Pakistan Air Force's First Aggressor Unit TDS

Pakistan Air Force's First Aggressor Unit TDS

Pakistan, China Air Forces Started Shaheen VI Exercise

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 Eagle ZDK03-based AEW&C.

Pakistan and China rotate the responsibility of hosting the Shaheen exercise, with Shaheen V being held in Pakistan in 2016. That year, the PAF also participated in Anatolian Eagle and Red Flag in Turkey and the U.S., respectively. The PAF also conducted its force-wide exercise, Tempest II, in 2016.

Besides benchmarking operational practices and performance with partnering air forces, exercises of this nature also enable the PAF to engage in dissimilar air combat training (DACT). Of particular interest would be the Shenyang J-11, which is a Flanker variant like the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) Su-30MKI.

Muslim World Needs to Prevent Brain Drain to West, President Erdoğan Says

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 their homelands, but stay where they received education,” he noted.

“This situation is definitely affected by reasons like not being able to give up on the life standards they got used to. But I believe that we, as heads of states, need to think of the real reasons that distance our youth from ourselves,” Erdoğan added.

Erdoğan said that while OECD countries allocated 5.2 percent of their national budget to education, this number could not even reach 1 percent in the Muslim world, adding that education was one of the priorities of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

“Like in every society in the Muslim world, we stay away from issues that demand endeavor and patience. If we are unsuccessful in raising a generation that asks, questions, and has ambitions for the future, a generation running after temporary whims emerges. We face the fact that nations that cannot develop unique educations systems cannot determine their future,” he noted.

“The most important responsibility falls on the shoulders of our universities. Universities are the production centers of science and unique and free thoughts. Every kind of idea that is not contaminated with terror and that does not encourage violence has a place and should have a place in the university,” he said.

Pakistan's Military Industrial Base is Better Than India's: General Sarath Chand

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 the present state. Overall, it has become an unsuccessful method of supporting our defence requirements," observed Chand.

According to the Indian daily, Chand further highlighted the importance of a military industry in times of war, adding that India had been "let down" by "friends [...] whenever the chips have been down."

China Developing Arsenal Ship

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 also working to add Hypersonic Warheads to Shorter Range Missiles

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 destroyers equipped with Standard Missile-3 interceptors.

Taiwan has also deployed PAC-3 surface-to-air guided interceptors, while South Korea has decided to deploy the advanced Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti ballistic missile system on its soil to better cope with North Korea’s missile threats.

India might hit Pakistan, warns US Defence Intelligence Agency Chief

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 US Senate Armed Services Committee.

A senior intelligence official from the United States has warned that India is considering punitive actions against Pakistan.

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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.com/threads/india-might-hit-pakistan-warns-us-defence-intelligence-agency-chief.54/

China Test Fired New Missiles

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 Developing Wing in Ground Effect Drone

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 Probably has Over Ten Million Servers

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.

China AVICs 2 AESA radar competing for JF-17 Block 3

Russia developing Submarines that will use Composite Materials for hull and fire Hypersonic missiles

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 submarines may use composite structures in an attempt to drastically reduce their acoustical signatures.

The new composite materials are still in testing, but Russia will test its first composite propeller design in 2018. “This is one of our institute’s most promising projects,” Polovinkin said. “This trend reduces vibration in the blades and increases the efficiency of the screw. These various effects will help improve the ship’s acoustic signature.”

For the time being, engineers are designing the look of future submarines. The performance of the subs remains a secret. According to developers, performance characteristics will depend on requirements from the navy.

It is worthy of note that Project 885 Yasen stipulates for the construction of seven multi-purpose nuclear submarines. The main submarine of the project - Severodvinsk - has already been passed into service.

Earlier, Pravda.Ru reported that Russia was planning to launch Zircon hypersonic missiles in the spring of 2017 from a sea-based carrier. The launches are said to be conducted for the implementation of the concept of global non-nuclear deterrence. Zircon hypersonic missiles will be installed on board Yasen-M submarines, Husky submarines, as well as a number of surface ships.


http://asiandefenceforum.com/threads/russia-developing-submarines-that-will-use-composite-materials-for-hull-and-fire-hypersonic-missiles.31/

China showcases New-Generation Frigate and S26 Submarine

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 14,816 km, respectively.

Russia Planing To Test Fire Rocket Mounted Zircon Hypersonic Missile

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 submarines, as well as aircraft and coastal mobile missile systems. It is believed that Onyx and Zircon missiles are designed to implement elements of the concept of strategic non-nuclear deterrence.

India Started Development of Ghatak UAV and AMCA Stealth Fighter

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, officials said. The key difference in the current plan is the proposed participation of the private sector in a significant way.

The drone is being designed to be invisible to radars with its radical 'flying wing design'.

India to Deploy Massive Tank Army Along Border With Pakistan

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.

Myanmar in Advanced Negotiations with Pakistan to Licence-Build JF-17 Fighter

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

At least 70 of the fighters are in service with the PAF, with the first ones having entered service in 2009. Expectations are that the PAF will induct up to 150 JF-17 Thunder fighters in the coming years.

PAKISTAN EXPECTED TO ORDER ITS JF-17 BLOCK-IIIS IN 2017

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, respectively. Azerbaijan is reportedly re-interested in the JF-17, while Myanmar is reportedly in talks for additional fighters.

Regarding the JF-17 Block-III, Warnes noted that the Nanjing Research Institute of Electronic Technologies (NRIET) KLJ-7A and a Leonardo radar (possibly Vixen 1000) are viewed as the leading options for the Block-III’s active electronically-scanned array (AESA) radar requirement.

Notes & Comments:

Based on the wording of the article, it appears that JF-17 Block-III production is scheduled to begin shortly after the conclusion of the PAF’s Block-II run.

While the AESA radar bid has narrowed to the KLJ-7A and a Leonardo system, the issues of helmet-mounted display and sight (HMD/S) systems, new electronic warfare and electronic countermeasures, and new munitions are still open. However, seeing that the Block-III program will be put into motion this year, there may be industry traction in each of these issues through 2017.

It also appears, though unconfirmed, that once currently set exports are completed, PAC will only produce Block-IIIs (for export and domestic use alike). In fact, Alan Warnes stated that PAC will “not halt” JF-17 production between Block-II and Block-III, meaning, prospective export customers from late 2017 or early 2018 will see the JF-17 Block-III.

Top 10 Future Weapons of Pakistan

   Top 10 Future Weapons of Pakistan

The Making of Pakistan Air Force PAF JF -17 Thunder Fighter Jet

                           The Making of Pakistan Air Force PAF JF -17 Thunder Fighter Jet