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Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Saturday that the Indian Navy must remain a "superior force" in the Indian Ocean region and assured that the government would extend full support for making it a truly bluewater navy.

Addressing the sailors and officers of the newly-inducted aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya after witnessing two days of Theatre Readiness Operational Level Exercise (TROPEX-2015), off the coast of Goa in the Arabian Sea, Mr Parrikar said his stay on board the vessel had been instructive.

He said he is can now understand better the many difficult situations that defence forces, especially sailors and naval officers, face while ensuring the safety and security of the nation.

Mr Parrikar was accompanied by Minister of State for Defence, Rao Inderjit Singh, Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral RK Dhowan and Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command, Vice Admiral AK Chopra.

During the exercise, Mr Parrikar and others were provided an overview of the multi-dimensional capabilities of the navy.

The navy demonstrated multiple facets of operations during his stay which encompassed a variety of weapons firing, MiG 29K and Sea Harrier operations from two aircraft carriers -- the other being INS Viraat -- integration of the P8I aircraft with fleet, and operations by the navy's Marine Commandos.

INS Vikramaditya was inducted into the Navy by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June last year.

The Defence Minister also witnessed a successful and impressive vertical launch of the Brahmos, the supersonic long range anti-ship cruise missile, from the recently commissioned stealth destroyer INS Kolkata, a milestone in itself.

A critical part of Anti-Missile Defence being surface-to-air Missiles (SAM), the Defence Minister last night witnessed the successful interception of a fast, low-flying, surface-to-surface missile by a SAM.

Mr Parrikar also watched a full-scale air power demonstration from INS Vikramaditya and INS Viraat involving MiG 29-Ks, Sea Harriers, Sea-kings, UH3H, Advanced Light Helicopters and Chetaks, an official statement said.

The recently-acquired MiG 29-Ks proved their mettle by showing the STOBAR operations, including the bombing runs.

Mr Parrikar also witnessed naval commandos MARCOS demonstrate insertion and extraction in the middle of the ocean by slithering. During that drill, the Defence Minister also saw first hand the potency of the upgraded Sea Harriers, particularly in the networked environment, the statement said.

The two completely networked fleets of the Indian Navy -- Eastern and Western -- were kept widely dispersed across seas in the Indian Ocean, operating in a dense electronic environment to match their professional and technical proficiency.

New weapons, sensors, communication systems and tactics were being tested and tried to optimise the net combat power of the fleets.

Over 40 surface combatants of various classes, including the two aircraft carriers (Vikramaditya and Viraat), submarines, including the INS Chakra, a large number of aircraft and UAVs are participating in TROPEX-2015. Notably, after many years, the Navy has deployed two Carrier Task Forces during the exercise.

The exercise had a jointmanship element of IAF with participation by aircraft such as Sukhois, Mirages and Jaguars.

All the operations were facilitated by a robust and seamless communication network, including satellite communications under the Navy's overall thrust on Network Centric Operations, aligned with the Prime Minister's vision of 'Digital India', the statement said.

Mr Parrikar also released a postage stamp commemorating the indigenous naval communication satellite, Rukmani, which is a dedicated naval satellite and takes the navy a step closer to achieving complete digitisation of communications.

The stamp release which took place on board INS Vikramaditya and was relayed live to naval units at sea as well as to the Maritime Operation Centres ashore.

Rukmani has been pivotal in ensuring seamless connectivity between the triad of surface, sub-surface and air platforms of the navy.

Meanwhile, 30 NCC cadets from 8 Karwar NU NCC embarked on board INS Mumbai and witnessed the operations. Two of these cadets also got an opportunity to be transferred at sea to INS Vikramaditya by 'Jackstay' - an evolution wherein ships transfer men and material between them.
Mr Parrikar hoped a larger number of cadets were given exposure to the ways of the armed forces so that they understand their valour and are inspired to join the Navy, Army and Air Force.

The transformation of the Indian Navy into a future-ready, network-enabled force was epitomised in the operations room of INS Vikramaditya, the Flag ship of the Western Fleet, the statement said.

The power of a networked force was demonstrated as operational plots and pictures from remote sensors were transferred and collated, in a flash, to present a comprehensive picture of the battle-space and effect optimal use of the weapons on board the various potent ships, it said.

TROPEX-2015 will continue over the next few days.

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Aircraft carriers, N-powered sub deployed to test Navy’s readiness
Tribune News Service


New Delhi, February 14

The Navy has deployed its sea-borne aircraft carriers and its lone nuclear- powered submarine to test its sea readiness.At present, Theatre Readiness Operational Level Exercise (TROPEX-2015) is being conducted off the Goa coast in the Arabian Sea. The exercise is to validate the Navy’s concept of operations and integration of new acquisitions with the fleet with each being connected electronically.Two wholly networked fleets of the Navy — the Eastern and the Western fleet —were kept widely dispersed across seas in the Indian Ocean, operating in an electronic environment to match technical proficiency. All operations were facilitated by a seamless communication network, including the use of Rukmini—- the Navy’s dedicated satellite.New weapons, sensors, communication systems and tactics are being tested and tried to optimise the net combat power of the fleets. Over 40 warships, including the two aircraft carriers, INS Vikramaditya and INS Viraat, submarines (including INS Chakra), aircraft and UAVs are deployed. IAF fighter jets, Sukhoi-30-MKI, Mirages and Jaguars will also participate.The Navy demonstrated multiple facets of operations during the period which encompassed a variety of weapon firings, MiG 29K and Sea Harrier operations from the two aircraft carriers, integration of the P8I aircraft with fleet, and operations by the Navy’s Marine Commandos.

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India's Shore-based Test Facility (SBTF) at Goa's INS Hansa air station is a bustling facility now. After launching and trapping Russian-built MiG-29Ks for months now, it launched an LCA Navy in January, and is getting all set for a lot of activity starting March when the second LCA Navy prototype (NP2) heads to Goa to join carrier compatibility tests. There's a good chance foreign aircraft could use the facility soon too.

Indian Navy sources say the facility may be used for the first time for training of foreign pilots starting this year. The navy has also been asked if the facility can be made available for at least two exercises later this year, involving the MiG-29K and the LCA Navy NP1.


Designed by Russia's Nevskoye Design Bureau (NDB) for India's Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), the SBTF is an impressive facility that launches aircraft straight out over the Arabian Sea. The facility is also crucial to how the LCA Navy shapes up as a fighter platform for aircraft carriers. The facility is split into three zones: the take-off area, which comprises the ski-jump, restraining gear (Project 11430/Vikramaditya standard by OAO RAC MiG) and light signalling system, the landing area, which has a two 90 metre wire Proletarsky Zavod Svetlana arresting gear system capable of trapping aircraft up to 20 tons, providing a maximum deceleration during trapping of less than 4.5g.

The SBTF's 57 x 16 metre ski-jump is parabolic and assembled at a 14-degree angle, constructed using steel, concrete and a 10mm steel plate on top. The ski-jump tops off at 5.71 metres at the launch point.

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The TV landing control system, the FSUE TV Research Institute MTK-201EB, provides visibility of aircraft out to 6-km, monitors aircraft from an approach distance of 5-km and auto-tracks them from 4.5 km. As with most landing systems of this kind, it is programmed to measure range and deviations in approach path about 3-km before touchdown. The light signaling system is the SATURN-N, provided by Russia's LLA Aerosvet.

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The crucial optical landing system (OLS), the LUNA-3E supplied by FSUE Elektropribor, is perhaps the most crucial part of the SBTF, providing non-stop visual cues to pilots on approach, to correct glide and approach paths before touchdown. The lights are visible to pilots out to 5-km at night and 3-km in daytime.

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The SBTF won't have any shortage of work in the foreseeable future -- apart from the Vikramaditya, the country's first Vikrant-class indigenous aircraft carrier is also a STOBAR boat. The Indian Navy's vision on moving away from STOBAR into the realm of catapult operations won't yield anything anytime soon, though the groundwork was recently laid when India and the U.S. decided to work together and talk about EMALS technology, sparking speculation over whether the second or third ship in the Vikrant-class would be reconfigured for CATOBAR operations.

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aksha said:

sigh!
everyone insists on saying exactly the opposite thatings that the other is saying
and no mention of FGFA

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Even as three Rafale fighters line up in Bengaluru for eye-popping aerobatics displays at the Aero India 2015 exhibition this week, senior ministry of defence (MoD) sources say the proposal to buy the French fighter is “effectively dead”.

The reason: During three years of negotiations between Dassault and MoD officials in the so-called “contract negotiation committee” (CNC), it has emerged that Dassault’s bid was actually higher than that of the Eurofighter Typhoon, not lower as the MoD had announced on January 31, 2012.

Dassault had submitted a sketchy commercial bid, and when the CNC obtained details from the French company to arrive at the actual cost of the Rafale, the figures added up to significantly more than had originally been estimated.

This confusion is due partly to MoD inexperience with “life cycle costing” (LCC). The global tender for 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) was the first time the MoD was awarding a contract based on LCC. This meant the winner would not be the fighter with the cheapest purchase price; instead the chosen fighter would be the one that was cheaper to buy, fly, maintain and overhaul over its 30-40 year service life.

“An inexperienced MoD, working off incomplete and sketchy details provided by Dassault, had incorrectly adjudged the Rafale cheaper. Now, after three years of obtaining clear figures from the French, we find India would be paying significantly more than had been initially calculated,” says an official in the CNC.

Contacted for comments, the MoD has not responded.

The MoD has been backing away from the Rafale for two months now. On December 30, 2014, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar admitted for the first time there were “complications” in the negotiations with Dassault, and outlined the IAF’s alternatives.

“The Sukhoi-30MKI is an adequate aircraft for meeting the air force’s needs”, said Parrikar.

Last week the prime minister was pointedly distanced from the Rafale. On Saturday, an unusual MoD press release denied a newspaper report that the PM would fly in the Rafale during the Aero India 2015 air show at Bangalore this week.

“It is clarified that there is no plan for the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to fly in any fighter jet. The news item is incorrect, misconceived and is not based on facts”, stated the MoD.

This is the second time the MoD has gone wrong in LCC evaluations. As Business Standard reported on Saturday (“Defence ministry official questions whether Pilatus was cheapest trainer”, February 14) an internal MoD noting last month sharply questioned the award of a contract for 75 PC-7 Mark II basic trainer aircraft to Swiss company, Pilatus. There too, the LCC was calculated incorrectly.

Significantly, that noting, signed by AR Sule, the MoD’s “Finance Manager (Air)”, who handles financial aspects of military aircraft purchases, alerts the defence minister to issues with LCC evaluation in the MMRCA tender.

Sule writes: “The issue (with LCC calculations) may be brought to the notice of the RM (Raksha Mantri) as two high value cases of IAF based on LCC model are at CFA (competent financial authority) approval stage.”

Dassault’s impending loss, however, will not be the Eurofighter Typhoon’s gain. Eurofighter GmbH has maintained an expensive presence in Delhi for the last three years, just in case Dassault’s bid encounters trouble. But Parrikar has made it clear that procurement procedures do not permit the second-placed vendor, i.e. Eurofighter GmbH, to be awarded the contract in place of the “preferred vendor”, i.e. Dassault.

Dassault was adjudged winner of the MMRCA tender through a two-stage process. In the first stage the IAF ruled out on April 27, 2011 four of the six competing fighters. Boeing’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet; Lockheed Martin’s F-16IN Super Viper; Saab’s Gripen NG, and the Russian MiG-35 were adjudged not to have met the IAF’s performance requirements.

In the second stage, the commercial bids of the remaining two vendors --- Dassault’s Rafale, and the Eurofighter Typhoon --- were compared on a “life cycle basis” to select the lower bidder. On January 31, 2012, the Rafale was chosen as the cheaper of the two options, a decision that the MoD is now walking away from.

A senior official familiar with the Rafale contract negotiations says, “Given the value of this contract, it was always going to be scrutinised in detail. No MoD official is willing to endorse a Rs 100,000 crore contract with Dassault when it seems as if Rafale is not even the cheapest option”.

This means the IAF would have to look elsewhere for fighters to increase its depleted squadrons from the current 35 to the authorized 45 (with 18 fighters in each squadron).

Besides enlarging its Sukhoi-30MKI fleet from the 272 fighters HAL will build by 2018, the IAF could order more indigenous Tejas Mark I fighters, over and above the 40 now on order from HAL. The IAF could also intensify its co-development of the Indo-Russian Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) with Sukhoi.

For Dassault, an Indian cancellation would be a serious blow. The French air force and navy, dogged by budget cutbacks, have reduced their planned Rafale numbers from 310 to just 180. On Friday, Egypt announced it would buy 24 Rafale fighters, becoming the first and only overseas buyer for Dassault.

"India will take longer than Egypt," said Eric Trappier, the CEO of Dassault on Friday.

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"The Chief of Defence Staff is something that the country has been looking at the last couple of decades. Most countries have a Chief of Defence Staff. When you have a Chief of Defence Staff it can evaluate the requirements all three services...," Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh told reporters here.

Speaking on the sidelines of AeroIndia International Seminar-2015, he said the Chief of Defence Staff was someone who has to take the overall perspective and doesn't think in compartments like Navy, Air force and the Army.

"Therefore the money that is going to be spent on the overall capability to be developed within the country can be much better utilised with the Chief of Defence Staff.

"The three Services have agreed that there should be a Chief of Defence Staff...we have to now get parties involved, as it is a political decision. There are pros and cons to the whole issue, the Services is now on board more or less. Now the political parties have to be taken on board. Once they give their opinion we will take a decision," he said.

Asked whether government has started discussions with parties, Singh said it has been going on for a while, but now again "I think we are going to write to all political parties and ask them as to what is their opinion on this."

Stating that who is going to be Chief of Defence Staff is immaterial as of now, Singh in response to a question said, "According to me - what possibility that could be explored is that there should be somebody in the Chief of Defence Staff's position for a couple of years while all these issues are being worked out, like the CISC who could be there in that position...let him operate for couple of years, once the difficulties are ironed out Chief of Defence Staff can be announced.

"...these things have to have a political input. Political input is going to be asked for by this government. Once we have the parties on board I think it will be done..," he added.
To a question on One Rank One Pension (OROP) issue, Singh said "it will happen soon...we are addressing it, and more or less we have come to a decision..."
"Before the Parliament session we should be able to announce it...this is our wish," he added.

Asked about when a permanent DRDO Chief would be appointed which is being now handled by the Secretary Defence, Singh said "He (Secretary Defence) has been given the additional charge of Aeronautical Development Agency and DRDO for three months. So one would expect in these three months the appointment will be made."

Responding to a question on the multi-billion dollar Rafale fighter jet contract with France, Singh said "....out of 126 odd aircraft, 18 are to be delivered by them and the balances are to be manufactured here."

"The ones that are made here, it has to be with the help from original equipment manufacturer -- Dassault. Dassault must ensure that what is being produced in India is also of standard and as good as theirs."

He said "Now that it is some thing, I think that we would expect them to help out in; ...they are working it out, there are no issues, the logistics of the problem are being worked out, that's all."

Singh said "they have to help us in producing the same product of the same standard as the one they supplied to us when we imported... there should be no compromise on this..."

As per the RFP issued in 2007, the first 18 jets are to be imported and the rest 108 manufactured under licence by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL).

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