Articles in Vol 27.3 Jul-Sep 2012
New Markets for the C-17
By: IDR News Network | Issue: Vol 27.3 Jul-Sep 2012 | Date: 12 Sep , 2012
The demand for military cargo aircraft in the US is on the decline threatening closure of production lines if no new orders are received. The US aerospace major Boeing Company is in search of new...
F-35 Bombing Tests
By: IDR News Network | Issue: Vol 27.3 Jul-Sep 2012 | Date: 12 Sep , 2012
The Marine F-35B variant of the Joint Strike Fighter is inching closer to in-flight releases of weapons following a recent run of tests that involved dropping inert munitions into a pit. The F-35...
New Weapon Testing Facilities
By: Harish Kapur | Issue: Vol 27.3 Jul-Sep 2012 | Date: 12 Sep , 2012
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the country’s premier research organisation for the defence services, will invest around Rs1,000 crore to create new testing and validation...
North Korean Rocket Fails
By: IDR News Network | Issue: Vol 27.3 Jul-Sep 2012 | Date: 12 Sep , 2012
North Korea’s much hyped long-range rocket apparently crashed into the sea a few minutes after launch in the second week of April 2012. Pyongyang had defied international pressure from the...
Lifetime Cost of F-35 Fighter
By: IDR News Network | Issue: Vol 27.3 Jul-Sep 2012 | Date: 11 Sep , 2012
According to the Pentagon, the total cost to develop, procure and operate the Lockheed Martin Corporation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has been estimated to be $1.51 trillion over the next 50 years....
Dilemma of Rise in Populations of Drones
By: IDR News Network | Issue: Vol 27.3 Jul-Sep 2012 | Date: 11 Sep , 2012
Drones armed with cameras and increasingly, with bombs and missiles are fast becoming a key weapon of modern warfare. The US regards the pilotless aircraft as vital in operations in Afghanistan,...
Navy Grounds Fire Scout Drone Copters
By: IDR News Network | Issue: Vol 27.3 Jul-Sep 2012 | Date: 11 Sep , 2012
Just weeks after the Navy grounded its fleet of MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned spy copters as a precautionary step, it announced proposed expenditure of $250 million to purchase even more drone...
Improved Brahmos Missile Tested
By: IDR News Network | Issue: Vol 27.3 Jul-Sep 2012 | Date: 11 Sep , 2012
End March 2012, the Defence Research and Development Organisation test-fired an improved version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, off...
NASA & ATK Complete First Test for SLS Booster
By: IDR News Network | Issue: Vol 27.3 Jul-Sep 2012 | Date: 11 Sep , 2012
According to company program managers, NASA and ATK successfully completed the first test for the space agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) booster program. The demonstration held on March 28 at...
Drones in Pentagon’s 30-Year Plan
By: IDR News Network | Issue: Vol 27.3 Jul-Sep 2012 | Date: 10 Sep , 2012
The Pentagon plans to increase its fleet of armed and long endurance surveillance drones by 45 per cent over the next decade. As per the Department of Defense, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in the US...
General Dynamics Awarded ATC Radar Contract
By: IDR News Network | Issue: Vol 27.3 Jul-Sep 2012 | Date: 10 Sep , 2012
General Dynamics C4 Systems bagged a ten-year $363 million contract from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for radios that allow air traffic control personnel to communicate with...
Maiden Flight by Carrier Version of LCA, Tejas
By: IDR News Network | Issue: Vol 27.3 Jul-Sep 2012 | Date: 10 Sep , 2012
Nearly two years since its roll out during which there were a number of postponements, on April 27, 2012, India’s Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Naval Prototype 1 finally took off from the airport...
Second BrahMos Regiment Operational
By: IDR News Network | Issue: Vol 27.3 Jul-Sep 2012 | Date: 10 Sep , 2012
Early March 2012, the Indian Army successfully test-fired the BrahMos stealth supersonic cruise missile at Pokhran in the Western sector, providing itself with much-needed swift strike capability...
End of Space Shuttle Era
By: IDR News Network | Issue: Vol 27.3 Jul-Sep 2012 | Date: 10 Sep , 2012
Riding on the back of a modified 747, Discovery NASA’s veteran space shuttle Discovery did a final lap of honour before becoming a museum piece. It flew low over the monuments of the nation’s...
Rafael’s Protector: Unmanned Surface Vehicle
By: IDR News Network | Issue: Vol 27.3 Jul-Sep 2012 | Date: 04 Sep , 2012
Recently, USVs have been gaining recognition in their potential to effectively carry out a wide range of missions within the maritime domain. This trend mimics past development and proliferation...
David’s Sling, an Affordable and Lethal Solution against Air Defence Threats
By: IDR News Network | Issue: Vol 27.3 Jul-Sep 2012 | Date: 04 Sep , 2012
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, in partnership with Raytheon USA, has designed David’s Sling, an affordable and lethal solution against long-range artillery rockets (LRAR), short-range...
The Tejas Fleet for the IAF - to be or not to be?
By: Air Commodore KB Menon | Issue: Vol 27.3 Jul-Sep 2012 | Date: 27 Aug , 2012
An ambitious project like the LCA is fraught with risks, more so when the design and development teams are venturing into uncharted waters driven by an insistence to forego any external help....
Nuclear Powered Submarine for Indian Navy
By: IDR News Network | Issue: Vol 27.3 Jul-Sep 2012 | Date: 21 Aug , 2012
Early April this year, most recent and most potent submarine, the nuclear-powered INS Chakra was formally inducted into the Indian Navy by Defence Minister A K Antony. The Indian Navy acquired the...
Risat-1 'Spy Satellite' Launched
By: IDR News Network | Issue: Vol 27.3 Jul-Sep 2012 | Date: 21 Aug , 2012
In 2009, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had launched the RISAT-2, a spy satellite acquired from Israel for $110 million. In the last week of April this year, ISRO successfully...
15-Year Defence Purchase Plan Cleared
By: IDR News Network | Issue: Vol 27.3 Jul-Sep 2012 | Date: 21 Aug , 2012
The Ministry of Defence has finally cleared a 15-year Long-Term Integrated Perspective Plan (LTIPP), following the Army Chief, General V K Singh’s sensational leak of the letter to Prime...