Friday, April 17, 2020

IAF’s new Apache helicopter makes emergency landing in Punjab

An Apache helicopter of the Indian Air Force made an emergency landing in a Hoshiyarpur village after developing a technical fault. There was no loss of life or property.



An Apache helicopter of the Indian Air Force (IAF) made an emergency landing in Hoshiarpur, Punjab on Friday afternoon.

The newly inducted IAF helicopter took off from the Pathankot air base, but the pilot had to make an emergency landing in a field in Hoshiarpur after it developed a technical snag, officials said.

"The chopper made a precautionary landing after warning alert in its control panels," the Indian Air Force said in its statement.

The crew is safe and no major damage has been reported. "The attack choppers are based out of the Pathankot airbase and this chopper had taken off from there. The Air Force will check the helicopter and then take it back to its base. The pilots are safe," the Air Force said.

The US-made Apache AH-64E attack helicopters were inducted into the Indian Air Force last year. The AH-64E Apache is one of the world's most advanced multi-role combat helicopters.

22 Apaches were ordered by India for the IAF in a $1.1 billion deal, the first of which were delivered in September, last year.

Iraqi Su-25 jet, damaged by MANPAD arriving in Iran for repairs

The Su-25 attack aircraft of the Iraqi Air Force was delivered to Iran capital, Teheran, for repair. Aircraft was damaged from MANPADS by ISIS fighters.




Thursday, April 16, 2020

Russia tests anti-satellite missile, US general says

Russia tested a missile capable of knocking out satellites in orbit, the top U.S. space general said on Wednesday.



The Russian anti-satellite missile (also known as “ASAT”, or DA-ASAT - Direct-ascent anti-satellite) is capable of destroying satellites in low Earth orbit, according to U.S. Space Command, which is tracking the test.


“Yet another example that the threats to U.S. and allied space systems are real, serious and growing,” Gen. John Raymond, commander of U.S. Space Command and chief of U.S. Space Force Operations, said in a statement. “This test is further proof of Russia’s hypocritical advocacy of outer space arms control proposals designed to restrict the capabilities of the United States while clearly having no intention of halting their counterspace weapons programs.”

The Pentagon noted that the test comes shortly after a pair of Russian spacecraft came close to a U.S. spy satellite.

At the time Raymond said Russia’s spacecraft showed “unusual and disturbing behavior.” He specifically called out Russia for developing technologies that could harm U.S. systems in space, saying the recent maneuvers could “create a dangerous situation in space.

Russia last conducted a test of its PL-19 Nudol (A-235 RTTs-181M) anti-satellite missile system in December 2018. 


Anti-satellite missiles are not a new technology but only a few of the world’s superpowers have been able to develop and prove the capability. Last year, India joined that limited group when it destroyed a satellite during a test. But anti-satellite tests that destroy spacecraft have broad implications and even tiny pieces of debris can threaten other satellites in orbit.

An unclassified report from the National Air and Space Intelligence Center, or NASIC, explained how China conducted an anti-satellite test in 2007 that produced a great deal of space junk. At an altitude of about 800 kilometers, China destroyed one of its own weather satellites with an anti-satellite missile. Although the test was successful, the satellite shattered into thousands of pieces, which continue to zip around in an orbital cloud of dangerous debris.


Tuesday, April 14, 2020

U.S. Approves Sale of MK 54 Lightweight Torpedoes, Harpoon Missiles to India

WASHINGTON, April 13, 2020 - The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of India of ten (10) AGM-84L Harpoon Block II air launched missiles and related equipment for an estimated cost of $92 million, and sixteen (16) MK 54 All Up Round Lightweight Torpedoes (LWT); three (3) MK 54 Exercise Torpedoes (MK 54 LWT Kit procurement required); and related equipment for an estimated cost of $63 million. 

The Government of India has requested to buy ten (10) AGM-84L Harpoon Block II air launched missiles. Also included are containers, spare and repair parts, support and test equipment, publications and technical documentation, personnel training and training equipment, Specialized Assignment Airlift Missions (SAAM), U.S. Government and contractor representatives technical assistance, engineering, and logistics support services, and other related elements of logistics and program support. The estimated program cost is $92 million.

The Government of India has requested to buy sixteen (16) MK 54 All Up Round Lightweight Torpedoes (LWT); and three (3) MK 54 Exercise Torpedoes (MK 54 LWT Kit procurement required). Also included are MK 54 spare parts; torpedo containers; two (2) Recoverable Exercise Torpedoes (REXTORP) with containers; Fleet Exercise Section (FES) and fuel tanks built into MK 54 LWT Kits (above); air launch accessories for fixed wing; spare parts; training, publications; support and test equipment; U.S. Government and contractor engineering, technical, and logistics support services; and other related elements of logistics support. The estimated program cost is $63 million.

Monday, April 13, 2020

First batch of upgraded T-90M ‘Proryv’ tanks delivered to Russian troops

Russian Army has taken delivery of the first of new T-90M ‘Proryv’ main battle tanks, according to Army Commander Major-General Sergey Kisel.

First deliveries of T-90M ‘Proryv’ tanks started in April to the Kremlin’s elite Taman Division.


A first batch of Russia’s upgraded T-90M ‘Proryv’ main battle tanks have been delivered to Russian troops, the press service of the Russian Western Military District announced on Monday.

"First deliveries of upgraded T-90M ‘Proryv’ tanks started in April to the Guards Tank Army of the Western Military District, which is deployed on the territory of five Russian regions," the press service quoted Army Commander Major-General Sergey Kisel as saying.

The T-90M ‘Proryv’ has received a principally new turret that differs from the serial-produced module and a more powerful engine. The Proryv is outfitted with a new multi-channel sighting system that allows employing weapons at any time of day or night and, as its major advantage, it can exchange data with other vehicles in real time.

The T-90M’s armor features special anti-slip coating similar to that used on the latest T-14 Armata tank.


Last month, a source in the Russian Defense Ministry told TASS that T-90M ‘Proryv’ tanks would pass through Red Square for the first time in a mechanized column during the Victory Day Parade on May 9.

The mechanized column is also set to include the latest T-14 ‘Armata’ tanks. Overall, more than 50 tanks were supposed to take part in the military parade on Moscow’s Red Square, according to the Defense Ministry’s previous data.

Sunday, April 12, 2020

OMFV: US Army Revamps Bradley Replacement For Russian Front

Survivability in battle is priority No. 1. Transportability by aircraft? It’s been demoted to a subitem under priority No. 7. designs are due in 2023, physical prototypes in 2025, and operational vehicles by 2028.


  • The Ex-OMFV:
The Mission Enabling Technologies Demonstrator manned vehicle can operate two unmanned platforms to make contact with the enemy before soldiers do, while achieving overmatch against future operating environment threats. The Army’s vision includes three robotic vehicle variants—light, medium and large, but service officials have decided for now to cancel the acquisition of a medium variant. U.S. Army photo by Jerome Aliotta/Released 

WASHINGTON: Last night, with face-to-face meetings shut down by the COVID-19 coronavirus, the Army posted 14 pages of in-depth answers to industry’s questions about the rebooted Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle program.

Just in case anyone didn’t understand just how thoroughly the Army has changed course, the document released yesterday spells it out: “No requirements from the first RFP [Request For Proposals] remain valid. This is a new RFP.”

The Army cancelled that first attempt at OMFV back in January when no bidder could meet its ambitious schedule and technical requirements. OMFV is meant to replace the Reagan-era M2 Bradley troop carrier with a “transformational” war machine boasting extensive automation, tactical networking, and other cutting-edge technologies.

A US Army M2 Bradley and Hungarian BTR-80s exercise in Lithuania. The BTR-80, like most European troop carriers, is much more lightly armed and armored than the Bradley.

Two critical details of the “programmatic narrative” stand out: the emphasis on survivability over transportability, and the more realistic demands on industry for both timeline and technology. The revised vehicle is now even more clearly focused on combatting the Russian threat in Eastern Europe.

For the first time, the Army put its nine desired “characteristics” for the OMFV in rank order.

Survivability beats transportability


For the first time, the Army unequivocally makes survivability the top priority, ahead of air transportability.

Now, that’s survivability against enemy Infantry Fighting Vehicles like the Russian BMP,-3 armed with anti-tank missiles and mid-calibre weapons, not against main battle tanks with 125 mm high-velocity cannon: “The OMFV must protect its crew and infantry from enemy IFVs,” the narrative states. But survivability is nevertheless central to the Bradley replacement’s mission statement (emphasis ours): “The OMFV will serve as the Army’s Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) tasked to maneuver through the enemy’s disruption zone and deliver Soldiers to their dismount point unharmed.”

The new document even puts survivability (priority No. 1) slightly ahead of ground mobility (priority No. 2). While weight isn’t as big a factor on the ground as in the air, heavily armored vehicles over 50 tons – like the M1 Abrams main battle tank – can’t safely cross most bridges in Eastern Europe.

By contrast, the Army’s original Request For Proposals required two OMFVs to fit on a single Air Force C-17 jet transport. That meant they could be no heavier than a late-model Bradley, even though they were supposed to be much better armored.

The new document makes clear that, in the vast majority of both historical and projected conflicts, heavy armored units rarely move by plane. “The Army anticipates that Armored Brigade Combat Teams (ABCT) will continue to deploy primarily via water and rail, but must maintain the ability to transport via air as an option for commanders,” the programmatic narrative says. “The C-5 and C-17 will be the primary aircraft used to transport the OMFV.”

Two crucial pieces of context here. First, the C-5 is a much larger Air Force transport than the C-17, able to carry twice the load. Second, even though the C-17 is still an option, there’s nothing about fitting more than one OMFV aboard.

A single C-17 (right column) can carry 1 M1 Abrams main battle tank, two M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, or three partially disassembled AH-64 Apache helicopters. A C-5 (left column) can carry twice as much. SOURCE: Lockheed Martin

Yes, the Army is giving up some strategic flexibility here. The service has struggled for eight decades to square the circle of an armored vehicle heavy enough to survive and light enough to transport by air. The resulting compromises ranged from partial successes to total failures: the little-used M22 Locust of World War II, the problematic M41 Walker Bulldog of the 1950s, the breakdown-prone M551 Sheridan used in Vietnam and Panama, the cancelled Future Combat System of the 2000s, and the ongoing Mobile Protected Firepower program.

But while the Air Force can fly a few tanks almost anywhere on short notice — which could be decisive against a lightly armed adversary — there just aren’t enough planes to deploy and supply multiple armored brigades, which is what you’d need against a foe like Russia.

Fortunately, while lightly armed adversaries could and do pop up unexpectedly around the world, we know exactly where Russia is and what countries its armored legions can reach. That’s why the US is prepositioning warehouses full of armored vehicles and other equipment in Europe.

We also know where China could strike, but the Western Pacific, with its scattered, rugged islands, is poor terrain for tanks. While the Army and Marines plan to deploy missile launchers on Pacific Islands, any Chinese landing force sent to dig them out would have to come by ship or plane, limiting the weapons it could bring.

If you know where the war you’re worried about will be, the best time to get there is before the shooting starts. By choosing to optimize the OMFV for Eastern Europe, rather than make it a jack-of-all trades for crises worldwide, the Army makes the program’s problems much more solvable.

More time, more money, more leeway for bidders


The tentative schedule released yesterday (above) starts with an extensive period of back-and-forth between industry and the Army, already underway, about what the new vehicle should look like.

  • A formal Request For Proposals based on these discussions won’t come out until April 2021.
  • In October 2021, the Army will kick off the first round of competition, picking up to five of those proposals it will pay industry to develop into “initial digital designs.” The Army will then evaluate those virtual vehicles in computer models and simulations.
  • In April 2023, the Army will narrow the field further, to at most three competitors, which will get government funding to refine their designs and build actual working prototypes by July 2025.
  • The Army will test those prototypes through 2026 and pick one winner in January 2027. The winning vehicle will Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) later that year, and a full battalion of OMFVs should be operational by September 2028.
By contrast, the original Request For Proposals, released in March 2019, demanded each bidder build a working vehicle at its own expense as and deliver this “bid sample” by Oct. 1st last year. Most potential manufacturers didn’t even try, and only one competitor, General Dynamics, managed to meet the deadline. Then the Army disqualified GD’s vehicle anyway for not meeting the (arguably impossible) requirement to combine heavy armor with air transportability.

This time around, “the Army is not requiring any bid samples prior to contract award,” yesterday’s release makes clear. “The Army is still drafting the M&S [Modeling & Simulation] test plan which may require vendors to build early surrogate platforms” (emphasis ours), but any “surrogate” will be only “a low-level mockup (e.g., digital, wood, etc.),” not anything nearly as expensive as an actual drivable vehicle.

By contrast, the original Request For Proposals, released in March 2019, demanded each bidder build a working vehicle at its own expense as and deliver this “bid sample” by Oct. 1st last year. Most potential manufacturers didn’t even try, and only one competitor, General Dynamics, managed to meet the deadline. Then the Army disqualified GD’s vehicle anyway for not meeting the (arguably impossible) requirement to combine heavy armor with air transportability.

This time around, “the Army is not requiring any bid samples prior to contract award,” yesterday’s release makes clear. “The Army is still drafting the M&S [Modeling & Simulation] test plan which may require vendors to build early surrogate platforms” (emphasis ours), but any “surrogate” will be only “a low-level mockup (e.g., digital, wood, etc.),” not anything nearly as expensive as an actual drivable vehicle.

As with air transportability, the Army is giving up something it wanted: time. While the original plan would have put operational OMFVs in a combat unit by 2026, the new schedule adds two more years. Fielding enough to fight the Russians in Eastern Europe will take even longer.

There is a strategic risk to not having the new vehicles in time. But there is an equal danger of taking on too much too fast — and failing. Then you might not get any new vehicles at all – which is what happened with the Army’s last two attempts to replace the Bradley, the Future Combat System and the Ground Combat Vehicle. The service can’t afford another failure, which means realism has to trump ambition.

That’s why yesterday’s release also doubles down on a key feature of the rebooted OMFV approach first outlined in February: Instead of requiring bidders to meet rigid technical requirements, which may or may not be feasible, the Army is laying out broad “characteristics” and asking industry how best to achieve them. (Those characteristics were first spelled out in February, but they weren’t explicitly put in order by priority until now). Only after years of dialogue, digital design work, and simulations show what’s really feasible does the Army plan to lock down technical requirements.

“The magic here is keeping broad characteristics and slowly refining them over time,” Army Futures Command’s director for armor modernization, Brig. Gen. Richard Ross Coffman, told me back in February. “We won’t lock requirements until we absolutely have to.”

Very interesting movies about ZIL-4906 BLUEBIRD

ZIL-4906 BLUE BIRD -  About 20 “bluebirds” were built from 1980 to 1991. It was used to search and transport landed astronauts.



In 1975, ZIL developed a new range of floating search and evacuation vehicles for the Space Rescue Units of the Soviet Air Force, which replaced the outdated PEU-1. Soon it got its unofficial name of "Blue Bird". Amphibians were adapted to use in different climatic zones, with high dust, high wind and waves with height of up to 0.5 m, they could be deliveried by rail, transport aircrafts and helicopters. The new range included two versions - cargo version ZIL 4906 and passenger version ZIL 49061. Both had an identical design with a sealed rounded fiberglass hull, aluminum spar frame and traditional on-board transmission.

ZIL 49061

ZIL 4906

The cargo version ZIL 5906 was a 3.5-tonne amphibious vehicle with a crew of four and a welded aluminum cargo platform to deliver a space lander capsule and had a hydraulic crane. Another mission of ZIL-4906 was shipping a 4-seater 77 hp rescue vehicle ZIL-29061. The passenger version ZIL 49061 with a crew of three differed from the cargo by a closed passenger compartment. It used to transport rescue teams to astronauts landing points, providing them with medical care and everything necessary to work and leisure. There were 10 seats or 6 bed-places in the passenger compartment, which was equipped with heating and air conditioning systems, medical and special equipment, radio navigation complex, and other devices.


ZIL 4906 and ZIL 49061 were fitted with a 150-horsepower gasoline engine ZIL-130 V8 with a preheating system, manual 5-speed gearbox, planetary splitter, transfer gearbox with a lockable differential, independent lever-torsion bar suspension of all wheels and a pressure control system of tires. Two water propellers were used instead of water jets applied to EMP-1. The curb weight of cargo and passenger vehicles was was 8450 and 8310 kg, respectively, GVW - 11850 and 9260 kg, overall length with a crane - 9250/8650 mm, width - 2670/2582 mm, height - 2944/2510 mm. Maximum speed on a hightway - 56 and 75 kph, afloat - 8 - 9 kph. The minimum land speed - 1 kph. Twelve ZIL 4906 and sixteen ZIL 49061 were produced till 1991.