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Coming on the heels of the inking of the US-Indo nuclear cooperation agreement, IN October it was reported that Washington is to sell advanced 1,000-pound class sensor-fuzed high altitude precision guided munitions to India. The bombs will increase the Indian Air Force's ability to counter ground-armoured threats. The Sensor Fuzed Weapon (SFW) is far superior to older, traditional cluster weapons which are known to have failure problems.
"India will buy CBU-105 and CBU-97 sensor-fuzed bombs and other ammunition worth $375m from the United States on a government-to-government basis," said a senior Indian defence ministry official.
Sources say more consignments of a variety of sensor-fuzed weapons will be ordered from the United States.
The bombs will assist the Indian Air Force to develop and enhance standardization with the United States. "India will have no difficulty absorbing these missiles into its armed forces." said a U.S. diplomat.
The bombs locate heat emissions from tanks and other vehicles and, using laser technology, engage the targets.
Once targets are engaged, the system releases cylindrical shaped projectiles. These projectiles, travelling at very high speed, pierce the armour of an enemy tank or target.
The projectiles about 4-inches in diameter and weighing around 10 pounds spin in the air searching for enemy targets after being released.
In addition to the purchase of the sensor-fuzed bombs, India is also finalising joint-development of a New Generation Precision Guided Munition [NGPGM] with Raytheon of the United States. In addition, India's state-run Ordinance Factory Board (OFB) is also negotiating joint development of precision bombs, based on technology from Raytheon's Enhanced Paveway-II Dual Mode GPS/Laser Guided Bombs for use by the Indian Air Force.
Sources in the Indian defence ministry said, "Negotiations are nearly completed between Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and Raytheon for the joint-development of a 1000 kilogram-class NGPGM which can be used by Mirage 2000-H aircraft in particular and other Indian Air Force aircraft.”
"The guidance and range-extension kit of the NGPGM is detachable and compatible with the General Purpose 2000lb/1000kg bomb." said a senior Indian Air Force official. The weapon weighs around 1000 kilograms will have a warhead which can pierce concrete and hardened horizontal targets.
The ammunition will have 95 per cent kill rate within 3 meters from the air point.
Last month India also floated a global tender for the acquisition of 4800 Sensor Fuzed Munitions (SFM) along with Technology Transfer for the Indian Army 155mm gun worth $120 million.
The SFMs will be employed for the destruction of high-value mobile and static targets, both in offensive and defensive operations. The specific targets envisaged include tanks, Armoured Personnel Carriers, Air Defense Warning Systems, Electronic Warfare Radars, communication centers, Command Posts, Early Warning and fire control radars, and transport columns.
The SFMs will be employed against well dispersed mobile and static targets and as such the munitions should display a very high kill probability and also cater for electronic counter measures to ensure accurate and reliable functioning.
"The thrust of India's endeavour to seek Precision Guided Munitions will be based on a joint-collaboration basis as far as possible." said a senior Indian defence ministry official.
With this guiding principle, the Indian defence ministry floated an acquisition of Anti-Torpedo Torpedoes (ATTS)last month, in which joint development will be favoured.
The Indo-U.S. nuclear cooperation agreement is expected to start clearance of defence equipment to India from the United States worth over $1 billion in the next two to three years, which will include laser guided weapons, advance testing equipment, missile warning systems, Harpoon anti-ship missiles and a variety of precision guided munitions.
24 Nov 08. Indian Army's quest for getting the much needed Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missiles (QRSAM) is delayed again as the $1.4 billion bid floated in April 2008 is heading for cancellation. Bids were sent to Israel's Rafael, Rheinmetall Defence of Germany, Raytheon of the United States, Russia's KPB
Tula, MBDA of France. "Only MBDA and Rafael have filed their technical and commercial bids," said a senior Indian defence ministry official, adding, "The other bidders have requested change in technical parameters."
"The Indian defence ministry is considering cancellation of the bid, to allow more participation and even make changes in qualitative requirements to get better QRSAMs." said sources in the Indian defence ministry.
The bidders are critical of the Indian Army's demand for going in for seeker technology which they say is only effective in air-to-air battle, but has serious limitations in the ground-to-air battle. Some of the foreign bidders have asked the Indian Army to opt for Optronics Laser-Guided Missiles for the QRSAM requirement. Some of the overseas bidders have said that they had a 12 kilometres range QRSAM as standard and needed to spend more on increasing the range to the required 15 kilometres as demanded by the Indian Army.
Sources in the Indian defence ministry also added that Raytheon did not receive government permission for the Transfer of Technology.
The global tender was for procurement of three regiments of QRSAM system and 1485 missiles with Transfer of Technology (TOT).
The QRSAM system is to be employed for providing air defence to the mechanized formations operating in the plains, semi-desert, and deserts of India. The technical parameters require that the QRSAM should be a quick-reaction system capable of engaging all types of air targets including aircraft, hovering helicopter and helicopters on the ground, low flying and with their rotors moving, targets including suddenly appearing targets at close ranges, missiles and other futuristic aerial targets.
The missile characteristics include a range of not less then 15 kilometres, crossover range of not less than 6 kilometres and altitude of 10 meters to 9 kilometres.
"Currently Indian defence forces, particularly the Indian Army, need to shore up their air defence systems, as the erstwhile USSR designed system needs replacement and immediate upgrade." said an Indian Army officer.
Indian defence forces have so far been forced to postpone their upgrade and replacement plans as they had been awaiting the Akash home-produced air defence system, under development since 1989 and rejected on several occasions by the Indian defence forces users on technical grounds.
The Indian Army has plans to replace the Russian OSA-AK air defence systems numbering around 100 and also the aging Russian-built Kvadrat, Shilka and Tunguska air defence systems.
10 Sep 08. As part of the ongoing modernization drive of the Indian Army, a variety of Electronic Warfare (EW) systems are being procured in the next three-to-five years estimated to cost over $1bn. These include: Integrated Electronics Warfare Systems [IEWS], Low Intensity Conflict Electronic Warfare Systems (LIC EW), mobile EW systems and the homegrown systems like Samyukta EW systems.
A senior Indian defence ministry official said some of the tenders issued earlier will be re-tendered soon as the earlier tenders were too complicated and the bidders failed to come in comfortably on the bids.
India's homegrown EW system Samyukta, made by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Army is ready for induction in the next two months. The Samyukta project got delayed in the face of U.S. sanctions between 1998 and 2001, which led to the stoppage of certain sub systems from overseas and thus some had to be homegrown with the help of state-owned companies Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL), Electronics Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL) and corporates like Computer Maintenance Corporation [CMC] and private sector defence major Tata Power Corporation.
The system is for mobile, tactical battlefield use and configured using Tatra vehicles. Each system is capable of collecting border intelligence and beyond over 25 kilometers. Described as a force multiplier, Samyukta can jam enemy signals whilst ensuring that its own signals are intact.
Last month the Indian Army floated a global tender for the purchase of Low Intensity Conflict Electronic Warfare Systems (LIC EW). The EW systems will be used in mountainous, plains and jungle terrain along the Indian borders.
"Initially tenders have been floated for procuring one EW system, although repeat orders will be made to the short listed vendor," said Indian Army officials.
The EW systems should have the capability to search, detect, intercept, locate, monitor and jam all modulation types of state of the art modulation modes, including digital modulation. The system should have the capability to intercept and jam GSM, CDMA, TDMA, WLL-based radio transmissions originating from mobile communication-based systems.
The EW systems should have automatic search capability on frequency band from 1.5MHz to 3000MHz. The system will have three independent functional blocks (Control Center (CC) Blocks). The individual platforms will comprise one CC Block of the Integrated Systems viz Control Centre (CC)-quantity one; Cellular Communication Interception Subsystems (CCIS)-quantity one; Reconnaissance and Direction Finding Station (RDFS)-quantity three; Short Direction Finding Base Station (SDFBS)-quantity three; Jammers HF (JS-H)-quantity one; Jammers VHF-UHF (JS-U)-quantity three; Radio Relay Repeater Station (RRRS)-quantity two.
The Control Center (CC) will be the main sub-centre where all the system elements will be integrated through an intercommunication system and should have the capability to interface and access the database and supervise functions of subordinate entities. The CC should have the capability of ESM( Electronic Support Measures) ESM and ECM (Electronic Counter Measures) system assignment. The CCIS should have the capability to provide passive interception of all types of currently available cellular networks, and should have the capability to selectively jam a particular link and should intercept Base Station traffic at a range of 35 kilometers.
Meanwhile, the purchase process is underway for the purchase of advanced Integrated Electronics Warfare Systems [IEWS] which led to the success of combat operations in Afghanistan by the U.S. troops and the coalition forces. "The IEWS will impart speed, and depth to operations." said Indian army officials who added that, "The EW systems will introduce a surprise element in counter-insurgency operations."
The mobile IEWS would also be used along the borders with India and China. It will be a fully digitized system capable of monitoring the status of several system units and supply control signals to adapt to various operating conditions. The high speed of data and intelligence-gathering by the IEWS will enable the Indian Army to mount quick counter attacks against counter-insurgency.
The IEWS will be tailor-made to provide real-time information to the battlefield level and will have advance communication technologies which will permit exchange of voice, digital and video data with other systems. It will also have geo-location technologies that will provide navigation information in built-up, forested and mountainous environments. The systems will also be equipped with tactical surveillance and targeting and automated ultra-miniature imaging and non-imaging sensors.
The IEWS will comprise – one Countermeasure Control Centre [CCC] , one Command Post , one Special Informational Warfare Operations [SIWO] unit , one Psychological Operations Shelter [POS] , one Satellite Interception System [ SIS] , four Control centers , twenty Relay/ Repeater Stations for Radi0 relay, five Mobile Stations and high mobility light vehicles.
A $150m tender issued in 2006 will be re-tendered for the purchase of mobile EW systems. In 2006 the tender was sent to U.S. firms Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics, France's Thales, Rohde & Schwarz of Germany, Rafael and Elta of Israel, and India's state-owned Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) and Electronic Corporation of India Ltd. (ECIL).
India is also developing the homegrown Sangraha EW system for the Navy and Tempest for the Air Force. However, India is still the largest importer of EW systems in Asia.
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