First Photo Of ASRAAM-Armed IAF Jaguar, Debut Firing Soon
By Shiv Aroor, Oct 16 2019, 9:30 am
Photo: NAL
It’s all systems go for the first test-firing of an MBDA ASRAAM close combat missile from an Indian Air Force Jaguar combat jet. The photograph you see here, taken late last year, is the the first known photograph in the public domain of an IAF Jaguar sporting the ASRAAM. It depicts qualification tests for the overwing launcher adapter and ground vibration tests under the aegis of the National Aerospace Laboratory (NAL) in Bengaluru. The lab has also conducted flight flutter tests on the integration. A first test firing of the ASRAAM is expected to take place before the end of the year off the coast of Goa.
The IAF’s new chief Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Bhadauria happens to be a Jaguar pilot, though he has taken office at a time when the IAF has had to take tough decisions on strengthening its Jaguar fleet. At his inaugural press conference earlier this month, Bhadauria said, “The Jaguar DARIN 3 (Display Attack Ranging Inertial Navigation) upgrade will be implemented as per plan, engines and obsolescence will be managed, but no new engines will be fitted.” He was referring to long-standing $700 million plans to replace the Jaguar’s old and notoriously underpowered engines with new turbofans, an effort in which U.S. firm Honeywell’s F125N engine emerged the sole possibility. The re-engine program is now dead owing to cost and priorities.
The ASRAAM is the second new missile integration on the Jaguar in the last few years. In 2013, the IAF’s Jaguars began flying with new Boeing Harpoon anti-ship missiles. Earlier this year too, HAL unveiled what it called the ‘Jaguar MAX’ upgrade to open up its DARIN II airframes to more weapon choices, including the ability to deploy 4 privately developed swarm drones. The IAF remains divided on spending scant modernisation resources on an ageing platform, so the ASRAAM is likely to be the last new bit of kit slung on.
In January, Livefist scooped IAF plans to integrate the ASRAAM on its Su-30 MKI fighter platform, with bigger plans to standardise the missile system across its fighter fleet. The Su-30 MKI integration plan though has expectedly hit rough weather with Russia. While the ASRAAM’s maker MBDA U.K. has said its ASRAAM-related activity in India is currently focused on completing the Jaguar tests, the IAF’s next steps on the fleet-wide adoption of the ASRAAM will be more clear in the next few months. Over the last two years, it has become known that the IAF is weighing ASRAAMs on its Hawk trainers for a mixed force profile and considering the ASRAAM for its LCA Tejas, where it will need to dislodge HAL’s current choice of the Rafael Python.
“The Jaguar is no longer easy prey,” says Russel Martin, head of technical and military operations military advisors at MBDA UK. “We’re working with the IAF and HAL to conduct the first firing from a Jaguar as soon as possible.”
While clarity remains elusive on the extent to which the IAF will manage to standardise the ASRAAM across its fleet, MBDA recently unveiled an agreement with Indian state-owned missile maker Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL) to transfer final assembly and integration functions of the ASRAAM to India, a move reported by Livefist last October. The Indian forces have been saddled with a smorgasbord of airframe and weapon types over the years, so the prospect of an Indian production line certainly helps. But Israel, which has made deep strides in missile partnerships with India, won’t for a moment make this an easy ride.
Artwork of ASRAAM on India’s LCA Tejas.
The ASRAAM program is part of a larger churn in the the Indian air-to-air missile scene, with several new missile assets becoming operational in IAF service in the near future. Apart from the ASRAAM, MBDA’s Meteor, the indigenous Astra and a new generation version of Russia’s R-73 missile will be inducted in a matter of months.
Topping things off, India’s Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) in February tested a complete solid fuel ducted ramjet (SFDR) propulsion system from a ground based launcher as part of a $70 million joint effort since 2013 by India and Russia to create a new generation air-to-air weapon.
Livefist also recently reported that the IAF’s keenness to explore a Meteor fit on its upgraded Mirage 2000 won’t be working out. MBDA has responded saying the MICA NG would be a better fit, given the Mirage 2000’s radar and fire control system wouldn’t be able to exploit the Meteor’s full capabilities. India’s upgraded Mirage 2000 fleet comes with a MICA IR/RF missile package similar to the one chosen for the Indian Rafale. The MICA NG is being made available to the latter platform too.
https://www.livefistdefence.com/201...sraam-armed-iaf-jaguar-debut-firing-soon.html
By Shiv Aroor, Oct 16 2019, 9:30 am
Photo: NAL
It’s all systems go for the first test-firing of an MBDA ASRAAM close combat missile from an Indian Air Force Jaguar combat jet. The photograph you see here, taken late last year, is the the first known photograph in the public domain of an IAF Jaguar sporting the ASRAAM. It depicts qualification tests for the overwing launcher adapter and ground vibration tests under the aegis of the National Aerospace Laboratory (NAL) in Bengaluru. The lab has also conducted flight flutter tests on the integration. A first test firing of the ASRAAM is expected to take place before the end of the year off the coast of Goa.
The IAF’s new chief Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Bhadauria happens to be a Jaguar pilot, though he has taken office at a time when the IAF has had to take tough decisions on strengthening its Jaguar fleet. At his inaugural press conference earlier this month, Bhadauria said, “The Jaguar DARIN 3 (Display Attack Ranging Inertial Navigation) upgrade will be implemented as per plan, engines and obsolescence will be managed, but no new engines will be fitted.” He was referring to long-standing $700 million plans to replace the Jaguar’s old and notoriously underpowered engines with new turbofans, an effort in which U.S. firm Honeywell’s F125N engine emerged the sole possibility. The re-engine program is now dead owing to cost and priorities.
The ASRAAM is the second new missile integration on the Jaguar in the last few years. In 2013, the IAF’s Jaguars began flying with new Boeing Harpoon anti-ship missiles. Earlier this year too, HAL unveiled what it called the ‘Jaguar MAX’ upgrade to open up its DARIN II airframes to more weapon choices, including the ability to deploy 4 privately developed swarm drones. The IAF remains divided on spending scant modernisation resources on an ageing platform, so the ASRAAM is likely to be the last new bit of kit slung on.
In January, Livefist scooped IAF plans to integrate the ASRAAM on its Su-30 MKI fighter platform, with bigger plans to standardise the missile system across its fighter fleet. The Su-30 MKI integration plan though has expectedly hit rough weather with Russia. While the ASRAAM’s maker MBDA U.K. has said its ASRAAM-related activity in India is currently focused on completing the Jaguar tests, the IAF’s next steps on the fleet-wide adoption of the ASRAAM will be more clear in the next few months. Over the last two years, it has become known that the IAF is weighing ASRAAMs on its Hawk trainers for a mixed force profile and considering the ASRAAM for its LCA Tejas, where it will need to dislodge HAL’s current choice of the Rafael Python.
“The Jaguar is no longer easy prey,” says Russel Martin, head of technical and military operations military advisors at MBDA UK. “We’re working with the IAF and HAL to conduct the first firing from a Jaguar as soon as possible.”
While clarity remains elusive on the extent to which the IAF will manage to standardise the ASRAAM across its fleet, MBDA recently unveiled an agreement with Indian state-owned missile maker Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL) to transfer final assembly and integration functions of the ASRAAM to India, a move reported by Livefist last October. The Indian forces have been saddled with a smorgasbord of airframe and weapon types over the years, so the prospect of an Indian production line certainly helps. But Israel, which has made deep strides in missile partnerships with India, won’t for a moment make this an easy ride.
Artwork of ASRAAM on India’s LCA Tejas.
The ASRAAM program is part of a larger churn in the the Indian air-to-air missile scene, with several new missile assets becoming operational in IAF service in the near future. Apart from the ASRAAM, MBDA’s Meteor, the indigenous Astra and a new generation version of Russia’s R-73 missile will be inducted in a matter of months.
Topping things off, India’s Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) in February tested a complete solid fuel ducted ramjet (SFDR) propulsion system from a ground based launcher as part of a $70 million joint effort since 2013 by India and Russia to create a new generation air-to-air weapon.
Livefist also recently reported that the IAF’s keenness to explore a Meteor fit on its upgraded Mirage 2000 won’t be working out. MBDA has responded saying the MICA NG would be a better fit, given the Mirage 2000’s radar and fire control system wouldn’t be able to exploit the Meteor’s full capabilities. India’s upgraded Mirage 2000 fleet comes with a MICA IR/RF missile package similar to the one chosen for the Indian Rafale. The MICA NG is being made available to the latter platform too.
https://www.livefistdefence.com/201...sraam-armed-iaf-jaguar-debut-firing-soon.html
Amiet R. Kashyap (@Amitraaz) Tweeted:
A team of members of HAL and a Bengaluru-based startup, NewSpace Research and Technologies, is developing its 1st prototype attack missile, the Air-Launched Flexible Asset (Swarm) or ALFA-S...as the news also came during Aeroindia, when they proposed this plan for the 1st time. Amiet R. Kashyap on Twitter ( )
A team of members of HAL and a Bengaluru-based startup, NewSpace Research and Technologies, is developing its 1st prototype attack missile, the Air-Launched Flexible Asset (Swarm) or ALFA-S...as the news also came during Aeroindia, when they proposed this plan for the 1st time. Amiet R. Kashyap on Twitter ( )
IAF operationalises air-launched BrahMos cruise missile in major capability milestone
With longer reach and greater destructive potential than any anti-surface air weapon wielded by India, the 450-km range missile increases India's options for stand-off, cross-border targetting
The BrahMos cruise missile strapped on to the reinforced belly of an IAF Su-30MKI fighter
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has inducted and operationalised the air-launched, extended range BrahMos supersonic cruise missile.
With a kill range of 450 km, this is the IAF's most potent air-launched anti-surface weapon, and its induction is a significant capability milestone.
The missile has been mated with select Sukhoi-30MKI fighters. An estimated 42 Su-30MKIs will be modified to wield the airborne BrahMos. The modified Sukhois will have the capability to carry only one BrahMos at a time as part of a weapons configuration which also includes four RVV AE (R-77) air-to-air medium range missiles, two R-73 air-to-air short range missiles and six 250 kg bombs.
The modified Sukhois will have the capability to carry only one BrahMos at a time as part of a weapons configuration which also includes four RVV AE (R-77) air-to-air medium range missiles, two R-73 air-to-air short range missiles and six 250 kg bombs
"A few BrahMos-armed aircraft will be provided to all IAF Su-30MKI squadrons to wield this capability," an informed observer disclosed. Some will also be kept in reserve.
Analysts term the IAF BrahMos capability "phenomenal". This has a longer range and more destructive potential than any other air-to-surface weapon wielded by the IAF so far.
A shot of the weapons configuration of the BrahMos-armed Sukhoi fighter
"The air-launched BrahMos has a strategic role. It is to destroy targets in depth which have strategic value and compromise the war waging capability of an adversary," remarked Air Marshal BK Pandey (Retired), a former Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the IAF's Training Command. The strategic targets in depth could be major military bases, ammunition dumps and vital installations. "With its range, the IAF can launch this weapon from its own airspace," Air Marshal Pandey said, pointing out the enhanced stand-off attack capability against a persistent adversary.
"The air-launched BrahMos has a strategic role. It is to destroy targets in depth which have strategic value and compromise the war waging capability of an adversary," remarked Air Marshal BK Pandey (Retired), a former Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the IAF's Training Command
The availability of this weapon increases India military options for launching surprise precision cross-border attacks from a stand-off range.
This will also beef up India's anti-ship capability in a maritime role, and enable quick reaction against an enemy warship up to 1,400 km from India's coastline.
Its 2.8 Mach supersonic speed and terrain-hugging flight mode also makes it improbable to intercept. "In recently-concluded user trials, this missile has shown itself to be very spectacular, very accurate," a senior IAF officer told SP's Aviation.
India's co-option as a full member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) has enabled the increase in the range of the BrahMos from 290 km to 450 km.
http://www.sps-aviation.com/news/?i...-cruise-missile-in-major-capability-milestone
With longer reach and greater destructive potential than any anti-surface air weapon wielded by India, the 450-km range missile increases India's options for stand-off, cross-border targetting
The BrahMos cruise missile strapped on to the reinforced belly of an IAF Su-30MKI fighter
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has inducted and operationalised the air-launched, extended range BrahMos supersonic cruise missile.
With a kill range of 450 km, this is the IAF's most potent air-launched anti-surface weapon, and its induction is a significant capability milestone.
The missile has been mated with select Sukhoi-30MKI fighters. An estimated 42 Su-30MKIs will be modified to wield the airborne BrahMos. The modified Sukhois will have the capability to carry only one BrahMos at a time as part of a weapons configuration which also includes four RVV AE (R-77) air-to-air medium range missiles, two R-73 air-to-air short range missiles and six 250 kg bombs.
The modified Sukhois will have the capability to carry only one BrahMos at a time as part of a weapons configuration which also includes four RVV AE (R-77) air-to-air medium range missiles, two R-73 air-to-air short range missiles and six 250 kg bombs
"A few BrahMos-armed aircraft will be provided to all IAF Su-30MKI squadrons to wield this capability," an informed observer disclosed. Some will also be kept in reserve.
Analysts term the IAF BrahMos capability "phenomenal". This has a longer range and more destructive potential than any other air-to-surface weapon wielded by the IAF so far.
A shot of the weapons configuration of the BrahMos-armed Sukhoi fighter
"The air-launched BrahMos has a strategic role. It is to destroy targets in depth which have strategic value and compromise the war waging capability of an adversary," remarked Air Marshal BK Pandey (Retired), a former Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the IAF's Training Command. The strategic targets in depth could be major military bases, ammunition dumps and vital installations. "With its range, the IAF can launch this weapon from its own airspace," Air Marshal Pandey said, pointing out the enhanced stand-off attack capability against a persistent adversary.
"The air-launched BrahMos has a strategic role. It is to destroy targets in depth which have strategic value and compromise the war waging capability of an adversary," remarked Air Marshal BK Pandey (Retired), a former Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the IAF's Training Command
The availability of this weapon increases India military options for launching surprise precision cross-border attacks from a stand-off range.
This will also beef up India's anti-ship capability in a maritime role, and enable quick reaction against an enemy warship up to 1,400 km from India's coastline.
Its 2.8 Mach supersonic speed and terrain-hugging flight mode also makes it improbable to intercept. "In recently-concluded user trials, this missile has shown itself to be very spectacular, very accurate," a senior IAF officer told SP's Aviation.
India's co-option as a full member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) has enabled the increase in the range of the BrahMos from 290 km to 450 km.
http://www.sps-aviation.com/news/?i...-cruise-missile-in-major-capability-milestone
Defence Decode
(@indiatubedesk) Tweeted:
India and the US have ‘suspended’ the ambitious plan to collaborate on jet engine technology under the much-touted DTTI.
“The original project is suspended right now. But we are talking about other potential engine working group items,”
India, US 'suspend' ambitious jet engine technology plan under defence trade deal ( )
(@indiatubedesk) Tweeted:India and the US have ‘suspended’ the ambitious plan to collaborate on jet engine technology under the much-touted DTTI.
“The original project is suspended right now. But we are talking about other potential engine working group items,”
India, US 'suspend' ambitious jet engine technology plan under defence trade deal ( )
Six F-16 fighters of Singapore Air Force made emergency landing at Port Blair airport on 30/10/2019 at around 10 AM after running low on fuel and are parked in IAF Apron.
@Ashwin @BlackOpsIndia @Falcon @vstol Jockey @_Anonymous_ @BMD et al.
@Ashwin @BlackOpsIndia @Falcon @vstol Jockey @_Anonymous_ @BMD et al.
Ridiculous! What brave deeds did they perform to earn those gallantry awards? This is precisely what I was hinting at when I said the GoI irrespective of the party in power along with the top brass of the armed forces collaborate & collude together in sweeping things under the carpet. This is how things have always been in our part of the world. If anything it's much worse in Pakistan where accountability is almost never fixed or determined and that's definitely a poor example to be comparing ourselves against. Yet what've done here would make the PAF smile.
@Falcon
These martyrs died during hostility as a result of our own errors. A gallantry award will entitle their families to avail many benfits given by various state governments and also central government. I think it is correct to give them these medals so that their families can live a better life and prosper in life.
Why no gallantry awards when our martyrs lose their lives in military accidents. Eg 12 crashes of IAF aircrafts this year , death of a soldier due to canon of T90 exploding. Etc etc etc etc.
These people died for no fault of their own. It will not be wrong to call their martyrdom-killing.
Won't those facilities be available to them minus the gallantry awards? They can be declared KIA just as Sqdn Leader Kapoor was when he was assassinated in the line of duty by Yaseen Malik & his gang?