Defence Street

Author: Defence Street Editor

  • Aatmanirbharta’ in Defence: 164 Positive Indigenisation List items, with import substitution value of Rs 814 crore, successfully indigenised by DPSUs within stipulated timelines

    Aatmanirbharta’ in Defence: 164 Positive Indigenisation List items, with import substitution value of Rs 814 crore, successfully indigenised by DPSUs within stipulated timelines

    New Delhi, 16th May 2023. In another boost to achieve ‘Aatmanirbharta’ in defence, 164 Positive Indigenisation List (PIL) items, with an import substitution value of Rs 814 crore, that were to be indigenised by December 2022, have met the target within the timelines and have been notified by the Department of Defence Production (DDP), Ministry of Defence (MoD). The indigenisation of these items has been achieved by Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) either through Industry partners, including MSMEs, or in-house. The DPSUs-wise list of these indigenised items is available on the Srijan Portal (https://srijandefence.gov.in/NotificationDt12052023.pdf).

    The DDP has notified four PILs consisting of 4,666 items, including Line Replacement Units (LRUs)/Sub-systems/Spares & Components for DPSUs (1st PIL – 2,851; 2nd PIL – 107; 3rd PIL – 780; 4th PIL – 928). It had, earlier, notified successful indigenisation of 2,572 items, with an import substitution value of Rs 1,756 crore. Now, with the notification of these 164 additional items, the total number of indigenised items till December 2022 from these PILs of DDP stands at 2,736, worth an import substitution value of Rs 2,570 crore. These indigenised items will now be procured from the Indian Industry only.

  • IAF’s Logistics Seminar-LOGISEM 23 Held

    IAF’s Logistics Seminar-LOGISEM 23 Held

    New Delhi, 16th May 2023. National Logistics Management Seminar, LOGISEM – 23, on the theme ‘Leverage Emerging Global Supply Chain to Enhance Logistics Capabilities While Absorbing Disruptions’, was held on May 16 at AF Auditorium, New Delhi. Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, Chief of the Air Staff inaugurated the Seminar and delivered the key-note address.

    In his address Chief of the Air Staff said “Global supply chains have become increasingly complex and interconnected, driven by the manuscripts of international trade and advances in technology. The defence sector is not an exception to this trend. The IAF relies heavily on global supply chains for delivery of critical components, equipment and services to maintain its combat potential at optimum level. In recent times the world has witnessed multiple and varied disruptions like COVID-19 pandemic, Russia-Ukraine conflict, trade barriers, tariff wars, environmental compliance policies. Such events have highlighted the vulnerability of supply chains to disruptions”. He further said that “to mitigate such disruptions leveraging emerging trends such as digitisation, automation and data analytics should be exploited to enhance IAF logistics capabilities. I am confident that the deliberation, discussions and ideas generated in the Seminar would help to better understand the dynamics of disruptive environment (sic)”.

    During the Seminar, prominent Speakers, over three sessions, deliberated & discussed issues related to the theme of the Seminar. The discussions ranged from future prospects of domestic aviation industry, modern trends in supply chain management & warehousing, and public procurement initiatives through GeM. The Seminar provided an ideal platform for the exchange of ideas between civil and military logisticians and is expected to assist IAF to tailor its supply-chain needs based on modern technologies and global trends. The Seminar was also live streamed pan-IAF.

  • GA-ASI Delivers First New-Build MQ-9A to USMC

    GA-ASI Delivers First New-Build MQ-9A to USMC

    SAN DIEGO, 16th May 2023. Following delivery of the first two MQ-9A Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) that were procured upon the successful completion of a Company-Owned Company-Operated (COCO) Deployment Contract, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) and the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) are celebrating the delivery of the first new-build MQ-9A Extended Range (ER) UAS to Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) on April 19, 2023. The delivery of the first new-build MQ-9A ER is part of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) Unmanned Expeditionary (MUX) Program.

    “It’s exciting to make this initial delivery to NAVAIR, which strengthens the relationship between GA-ASI, the USMC, and NAVAIR, while launching the MUX MALE (Medium-Altitude, Long-Endurance) Program of Record from concept into reality,” said GA-ASI Senior Vice President for MQ-9 Systems, Fred Darlington.

    GA-ASI was selected by the USMC in 2022 to deliver eight MQ-9A ER UAS as part of the ARES Indefinite-Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity (ID/IQ) contract.

    The MQ-9A ER is designed with field-retrofittable capabilities such as wing-borne fuel pods and reinforced landing gear that extend the aircraft’s endurance to more than 30 hours while further increasing its operational flexibility. The aircraft provides long-endurance, persistent surveillance capabilities with Full-Motion Video and Synthetic Aperture Radar/Moving Target Indicator/Maritime Mode Radar. An extremely reliable aircraft, MQ-9A ER is equipped with a fault-tolerant flight control system and a triple-redundant avionics system architecture. It is engineered to meet and exceed manned aircraft reliability standards.

    About GA-ASI

    General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), an affiliate of General Atomics, is a leading designer and manufacturer of proven, reliable remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) systems, radars, and electro-optic and related mission systems, including the Predator® RPA series and the Lynx® Multi-mode Radar. With more than seven million flight hours, GA-ASI provides long-endurance, mission-capable aircraft with integrated sensor and data link systems required to deliver persistent flight that enables situational awareness and rapid strike. The company also produces a variety of ground control stations and sensor control/image analysis software, offers pilot training and support services, and develops meta-material antennas.

  • Boeing Expands Market-leading Education Benefits for Employees

    Boeing Expands Market-leading Education Benefits for Employees

    • Learning Together Program’s unique, generous funding feature pays schools upfront to remove financial barriers for employees
    • New features include expanded flight certifications, more school choices, online college and high school courses, and language support

    ARLINGTON, Va., 16th May 2023. Boeing is expanding its market-leading Learning Together Program (LTP), the company’s education benefits program offered to employees around the globe. The expansion is part of the company’s commitment to drive employee innovation and attract and retain top talent. LTP is celebrating its 25th year and nearing $2 billion of investment in employees.

    “Our Learning Together Program enables us to attract and retain a talented workforce that develops groundbreaking technology, state-of-the-art products and services, and advanced business processes,” said Mike D’Ambrose, Boeing chief Human Resources officer and executive vice president, Human Resources. “What’s unique about Boeing is that we pay up to $25,000 per year, and even more for select STEM programs, directly to the employee’s school – upfront. With that strong support, we enable employees to start their degrees without financial barriers, confident they’ll complete them. Plus, our program is global, allowing us to support employee growth around the world.”

    Employees are now eligible to participate in Boeing’s LTP immediately upon hire. In addition to more than 300 Boeing partner schools, employees have access to hundreds of schools that offer discounts and waived fees. New program offerings for eligible employees include:

    • Expanded flight certifications
    • Personalized academic coaching
    • College and high school online schooling availability
    • Dedicated support for non-native English speakers

    “Investing in capabilities for Boeing’s future is one of the company’s key priorities. Our people are essential for Boeing to innovate and grow. That’s why we place high importance on providing benefits that make a difference in their lives and careers. As Boeing employees innovate and excel, they enable us to deliver the support our customers rely on each day,” D’Ambrose added.

    Providing more than $70 million for the program annually, Boeing supports up to $25,000 per year for graduate degree programs and up to $15,000 for bachelor degree programs for tuition and eligible expenses, while also providing funding toward non-degree programs. Select STEM programs do not have funding limits.

    Driven by strong employee interest in the program’s First Solo and Private Pilot’s License incentives, LTP’s expanded flight certifications now include:

    • Commercial Pilot license
    • Instrument rating
    • Aircraft Multi-Engine Land (AMEL)
    • Airline Transport Pilot (ATP)
    • Certified Flight Instructor (CFI)
    • Certified Flight Instructor Instrument (CFII)

    Launched in 1998, LTP has supported 225,000 Boeing employees in pursuing educational goals pertaining to their current role or in a different field to grow personally and professionally. In addition to academic courses, certificate programs and degrees, Boeing reimburses exam fees for hundreds of professional industry certifications and provides flight incentives.

    As a leading global aerospace company, Boeing develops, manufactures and services commercial airplanes, defense products and space systems for customers in more than 150 countries. As a top U.S. exporter, the company leverages the talents of a global supplier base to advance economic opportunity, sustainability and community impact. Boeing’s diverse team is committed to innovating for the future, leading with sustainability, and cultivating a culture based on the company’s core values of safety, quality and integrity.

  • Northrop Grumman Delivers Transformative Integrated Battle Command System for Poland’s WISŁA Air Defense Program

    Northrop Grumman Delivers Transformative Integrated Battle Command System for Poland’s WISŁA Air Defense Program

    Polish and American servicemembers inspect the WISŁA relay at Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Alabama. (Photo Credit: U.S. Army)

    HUNTSVILLE, Ala., 15th May 2023. Northrop Grumman Corporation has delivered key Integrated Battle Command System (IBCS) components for Poland’s WISŁA medium range air defense program. With this delivery, IBCS moves closer to being fully fielded as part of Poland’s advanced air and missile defense program.

    The recent delivery of the IBCS Integrated Fire Control Network (IFCN) relays supports the WISŁA program’s fielding schedule, which is the first foreign military sale of IBCS. Reaching this milestone provides a critical capability to a key U.S. ally and achieves NATO interoperability goals.

    “Northrop Grumman is transforming decision making for the U.S. and its allies by integrating sensors and weapons for air and missile defense,” said Rebecca Torzone, vice president and general manager, Combat Systems and Mission Readiness, Northrop Grumman. “IBCS provides Polish air defenders with the ability to make faster, better-informed decisions to deter, disrupt and defeat threats across all domains.”

    In parallel to the IFCN relay deliveries, Northrop Grumman is conducting a series of integration and test scenarios with the Engagement Operation Centers (EOCs) previously delivered in July 2022, and the relays. These tests and the associated training are important steps toward Poland taking full delivery of their first systems and achieving Basic Operational Capability later in 2023.

    IBCS implements a modular, open and scalable architecture foundational to integrating available assets in the battlespace, regardless of source, service or domain onto common fire control network. Its architecture enables the efficient and affordable integration of current and future systems and extends the battlespace by disaggregating sensors and effectors. By enabling this high level of network integration, the warfighter is given unprecedented time to make accurate decisions. Through numerous successful development and operational tests and demonstrations, IBCS has proven its capability to connect and fuse multi-service sensor data to multi-service weapons, demonstrating Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) capabilities.

    Northrop Grumman is a leading global aerospace and defense technology company. Our pioneering solutions equip our customers with the capabilities they need to connect and protect the world, and push the boundaries of human exploration across the universe. Driven by a shared purpose to solve our customers’ toughest problems, our 95,000 employees define possible every day.

  • Training Fit for a King

    Training Fit for a King

    U.S., 15th May 2023. Lockheed Martin’s suite of CH-53K® training devices, developed concurrently with the King Stallion™ aircraft, is enabling U.S. Marines across the United States to successfully complete their missions. 

     

    A U.S. Marine Corps pilot operates a CH-53K King Stallion over the Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range during a training exercise in California. Photo by the U.S. Marine Corps.
    Ready for Anything

    The containerized flight training device, or CFTD, is a portable full-mission flight simulator that allows flight crews to train on the full scope of heavy lift missions.

    The Marines are currently training with the CFTD at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) New River in Jacksonville, North Carolina.

    “There’s nothing we cannot program it to do that we would not find in real life,” Capt. Nick Moran, U.S. Marine Corps operational test pilot for the CH-53K and CH-53E, said in 2020.

    In a highly immersive virtual environment, the CFTD replicates the functionality, flight characteristics, mission profiles and unmatched capabilities of the aircraft. The device can also replicate various environmental conditions the aircraft is likely to fly in.

    Maintenance for the Mission

    The helicopter emulation maintenance trainer, or HEMT, and the composite maintenance trainer, or CMT, are purpose-built for maintenance training.

    The HEMT is a computer-based lab that familiarizes the mechanic with maintenance tasks. By virtually depicting the inside and outside of the aircraft and providing feedback, maintainers learn many of the maintenance functions prior to working on the aircraft.

    The CMT is a full-scale mock-up of the aircraft and is the final step in familiarizing the maintainer with the aircraft.

    The device allows students to interact with physical controls to learn to remove and install hardware and perform functional checks. An instructor operating system assigns tasks and monitors progress for focused feedback.

    “Because the trainer was developed alongside the aircraft itself, the flight trainer and the maintenance trainers are incredibly accurate to the real experience of working with the helicopter.”
    — Sean Cattanach, Senior program manager of the CH-53K training system
    The composite maintenance trainer allows students to interact with physical controls.
    An Immersive Experience

    Training allows for the creation of an environment that is realistic to a real aircraft, with safety as a priority.

    Sean Cattanach, senior program manager of the CH-53K training system, said, “Because the trainer was developed alongside the aircraft itself, the flight trainer and the maintenance trainers are incredibly accurate to the real experience of working with the helicopter.”

    The CH-53K, which can lift 36,000 pounds, is the most powerful heavy lift helicopter ever built in the United States. The King Stallion’s technologically advanced design will meet the future warfighting requirements for decades to come.

  • Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit Takes Over as Deputy Chief of the Air Staff

    Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit Takes Over as Deputy Chief of the Air Staff

    New Delhi, 15th May 2023. Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit took over as the Deputy Chief of the Air Staff today. An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, he was Commissioned in the fighter stream on 06 December 1986. He is a graduate of the Staff Course, Bangladesh and National Defence College, New Delhi. The Air Marshal is a Qualified Flying Instructor as well as an Experimental Test pilot, with over 3300 hours of flying experience on fighter, trainer and transport aircraft. He participated in Operation Safed Sagar and Rakshak.

    Air Marshal Dixit commanded a Mirage 2000 Squadron, a frontline fighter base in the Western sector, as well as a premier fighter training base. He has earlier served as Principle Director Air Staff Requirement, Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Projects) & Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Plans) at Air Headquarters. The Air Officer has also been the Air Defence Commander of Southern Air Command and was Senior Air Staff Officer, South Western Air Command prior to taking over as the Deputy Chief of the Air Staff.

  • Indian Naval Ships Visit Sihanoukville, Cambodia

    Indian Naval Ships Visit Sihanoukville, Cambodia

    New Delhi, 15th May 2023. Indian Naval ships Delhi and Satpura, under the command of Rear Admiral Gurcharan Singh, Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet, departed Sihanoukville, Cambodia on 14 May 2023. The three-day port call demonstrated India’s cordial ties and rapidly growing cooperation with the Kingdom of Cambodia.

    Apart from social interactions with senior dignitaries from the Defence ministry and Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, Personnel from both navies engaged in a wide range of professional interactions, cross deck visits and friendly sports exchanges.

    Training sessions on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) and firefighting were also conducted. The ship was also open to visitors and members of the Indian diaspora in Cambodia were provided a tour of the two ships.

    The successful port call has enhanced mutual understanding and strengthened the bonds of friendship between the two navies.

  • VSR700 tested at sea in full operational configuration

    VSR700 tested at sea in full operational configuration

    Marignane, 15th May 2023. Airbus Helicopters and the French Armament General Directorate (DGA) tested the unmanned aerial system (UAS) VSR700  for the first time in an operational configuration from a ship at sea. At the beginning of May, the VSR700 performed 80 fully autonomous take-offs and landings from a civil vessel equipped with a helicopter deck, cruising off the coast of Brittany in the west of France. 

    “This flight test campaign was an important step for the VSR700 programme as it allowed us to validate the excellent performance of the drone in operational conditions, which were representative of its future missions,” said Nicolas Delmas, Head of VSR700 programme at Airbus Helicopters. “The VSR700 prototype opened its flight envelope in winds above 40 knots, accumulated eight hours of testing in 14 flights, and made successful landings in several different sea states,” he added.

    In 2022, the autonomous take-off and landing capabilities of the VSR700 were tested from the same vessel using an optionally piloted vehicle (OPV) based on a modified Guimbal Cabri G2 equipped with the autonomous take-off and landing (ATOL) system developed for the VSR700. This time the test campaign took place with the SDAM demonstrator and fully validated the capabilities of the system as part of the SDAM (Système de Drone Aérien pour la Marine) study that was awarded to Airbus Helicopters and Naval Group in 2017.

    Autonomous take-off and landing capabilities are a key asset of the VSR700 and are made possible with the use of the Airbus DeckFinder system. This enables autonomous launch and recovery of unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) with an accuracy of 10-20cm during challenging operations in harsh environmental conditions, independently of GNSS/GPS and regardless of degraded visual conditions.

    This new test campaign follows two series of trials that were conducted with the DGA in late 2022 and early 2023 from the Levant Island test center located in the south of France. During these trials, the SDAM prototype demonstrated its ability to operate in a maritime environment. The handling qualities of the aircraft were tested as well as the capabilities of the sensors (a maritime surveillance radar, an electro optical sensor, and an AIS receiver) alongside the mission system developed by Naval Group.

    The next development steps will see the second VSR700 prototype perform its maiden flight ahead of flight testing onboard a French Navy FREMM during the second semester of this year.

  • Chief of the Army Staff Proceeds on a Visit to Egypt

    Chief of the Army Staff Proceeds on a Visit to Egypt

    FILE PICTURE

    New Delhi, 15th May 2023. General Manoj Pande, the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) has proceeded on a visit to Egypt from 16 to 17 May 2023. During the visit, the Army Chief will be meeting the Country’s senior military leadership where he will discuss avenues for further enhancing Indo-Egypt defence relations. He will be visiting various Egyptian Armed Forces establishments and exchange ideas on issues of mutual interest.

    The Army Chief will interact with the Commander-in-Chief of Egyptian Armed Forces, Minister of Defence & Military Production, and Chief of Staff, Egyptian Armed Forces. He will also engage in extensive discussions with the Chief of Egyptian Armed Force Operations Authority.

    The Military relations of India with Egypt are on the rise which was evident during India’s 74th Republic Day parade, wherein the Egyptian Armed Forces contingent made their first appearance, besides the Egyptian President Abdeh Fattah El-Sisi being the Chief Guest for the parade. Notably, Indian and Egyptian Armies have conducted the first ever joint exercise between the Special Forces named “Ex Cyclone-I” in January this year.

    The visit of the COAS will further deepen the bilateral relationships between the two Armies and act as a catalyst for closer coordination and cooperation between the two countries on a host of strategic issues.