASDIC) and Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIO). This is the biggest ever order received by BEL for Avionic Systems and will go a long way in ensuring the Indian Air Force‘s Air Superiority and giving a boost to the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of an ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’. The order for supply of Avionic Systems for 83 Tejas MK1A fighter aircraft will be executed by two Strategic Business Units (SBUs) of BEL: Electronic Warfare & Avionics, Bengaluru, and BEL-Panchkula, Haryana. All the systems will be delivered by BEL to HAL in a ready-to-board condition. Mrs Anandi Ramalingam, CMD, BEL, said: “We are pleased to receive this order from HAL for the prestigious LCA Tejas Fighter aircraft programme. It will give a big boost to the Government of India’s indigenisation drive. BEL is all geared up to supply the critical Avionics LRUs as per the delivery schedule. We look forward to continue our strong partnership with HAL for more such programmes.” Mr R Madhavan, CMD HAL, congratulated BEL for the order and said: “The LCA Tejas programme is an excellent example of the synergy between eminent Indian Defence establishments such as HAL, DRDO and BEL. The current order for the development and supply of 20 types of critical Avionics LRUs for Tejas Mk1A is a shot in the arm for the Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat initiatives of the Government of India.”

HENSOLDT’s solutions enable military Air Traffic Control (ATC) and Civil Air Navigation Providers (ANSPs) to safely expand the use of their airspace and integrate Unmanned Airborne Vehicles by using the latest and most advanced ATM technology. HENSOLDT enables efficient Air Traffic Movement (ATM) – Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) airspace integration in both military and civil domains while ensuring robust flight safety by using latest technology products such as ASR-NG (ATC surveillance radar), TwInvis (passive radar surveillance) and Xpeller (Counter Unmanned Aerial Systems – CUAS). Our ATM – UTM solution enable green economy such as Wind Farm installation or/ and Hydrogen supported power generation while maintaining safe air traffic control and air space capacity. TwInvis – a non-emitting, non-cooperative surveillance radar – reduces the emissions and installation footprint while supporting an increased air situational awareness. In an Interview with Aviation World, Mr.Tarique Anwer, Director BD & Marketing,talks about the ATM and UTM Marketplans of HENSOLDT in India Can you please share more about ASR-NG Radar from HENSOLDT? The airspace worldwide is shared between civil and military users, between general aviation traffic and sports or leisure time aircraft. To avoid safety-crucial situations, state-of-the-art ATC radars have to deliver excellent detection performance, from the smallest aircraft like ultra-light gliders to the largest passenger airliner. Modern radars also have to be capable of differentiating between slow-moving rotary-wing aircraft and fast-moving military supersonic fighters without any significant blind speed gaps. ASR-NG can detect the smallest 0.5m² as well as 10.000m² targets with uppermost probability of detection. It offers exceptional no-blind speed coverage between 0 to 1.200 knots. ASR-NG is a multi-beam 3D S-Band solid-state approach control primary and secondary surveillance radar and en-route control sensor, fulfilling ICAO Annex 10 Volume III/IV and EUROCONTROL Surveillance Standard Requirements. The system implements a fully digital Doppler detection and tracking solution with flexible and self-learning clutter and site-optimisation capabilities. The ASR radars consist of an integrated primary and secondary radar system. The primary radar helps to detect non-cooperative objects such as small aircraft without transponders or hostile aircraft. It is based on a semiconductor transmitter and includes special signal processing techniques for wide-area surveillance and wind farm mitigation. The secondary radar, MSSR 2000 I, ensures the automatic identification of cooperative aircraft. What Differentiates HENSOLDT ASR-NG from other products in the market? In the rapidly growing presence of cluttered environment like one generated by wind farms or telecommunication interferences such as 4G/5G LTE mobile networks, it is of utmost importance for air traffic control radars to cope with those to keep on ensuring safety of ATC. While previous generations of ATC radars could not suppress false alarms originating from wind farms, ASR-NG provides highest detection, resolution and tracking performance by the use of its worldwide-first, concurrent, triple-beam processing and electronic beam forming capabilities. Its detection and tracking of small rotary-wing aircraft over wind farms is field-proven, witnessed by the UK Ministry of Defence. Using a third horn antenna feed the ASR-NG also provides a unique feature of 3D target detection. This third beam allows the measurement and calculation of altitudes of uncooperative targets such as aircraft with either no transponders or defect/disabled Identification Friend-Foe (IFF) signals – for instance during military exercises or flight operations. With nearly no preventive maintenance, the ASR-NG system has been designed for fully autonomous, unmanned and completely remotely controlled 24/7/365 operation. The transfer of maintenance knowledge to the customer or a preferred local partner serves as standard logistic support approach. Fixed-price support agreements and supply guarantees are provided for 25 years and more. Do you have a deployable version of AS-NG? A modular and scalable deployable ASR-NG, with the same superior performance was developed for civil and military ATC, being transportable by land, sea and air to be deployed all over the world. The deployable ASR-NG exploits the superior detection performance and accuracy of the stationary ASR-NG variant combined with small airlift footprint being air transportable in one transport aircraft and a deployment time of less than six hours. The versatility of our new product combined with ASR-NG’s superior performance makes it ideally suited for ATC purposes in joint and combined missions of expeditionary units. The deployable ASR-NG has been already contracted by a European NATO member and has finished its first acceptance tests during delivery. This ATC proven technology will enable the Customer to provide state of the art ATC services to their forces using the deployable ASR-NG for example during out of area missions. What is the TwINVIS Radar ? The TwInvis is a multistatic coherent passive radar that supports the airspace surveillance and enables a detection of up to 200 aircraft in 3D within a radius of 250 km in a non-cooperative scenario without any emission and without the need of a transponder onboard of the aircraft. An air situation picture is generated by analyzing reflected signals from existing third-party sources such as radio and TV stations and provides additional primary radar information to the air traffic controllers with an update rate of 1 second. Can you tell something more on the UTM and Counter UAS Solution of Hensoldt? Our Xpeller counter – UAS Solution provides protection from the ever-increasing threat posed by drones, both in the military and the civil sector. Xpeller uses a combination of sensors to detect track, track and classify many different types of drones and assess its threat potential at ranges from a few hundred meters up to several kilometers. If it’s a serious threat, it can be then countered by choosing the appropriate countermeasures. In addition, the Xpeller can be the back bone of a future UTM system providing non cooperative surveillance to ensure no disruption of future traffic drones that may occur due to rogue operations. What are your plans for India Market? India is a vast country with challenging geography. We are also aware of India’s uncompromising focus on self-reliance through the “Make in India” initiative. Our proposed approach is to offer complete products and solutions to Indian customers. Through a

Tel Aviv, Israel – Israel Aerospace Industries’ (IAI) innovative ADA Anti-Jam GPS System, designed to protect GPS/GNSS navigation from jamming, has been integrated into advanced platforms used by the Israeli Air Force (IAF), including into F-16 fighter jets and various types of UAS. The ADA System has demonstrated operational maturity and is in use by a number of international customers on various airborne, land, and marine platforms. ADA is combat proven in providing immunity against GPS jammers, most recently demonstrating its effectiveness in ‘Operation Guardian of the Walls’ last May.”Electronic warfare poses an evolving threat to satellite navigation systems. The integration of the ADA System to protect various platforms against GNSS jammers is an essential component to any platform or mission system that uses GNSS receivers in general and GPS receivers in particular. As such, it constitutes a critical element of any modern army’s operational organization,” said Jacob Galifat, IAI’s VP and General Manager of the IAI-MALAM Division. “As a center of excellence for development of technologically advanced weapon systems, IAI takes pride in providing ADA to the IAF and to our worldwide customers, and continues to adapt it to evolving threats and customer needs, including land and marine users. Given its proven capability in providing a solution to such significant operational challenge, we believe ADA has strong business potential for numerous countries and customers.”