Defence and Security of India - AugSept 2012 issue

AIR DEFENCE

FUTURE PROMISING Technical solutions to air defence woes of the Indian armed forces exist | PRAHALADA LEFT WING EXTREMISM

NEEDS A NON-VIOLENT SOLUTION The development agenda needs more focus | BRIG (RETD) ARUN SAHGAL SEPTEMBER 2012

DEFENCE and SECURITY of INDIA

DSI VOLUME 4 • ISSUE 6 • ` 250

INDIA AND ISRAEL TOGETHER IN DEFENCE ISRAEL IS INDIA’S SECOND LARGEST ARMS SUPPLIER

MAJ GEN (RETD) RAMESH C CHOPRA

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SEPTEMBER 2012

LETTER FROM THE

DSI

editor

t is just a coincidence that when we were finalising the cover story of the magazine, on IndiaIsrael defence relations, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was visiting New Delhi. Indeed, even though Israel was born just two years after India gained independence, Israel was viewed by India as a colonial outpost in West Asia. The weight of our support was significantly tilted in favour of Muslim Palestine. The first major opening to Tel Aviv came in 1978, when then foreign minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, went to Israel secretly, met Moshe Dayan, the Israeli leader. Soon, the relationship grew as hard realism prevailed in both the capitals and Indo-Israeli relationship based itself on this. The relationship really got a fillip during the ’90s decade when India was wracked by terrorist violence. That story has been recorded in this issue’s main article written by Major General (Retd) Ramesh Chopra, a former military intelligence official who had wide contacts with the Israelis. This is the template on which this issue is anchored; we have sought to deal with each topic through the thoughts of domain experts. So we have three senior, but retired, Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) scientists writing on three crucial areas of science and technology that are wielding major influences on modern warfare. We have Dr Prahalad, a pioneering Distinguished Scientist of the DRDO, who gave the country its first indigenously built MR-SAM (Medium Range Surface to Air Missile) for air defence, writing on the latest technology at play in his chosen area. We also have Jayaraman Jagannathan, who fathered the first Indian Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Lakshya, the pilotless target aircraft, writing on the technologies of UAVs. Madhukar Saraf, another retired, but much awarded scientist of the organisation writes on the technology of ballistic armour. Finally, we have an article on how to deal with Left Wing Extremism, not just by military means but through increasing presence of the government with its welfare projects. As a result, these areas had been devoid of what is increasingly being called, ‘development.’ This problem of LWE has caused some healthy churning within the country in the form of debates about what the future holds for us.

As usual we look forward to your feedback, suggestions and comments. Do write to us at feedback.DSI@mtil.biz. Should you want to subscribe then drop us an email at dsisubscriptions@mtil.biz and our marketing team will do the rest.

We have sought to deal with each topic through the thoughts of the domain experts.

So we have three senior, but retired Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), scientists writing on three crucial areas of science and technology that are wielding major influences on modern warfare.

Pinaki Bhattacharya EDITOR

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AIR DEFENCE SOLUTIONS 26

FUTURE PROMISING

AFP

AFP

Air defence solutions are like mental jousts between the hunter and the prey. Dr Prahalad helped the country crack the code.

UAV 12

BALLISTIC PROTECTION 38

UAVS IN FUTURE BATTLE SPACE

STRENGTHENING THE ARMOUR IN ALL SPECTRUMS AFP

Jayaraman Jagannathan, the man who made Lakshya, India’s first pilotless target aircraft, writes about the impact of this early 21st century technological innovation in the present and the future battlespace.

As technology poses newer levels of threats to the combatants, scientists and technologists all over the world are seeking to stay ahead, writes M.N, Saraf

AFGHANISTAN 41

BEING THE BUILDER’S NAVY

MEANING OF 2014 IN AFGHANISTAN

IVice Admiral (retd) Harsimran Malhi, a former chairman of MDL writes. about the major modfernisation the PSU shipyards are undergoing

The world is holding its breath as the date for US/ISAF withdrawal approaches. No one is prognosticating about the future. Will all the gains go up in flames, asks Pinaki Bhattacharya.

AFP

WARSHIP DEVELOPMENT 20

CONTROLLING INSURGENCY 34

COVER STORY 06

AFP

India and Israel have had an official relationship for not more than two decades. But the intensity of this relationship makes it seem enduring

Left wing extremism is a result of the absence of governance in some of the areas of the country. Retired Brigadier, Arun Sahgal, a master of Net Assessment, argues the right approach to solve the problem is a focus on development

AFP

A COUNTER APPROACH

INDIA-ISRAEL DEFENCE RELATIONSHIP 02

contents 2nd time.indd 1-2

DSI

AFP

CONTENTS

SEPTEMBER 2012

03

18/09/12 1:24 PM

AIR DEFENCE SOLUTIONS 26

FUTURE PROMISING

AFP

AFP

Air defence solutions are like mental jousts between the hunter and the prey. Dr Prahalad helped the country crack the code.

UAV 12

BALLISTIC PROTECTION 36

UAVS IN FUTURE BATTLE SPACE

STRENGTHENING THE ARMOUR IN ALL SPECTRUMS AFP

Jayaraman Jagannathan, the man who made Lakshya, India’s first pilotless target aircraft, writes about the impact of this early 21st century technological innovation in the present and the future battlespace.

As technology poses newer levels of threats to the combatants, scientists and technologists all over the world are seeking to stay ahead, writes M.N, Saraf

AFGHANISTAN 41

BEING THE BUILDER’S NAVY

MEANING OF 2014 IN AFGHANISTAN

IVice Admiral (retd) Harsimran Malhi, a former chairman of MDL writes. about the major modfernisation the PSU shipyards are undergoing

The world is holding its breath as the date for US/ISAF withdrawal approaches. No one is prognosticating about the future. Will all the gains go up in flames, asks Pinaki Bhattacharya.

AFP

WARSHIP DEVELOPMENT 20

CONTROLLING INSURGENCY 32

COVER STORY 06

AFP

India and Israel have had an official relationship for not more than two decades. But the intensity of this relationship makes it seem enduring

Left wing extremism is a result of the absence of governance in some of the areas of the country. Retired Brigadier, Arun Sahgal, a master of Net Assessment, argues the right approach to solve the problem is a focus on development

AFP

A COUNTER APPROACH

INDIA-ISRAEL DEFENCE RELATIONSHIP 02

contents 2nd time.indd 1-2

DSI

AFP

CONTENTS

SEPTEMBER 2012

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DEFENCE RELATIONSHIP

SEPTEMBER 2012

DSI

INDIA AND ISRAEL: RELATIONSHIP BASED ON ARMS TRADE The two countries have had an official relationship for not more than two decades. Even though both try to keep the relations at a lower profile, the intensity of this partnership makes it seem enduring.

Maj. Gen.Ramesh C Chopra

KEY POINTS

The India-Israel unofficial defence relations have grown over a period since the late ’60s.

Since diplomatic relations were established in 1992, the official engagement has gained momentum over the last two decades.

Israel is now the second largest arms provider to India.

AFP

An Israeli armament industry worker adjusts a Tavor Assault Rifle Tars 5.56 mm at Defexpo

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entire spectrum of aerospace, electronics and communications, surveillance, crucial Air Defence (AD) systems, Electronic Warfare be it in the air or through radars, sensors, cutting edge technology in armaments, upgrading and retrofitting of aging Soviet era equipment, which includes tanks and aircraft and, lately, avionics, cooperative development and production of helicopters and aircraft early warning systems to prevent surprise from China and Pakistan or both.

Cooperation in Counter Terrorism (CT), Counter Infiltration and sharing of information and Intelligence, and, the latest global threat of cyber warfare, directly and through the Internet, blogs, tweets and so on are other vital aspects.

General The robustness of India-Israel defence relations lies in defence and security cooperation that has played a major role in strategic and bilateral ties. Primarily, collaboration lies in the mutual interest in safeguarding the country in the war on terror, Military and Other Significant be it a proxy from across the border, jihadis Developments and their ilk! This entails cooperation in the At the Defexpo Exhibition, over 230 foreign

7

19/09/12 1:00 PM

DEFENCE RELATIONSHIP

SEPTEMBER 2012

DSI

INDIA AND ISRAEL: RELATIONSHIP BASED ON ARMS TRADE The two countries have had an official relationship for not more than two decades. Even though both try to keep the relations at a lower profile, the intensity of this partnership makes it seem enduring.

Maj. Gen.Ramesh C Chopra

KEY POINTS

The India-Israel unofficial defence relations have grown over a period since the late ’60s.

Since diplomatic relations were established in 1992, the official engagement has gained momentum over the last two decades.

Israel is now the second largest arms provider to India.

AFP

An Israeli armament industry worker adjusts a Tavor Assault Rifle Tars 5.56 mm at Defexpo

6

indo israeli 3rd time.indd 6-7

entire spectrum of aerospace, electronics and communications, surveillance, crucial Air Defence (AD) systems, Electronic Warfare be it in the air or through radars, sensors, cutting edge technology in armaments, upgrading and retrofitting of aging Soviet era equipment, which includes tanks and aircraft and, lately, avionics, cooperative development and production of helicopters and aircraft early warning systems to prevent surprise from China and Pakistan or both.

Cooperation in Counter Terrorism (CT), Counter Infiltration and sharing of information and Intelligence, and, the latest global threat of cyber warfare, directly and through the Internet, blogs, tweets and so on are other vital aspects.

General The robustness of India-Israel defence relations lies in defence and security cooperation that has played a major role in strategic and bilateral ties. Primarily, collaboration lies in the mutual interest in safeguarding the country in the war on terror, Military and Other Significant be it a proxy from across the border, jihadis Developments and their ilk! This entails cooperation in the At the Defexpo Exhibition, over 230 foreign

7

19/09/12 1:00 PM

DEFENCE RELATIONSHIP

SEPTEMBER 2012

DSI

“

It would thus seem, arms supply and joint production with Israeli MIC and defence firms will continue in the medium term.

AFP

helicopters (avionics by IAI).

• 2x Green Pine EW radars for DRDO. • Upgradation of 130mm M46 Field Guns to 155mm calibre by Israel Soltam Systems.

AFP

Visiting Israeli National Security Advisor Yaakov Amidror (L) shakes hands with Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony in New Delhi

armament firms participated including major weapon exporting powers such as the US, France, the UK, Germany, Sweden and increasingly, Israel, all eyeing the current Indian $ 41 billion defence budget and the fact that, besides being one of the largest arms importers; due to its threat perception, it proposes to spend upwards of $100 billion in the next decade or so making it a lucrative market indeed With regard to Israel, even though India achieved Independence from colonialism in 1947 and Israel, one year later, after the UN General Assembly passed a Partition Plan, dividing the British mandated Palestine into two: Jewish and Muslim areas. India recognized the State of Israel only in 1950; but India, despite being a founder member of NAM, and, with a distinctly pro-Arab attitude – even though the OIC has invariably sponsored anti-Indian resolutions on J & K in its perceived national interest and, with

an eye towards improvement in bilateral response – unlike other Western powers, ties and defence, security and intelligence with the US even threatening by deploying cooperation, India established full diplomatic the US aircraft carrier, Enterprise off the relations with Israel in 1992. At that juncture, Eastern coast of Bangladesh (then East India's military interests were especially in Pakistan) – and assisted India in its time the fields of upgrading avionics in MiG-21 of travail.

Eventually, with the Indian Armed Forces fighters, technical cooperation related to military aircraft, reverse engineering, supply evincing increased interest in procuring of ordnance and arms, particularly laser- latest state-of-the-art Israeli Defence guided bombs, UAVs and ammunition for products, India posted its first ever Military artillery guns like 155mm Bofors howitzers, Attaché to Israel in 1997. The current value of and bombs meant for the Mirage jet aircraft. India's imports from Israel stands at around It is understood that, even as early as 1962, $10 billion with expectation by Israel that it during the war between India and China, will further soar, making it one of the largest – on a request by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to actually already second largest, due to India’s David Ben Gurion, his Israeli counterpart, diversification plan as also reduced imports immediately supplied 120 mm mortar rounds. of military hardware from the erstwhile This aid was repeated during the wars with Soviet Union – arms exporters to India; the Pakistan in 1965 and 1971, that time 160mm major acquisitions being delivery of Phalcon mortar rounds. What is important is not the AWACs mounted on Russian Ilyushin-76s in nature of aid, howsoever small, but the fact 2009-10. Earlier in 1996, India purchased that Israel rose to the occasion with a quick 32 Searcher UAVs and a sophisticated Air

8

indo israeli 2nd time.indd 8-9

An official of the Indian Air equipment.

Combat Maneuvering Force (L) and representatives Instrumentation from of Israel’s ELTA Systems • Hermes 900, next Israel as well as two Dvora generation medium Limited interact at the Indian Air Force (IAF) Station at patrol boats for the Indian altitude long endurance Naliya in Kutch , Gujarat Navy. Additionally, India's UAVs special interest was to take • With Hindustan Israel's assistance in developing indigenous Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), simulators and defence systems and arms modernisation. avionics for Skylark mini UAVs • EL\M2052 multi mode radar for Tejas Macro Arms Purchases fighter being developed by HAL and DRDO. A brief account of some of the macro exports, • Assist DRDO in development of Divya leading to arms purchases and JVs – which Drishti surveillance systems. is by no means comprehensive, by Israeli Israel Weapons Industries defence firms proposed for sale to India, • 9mm Uzi Pro submachine guns, being the latter being interested due to Israel's light weight particularly useful or Special advanced know-how and technology – is Forces as well as Para Military Forces enumerated below: • NEGEV G 7: 5-56 (also Tavor family) and Israel Aerospace Industries 7.62 mm calibre assault rifles.

• GTADS, self contained gyro stabilised observation and targetting system.

Generally, Israel has provided : • Barak-8 missile defence system to be • State -of -the -art fire control systems and launched from fighters, UAVs, helicopters thermal imagery for the Russian made 300 and so on. x T-72 fleet.

• EL\I-3360 Maritime Patrol Aircraft, a • Several high-tech systems, ranging from multi-role airborne system.

Barak-1 anti missile defence systems and • Harop missile, recently acquired for the EW radars to Searcher and Heron UAVs. IAF. • Barak-NG missile defence system for the • EL\M2083 air search radars.

Indian Navy.

Elbit Systems • Searcher, Heron and Harp UAVs. • Cutting Edge artillery and mortars • Joint production with HAL: Dhruv

JVs and Indigenisation Since JVs and the quest for indigenisation are an important aspect of all Indian arms trade and development, these are being actively promoted; while JVs for development in high technology will suit the purpose in the short term as there can be no shortfall in security – through modernisation and the latest state-of-the art equipment – albeit imported – the long term answer is indigenisation with increasing involvement of the private sector. Currently, the major private sector firms being Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd with Israel's Rafael Advanced Defence Systems Ltd: joint manufacture being envisaged in Torpedo Defence Systems, Advanced Armour Solutions and Remotely Operated Weapon Stations for futuristic Infantry Combat Vehicles, EW systems, enhanced sale of Rafael Spike missiles and Spyder Air Defence systems. The Tata Group companies (Tata Advanced Systems Ltd and Tata Power) were the pioneers of this relationship and sought manufacturing and research and development assistance and facilities with Israel in Radar technology, EW and recently, due to increased IS threats, homeland security systems on the lines of the US. It would thus seem that, arms supply and joint production with Israeli MIC and Defence firms will continue in the medium term.

Other Indian firms of repute interested in JVs are: L&T, Godrej and Reliance; from the Public Sector, beside DRDO, DRDL,

9

18/09/12 2:42 PM

DEFENCE RELATIONSHIP

SEPTEMBER 2012

DSI

“

It would thus seem, arms supply and joint production with Israeli MIC and defence firms will continue in the medium term.

AFP

helicopters (avionics by IAI).

• 2x Green Pine EW radars for DRDO. • Upgradation of 130mm M46 Field Guns to 155mm calibre by Israel Soltam Systems.

AFP

Visiting Israeli National Security Advisor Yaakov Amidror (L) shakes hands with Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony in New Delhi

armament firms participated including major weapon exporting powers such as the US, France, the UK, Germany, Sweden and increasingly, Israel, all eyeing the current Indian $ 41 billion defence budget and the fact that, besides being one of the largest arms importers; due to its threat perception, it proposes to spend upwards of $100 billion in the next decade or so making it a lucrative market indeed With regard to Israel, even though India achieved Independence from colonialism in 1947 and Israel, one year later, after the UN General Assembly passed a Partition Plan, dividing the British mandated Palestine into two: Jewish and Muslim areas. India recognized the State of Israel only in 1950; but India, despite being a founder member of NAM, and, with a distinctly pro-Arab attitude – even though the OIC has invariably sponsored anti-Indian resolutions on J & K in its perceived national interest and, with

an eye towards improvement in bilateral response – unlike other Western powers, ties and defence, security and intelligence with the US even threatening by deploying cooperation, India established full diplomatic the US aircraft carrier, Enterprise off the relations with Israel in 1992. At that juncture, Eastern coast of Bangladesh (then East India's military interests were especially in Pakistan) – and assisted India in its time the fields of upgrading avionics in MiG-21 of travail.

Eventually, with the Indian Armed Forces fighters, technical cooperation related to military aircraft, reverse engineering, supply evincing increased interest in procuring of ordnance and arms, particularly laser- latest state-of-the-art Israeli Defence guided bombs, UAVs and ammunition for products, India posted its first ever Military artillery guns like 155mm Bofors howitzers, Attaché to Israel in 1997. The current value of and bombs meant for the Mirage jet aircraft. India's imports from Israel stands at around It is understood that, even as early as 1962, $10 billion with expectation by Israel that it during the war between India and China, will further soar, making it one of the largest – on a request by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to actually already second largest, due to India’s David Ben Gurion, his Israeli counterpart, diversification plan as also reduced imports immediately supplied 120 mm mortar rounds. of military hardware from the erstwhile This aid was repeated during the wars with Soviet Union – arms exporters to India; the Pakistan in 1965 and 1971, that time 160mm major acquisitions being delivery of Phalcon mortar rounds. What is important is not the AWACs mounted on Russian Ilyushin-76s in nature of aid, howsoever small, but the fact 2009-10. Earlier in 1996, India purchased that Israel rose to the occasion with a quick 32 Searcher UAVs and a sophisticated Air

8

indo israeli 2nd time.indd 8-9

An official of the Indian Air equipment.

Combat Maneuvering Force (L) and representatives Instrumentation from of Israel’s ELTA Systems • Hermes 900, next Israel as well as two Dvora generation medium Limited interact at the Indian Air Force (IAF) Station at patrol boats for the Indian altitude long endurance Naliya in Kutch , Gujarat Navy. Additionally, India's UAVs special interest was to take • With Hindustan Israel's assistance in developing indigenous Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), simulators and defence systems and arms modernisation. avionics for Skylark mini UAVs • EL\M2052 multi mode radar for Tejas Macro Arms Purchases fighter being developed by HAL and DRDO. A brief account of some of the macro exports, • Assist DRDO in development of Divya leading to arms purchases and JVs – which Drishti surveillance systems. is by no means comprehensive, by Israeli Israel Weapons Industries defence firms proposed for sale to India, • 9mm Uzi Pro submachine guns, being the latter being interested due to Israel's light weight particularly useful or Special advanced know-how and technology – is Forces as well as Para Military Forces enumerated below: • NEGEV G 7: 5-56 (also Tavor family) and Israel Aerospace Industries 7.62 mm calibre assault rifles.

• GTADS, self contained gyro stabilised observation and targetting system.

Generally, Israel has provided : • Barak-8 missile defence system to be • State -of -the -art fire control systems and launched from fighters, UAVs, helicopters thermal imagery for the Russian made 300 and so on. x T-72 fleet.

• EL\I-3360 Maritime Patrol Aircraft, a • Several high-tech systems, ranging from multi-role airborne system.

Barak-1 anti missile defence systems and • Harop missile, recently acquired for the EW radars to Searcher and Heron UAVs. IAF. • Barak-NG missile defence system for the • EL\M2083 air search radars.

Indian Navy.

Elbit Systems • Searcher, Heron and Harp UAVs. • Cutting Edge artillery and mortars • Joint production with HAL: Dhruv

JVs and Indigenisation Since JVs and the quest for indigenisation are an important aspect of all Indian arms trade and development, these are being actively promoted; while JVs for development in high technology will suit the purpose in the short term as there can be no shortfall in security – through modernisation and the latest state-of-the art equipment – albeit imported – the long term answer is indigenisation with increasing involvement of the private sector. Currently, the major private sector firms being Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd with Israel's Rafael Advanced Defence Systems Ltd: joint manufacture being envisaged in Torpedo Defence Systems, Advanced Armour Solutions and Remotely Operated Weapon Stations for futuristic Infantry Combat Vehicles, EW systems, enhanced sale of Rafael Spike missiles and Spyder Air Defence systems. The Tata Group companies (Tata Advanced Systems Ltd and Tata Power) were the pioneers of this relationship and sought manufacturing and research and development assistance and facilities with Israel in Radar technology, EW and recently, due to increased IS threats, homeland security systems on the lines of the US. It would thus seem that, arms supply and joint production with Israeli MIC and Defence firms will continue in the medium term.

Other Indian firms of repute interested in JVs are: L&T, Godrej and Reliance; from the Public Sector, beside DRDO, DRDL,

9

18/09/12 2:42 PM

DEFENCE RELATIONSHIP

AFP

Unfair Practices An important issue is to prevent corruption, bribery and unfair advantage due to lobbying and accusations of use of agents for kick-backs and to speed and ‘grease’ purchases in competitive arms procurement.

Black listing – while staying away from canards, by vested interested competitive defence firms to sabotage approvals of defence deals - is one of the solutions but, along with corruption and investigation leads to inordinate delays which the armed forces can ill afford in today’s worsening security environment. While streamlining administrative and defence acquisition procedures – to reach this end the MoD has taken various stringent measures recently – which will somewhat stem this malaise, ...that deserves consideration – as practised by many countries is to formally allow lobbying and middlemen\agents thus mitigating unfair practices and, hopefully, corruption. However, this is a complex subject by itself and not particularly relevant to the current Paper.

made peace with Israel in 1979 with Jordan following suit soon), the over-riding problem being more the Sunni-Shia divide (from which India has consciously steered clear), with Saudi Arabia more concerned with the Shia dominated Iran.

India's military challenge is China and its immediate Western neighbor, Pakkistan and its military intelligence agency, ISI which is actively involved in a proxy Security Environment While the aforesaid enumerated defence war and brazenly supporting, abetting and cooperation being an essential part of India- funding Pak-based and sponsored terrorist Israel bilateral relationship is true, as far and Jihadi activities in J&K and now, the as the strategic environment is concerned, rest of India; of course, Pakistan’s military there are some similarities such as the threat controlled – and Chinese aided – nuclear of Islamic extremism; nevertheless, each arsenal is a matter of grave concern not country is guided by its National Interest to only to India but also the rest of the world. achieve stability and a peaceful neighborhood. Additionally, in West Asia, India has Israel is obsessed with and perceives the largest diaspora of around 6 million tremendous security and existential threats workers whose security and welfare are from Iran due to its nuclear programme – paramount. In South Asia, there is political which, it is convinced, is being built under unrest, ethnic and religious conflicts the guise of civil nuclear energy – and Iran’s as well as other traditional and nonopen support to Hezbollah and Hamas traditional security threats. Domestically, 'terrorist groups', as well as inimical Arab in India there is political opposition in neighbors in an area of turmoil and unrest – some quarters, particularly Left wing to although now many Arab nations have covert India-Israel cooperation in the Defence and even open relations with Israel (Egypt sphere, the large Muslim minority is an

10

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is quite clear that, Iran being a signatory to the NPT is very much entitled to and has the right to peaceful use of nuclear energy but it has to fulfill its obligations as a non-nuclear weapon state under the NPT. Nevertheless, India continues to be against any nuclear proliferation and consistently propagates universal disarmament.

Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony (in white) poses Indian Air Force (IAF) with officers and crew of the Israel-made Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft during the induction ceremony.

important factor and traditional sympathy for the Palestine cause has to be kept in mind; however, the last issue regarding the consequences of the Palestine-Israel conflict is not an overbearing one as the local populace is more concerned with day to day issues of existence. Moreover, while political and humanitarian support for Palestine must continue, an entirely proPalestine policy, experience has shown, has not helped to sway the Arab States in favour of India.

India-Iran-Israel The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, notwithstanding coalition politics, visited Iran in August 2012 to attend the NAM Conference. Earlier, in January 2012, as part of his West Asian region tour, the Foreign Minister (FM), SM Krishna visited Israel with a view to consolidate the Strategic Partnership and expand bilateral relations, but followed it with a visit to Palestine expressing solidarity with the latter’s cause. During this Israeli visit – the first, following the then FM, Jaswant Singh visit, in July 2000, when both countries’ agreed to set up a Joint

Anti-Terrorism Commission – there were positive developments in the major fields of economic (non-defence trade $ 5-6 Billion), defence (already $10 billion) and peopleto-people contacts (around 40,000 Israelis – mostly young ex-servicemen, after their tenure of compulsory engagement in the Israeli Armed Forces, visit India annually).

India and Iran have enjoyed civilizations and cultural bonds since centuries but now, it seems that real-politic has taken over. For India’s energy security, Iran continues to be its second largest oil import destinations after Saudi Arabia. It obtains almost 12 per cent annually at a cost of $11- 12 billion and, despite pressure from the US, is unlikely to drastically reduce its imports of oil. Competition with China – with whom India’s effort should be to not lose ground - particularly in the Gulf Region makes this area even more important but has hastened India to look for newer sources as far afield as Africa and Latin America. However, notwithstanding the aforesaid, India has not condoned Iran’s nuclear ambitions except for peaceful purposes. India has voted for the IAEA resolutions against Iran thrice, in 2005, 2006 and 2009. Unlike Israel, India

DSI

It is understood that Indiaʼs external intelligence agency, R&AW, and Israelʼs Mossad have cooperated in the past, exchanged information and, to the extent possible, intelligence on various aspects of terrorism prior to 9\11 and certainly post-26\11

“

HAL , BHEL and so on.

India and Israel S&T organisations are closely collaborating. In the spirit of JVs, India’s ISRO launched the Israeli satellite Polaris in 2008. Thereafter, in 2009 India launched the Israeli-made imaging satellite RISAT-2.

SEPTEMBER 2012

Counter terrorism and Cyber Warfare Cooperation As generally averred to earlier, the common threats in this field are: Islamic extremism, terrorist linkages in their respective regions, exploited by criminals, money laundering and a host of such activities as well as the latest global cyber war compounded by use of the Internet, tweets and blogs and proxy use from across the border and, at times, from within the country. It is understood that India’s external intelligence agency, R&AW and Israel’s Mossad have cooperated outfits, counter insurgency and tackling of in the past, exchanged information and, to militancy. India and Israel can share their the extent possible, intelligence on various experience and expertise in CT and Counter aspects of terrorism prior to 9\11 and Intelligence to weed out subversive elements certainly post 26\11; this needs to be further as also gainfully, conduct joint training at intensified. In my view, both countries’ the Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare Military Intelligence set ups also need School in Mizoram and Naxal affected areas to have even closer interaction to share and similar CT establishments in Israel, military related information, Intelligence suitably geared to suit each countries’ needs.

Besides the US – which is the leader – with and techniques.

As far as JVs and Defence joint projects regard to Cyber war, India and Israel can are concerned, it seems that Israel has signed share techniques to crackdown and trace ‘cooperative agreements’ with many countries the origin of such threats, taking in my view, including India to prevent information leaks not only defensive action but also carrying from joint security projects. With regard to the war to the enemy. It will also help India India’s fight against terrorism in J&K and to hone its Security Policy on Cyber War. other parts of the country, India can gainfully Presently, there is no unified overall agency, seek Israel’s assistance in sophisticated just a move towards a Cyber Coordinator in surveillance, sensors and imagery equipment the National Security Council, but NTRO and as well as share information on money India Computer Emergency Response Team laundering and terror funding (reportedly (CERT-IN) are charged with cyber incident also done through the Gulf Region). Both prevention and are primarily responsible for countries should also share expertise in tactics fighting cyber crime, neutralising, blocking related to counter terrorism warfare, training ‘Psy-jihad’ sought to be waged through Internet of elite and Special Forces, suitably adapted and social media sites and tracing postings to the needs of each country. In the absence coming from religious fundamentalists and of the National Counter Terrorism Centre adversarial sites including home-grown. Only (NCTC) – awaiting consensus amongst - India being an open Democracy – needs political parties – India could usefully to exercise balance and caution and not share the experiences of the Israeli akin unnecessarily block websites and individual Multi Agency Centres (MACs) which have accounts and so on, keeping in mind the DSI considerable knowledge regarding terrorist rights of the people.

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18/09/12 2:42 PM

DEFENCE RELATIONSHIP

AFP

Unfair Practices An important issue is to prevent corruption, bribery and unfair advantage due to lobbying and accusations of use of agents for kick-backs and to speed and ‘grease’ purchases in competitive arms procurement.

Black listing – while staying away from canards, by vested interested competitive defence firms to sabotage approvals of defence deals - is one of the solutions but, along with corruption and investigation leads to inordinate delays which the armed forces can ill afford in today’s worsening security environment. While streamlining administrative and defence acquisition procedures – to reach this end the MoD has taken various stringent measures recently – which will somewhat stem this malaise, ...that deserves consideration – as practised by many countries is to formally allow lobbying and middlemen\agents thus mitigating unfair practices and, hopefully, corruption. However, this is a complex subject by itself and not particularly relevant to the current Paper.

made peace with Israel in 1979 with Jordan following suit soon), the over-riding problem being more the Sunni-Shia divide (from which India has consciously steered clear), with Saudi Arabia more concerned with the Shia dominated Iran.

India's military challenge is China and its immediate Western neighbor, Pakkistan and its military intelligence agency, ISI which is actively involved in a proxy Security Environment While the aforesaid enumerated defence war and brazenly supporting, abetting and cooperation being an essential part of India- funding Pak-based and sponsored terrorist Israel bilateral relationship is true, as far and Jihadi activities in J&K and now, the as the strategic environment is concerned, rest of India; of course, Pakistan’s military there are some similarities such as the threat controlled – and Chinese aided – nuclear of Islamic extremism; nevertheless, each arsenal is a matter of grave concern not country is guided by its National Interest to only to India but also the rest of the world. achieve stability and a peaceful neighborhood. Additionally, in West Asia, India has Israel is obsessed with and perceives the largest diaspora of around 6 million tremendous security and existential threats workers whose security and welfare are from Iran due to its nuclear programme – paramount. In South Asia, there is political which, it is convinced, is being built under unrest, ethnic and religious conflicts the guise of civil nuclear energy – and Iran’s as well as other traditional and nonopen support to Hezbollah and Hamas traditional security threats. Domestically, 'terrorist groups', as well as inimical Arab in India there is political opposition in neighbors in an area of turmoil and unrest – some quarters, particularly Left wing to although now many Arab nations have covert India-Israel cooperation in the Defence and even open relations with Israel (Egypt sphere, the large Muslim minority is an

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is quite clear that, Iran being a signatory to the NPT is very much entitled to and has the right to peaceful use of nuclear energy but it has to fulfill its obligations as a non-nuclear weapon state under the NPT. Nevertheless, India continues to be against any nuclear proliferation and consistently propagates universal disarmament.

Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony (in white) poses Indian Air Force (IAF) with officers and crew of the Israel-made Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft during the induction ceremony.

important factor and traditional sympathy for the Palestine cause has to be kept in mind; however, the last issue regarding the consequences of the Palestine-Israel conflict is not an overbearing one as the local populace is more concerned with day to day issues of existence. Moreover, while political and humanitarian support for Palestine must continue, an entirely proPalestine policy, experience has shown, has not helped to sway the Arab States in favour of India.

India-Iran-Israel The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, notwithstanding coalition politics, visited Iran in August 2012 to attend the NAM Conference. Earlier, in January 2012, as part of his West Asian region tour, the Foreign Minister (FM), SM Krishna visited Israel with a view to consolidate the Strategic Partnership and expand bilateral relations, but followed it with a visit to Palestine expressing solidarity with the latter’s cause. During this Israeli visit – the first, following the then FM, Jaswant Singh visit, in July 2000, when both countries’ agreed to set up a Joint

Anti-Terrorism Commission – there were positive developments in the major fields of economic (non-defence trade $ 5-6 Billion), defence (already $10 billion) and peopleto-people contacts (around 40,000 Israelis – mostly young ex-servicemen, after their tenure of compulsory engagement in the Israeli Armed Forces, visit India annually).

India and Iran have enjoyed civilizations and cultural bonds since centuries but now, it seems that real-politic has taken over. For India’s energy security, Iran continues to be its second largest oil import destinations after Saudi Arabia. It obtains almost 12 per cent annually at a cost of $11- 12 billion and, despite pressure from the US, is unlikely to drastically reduce its imports of oil. Competition with China – with whom India’s effort should be to not lose ground - particularly in the Gulf Region makes this area even more important but has hastened India to look for newer sources as far afield as Africa and Latin America. However, notwithstanding the aforesaid, India has not condoned Iran’s nuclear ambitions except for peaceful purposes. India has voted for the IAEA resolutions against Iran thrice, in 2005, 2006 and 2009. Unlike Israel, India

DSI

It is understood that Indiaʼs external intelligence agency, R&AW, and Israelʼs Mossad have cooperated in the past, exchanged information and, to the extent possible, intelligence on various aspects of terrorism prior to 9\11 and certainly post-26\11

“

HAL , BHEL and so on.

India and Israel S&T organisations are closely collaborating. In the spirit of JVs, India’s ISRO launched the Israeli satellite Polaris in 2008. Thereafter, in 2009 India launched the Israeli-made imaging satellite RISAT-2.

SEPTEMBER 2012

Counter terrorism and Cyber Warfare Cooperation As generally averred to earlier, the common threats in this field are: Islamic extremism, terrorist linkages in their respective regions, exploited by criminals, money laundering and a host of such activities as well as the latest global cyber war compounded by use of the Internet, tweets and blogs and proxy use from across the border and, at times, from within the country. It is understood that India’s external intelligence agency, R&AW and Israel’s Mossad have cooperated outfits, counter insurgency and tackling of in the past, exchanged information and, to militancy. India and Israel can share their the extent possible, intelligence on various experience and expertise in CT and Counter aspects of terrorism prior to 9\11 and Intelligence to weed out subversive elements certainly post 26\11; this needs to be further as also gainfully, conduct joint training at intensified. In my view, both countries’ the Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare Military Intelligence set ups also need School in Mizoram and Naxal affected areas to have even closer interaction to share and similar CT establishments in Israel, military related information, Intelligence suitably geared to suit each countries’ needs.

Besides the US – which is the leader – with and techniques.

As far as JVs and Defence joint projects regard to Cyber war, India and Israel can are concerned, it seems that Israel has signed share techniques to crackdown and trace ‘cooperative agreements’ with many countries the origin of such threats, taking in my view, including India to prevent information leaks not only defensive action but also carrying from joint security projects. With regard to the war to the enemy. It will also help India India’s fight against terrorism in J&K and to hone its Security Policy on Cyber War. other parts of the country, India can gainfully Presently, there is no unified overall agency, seek Israel’s assistance in sophisticated just a move towards a Cyber Coordinator in surveillance, sensors and imagery equipment the National Security Council, but NTRO and as well as share information on money India Computer Emergency Response Team laundering and terror funding (reportedly (CERT-IN) are charged with cyber incident also done through the Gulf Region). Both prevention and are primarily responsible for countries should also share expertise in tactics fighting cyber crime, neutralising, blocking related to counter terrorism warfare, training ‘Psy-jihad’ sought to be waged through Internet of elite and Special Forces, suitably adapted and social media sites and tracing postings to the needs of each country. In the absence coming from religious fundamentalists and of the National Counter Terrorism Centre adversarial sites including home-grown. Only (NCTC) – awaiting consensus amongst - India being an open Democracy – needs political parties – India could usefully to exercise balance and caution and not share the experiences of the Israeli akin unnecessarily block websites and individual Multi Agency Centres (MACs) which have accounts and so on, keeping in mind the DSI considerable knowledge regarding terrorist rights of the people.

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UAV

SEPTEMBER 2012

DSI

UAVs IN FUTURE BATTLE SPACE J Jayaraman, the man who made Lakshya, Indiaʼs first pilotless target aircraft, writes about the future of this early 21st century technological innovation in the present and future battlespaces.

India’s first UAV, or pilotless target aircraft, Lakshya in static formation and in flight (inset)

J Jayaraman

KEY POINTS

The UAVs are the big news of early21st century warfare.

They are used for their low cost and high endurance.

The Af-Pak war has witnessed high levels of deployment of Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs).

DRDO

Why UAVs? Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles have become indispensible assets to military operations.

UAVs are deployed in operations for their fearlessness and cost-effectiveness on dangerous missions. Training of and maintaining a manned aircraft pilot in battle preparedness is very expensive and takes considerable time. Combat experience of the pilot lost is irreplaceable. In addition sensitive situations are avoided. Uninhabited aircraft systems are new technologies used in battle.

Their impact is still to be fully realised.

12

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What is meant by battle space?

Battle space is the physical volume, which covers surface (land, sea), under surface (under sea, under land), above surface (air, space) and environment (electro-magnetic spectrum and information), that covers the area of influence and interest. It includes enemy and friendly forces; facilities; weather and terrain. Success in battle means

controlling the space (width, length, height), time, electro-magnetic radiation, cyber space and human factor.

Changing face of battle space Nature of battle space has been changing with time. In the past battles were fought between known enemy entities. Battle space however was clearly known. The 26th November 2008 shooting and bombing attacks in Mumbai by Ajmal Kasab and party is a glaring example of the changes taking place in battle space.

September 9/11 suicide air attacks in 2001 on New York City and Washington DC, in USA, resulting in the total destruction of World Trade Centre Twin Towers is an excellent example of a small force taking on a formidable enemy.

UAVs in recent conflicts UAVs have been used in various roles in operations over a long period of time. It started with aerial targets. Surveillance, Flying bomb, Kamikaze, Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle, Reconnaissance, Electronic intelligence, Electronic warfare, Decoy, Battle damage assessment, and weapon delivery are some of the roles used in recent conflicts. Slowly and steadily with technology advancement, the roles of UAVs have expanded. It is to be noted that the battle space has been small in size.

Also UAVs have been operated from sites in or close to the battle space.

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UAV

SEPTEMBER 2012

DSI

UAVs IN FUTURE BATTLE SPACE J Jayaraman, the man who made Lakshya, Indiaʼs first pilotless target aircraft, writes about the future of this early 21st century technological innovation in the present and future battlespaces.

India’s first UAV, or pilotless target aircraft, Lakshya in static formation and in flight (inset)

J Jayaraman

KEY POINTS

The UAVs are the big news of early21st century warfare.

They are used for their low cost and high endurance.

The Af-Pak war has witnessed high levels of deployment of Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs).

DRDO

Why UAVs? Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles have become indispensible assets to military operations.

UAVs are deployed in operations for their fearlessness and cost-effectiveness on dangerous missions. Training of and maintaining a manned aircraft pilot in battle preparedness is very expensive and takes considerable time. Combat experience of the pilot lost is irreplaceable. In addition sensitive situations are avoided. Uninhabited aircraft systems are new technologies used in battle.

Their impact is still to be fully realised.

12

UAV 2nd time.indd 12-13

What is meant by battle space?

Battle space is the physical volume, which covers surface (land, sea), under surface (under sea, under land), above surface (air, space) and environment (electro-magnetic spectrum and information), that covers the area of influence and interest. It includes enemy and friendly forces; facilities; weather and terrain. Success in battle means

controlling the space (width, length, height), time, electro-magnetic radiation, cyber space and human factor.

Changing face of battle space Nature of battle space has been changing with time. In the past battles were fought between known enemy entities. Battle space however was clearly known. The 26th November 2008 shooting and bombing attacks in Mumbai by Ajmal Kasab and party is a glaring example of the changes taking place in battle space.

September 9/11 suicide air attacks in 2001 on New York City and Washington DC, in USA, resulting in the total destruction of World Trade Centre Twin Towers is an excellent example of a small force taking on a formidable enemy.

UAVs in recent conflicts UAVs have been used in various roles in operations over a long period of time. It started with aerial targets. Surveillance, Flying bomb, Kamikaze, Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle, Reconnaissance, Electronic intelligence, Electronic warfare, Decoy, Battle damage assessment, and weapon delivery are some of the roles used in recent conflicts. Slowly and steadily with technology advancement, the roles of UAVs have expanded. It is to be noted that the battle space has been small in size.

Also UAVs have been operated from sites in or close to the battle space.

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18/09/12 2:46 PM

UAV

DRDO

Nishant, one of the two UAVs DRDO has developed and is in operation

the virtual crew concept is implemented for Predator, Global hawk and Reaper providing an extended arm for the mission Most of the UAV missions have been accomplished with no enemy action against them. Several backpack, fixed wing and rotary wing, UAVS have seen active operational service providing over the hill intelligence to soldiers. Accurate and instantaneous intelligence data acquisition through reconnaissance and surveillance, target acquisition, battle damage assessment, hunter killer (Kamikaze) continue to be the roles used in operations.

In addition close air support and strike roles have been added to their capabilities.

UAV roles in future Battle space There is a shift from symmetric warfare to asymmetric warfare. Symmetric warfare can be considered to be conventional warfare i.e. it is a conflict between two national entities having similar military power and resources and use strategies and tactics.

Asymmetry, according to American strategist Steven Metz, “is acting, organizing, and thinking differently from opponents in order to maximize one’s own advantages, exploits an opponent’s weaknesses, attain

Nature of battlespace has been changing with time. In the past battles were fought between enemy entities. Battle space, however, was clearly known. The November 26, 2008 shooting and bombing attacks in Mumbai by Ajmal Kasab and party is a glaring example of the changes taking place in battlespace.

“

UAV roles in current battle space Global Hawk, is a high altitude long endurance reconnaissance system.

Predator in addition to reconnaissance and surveillance is employed in strike role.

They have been used in Afghanistan and Iraq. Predator is also credited with firing its missile on a MiG. In Afghanistan predators have worked with AC-130 Gunship and FA18 Hornet locating targets for these strike aircrafts and using its laser designators to guide their weapons. Reaper is a scaled up version of armed Predator. It carries a variety of weapons viz. missiles, laser guided weapons and bombs. Reaper has also seen service in Afghanistan. Use of these UAVs demonstrated the benefit of network centric operations and permitted targets to be struck within five minutes of sighting them.

Notable feature of these operations is the remote location of the battle space from operation control. Launch and recovery is accomplished from a forward operating location whereas the mission control is accomplished from a location in US. Thus

the initiative, or gain greater freedom of action”. It can be considered as conflict between a formal Military entity and an informal resilient opponent. It is in fact guerilla warfare, terrorism, and insurgency.

DRDO

Forecasting for the next decade Unmanning the battle space totally may be the ultimate. But it appears to be unlikely.

Man behind the machines is an essential element of the fighting force.

Intelligence gathering It will continue to be the primary role of UAVs. Present day sensory payloads pertain to Electro optic payloads Video cameras,

Netra, the Indian UAV

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UAV

Precision strikes More and more demands on precision strikes by UAVs will be made and will be possible. With persistent wide area surveillance combined with precision UAV strikes, it may be used as remote controlled assassins. One could identify person or persons to strike. Unfortunately collateral damage remains high and will raise ethical issues. Another role would be to keep enemy launch sites under persistent surveillance and strike with armed UAV just prior to missile launch.

Secure and Jam resistant links To assure safety of humans and property on

introduced in operational communication between the UCAV and pilot will be critical leading to the loss of the UAV. UCAVs can excel in suppression of Enemy Air Defences (SEAD), weapon delivery systems.

Flight of UAVs in civil air space.

Today UAV flights are highly restricted in nature. Various methods have been evolved to realize their flights in unrestricted air space. Integration of UAS in civil air space requires collision avoidance system to be integrated into UAVs. AFP

Network centric data Management It is clear that huge quantities of intelligence data will be captured leading to data overload.

All of the acquired data has to be processed and understood as to what is taking place.

This understanding has to be communicated accurately and quickly to concerned combat unit to respond appropriately. Today network centric warfare has matured where elements over land, sea, air and space have been integrated to provide a comprehensive picture of battle ground. Network centric operation with human decision making will be realized. It is very vulnerable to attack by hostile elements. It has to be made very secure from attack.

ground human supervision of the UAV flight is mandatory. It requires communications link to be available at all times. In Military usage secure and jam resistant communications is a must. This is definitely going to be the problem to be solved when several UAVs of several nationalities are airborne and the communication spectrum becomes very crowded.

Autonomous UAVs. Today UAVs have the ability fly in autonomous mode and execute their planned flight paths without human intervention.

Automatic take off and landing have also been demonstrated in some UAVs. They are able to monitor to a limited extent system failures on board and react to them through recovery logics to assure safety. Structure and system health monitoring will become

16

UAV 2nd time.indd 16-17

Most UAV missions have been accomplished with no enemy action against them. Several backpack, fixed wing and rotary wing UAVS have seen active operational service providing over-the-hill intelligence to soldiers.

US Air Force MQ-1B Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle going out on patrol from Balad air base, Iraq

“

IR imaging, and Synthetic Aperture Radar, Electronic and Communication intelligence.

Hyper-spectral imaging cameras and wide area monitoring sensors (giga-pixel cameras) are becoming available for UAVs. Hyper spectral surveillance would enable countermeasures ineffective. It would be very useful in hostile and harsh environments as it gives information regarding spatial position and chemical composition. Giga pixel images can provide high resolution in wide area images. Long distance images taken from UAVs with Giga pixel cameras can capture detail down to license plate number in wide area images. Near-real-time detection, identification, and assessment of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive (CBRNE) and other threats would become possible.

SEPTEMBER 2012

an essential requirement and can definitely be a reality. Not all UAVs can be integrated with health management systems. In-spite of autonomous capability, flights of UAVs will have to be supervised by humans from safety angle. Human supervised systems will be used.

Crystal ball gazing Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles (UCAVs).

One sees several UCAV design and development programmes taken up. They will mature and will be used. But it is to be seen what level of autonomy will be achieved?

Today the final decision to press the button to strike ground targets in Predator and Reaper rests with the pilot on ground controlling the mission. Different pilots take different decisions for a given set of conditions. Sometimes same pilot takes

different decisions at different times for the same set of conditions. In addition one has to cater to unplanned events. Problems in visualizing such events, catering for them and testing for the same will be the problem to be solved.

Several decision making levels will have to be defined. Automatic processing of information supported by an automated Decision Support System (DSS) is seen to be a definite requirement. When the Unmanned Aircraft system does not need any human intervention it is considered to be fully autonomous. It can react to situations on its own freely. Gather the information and act on it. It can be the stumbling block for UCAVs in realizing aerial combat capability unless a break through takes place. It is difficult to provide 360 degree spherical vision to the remote pilot. Time delays

Sense and avoid (Collision avoidance.)

Sense and avoid technologies are in use for manned aircraft collision avoidance.

In the case of manned aircraft there are technologies, processes and procedures to ensure a given level of target safety. It is a six layered approach with prescribing separation distances and integrating collision avoidance systems. Automatic Dependence Surveillance Broadcast (ADS–B), Tactical Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) and Traffic Information System Broadcast (TIS–B) are in use. Not all UAVs can be equipped with collision avoidance systems. In manned aircraft pilot is the critical element in collision avoidance. In UAVs the absence of the pilot onboard makes critical demands on the system. In the case of Military UAVs the sensors would have to be non cooperative in nature. Although TCAS appears to be

DSI

the best option it will have to be improved upon to be used effectively by UAVs. Hence limiting the risk of collision to ‘one in a billion flight hours” as prescribed for manned aircraft is difficult.

Small Aircraft Transportation system was a project between NASA and FAA (19942001) to achieve high volume operations of general aviation aircraft at airports without control towers or terminal radar facilities. It was put aside as it did not meet its objectives.

Free flight as a concept is being pursued as an upgrade to the present air traffic control system. It is likely to mature in 20-30 years if not more. Free flights of manned aircraft will enable UAV flights in civil air space.

Continuous operation.

Requirement of continuous operation viz. all weather, day night and flights over complex terrain are seen.

Synergy with manned aircraft Fusion viz. Sensor fusion, and platforms will be the order of the day. Collaborative operations of UAVs with manned aircraft, UAVs with UGVs and Underwater Undersea Vehicles (UUVs), and Unmanned Sea Surface Vehicles (USSVs) can be realized.

This will require different methods of managing the operations. Joint doctrine is slated to be a solution. It will allow a large number of operational tasks to be accomplished faster.

Formation flying.

Formation flights will be realized in UAV collaborative flights. Considerable research is going on in swarming of micro, mini UAVs. Sensory cueing of targets, assignment of different tasks such as reconnaissance, automatic target recognition and tracking, strike (weapon delivery, Kamikaze), battle damage assessment to the UAVs in collaborative flights are feasible.

Nano, micro and mini UAVs. UAVs have been shrunk in size. Insects, birds and even seeds flights have been imitated. Swarming of Micro and mini UAVs have successfully been demonstrated in laboratories. These technologies will take intelligence gathering to a higher plane,

17

18/09/12 2:46 PM

UAV

Precision strikes More and more demands on precision strikes by UAVs will be made and will be possible. With persistent wide area surveillance combined with precision UAV strikes, it may be used as remote controlled assassins. One could identify person or persons to strike. Unfortunately collateral damage remains high and will raise ethical issues. Another role would be to keep enemy launch sites under persistent surveillance and strike with armed UAV just prior to missile launch.

Secure and Jam resistant links To assure safety of humans and property on

introduced in operational communication between the UCAV and pilot will be critical leading to the loss of the UAV. UCAVs can excel in suppression of Enemy Air Defences (SEAD), weapon delivery systems.

Flight of UAVs in civil air space.

Today UAV flights are highly restricted in nature. Various methods have been evolved to realize their flights in unrestricted air space. Integration of UAS in civil air space requires collision avoidance system to be integrated into UAVs. AFP

Network centric data Management It is clear that huge quantities of intelligence data will be captured leading to data overload.

All of the acquired data has to be processed and understood as to what is taking place.

This understanding has to be communicated accurately and quickly to concerned combat unit to respond appropriately. Today network centric warfare has matured where elements over land, sea, air and space have been integrated to provide a comprehensive picture of battle ground. Network centric operation with human decision making will be realized. It is very vulnerable to attack by hostile elements. It has to be made very secure from attack.

ground human supervision of the UAV flight is mandatory. It requires communications link to be available at all times. In Military usage secure and jam resistant communications is a must. This is definitely going to be the problem to be solved when several UAVs of several nationalities are airborne and the communication spectrum becomes very crowded.

Autonomous UAVs. Today UAVs have the ability fly in autonomous mode and execute their planned flight paths without human intervention.

Automatic take off and landing have also been demonstrated in some UAVs. They are able to monitor to a limited extent system failures on board and react to them through recovery logics to assure safety. Structure and system health monitoring will become

16

UAV 2nd time.indd 16-17

Most UAV missions have been accomplished with no enemy action against them. Several backpack, fixed wing and rotary wing UAVS have seen active operational service providing over-the-hill intelligence to soldiers.

US Air Force MQ-1B Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle going out on patrol from Balad air base, Iraq

“

IR imaging, and Synthetic Aperture Radar, Electronic and Communication intelligence.

Hyper-spectral imaging cameras and wide area monitoring sensors (giga-pixel cameras) are becoming available for UAVs. Hyper spectral surveillance would enable countermeasures ineffective. It would be very useful in hostile and harsh environments as it gives information regarding spatial position and chemical composition. Giga pixel images can provide high resolution in wide area images. Long distance images taken from UAVs with Giga pixel cameras can capture detail down to license plate number in wide area images. Near-real-time detection, identification, and assessment of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive (CBRNE) and other threats would become possible.

SEPTEMBER 2012

an essential requirement and can definitely be a reality. Not all UAVs can be integrated with health management systems. In-spite of autonomous capability, flights of UAVs will have to be supervised by humans from safety angle. Human supervised systems will be used.

Crystal ball gazing Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles (UCAVs).

One sees several UCAV design and development programmes taken up. They will mature and will be used. But it is to be seen what level of autonomy will be achieved?

Today the final decision to press the button to strike ground targets in Predator and Reaper rests with the pilot on ground controlling the mission. Different pilots take different decisions for a given set of conditions. Sometimes same pilot takes

different decisions at different times for the same set of conditions. In addition one has to cater to unplanned events. Problems in visualizing such events, catering for them and testing for the same will be the problem to be solved.

Several decision making levels will have to be defined. Automatic processing of information supported by an automated Decision Support System (DSS) is seen to be a definite requirement. When the Unmanned Aircraft system does not need any human intervention it is considered to be fully autonomous. It can react to situations on its own freely. Gather the information and act on it. It can be the stumbling block for UCAVs in realizing aerial combat capability unless a break through takes place. It is difficult to provide 360 degree spherical vision to the remote pilot. Time delays

Sense and avoid (Collision avoidance.)

Sense and avoid technologies are in use for manned aircraft collision avoidance.

In the case of manned aircraft there are technologies, processes and procedures to ensure a given level of target safety. It is a six layered approach with prescribing separation distances and integrating collision avoidance systems. Automatic Dependence Surveillance Broadcast (ADS–B), Tactical Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) and Traffic Information System Broadcast (TIS–B) are in use. Not all UAVs can be equipped with collision avoidance systems. In manned aircraft pilot is the critical element in collision avoidance. In UAVs the absence of the pilot onboard makes critical demands on the system. In the case of Military UAVs the sensors would have to be non cooperative in nature. Although TCAS appears to be

DSI

the best option it will have to be improved upon to be used effectively by UAVs. Hence limiting the risk of collision to ‘one in a billion flight hours” as prescribed for manned aircraft is difficult.

Small Aircraft Transportation system was a project between NASA and FAA (19942001) to achieve high volume operations of general aviation aircraft at airports without control towers or terminal radar facilities. It was put aside as it did not meet its objectives.

Free flight as a concept is being pursued as an upgrade to the present air traffic control system. It is likely to mature in 20-30 years if not more. Free flights of manned aircraft will enable UAV flights in civil air space.

Continuous operation.

Requirement of continuous operation viz. all weather, day night and flights over complex terrain are seen.

Synergy with manned aircraft Fusion viz. Sensor fusion, and platforms will be the order of the day. Collaborative operations of UAVs with manned aircraft, UAVs with UGVs and Underwater Undersea Vehicles (UUVs), and Unmanned Sea Surface Vehicles (USSVs) can be realized.

This will require different methods of managing the operations. Joint doctrine is slated to be a solution. It will allow a large number of operational tasks to be accomplished faster.

Formation flying.

Formation flights will be realized in UAV collaborative flights. Considerable research is going on in swarming of micro, mini UAVs. Sensory cueing of targets, assignment of different tasks such as reconnaissance, automatic target recognition and tracking, strike (weapon delivery, Kamikaze), battle damage assessment to the UAVs in collaborative flights are feasible.

Nano, micro and mini UAVs. UAVs have been shrunk in size. Insects, birds and even seeds flights have been imitated. Swarming of Micro and mini UAVs have successfully been demonstrated in laboratories. These technologies will take intelligence gathering to a higher plane,

17

18/09/12 2:46 PM

UAV one of getting it at the thought, discussion stage itself and not at implementation stage. Several special missions are feasible.

Micro UCAV Swarms strikes could be used effectively in urban battle space in place of soldiers. Soldiers could operate them from safe locations thus reducing their casualties.

This technology is very vulnerable in the wrong `hands’ and it lends itself to be used in asymmetric warfare.

An Indian Navy “Heron”, an Israeli-made unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV,) flies over the Porbandar airfield

Where are we?

Lakshya is a reusable aerial target system is in operational use with the three arms of Services. Lakshya II is totally automated to execute its mission from launch to recovery.

It has low altitude flight capability 15 meters above sea level to simulate sea skimming missiles. Two targets can be flown in formation. Israel showed interest in acquiring the services of Lakshya on an annual basis after it was successfully evaluated, through paid flights demonstrations.

Nishant is a multi mission UAV for Indian Army. It has reconnaissance, surveillance, battle damage assessment, Artillery fire correction, Electronic intelligence, target tracking and designation. It uses a hydro pneumatic launcher which has all terrain capability.

It has autonomous way point navigation.

Rustom UAV is a modified Burt Routons Long EZ. It gives 12-15 hours of endurance.

It will provide reconnaissance, surveillance and many other capabilities.

A medium altitude long endurance UAV for intelligence gathering is under development. By using systems realized from earlier and existing programs, as building blocks, a number of UAVs with

AFP

Countering UAVs. UAVs have never been tested in symmetric battle space. With increasing use of UAVs of different sizes and capabilities, the need for countering UAVs will be acutely felt.

UAVs without self protection devices and offensive systems can prove to be sitting ducks for even manned aircraft equipped with guns only. Countering UAVs with UAVs is another possibility. Appropriate tactics and engagement philosophies will have to be evolved.

different roles are possible. For example, it is being used to tow targets with mini UAV systems as decoys. For which, innovative thinking and execution is required. One sees newspaper reports of cruise missile and other developments. It is obviously the next logical step. There is a spurt in mini and micro UAV development. Number of fixed wing, rotary wing including multi rotor mini, micro UAVs are available.

Academics, private firms are also engaged in designing and developing mini and micro UAVs. Autopilots for them are developed and have been used.

Summing up.

UAVs will be the work horse for Intelligence, Surveillance, Target acquisition, SEAD, decoy and reconnaissance roles. UCAVs are very well suited to deep strike roles. UCAVs in aerial combat will take some time and requires a break through to make it happen.

Comprehensively networked systems will engage in combat. UAVs have to be an integrated element (eg.) UAV sensors networked to battle control via AWACS. Wars will be short and intensive. Wars will not be distinguishable easily from battles.

Electronic war should be won before the commencement of hostilities. There is a huge role for UAVs with their Dull, Dangerous, Dirty and Deniable mission capabilities.

Conventional wars will be strategised to avoid the use weapons of mass destruction.

It will retain the capability of deterrence and second strike. Nuclear UAV might well be part of the phalanx of second strike. Technology is a major factor in determining the outcome of a war. But there is always the man in some cases who determine the outcome. David has won against Goliath in ancient times and USA with all of its technological superiority could not bring down primitive Vietnam in DSI the recent past.

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India’s only magazine on national security, strategic affairs & policy matters.

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Focuses on defence & security issues through insightful & analytical articles on defence policy, procurement, terrorism, insurgency & border management

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AIR DEFENCE

DEFENC

FUTURE PROMISING

E POL

SIGNS OFICY STRAIN

India's defence and inte manage rnat iona men l security t cannot dea NUCLEA l with challeng R es I C. UDAY national BHASKA R 2011 brin gs program few gains to India's me I SIDD HARTH VARA quest for a DECEMB nuclear DARAJAN ER 2011 energy

A YEAR OF

COLD CO

MFORT

CHALLEN

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Technical solutions to air defence woes of the Indian armed forces exist | PRAHALADA

DEFENCE and SE CURITY of IND IA

DS

AHEAD

VOLUME 4

ISSUE 3

LEFT WING EXTREMISM

NEEDS A NON-VIOLENT SOLUTION

I

The development agenda needs more focus | BRIG (RETD) ARUN SAHGAL SEPTEMBER 2012

` 250

TY ENERGY SECURI

E energy FUTURE TENS turbulence make and geopolitical SARAN Rising prices priority I SHYAM security a global

TIME TO CHANGE

GENDER

they are years ago but the Services 19 SHUKLA I SONIA TRIKHA Women entered d in combat roles still not accepte

INDIA AND ISRAEL TOGETHER IN DEFENCE

URITY DEFENCE and SEC of INDIA

ISRAEL IS INDIA’S SECOND LARGEST ARMS SUPPLIER

DSI VOLUME 4

ISSUE 4

DSI VOLUME 4 • ISSUE 6 • ` 250

THE MIL ITA PROGRA RY'S AMBIT IOUS INDIGE MME FOR NO VEHICLES US ARMOUR ED

BY BAD MAY BE HA MP RISING PLANNING AN ERED COSTS D I AJAI SHU KLA

PM Page 1 21/03/12 2:30 :cover-feb3.qxd SI Cover.qxp

DEFENCE and SECURITY of INDIA

MAJ GEN (RETD) RAMESH C CHOPRA

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APRIL 2012

THE GUNS FALL SILENT

High quality strategic affairs magazine with South Asian perspective covering region’s linkages with China, Indian Ocean region, near Middle East & South Central Asia.

S HAVE LERY PURCHASE DELAYED ARTIL RITY CONCERN I RAHUL BEDI BECOME A SECU

Reaches to decision makers in Armed & Para-Military Forces, policy makers in Govt., strategic analysts, security agencies, domestic & international defence manufacturers who are looking at India as a potential market.

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Defence the coming deca in to grow JULY

poised

DS 4 VOLUME

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5 ISSUE

` 250

2012

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WARSHIP DEVELOPMENT

SEPTEMBER 2012

WARSHIP BUILDING IN INDIA AND ITS FUTURE

DSI

Indian naval ships demonstrate their prowess during the recently held Presidential Fleet Review Harsimran Malhi

KEY POINTS

Even though there is a downturn in the economy, the order books of the government-owned shipyards are full up.

They are also undergoing a major modernisation process, much needed for fulfilling the Navy’s wish list.

Indigenous private sector is itching to get a piece of the action, either through a JV with PSU shipyards, or on their own.

Indian Navy takes pride in the fact that it is a ʻbuildersʼ navyʼ. This essentially translates into the fact that the force procures almost all its warships from shipyards that are indigenous. But changes are being made both in the way PSU shipyards produce and negotiate for commercial terms.

AFP

C

20

warship development 2nd time.indd 20-21

ommercial ship building in India is presently in dire straits, thanks to the gloomy economic scenario in India, and, indeed, the world.

On the other hand, the PSU shipyards engaged in warship building are flush with new orders. This is, primarily, due to the fact that the Government and the Navy have been proactive in ensuring implementation of the Maritime Capability Perspective Plan (MCPP) (2005-27), which envisages, a force level of 150 odd warships by 2027. With present force level of 132 warships, the plan is to add 49 new warships in the next few years, taking into account force depletion due to decommissionings. Presently, 46 ships are in various stages of construction, of which 43 are being constructed in Indian shipyards. A remarkable fact is that of these 43 ships, seven are being constructed at private shipyards.

The challenge for our shipyards as always, is to meet the expectations of the Navy, in delivering quality ships on time and within the contracted cost. I will highlight in this article a few significant trends in warship building in the PSU shipyards, which have manifested in the past few years and which, I believe, will have a lasting impact on the way we build warships in India and indeed these developments will go a long way in fulfilling the yards’ commitments to their primary customer, the Indian Navy.

21

18/09/12 2:55 PM

WARSHIP DEVELOPMENT

SEPTEMBER 2012

WARSHIP BUILDING IN INDIA AND ITS FUTURE

DSI

Indian naval ships demonstrate their prowess during the recently held Presidential Fleet Review Harsimran Malhi

KEY POINTS

Even though there is a downturn in the economy, the order books of the government-owned shipyards are full up.

They are also undergoing a major modernisation process, much needed for fulfilling the Navy’s wish list.

Indigenous private sector is itching to get a piece of the action, either through a JV with PSU shipyards, or on their own.

Indian Navy takes pride in the fact that it is a ʻbuildersʼ navyʼ. This essentially translates into the fact that the force procures almost all its warships from shipyards that are indigenous. But changes are being made both in the way PSU shipyards produce and negotiate for commercial terms.

AFP

C

20

warship development 2nd time.indd 20-21

ommercial ship building in India is presently in dire straits, thanks to the gloomy economic scenario in India, and, indeed, the world.

On the other hand, the PSU shipyards engaged in warship building are flush with new orders. This is, primarily, due to the fact that the Government and the Navy have been proactive in ensuring implementation of the Maritime Capability Perspective Plan (MCPP) (2005-27), which envisages, a force level of 150 odd warships by 2027. With present force level of 132 warships, the plan is to add 49 new warships in the next few years, taking into account force depletion due to decommissionings. Presently, 46 ships are in various stages of construction, of which 43 are being constructed in Indian shipyards. A remarkable fact is that of these 43 ships, seven are being constructed at private shipyards.

The challenge for our shipyards as always, is to meet the expectations of the Navy, in delivering quality ships on time and within the contracted cost. I will highlight in this article a few significant trends in warship building in the PSU shipyards, which have manifested in the past few years and which, I believe, will have a lasting impact on the way we build warships in India and indeed these developments will go a long way in fulfilling the yards’ commitments to their primary customer, the Indian Navy.

21

18/09/12 2:55 PM

WARSHIP DEVELOPMENT

AFP

Indian naval officers wait to board the INS Airavat in Kolkata

Modernisation Efforts MDL, GRSE and GSL were taken over by the Government of India in 1960s to kick start indigenous warship building. At that time, a spate of infrastructure up-gradation projects were undertaken to facilitate warship building. Since then, facilities in these shipyards have been modernized only in fits and starts. However, in the last decade, a comprehensive modernisation programme for all DPSU shipyards, has been approved by the Government with a total outlay of over Rs 3000 crores. This Modernisation programme commenced in 2006-07 and is likely to be completed in 2012-13.

Once completed, the modernisation of DPSU shipyards will primarily facilitate latest ship building practises, which are followed the world over, such as integrated construction. It will be possible to build a ship from large blocks (of around 250 tons), and have them fully outfitted in the workshop, and then – Lego like – put these together on the slipway/dry dock.

This “modular” ship building methodology reduces build times considerably and

improves quality of construction. Seven Frigates of Project 17 A, currently in negotiation stage, at MoD will be built in this fashion at MDL and GRSE. The build period for the “first of class” ship is likely to be only 66 months, and will be further reduced to 60 months for the follow on. This time frame compares very favorably with world standards of “time to completion” for ships of similar size and displacement.

Fixed Price Contracts The days of COST PLUS contracts, are, more or less, over. The most recent contract signed by MDL was in January 2011, for construction of four P15-B destroyers.

This contract has a fixed price component, which includes primarily, all aspects of ship construction other than weapon systems, which form part of the variable component of the contract price. It is widely felt, that this trend towards fixed cost contracts, will not only result in reining in cost escalations, but will also impose greater discipline on the customer to make frequent design changes and modifications. Significant

time and cost penalties due to “change orders”, after the design has been frozen, will, hopefully, motivate the customer to restrict modifications to the most essential and filter out just the desirable ones. It is interesting to note that contrary to popular perception, the DPSU shipyards have been the most insistent votaries for fixed price contracts. A frequent change in design of a ship under construction has been a bane for ship builders. In this context, Fixed Price Contract will go a long way in meeting time and cost targets.

Public Private Partnership This is an entirely new development, and promises to be a game changer, as far as warship building in India is concerned. Ministry of Defence (Department of Defence Production) took the first step towards this model, when the Defence Production Policy was unveiled in Jan 2011. Para 6 of this Policy manual states that “In order to synergize and enhance the national competence in producing state of the art defence equipment/weapon systems/platforms within the price lines

22

warship development 2nd time.indd 22

18/09/12 2:55 PM

WARSHIP DEVELOPMENT The challenge for our shipyards, as always, is to meet the expectations of the Navy, in delivering quality ships on time and within the contracted cost. I shall highlight a few significant trends in warship building in the PSU shipyards, which have manifested in the past few years and which, I believe, will have a lasting impact on the way we build warships.

24

warship development 2nd time.indd 24-25

Indian Navy personnel given a tour of the Bridge on board UK Naval ship HMS Daring. The ship is the UK’s new Type 45 Destroyer.

AFP

Ship building in Private Sector As brought out above, the Private Sector shipyards, presently, lack capability to construct warships, since the PSU shipyards have enjoyed monopoly in warship building.

To start with, it is hoped that the PPP model, will aid in enhancing skill levels in the Private Sector and nurture warship building culture, and also concomitantly, assist in capacity building. These outcomes are considered positive developments in view of MoD’s stated position to encourage private sector to compete for Defence orders. Presently, other than a handful of defence orders placed on private shipyards comprising seven ships including construction of OPVs by Pipavav Shipyard, Cadets’ Training Ships by ABG Shipyard and Survey vessels by Alcock Ashdown, all other 36 ships are being constructed at PSU shipyards. We are likely to see a major shift taking place in these numbers in favour of Private Sector in the next tenyear time frame. My longer view is, that in a bid to become more competitive, PSU

DSI

early movers in this direction and more industrial giants may enter this sector notwithstanding, 26% cap on FDI. An anomaly is observed in our Indigenisation programme, in that there has been very little movement in indigenising high technology propulsion plants such as Gas Turbines. The marine version of Kaveri gas turbine has been in the works for awhile, however, with not very encouraging results, as yet. The economies of scale may be a deterrent, but this is one area where private sector involvement will be beneficial to all stakeholders.

“

and timelines that are globally competitive; all viable approaches such as formation of consortia, joint ventures and public private partnerships etc, within the Government approved framework will be undertaken”.

In the wake of this Policy pronouncement, MDL, soon after, took initiative to find a suitable partner in the Private Sector, to assist the shipyard in liquidating its burgeoning order book, which stood at Rs.66,000 crores early this year and is likely to touch Rs. 1 lakh crore mark, once Project 17A contract is finalised. MDL realised that, whilst no shipyard in the private sector could match its capability to construct and outfit warships, and especially, carry out all important system integration on weapon systems and propulsion plants, there was, however, a major constraint of capacity, to undertake multiple warship construction.

Whilst ongoing modernisation programmes, will help to mitigate the issues of capacity constraints partly; the availability of slipways/dry-docks, with sufficient crane capacity, will continue to be a problem.

More importantly, it was also felt that parallel efforts in two separate shipyards, to construct different blocks for the same ship, would certainly help in meeting stringent time lines and build periods.

With this in mind, an elaborate exercise was undertaken by MDL to identify a suitable JV partner. Being the first such venture in ship building, there were a number of twists and turns and hurdles to be crossed including protests by certain private sector shipyards, who were peeved at not being selected and thus perceived of an absence of even handedness in the selection procedure.

This prompted the MoD to formulate standard guidelines for formation of such JVs. These Guidelines were eventually accorded approval by the Union Cabinet of Ministers in February this year. The upshot of the entire process was that MDL’s procedure for selection of JV partner was validated by the new guidelines. The details of formation of this JV are being presently worked out. This has been a pioneering effort and a path-breaking one, and is likely to pave the way for similar ventures, since it will help the lead shipyards in delivering quality ships on time.

SEPTEMBER 2012

shipyards will cut down their flab, improve productivity and, eventually, look at partial disinvestment to fund modernisation programmes, in order to maintain their edge. All in all, competition will augur well for the country and the Navy, to stay ahead of the curve as far as implementing the MCPP is concerned.

Indigenisation of Weapon Systems In the near future, the Government’s offset

policy for Defence Procurements will have a significant impact on indigenisation efforts especially in the area of weapon systems.

In this effort, private sector will play an increasingly more important role.

Whilst 100 per cent indigenisation has been achieved awhile ago in Yard Material, including special steels needed for ship building, as well as standard range of engineering equipment, the weapon systems and propulsion plants have remained

generally immune to indigenisation efforts.

In recent times, however, there has been a heartening trend towards indigenisation of weapon systems. This concerted effort by the Indian Navy in tandem with DRDO, as well as, frontline PSU’s such as BEL has paid enormous dividends. Success in this efforts can be gauged from the fact that the entire weapon suite of Project 17A frigates is likely to be indigenous, which is a major achievement. Tatas and Mahindras are

FUTURE SCENARIO Various studies including one by National Manufacturing Council (NMC) have shown that capacity of Indian ship building sector, both commercial and warship building is inadequate to meet India’s burgeoning demands ahead. The increase in demand, of course, hinges on reverting to 7-8% growth rates, in the coming years.

The Defence Procurement Policy (2011) provides for a level playing field to private sector in bagging ship building orders. This should be reason enough for investors with vision, to encourage capacity expansion in private shipyards, as well as, set up greenfield shipyards to international standards. There is also a vital gap in our design capabilities of shipyards, which needs to be bridged and funding of R&D activities also needs to be encouraged.

If positive steps are taken in this direction, Indian ship building industry will be on the verge of breaking into the ranks of the Top Three (China, South Korea and Japan).

I recently read with interest a proposal

by U.K. to build the “Global Combat Ship” in collaboration with other countries including India.

We could be seeing the beginning of a new trend, wherein the Western world strives to trim their defence budgets and in order to maintain their force levels, get their ships built far more economically in countries such as ours with viable warship building antecedents. Our shipyards in tandem with MEA/MoD could market DSI this option.

25

18/09/12 2:55 PM

WARSHIP DEVELOPMENT The challenge for our shipyards, as always, is to meet the expectations of the Navy, in delivering quality ships on time and within the contracted cost. I shall highlight a few significant trends in warship building in the PSU shipyards, which have manifested in the past few years and which, I believe, will have a lasting impact on the way we build warships.

24

warship development 2nd time.indd 24-25

Indian Navy personnel given a tour of the Bridge on board UK Naval ship HMS Daring. The ship is the UK’s new Type 45 Destroyer.

AFP

Ship building in Private Sector As brought out above, the Private Sector shipyards, presently, lack capability to construct warships, since the PSU shipyards have enjoyed monopoly in warship building.

To start with, it is hoped that the PPP model, will aid in enhancing skill levels in the Private Sector and nurture warship building culture, and also concomitantly, assist in capacity building. These outcomes are considered positive developments in view of MoD’s stated position to encourage private sector to compete for Defence orders. Presently, other than a handful of defence orders placed on private shipyards comprising seven ships including construction of OPVs by Pipavav Shipyard, Cadets’ Training Ships by ABG Shipyard and Survey vessels by Alcock Ashdown, all other 36 ships are being constructed at PSU shipyards. We are likely to see a major shift taking place in these numbers in favour of Private Sector in the next tenyear time frame. My longer view is, that in a bid to become more competitive, PSU

DSI

early movers in this direction and more industrial giants may enter this sector notwithstanding, 26% cap on FDI. An anomaly is observed in our Indigenisation programme, in that there has been very little movement in indigenising high technology propulsion plants such as Gas Turbines. The marine version of Kaveri gas turbine has been in the works for awhile, however, with not very encouraging results, as yet. The economies of scale may be a deterrent, but this is one area where private sector involvement will be beneficial to all stakeholders.

“

and timelines that are globally competitive; all viable approaches such as formation of consortia, joint ventures and public private partnerships etc, within the Government approved framework will be undertaken”.

In the wake of this Policy pronouncement, MDL, soon after, took initiative to find a suitable partner in the Private Sector, to assist the shipyard in liquidating its burgeoning order book, which stood at Rs.66,000 crores early this year and is likely to touch Rs. 1 lakh crore mark, once Project 17A contract is finalised. MDL realised that, whilst no shipyard in the private sector could match its capability to construct and outfit warships, and especially, carry out all important system integration on weapon systems and propulsion plants, there was, however, a major constraint of capacity, to undertake multiple warship construction.

Whilst ongoing modernisation programmes, will help to mitigate the issues of capacity constraints partly; the availability of slipways/dry-docks, with sufficient crane capacity, will continue to be a problem.

More importantly, it was also felt that parallel efforts in two separate shipyards, to construct different blocks for the same ship, would certainly help in meeting stringent time lines and build periods.

With this in mind, an elaborate exercise was undertaken by MDL to identify a suitable JV partner. Being the first such venture in ship building, there were a number of twists and turns and hurdles to be crossed including protests by certain private sector shipyards, who were peeved at not being selected and thus perceived of an absence of even handedness in the selection procedure.

This prompted the MoD to formulate standard guidelines for formation of such JVs. These Guidelines were eventually accorded approval by the Union Cabinet of Ministers in February this year. The upshot of the entire process was that MDL’s procedure for selection of JV partner was validated by the new guidelines. The details of formation of this JV are being presently worked out. This has been a pioneering effort and a path-breaking one, and is likely to pave the way for similar ventures, since it will help the lead shipyards in delivering quality ships on time.

SEPTEMBER 2012

shipyards will cut down their flab, improve productivity and, eventually, look at partial disinvestment to fund modernisation programmes, in order to maintain their edge. All in all, competition will augur well for the country and the Navy, to stay ahead of the curve as far as implementing the MCPP is concerned.

Indigenisation of Weapon Systems In the near future, the Government’s offset

policy for Defence Procurements will have a significant impact on indigenisation efforts especially in the area of weapon systems.

In this effort, private sector will play an increasingly more important role.

Whilst 100 per cent indigenisation has been achieved awhile ago in Yard Material, including special steels needed for ship building, as well as standard range of engineering equipment, the weapon systems and propulsion plants have remained

generally immune to indigenisation efforts.

In recent times, however, there has been a heartening trend towards indigenisation of weapon systems. This concerted effort by the Indian Navy in tandem with DRDO, as well as, frontline PSU’s such as BEL has paid enormous dividends. Success in this efforts can be gauged from the fact that the entire weapon suite of Project 17A frigates is likely to be indigenous, which is a major achievement. Tatas and Mahindras are

FUTURE SCENARIO Various studies including one by National Manufacturing Council (NMC) have shown that capacity of Indian ship building sector, both commercial and warship building is inadequate to meet India’s burgeoning demands ahead. The increase in demand, of course, hinges on reverting to 7-8% growth rates, in the coming years.

The Defence Procurement Policy (2011) provides for a level playing field to private sector in bagging ship building orders. This should be reason enough for investors with vision, to encourage capacity expansion in private shipyards, as well as, set up greenfield shipyards to international standards. There is also a vital gap in our design capabilities of shipyards, which needs to be bridged and funding of R&D activities also needs to be encouraged.

If positive steps are taken in this direction, Indian ship building industry will be on the verge of breaking into the ranks of the Top Three (China, South Korea and Japan).

I recently read with interest a proposal

by U.K. to build the “Global Combat Ship” in collaboration with other countries including India.

We could be seeing the beginning of a new trend, wherein the Western world strives to trim their defence budgets and in order to maintain their force levels, get their ships built far more economically in countries such as ours with viable warship building antecedents. Our shipyards in tandem with MEA/MoD could market DSI this option.

25

18/09/12 2:55 PM

AIR DEFENCE SOLUTIONS

SEPTEMBER 2012

DSI

FUTURE PROMISING Air defence solutions are like mental jousts between the hunter and the prey. This is where the prey – the target aircraft, UCAV, missile - seeks to breach the defence umbrella using invisibility, pure deceit and evasive action under attack. The job of the hunter – the radars, fire control systems and the missiles ensemble – is to show certain doggedness in the pursuit and then scoring the kill, writes, the man who made Akash surface-to-air missile.

Dr Prahalad

Air Defence is handled with two types of weapons – one, fighter aircrafts and two, missiles.

Air Defence by fighter aircrafts is figuring less and less as an option because of the high human and aircraft costs.

The fifth generation missiles that are being deployed now are independently targeted manoeuvering through the inertial navigation system.

The Threats Defending our airspace is one of the important functions and responsibilities of our Air Force. Traditionally, this calls for constant (24 x 7) watching of airspace surrounding the country and ensuring that no unidentified flying system enters our

airspace for creating any security concern.

The type of flying systems include manned fighter Jets, stealth bombers, helicopters, unmanned aircraft, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.

While fighter jets carry weapons along with electronic countermeasure suites, they are capable of high maneuvers (upto 9g) and piloted by highly trained and capable flying experts. The stealth bombers fly hugging the terrain most of the time and carry bombs and precision guided weapons.

While their maneuvering capability is limited, their lethality is very high and their visibility very low for ground based radar systems.

Helicopters can attack from hovering status and also from tree top heights.

Defending against such air platforms is a difficult challenge. Such platforms are capable of firing short range/medium range

26

Air Defence Solutions 2nd time.indd 26-27

Multirole fighter aircrafts like the Rafale (centre and right) and Mirage 2000 (left) are capable of undertaking air defence measures, along with their attack missions.

AFP

KEY POINTS

27

18/09/12 3:01 PM

AIR DEFENCE SOLUTIONS

SEPTEMBER 2012

DSI

FUTURE PROMISING Air defence solutions are like mental jousts between the hunter and the prey. This is where the prey – the target aircraft, UCAV, missile - seeks to breach the defence umbrella using invisibility, pure deceit and evasive action under attack. The job of the hunter – the radars, fire control systems and the missiles ensemble – is to show certain doggedness in the pursuit and then scoring the kill, writes, the man who made Akash surface-to-air missile.

Dr Prahalad

Air Defence is handled with two types of weapons – one, fighter aircrafts and two, missiles.

Air Defence by fighter aircrafts is figuring less and less as an option because of the high human and aircraft costs.

The fifth generation missiles that are being deployed now are independently targeted manoeuvering through the inertial navigation system.

The Threats Defending our airspace is one of the important functions and responsibilities of our Air Force. Traditionally, this calls for constant (24 x 7) watching of airspace surrounding the country and ensuring that no unidentified flying system enters our

airspace for creating any security concern.

The type of flying systems include manned fighter Jets, stealth bombers, helicopters, unmanned aircraft, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.

While fighter jets carry weapons along with electronic countermeasure suites, they are capable of high maneuvers (upto 9g) and piloted by highly trained and capable flying experts. The stealth bombers fly hugging the terrain most of the time and carry bombs and precision guided weapons.

While their maneuvering capability is limited, their lethality is very high and their visibility very low for ground based radar systems.

Helicopters can attack from hovering status and also from tree top heights.

Defending against such air platforms is a difficult challenge. Such platforms are capable of firing short range/medium range

26

Air Defence Solutions 2nd time.indd 26-27

Multirole fighter aircrafts like the Rafale (centre and right) and Mirage 2000 (left) are capable of undertaking air defence measures, along with their attack missions.

AFP

KEY POINTS

27

18/09/12 3:01 PM

AIR DEFENCE SOLUTIONS

A part of NCO Irrespective whether the air defence is aircraft based or ground based or ship based, it is a part of an integrated Command, Control, Communication, Computers and Information (C4 I) system, now a days popularly known as Net Centric Operations (NCO). All the surveillance radars, satellite links, aerostat links, AWACS links and SAM bases are networked in real time for the air defence operations. Only by this arrangement, the defence system can be automated, made to respond in real time and take care of threat from any direction, any altitude and in numbers without human intervention.

The surveillance and tracking radars may be ground based or airborne and dispersed geographically in any location.

The command and control centers would also be located at strategic and protected locations. The missile launchers could be placed around various defended areas or

28

Air Defence Solutions 2nd time.indd 28-29

While aircraft (multirole) based air defence is the conventional one and probably most suited against attack by another fighter jet, such defence operations are on the decrease every day.

Akash medium range surface to air missile on show. Indigenously built it has already been ordered by the army and the air force

and private sector is the first indigenously developed air defence missile system of India. It has incorporated some unique characteristics customized to meet specific needs of Indian Air Force and Army. Large order (~Rs 25000 Cr) has been placed for this air defence system consisting of missiles, radars, launchers and ground support systems. This missile system is fully mobile and is capable of handling and intercepting multiple targets simultaneously. It is also the lowest cost per unit missile in the world in its category of performance capability.

DRDO

Air-defence by aircraft and missiles There are basically two ways of defending against such aerial attacks, first using aircraft and the second using missiles.

While aircraft (multirole) based air defence is the conventional one and probably most suited against attack by another fighter jet, such defence operations are on the decrease every day. This is mainly based on vulnerability of fighter, the trained pilot, high cost of manned aircraft (Each MMRCA costs about Rs 400 Cr) and the impact on morale at the loss of every fighter/bomber. In fact fighter or bomber aircraft are nowadays designed to carry air to air missiles to neutralize air attacks instead of good old dog fights. The mother aircraft and highly intelligent missile are designed as a single integrated system for long range air defence operations. India is developing Astra air to air missile system precisely for such a role. The mother aircraft after identifying the target aircraft and handing over the target parameters to the missile system, will stay back at standoff ranges and let the missile go ahead for carrying out the real mission of intercepting incoming aircraft.

Now coming to purely missile based air defence systems, there are land based (fixed or mobile) and ship based surface to Air Missiles (SAMs). The missiles are dreaded for their unique capabilities of speed, agility, accuracy and lethality in addition to its small size and relatively low cost and high effectiveness. A Rs 5 Cr missile can safely bring down a Rs 400Cr aircraft including its invaluable pilot!

Missile Classifications These are very short range air defence missiles (VSHORADS) which are manportable, have quick reaction (short time taken from target detection to missile launch) and very accurate. They work on principle of infrared homing onto engine exhaust or missile being guided by a beam of laser or thermal radiation. The short range SAMs are mounted on mobile platforms, quick reacting and fully automated from target detection to intercept.

Medium and long range SAMs are launched either from mobile platforms or from fixed installations. These missiles have multiple phases of guidance (mid course and terminal guidance) and are very intelligent. These are either radar guided from ground or self homing based on their own radar seekers. Sometimes they employ dual seekers using both radar and thermal imagers. New generation missiles are guided inertially during their mid course phase towards target location. The changing location of target will be communicated to the missile in flight by the ground based tracking radar so that the missile positions itself at an optimal location for terminal phase homing guidance to take over.

DSI

“

Air to Ground missiles and rockets. In case of unmanned aircraft and cruise missiles, they are again of very small size and radar reflectivity and can fly rather low. They are also launched in large in numbers as they are unmanned and of much lower cost as compared to fighters/bombers.

Keeping surveillance of such platforms, their detection and tracking and eventual interception before they carry out their attack missions is current military challenge.

Defence against attack from ballistic missiles (300 to 3000 km range) is at the high end of speed and altitude spectrum.

SEPTEMBER 2012

vulnerable areas. They are all connected through secure, digital, real time, high bandwidth communication networks through land, sky and satellite based nodes.

Sequence of operations:A typical sequence of air defence operations with respect to attacking aircraft is the following:• Surveillance of airspace ( covering full volume of airspace ) • Detection of all types of aircraft ( High probability, fool proof) • Identifying target as accurately as possible (Friend or Foe) • Classifying the level of threat by the aircraft (level of danger, time to arrive)

• Assignment of the target for engaging (Depending on above factors and also on location of missile launcher) • Tracking by radars (Accurately and at required interval) Similarly, at the missile end, the sequence of operations include the following:• Launcher – Missile pairing • Prelaunch preparations (preparing the missile, powering it ) • Missile launch

missile should not only fly fast to quickly close on to the target but also it should out maneuver the target withstanding the barrage of jamming it may face and still manage to keep an eye on the target and home on to it for destroying.

A lot of intelligence, signal processing, calculations, mathematics, control theory, control electronics, actuation systems, flight dynamics and trajectory kinematics come in to play to make this happen.

Missile guidance for interception Then comes the most challenging stage of guiding and controlling the flight path of the missile which is linked to flying and maneuvering of the target aircraft. The

Akash medium-range SAM The 30 km intercept range Akash missile system developed by DRDO and produced

by BDL and BEL including a large number of industries of Ordnance Factory Board

Air Defence Games Air defence scenarios, like all other wars, are full of challenges, games and oneupmanships. There is battle between Jammers and tracking radars, between target aircraft and guided missile, between homing radar of the missile and the decoy used by target aircraft, between the intelligent maneuvers of aircraft and out maneuvering by the missile, between the robustness of aircraft and lethality of warhead of the missile, between the speed of missile and speed of response of the NCO system etc. Eventually the technologically superior element wins the battle. All the R&D going on in the world is to predict adversary’s move and prepare an appropriate countermove.

Technological Generations As in any other technology products, the air-defence solutions, mainly missiles and radars, also have generations as attributes.

29

18/09/12 3:02 PM

AIR DEFENCE SOLUTIONS

A part of NCO Irrespective whether the air defence is aircraft based or ground based or ship based, it is a part of an integrated Command, Control, Communication, Computers and Information (C4 I) system, now a days popularly known as Net Centric Operations (NCO). All the surveillance radars, satellite links, aerostat links, AWACS links and SAM bases are networked in real time for the air defence operations. Only by this arrangement, the defence system can be automated, made to respond in real time and take care of threat from any direction, any altitude and in numbers without human intervention.

The surveillance and tracking radars may be ground based or airborne and dispersed geographically in any location.

The command and control centers would also be located at strategic and protected locations. The missile launchers could be placed around various defended areas or

28

Air Defence Solutions 2nd time.indd 28-29

While aircraft (multirole) based air defence is the conventional one and probably most suited against attack by another fighter jet, such defence operations are on the decrease every day.

Akash medium range surface to air missile on show. Indigenously built it has already been ordered by the army and the air force

and private sector is the first indigenously developed air defence missile system of India. It has incorporated some unique characteristics customized to meet specific needs of Indian Air Force and Army. Large order (~Rs 25000 Cr) has been placed for this air defence system consisting of missiles, radars, launchers and ground support systems. This missile system is fully mobile and is capable of handling and intercepting multiple targets simultaneously. It is also the lowest cost per unit missile in the world in its category of performance capability.

DRDO

Air-defence by aircraft and missiles There are basically two ways of defending against such aerial attacks, first using aircraft and the second using missiles.

While aircraft (multirole) based air defence is the conventional one and probably most suited against attack by another fighter jet, such defence operations are on the decrease every day. This is mainly based on vulnerability of fighter, the trained pilot, high cost of manned aircraft (Each MMRCA costs about Rs 400 Cr) and the impact on morale at the loss of every fighter/bomber. In fact fighter or bomber aircraft are nowadays designed to carry air to air missiles to neutralize air attacks instead of good old dog fights. The mother aircraft and highly intelligent missile are designed as a single integrated system for long range air defence operations. India is developing Astra air to air missile system precisely for such a role. The mother aircraft after identifying the target aircraft and handing over the target parameters to the missile system, will stay back at standoff ranges and let the missile go ahead for carrying out the real mission of intercepting incoming aircraft.

Now coming to purely missile based air defence systems, there are land based (fixed or mobile) and ship based surface to Air Missiles (SAMs). The missiles are dreaded for their unique capabilities of speed, agility, accuracy and lethality in addition to its small size and relatively low cost and high effectiveness. A Rs 5 Cr missile can safely bring down a Rs 400Cr aircraft including its invaluable pilot!

Missile Classifications These are very short range air defence missiles (VSHORADS) which are manportable, have quick reaction (short time taken from target detection to missile launch) and very accurate. They work on principle of infrared homing onto engine exhaust or missile being guided by a beam of laser or thermal radiation. The short range SAMs are mounted on mobile platforms, quick reacting and fully automated from target detection to intercept.

Medium and long range SAMs are launched either from mobile platforms or from fixed installations. These missiles have multiple phases of guidance (mid course and terminal guidance) and are very intelligent. These are either radar guided from ground or self homing based on their own radar seekers. Sometimes they employ dual seekers using both radar and thermal imagers. New generation missiles are guided inertially during their mid course phase towards target location. The changing location of target will be communicated to the missile in flight by the ground based tracking radar so that the missile positions itself at an optimal location for terminal phase homing guidance to take over.

DSI

“

Air to Ground missiles and rockets. In case of unmanned aircraft and cruise missiles, they are again of very small size and radar reflectivity and can fly rather low. They are also launched in large in numbers as they are unmanned and of much lower cost as compared to fighters/bombers.

Keeping surveillance of such platforms, their detection and tracking and eventual interception before they carry out their attack missions is current military challenge.

Defence against attack from ballistic missiles (300 to 3000 km range) is at the high end of speed and altitude spectrum.

SEPTEMBER 2012

vulnerable areas. They are all connected through secure, digital, real time, high bandwidth communication networks through land, sky and satellite based nodes.

Sequence of operations:A typical sequence of air defence operations with respect to attacking aircraft is the following:• Surveillance of airspace ( covering full volume of airspace ) • Detection of all types of aircraft ( High probability, fool proof) • Identifying target as accurately as possible (Friend or Foe) • Classifying the level of threat by the aircraft (level of danger, time to arrive)

• Assignment of the target for engaging (Depending on above factors and also on location of missile launcher) • Tracking by radars (Accurately and at required interval) Similarly, at the missile end, the sequence of operations include the following:• Launcher – Missile pairing • Prelaunch preparations (preparing the missile, powering it ) • Missile launch

missile should not only fly fast to quickly close on to the target but also it should out maneuver the target withstanding the barrage of jamming it may face and still manage to keep an eye on the target and home on to it for destroying.

A lot of intelligence, signal processing, calculations, mathematics, control theory, control electronics, actuation systems, flight dynamics and trajectory kinematics come in to play to make this happen.

Missile guidance for interception Then comes the most challenging stage of guiding and controlling the flight path of the missile which is linked to flying and maneuvering of the target aircraft. The

Akash medium-range SAM The 30 km intercept range Akash missile system developed by DRDO and produced

by BDL and BEL including a large number of industries of Ordnance Factory Board

Air Defence Games Air defence scenarios, like all other wars, are full of challenges, games and oneupmanships. There is battle between Jammers and tracking radars, between target aircraft and guided missile, between homing radar of the missile and the decoy used by target aircraft, between the intelligent maneuvers of aircraft and out maneuvering by the missile, between the robustness of aircraft and lethality of warhead of the missile, between the speed of missile and speed of response of the NCO system etc. Eventually the technologically superior element wins the battle. All the R&D going on in the world is to predict adversary’s move and prepare an appropriate countermove.

Technological Generations As in any other technology products, the air-defence solutions, mainly missiles and radars, also have generations as attributes.

29

18/09/12 3:02 PM

AIR DEFENCE SOLUTIONS

SEPTEMBER 2012

AFP

Radar Generations Just like missiles, the radars that detect and track the targets have also undergone significant technology generations to contribute to the generational progress of SAMs. The first generation radars were microwave tube based, huge and heavy with reflector antenna being steered electromechanically to track flying targets.

The second generation air defence radars

The first generation SAMs were command guided using radars i.e. the target aircraft and missile were tracked by the same radar and guidance commands generated and sent to missile for following it. They were quite inaccurate requiring large and heavy warheads to ensure high probability of kill.

The second generation missiles were IR homing. The missile had a miniature infrared sensor to sense the engine exhaust of the aircraft. The onboard electronics would control the missile trajectory so that missile approaches the aircraft engine. These were, of course, quite accurate but of short ranges, a few kilometers, and were eventually easily defeated by releasing IR flares.

The third generation missiles used passive radar homing. In this case, the target aircraft was tracked and illuminated by a radar and its reflections were received by the miniature receiving antenna system in the missile.

The onboard processer in the missile will process the received signals and then guide

it towards the target. This RF link was found to be highly vulnerable to electronic countermeasures and became outdated.

The fourth generation missiles got upgraded to active radar homing.

Miniaturization in microwaves and digital electronics added with very high speed signal processing ASICs resulted in very compact radar seekers for missiles. So instead of depending on target illumination by ground based high power radars, the missile’s radar will start illuminating the target aircraft at short ranges and home on to the reflected energy from aircraft body.

This proved to be very effective and most of the modern missiles have this mode of terminal guidance. The mid-course guidance was based on radars as before.

The fifth generation missiles are now on the stands. They are now guided during initial and mid-course phase by Inertial Measurement Unit which is autonomous and does not require any external input

30

Air Defence Solutions 2nd time.indd 30-31

through RF links nor gives out any radiation.

The miniaturization of inertial sensors using MEMs and fiber optics have enabled this transformation. Such an inertially guided missile is capable of taking the missile close to target and allow the onboard radar seeker to take over.

Vertically Launched Missiles A typical missile launcher carries number of missiles and is able to traverse in elevation and azimuth so that missile gets launched in the most desirable direction to engineer an approach and attack. However this motion of launcher takes away precious seconds before missile can take off and many times this luxury does not exist. So vertically launched SAMs have emerged.

The missile takes off vertically the instant target gets assigned and fire control system computer clears the launch.

Knowing the bearing and elevation of the flying target, the onboard computer

Vertically launched SAMs have emerged.

The missile takes off vertically the instant target gets assigned and fire control system computer clears the launch.

“

will maneuver the flying missile into correct azimuth and trajectory angle for optimum intercept. Thus, target anywhere in 3600 azimuth, can be taken care of by the same launcher! All the technologies for miniaturization, low cost inertial navigation unit, reaction thrusters, fast acting control actuation etc are in various stages of development and production in the country.

In fact DRDO is partnering with IAI, Israel to develop such a vertically launched SAM that could be launched from a ship or a vehicle for medium range intercepts.

An MI-35 helicopter from Indian Army Aviation Corps participates in the Indian Army’s exercise Sudarshan Shakti in Barmer, Rajasthan

were upgraded to passive electronic scanning to replace mechanical scanning by using phase shifters and phase control modules to electronically scan and track targets.

The third generation radars dropped microwave power generation by tubes and instead exploited high power solid state modules for the same. The receiver and signal processing improvements brought down the power requirements to manageable levels.

DSI

The fourth generation radars turned active with solid state Transmit – Receiver modules being embedded in one array resulting in a very compact radar system with a lot of flexibility, adaptability and functionalities. Today almost all modern Air Defence Radars use active arrays.

The fifth generation radars are currently in R & D stage. They are multistatic with no dedicated transmitting system. The radar is a Multi Input Multi Output receiving system with extremely sophisticated signal processing to detect and track the targets.

India in Air Defence As far as the missile based air defence is considered, India is one of the foremost countries that have and will continue to have complete capability whether it is ship based or vehicle based or land based or aircraft based and covering short to very long ranges. It will also be fully supported by fifth generation radar networks, our own AWACS, DSI aerostats, satellites and NCOs.

AUSTRALIAN INTERNATIONAL AIRSHOW AND AEROSPACE & DEFENCE EXPOSITION AIRSHOW2013 26 FEBRUARY - 3 MARCH 2013 GEELONG VICTORIA

THE ESSENTIAL AVIATION, AEROSPACE AND DEFENCE SHOWCASE FOR AUSTRALIA AND THE ASIA PACIFIC

www.airshow.com.au Australian Sales Team Bob Wouda Penny Haines Kay McLaglen

T: +61 (0) 3 5282 0538 T: +61 (0) 3 5282 0535 T: +61 (0) 3 5282 0502

M: +61 (0) 418 143 290 M: +61 (0) 407 824 400 M: +61 (0) 411 147 882

E: bwouda@amda.com.au E: phaines@amda.com.au E: kmclaglen@amda.com.au

18/09/12 3:02 PM

AIR DEFENCE SOLUTIONS

SEPTEMBER 2012

AFP

Radar Generations Just like missiles, the radars that detect and track the targets have also undergone significant technology generations to contribute to the generational progress of SAMs. The first generation radars were microwave tube based, huge and heavy with reflector antenna being steered electromechanically to track flying targets.

The second generation air defence radars

The first generation SAMs were command guided using radars i.e. the target aircraft and missile were tracked by the same radar and guidance commands generated and sent to missile for following it. They were quite inaccurate requiring large and heavy warheads to ensure high probability of kill.

The second generation missiles were IR homing. The missile had a miniature infrared sensor to sense the engine exhaust of the aircraft. The onboard electronics would control the missile trajectory so that missile approaches the aircraft engine. These were, of course, quite accurate but of short ranges, a few kilometers, and were eventually easily defeated by releasing IR flares.

The third generation missiles used passive radar homing. In this case, the target aircraft was tracked and illuminated by a radar and its reflections were received by the miniature receiving antenna system in the missile.

The onboard processer in the missile will process the received signals and then guide

it towards the target. This RF link was found to be highly vulnerable to electronic countermeasures and became outdated.

The fourth generation missiles got upgraded to active radar homing.

Miniaturization in microwaves and digital electronics added with very high speed signal processing ASICs resulted in very compact radar seekers for missiles. So instead of depending on target illumination by ground based high power radars, the missile’s radar will start illuminating the target aircraft at short ranges and home on to the reflected energy from aircraft body.

This proved to be very effective and most of the modern missiles have this mode of terminal guidance. The mid-course guidance was based on radars as before.

The fifth generation missiles are now on the stands. They are now guided during initial and mid-course phase by Inertial Measurement Unit which is autonomous and does not require any external input

30

Air Defence Solutions 2nd time.indd 30-31

through RF links nor gives out any radiation.

The miniaturization of inertial sensors using MEMs and fiber optics have enabled this transformation. Such an inertially guided missile is capable of taking the missile close to target and allow the onboard radar seeker to take over.

Vertically Launched Missiles A typical missile launcher carries number of missiles and is able to traverse in elevation and azimuth so that missile gets launched in the most desirable direction to engineer an approach and attack. However this motion of launcher takes away precious seconds before missile can take off and many times this luxury does not exist. So vertically launched SAMs have emerged.

The missile takes off vertically the instant target gets assigned and fire control system computer clears the launch.

Knowing the bearing and elevation of the flying target, the onboard computer

Vertically launched SAMs have emerged.

The missile takes off vertically the instant target gets assigned and fire control system computer clears the launch.

“

will maneuver the flying missile into correct azimuth and trajectory angle for optimum intercept. Thus, target anywhere in 3600 azimuth, can be taken care of by the same launcher! All the technologies for miniaturization, low cost inertial navigation unit, reaction thrusters, fast acting control actuation etc are in various stages of development and production in the country.

In fact DRDO is partnering with IAI, Israel to develop such a vertically launched SAM that could be launched from a ship or a vehicle for medium range intercepts.

An MI-35 helicopter from Indian Army Aviation Corps participates in the Indian Army’s exercise Sudarshan Shakti in Barmer, Rajasthan

were upgraded to passive electronic scanning to replace mechanical scanning by using phase shifters and phase control modules to electronically scan and track targets.

The third generation radars dropped microwave power generation by tubes and instead exploited high power solid state modules for the same. The receiver and signal processing improvements brought down the power requirements to manageable levels.

DSI

The fourth generation radars turned active with solid state Transmit – Receiver modules being embedded in one array resulting in a very compact radar system with a lot of flexibility, adaptability and functionalities. Today almost all modern Air Defence Radars use active arrays.

The fifth generation radars are currently in R & D stage. They are multistatic with no dedicated transmitting system. The radar is a Multi Input Multi Output receiving system with extremely sophisticated signal processing to detect and track the targets.

India in Air Defence As far as the missile based air defence is considered, India is one of the foremost countries that have and will continue to have complete capability whether it is ship based or vehicle based or land based or aircraft based and covering short to very long ranges. It will also be fully supported by fifth generation radar networks, our own AWACS, DSI aerostats, satellites and NCOs.

AUSTRALIAN INTERNATIONAL AIRSHOW AND AEROSPACE & DEFENCE EXPOSITION AIRSHOW2013 26 FEBRUARY - 3 MARCH 2013 GEELONG VICTORIA

THE ESSENTIAL AVIATION, AEROSPACE AND DEFENCE SHOWCASE FOR AUSTRALIA AND THE ASIA PACIFIC

www.airshow.com.au Australian Sales Team Bob Wouda Penny Haines Kay McLaglen

T: +61 (0) 3 5282 0538 T: +61 (0) 3 5282 0535 T: +61 (0) 3 5282 0502

M: +61 (0) 418 143 290 M: +61 (0) 407 824 400 M: +61 (0) 411 147 882

E: bwouda@amda.com.au E: phaines@amda.com.au E: kmclaglen@amda.com.au

18/09/12 3:02 PM

CONTROLLING INSURGENCY

SEPTEMBER 2012

DSI

LWE: A COUNT ER APPROACH Maoism is one of the results of the absence of governance in some parts of the country. The writer, a master of Net Assessment, argues the right approach to solve the problem is not just the rampant use of force, but creating an economic and social development agenda, which addresses the problem.

KEY POINTS

There are many examples in history where left-wing movements of this nature have been put down by the use of sheer force.

Though till 2008, the central and state governments treated the problem as a law and order issue.

The governments have now understood that this insurgency has to be tackled with a development agenda.

Introduction This article takes the backdrop of Left Wing Extremism (LWE) in India to define the approach to deal with counter insurgency movements. There are many parallels in history, be it Malaysia, Sri Lanka or our own North East, and militancy in J&K. Important issue is that no insurgency has either been defeated or successfully managed without twin tracks of security and development. In Sri Lanka, an excessive use of force managed to decimate the LTTE, setting a new paradigm in the use of force

in winning the first counter-insurgency in the 21st century. In the bargain Sri Lanka demonstrated insurgency can be subdued by the right mix of strategy, political will, adequate resources and all out use of force, along with conducive geo-strategic environment. What however needs to be understood is the fact that it was isolated territorially and had little public support outside the so called liberated zone of Jaffna peninsula. Force could be applied and huge amount of collateral damage accepted as those being killed were Tamil ethnic minority. However the military victory is incomplete without political reconciliation and root causes being addressed. With Colombo trying to underplay devolution and its record of genocidal killings under world scrutiny it faces serious long term ramifications for peace.

India on the other hand cannot afford to follow Sri Lankan example. India managed the Mizo problem through negotiations, effective counter insurgency and development, much the same approach has been followed in J&K, as well, where attempt has been is to isolate the insurgents,

32

defence insurgency 2nd time.indd 32-33

Indian Maoists ready their weapons as they take part in a training camp at a forest area of Bijapur district, Chhattisgarh in July, 2012

improve governance delivery and address socio economic needs. While the success and failure can be a matter of debate, what is however not that the problem has largely been managed with even their handlers across the border acknowledging?

This paper attempts to deal with Indian government’s approach toward dealing with LWE characterized by the Prime Minister as the most serious internal challenge.

Brief History The term ‘Naxalite’ draws its origin from

an organized armed peasant resistance against the landlords that began in a small village called Naxalbari in the Indian state of West Bengal in March 1967. Three sharecroppers with the help of 150 members of the Communist Party of India (MarxistLeninist) [CPI (ML)] lifted the entire stock of grain from a landlord’s granary without giving him his share. It signaled the birth of a new movement and since then all forms of armed struggle for socio-economic development of the downtrodden as the cause have come to be termed “Naxalite.”

Other terms that are used to describe the movement are “leftwing extremism” and “radical Maoism.”

The evolution of the Naxalite movement falls broadly into three phases. The first is the period of intellectual fervour which lasted until the early 1970s. This phase was followed by one marked by armed violence, splintered Naxalite groups and decline of the intellectual discourse in the movement.

This phase lasted until the end of the millennium. The third phase, which is the current one, is characterized by increased

AFP

Brig (Retd) Arun Sahgal

violence, amalgamation of the various Naxalite groups under a single banner, and better organizational capability.

Arguably, whatever intellectual moorings the movement started with, no longer exists. However, the situation that spawned the Naxalite movement – “social injustice, economic inequality and the failure of the system in redressing the grievances of large sections of people” – continues.

Naxalite organization in India with a Central Committee and state, district and bloc level committees carry out militant

33

18/09/12 3:03 PM

CONTROLLING INSURGENCY

SEPTEMBER 2012

DSI

LWE: A COUNT ER APPROACH Maoism is one of the results of the absence of governance in some parts of the country. The writer, a master of Net Assessment, argues the right approach to solve the problem is not just the rampant use of force, but creating an economic and social development agenda, which addresses the problem.

KEY POINTS

There are many examples in history where left-wing movements of this nature have been put down by the use of sheer force.

Though till 2008, the central and state governments treated the problem as a law and order issue.

The governments have now understood that this insurgency has to be tackled with a development agenda.

Introduction This article takes the backdrop of Left Wing Extremism (LWE) in India to define the approach to deal with counter insurgency movements. There are many parallels in history, be it Malaysia, Sri Lanka or our own North East, and militancy in J&K. Important issue is that no insurgency has either been defeated or successfully managed without twin tracks of security and development. In Sri Lanka, an excessive use of force managed to decimate the LTTE, setting a new paradigm in the use of force

in winning the first counter-insurgency in the 21st century. In the bargain Sri Lanka demonstrated insurgency can be subdued by the right mix of strategy, political will, adequate resources and all out use of force, along with conducive geo-strategic environment. What however needs to be understood is the fact that it was isolated territorially and had little public support outside the so called liberated zone of Jaffna peninsula. Force could be applied and huge amount of collateral damage accepted as those being killed were Tamil ethnic minority. However the military victory is incomplete without political reconciliation and root causes being addressed. With Colombo trying to underplay devolution and its record of genocidal killings under world scrutiny it faces serious long term ramifications for peace.

India on the other hand cannot afford to follow Sri Lankan example. India managed the Mizo problem through negotiations, effective counter insurgency and development, much the same approach has been followed in J&K, as well, where attempt has been is to isolate the insurgents,

32

defence insurgency 2nd time.indd 32-33

Indian Maoists ready their weapons as they take part in a training camp at a forest area of Bijapur district, Chhattisgarh in July, 2012

improve governance delivery and address socio economic needs. While the success and failure can be a matter of debate, what is however not that the problem has largely been managed with even their handlers across the border acknowledging?

This paper attempts to deal with Indian government’s approach toward dealing with LWE characterized by the Prime Minister as the most serious internal challenge.

Brief History The term ‘Naxalite’ draws its origin from

an organized armed peasant resistance against the landlords that began in a small village called Naxalbari in the Indian state of West Bengal in March 1967. Three sharecroppers with the help of 150 members of the Communist Party of India (MarxistLeninist) [CPI (ML)] lifted the entire stock of grain from a landlord’s granary without giving him his share. It signaled the birth of a new movement and since then all forms of armed struggle for socio-economic development of the downtrodden as the cause have come to be termed “Naxalite.”

Other terms that are used to describe the movement are “leftwing extremism” and “radical Maoism.”

The evolution of the Naxalite movement falls broadly into three phases. The first is the period of intellectual fervour which lasted until the early 1970s. This phase was followed by one marked by armed violence, splintered Naxalite groups and decline of the intellectual discourse in the movement.

This phase lasted until the end of the millennium. The third phase, which is the current one, is characterized by increased

AFP

Brig (Retd) Arun Sahgal

violence, amalgamation of the various Naxalite groups under a single banner, and better organizational capability.

Arguably, whatever intellectual moorings the movement started with, no longer exists. However, the situation that spawned the Naxalite movement – “social injustice, economic inequality and the failure of the system in redressing the grievances of large sections of people” – continues.

Naxalite organization in India with a Central Committee and state, district and bloc level committees carry out militant

33

18/09/12 3:03 PM

CONTROLLING INSURGENCY

Counter-Naxal Policy of the Central Government According to the Annual Report 201112 of the Ministry of Home Affairs, “The Government’s approach is to deal with Left Wing Extremism activities in a holistic manner, in the areas of security, development, rights of local communities, improvement in governance and public perception.”

The government, until 2008, dealt with the Maoist insurgency as a law and order situation, a state subject. But, having recognized the socio-economic nature and factors of this insurgency, the government is now looking at the problem with a more holistic, development-oriented point of view. The aim is to improve the governance, security, administration and public distribution system in such a way that the support base of the extremists is cut off.

The areas which are influenced by the LWE, have hold over 85 % of the country’s natural resources. Therefore, the ramifications for this protracted war are not only securityrelated, but also economic in nature.

Therefore, the new model of counterinsurgency in LWE areas includes (but not limited to) addressing the governance deficit in the affected states, under a defensive security cover. Unlike in the case of Sri Lanka and the LTTE, the military

has thus far been kept at a safe distance for the CI-ops. While an Odisha-Chhattisgarh sub-area has been established, it is more a boots-on-ground strategy rather than an offensive CI-strategy under the complete anti-Naxal policy.

In addition to deploying a large number of Central Paramilitary Forces (CPMF) like CRPF, BSF, ITBP, SSB, Cobra and India Reserve Battalion, the government has also implemented the Integrated Action Plan under the Ministry of Rural Development.

An amendment of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (FRA) is also due to be tabled in the Monsoon session of the Parliament by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to ensure better implementation of the act in distributing land ownership titles to traditional forest dwellers. The CRPF has started a new model of development (under the Civic Action Plan of the MHA) which entails training young women from the affected areas in armed and un-armed combat for self defence and some of these women are placed in public places like Malls as security guards.

Efforts are also being made to improve inter-state coordination which has been lacking so far. The evidence of security measures in juxtaposition with administrative and welfare measure working is the decline in the number of LWE affected districts from 196 in 2010 to 182 in 2011 (MHA data).

The Central government, in consultation with the affected states assessed the trend in Naxal violence and in 2011, 83 districts in 9 states were taken up for a focused approach in planning and implementation of Security Related Expenditure (SRE).

Integrated Action Plan In FY 2010-11, the central government in consultation with the affected states, decided to implement a special scheme which addresses the governance deficiencies in 33 worst LWE affected districts. The Planning Commission was entrusted the responsibility to draw up an Integrated Action Plan for these 33 districts which were a part of the 83 districts brought under the SRE. Eventually, the

34

defence insurgency 2nd time.indd 34-35

Indian Special Security Force personnel deployed for anti-Naxal operations perform a security sweep

AFP

activities in 9 states. In some parts of the country, it runs a parallel government and is at war with the state machinery. Its primary stated objective is overthrowing the Indian government by a people’s war.

To that effect, the CPI (Maoist) armed its cadres and started gaining ground in the form of ‘Liberated Zones’ where the state machinery was replaced by an indigenous parallel government. As the situation stands now, despite Maoists gaining control of large territories and geographical area (like Abhujmadh forest which falls in the geographical area of three states), the movement appears to be on the back foot with affected districts coming down marginally. The basic approach adopted by the Government of India in dealing with this serious internal problem is at the heart of this essay.

SEPTEMBER 2012

number of districts was increased to 35.

In 2010, the IAP came into effect with 60 tribal districts under its ambit.

The IAP is a focused plan for implementation of development initiatives at district and bloc level committees in the affected states with the Ministry of Rural Development as its nodal authority. The Planning Commission holds annual reviews of the plan. The IAP has now been extended to 83 districts in 9 states.

The total funds allocated under the IAP till July 2012 for the year 201112 is Rs.1090 crore and the total funds allocated since the IAP came into effect is Rs.2590 crore. The official records on implementation of the total funds till December 2011 is 56.71%.

In order the qualify to be considered under the IAP, the states must be under the 83 % of the SRE districts, should have at least 25 % of the total population tribal, must have over 30 % of the total area under forest cover, the poverty ratio in the district must exceed 50 % and the district must be covered under the Backward Regions Grant Fund.

New Emerging Trends The problem that the Indian state is currently facing is that despite the fall in violence, the activities of the extremists are getting increasingly brazen and spreading to previously untouched territories. Another disturbing trend is that in recent arms seizures, it has emerged that the extremists now have access to more sophisticated and modern weapons technology than before. The recent spate in kidnappings of politicians and foreign citizens just shows the impunity with which the Naxals are now carrying out their attacks. The recent shootout of an SI in Kandhamal in Odisha at a time when the CPI (Maoist) had declared a ceasefire to carry out negotiations for the release of the two foreign nationals and the MLA from the state, also points out to the increasing factionalism within the Maoist organization structure and boldness of splinter groups.

Increased activity in new theatres of conflict like Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana are also a challenge that stares the Indian state in the face. The problem is that the Naxals have always taken up localized

socio-economic issues like poverty, caste divide, employment, public distribution system etc. to gain popular support. In a state like Punjab, where the per capita income and standard of life of a citizen is better than most of the country, even the smallest decline in their standard of living due to a variety of reasons, from the grave caste divide between Dalits and upper caste, to failing crops, lack of industrialization and cyclical unemployment causes a mass social ferment and leaves them vulnerable to radicalization.

A Holistic Development Oriented Approach From past counter-insurgency measure in LWE, especially in the case of Andhra Pradesh, it is evident that a holistic approach in dealing with a mass-based insurgency is what works. The use of Greyhounds in Andhra Pradesh worked as sustainable counter-insurgency strategy only because it was accompanied by development initiatives. The state followed a carrot-andstick approach and cut the local support for the Maoists in the state by offering a

DSI

better life to the vulnerable sections. The state also offered lucrative rehabilitation opportunities to the extremists who voluntarily surrendered.

To keep the motivation levels of its own security personnel, the state insured them and in case of death in combat, the next of kin was provided accommodation and jobs in government departments along with a compensation package which included the last drawn pay of the deceased security personnel till the time of their superannuation if they continued in service. The 3000 personnel serving under Greyhounds were paid nearly 60 % more than their regular remuneration to make the force more dedicated to their job.

They were trained in jungle warfare and counterinsurgency and were only posted to the Greyhounds for three years.

This model, though extremely successful in nearly eliminating LWE from Andhra Pradesh, allowed for the spillover effect of the cadres to neighbouring states. A comprehensive and coordinated inter-state approach is therefore, needed to counter LWE completely.

In the present scenario, the affected states now understand the value of such a holistic approach and thus, development activities are being carried out simultaneously with security measures. For instance, in the state of Chhatisgarh, in one of the worst affected LWE districts in the country, Dantewada, a 170-acre Education City is coming up which will provide residential educational facilities to over 5000 children of all age groups. The primary aim of this education city is to provide quality secondary and higher education in technical fields to generate indigenous engineers and doctors.

Nearly 200 students qualified for the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) and the Pre-Medical Test (PMT).

Unlike Sri Lanka, excessive use of force is not taking place. Despite the OdishaChhattisgarh sub-area coming up in Raipur, the army is only being used to train the security forces in counterinsurgency. Besides, with a cantonment coming up in an insurgencyprone area, in addition to a line of defence, critical infrastructure like communication, DSI roads and recruitment comes up.

35

18/09/12 3:03 PM

CONTROLLING INSURGENCY

Counter-Naxal Policy of the Central Government According to the Annual Report 201112 of the Ministry of Home Affairs, “The Government’s approach is to deal with Left Wing Extremism activities in a holistic manner, in the areas of security, development, rights of local communities, improvement in governance and public perception.”

The government, until 2008, dealt with the Maoist insurgency as a law and order situation, a state subject. But, having recognized the socio-economic nature and factors of this insurgency, the government is now looking at the problem with a more holistic, development-oriented point of view. The aim is to improve the governance, security, administration and public distribution system in such a way that the support base of the extremists is cut off.

The areas which are influenced by the LWE, have hold over 85 % of the country’s natural resources. Therefore, the ramifications for this protracted war are not only securityrelated, but also economic in nature.

Therefore, the new model of counterinsurgency in LWE areas includes (but not limited to) addressing the governance deficit in the affected states, under a defensive security cover. Unlike in the case of Sri Lanka and the LTTE, the military

has thus far been kept at a safe distance for the CI-ops. While an Odisha-Chhattisgarh sub-area has been established, it is more a boots-on-ground strategy rather than an offensive CI-strategy under the complete anti-Naxal policy.

In addition to deploying a large number of Central Paramilitary Forces (CPMF) like CRPF, BSF, ITBP, SSB, Cobra and India Reserve Battalion, the government has also implemented the Integrated Action Plan under the Ministry of Rural Development.

An amendment of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (FRA) is also due to be tabled in the Monsoon session of the Parliament by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to ensure better implementation of the act in distributing land ownership titles to traditional forest dwellers. The CRPF has started a new model of development (under the Civic Action Plan of the MHA) which entails training young women from the affected areas in armed and un-armed combat for self defence and some of these women are placed in public places like Malls as security guards.

Efforts are also being made to improve inter-state coordination which has been lacking so far. The evidence of security measures in juxtaposition with administrative and welfare measure working is the decline in the number of LWE affected districts from 196 in 2010 to 182 in 2011 (MHA data).

The Central government, in consultation with the affected states assessed the trend in Naxal violence and in 2011, 83 districts in 9 states were taken up for a focused approach in planning and implementation of Security Related Expenditure (SRE).

Integrated Action Plan In FY 2010-11, the central government in consultation with the affected states, decided to implement a special scheme which addresses the governance deficiencies in 33 worst LWE affected districts. The Planning Commission was entrusted the responsibility to draw up an Integrated Action Plan for these 33 districts which were a part of the 83 districts brought under the SRE. Eventually, the

34

defence insurgency 2nd time.indd 34-35

Indian Special Security Force personnel deployed for anti-Naxal operations perform a security sweep

AFP

activities in 9 states. In some parts of the country, it runs a parallel government and is at war with the state machinery. Its primary stated objective is overthrowing the Indian government by a people’s war.

To that effect, the CPI (Maoist) armed its cadres and started gaining ground in the form of ‘Liberated Zones’ where the state machinery was replaced by an indigenous parallel government. As the situation stands now, despite Maoists gaining control of large territories and geographical area (like Abhujmadh forest which falls in the geographical area of three states), the movement appears to be on the back foot with affected districts coming down marginally. The basic approach adopted by the Government of India in dealing with this serious internal problem is at the heart of this essay.

SEPTEMBER 2012

number of districts was increased to 35.

In 2010, the IAP came into effect with 60 tribal districts under its ambit.

The IAP is a focused plan for implementation of development initiatives at district and bloc level committees in the affected states with the Ministry of Rural Development as its nodal authority. The Planning Commission holds annual reviews of the plan. The IAP has now been extended to 83 districts in 9 states.

The total funds allocated under the IAP till July 2012 for the year 201112 is Rs.1090 crore and the total funds allocated since the IAP came into effect is Rs.2590 crore. The official records on implementation of the total funds till December 2011 is 56.71%.

In order the qualify to be considered under the IAP, the states must be under the 83 % of the SRE districts, should have at least 25 % of the total population tribal, must have over 30 % of the total area under forest cover, the poverty ratio in the district must exceed 50 % and the district must be covered under the Backward Regions Grant Fund.

New Emerging Trends The problem that the Indian state is currently facing is that despite the fall in violence, the activities of the extremists are getting increasingly brazen and spreading to previously untouched territories. Another disturbing trend is that in recent arms seizures, it has emerged that the extremists now have access to more sophisticated and modern weapons technology than before. The recent spate in kidnappings of politicians and foreign citizens just shows the impunity with which the Naxals are now carrying out their attacks. The recent shootout of an SI in Kandhamal in Odisha at a time when the CPI (Maoist) had declared a ceasefire to carry out negotiations for the release of the two foreign nationals and the MLA from the state, also points out to the increasing factionalism within the Maoist organization structure and boldness of splinter groups.

Increased activity in new theatres of conflict like Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana are also a challenge that stares the Indian state in the face. The problem is that the Naxals have always taken up localized

socio-economic issues like poverty, caste divide, employment, public distribution system etc. to gain popular support. In a state like Punjab, where the per capita income and standard of life of a citizen is better than most of the country, even the smallest decline in their standard of living due to a variety of reasons, from the grave caste divide between Dalits and upper caste, to failing crops, lack of industrialization and cyclical unemployment causes a mass social ferment and leaves them vulnerable to radicalization.

A Holistic Development Oriented Approach From past counter-insurgency measure in LWE, especially in the case of Andhra Pradesh, it is evident that a holistic approach in dealing with a mass-based insurgency is what works. The use of Greyhounds in Andhra Pradesh worked as sustainable counter-insurgency strategy only because it was accompanied by development initiatives. The state followed a carrot-andstick approach and cut the local support for the Maoists in the state by offering a

DSI

better life to the vulnerable sections. The state also offered lucrative rehabilitation opportunities to the extremists who voluntarily surrendered.

To keep the motivation levels of its own security personnel, the state insured them and in case of death in combat, the next of kin was provided accommodation and jobs in government departments along with a compensation package which included the last drawn pay of the deceased security personnel till the time of their superannuation if they continued in service. The 3000 personnel serving under Greyhounds were paid nearly 60 % more than their regular remuneration to make the force more dedicated to their job.

They were trained in jungle warfare and counterinsurgency and were only posted to the Greyhounds for three years.

This model, though extremely successful in nearly eliminating LWE from Andhra Pradesh, allowed for the spillover effect of the cadres to neighbouring states. A comprehensive and coordinated inter-state approach is therefore, needed to counter LWE completely.

In the present scenario, the affected states now understand the value of such a holistic approach and thus, development activities are being carried out simultaneously with security measures. For instance, in the state of Chhatisgarh, in one of the worst affected LWE districts in the country, Dantewada, a 170-acre Education City is coming up which will provide residential educational facilities to over 5000 children of all age groups. The primary aim of this education city is to provide quality secondary and higher education in technical fields to generate indigenous engineers and doctors.

Nearly 200 students qualified for the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) and the Pre-Medical Test (PMT).

Unlike Sri Lanka, excessive use of force is not taking place. Despite the OdishaChhattisgarh sub-area coming up in Raipur, the army is only being used to train the security forces in counterinsurgency. Besides, with a cantonment coming up in an insurgencyprone area, in addition to a line of defence, critical infrastructure like communication, DSI roads and recruitment comes up.

35

18/09/12 3:03 PM

BALLISTIC PROTECTION

SEPTEMBER 2012

DSI

EVOLUTION IN BALLISTIC PROTECTION

A mannequin with ballistic armour and other protective gear

As technology poses newer levels of threats to the combatants, scientists and technologists all over the world are seeking to stay ahead of the developments in offensive weapons. The writer is someone who has been on the side of defence, seeking to create the best ballistic armour that can raise the survivability of troops.

Madhukar N Saraf

KEY POINTS

Increasing attempts at generating survivability of trained security personnel lead to armour material research.

Various options of synthetic materials for armour increase their tensility.

Nano materials hold the promise of even better qualities of body and vehicle armour.

AFP

T 36

EMERGING BALLISTIC 3rd time.indd 36-37

he growing threat of violence today has led to an increasing demand for ballistic protection.

The threat from a determined and inventive enemy is constantly evolving and changing. The armour protection needed for the safe operations must keep ahead of threat with short term developments to reflect current experience.

Novel physical and active protection systems are sought that are mass and volume efficient and capable of countering rapidly evolving threats primarily IED’s, mines, top attack weapons and small arms.

Casualties due to various threats are cause for alarm and considering human life as a very precious commodity, it is therefore critical to develop materials and modules which can withstand all futuristic threats. Changes in the type of threats in recent years have led to shift in focus on the need for protection against multi -spectral threats for providing such a protection it is essential to create high performance passive, reactive, dynamic, intelligent and active armour technologies with creative armour design concepts.

The concept of armour is not new, in fact it relates to the Stone Age civilisation.

The Egyptians wore coats made of layers of woven flax. The primitive quilted armour

37

19/09/12 1:03 PM

BALLISTIC PROTECTION

SEPTEMBER 2012

DSI

EVOLUTION IN BALLISTIC PROTECTION

A mannequin with ballistic armour and other protective gear

As technology poses newer levels of threats to the combatants, scientists and technologists all over the world are seeking to stay ahead of the developments in offensive weapons. The writer is someone who has been on the side of defence, seeking to create the best ballistic armour that can raise the survivability of troops.

Madhukar N Saraf

KEY POINTS

Increasing attempts at generating survivability of trained security personnel lead to armour material research.

Various options of synthetic materials for armour increase their tensility.

Nano materials hold the promise of even better qualities of body and vehicle armour.

AFP

T 36

EMERGING BALLISTIC 3rd time.indd 36-37

he growing threat of violence today has led to an increasing demand for ballistic protection.

The threat from a determined and inventive enemy is constantly evolving and changing. The armour protection needed for the safe operations must keep ahead of threat with short term developments to reflect current experience.

Novel physical and active protection systems are sought that are mass and volume efficient and capable of countering rapidly evolving threats primarily IED’s, mines, top attack weapons and small arms.

Casualties due to various threats are cause for alarm and considering human life as a very precious commodity, it is therefore critical to develop materials and modules which can withstand all futuristic threats. Changes in the type of threats in recent years have led to shift in focus on the need for protection against multi -spectral threats for providing such a protection it is essential to create high performance passive, reactive, dynamic, intelligent and active armour technologies with creative armour design concepts.

The concept of armour is not new, in fact it relates to the Stone Age civilisation.

The Egyptians wore coats made of layers of woven flax. The primitive quilted armour

37

19/09/12 1:03 PM

BALLISTIC PROTECTION

SEPTEMBER 2012

was often reinforced with small plates of hard materials such as bones, horns, hooves, leather or metal. Otherwise also the use of metal armour dates back to the discovery of bronze in 3000-2000 BC. During the Roman empire, iron nails were used on armour plates.

In East Asia many types of armours were commonly used at different times by various cultures including scale armour, Lamellar armour, Laminar armour, plated mail, plate armour and brigandine. From the prehistoric period till today the struggle for superiority between armour and threat never ceased and newer armour systems were developed. The aim was to have light weight armour capable of stopping the projectile. The type of armour and material used for it is dictated by threat perception, the application, the tactical Soldiers wearing Ceradyne body scenario, the cost and time with the trend armour & helmets developed from high performance materials for of evaluation of higher threats in the form of protection against fragments, higher fire power. small arms and provide superior Metals are very common materials used ballistic protection. in armour application. Metals defeat the projectile by blunting, and hence hardness of metal plays a vital role. Armour can be 63 Rock well hardness is used for steel plate between sheets of steel armour plate. For instance production of M1A1HA and M1A2 classified into three categories i.e. metallic, face and 50-53 HRC for back plate.

Aluminum is another metal that is Abram tanks have depleted Uranium non-metallic and composites.

Steel, Aluminum and Titanium are used for armour applications, it is a reinforcement as part of armour plating in the the three main metals which either alone, light weight metal, it is commonly used front of hull and front of the turret. through alloying by heat treatment and on APC and armoured cars. Aluminum other processing techniques result in, alloy (5083-H131) is a non-heat treatable Ceramic Armour armour materials. Mostly hardness and strain hardened Aluminum – Magnesium Ceramics are known to show a considerable toughness are the two properties which alloy. It is resistant to cracking and stress promise as a material withstanding high greatly influence the ballistic performance corrosion cracking. Future developments velocity threats. The principle advantage in Aluminum armours focus on attaining of ceramic over conventional steel is high of metals.

Rolled Homogeneous Armour (RHA) higher strength without sacrificing dynamic comprehensive strength and hardness, and is strong, hard and tough and comprises ductility while maintaining all the corrosion low density. Because of its high hardness, a ceramic when impacted by a projectile, blunts the bulk of past, present and likely future and weldability characteristics.

Titanium is considered superior to most its tip and creates shock waves within the shot armour material. It was found that steel at maximum hardness, and with enough other metallic armour. Titanium armour that shatter the plate. Alumina, Boron Carbide, toughness resists cracking in all situations, development started in late 1950’s. The Aluminum boride and Titanium diboride are providing the best ballistic performance. low density of Titanium compared to steel the candidate materials for ceramic armours.

Therefore RHA has remained the standard was one of the criteria for its attraction, Nearly all successful ceramic armours are armour of most tanks though the threat but because of high cost compared to steel dense, single phase monolithic materials.

A major problem in the use of ceramic level has gone up to the level that even 1000 it is preferred for usage in aircraft. Some mm thick steel armour appears inadequate. notable examples of its use include USAF’s armour is the extent of damage zone Dual hardness armour (DHA) steel was A-10 Thunderbolt II and the former Soviet accompanying a primary hit. Radial developed to achieve improved performance Russia-built, Sukhoi Su-25 forming a bath- and spall cracks propagate through the over RHA. Armour piercing threats are tub shaped Titanium enclosure for the pilot ceramic outward from the site of impact typically defeated by fracturing them using a as well as Russian Mi-24 attack helicopter. leading to fragmentation of the ceramic.

Because of high density, depleted Uranium Such damage can to some extent be hard face plate and then catching the debris with a softer back phase. DHA steel has 59- can also be used in tank armour, sandwiched reduced by increasing the rigidity of

38

EMERGING BALLISTIC 3rd time.indd 38-39

Ceradyne Defender Body Armor having hot pressed boron carbide and silicon carbide ceramic which is integrated with optimized composite structures to produce rugged, lightweight multihit armors. The Defender Seamless Ballistic(r) Helmet developed using molded monolithic, hybrid and hard faced rigid CFRTPC materials providing unparalleled ballistic protection at equivalent areal weights. the baking plate in order to limit the bending stresses generated during impact.

Thus monolithic plates have limitation.

Therefore, the motivation for new types of armour plates. These new designs use two and three dimensional arrays of ceramic elements that can be rigid, flexible or semi flexible. Dragon skin body armour is one of these systems. One novel approach is to use hook and loop fasteners to assemble the ceramic arrays.

FRP Composite Materials : FRP composites have long been used as armour materials due to their light weight, high specific strength and excellent energy absorption. FRP composites have two major ingredients namely, high strength, high modules reinforcing fibre and binder resin.

The fibre gives the strength and the binder (resin) keeps the fibre in position and helps transfer of energy from one fibre to other fibre.

Thus FRP composites defeat the projectile by dissipation of energy. Failure in FRP composite laminates is a far more complex process. The process is three dimensional in nature, characterized by interactions occurring in the individual fabric layer.

Additional strain wave reflects as fibre cross over serve to distribute impact energy over a large area, thus increasing ballistic resistance.

Because of numerous cross-overs found in woven fabrics the energy is quickly dissipated

as the wave encounters more and more fibre cross-overs and the impact damage is usually restricted to a small area adjacent to the point of impact. Energy transfers to adjacent layers through the thickness are facilitated by the use of resin binder.

Fibres contribute strength and stiffness to FRP composites. The important fibres as reinforcement are 1) Glass Fibre ( ‘E’ and ‘S’ Glass) 2) Paraaramid such as Kevlar, Twaron, Zylons etc. 3) Ultra high molecular weight polythlene (UHMWPE) such as Dyneema, Spectra, Gold flex and 4) Ballistic Nylon.

Glass fibres occupy wide market due to their comparative cost advantage, easy processibility and high mechanical strength.

The high modules and strain wave velocity (9400 m/s) of Aramid fibres ensure a part response to impact. The fibres are highly crystalline and have a distinct fibrillar morphology not observed in conventional fibres. During Ballistic impact aramid fibres are subdivided by a factor of 10 or more into micro-fibrils which helps to arrest transverse cracks.

Ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fibres are obtained from the gell-spinning process. The crystallinity content of UHMWPE is 60-65 per cent because of the extension and orientation of the polymer chains in longitudinal direction. Because of low to moderate

DSI

adhesion between the UHMWPE fibre and matrix resin, it facilitates the dissipation of the impact load through the process of delamination of the composite without much distortion, thus it is particularly suitable for ballistic application.

Ballistic Nylon is thick, tough synthetic material originally developed for FlackJackets. The UHMWPE, silk or Aramid fibre fabrics are used for fabrication of soft Armour to provide protection from stabbings and low velocity fragments. For fabrication of Ballistic resistant composites matrix resins used or unsaturated polyester, modified phenolics, toughened epoxy resins and vinylesters. Compression moulding method is the most popular process for fabrication of these composites.

Failure in FRP composites laminates is a far more complex process phenomenon.

The process is three dimensional in nature characterised by interaction occurring in the individual fabric layers. Additional strain wave reflection fibre cross over, serves to distribute impact energy over a large area.

This increases the ballistic resistance.

The selection of reinforcement, selection of matrix, processing technique is the few parameters that are responsible for Ballistic properties of composites.

Newest matter Nano materials can be designed to create exceptionally strong armour. Nano armour potential products have already attracted huge interest for military, law enforcement and homeland security organizations of various countries. Nano material claim to have up to twice the strength of the best impact resistant protective armour materials such as Boron Carbide, Silicon Carbide used in hard armour plates and is four to five times stronger than steel. Nano armour will provide multi hit protections as well as enhanced ballistic and blast resistance.

Thus different materials used for protection has different energy absorption against a small arms projectile. The invention of APDS, FSAPDS and HEAT ammunitions drastically increase the requirement of steel armour. Today even 1000 mm thick steel armour is inadequate for providing protection against futuristic threats.

39

19/09/12 1:03 PM

BALLISTIC PROTECTION

SEPTEMBER 2012

was often reinforced with small plates of hard materials such as bones, horns, hooves, leather or metal. Otherwise also the use of metal armour dates back to the discovery of bronze in 3000-2000 BC. During the Roman empire, iron nails were used on armour plates.

In East Asia many types of armours were commonly used at different times by various cultures including scale armour, Lamellar armour, Laminar armour, plated mail, plate armour and brigandine. From the prehistoric period till today the struggle for superiority between armour and threat never ceased and newer armour systems were developed. The aim was to have light weight armour capable of stopping the projectile. The type of armour and material used for it is dictated by threat perception, the application, the tactical Soldiers wearing Ceradyne body scenario, the cost and time with the trend armour & helmets developed from high performance materials for of evaluation of higher threats in the form of protection against fragments, higher fire power. small arms and provide superior Metals are very common materials used ballistic protection. in armour application. Metals defeat the projectile by blunting, and hence hardness of metal plays a vital role. Armour can be 63 Rock well hardness is used for steel plate between sheets of steel armour plate. For instance production of M1A1HA and M1A2 classified into three categories i.e. metallic, face and 50-53 HRC for back plate.

Aluminum is another metal that is Abram tanks have depleted Uranium non-metallic and composites.

Steel, Aluminum and Titanium are used for armour applications, it is a reinforcement as part of armour plating in the the three main metals which either alone, light weight metal, it is commonly used front of hull and front of the turret. through alloying by heat treatment and on APC and armoured cars. Aluminum other processing techniques result in, alloy (5083-H131) is a non-heat treatable Ceramic Armour armour materials. Mostly hardness and strain hardened Aluminum – Magnesium Ceramics are known to show a considerable toughness are the two properties which alloy. It is resistant to cracking and stress promise as a material withstanding high greatly influence the ballistic performance corrosion cracking. Future developments velocity threats. The principle advantage in Aluminum armours focus on attaining of ceramic over conventional steel is high of metals.

Rolled Homogeneous Armour (RHA) higher strength without sacrificing dynamic comprehensive strength and hardness, and is strong, hard and tough and comprises ductility while maintaining all the corrosion low density. Because of its high hardness, a ceramic when impacted by a projectile, blunts the bulk of past, present and likely future and weldability characteristics.

Titanium is considered superior to most its tip and creates shock waves within the shot armour material. It was found that steel at maximum hardness, and with enough other metallic armour. Titanium armour that shatter the plate. Alumina, Boron Carbide, toughness resists cracking in all situations, development started in late 1950’s. The Aluminum boride and Titanium diboride are providing the best ballistic performance. low density of Titanium compared to steel the candidate materials for ceramic armours.

Therefore RHA has remained the standard was one of the criteria for its attraction, Nearly all successful ceramic armours are armour of most tanks though the threat but because of high cost compared to steel dense, single phase monolithic materials.

A major problem in the use of ceramic level has gone up to the level that even 1000 it is preferred for usage in aircraft. Some mm thick steel armour appears inadequate. notable examples of its use include USAF’s armour is the extent of damage zone Dual hardness armour (DHA) steel was A-10 Thunderbolt II and the former Soviet accompanying a primary hit. Radial developed to achieve improved performance Russia-built, Sukhoi Su-25 forming a bath- and spall cracks propagate through the over RHA. Armour piercing threats are tub shaped Titanium enclosure for the pilot ceramic outward from the site of impact typically defeated by fracturing them using a as well as Russian Mi-24 attack helicopter. leading to fragmentation of the ceramic.

Because of high density, depleted Uranium Such damage can to some extent be hard face plate and then catching the debris with a softer back phase. DHA steel has 59- can also be used in tank armour, sandwiched reduced by increasing the rigidity of

38

EMERGING BALLISTIC 3rd time.indd 38-39

Ceradyne Defender Body Armor having hot pressed boron carbide and silicon carbide ceramic which is integrated with optimized composite structures to produce rugged, lightweight multihit armors. The Defender Seamless Ballistic(r) Helmet developed using molded monolithic, hybrid and hard faced rigid CFRTPC materials providing unparalleled ballistic protection at equivalent areal weights. the baking plate in order to limit the bending stresses generated during impact.

Thus monolithic plates have limitation.

Therefore, the motivation for new types of armour plates. These new designs use two and three dimensional arrays of ceramic elements that can be rigid, flexible or semi flexible. Dragon skin body armour is one of these systems. One novel approach is to use hook and loop fasteners to assemble the ceramic arrays.

FRP Composite Materials : FRP composites have long been used as armour materials due to their light weight, high specific strength and excellent energy absorption. FRP composites have two major ingredients namely, high strength, high modules reinforcing fibre and binder resin.

The fibre gives the strength and the binder (resin) keeps the fibre in position and helps transfer of energy from one fibre to other fibre.

Thus FRP composites defeat the projectile by dissipation of energy. Failure in FRP composite laminates is a far more complex process. The process is three dimensional in nature, characterized by interactions occurring in the individual fabric layer.

Additional strain wave reflects as fibre cross over serve to distribute impact energy over a large area, thus increasing ballistic resistance.

Because of numerous cross-overs found in woven fabrics the energy is quickly dissipated

as the wave encounters more and more fibre cross-overs and the impact damage is usually restricted to a small area adjacent to the point of impact. Energy transfers to adjacent layers through the thickness are facilitated by the use of resin binder.

Fibres contribute strength and stiffness to FRP composites. The important fibres as reinforcement are 1) Glass Fibre ( ‘E’ and ‘S’ Glass) 2) Paraaramid such as Kevlar, Twaron, Zylons etc. 3) Ultra high molecular weight polythlene (UHMWPE) such as Dyneema, Spectra, Gold flex and 4) Ballistic Nylon.

Glass fibres occupy wide market due to their comparative cost advantage, easy processibility and high mechanical strength.

The high modules and strain wave velocity (9400 m/s) of Aramid fibres ensure a part response to impact. The fibres are highly crystalline and have a distinct fibrillar morphology not observed in conventional fibres. During Ballistic impact aramid fibres are subdivided by a factor of 10 or more into micro-fibrils which helps to arrest transverse cracks.

Ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fibres are obtained from the gell-spinning process. The crystallinity content of UHMWPE is 60-65 per cent because of the extension and orientation of the polymer chains in longitudinal direction. Because of low to moderate

DSI

adhesion between the UHMWPE fibre and matrix resin, it facilitates the dissipation of the impact load through the process of delamination of the composite without much distortion, thus it is particularly suitable for ballistic application.

Ballistic Nylon is thick, tough synthetic material originally developed for FlackJackets. The UHMWPE, silk or Aramid fibre fabrics are used for fabrication of soft Armour to provide protection from stabbings and low velocity fragments. For fabrication of Ballistic resistant composites matrix resins used or unsaturated polyester, modified phenolics, toughened epoxy resins and vinylesters. Compression moulding method is the most popular process for fabrication of these composites.

Failure in FRP composites laminates is a far more complex process phenomenon.

The process is three dimensional in nature characterised by interaction occurring in the individual fabric layers. Additional strain wave reflection fibre cross over, serves to distribute impact energy over a large area.

This increases the ballistic resistance.

The selection of reinforcement, selection of matrix, processing technique is the few parameters that are responsible for Ballistic properties of composites.

Newest matter Nano materials can be designed to create exceptionally strong armour. Nano armour potential products have already attracted huge interest for military, law enforcement and homeland security organizations of various countries. Nano material claim to have up to twice the strength of the best impact resistant protective armour materials such as Boron Carbide, Silicon Carbide used in hard armour plates and is four to five times stronger than steel. Nano armour will provide multi hit protections as well as enhanced ballistic and blast resistance.

Thus different materials used for protection has different energy absorption against a small arms projectile. The invention of APDS, FSAPDS and HEAT ammunitions drastically increase the requirement of steel armour. Today even 1000 mm thick steel armour is inadequate for providing protection against futuristic threats.

39

19/09/12 1:03 PM

BALLISTIC PROTECTION A technician of an US manufacturer of armoured vehicles at work

It is a well known fact that no single material can provide protection against all types of ammunitions which work on different principles and military vehicles are commonly armoured to withstand the impact of shrapnels, bullets, missiles or shells, protecting the personnel inside from enemy fire, such vehicle include tank, aircraft and ships.

The proliferation of new generation antitank guided missiles (ATGM) and the wide use of hand held anti-tank rifle grenades pose a series of threats to even heaviest protected vehicles as attacks are carried out at close range and from all directions.

Protection all around by passive armour is becoming too heavy for even the heaviest tanks and even these cannot stop all threats in all directions. Therefore, a modern armour is a suite of protection means, comprising of relatively thin shells of Ballistic steel and composite armour, which can be design to provide optimal protection from specific threats such armour can accommodate steel, various combinations and matrices of composite materials. Soft and elastic heat absorbing materials, Kinetic Energy absorbing matrices such as ceramics or depleted Uranium and energetic materials

(various explosives) that form the reactive nanometric steels etc or ceramics or nano ceramics. It needs 30 per cent less thickness armour element.

Designing of armour is therefore a major to offer the same protection levels as aspect in Ballistic protection and based on ARMOX 5002 armour.

Evaluation of materials for their ballistics the threat specification various types of resistance efficiency is another aspect which armours are designed such as :Reactive Armour are explosive reactive is as important as threat or protective armour, uses layers of high explosive system. V-50 ballistic limit test is generally sandwich between steel plates. Non- employed as the principle technique explosive reactive armour is an advanced to standardize and rank the protective space armour which uses materials that capabilities of candidate armour materials changes their geometry so as to increase and finish product like helmets and body armour vest. The criterion of this test is protection under the stress of impact.

Spaced Armour with two or more plates taken to be the lowest missile velocity at spaced a distance apart are called which complete penetration of the material spaced armour when sloped, reduces the will barely occur without any residual penetration power of bullets and solid shots velocity of the projectile. This test is time as after penetrating each plate they tend to consuming and destructive and hence very costly. In addition this cannot record the tumble, deflect, deform and disintegrate.

Slat armour is designed to protect events that occurred during the impact of against anti-tank rocket and missile attacks projectile on target. It is therefore necessary where the warhead is a shaped charge. The to have a procedure which is able to study slats are places so that the warhead is either the efficiency of the target. There should be partially deformed before detonating or correlation between static and dynamic test so the fuzing mechanism is damaged there by that selection of target material can be done in the laboratory at the primary stage. In case of preventing detonation entirely.

Advanced Modular Armour is fourth composite inter laminar, shear strength is one generation modular composite armour- criterion that may help us in designing the DSI making use of steel alloys or Al-Ti alloys, composition of composites.

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DSI

WHAT DOES 2014 MEAN IN AFGHANISTAN? Afghanistan, indeed the world, is holding its breath as the date for US/ISAF withdrawal approaches. No one can tell what will happen to the country after that. Will all the gains of the past decade go up in flames? Or will pragmatism prevail?

AFP

A soldier from the 1st Platoon, 1-64 Armoured Batallion, US Army - operating under NATO - secures a perimetre at Morghan-Kecha village during a security patrol in Daman district, Kandahar

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be able to establish the writ of the central government. While the financial resources provided to the country by the various donor countries goes into the central government kitty, the provincial governments do not have a say in the way these are distributed.

If this process is reformed to make it somewhat more democratic, and the provincial governments are provided access to these donated resources, it may bring down the flow of corruption money being plundered from the people. It is even possible to imagine that some of this money can actually go into the delivery of public goods and services too.

Operating under NATO command, a US soldier from the of the US Army, interacts with an Afghan boy of the Pashtun tribe in Kandahar province Pinaki Bhattacharya

The fratricidal attacks on the Western trainers by the Afghan forces poses a clear and present danger With many US analysts predicting a ‘creeping’ US defeat and its inability to nation-build Afghanistan makes the prognosis for the country, dire.

The zero-sum competition between Pakistan and India for influence in the likely, less orderly future of Afghanistan, is a cause of global concern.

E

ven as the 2014 date for withdrawal of ‘combat troops’ of the US and NATO-built International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) get closer, the unanimity between the American experts about the fate of the Afghan front is disintegrating faster than the fragile peace in certain areas of country.

Currently, the American policy establishment is worried about the phenomenon of the Afghan National Security Force (ANSF) and the Afghan Police killing their US trainers and handlers.

While that is being considered as a clash of cultures and traditions between the trainers and their wards, the incidents are being seen as a phenomenon that would bring further decline in the support to the war in the US or even an American Congressional action in terms of a reduction in the multi-billion dollar funds that they grant for Afghanistan.

Without that hand-out the Hamid Karzai government would not even be able to pay salaries to the police forces and the ANSF. This could lead to further unrest to be added to the already undergoing turmoil in the country that is spread over the Hindu Kush mountain range.

The American policy establishment has come to a crucial realisation: that they

could not defeat the Taliban militarily. The post-force withdrawal phase is being seen to be a situation where the Americans will be happy if the Karzai government can hold on to most of the gains that have been made after Barak Obama administration’s ‘troop surge’ in 2008.

The 30,000 extra troops Washington sent to the war theatre made the USA and the ISAF, ‘clear and hold territory’ as opposed to earlier periodic blitzes that cleared the areas off Taliban rebels, who would abandon post on the face of the attacks only to return after US or ISAF troops were gone. But these 30,000 troops will surely return home by 2014. That would still leave about 70,000 strong US contingent in country. They would have had handed the maintenance of security of the country in the hands of the ANSF. Bleak Prognosis: Stephen Biddle, a resident sage of the liberal Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) said recently in an in-house interview that he is definitely not optimistic any more about a resilient Afghanistan being left standing on its feet by the US occupiers.

Anthony Cordesman of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has proposed a formula - in a working paper on Afghanistan - that can be followed by the US authorities as they transfer powers and seek an exit from the country. He calls the departing goal of the American contingent to be an “Afghanistan as good as it can really get.”

That is certainly not a maximalist agenda, in fact, is most minimalist. Cordesman says in his working paper that was circulated for comments from others that if Karzai government could not get to control many parts of the country, that fact would have to be accepted by the USA. It is a given that the Taliban would be holding some sway over east and the southern parts of the country, close to the border near Pakistan.

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AFP

KEY POINTS

It would also have to be acknowledged by Washington that there is very little chance of a stable and a fair negotiated settlement between the Karzai government and the Taliban/Haqqani network.

Cordesman notes that the all the recent overtures for peace talks that have emanated from the Afghan Taliban side, have been pointed towards the American interlocutors. The Taliban says that they are not interested in any talks with the Karzai men, because they consider them ‘puppets.’ They would rather engage with the puppeteers, who they consider to be the Americans with money, guns and an intention to do grievous harm to them.

The USA foresees trouble, also, during the 2014 polls in Afghanistan. The election will not be just an exercise in a cleaning up the political environment of the country, for, though Karzai has promised to step down as president and not contest the poll, but he

DSI

will surely seek to maintain leverages on the new government. Cordesman says that what the US should do is not to make Karzai and his acolytes stick to the letter and spirit of the Afghan Constitution but they should be held accountable to the commitments made regarding the transition.

The US cannot have another mission failure after the fiasco of Iraq, where they left in power a Nuri al-Maliki government which is equally undemocratic as Saddam Hussein, if not more. But the prognoses for Afghanistan are not particularly attractive.

Biddle said in that in an in-house interview, that peace in the country is greatly contingent upon Pakistan’s attitude, which till now has been bent on a stalling exercise.

They have significantly sought to sabotage the pro-talks Taliban leaders by picking them off and putting them in jail or having them killed. Islamabad’s goal still is that it cannot allow an independent solution

to the problem in Afghanistan to which it is not a party. Pakistan is not going to stop providing safe havens to the sections of Taliban, who are allied with them.

But a significant number of Western analysts say that Pakistan is not particularly popular in Afghanistan as a recent opinion poll has shown. Pakistan is also believed to be a disruptive element in the Afghan polity and society. These analysts also say that the Taliban is not quite so admired in the minds of Afghans either. They say that the misgovernance, rampant corruption of the Taliban government and its inability to provide security in far flung areas of the country, make the people turn to the Taliban for their rough and ready justice.

This is where the ANSF can play a role.

If they are able to create an environment of relative peace, and reach the various corners of the country that would get vacated by the ISAF/US forces in 2014, they would

End-Game: But what about the main mission that the USA had in Afghanistan? The eradication of al Qaeda. The US may have killed Osama Bin Laden successfully, has the al Qaeda been exterminated? The answer to that question is moot. In a latest (August, 2012) Rand Corporation study, it has been stated that statistics show a decapitation of a terrorist leadership brings down the threat level from the group; their campaigns decrease; and the outcome generally favours their target government or nations.

The write-up has quoted from declassified communications seized from Bin Laden’s house in Abbottabad and showed how Bin Laden was advising the key operatives of the al Qaeda to leave their sanctuaries in Pakistan. He told them to leave those places as they have become targets of American drone attacks and they should move out and seek new havens.

This has made them move towards Somalia and Yemen, even Syria according to reports emerging now. So, the threat to American mainland from al Qaeda directly has reduced, was the conclusion.

If that be the case, it can be truly said that the US is at least winning one battle – the one against the perpetrators of 9/11. But the security super-structure that America has built – so well described and in great detail by the Washington Post two years ago – will have to remain in business. So there will be new enemies to be found in a relentless battle.

Cordesman, on the other hand, talks about truthful reporting about the situation

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be able to establish the writ of the central government. While the financial resources provided to the country by the various donor countries goes into the central government kitty, the provincial governments do not have a say in the way these are distributed.

If this process is reformed to make it somewhat more democratic, and the provincial governments are provided access to these donated resources, it may bring down the flow of corruption money being plundered from the people. It is even possible to imagine that some of this money can actually go into the delivery of public goods and services too.

Operating under NATO command, a US soldier from the of the US Army, interacts with an Afghan boy of the Pashtun tribe in Kandahar province Pinaki Bhattacharya

The fratricidal attacks on the Western trainers by the Afghan forces poses a clear and present danger With many US analysts predicting a ‘creeping’ US defeat and its inability to nation-build Afghanistan makes the prognosis for the country, dire.

The zero-sum competition between Pakistan and India for influence in the likely, less orderly future of Afghanistan, is a cause of global concern.

E

ven as the 2014 date for withdrawal of ‘combat troops’ of the US and NATO-built International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) get closer, the unanimity between the American experts about the fate of the Afghan front is disintegrating faster than the fragile peace in certain areas of country.

Currently, the American policy establishment is worried about the phenomenon of the Afghan National Security Force (ANSF) and the Afghan Police killing their US trainers and handlers.

While that is being considered as a clash of cultures and traditions between the trainers and their wards, the incidents are being seen as a phenomenon that would bring further decline in the support to the war in the US or even an American Congressional action in terms of a reduction in the multi-billion dollar funds that they grant for Afghanistan.

Without that hand-out the Hamid Karzai government would not even be able to pay salaries to the police forces and the ANSF. This could lead to further unrest to be added to the already undergoing turmoil in the country that is spread over the Hindu Kush mountain range.

The American policy establishment has come to a crucial realisation: that they

could not defeat the Taliban militarily. The post-force withdrawal phase is being seen to be a situation where the Americans will be happy if the Karzai government can hold on to most of the gains that have been made after Barak Obama administration’s ‘troop surge’ in 2008.

The 30,000 extra troops Washington sent to the war theatre made the USA and the ISAF, ‘clear and hold territory’ as opposed to earlier periodic blitzes that cleared the areas off Taliban rebels, who would abandon post on the face of the attacks only to return after US or ISAF troops were gone. But these 30,000 troops will surely return home by 2014. That would still leave about 70,000 strong US contingent in country. They would have had handed the maintenance of security of the country in the hands of the ANSF. Bleak Prognosis: Stephen Biddle, a resident sage of the liberal Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) said recently in an in-house interview that he is definitely not optimistic any more about a resilient Afghanistan being left standing on its feet by the US occupiers.

Anthony Cordesman of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has proposed a formula - in a working paper on Afghanistan - that can be followed by the US authorities as they transfer powers and seek an exit from the country. He calls the departing goal of the American contingent to be an “Afghanistan as good as it can really get.”

That is certainly not a maximalist agenda, in fact, is most minimalist. Cordesman says in his working paper that was circulated for comments from others that if Karzai government could not get to control many parts of the country, that fact would have to be accepted by the USA. It is a given that the Taliban would be holding some sway over east and the southern parts of the country, close to the border near Pakistan.

42

Afghanistan 2nd time.indd 42-43

AFP

KEY POINTS

It would also have to be acknowledged by Washington that there is very little chance of a stable and a fair negotiated settlement between the Karzai government and the Taliban/Haqqani network.

Cordesman notes that the all the recent overtures for peace talks that have emanated from the Afghan Taliban side, have been pointed towards the American interlocutors. The Taliban says that they are not interested in any talks with the Karzai men, because they consider them ‘puppets.’ They would rather engage with the puppeteers, who they consider to be the Americans with money, guns and an intention to do grievous harm to them.

The USA foresees trouble, also, during the 2014 polls in Afghanistan. The election will not be just an exercise in a cleaning up the political environment of the country, for, though Karzai has promised to step down as president and not contest the poll, but he

DSI

will surely seek to maintain leverages on the new government. Cordesman says that what the US should do is not to make Karzai and his acolytes stick to the letter and spirit of the Afghan Constitution but they should be held accountable to the commitments made regarding the transition.

The US cannot have another mission failure after the fiasco of Iraq, where they left in power a Nuri al-Maliki government which is equally undemocratic as Saddam Hussein, if not more. But the prognoses for Afghanistan are not particularly attractive.

Biddle said in that in an in-house interview, that peace in the country is greatly contingent upon Pakistan’s attitude, which till now has been bent on a stalling exercise.

They have significantly sought to sabotage the pro-talks Taliban leaders by picking them off and putting them in jail or having them killed. Islamabad’s goal still is that it cannot allow an independent solution

to the problem in Afghanistan to which it is not a party. Pakistan is not going to stop providing safe havens to the sections of Taliban, who are allied with them.

But a significant number of Western analysts say that Pakistan is not particularly popular in Afghanistan as a recent opinion poll has shown. Pakistan is also believed to be a disruptive element in the Afghan polity and society. These analysts also say that the Taliban is not quite so admired in the minds of Afghans either. They say that the misgovernance, rampant corruption of the Taliban government and its inability to provide security in far flung areas of the country, make the people turn to the Taliban for their rough and ready justice.

This is where the ANSF can play a role.

If they are able to create an environment of relative peace, and reach the various corners of the country that would get vacated by the ISAF/US forces in 2014, they would

End-Game: But what about the main mission that the USA had in Afghanistan? The eradication of al Qaeda. The US may have killed Osama Bin Laden successfully, has the al Qaeda been exterminated? The answer to that question is moot. In a latest (August, 2012) Rand Corporation study, it has been stated that statistics show a decapitation of a terrorist leadership brings down the threat level from the group; their campaigns decrease; and the outcome generally favours their target government or nations.

The write-up has quoted from declassified communications seized from Bin Laden’s house in Abbottabad and showed how Bin Laden was advising the key operatives of the al Qaeda to leave their sanctuaries in Pakistan. He told them to leave those places as they have become targets of American drone attacks and they should move out and seek new havens.

This has made them move towards Somalia and Yemen, even Syria according to reports emerging now. So, the threat to American mainland from al Qaeda directly has reduced, was the conclusion.

If that be the case, it can be truly said that the US is at least winning one battle – the one against the perpetrators of 9/11. But the security super-structure that America has built – so well described and in great detail by the Washington Post two years ago – will have to remain in business. So there will be new enemies to be found in a relentless battle.

Cordesman, on the other hand, talks about truthful reporting about the situation

43

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2014 AFGHANISTAN A soldier of the 2nd Kandak, 2nd Brigade, 201st corps of the Afghan National Army looks on while standing in line at Camp Joyce base in Kunar province

AFP

in Afghanistan. He says that vacuous statements about ‘we are winning’ lead to bad decisions. The Foreign Policy magazine interviewed General John Allen, the ISAF commander, who gives an idea about what the Western governments want to do before they leave the theatre. They wish to recruit 15-20,000 more Afghan soldiers to reach a target of a total force level of 352,000.

Now, this desired force level is not a benign number. It means that the Afghan government will have to pay the troops, equip and train them and keep them generally happy so that they do not desert the force to join either the enemy, Taliban, or their respective tribal militia that are expected to really begin asserting themselves post-withdrawal in 2014.

At the moment, reporting from the ground level, is suspect. It swings between two ends of the spectrum. Either it is full of pessimism and imbued with the notion of resignation or it is very upbeat about the readiness of the ANSF to take on the job from where the US and ISAF leave it.

There are now reports that some of the areas of the eastern Afghanistan, popular resistances are rising to take on the Taliban, for their brutalities. Western forces are supposedly greatly enthused with this development as they see it to be a popular uprising, which can pose a substantial challenge to the Islamist radicals.

The wild card, going into 2014, is Pakistan. Gen Allen responded to the FP question about the impact of Islamabad/ Rawalpindi on the developments in Afghanistan, in an ominous mood. He said, “It's substantial. The Haqqanis are still very active. The Haqqanis as a group, it's important to keep an eye on them....”

Of course, the high expectations do seep in even in that moment of potential crisis. He said that he is satisfied by a situation when there have been no major, large-scale attack on Kabul, though it is under severe threat.

That threat, he said emanated from North Waziristan and Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan.

But from an Indian viewpoint, Pakistan’s role would be crucial in deciding which way Afghanistan would turn in 2014 after the withdrawal of ‘combat’ troops. Islamabad

would put all its effort in supplanting Hamid Karzai men with their own, ideally Mullah Omar or any of his chosen representatives from the Quetta Shura.

India cannot countenance this development after all the effort it has put, in extending its soft power and diplomacy.

If faced with that scenario, New Delhi would again have to revive the Northern Alliance of the past. But the kink in that plan is the fact, that till some time ago, the ANSF was mostly manned by the Tajiks, Uzbeks and the Hazaras. This force, if it breaks away in case of a total breakdown, would be a lot more powerful than it was before, when India, Iran and Russia kept them operationally active in the face of Taliban/ Pakistan’s irregular but trained forces wanting to oust them.

This zero sum competition between the two has the US worried too. While their natural inclination is to get India to pick up the slack in terms of providing training to Afghan personnel – both of the armed forces and civilians – New Delhi would have to decide whether to slip into that shoe.

The country’s policies have been previously criticised because of its status of an US-dependent even when it was the fifth largest donor to Kabul. But there is now a substantial constituency among the policy elite in the country to undertake

security related tasks and deploy a larger quantum of forces, be it from the paramilitary organisations or even the army’s special forces in the garb of the less pronounced forces.

India too is worried about the blowback of the US drawdown. It knows that the Taliban stragglers or the Haqqani network can easily be turned towards India, as Pakistan considers them ‘strategic assets.’ The recent unconfirmed ‘killing’ of one of the key members of the clan, Badruddin Haqqani, possibly a chief of operations of the Haqqani group, by an US drone attack has given some hope to the intelligence that the network will at best slow down. The Haqqanis were behind a few spectacular attacks in Kabul including the ISAF Headquarters, the US embassy and the Indian embassy.

The Future: Friday, 7 September, the US government named it as a terrorist organisation. This will stop them from collecting funds from places like Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates etc. But operationally, the Foreign Policy magazine says, the impact of the killing and announcement could be felt at the beginning of the next fighting season, the summer of 2013. The next two months of action, the FP, says had already been planned earlier in the year and its execution is in motion. DSI

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DEFENCE BUZZ

DEFENCE BUZZ Agni launches fire up SFC Strategic Forces Command (SFC) recently practiced launch of Agni I and Agni II IRBMs from the ITR at Wheeler Island in Odisha, on the Bay of Bengal. The missiles with respective ranges of 700 Kms and 2,000 Kms are surface-to-surface missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

The two-stage solid propellant Agni-II launched as a part of regular Strategic Forces Command (SFC) exercise as it reached the pre-designated target point in Bay of Bengal within accuracy of a few metres. Two ships located near the target point have tracked the terminal phase of the vehicle and witnessed the final event. The radars and electro-optical tracking stations have monitored the vehicle and all the relevant parameters.

Agni I is also a solid-fuelled missile in the armoury of the SFC.

AFP

AFP

An Update on Defence News

New man at the helm Admiral Devendra Kumar Joshi took over from Admiral Nirmal Verma on August 31, as the 21st Chief of Naval Staff of independent India and the 19th Indian to take command of the Indian Navy. Admiral Joshi indicated his priorities as the new Naval chief right on the first day as CNS. He stated “For the Navy to fulfil its mandate as a maritime power for national prosperity, 24 x 7 attention would need to be paid at all levels to ensure that there are no gaps in our security preparedness”.

Admiral Joshi is a specialist in Anti-Submarine Warfare. In his long and distinguished service spanning nearly 38 years, he has served in a variety of command, staff and instructional appointments.

AFP

Eyes and ears in the sky First fully modified aircraft for indigenous Airborne Early Warning and Control Systems landed in Bangalore at the Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS), Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd airport. Using the Embraer aircraft platform the semi-fiitted AEW&C was received by a crowd from CABS, its work centres, Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC) and IAF members.

The technical acceptance formalities of the aircraft was completed by the Indian side, over a period of 15 days at Embraer facilities in Brazil.

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DEFENCE BUZZ Euro Hawk, Nato’s AGS on display Northrop Grumman Corporation at the ILA Berlin Air Show, highlighted its intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities with the EURO HAWK and NATO Alliance’s Ground Surveillance (AGS) platforms, both of which are derivatives of the RQ-4 Global Hawk high-altitude longendurance (HALE) unmanned aircraft system. The company’s aircraft navigation and stabilisation sensor technology will also be featured.

India and China seek meaning for their relationship The two countries today reached consensus on a wide range of issues relating to defence and military exchanges and cooperation to be conducted this year and beyond. At the 90 minute delegation level meeting between the Defence Minister, AK Antony and the visiting Defence Minister of China General Liang Guanglie it was agreed by the two sides to conduct the next round of joint military exercises at the earliest.

They also agreed to strengthen border security cooperation between the border troops of the two sides so as to enhance and maintain ‘peace and tranquility’ in the India-China border areas.

The two sides proclaimed their decision to work together to maintain peace and stability of the Asia-Pacific region, promote port calls by naval ships of the two sides and conduct joint maritime search and rescue exercises.

AFP

AFP

Predator crash report in A loss of engine coolant led to the crash of an US-owned MQ-1B Predator Jan. 30, 2012, in Afghanistan, according to an Americabased Air Combat Command Abbreviated Accident Investigation Board report released a few months ago.

According to the report, the coolant pump supply line failed, releasing the engine’s coolant. As the coolant supply decreased, the cylinder head temperature shot up. Heat expansion of the cylinder walls prevented a proper sealing , thus reducing power output and preventing sustained flight. The abnormal temperature indications worsened, and the aircraft experienced a significant loss of thrust and fell into an uncontrolled descent. The crew regained control long enough to guide it to a forced landing.

AFP

AFP

MI-171E for China Rosoboronexport, Russia’s arms trade agency and Chinese company Poly Technologies, Inc. signed a contract in August for delivery of 52 Mi-171E transport helicopters to China in 2012-2014.

The first eight Mi-171Es are scheduled to be delivered this year, with the rest of the choppers to be delivered by 2013 and 2014.

The original agreements for the choppers was actually signed three years ago, in 2009,

by Russian Helicopters and Poly Technologies for delivery of 32 Mi-171Es to China.

The air show is taking place from Sept. 11-16 at the Berlin ExpoCentre Airport directly adjacent to BER Berlin Brandenburg International, the capital’s future airport. More than 1,100 exhibitors from 40 countries are expected to attend.

The Northrop Grumman pavilion No. 645 and exhibit area are at the west end of the exhibition site.

A full-scale model, configured in EURO HAWK and NATO AGS livery on alternate days, is on display in front of the company’s pavilion.

Honeywell to provide Israel, engines for its AJTs Honeywell, as part of the International Turbine Engine Company LLC, has signed a contract to supply its F124-GA-200 turbofan engines for the Israel Ministry of Defense’s (IMOD) new 30-strong Alenia Aermacchi M-346 Advanced Jet Trainer fleet. The contract is worth approximately $735 million and includes engine supply and aftermarket support.

The purchase of the F124 engine-powered M-346 jet trainer by the IMOD comes at a time when numerous defence departments including that of the United States are evaluating new training platforms to simulate the latest fighter aircraft such as the F-22, F-35, Eurofighter, Gripen and Rafale.

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AFP

DEFENCE BUZZ

be located in the Yeongcheon Industry District of DaeguGyeongbuk Free Economic Zone, will support the area’s Aero Techno Valley vision of a high-tech aerospace industry corridor and expanded incountry avionics capabilities.

The location is close to Daegu Air Force Base and ideally suited for the Slam Eagle work as part of Boeing’s Performance-Based Logistics (PBL) program.

SAAB provides radio interface for 9LAND Soldier sPAD Defence and security company Saab has for the first time created a personal radio integration for the 9LAND SOLDIER sPAD, a palmtop device that creates situational awareness for the soldier in a theatre. It was shown during the defence and security exhibition MSPO 2012 in Poland. Saab showed the 9LAND SOLDIER sPAD for the first time at Eurosatory exhibition in Paris in June 2012. The launch in Paris was very successful and therefore Saab decided to make a personal radio integration step for the MSPO 2012, even though the product is designed to be radio agnostic.

AFP

Boeing builds MRO in S Korea Boeing has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Korean province of Gyeongsangbuk-do and the city of Yeongcheon to establish an avionics Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility in the region that will service avionics components for the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) fleet of F-15K Slam Eagles. The facility, which will

Airbus Military gets over engine problems with A400M Airbus Military has recently confirmed that it will deliver the first four new generation A400M airlifters to customers in 2013 as planned, following the development of solutions to the recent engine issue, which prevented the A400M from participating in the Farnborough Air Show flying display.

After receiving the Restricted Type Certificate (RTC) from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) last April, representing a big milestone and achievement in the programme, MSN6 started performing the 300 hour Function and Reliability (F&R) testing required for the award of the full Type Certificate (TC). Tests had to be suspended after 160 hours of F&R flying because of the repeated detection of metallic chips in the oil system of one of the engines.

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AFP

DEFENCE BUZZ

Uzbekistan says ‘no’ to all foreign military presence Uzbekistan has said it will not host any bases or other military objects of foreign origin on its soil, Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov said a month ago.

“There will be no foreign military bases or [military] objects in Uzbekistan,” Kamilov had said, adding that there would be no “operatives’ groups” allowed either in the Central Asian country.

Uzbekistan’s lower house of Parliament in early this month passed President Islam Karimov’s new foreign policy strategy, which rules out Tashkent’s membership in any military alliance and bans foreign military bases on Uzbek territory, Central Asian Fergana News Agency reported.

AFP

AFP

Royal Navy’s dream warship takes shape The latest design of the Royal Navy’s Type 26 Global Combat Ship (T26 GCS), the UK’s next generation of warships, has been unveiled.

The UK Ministry of Defence has released images showing the basic specification of the T26 GCS, which is a significant milestone in the development of this programme. The creation of the vessel will sustain thousands of jobs in the shipbuilding industry.

The multi-mission warship, which is due to come into service after 2020, will be used by the Royal Navy in combat and counter-piracy operations, and to support humanitarian and disaster relief work around the world.

Saudi’s need high speed data link and ISR suite The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified U.S. Congress in August of a possible Foreign Military Sale (FMS) to the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for ten Link-16 capable data link systems and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) suites and associated equipment, parts, training and logistical support at an estimated cost of $ 257 million.

The Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has requested a possible sale of ten Link-16 capable data link systems, and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) suites for four KSA-provided King Air 350ER aircraft and associated ground support, with an option to procure, via a Foreign Military Sales (FMS), an additional four King Air 350ER aircraft with enhanced PT6A-67A engines and spare parts equipped with the same ISR suites.

Vietnam gets Kilo-class sub Russia’s Admiralteiskie Verfi shipyard has launched a new Kilo-class Project 636 dieselelectric submarine for Vietnam, according to RIA Novosti news agency.

The vessel is the first of six ordered by Hanoi.

Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Zung had announced the signing of a contract worth almost $2 billion for the six boats in December 2009.

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