110 fighter aircraft are to be overhauled by HAL, project running behind schedule

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 3

Friday’s Mirage-2000 crash that left its two pilots dead has raised a question mark over future upgrades of the fighter jet being carried out by public sector giant Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

In all, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is slated to upgrade 110 Mirage and Jaguar jets. The killed pilots, Squadron leaders Samir Abrol and Sidhharth Negi, were attached to Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE). The two were on a test flight before the plane could be re-allocated to its squadron in the Air Force.

The IAF and the Ministry of Defence are expected to review the progress of the upgrades shortly and new parameters are likely to be introduced on speeding up the programme, running years behind schedule, and also maintaining the quality. A court of inquiry has been launched. Of the 51 Mirage-2000 planes, only 11 have been upgraded so far. Dassault Aviation, the original manufacturer, upgraded four jets—two at its own plant in France and the rest at the HAL headquarters.

The contract with the HAL is to upgrade 47 Mirage-2000s. As of now, the programme is two years behinds schedule. The entire lot was to be upgraded by July 2021 and the deadline was rescheduled to December 2022. So far, the HAL has delivered 9 planes, including the two done by Dassault here. The crashed plane was the 10th upgraded by HAL and the 12th overall if the two done in France are counted. Going by the contract, by now 25 of the planes should have been upgraded and handed over to the IAF.

The upgrade includes new Thales radar, allowing long-range engagement of targets in the air, automatic tracking of targets and mapping of targets on the ground. The pilots now have a display inside their helmets. A clutch of new weapons and beyond visual-range missiles is being added and kits for all the add-ons have been supplied.

In case of Jaguar, a total of 61 are to be upgraded to what in military terminology is called ‘Darin 3’ standard. The contract was signed in 2009 but was largely in cold storage over the choice of its engine. The first plane in its final operational clearance (FOC) version should have been handed over in February this year and has not been handed over. The present pace would mean the upgrade of 61 jets would not be completed by 2024, the scheduled target.

Jaguars are currently powered by Rolls-Royce Adour 811 engines, which are to be replaced with Honeywell’s F-125N. The new engines are supposed to provide almost 1.5 times the power of the existing ones.

Speaking at a seminar in New Delhi last week, Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa noted that a crucial contribution to all the successes of indigenisation was also the “supreme sacrifice of IAF’s pilots in testing these aircraft to battle-worthy standards.” He said the IAF had lost 17 pilots and engineers in air accidents during the testing and evaluation of indigenous-prototyped aircraft.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) plans to take up the upgrading of Vijaynagar, an almost-inaccessible sliver of a plateau on the China border surrounded by forests on all sides. This advance landing ground (ALG), or a temporary airfield, was among the seven earmarked for modernisation eight years ago. Since then, six became functional but Vijaynagar became so in 2016. It is heartening that locals in this hinterland are lending a helping hand. The Arunachal Government did its bit by building 150 km of roads through dense forests to this ALG. This rare instance of civil-military synergy is a case for cheer in a theatre where infrastructure development has been perennially delayed, especially on the border with China.

These ALGs are purely for military use. While their strategic importance is indisputable, there are grounds to utilise the upgraded infrastructure for civilian use as well. Several airports in the country have become throbbing hubs of civilian travel such as Chandigarh, Goa or Pune that were once military bases. Now that the IAF has set its sights on making strips functional in places like Lahaul-Spiti and Ladakh that are tourism magnates but tough to access by road, there should be the possibility of dual use at some of them. The extension of civic infrastructure in areas where there has been none contributes to the cause of national security; a variation of the ‘hearts-and-minds’ programme undertaken by the security forces in similarly remote areas.

It may be worthwhile to take a leaf out of China’s Tibet book in this regard. China has modernised six civilian airfields in Tibet to handle military operations. New Delhi, too, needs to convert makeshift strips with tourist potential into all-weather dual-purpose facilities. India has broken out of the siege mentality with the forward deployment of its military assets while observing the spirit of the 1996 and 2005 Sino-India agreements. The excessive cost of building facilities in remote areas has hampered modernisation of the upper Himalayas at the desired pace. Wherever feasible, dual use will distribute the infrastructure costs among several stakeholders to meet the pressure on government funds by competing demands.

New Delhi, January 9

On a day when China said it had deployed nuclear-tipped missiles after a US warship “transgressed” into its territory, India Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba warned China’s rise was unparalleled.

Admiral Lanba, speaking at the ‘Raisina Dialogue’, said China had been in the Indian Ocean as part of anti-piracy patrol since 2008 and at any given time, their five-six warships were stationed there. “They have deployed submarines for anti-piracy, which is unusual. No navy has grown as big as China’s,” he said.

Admiral Philip Davidson, who heads US’ Indo-Pacific command, said, “Our strategy is not aimed at China containment.” Asked if the US was feeling the burden of maintaining presence in Asia, he said the US had been well supported by the UK, Japan, Australia and had jointly operated in South China Sea.

French Navy Chief Admiral Admiral Christophe Prazuck said if needed, France could back India in Indian Ocean.

Earlier, Indian Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat said there should be negotiations with the Taliban, but without conditions. “Terrorism is here to stay as long as states continue to use it as a policy.” — TNS

Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 10

Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Thursday said talks with various groups in Jammu and Kashmir could not be possible if there is violence.

He said the suggestion of talks with the Taliban did not fit into the J&K scenario.

Gen Rawat was addressing a press conference here ahead of the Army Day on January 15.

Talking about Kashmir, he said, “Come to the negotiating table, we can talk. But you have to shun the gun. Also, the number of conditions laid down make it difficult to hold talks.”

He was answering a question if talks in Kashmir should be held with Hurriyat since he (Gen Rawat) had suggested that India should look at the talks with the Taliban.On Wednesday, speaking at the Raisina Dialogue, Gen Rawat had suggested that India should be part of the talks with the Taliban.

He clarified that some nations were in favour of speaking to the Taliban. “If India thinks it has stake in Afghanistan then we must step in. I am not saying we should take the lead. But at least, go and listen to what is being discussed in Afghanistan.”

The same did not apply to J&K as it’s a bilateral issue with our western neighbor, he added.

On the situation in J&K, he said, “I am not saying it’s totally under control”, adding that there was no change in the situation at the LoC since Imran Khan had taken over.

“There is always the endeavour to bring peace. We are only facilitators of peace for the Valley. People say let’s tone down operations; can anyone give the guarantee that no convoy would be attacked in Kashmir.”

He said the situation is fine on the western and northern fronts and there was no cause for concern.

Answering a question on changes in tackling China after the Wuhan summit, Gen Rawat said, “We are maintaining peace and tranquillity of the kind that we wish.”

On the proposed restructuring of the Army, he said that in mid-2019 the restructuring of the Army headquarters would begin. The setting up of the Integrated Battle Group (IBG) would be tested on ground in May then the Army would move to implement it; The IBG would not be a ‘Mini Strike Corps’, he said.

On being asked if the recent Supreme Court verdict on decriminalisation of extra-marital affairs and homosexual relations, Gen Rawat was categorical, “We will continue to charge people under the Army Act for both. Sorry, the Army is conservative and intends not to change on these issues.”

“Some of the rights and privileges do not exist for us,” he said.

On his tenure, he said the time had come to consolidate on issues now under progress. “In the third year (of his tenure) I will strive to bring the issues to conclusion.”

He said he had involved Army commanders in discussion on restructuring. “There can never be 100 per cent consensus. We cannot take a decision on 100 per cent consensus, it’s about leadership. There are some issues which go beyond consensus, yes a majority view has to be taken,” he said.

On the soldiers who are genuinely disabled, Gen Rawat said, “To address disparity in disability pensions is top of my agenda.”

Answering a question, he said, “We are coming up with a plan. We have address disabilities. The Army will observe this year for the next of kin of the disabled or killed soldiers. We will identify those who need help.”

On the misuse of social media, he said those flouting the guidelines would invite action.

Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, January 6

An award-winning innovator from the remote Ladakh region has found the answer to the Army’s winter worry by preparing a prototype hut which taps solar energy and increases the room temperature by nearly 40°C.

Sonam Wangchuk, the Ramon Magsaysay Award winner and a celebrated innovator and engineer, solved the Army’s struggle with the arctic climatic conditions of Ladakh by going back to the “ancient method” of using straw and clay for the construction of bunkers and residential quarters.

“We only attuned the ratio of clay and straw to make it more insulated for better heating and light weight for easy transportation,” Wangchuk told The Tribune over the phone from Ladakh.

He said the Army had shown “more than just interest” in his prototype solar-heated huts which would “not require any other energy” and also ease the pressure on the environment by cutting on pollution-causing methods of heating.

The Ladakh region, where an Army Corps is stationed on two frontiers with Pakistan and China, is one of the coldest places of the world and also home to the second-coldest inhabited town, Drass, where the lowest recorded temperature was -60°C on January 9, 1995.

The solar-heated hut will allow sunlight inside and use straw-clay walls to tap it, having the potential to create a temperature gap of up to 40°C.

“If the outside temperature will be -20°C, inside the hut it will be 20°C,” Wangchuk said.

The celebrated innovator, whose life story inspired Bollywood blockbuster ‘3 Idiots’, said the idea of building huts of pre-fabricated bricks of clay and straw — which he described as fibre-reinforced clay for housing purposes, was initially used to solve the problems of people in Ladakh who faced rigid climatic conditions which shortened the work period to a few months and also made it labour cheap.

The Army, Wangchuk said, had approved the prototypes to solve its trouble with the freezing weather in Ladakh, where soldiers guarded a mountainous frontier throughout the year, even when the temperatures routinely dropped 20°C to 30°C below the freezing point in the winter. “They want us to build more…we hope to be ready with low production this summer and may be fully by the next summer,” Wangchuk said.

Use of straw to curb pollution in Punjab

• Sonam Wangchuk said once the huts were in the production stage, they would also solve the pollution problem in Punjab and New Delhi as they would procure straw, which is otherwise burnt, for the construction purpose. “We hope to get the straw from Punjab where it is burnt, solving the environmental problem there,” he said. “So we will be reducing the pollution in Punjab and Delhi and also in Ladakh, where people and the Army use coal and kerosene for heating,” he said.

Army okays prototype

• Sonam Wangchuk has solved the Army’s struggle with the arctic climatic conditions of Ladakh by building the prototype of a solar-heated hut. Wangchuk said the Army had approved the prototypes to solve its trouble with the freezing weather in Ladakh.