Endangered

Satellites have become an indispensable tool in the arsenal of any country. The surveillance and photographic capabilities of military satellites have acquired unbelievable capabilities. The best military satellites can easily read off the number plate of a car, from out in space.

Photographs for the backyard of any US home are freely available on the internet, using Google's "Keyhole" website. (Keyhole also offers high resolutions pictures of New Delhi !) Clearly, the US military will have the resources to acquire far more detailed photographs from outer space. The best military satellites today can take pictures of 10-15 cm resolution, in space. This can enable then to identify individuals from a satellite in space !

India is one of the world's few nations that has a capability to design, manufacture and launch satellites. Infact ISRO, through its commercial arm Antrix offers to design and build satellites for other countries, at lower prices than offered by the US or European consortiums.

Interestingly, India has not launched any military satellites to date.

ISRO FOR PEACEFUL PURPOSES ONLY

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was set up in 1972. ISRO's brief is to develop space technology for peaceful purposes only. ISRO is not mandated to launch military satellites, unless there is a new directive from the government or a major shift in the policy laid down when ISRO was founded 30 years ago.

However, in practice this has not been an issue. ISRO's activities have not always been entirely civilian.

SOME SPACE SURVEILLANCE

TES

In 2001, ISRO launched the 1-meter resolution Technology Experiment Satellite (TES), making it the only civilian space agency to possess this technology besides the US-based, privately-owned Ikonos satellite. Although at the time of the launch, ISRO officials said that the satellite was meant for civilian use, it went on to successfully relay high-quality images of the war in Afghanistan and of Pakistani troop movements along the border.

RESOURCESAT-1

India successfully launched Resourcesat-1 (IRS-P6) on October 17, 2003, which is considered to be the most sophisticated remote sensing satellite to date. Its maximum resolution is approximately 6 meters.

CARTOSAT-1 & 2

Earlier this year in May, ISRO went on to launch the 2.5-meter resolution Cartosat-1 satellite, which has 2 cameras to point at an object from 2 different angles. The next in the series, Cartosat-2 will have a 1-meter resolution and a 120 GB storage capacity for captured images, and is scheduled for launch by the end of the year.

Officially, the Cartosat platforms will be used for cartographic (charting of maps) purposes, as well as urban and rural development. Unofficially, they are effectively dual-use even though they fall short of the 10-15 cm capabilities of the best military satellites today.

MIL RECON SYSTEM

India is also ready to take the next step by putting in place a military satellite reconnaissance system. "The programme is in advanced stage of development and is expected to be operational by 2007," defence minister Pranab Mukherjee has said.

A joint venture between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the project was to be operational by 2005. However, validation of technologies had taken longer than anticipated, the minister said.

Experts say the setting up of extensive ground-based surveillance system, hooked up to the country's remote sensing satellites, would give the country a capability to keep a watch on all explosive spots, missile silos and movements in the neighbourhood as well as sudden military build-ups.

RENT A MIL SAT

To have in place immediately, India had, 2 years ago approached Israel to lease the Israeli Ofek-5 military remote-sensing satellite. The offer has been pending with the Israel government since September 2003.

OWN MIL SAT

Alternatively, ISRO may be preparing a military-quality high resolution satellite for launch. Even in this eventuality, however, a complementary integrated ground system may offer India the best option for immediate growth in our Satellite Reconnaissance and Surveillance (SRS) system's overall capabilities.

Clearly India has the need and the capability to have its own "Eye In The Sky" for military surveillance.

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Wild Wild Web

Sameer

This is the best news I have heard all day.

Sameer

Err to any experts out there, what does it mean to have a 2 meter or 1 meter or 23cm resolution?

I understand that the smaller the number the better the picture but what does it all mean.

Can you tell that the car in Delhi is a Merc or BMW with 2m resolution?

Can you see Osama with 23cm resolution?

Endangered

The flying skills of Indian Air Force pilots would be put to test when they come up against the American Air Force's F-16 Fighting Falcons backed by Airborne Early Warning and Control Systems, over the Kalaikunda airspace in West Bengal next month.
IAF pilots to pit their skills against US F-16's

Though the IAF pilots have proved themsleves earlier against the F-16s, billed as the world's most advanced flying killer machines, the joint exercises over Kalaikunda would be be the first time that Indian aviators would be matching the Americans in an AWACS environment.

The US Air Force would, for the first time, be fielding a complete squadron of the fighting falcons to practice missions on dissimilar Air Combat Manoeuvering and Large Force Management in the Beyond Visual Range regime, according to US officials.

The 12-day exercise beginning November 7 would entail day and night flying. IAF officials saw this as an opportunity for the pilots to prepare for induction of India's own AWACS system by 2007.

While the US Air Force would fly in their F-16s from bases in Japan, the IAF would like to match most of its frontline fighters against the falcons by fielding SU-30MKI, Mirage-2000, MIG-27 and the upgraded MIG-21 Bisons.

indianguy4u

Taking Greece for a ride

If this is the way US takes its long time ally for the ride, dont know how good will India fare. All this talk of ToT, AESA etc wont materialise. Instead of delaying our acquisition of MRCA for sake of US ACs it will be better we get something fruitfull.

First of all for 40 jets Greece will have to fork out 3.1 billion US$. Just do the maths for 126 jets, sheer waste of time, money & effort .

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Hala Madrid!!

raj

Pictures are made of pixels and a picture of postcard size would be normally 400X300 pixels(Horizontal times Vertical), and each pixel(dot) represents a color. when they say 2M or 1M or 23CM, it means that each pixel in the picture converts to 2M or 1M or 23 CM of the landscape.

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saw this in some site dont remember the name tough

Endangered

Taking the first strides towards complete indigenization of India's defense armory, the Indian Navy has begun building India's first completely indigenous warship.

"On August 12 Defense Secretary Shekhar Dutt cut the steel, thus paving way for the construction of the country's first indigenously built anti-submarine warship with stealth technology," GRSE chairman and managing director Rear Admiral (Retd) T S Ganeshan said.

The ship is a 25,000-ton corvette class armed with stealth-mounted guns, the latest electronic warfare suite which, together with other key operational equipment, is shielded using stealth technology incorporated into the design of the bulwarks.

Other signature management control features are built in to combat the ship's infrared, radar-cross signature, noise and magnetic outputs.

Electricity is supplied via four diesel generators; two independent interconnected switchboards optimize redundancy and reliability.

ajaybhutani

1. India cannot and doesnot intend to buy all the 126 planes produced in US.A Local production will cust the cost considerably.
2. I dont mind delaying our acquisition for the sake of US aircrafts. As the later we decide the better change LCA has to prove its effectiveness and defunct the whole purchase of MRCA

indianguy4u

Do read this thread at keypub. Will India fare better than greece?

ajaybhutani

india has a totally different way to look at the deal.
1. Cost per plane for the ones purchased of shelf.
2. Cost for making production capacity in india. (they wont go anywhere below full ToT)
3. Cost per plane in india.
And then the total cost per plane. ( averaging out the ones purchased off shelf + production capacity cost.+ units produced in india).

if india can get 2 Mig35's for the price of 1 F16. then we all know what will be the decision.

Spares etc cannot be used to loot india as india will not go any less then full ToT.

Second thing will be weapons ECM pods etc.
India will of course want the s/w code for weapons controller.(to make sure it can put in its stuff in the plane).
AMRAAMS can be purchased if found better than R77 etc but that will come as a different deal. ( from the way they go with russia.). As they will buy a small amount first to compare the missiles themselves.( AMRAAM with R77) and then make a decision. Furthermore the local missile ASTRA is also in progress. so purchases will not be big.
Similar comparisons will be done with /ECM pods etc. before making a decision.
126 aircrafts is a big deal. and the whole difference between indian and greece deals lie in a fact that greece doesnt have options other than US while india has. That itself take away all the overpricing US companies can ask for.

indianguy4u

Its about how u treat ur allies, which russians have shown that they are better than US. US deals with its priorities & not others. Thats why i am circumspect about US.

Endangered

A stealth fighter for India, soon

Tuesday, November 01, 2005 22:55 IST

BANGALORE: The Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), the aircraft design house of the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) in Bangalore has formed a core team to design a medium combat aircraft (MCA), an advanced multi-role fighter with stealth capabilities.

Besides incorporating many features of the indigenous single-engine Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) that is undergoing flight trials, the MCA will use radar-absorbent materials to reduce detection by radars, making it a stealth fighter.

The new generation fighter is expected to replace the Jaguar and the Mirage-2000 fleet of the Indian Air Force in the coming decades. “The design work is getting ready. It should be completed in a year,” DRDO sources told DNA.

The advanced aircraft will be build with extensive use of composites and have smart sensors like micro electronic mechanical systems (Mems), that can automatically detect strains or weaknesses in the airframe or wings. “The IAF is giving a lot of inputs for the design,” sources said.

Once the design is frozen, the DRDO would present the project to the government for sanction of the MCA project estimated to cost about Rs 6000 to Rs 8000 crore. The MCA will be a 12 tonne weight class fighter with a maximum take-off weight of about 18 tonnes.

It is to be powered by two “thrust vector’’ engines that facilitate controlling the flight by controlling its thrust, giving the pilot greater manoeuvrability.

Only two aircraft-the Russian-built Sukhoi30 MkI, now manufactured in India under license and the American FA/22 raptor fighter-are powered by thrust vector engines.

But there are snags in developing Kaveri, the indigenous engine that will be used for the LCA and upgraded for the MCA. The DRDO has invited bids from global engine makers to participate in building the engine.

“The stealth features and engine are two areas that we are weak. We will bridge this gap,” sources said.

Many systems and technologies developed in India for the LCA, Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT) and the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) like the flight control systems and composite wings will be used in the MCA.

“It will take about six to eight years for the first aircraft to be developed,” sources said.

The LCA is still under developmental trials with three prototypes completing over 460 test flights with an American GE-404 engine and the maiden flight of the prototype vehicle -2 (PV-2), expected by the year-end.

Four more aircraft, including a twin-seater trainer and a naval variant will also be developed in the next few years. Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd is building eight LCAs as limited series production (LSP) to be ready by 2008, while the IAF has committed to place order for 40 aircraft to be inducted in its fleet.

indianguy4u

OLD news, First LCA than whatever . Its pure speculation on the part of journos.

ajaybhutani

its more from the people involved in LCA. they need work after LCA right. And that will be MCA. Though the previous design they came up with didnt have internal weapon loads and that made it not a good idea . Lets see what they bring in. Now in case LCA comes up as a success then a good MCa design by DRDO will not be a bad idea to persue at all.

indianguy4u

Stating intentions is good, but fulfilling those in hand are more imp.