ASIAN DEFENCE

The recent deployment of China's first four indigenous KJ-2000 AWACS aircraft marks an important milestone in the PLA Air Force’s long march from being a ‘numbers intensive’ low technology force, to a much more modern high technology one. More fundamentally, though, the AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) extends China's deep and broad network of air defence Command Control Communications Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance (C3ISR) systems into a key airborne area. In doing so, China is now acquiring the radar and passive early warning and air defence command, control and communications it needs to counter foreign fighters and cruise missiles.

 Antony is set to undertake a two-day visit to the East Asian nation  South Korea  in a bid to “boost defence co-operation between the two countries” . Antony, who will begin his visit on 2 September, will be accompanied by defence secretary Pradeep Kumar, defence adviser Sundaram Krishna and senior army and navy officials. “The visit is part of India’s ‘Look East policy’ and a wide range of issues, including defence and bilateral co-operation in research and development for manufacture of military equipment, will figure prominently during the visit,” the defence ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. The visit comes in the backdrop of reports of a massive Chinese military presence in the Gilgit-Baltistan region in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and a recent Pentagon report that details the Chinese build-up. “Antony was supposed to visit South Korea later this year but the fact that he is going now, so close after Krishna’s visit, indicates that there is some urgency in count

For the US military, the Vietnam War ended on April 29, 1975 when its last personnel were evacuated from the embassy roof in Saigon. Only hours later, the South Vietnamese government surrendered to the Vietcong. These were momentous events set in motion 25 years earlier when, in August 1950, the first shipload of US arms arrived in Vietnam, ostensibly to bolster France's ability to suppress a mounting Communist-led insurgency against continued colonial rule.

Russian Helicopters company will supply four Kamov Ka-32 helicopters to Azerbaijan in the near future, the Azerbaijani APA news agency said on Monday. It is not known which of the country's state departments or institutions ordered the helicopters, the report said. In May, the Azerbaijan Emergencies Ministry bought two Ka-32 helicopters from Russia. The Ka-32 is a 12-ton coaxial twin-rotor helicopter that can carry a payload of up to four tons. It is commonly used in utility cargo work and fire-fighting, has an endurance of about four hours and cruises at 205 kilometers per hour

BAE Systems has submitted a fresh bid for an Indian Army order for 155mm towed howitzers, the company said Tuesday, adding that it was offering an advanced version of the gun that had performed extremely creditably during the 1999 Kargil war with Pakistan. The BAE offer is 'based on the FH77 B05 155mm howitzer, and a significant proportion will be manufactured in India to meet the specific needs of the Indian Army', a company statement said. 

BrahMos, the missile joint venture between India and Russia, is inviting a lot of global attention, particularly from South America, Middle East, Asia Pacific and African regions, a senior defence official told ET. With this newfangled demand BrahMos aims at creating an export order of $13 billion for the indigenously-built Brah-Mos. Although there are over 60,000 cruise missiles worldwide, most of them are pretty archaic, having been developed in the 1970s. This explains the reason for the spurt in demand for the new BrahMos fleet, say defence officials.The supersonic cruise missile system has also caught the attention of many countries such as Brazil, South Africa and Chile because it has been developed at a low-cost budget of $300 million .

TAIPEI — Taiwan plans to deploy its own cruise missiles by the end of this year, a lawmaker and military pundit said Tuesday, reflecting continued tension with China despite warming ties. Taiwan began mass producing the Hsiungfeng 2E cruise missiles after it acquired "key components" needed to manufacture the missiles, and will start deploying them this year, lawmaker Lin Yu-fang told AFP. Lin, a member of the ruling Kuomintang party, declined to specify the range of the missiles or the number to be put into service. The defence ministry would not provide details of the sensitive weaponry development project when approached for comment. A source close to the ministry said the military "has produced at least dozens of cruise missiles." A top military chief spoke of the need for a military build-up despite the fast warming ties between Taipei and Beijing over the past two years. "Although tensions between Taipei and Beijing have eased substantially, t

A specially upgraded Russian Akula class submarine has been caught trying to record the acoustic signature made by the Vanguard submarines that carry Trident nuclear missiles, according to senior Navy officers.  British submariners have also reported that they are experiencing the highest number of "contacts" with Russian submarines since 1987.   If the Russians are able to obtain a recording of the unique noise of the boat's propellers it would have serious implications for Britain's nuclear deterrent. Using its sophisticated sonar, the Akula would be able to track Vanguards and potentially sink them before they could launch their Trident D4 missiles.   The Daily Telegraph has learnt that, within the past six months, a Russian Akula entered the North Atlantic and attempted to track a Vanguard. The incident has remained secret until now. It is understood that the Russians stood off Faslane, where the British nuclear

September 01, 2010  RAWALPINDI: A delegation, comprising officials from Pakistan Army, has resolved cancellation of US visit after they were mishandled by US officials of Transport Security at Washington Airport, Geo News reported. According to Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) sources, a delegation of Pakistan Army was invited to Central Command meeting in US where delegation announced calling off visit after arrival at Washington airport when US security officials misbehaved Pakistan army officials. Delegation has been called back to country. Meanwhile, US Defense Department has strongly deplored the incident, sources said. SOURCE HERE

Pakistan’s nuclear assets are often described as the “Islamic bomb.” Given that no other Muslim-majority country has the bomb, is this description something that you agree with? The term “Islamic Bomb” was mischievously coined by the Western world to frighten the rest of the world and to portray Muslims, and Pakistan, as terrorists who should not possess an atom bomb. The Western world is united in Muslim-bashing and ridiculing Islam and its golden values. The U.N. has slapped sanctions on Iran—ostensibly as punishment for the Islamic country’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. How do you see global geopolitics shifting if Iran were to acquire nuclear weapons?

It's a JH-7B, which made its maiden flight around 2008 and is currently still in testing. It's a dual-seat dual-vertical-stabilizer stealth strike fighter, which the designer has described as "completely reborn".

TEHRAN will target Israel's Dimona reactor in a retaliatory attack if the it is attacked by an Israeli or US air strike, a Iranian official told the Arabic-language newspaper Asharq al-Awsat on Monday.   Tehran is aware that Israel and the United States want to attack Iran, but we are also aware that while they actually have the option to launch war, they do not have the option to end it. This is America's and Israel's point of weakness. We know that there is no solution to this point of weakness, thanks to the importance of the Gulf region, America's problems in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the (geographically) small area of the Zionist entity," the anonymous official was quoted by the paper as saying. He also specified that the Dimona Nuclear reactor would be on the top of Iran's target list in a potential war.

The Termendies speed at which China has been moving to build up its navy is causing concern in the  Japan, the United States—and  in India. Recent decisions by China’s People’s Liberation Army-Navy (PLAN) have left China-watchers wondering where the Chinese juggernaut will stop. The latest decision to garner attention has been the apparent decision by the Central Military Commission—China’s highest military planning body—to give the green light to the building of two new nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.

A far-reaching decision by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) will come as a jolt for domestic shipbuilders in the private sector seeking to participate in India’s submarine programme. Top sources in the ministry have told Business Standard that its apex defence acquisition council has decided to exclude Indian private shipyards from the construction of six submarines for the Indian Navy under Project 75I. Instead, the first two submarines will be built at a foreign shipyard. Project 75I initially envisaged all six submarines to be built in India. The MoD-owned Mazagon Dock Ltd, Mumbai, was to build three; Hindustan Shipyard Ltd — recently acquired by the MoD from the Ministry of Shipping — would build one; while Indian private sector shipyards L&T and Pipavav would compete to build two. But the navy’s insistence on having the first two submarines built abroad has torpedoed the private sector shipbuilders out of the picture.

Iran says it has set a 2020 target date to build its first experimental nuclear fusion reactor, a feat that has yet to be achieved by any nation. Iran said in July that its nuclear agency began research on the experimental reactor. Nuclear fusion, the process powering the sun and stars, has so far only been mastered as a weapon, producing the thermonuclear explosions of hydrogen bombs. It has never been harnessed for power generation. Asghar Sediqzadeh, the head of the new fusion research center, is quoted by the semi-official ISNA news agency as saying the center will hire 100 experts to join the national project. Tehran is not known to have carried out anything but basic fusion research.

The race to build the world's first flying military jeep just moved a step closer to the finish line. The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has selected two companies to proceed with the next stage of its Transformer, known as TX . A fully automated four-person vehicle that can drive like a car and then take off and fly like an aircraft to avoid roadside bombs. Lockheed Martin and AAI Corp., a unit of Textron Systems, are currently in negotiations with DARPA for the first stage of the Transformer project, several industry sources told Popular Mechanics at a robotics conference here in Denver. DARPA has not announced the official winners yet.

WASHINGTON: Pakistan and United States signed a contract for the transfer of the guided-missile frigate USS McInerney here on Tuesday. The contract will enable Pakistan to take over the USS McInerney at the US Naval station Mayport, Florida on August 31 this year, after which it will be commissioned as PNS Alamgir .A comprehensive refurbishment of the ship will be undertaken under the supervision of US Navy, which will be completed by January 2011.

With public sector shipyard Mazagon Dock Ltd (MDL), Mumbai, years behind schedule in building six conventional Scorpene submarines for the Indian Navy, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is handing Mazagon Dock another lucrative order to build three more submarines . Although private sector shipbuilders — especially L&T and Pipavav Shipyard Ltd (PSL) — argue that Mazagon Dock already has more than it can handle, MoD insists the public sector shipyard can execute this order.

In a bid to counter bad press that they are receiving, the US helicopter company Sikorsky has made a commercial offer to the Indian Navy. The offer includes servicing and spares for six obsolete Sikorsky UH-3H Sea King helicopters that came onboard the USS Trenton renamed as INS Jalashva which have received a lot of flak for their sub standard quality.

India's effort to build French Scorpene submarines, under license, has been further delayed, and the price has now gone up to $5 billion ($834 million each). While this effort will leave India with thousands of workers and specialists experienced in building modern submarines, that will be wasted because the defense procurement bureaucrats seem to have learned nothing. These officials already caused numerous delays, and cost overruns, during negotiations to build the six Scorpene diesel-electric submarines. The bureaucrats have mismanaged this deal to the extent that it is nearly three years behind schedule. But it is even more behind schedule if you count the several years the Indian bureaucrats delayed it even getting started.

China objected Friday to a U.S. plan to supply radar equipment to Taiwan's air force, even though the sale was far short of the F-16 fighter jets the island's president urged Washington to provide last week. U.S. State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said earlier this week that the U.S. sale includes "defense services, technical data, and defense articles" for Taiwan's air defense system, and radar equipment for the island's Indigenous Defense Fighter jets.

India will refurbish Russian-origin T-72 tanks operated by its Army instead of completely phasing them out, Defence Minister A K Antony has said. While the Army has placed an order with DRDO to acquire 124 indigenously-built Arjun Main Battle Tanks (MBTs), “it intends to retrofit/upgrade these tanks (T-72) to enhance their mission reliability and life expectancy,” Antony told the Parliament.

I srael's defense minister Lt. General (Ret) Ehud Barak has given the go-ahead to a $2.75 billion purchase of 20 Lockheed Martin F-35I Lightning II fighter jets . The new fighter will be provided along with an integral support package, sustaining the aircraft through its service life. The decision has yet to pass the approval of the Israeli government. The purchase will be funded by U.S. military aid to Israel. Israel originally planned to buy 75 such planes, with an initial option of 25 aircraft. According to Israel MOD sources, the flyaway cost of these aircraft will be $96 million, but this cost reflects only the net platform price.

BEIJING - China will hold live-fire naval exercises in the Yellow Sea in the coming days, state media reported Aug. 29, after voicing opposition to similar war games to be staged there by the United States and South Korea. The Beihai fleet of the People's Liberation Army Navy will conduct a "live ammunition drill" from Sept. 1 to Sept. 4 off the coast of eastern China's Qingdao city, Xinhua news agency reported.

HAVANA - North Korea's ambassador to Cuba said Aug. 28 that, if attacked, his country would respond with nuclear weapons and engage in a "sacred war," Cuban state media reported. Kwon Sung Chol, quoted by the Prensa Latina government agency, spoke at an event late Aug. 27 marking 50 years of diplomatic relations between Cuba and North Korea.

   There are NEWS on INDIAN INTERNET AND INDIAN NEWS FORUMS THAT BUT THERE IS NO SOURCE TO VERIFY IT. China and Pakistan have reportedly signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a stealth version of a light-weight fighter aircraft being jointly produced by them. F-17 Thunder, also known as FC-1, being jointly built by Kamra-based Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) and Chengdu Aerospace Company (CAC)  made its first appearance at an international air show having flown in here after making refueling stops in Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The plane, which has been in development in one form or another since 2000, is a symbol of cooperation between China and Pakistan and the first assembled version brought out by the Kamra plant, delivered in November last year, according to 'Show News,' a special issue of defence journal Aviation Week for the Farnborough Air Show.

The first Flight took place on 25th August 2003 & since then none of the birds both prototypes and Operational have Crashed.

Russia stands by its international obligations and has no plans to stop an arms deal with Syria, a Kremlin aide said on Saturday. Sergei Prikhodko said recent reports in some Israel media outlets misrepresented Russia's position on cooperation with Syria. The Haaretz daily reported on Friday that Israel was working to "thwart a Russian arms deal with Syria" and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had asked his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to stop the sale of advanced P-800 Yakhont supersonic cruise missiles .

The Indian-Russian venture BrahMos Aerospace Ltd. plans to produce engines for Brahmos missiles in India, CEO Sivathanu Pillaih said on Friday . The engines will be produced at the Brahmos plant in the state of Kerala in southeastern India, Pillai said. In two years its production volumes will exceed the manufacturing capabilities of the plant in Russia's Orenburg which currently produces the engines.

 The Indian government today provided a comprehensive update on the indigenous Kaveri turbofan programme. Here it is, in full: (i) All major engine sub-assemblies have been tested for aerodynamic performance and structural integrity (life & safety) requirements from qualification point of view. (ii) Critical sub-systems have been developed. (iii) Full authority Kaveri Digital engine Control System (KADECS) has been designed and developed. (iv) Various critical technologies in the fields of instrumentation/measurement, health monitoring, data acquisition, etc. have been developed.

WASHINGTON - The most serious cyber attack on the U.S. military's networks came from a tainted flash drive in 2008, forcing the Pentagon to review its digital security, a top US defense official said Aug. 25. The thumb drive, which was inserted in a military laptop in the Mideast, contained malicious code that "spread undetected on both classified and unclassified systems, establishing what amounted to a digital beachhead, from which data could be transferred to servers under foreign control," Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn wrote in the journal Foreign Affairs. The code was placed on the drive by "a foreign intelligence agency," Lynn wrote.

While India keeps cancelling and re-issuing RFPs endlessly, Pakistan is forging ahead on a war footing. They are ahead of India in the following:- 1. Howitzers India has been dilly-dallying over artillery guns for close to 30 years since the Bofors scam. Pakistan has inducted U.S. made M-109 howitzers. Indian Express: United Nations data reveal that delivery of the M-109 A5 self-propelled artillery guns took place last year. The guns were transferred under the US Foreign Military Financing (FMF) programme that was granted to Pakistan for the fight against militant groups on its border with Afghanistan. Experts say these M-109 A5 155 mm howitzers give Pakistan a definite conventional edge over the Indian Army that is years away from induction of similar systems. Full news

The U.S. has announced the sale of new radar upgrades for Taiwan's Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF). The announcement came during a two-day tri-service military exercise in southern Taiwan from Aug. 24-25. During the exercise, a Ministry of National Defense (MND) source said the radar deal was part of phase two of the IDF's ****-1C/D Hsiang Sheng upgrade program. Specifics of the deal were not released. The decision to release was made on Aug. 12, but U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley did not make the announcement official until Aug. 24.

NEW DELHI: India has cancelled defence exchanges with China after Beijing refused to allow the visit of the Indian army's General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Area Command, because he was responsible for (Occupied) Jammu & Kashmir, a state that China maintained was disputed. In keeping with a practice for the past few years, the Indian defence establishment in June had began preparations for a regular high-level exchange visit to China this August by one of the top commanders of the Indian army — the northern area commander, Lt-Gen B S Jaswal.

  NEW YORK, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- The first Air Force Week of 2010 kicked off on Tuesday in New York City with U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds aerial demonstration team conducting a six-plane flyover of the aircraft carrier Intrepid marking the start. 　　New York City Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly declared the opening of Air Force Week at the proclamation ceremony with the theme Honoring Hometown Heroes at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in Manhattan .

North Korea has developed camouflage materials such as stealth paint to hide its warships, tanks or fighter jets from foreign reconnaissance satellites and aircraft, reports said Monday. A confidential field manual used by the communist North's military showed the isolated regime has also built a network of foxholes and caves, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported.

The development of China's cyber warfare program has captured worldwide attention in recent years. While evolving doctrines and incidents of cyber intrusions with alleged links to the Chinese government have helped China watchers glean the development of China's growing cyber warfare capabilities, far less certainty surrounds the command and control side of this enigmatic operation. This is partly because key tasks of China's computer network operations and information warfare had been, until recently, decentralized in different departments in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) General Staff Headquarters (i.e. the Third and Fourth Departments) and specialized bureaus located in the different military regions.

TEHRAN, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- In the past two days, Iran launched a number of military projects and warned its enemies strongly against any attack on the country. 　　On Monday, Iran opened the production lines of two home-made, high-speed assault boats, dubbed the Seraj (Lamp) high-speed boat and a new generation of the high-speed Zolfaghar (named after Shiite Imam Ali's sword) boat. 　　According to the local satellite Press TV, the new version of Zolfaghar boat is capable of launching missiles and sailing at a speed of 70 knots (82 mph), and can operate in an average wave height of 1.21 meters while its missiles will effectively work at a height of 1.25 meters.

On August 9, China launched the remote sensing satellite Yaogan-10 (military designation: Jianbing) into orbit from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. Situated in the northwest of Shanxi Province, the site is a space and defense launch facility reportedly used for testing the Chinese military’s intercontinental ballistic missiles and overland submarine-launched ballistic missiles (Globalsecurity.org). This event marks the sixth Chinese launch this year via the CZ-4C Chang Zheng-4C (Long March) launch vehicle and follows a surge in satellite launches that appear to reflect the Chinese determination to beef up its reconnaissance satellite network and end its dependence upon foreign satellite systems. While China’s exact intentions are unknown, given the dual use-nature of remote sensing satellites, China is rapidly improving its diverse network of space-based Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) sensors, which can bolster the Chinese military's expanding land, sea

PARIS, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- Two French soldiers were killed and three others wounded in a military operation in Afghanistan, said French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office on Monday, raising the country's total fatalities in Afghanistan to 47. 　　The two dead were a soldier and an officer from the 21st Marine Infantry Regiment. They were fatally wounded by gun fire during an overnight operation in Tagab, north of Kabul, while three others were injured at the start of the operation. 　　"These soldiers gave their lives in the service of France's commitment to the peace and security of the Afghan people," Sarkozy said in a statement. 　　The French president condemned "insurgents' murderous attacks" on NATO military forces in Afghanistan, stressing France would continue to be a part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). 　　About 3,500 French troops are deployed in Afghanistan.

A few weeks before the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) released its 2010 report to Congress on “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China,” a Taiwanese military intelligence assessment reportedly asserted that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) "regular amphibious abilities have ... increased, with transport capacity reaching a full division" (Taipei Times, Jul 19). Unfortunately, the 2010 DoD report does not support the assertion that amphibious capabilities have “increased.” This year’s report shows no change in the number of PLA large and medium amphibious ships from 2009. In fact, based on these figures and other publicly available material, despite the expansion of PLA Army amphibious and Marine units, the modernization of the PLA Navy (PLAN) amphibious landing fleet, and increased amphibious training over the past decade, PLA amphibious lift capacity is roughly the same as it was assessed to be in 1997. Moreover, as non-traditiona

The largest airborne military exercises since the collapse of the Soviet Union have kicked off in central Russia, an airborne troops spokesman said on Tuesday. The exercises, to be held in the Kostroma, Yaroslavl and Ivanovo regions until August 28, will feature over 4,000 servicemen and 300 hardware items, Col. Alexander Cherednik said. The exercises will include airborne assault landings, assault river-crossings and the use of automated command and control systems. MOSCOW, August 24 (RIA Novosti) Source Here

Tehran: Iran began mass-producing two high-speed variants of missile-launching assault boats on Monday, warning its enemies not to "play with fire" as it boosts security along its coastline. The inauguration of the production lines for the Seraj and Zolfaqar speedboats comes a day after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled Iran's home-built bomber drone, which he said would deliver "death" to Iran's enemies.

  Karrar: Iran’s new combat UAV Karrar: Iran’s new combat UAV Military Videos — By DefenceTalk on August 24, 2010 at 3:54 am 1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet) Loading ... Loading ... Karrar: IR Iran's new combat UAV jet, Aug. 2010 This UAV can deliver weapons and has a range of 1000 km from ground to target. Karrar means relentless striker. It lands using a parachute system, this way it can land pretty much everywhere. Also, it is launched using a catapult/rocket system that can fit on the back of a truck, making it possible to take off from pretty much everywhere.

The revelation of two all-new aircraft concepts from Northrop Grumman show that the manufacturer is planning an aggressive new push to expand deeper into the market for unmanned air vehicles. The two concept designs - MQ-X and MUVR - also are the first glimpse inside Northrop's internal strategy for addressing two of the US military's potential requirements in the next decade.

The Indian Navy has issued a Request For Information (RFI) for the procurement of a Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The RFI, issued earlier this month, is for the procurement of, presumably, Naval Rotary UAVs (NRUAV). While there has been talk, recently, of the possibility of Northrop Grumman’s Fire Scout being procured by the Indian Navy, especially in light of the delays in the conversion of the Chetak helicopter into an unmanned platform, the navy’s stand is all vendors will have to go through this process begun with the RFI.

WASHINGTON: Expressing concern over the series of recent additions to Iran's military arsenal, including the aerial drone and assault boats, the US has cautioned Tehran that it might find itself "less secure" than ever if it continues on this path. "This is something that is of concern to us and concern to Iran's neighbours. On the one hand, every country is sovereign and has the right to provide for its own self-defense, but obviously, we take into account systems that can potentially threaten particular countries or peace and stability in the region more broadly," state department spokesman P J Crowley said.

EW DELHI: Faced with a huge shortfall of anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM), coupled with the delayed induction of the indigenous `Nag' missile, India will order a "large'' number of the quite-expensive Javelin ATGM systems from the US. The deal for the man-portable, fire-and-forget Javelin ATGM systems will once again be a direct government-to-government one under the American foreign military sales (FMS) programme, without any global multi-vendor competition.

NEW DELHI: Move aside Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker, DRDO is trying to develop its own set of Star Wars-like weapons. From laser dazzlers to control rioting crowds to high-powered lasers to destroy incoming missiles, DRDO is working on a slew of directed energy weapons (DEWs). "Lasers are weapons of the future. We can, for instance, use laser beams to shoot down an enemy missile in its boost or terminal phase,'' said DRDO's Laser Science & Technology Centre (LASTEC) director Anil Kumar Maini, talking to TOI on Monday.

Indian Air Force Su-30MKI multi-purpose equipment, aircraft LONDON August 18 news: According to Russia's "ties" network on August 17 reported that the Indian media recently revealed that Russia has sold India Su-30MKI multi-purpose fighter unit significantly increased 1.5-fold. India's cable news channel NewsX reports, India in 2007 to buy 40 Russian Su-30MKI with only spent 1.5 billion U.S. dollars, while the Russian side of the Indian Air Force purchased 42 new this year, Su-30MKI's offer is 4.29 billion U.S. dollars. That is, in a short period of three years, the unit price of Su-30MKI soared from 40 million U.S. dollars to 102 million U.S. dollars.

Defence Minister AK Antony mentioned India's proposed Su-30MKI upgrade in Parliament today. He said, "There is proposal to upgrade the SU-30 MKI aircraft of the Indian Air Force by M/s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) with the support of the Russian Original Equipment Manufacturer. The current estimated cost is Rs 10,920 crores and the aircraft are likely to be upgraded in a phased manner from year 2012 onwards.

NEW DELHI (BNS): The DRDO will test a “totally new missile,” called Agni II in September from the Wheeler Island, off the Orissa coast, a media report said. The Hindu quoting sources in Defence Research and Development Organisation said, the missile has two stages - both powered by solid propellants - and “several advanced technologies.”

TEHRAN (BNS): Iran will launch a satellite with imaging capabilities by the end of this year, Iranian Telecommunications Minister Reza Taqipour has said. “We are preparing the Rassad 1 (Observation) satellite for launch” by the end of 2010, IRIB quoted Taqipour as saying on Sunday.

The Russian fifth-generation T-50 fighter, currently being developed by Sukhoi, will exceed all rivals, according to Russian Air Force commander Colonel General Alexander Zelin. The Russian Air Force will acquire 60 T-50s, which will be delivered from 2015 onwards. The T-50 will feature low visibility, supersonic cruising speed and highly integrated control systems. It will have a take-off weight of over 30t and have similar dimensions to the Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker. The Sukhoi Design Bureau designed the current prototype of the T-50 and developed it at a plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in Russia's Far East.

With the Indian Army’s procurement of 155 millimetre towed artillery guns stymied again by CBI strictures against 5 international artillery vendors, the Defence R&D Organisation (DRDO) has pointed out that developing an Indian gun would bypass the problematic selection of a gun from the global arms bazaar. Business Standard has reported (29th July 10, “155 mm gun purchase: DRDO enters the fray”) that the DRDO is joining hands with a private sector company to develop and manufacture an Indian gun. Now, DRDO Director General, Dr VK Saraswat, has explained the rationale for this DRDO decision. He says that, amongst the foreign guns on offer, there is no clear winner. And, given the cutthroat nature of competition for this Rs 8000 crore contract for 1580 guns, a drumbeat of corruption allegations will keep derailing any decision

MOSCOW (PTI): Russia has handed over a new nuclear powered submarine armed with torpedos and cruise missiles to India and the vessel has set sail for home with a mixed crew of Indian and Russian sailors. The Akula class nuclear attack submarine on a ten year lease to the Indian Navy left its base on the Pacific coast earlier this week, bound for India, RIA Novosti and Interfax news agencies reported.

BUSHEHR: Iran said on Saturday it has started loading fuel into its Russian-built first nuclear power plant, in the face of stiff opposition from world powers over its controversial atomic programme. After decades of delay, engineers finally began loading the Russia-supplied fuel into the plant in the southern port of Bushehr, in the presence of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors, a statement by Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation said.