ASIAN DEFENCE

Pakistan Air Force's First Aggressor Unit TDS

On September 7, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) began their bilateral air exercise – Shaheen VI – China. The annually-held exercise, which will conclude on September 27, involves as many as 19 PAF fighter and support aircraft. Pakistan’s state-owned Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reports that the PLAAF contingent for Shaheen VI includes the Shenyang J-11 (i.e. license-built Chinese Su-27 Flanker), Xian JH-7/JH-7A strike aircraft, and KJ-200 airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft. A PLAAF spokesperson told APP that Chinese ground forces and air defence units are also participating. Photos of the exercise, published by Xinhua, show that the Shenyang J-8II interceptor is also participating with the PLAAF. Shaheen-VI The PAF appears to be participating with the JF-17 Thunder, which is jointly produced by Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group (CAIG) and Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC), CAIG F-7P and the Karakoram Eag...

The Muslim world has been losing intelligent students to the West as part of brain drains, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on July 26, stressing that they should find ways to prevent the emigration from happening. “We need to carry measures that will prevent this brain drain, which is causing our science world to become a desert, into effect as soon as possible,” Erdoğan said in an event on higher education in the Muslim world at the Beştepe Presidential Complex in Ankara. Saying that there were only a few universities from the Muslim world among the top 500 universities in the world, he added that the brightest youths were moving to Western countries. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan “On top of that, we are transferring very serious amounts of money to Western countries for this. After these students complete their academic studies, we naturally expect them to return to their countries and serve their own people. But most of the time, those finishing their schools do not return to ...

Pakistan's military industrial base is "better" than India's, said India's Vice Chief of Army Staff (VCOAS) Lieutenant General Sarath Chand, as he "slammed" the performance of ordnance factories at home, Times of India reported. According to the Indian daily, Chand said on Tuesday that "Pakistan probably has a better industrial base, as far as defence production is concerned, than our country," adding that Pakistan exported more defence equipment than India. Speaking at the inaugural session of AMICON 2017, a two-day conference organised by the Indian army and the Confederation of Indian Industry, Chand criticised India's ordnance factories for not keeping up with changing technology and not undertaking enough research and development initiatives. He wondered if the poor functioning of the factories was caused by a "lack of accountability", read the TOI report. "It is very hard to see ordnance factories changing in t...

Reports claim there has been substantial design work and concept proofing for a new underwater arsenal ship in China . A leading chinese naval engineer Professor Dong Wei Cai continued to work on a key aspect of the arsenal ship design: the high-speed wave hydroplane up until his recent death. There are two concepts in circulation: 1. a high-speed warship with much of its hull submerged but otherwise has a functional superstructure with defense weapons and radar 2. other is almost completely submerged arsenal ship with two conning towers. Both ship designs could displace roughly about 20,000 tons at full load. These warships could carry hundreds of guided missiles.  Arsenal Ship The arsenal ship would have most of its hull inherently submerged, with only the bridge and a few other parts of the ship above the waterline which reduce the radar cross section. This would be in situations where the ship is hiding or trying to protect itself.

China has conducted seven tests of a hypersonic glide missile in recent years , six of which have been successful. While Beijing has acknowledged such testing, it was previously unknown that it is also working on a short-range hypersonic weapons development program for East Asian targets. Hypersonic weapons are next-generation maneuvering strike vehicles launched at top of  ballistic missiles that travel at speeds of up to Mach 10, or 10 times the speed of sound. They maneuver and glide along the edge of space, making them very difficult for missile defenses to shoot down. PAC-3 The United States and Russia have also been aggressive about developing hypersonic strike capability. It is thought that Japan’s anti missile system could be made impotent if Beijing’s development of hypersonic weapons advances. In Japan, the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missile defense system has been deployed by the Air Self-Defense Force along with the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Aegis de...

WASHINGTON:  India might strike Pakistan  in order to teach him a lesson over the increasing cross border attacks, Head of the  US Defence Intelligence Agency  has informed the U S Senate Armed Services Committee. A senior intelligence official from the United States has warned that India is considering punitive actions against Pakistan.  ​ READ MORE: Pakistan Foreign Office reacts strongly to Indian Defence Minister provocative statement “India has sought and continues to move to isolate Pakistan diplomatically and is considering punitive options to raise the cost to Islamabad for its alleged support to cross-border terrorism,” US Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) Director Lieutenant General Vincent Stewart told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday. The Indian army claimed yesterday (Tuesday) that it had destroyed several Pakistani posts across the LoC. However, the Pakistan Army has rubbished Indian claims. http://www.asiandefenceforum.co...

China has conducted a number of weapons tests, which included the launch of a new missile type in the northeastern Bohai Sea close to the Korean Peninsula, the Information Bureau of China’s Ministry of National Defense announced on May 9. Speculations about the missiles test fired range from * a new variant of the intermediate-range DF-26 ballistic missile, the DF-26B. * a new submarine-launched ballistic missile dubbed the JL-3. * a DF-21D medium range ballistic missile.

China is developing a new drone that uses ground effect technology to skim the surface of the ocean, allowing it to fly just eighteen inches off the water. The unmanned vehicle could be a challenging opponent for potential adversaries, some of whom would find it difficult to detect. The new ultra-low altitude anti-ship unmanned system can fly as low as 50 cm above the sea, can reach a maximum altitude of 3,000 km , along with an endurance of 1.5 hours – depending on the flight profile. The maximum take-off weight (MTOW) is 3000 kilograms and can carry a 1000 kg load.

Google data centers process an average of 40 million searches per second , resulting in 3.5 billion searches per day and 1.2 trillion searches per year. Google was spending $20 billion per year on its data centers in 2014 and now is spending about $30 billion per year. Google used 5.7 terawatt-hours of electricity Google consumed in 2015 which is about 1 gigawatt of power. If each server used 200 watts then Google had 5 million servers in 2015. In 2017, Google power usage has likely continued to increase and Google has some very energy efficient servers. It is highly likely that Google has over ten million servers. Google’s global data centers have been using atomic clocks for database synchronization for close to ten years. The Spanner project was revealed over five years ago. Google began the spanner project over ten years ago. The Spanner database uses atomic clocks and GPS for transaction timing.

Russia will start building multi-purpose  nuclear-powered submarines  of the fifth generation in 2020. Companies of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) are ready to start the work in 2020, when 885 Yasen project is completed. The Russian Husky submarine will be the follow up to the Yasen submarine. The new submarines will be smaller and cheaper than their Soviet-designed predecessors. Indeed, there are indications that Moscow will be extensively leveraging automation technologies developed for the Project 705 Lira-class attack submarine—better known in the West as the Alfa-class—for the new boats. Russian analysts estimate that the next-generation submarines will displace no more than about 6,000-tons. Which means that another Soviet innovation might make a comeback—liquid metal cooled reactors. Russia will also incorporate  composite structures in its next-generation follow-on to the Project 855M Yasen-class  in the 2020s. The next-generation Russian nuclear ...

The China Shipbuilding Trading Corporation (CSSC) showcased its next-generation trimaran-hull frigate and the S26 air-independent propulsion (AIP) submarine (SSP) at the 2017 International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX), which is concluding in Abu Dhabi. The S26 SSP appears to be the AIP-equipped variant of the S20 diesel-electric submarine (SSK), which CSSC has been marketing for export since 2013. Although the S20 SSK was not offered with AIP by default, a customer could opt for it separately. It was not clear if CSSC was offering an AIP of its own or if the end-user would have to acquire it separately. With the S26, CSSC is offering its Stirling AIP system (IHS Jane’s). CSSC Timaran Frigate In comparison to the S20 SSK, the S26 SSP has a heavier displacement (2,660-ton vs. 2,200-ton), is longer (79.5 metres vs. 66 metres) and slower at top speed (18 knots vs. 20 knots). However, CSSC did reveal the S26’s maximum diving depth and surface range at 300 metres and...

In the spring of 2017, Russia may test a rocket mounted Zircon Hypersonic missile for the first time. The launch is said to be conducted within the scope of the global non-nuclear deterrence strategy. The source did not specify the carrier, from which the missile was to be launched. Zircon mounted Hypersonic Missiles are planned to be used on Yasen-M nuclear submarines, as with the well as with the Husky's Submarines and some surface ships. Hypersonic speed is Mach 5 or faster. Mach 1 is the speed of sound which is about 300 meters per second, or 1,224 km/h. The Zircon missile was designed for the Russian Navy at NPO Machine Building (Reutov, Moscow region). The company also develops advanced warheads for intercontinental ballistic missiles known as "Object 4202." The range of the missile will be about 500 km, whereas the speed of the new missile is said to reach Mach 5 or six. Zircon missiles can be used as armament for surface warships and nuclear-powered s...

Seed funding to commence design Work for Ghatak UCAV and AMCA has been processed and preliminary work will begin soon. A part of the funds will also be used to design and develop critical stealth technologies for the AMCA stealth fighter project. Both Ghatak ACAV and the AMCA 5th generation stealth fighter are awaiting final clearance from the Prime Ministers Office. Development time for both projects is estimated to be seven years according to government sources. If the work on Ghatak and AMCA commences in 2017 then both birds can debut in 2025. The Narendra Modi government is set to give the green light to a Rs 3,000-crore plan to develop Ghatak, a new engine that will power India's first unmanned combat aircraft, or drones capable of delivering bombs as well as tackling aerial threats, as part of a project that envisages major participation of the private sector. Ghatak will be a derivative of the abandoned Kaveri project that had been in the works for over two decades,...

The Indian Army is set to deploy over 460 new T-90SM main battle tanks (MBTs) along India’s border with Pakistan, senior Indian defense officials told IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly on January 19. The new T-90SM MBT (other designations T-90AM or T-90MS) is the latest and most modern version of the T-90 (which in turn is a modernized variant of the T-72 MBT), and has specifically been designed for export by Russia.

After deciding to purchase 16 JF-17 Thunder multi-role combat aircraft in 2015, Myanmar is now in advanced negotiations with Pakistan to licence-build the third-generation fighter, defence industry sources in Yangon and sources close to the Myanmar Air Force (MAF) told Jane's in mid-January. If an agreement is reached, Myanmar's bid to manufacture the single-engine combat aircraft - co-developed by the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) and China's Chengdu Aerospace Corporation (CAC) - could mark a significant step forward in the country's efforts to expand its local defence industry. As the MAF phases out its obsolete fleet of F-7M Airguard and A-5C 'Fantan' combat aircraft purchased from China in the 1990s, licensed production of the JF-17 Thunder would also mean that the aircraft will likely become the MAF's workhorse over the coming decades in much the same way as it has moved to prominence within the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). JF-17 Fighter ...

The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) is expected to place its formal order for 50 JF-17 Block-IIIs from the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) in the first half of 2017, reports Alan Warnes (on Asian Military Review). These are part of the initial allotment of 150 JF-17s the PAF committed to when it signed onto the program in 1999. Currently, the PAF has more than 70 JF-17s in service, with PAC crossing 30 JF-17 Block-IIs by 2017 and on-track to rolling out another 14 single-seat Block-IIs in 2017. JF-17 Thunder Two Seat Version Three two-seater JF-17Bs will also be built, of which two will be assigned to the PAF. Alan Warnes learned that these JF-17Bs will be used in “testing and development” for accelerating weapons integration. Air Marshal Arshad Malik, the Chairman of PAC, was also enthusiastic about the JF-17’s export prospects, noting that PAC’s production output could be increased to “cope with future exports.” Currently, 3 and 16 JF-17s are on order by Nigeria and Myanmar...

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