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The Times of India -Breaking news, views. reviews, cricket from across India
Navy looks to boost snoop power
20 Jul 2008, 0346 hrs IST, Rajat Pandit,TNN
NEW DELHI: With navy keen to bolster its maritime snooping capabilities to keep tabs on the ever-increasing military activity in Indian Ocean Region (IOR), the government has now floated a global tender for procuring six to eight spanking new medium-range maritime reconnaissance (MRMR) aircraft.
The hunt for MRMR planes, each of which should cost around Rs 270-300 crore, comes even as India is on course to sign around Rs 8,000 crore deal for eight Boeing P-8i Poseidon LRMR (long-range maritime reconnaissance) aircraft, which when inked will be the single biggest defence deal with the US.
The RFP (request for proposal) for the MRMR aircraft was issued on July 11 to several companies, which include Italian Alenia Aeronautica's ATR-72-500MP aircraft, Brazilian Embraer's P-22, French Dassault's Falcon 900DX and Russian Antonov-72P, among others. "The contract should be inked by mid-2009, with deliveries slated to begin from 2012-2013 onwards. The first lot will be of six aircraft, which will be followed by at least two more," said an officer.
The LRMR and MRMR planes, also equipped with potent anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities, form part of Navy's plan for an effective three-tier aerial surveillance grid in IOR.
For the innermost layer surveillance up to 200 nautical miles, Navy is also going in for two more UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) for Rs 300 crore after successfully exploiting eight Israeli Searcher-II and four Heron spy drones.
"Moreover, the Indo-Israeli project for developing rotary-wing UAVs, which will be deployed from warships, is progressing steadily. The eventual plan, of course, is to back all this up with overarching space-based reconnaissance systems," the officer said.
Incidentally, the Coast Guard, too, is looking to induct six multi-mission maritime aircraft on the lines of the naval MRMR planes but without ASW capabilities in the shape of missiles and torpedoes. India, after all, has a 7,516-km coastline, 1,197 islands and a 2.01 million sqkm Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which will expand to about 2.54 million sqkm after delineation of the Continental Shelf in a couple of years.
"Our huge maritime interests, which also include 13 major and 185 minor ports as well as offshore assets, face threats from hostile state and non-state actors. IOR, which is part of our strategic area of interest, itself spans around 74 million sqkm," the officer said.
The MRMR aircraft, with a range of over 400 nautical miles, will basically be for patrolling the country's huge EEZ, along with the existing Dornier-228 fleet. As reported earlier, eight of the 11 new Dornier-228s, ordered for Rs 726 crore, have already been inducted by the force.
The LRMR planes, in turn, are slated to replace the eight ageing and fuel-guzzling Tupolev-142Ms, which after overhauling will be operated till around 2012.
The Navy hopes to get the eight new aircraft between 2012 and 2015. In this category of long-range patrolling, of course, are also the Navy's five Russian IL-38s, now armed with the "Sea Dragon mission suites".
The Times of India -Breaking news, views. reviews, cricket from across India
Navy looks to boost snoop power
20 Jul 2008, 0346 hrs IST, Rajat Pandit,TNN
NEW DELHI: With navy keen to bolster its maritime snooping capabilities to keep tabs on the ever-increasing military activity in Indian Ocean Region (IOR), the government has now floated a global tender for procuring six to eight spanking new medium-range maritime reconnaissance (MRMR) aircraft.
The hunt for MRMR planes, each of which should cost around Rs 270-300 crore, comes even as India is on course to sign around Rs 8,000 crore deal for eight Boeing P-8i Poseidon LRMR (long-range maritime reconnaissance) aircraft, which when inked will be the single biggest defence deal with the US.
The RFP (request for proposal) for the MRMR aircraft was issued on July 11 to several companies, which include Italian Alenia Aeronautica's ATR-72-500MP aircraft, Brazilian Embraer's P-22, French Dassault's Falcon 900DX and Russian Antonov-72P, among others. "The contract should be inked by mid-2009, with deliveries slated to begin from 2012-2013 onwards. The first lot will be of six aircraft, which will be followed by at least two more," said an officer.
The LRMR and MRMR planes, also equipped with potent anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities, form part of Navy's plan for an effective three-tier aerial surveillance grid in IOR.
For the innermost layer surveillance up to 200 nautical miles, Navy is also going in for two more UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) for Rs 300 crore after successfully exploiting eight Israeli Searcher-II and four Heron spy drones.
"Moreover, the Indo-Israeli project for developing rotary-wing UAVs, which will be deployed from warships, is progressing steadily. The eventual plan, of course, is to back all this up with overarching space-based reconnaissance systems," the officer said.
Incidentally, the Coast Guard, too, is looking to induct six multi-mission maritime aircraft on the lines of the naval MRMR planes but without ASW capabilities in the shape of missiles and torpedoes. India, after all, has a 7,516-km coastline, 1,197 islands and a 2.01 million sqkm Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which will expand to about 2.54 million sqkm after delineation of the Continental Shelf in a couple of years.
"Our huge maritime interests, which also include 13 major and 185 minor ports as well as offshore assets, face threats from hostile state and non-state actors. IOR, which is part of our strategic area of interest, itself spans around 74 million sqkm," the officer said.
The MRMR aircraft, with a range of over 400 nautical miles, will basically be for patrolling the country's huge EEZ, along with the existing Dornier-228 fleet. As reported earlier, eight of the 11 new Dornier-228s, ordered for Rs 726 crore, have already been inducted by the force.
The LRMR planes, in turn, are slated to replace the eight ageing and fuel-guzzling Tupolev-142Ms, which after overhauling will be operated till around 2012.
The Navy hopes to get the eight new aircraft between 2012 and 2015. In this category of long-range patrolling, of course, are also the Navy's five Russian IL-38s, now armed with the "Sea Dragon mission suites".
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