"Russia's air defense - to balance the US space threat"

SOURCE-RT
By 2030, some nations, namely the USA, will have space-based weapon systems capable of delivering a strike anywhere in Russia, predicts Russian Air Forces Commander Aleksandr Zelin.

In 20 years, technologically advanced countries will have a new generation of military aircraft and spacecraft, the Colonel General told the media on Tuesday. They will be unmanned, capable of flying at hypersonic speeds and probably be armed with weapons working on different physical principles as compared to weapons used now.

The new armed forces will be able “to deliver synchronous precision strikes on a global scale almost at any target in Russia’s territory,” Zelin is cited as saying by Interfax news agency.



The senior officer says Russia will need a range of new weapon systems to deter this potential threat. The country’s plan for defense from space and aerial attacks is expected to be shaped out by 2020, he announced.

One weapon Zelin named specifically is the S-500, a long-range air defense system now in development, which will be able to hit targets in space as well as in the atmosphere. Hypersonic-speed missiles and aircraft will also be legitimate targets for the future system.

Another project hinted at by the top military is a strike drone with a cruise speed of about Mach-6, or 6 times the speed of sound. He said that “while there are no concrete orders for it, we have theoretical research in this area.”

Later, the Defense Ministry’s press service told ITAR-TASS that Zelin was referring to research into pulse detonation engines (PDE) as possible technology for a future Russian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). It’s a kind of jet engine where fuel is detonated in rapid pulses rather than simply burnt. This allows greater efficiency but poses a great challenge in controlling the vibration from detonation, which engineers are trying to solve by increasing the frequency of detonations. Current working prototypes have a frequency of dozens to a couple of hundred detonations per second, while for smooth operation, a pulse detonation engine will need to make thousands of detonations per second.

Russia is lagging behind in UAV technology, and has recently bought several drones from Israel to “test their tactical capabilities”, and as Zelin said, may purchase more. The Air Forces see UAVs as one of the prime areas of investment. Earlier in August, General Zelin said he expected up to 40% of Russia’s military fleet to unmanned craft in a matter of a decade.

Speaking on closer plans, the senior officer said Russia’s fifth-generation fighter jet will see its maiden flight later this year, “in November, or probably in December.” So far three prototypes of the PAK FA have been built for land tests, and a machine for aerial tests is on its way. PAK FA is a multipurpose super maneuverable stealth aircraft designed by Sukhoi

India's artillery upgrade remains in limbo

SOURCE-JANES.COM

The Indian Army's long-overdue plans to upgrade around 390 Bofors FH-77B 155 mm 39-calibre howitzers to 155 mm 45-calibre, stand jeopardised due primarily to the 'over-ambitious' qualitative requirements (QRs) drawn up by the artillery directorate for the retrofit.

The army first acquired the howitzers in 1987 and currently has a total of 410 in its inventory. The upgrade is intended to enhance the range of the guns, and includes replacing the gun barrel, breech block, strengthening the undercarriage and fitting the howitzers with a state-of-the-art sighting system, allowing them to fire heavier ordnance.

"Some of the upgrade QRs are unrealistic for these 25-year-old guns, demanding even more capability than newer howitzers," said an armament industry source associated with the project.

The army, he declared, was unwilling to revise or modify the request for proposals (RfP), even though many in the artillery directorate conceded that the QRs were unrealistic because only the defence minister had the authority to effect a change in the tender and they were circumspect about approaching him.

An earlier, similar RfP issued by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in 2006 lapsed unfulfilled. It required competing vendors such as BAE Systems (which now owns Bofors AB), the FH 77B's original equipment manufacturer (OEM), private defence contractor Tata of Mumbai and the state-owned Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) to develop an upgraded prototype howitzer within a year