DefExpo India 2014

The 8th edition of Defexpo India, a biennial exhibition on land, naval, internal security and defence system was held in Delhi recently. Organised by the Ministry of Defence, the four-day show is considered to be one of the Asia`s biggest land and maritime shows.

Speaking at the inaugural, Defence Minister AK Antony said, “The government is taking necessary steps to modernise the armed forces so that they are wellequipped with the best equipment, weapon systems and technology.” He also said that efforts are being made to accelerate the pace of indigenisation in the defence sector.

This year, more than 600 companies, both foreign and Indian, took part in the show. It witnessed participation from 30 countries, namely, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovak Republic, South Africa, South Korea (RoK), Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, Ukraine and USA. Russia was the biggest participating country in terms of indoor and outdoor space occupied, and represented with the maximum number of 37 companies.

BEL Inks MoU with Sagem
Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sagem Défense Sécurité, France, to explore cooperation in the production and supply of navigational sensors like periscope, inertial navigational system and optronic mast to the Indian Navy for its various platforms under consideration for future induction. As per the agreement, the two will work together for 24 months and if considered necessary, the contract can be extended to a further period.

The Indian Navy has ambitious plans of inducting ships and submarines into the service in the near future. Accordingly, the ship and submarine construction programme has been approved by the government. Naval platforms have large-scale requirement of sensors such as SIGMA–40, ring laser gyro, optronic mast, attack periscope and radar mast for submarines.

OIS-AT Launches Radar System, Enters into Agreement with Various Companies

• OIS Advanced Technology (OIS-AT) has launched the 3D Avian (Bird) radar system. The system provides complete information essential for flight safety – altitude, position and vector of birds over the entire airport space and has a host of features which include — detection range (max): 11 km; operating temperature range: -20C to +55C; 360 degrees azimuth coverage with sector blanking option; ability to pin point precise bird location; operation height : 10,000 ft; and sustainable wind speed of 100 kmph enables risk and habitat assessment.
• Work is well underway in the development of foliage penetrating radar based on SAR – synthetic aperture technology, to meet homeland security requirements in India, announced OIS-AT. This radar will also be able to identify mines or IEDs just below the ground surface, according to the company. Target prototype availability will be in 18 months. The company plans to develop variants for both manned and unmanned fixed wing aircraft. An aircraft or a UAV mounted with an OIS-AT foliage penetrating radar would be able to fly at an altitude of 1,500-4,500 metres above ground level, providing a swath of 2.5-7.5 km. The standard operating altitude is 3,000 meters with a ground swath of 2.5 km.
• OIS-AT has entered into a strategic partnership with Israel’s AeroSentinel. As per the agreement, the former will be latter’s OEM of the Quad Copter UAVs and advance this product in India.
• The company also announced its strategic alliance with ART, Spain. Under this agreement OIS-AT will perform all the functions of an OEM for Area Surveillance Radars (ASRs) in India.
• It has also entered into a strategic partnership with Israel’s Netline Communication Technologies Ltd under which it will perform major functions of delivering Advanced Jammers to Indian customers.

Saab Teams Up With Various Indian Companies

• Saab and the Kalyani Group have entered into a strategic alliance to partner and address key Indian army air defence projects, including the VSHORAD and SRSAM requirements. The agreement will initially focus on these two programmes for India. Saab is offering a system based on the RBS 70 NG missile system for VSHORAD, delivering a highly accurate, man-portable system with 24/7 all-target capability that is immune to countermeasures, said the company. For the SRSAM requirement Saab is offering a unique combination of its Giraffe AMB 3-D radar and the BAMSE advanced ground based air defence missile system.
• Saab and Ashok Leyland have joined forces to compete for the Indian Army Short Range Surface to Air Missile (SRSAM) air defence programme. The two are offering a new solution that combines the Saab BAMSE missile system with Ashok Leyland high-mobility vehicles. The Saab BAMSE SRSAM is an all-weather, all-target, air defence missile system that can be deployed to protect fixed and mobile assets. It is a purpose-built ground-based air defence missile and is the latest in a long line of successfully developed and deployed Saab missile systems. Ashok Leyland will deliver high-mobility vehicles to transport the BAMSE SRSAM solution. All sub-units within the BAMSE SRSAM are being integrated with the Ashok Leyland Super Stallion 8×8, a high-mobility vehicle capable of operating in all types of terrain under all weather conditions. The complete SRSAM system includes the GIRAFFE AMB, a powerful 3D surveillance radar and command and control system intended for short and medium-range ground based air defence and the BAMSE MCC missile launcher with six ready-to-fire missiles.

GAGAN System Reaches Certification Milestone
The GPS-Aided Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) system jointly developed by Airports Authority of India (AAI), ISRO and Raytheon recently achieved certification level Required Navigation Performance (RNP) 0.1.

The GAGAN system is a Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS) equipped with the most advanced air navigation technology available. Aircraft equipped with SBAS receivers may utilise GAGAN signals in Indian airspace for en route navigation and non-precision approaches without vertical guidance. This capability will allow aircraft to follow more efficient flight paths through congested airspace, noise sensitive areas or difficult terrain, said the company.

The system includes 15 reference stations strategically placed in India to optimise signal availability, uplink stations, master control stations, communication network and associated software, all integrated to two geostationary earth orbit satellites transmitting GPS corrections in C and L bands

GAGAN is the fourth SBAS system certified for operational use. The system provides coverage for the entire Indian flight infor-information region via broadcast signals from the Indian built GSAT 8 and GSAT 10 satellites.

Q/A: Nikhil Khanna, Country Director, Raytheon/ Tim Scempp, Technical Director, Navigation and Landing Systems, Raytheon

Can you tell us about the implications of this certification?
The ground system is certified for use, meaning that an aircraft can now equip and use the signal from GAGAN geosynchronous satellite to navigate. Till now, the system was not testified, that is, non-aviation users produced the signal to give better accuracy but aircraft was not allowed to use it. But now that it is certified, aircraft can use it.

What now is going to be Raytheon’s role in the project?
We are working under a maintenance contract with AAI to get the system to the point where it can be certified
for PTV-1 which is a landing capability. We will also be maintaining the system and ensuring that it is running
smoothly.

Rockwell Collins to Provide 721S Radio to IAF
Rockwell Collins’ new 721S Fixed Site Ground radio has been selected by India-based Park Controls & Communications (P) Ltd. as an integral part of an advanced telemetry system for the Indian Air Force. This is the first selection of the 721S radio for the Indian military.
“In addition to being the preferred replacement radio for 17,000 fielded GRC-171 UHF air traffic control radios, the flexibility of the software designed, IP-based 721S lends itself to seamless integration in a multitude of applications,” said Ram Prasad, Managing Director for Rockwell Collins India.
The highly reliable, long-range 721S radio is fully interoperable with the legacy radios in use by military forces and offers remote control features for ‘lights out’ operation, reducing manpower needs. The radio also features the company’s patented Clarity technology, which eliminates background noise in both transmit and receive modes. It is also configured to operate efficiently in any co-site environment through the use of internal tracking filters, said the company.

Q/A: Ram Prasad, Managing Director, Rockwell Collins India


What brings you to DefExpo?
India needs equipments for modernisation and we feel that we have the right equipments. In fact, some of them are tailor made for applications in India — be it aircraft communications or ground communications or avionics. We feel that we have the right products for India. It is win-win situation for both.

What products are you showcasing?
We are showcasing a couple of things — HF equipments, and our flagship next-gen software defined radio which is the requirement of all the three forces — navy, army and air force. SDA comes with networking capability, is very reliable and compact powerful radio. We have also got a lot of equipments and avionics which are touch sensitive displays. We are sure people would love to see them. This year, we have also bought a new system called Persistent Surveillance System (PSS) — this is something that has been developed in Australia. It is meant for security of vital areas — be it airports, ammunition depots, etc. India has expressed interest in these systems.