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SP's MAI - October 01-15, 2011

Issue Features

• 

  MILITARY
  LCA (Navy) has first engine ground run

  The dream of India’s first indigenous effort to build a carrierborne Naval fighter aircraft got a fillip with the crossing of another significant milestone of the first engine ground run (EGR) of the LCA (Navy) prototype NP1 on September 26.

• 

  AEROSPACE
  Pilatus soon for IAF

  Switzerland’s Pilatus Aircraft is set to enter into the biggest contract yet for supplying 75 basic trainer aircraft at a cost of about Rs. 2,900 crore to the Indian Air Force.

• 

  INTERNAL SECURITY
  Network of radars to secure coastline: Antony

  The Minister for Defence A.K. Antony has said that all efforts are being made to secure the country’s vast coastline with a network of radars. Addressing the 30th Annual Coast Guard Commanders’ Conference in New Delhi recently, the Minister said that the project has been taken up on priority.

• CORPORATE
  MDL joint venture put on hold
  By Vishal Thapar

  Corporate rivalry forces joint venture between India’s biggest state-owned warship builder, Mazagon Docks Ltd, and the private sector Pipavav to be put on hold.

• 

  NEW PRODUCTS
  Revision Military launches head protection system

  Revision Military, the recognised global leader in ballistic and laser eye protection, launches into the head protection arena with the introduction of its new Batlskin head protection system.

• 

  TECHNOLOGY
  Revolutionary aircraft heralds rebirth of Africa’s aerospace industry
  By Our Special Correspondent

  Africa’s aerospace industry has entered a new era with the launch of a ground-breaking multi-role aviation platform.

• 

  MILITARY
  India and UK sign defence research agreement

  Under a new agreement, Indian and British scientists are to work together to develop cutting-edge technologies for defence and security.

• 

  AEROSPACE
  Boeing P-8I aircraft completes first flight

  Boeing’s first P-8I aircraft for the Indian Navy completed its initial flight on September 28, taking off from Renton Field at 12:02 p.m. Pacific time and landing two hours and 31 minutes later at Boeing Field in Seattle.

• 

  INTERNAL SECURITY
  Railway security review in J&K

  The DIG Railways (Security) Jammu & Kashmir, A.K. Atri recently reviewed security along the Srinagar-Baramulla section. Atri traveled by train to Baramulla and paid a visit to GRP Police Station.

• CORPORATE
  United Technologies to acquire Goodrich

  United Technologies Corp. announced it has reached agreement to purchase Goodrich Corporation for $127.50 per share in cash. This equates to a total enterprise value of $18.4 billion, including $1.9 billion in net debt assumed.

• 

  NEW PRODUCTS
  Hagor’s mine sandals

  Hagor Industries has developed a unique product designed to enable soldiers to cross or work within a minefield.

• 

  MILITARY / VIEWPOINT
  Operational priority kaput!
  By Lt Gen (Retd) PC Katoch

  Infrastructure development across LAC should be of grave concern to India, provided the national hierarchy studies and analyses its vital implications

• 

  AEROSPACE
  A400M passes key certification tests

  The Airbus Military A400M new generation airlifter has passed a series of key tests recently as the aircraft continues to progress towards civil and military type certification.

• 

  INTERNAL SECURITY / CYBER
  Strong growth for embedded biometric security solutions

  A new study says that the conditions are now right to create a strong market for mobile phone embedded biometric security solutions; the current global user base of four million users in 2011...

• CORPORATE
  Lockheed Martin aquires QTC Holdings

  Lockheed Martin Corporation has completed its acquisition of QTC Holdings Inc. The company, based in Diamond Bar, California, is the largest provider of outsourced medical evaluation services to the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), processing more than 4,50,000 evaluations last year.

• NEW PRODUCTS
  Harris introduces ‘Smart Radio’

  Harris Corporation, an international communications and information technology company, has introduced the RF-7800S-LR Leader Radio, the world’s first soldier ‘smart radio’ – with embedded GPS, encryption and a personal digital assistant (PDA).

• 

  MILITARY
  Prithvi-II ballistic missile successfully test-fired

  On September 26, India successfully testfired its nuclear capable Prithvi-II ballistic missile, with a range of 350 km, as part of user trial by the armed forces from Chandipur off Orissa coast, about 15 km from Balasore.

• 

  AEROSPACE
  Lockheed Martin’s F-22 Raptor resumes test flights

  Lockheed Martin’s F-22 Raptor returned to the skies recently in a series of test and production flights

• 

  INTERNAL SECURITY / BREACHES
  Actor Mark Ruffalo on ‘terror watch list’

  In 2010, the US authorities reportedly placed Hollywood star Mark Ruffalo on a terror watch list after he organised screenings for a new documentary about natural gas drilling.

• 

  MILITARY
  Saudi Arabia, Creation UK join hands for Zephyr

  Saudi Arabia’s ERAF Industries has entered into an agreement with British company Creation UK to jointly develop and build the latter’s family of Zephyr multirole vehicles in Saudi Arabia.

• 

  AEROSPACE
  Afghan Air Force receives first fixed-wing trainers

  The first three aircraft slated as initial trainers for the Afghan Air Force undergraduate pilot training programme arrived September 18, marking a milestone for the Afghan Flight School.

• 

  INTERNAL SECURITY / BREACHES
  Conman who posed as an MI5 spy

  A conman who posed as an MI5 spy during a £1 million “odyssey of deceit” was jailed for life in 2005. Robert Hendy-Freegard, a 34-year-old semi-literate former car salesman nicknamed “The Puppetmaster”, seduced and ruthlessly exploited his victims during a 10-year period.

• 

  MILITARY
  German Navy receives new RBS15 Mk3 missile

  The official roll-out of the RBS15 Mk3 heavy anti-ship missile for the German Navy took place at a ceremony of the Federal Office of Defence Technology and Procurement.

• 

  AEROSPACE
  C-27J’s operational debut in Mexican skies

  Mexico City recently hosted the traditional parade for the celebration of the Mexican Independence’s anniversary in the presence of the country’s top ranking personalities.

• 

  INTERNAL SECURITY / BREACHES
  MIT students crack ‘blackjack’

  They used their brain power to make a clean sweep of some of the casinos in the US and they did it successfully.

• 

  MILITARY
  Land-based optronics market valued at $30 billion
  By Our Special Correspondent

  Companies in the defence optronics market are set to witness growth in the future due to an increase in the number of land vehicle procurement programmes.

• 

  AEROSPACE / UNMANNED
  More drones to be deployed in Somalia and Yemen

  Despite the deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to check terrorism and piracy, emanating from Somalia and Yemen, terror activities go on unabatedly.

• INTERNAL SECURITY
  DRS Technologies develops imaging camera for surveillance

  DRS Technologies, announced that its Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Target Acquisition (DRS RSTA) Group has developed a compact, low power, digital thermal imaging camera, specifically developed for commercial applications.

• MILITARY
  Saab and Wipro join hands for land-based APS

  Saab and Wipro have signed a teaming agreement to jointly pursue opportunities for active protection system (APS) in the Indian market.

• 

  AEROSPACE / UNMANNED
  Saab avionics for Cassidian’s Talarion UAV

  Defence and security company Saab has signed a frame agreement and received a first order from the EADS company Cassidian to supply safety-critical avionics equipment for the new advanced UAV system Talarion.

• INTERNAL SECURITY
  Disaster management measures

  Areview meeting was organised recently on ‘Flood Early Warning System and Mitigation Measures’ in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, chaired by M. Shashidhar Reddy, Vice Chairman, National Disaster Management Authority.

• MILITARY
  Boeing CHAMP missile completes 1st flight test

  Boeing and the US Air Force Research Laboratory Counter-electronics High-power Microwave Advanced Missile Project (CHAMP) has successfully completed the missile’s first flight test earlier this year at the Utah Test and Training Range at Hill Air Force Base.

• 

  AEROSPACE / UNMANNED
  Northrop to ‘weaponise’ Fire Scout UAV

  Northrop Grumman Systems is being awarded a $17 million cost-plusfixed-fee contract for the rapid deployment capability weaponisation programme in support of the vertical takeoff and landing tactical unmanned aerial vehicle MQ-8B Fire Scout system.

• INTERNAL SECURITY
  Rolls-Royce to supply water jets for Indian Coast Guard

  Rolls-Royce, the global power systems company, has won a contract from Cochin Shipyard to supply 60 water jets for a new fleet of 20 fast patrol vessels (FPVs) for the Indian Coast Guard.

• MILITARY
  Japanese naval ships in Port Blair

  Japanese naval ship, JDS Uraga and JDS Tsushima, both mine counter measures vessels arrived in Port Blair on September 28.

• 

  AEROSPACE / UNMANNED
  Predator does 7,000 hours in Afghanistan

  The Predator unmanned aircraft of task group ‘Astore,’ part of the Joint Air Task Force in Herat, Afghanistan, has reached the 7,000 flying hour mark, the result of 800 missions completed since 2007...

• INTERNAL SECURITY
  India, Bangladesh commence border discussions

  For a week in Dhaka, officials of India and Bangladesh are discussing cross-border terror and effective patrolling of frontiers.

• MILITARY
  Legacy military equipment becoming irrelevant

  egacy military equipments in most European armies are becoming irrelevant for present-day operations, as they demand special capabilities for operating in urban environments and asymmetric warfare.

• AEROSPACE
  Qatar gets four C-130J Super Hercules airlifters

  Lockheed Martin officials formally delivered four C-130J Super Hercules airlifters to the Qatar on September 28. The Qatar Emiri Air Force’s new Super Hercules are the longer fuselage or “stretched” variant of the C-130J.

• INTERNAL SECURITY / CYBER
  US and Australia cyber defence pact

  The United States and Australia announced a mutual defence treaty that declared a cyber attack on one would result in retaliation by both nations; this new agreement appears to be the first instance of a mutual defence treaty in the cyber realm.

• AEROSPACE
  Lockheed Martin, Selex & Cobham down-selected for Marshall bid

  Fusion Air Traffic Management, comprised of Lockheed Martin, Finmeccanica Company Selex Systems Integration and Cobham, has been downselected for the next stage in the Project Marshall programme to provide military air traffic services for the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD).

• INTERNAL SECURITY / CYBER
  Enhanced secure network to protect government data

  BSNL and MTNL have plans of further securing networks of government departments.

• AEROSPACE / UNMANNED
  Successful flight of Argus One UAV

  World Surveillance Group, a developer of lighter-thanair unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and related technologies, has announced completion of additional tethered flight testing of its Argus One airship in Easton, Maryland.

• INTERNAL SECURITY / BREACHES
  TSA sacks officials for lax airport screening

  The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) recently sacked 28 employees after investigation revealed laxity in screening of checked luggage at the Honolulu airport.

• AEROSPACE / UNMANNED
  Z-5 debuts at Aviation China Expo

  Godenamed Z-5, the advanced unmanned helicopter from China made its debut at Aviation Expo China, which was held from September 21 to 24.