Indian Army, Air Force Begin Six-Day Joint Exercise Along Western Deserts

A six-day joint exercise of the Army and the IAF will begin Monday in the deserts of Bikaner and Suratgarh near Pakistan border. "Vihayee Bhav" -- the exercise, will involve tank-to-tank wars, helicopter operations and others, Army officials said.

According to the Army, it has conducted 10 major exercise near the Pakistan border in the past six years and this exercise will boost synergy between the Indian defence forces.

"Battlefield tactics for warfare are being practiced in the exercise which also aims at fine-tuning the concept of Cold Start doctrine," an official said. Cold Start was a military doctrine developed by the armed forces in 2004 and involves joint operations between the three main services Army, Navy, and Air Force.

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Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon Emerge Favorites in Air Force M-MRCA Deal

In the past week, a number of mainstream and defense / military specific media sources revealed that the French Dassault Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets have made the shortlist while the American Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet, Lockheed Marting F-16, Sweden's Gripen and Russian MiG-35 fighters have been rejected. Dassault and Eurofighter have been asked by the Ministry of Defence to extend the offer validity thus making them part of the shortlist.

India Defence had earlier reported that these two fighter jets had emerged favorites after the Indian Air Force conducted extensive field trials between 2009 and 2010. See:
-- Air Force MRCA Deal - Eurofighter Typhoon Ahead on Technical Parameters

India has agreed to provide the United States with relevant data based on which its fighters were rejected for the lucrative USD 11 billion dollar deal. The United States, however, has been rapidly growing its share in the Indian defense market and Boeing alone envisions deals worth USD 50 billion in the coming decade.

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Indian Navy Interested in Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Maritime Surveillance Unmanned Aircraft Systems

In the build up to Aero India 2011, officials from U.S. defense major Northrop Grumman revealed that they have received and responded to a Request for Information (RFI) from the Indian Ministry of Defence for MQ-4C Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Unmanned Aircraft Systems (BAMS UAS) for the Indian Navy.

They have obtained necessary clearances from U.S. Government and have also briefed U.S. Navy on the same. Mr. Walter Kreitler, Director of BAMS UAS programme told India Defence (indiadefence.in) that he feels the U.S. Navy and Indian Navy have very similar operational roles and requirements. Since the Indian Navy will be operating Boeing P-8I aircrafts in a maritime surveillance role, MQ-4C will fit in very well to complement surveillance operations.

Northrop Grumman will offer MQ-8B Fire Scout UAV to the Indian Navy. MQ-8B is smaller than Chetak helicopter in service with Indian Navy. Fire Scout can be operated from any ship capable of handling a conventional helicopter thus fitting well with Indian Navy ships in service. In addition to conventional military roles, MQ-8B has potential for homeland security and law enforcement roles as well.

From NorthropGrumman.com
The United States Navy's MQ-4C Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) program provides persistent maritime Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) data collection and dissemination capability to the Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Force (MPRF). The MQ-4C BAMS UAS is a multi-mission system to support strike, signals intelligence, and communications relay as an adjunct to the MMA/P-3 community to enhance manpower, training and maintenance efficiencies worldwide.

The MQ-4C BAMS UAS, at full operational capability, will provide ISR persistence over large maritime distances for long periods of time for up to five simultaneous orbits worldwide. The MQ-4C BAMS UAS missions include, but are not limited to, maritime surveillance, collection of enemy order of battle information, battle damage assessment, port surveillance, communication relay, and support of the following missions - maritime interdiction, surface warfare, battlespace management, and targeting for maritime and littoral strike missions.

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Northrop Grumman Confirms RFIs Issued for Naval Airborne Early Warning Aircraft

While briefing media personnel in Bangalore on the eve of Aero India 2011, (Retired) Commodore Gyanendra Sharma, Managing Director of Northrop Grumman India announced that the Ministry of Defence has sent a Request for Information (RFI) for E-2D Naval Airborne Early Warning aircraft to Northrop Grumman.

As per details given by Mr. Sharma, Indian Navy has shown interest in procuring at least four such aircrafts. He also mentioned that first E-2D aircraft was successfully launched from USS Harry S. Truman signifying end of the testing phase. Northrop Grumman is positive that a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the same would be issued by year end.

It should be noted that E-2 (C&D) family of aircrafts are the only AEW&C aircraft capable of operating from aircraft carriers. Although carrier capable, only USA and France use them in thatrole. Rest of the operators deploy E-2C as shore-based AEW&C platforms. Currently US Navy is the only E-2D operator. India and UAE are the only countries to have expressed interest in E-2D. Even if E-2D enters service with Indian Navy in near future, Navy does not have aircraft carriers capable of operating E-2D. Hence E-2D will be used in shore-based role till the time right carrier is commissioned.

When asked about possibility of upgrading existing E-2C aircrafts to E-2D, Mr. David Parsley, Programmed Manager for Electronic Systems replied that externally E-2D might look similar to E-2C, but in terms of electronics and radar, it is a totally different beast. E-2D was designed from scratch and it is so advanced and powerful compared to E-2C that upgrading E-2C aircrafts to E-2D standards is not possible.

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