Lockheed Martin set to deliver India's first C-130J

The Indian air force's first of six Lockheed Martin C-130J tactical transports will be handed over to the US Air Force on 16 December, ahead of its delivery to the nation in late January.

To be based as Hindon air base, New Delhi's first US-built military aircraft will make its public debut at the Aero India air show in Bangalore in early February, says Abhay Paranjape, Lockheed's director, C-130J India.

India's first three stretched-fuselage Hercules are involved in pre-delivery testing at Lockheed's Marietta site in Georgia, with the second to also be signed over to theUSAF during December and flown to Hindon in late February. The nation's other three aircraft are on the final assembly line in Marietta.

Lockheed is to train the first batch of Indian air force pilots on the C-130J, following their receipt of initial instruction provided by the USAF at Little Rock AFB, Arkansas. The company will also train combat system operators and maintainers, and also deliver a three-year package of maintenance, support and sustainment for the C-130J for its first Asian customer for the type.

Meanwhile, Lockheed expects New Delhi to issue a formal letter of request for a second batch of six C-130Js early next year, potentially around the Aero India show.

Navy Launches Fourth Naval Offshore Patrol Vessel - NOPV Sumitra

The fourth of the new Naval Offshore Patrol Vessel (NOPV) was ceremoniously launched on 06 Dec 2010 at the Goa Shipyard by Smt Sheila Singh, wife of Shri RK Singh, Secretary (Defence Production).

The Chief Guest, Shri RK Singh, Secretary (Defence Production), Rear Admiral Sudhir Pillai NM, Flag Officer Commanding Goa Area, RAdm (Retd) Vineet Bakshi, Chairman & Managing Director GSL and various other dignitaries were present on the occasion.

The NOPV will help meet the increasing requirement of the Indian Navy for undertaking ocean surveillance and surface warfare operation in order to prevent infiltration and transgression of maritime sovereignty.

This Vessel will be deployed for monitoring sea lines of communication, defense of offshore oil installations and other important offshore national assets. Besides this, the Vessel can be deployed for escorting high value ships and fleet support operations. Sporting a flight deck, the vessel also supports operation of helicopters.

The fourth of its class, NOPV Sumitra, is powered by twin diesel engines, each driving a controllable pitch propeller through a reduction gearbox. The Vessel is fitted with state-of-the –art Navigation, Communication and Electronic Warfare equipment. A 76 mm SRGM and two 30 mm Guns with associated fire control system together with four chaff launchers form the main weaponry package of the vessel.

CEMILAC Type Approval for CVRDE's Aircraft Mounted Accessory Gearbox of LCA

The Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE), Avadi has indigenously designed and developed Aircraft Mounted Accessory Gearbox (AMAGB) for Light Combat Aircraft LCA-Tejas application.

CVRDE has now successfully obtained the type approval for AMAGB from CEMILAC. The Type Approval Certificate was handed over by Dr. K. Tamilmani, Distinguished Scientist, Chief Executive CEMILAC to Shri. P. Sivakumar, Director CVRDE on 04th December 2010 at a function at CVRDE, where delegates from ADA, CEMILAC and DGAQA participated.

As a pre-curser to induction into Indian Air force, 'Type Approval' from CEMILAC (Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification) is mandatory.

The Aircraft Mounted Accessory Gearbox (AMAGB) is capable of transmitting 250 HP at 16,810 rpm with less than 38 kg of weight. It operates in two modes -  Starter mode and Accessory mode. In starter mode, it aids in starting the engine through Jet Fuel Starter (JFS). In accessory mode, it drives accessories namely, two hydraulic pumps and an Integrated Drive Generator (IDG).

This gearbox has undergone strenuous environmental and structural test. Further, this gearbox has also undergone 1000 hours of Endurance Test. Till date, AMAGB gearboxes have undergone more than 2000 hours of flight testing.

Hrushikesh Moolgavkar- The Indian TopGun

When a fighter pilot flies 67 different aircraft in a career spanning 38 years, he must be having lots of interesting stories to tell.

Therefore, the news of the biography of the 90-year-old former Indian Air Force chief, Air Chief Marshal (retd) Hrushikesh Moolgavkar, Leading from the Cockpit: A Fighter Pilot’s Story released in New Delhi on October 8 ( Air Force Day) needs to bewelcomed.

The 220-page-book penned by Moolgavkar’s daughter Jyoti Rai has been published by the Delhi-based Society for Aerospace Studies. It contains 200 rare pictures from Moolgavkar’s albums and gives one a glimpse into India’s Air Force history. It also carries excerpts from Moolgavkar’s flying log books. A total of 1,100, hardbound copies of the biography have been published.

To say that Moolgavkar has had an exciting career would be an understatement.Just sample these facts. Even before he joined the Royal Indian Air Force in 1940, Moolgavkar had a close brush with death. He stepped out just in time from a Beechcraft aircraftjust minutes before it took off, only to hit a group of vultures and crash, killing all on board.

Later, while fighting the World War II in Burma (now Myanmar), Moolgavkar crash landed a Spitfire fighter aircraft on the beach injuring his vertebrae badly. It is another matter, that he himself flew a plane from Cox’s Bazaar (now in Bangladesh) to Kolkata in that injured state. Following surgery and rehabilitation, Moolgavkar was flying once again very soon. Such was his passion for flying.

Post the war, a glorious career enfolded for Moolgavkar with the Indian Air Force. He had the opportunity to lead the very first fly-past in New Delhi on the occasion of the country’s first Independence Day, as also the first fly-past of Republic Day.

In the 1948 Kashmir operations, Moolgavkar earned a Mahavir Chakra for successfully leading a squadron of Tempests which succeeded in neutralising the Pakistani army.

All this and more has been documented in Moolgavkar’s book. However, the book almost never got off the ground. To begin with Moolgavkar was not enthusiastic about the project.

Speaking to this correspondent at his Koregaon Park residence on Wednesday evening, Moolgavkar says, “I studied at the Malvern College in England, where they taught us to be humble and modest. Hence I was not comfortable with the idea of talking about myself.”

Moolgavkar finally relented after his daughter Jyoti pointed out that it was important to document his career for the benefit of future Indian air force pilots. Jyoti says, “This is why the entire book is focused only on papa’s flying career and nothing else.”

The book has been a labour of love. To begin with the Pune-based Group Captain (retd) Hemant Khatu, a retired fighter pilot had 50 sittings with Moolgavkar to reconstruct the past. Khatu says, “As Sir had lost his first log book documenting the 1940-43 period, we had to work that much harder.”

Later, Jyoti worked painstakingly on the script for several months. “I had to write and re-write the script several times. Papa made several changes. However, I am very happy that the book is done, as young air force pilots will now know how the Indian Air Force (IAF) was built.”

Book tracing 60 yrs of Navy’s history released

The Indian Navy: Glorious Past-Vibrant Future, a coffee-table book that seeks to capture the sweep of history of the Indian Navy as it marks its 60 years, was released by Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan in Mumbai on the occasion of Navy Day celebrations on Saturday. The book is published by The Indian Express Group and is sponsored by Pipavav Shipyard Ltd.

Speaking on the occasion, the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Naval Command, Vice-Admiral Sanjeev Bhasin, said the book would be a valuable addition to the existing literature on the history of the Indian Navy. “It traces the history of the Indian Navy from the pre-Independence era till date and meticulously captures the acquisitions and the growth of the Indian Navy over the years,” Bhasin said.

“This is the 60th year of the Indian Navy and this book couldn’t have been published at a better time,” added Vice-Admiral Pradeep Chauhan, the Chief of Staff of the Western Naval Command.

15 of 19 foreigners on seized dhow are Pakistanis

The top police official in Lakshadweep Islands today said that 15 out of the 19 foreigners apprehended on board a dhow by the Indian Navy on Friday last were Pakistani nationals, while the remaining four were Iranians.

Lakshadweep Superintendent of Police Ranvir Singh told UNI on telephone that on interrogations it was revealed that these people did not have passports or valid for entering into the Indian territory and they were arrested on the charges of violating rules, as they had no valid documents to enter the country.

Mr Singh said further interogation was on and they were produced before the officlas concerned at Lakshadweep.

"We don't have any information from them so far. The interrogation is going on," he said, adding though they entered into the sea for fishing, it was not confirmed.

During a sea patrol mission in the Exclusive Economic Zone, INS Rajput, a destroyer warship, spotted the dhow sailing suspiciously. The ship escorted the dhow with its 19 sailors to Kavaratti in the Lakshadweep Islands and handed them over to police last night.

The Indian Navy had strengthened its operations in the sea to ward off terrorist activities through sea.

India's first warship design centre to reduce dependency

With the inauguration of the country's first warship design centre at Challiyar in Kerala's Kozhikode district in 18 months, 75 percent of the Indian Navy's vessels would be made in the country itself - reducing the dependency on other nations, an official said.

Defence Minister A.K. Antony has been for long speaking of indigenising military hardware and this is one step towards that.

'In this centre, the design for warships will be drawn up and a prototype will be made. Once this is approved, the manufacture of ships can be taken up by the shipyards,' Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) managing director Alkesh Kumar Sharma told IANS.

'At the moment, the ships of the Indian Navy are only around 25 percent indigenised. Through this new design centre, that would go up to as high as 75 percent,' he added.

The foundation stone for the design centre will be laid next month, the official said.

The Rs.600 crore (around $133 million) project will be set up under the defence ministry with the full support of three major ports in the country. The Kerala industries department will play the role of the local facilitator.

Sharma said the state's share would be limited to the extent of the 41 acres of land that has been provided.

'The major participating companies in this mega project include Mazagon Dock Ltd and the Goa Shipyard. They will have a share in the equity, with the central government also chipping in,' he said.

Due to Antony's efforts, the project has come to Kerala, which of late has seen a string of central projects setting up shop in the state.

Kerala Industries Minister Elamaram Kareem said the state government has fulfilled the role assigned to it.

'The land for the project has been handed over and we have done what we were supposed to do,' said Kareem, who is happy as the project is to come up in his home district.

Another highlight of the project is that a training centre also is planned to be set up to enable professionals to be groomed in all aspects of warship building.

'More than the direct jobs, this industry provides for a wide range of ancillary industries to come up and it is here that the trained manpower will be able to find a good number of jobs,' Sharma said.

Once the project starts business, the Beypore Port which is near the site is expected to see more activity.

Army faces no danger from WikiLeaks, says Army Chief

Army Chief General V.K. Singh said on Sunday that the Army is facing no danger from the information revealed through WikiLeaks.

Interacting with mediapersons in a school here, Singh assured that the Indian Army was immune from the prevailing Wikileaks threat.

"See, the Army has not been affected by the information revealed through Wikileaks. Everything that has come out through the forum is their perception of things. As far as our own internal matters are concerned, we know the true situation. We face no danger from Wikileaks," said Singh.

The US government had warned India and other nations about the release of some classified documents by the whistle blowing website WikiLeaks, which might harm American interests and create tensions with friendly countries. 

War veterans re-live Battle of Longewala

Air force fighter jets and combat helicopters blasted mock enemy targets in the dusty, desert landscape of the Thar desert during a dazzling display of might commemorating the 40th anniversary of the famous Battle of Longewala on Sunday . 

The event was attended by senior officials of the forces and war veterans, where the battle scene from the 1971 war was recreated. The programme was inaugurated by south western command chief Air Marshal P S Bhagu. The veterans reminisced their heroic acts during the special programme. 

Air Marshal (Retd) M S Bawa, under whose leadership the counter operation were launched, said, on December 4 he received information that Pakistani tanks were on the way to Longewala. 

Before dawn, four Hunters had launched attack on the Pakistani tanks. Indian fighter planes destroyed over 50 tanks in the two-day long combat operation. This is the second highest after the World War II when such a large number of tanks were distroyed in air combat operations, said Bawa. 

Longewala, situated about 30 km from Ramgarh, was originally a BSF post and a strategic point on the western border in Jaisalmer district. Pakistani president Ayub Khan, realising that defending East Pakistan was an impossible task, decided to occupy the Indian land on the western front as a bargaining tool. 

Pakistani tanks rolled into the Thar desert on December 5 hoping to outnumber BSF posts. However, the Indian airforce not only repulsed the attack but caused huge damage to the Pak Army. 

The programme kicked-off with hellebore operations. Garuda commanders disembarked from the MI 17 fighter helicopters and destroyed dummy terror targets. Following this, MIG 21 fighter planes, flying at a daringly low-level, saluted war veterans. 

The programme ended with the victory formation by three MIG 21 fighter planes.