The DRDO Nishant is an Unmanned Aerial VehicleIndia's ADE (Aeronautical Development Establishment) a branch of DRDO for the Indian Armed Forces. (UAV) developed by The Nishant UAV is primarily tasked with intelligence gathering over enemy territory and also for recon, surveillance, target designation, artillery fire correction, damage assessment, ELINT and SIGINT. The UAV has an endurance of 4 h 30 min. Nishant has completed development phase and user trials.
The growing influence of China in Sri Lanka, which may upset New Delhi’s geo-political interests in South Asia, appears to have compelled the South Block weigh the pros and cons of removing restrictions on arms sales to the island nation. Official sources said the enhancement of defence ties between India and Sri Lanka figured in talks between the two sides during the recent visit of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to New Delhi. “Both leaders agreed to promote dialogue on security and defence issues of relevance to their bilateral relationship, and enhance high-level military exchanges and training of military personnel as well as impart additional training in Indian institutions for the newly recruited police personnel.
Reports of Myanmar’s nuclear ambition have raised concerns of international community regarding nuclear proliferation regime. A former major, Sai Thein Win, has publicised photographs of Myanmar’s nuclear programme. He was among one of the army officers who was sent to Russia for training in missile technology. He showed photographs of secret nuclear facility, 11 km from Thabeikkyan. He described it as the army’s nuclear battalion and mentioned that Burma is also trying to build nuclear reactor for uranium enrichment.
Ten years ago the gaps were sometimes as wide as 20 kilometres between posts along the Line of Control. And then there were avalanche prone areas that had never been patrolled. But not any more.
Hundreds of posts have mushroomed along the 160-kilometre-long area of intrusion between Mushkoh valley near Drass to Batalik and Turtuk near the Siachen glacier.
And these posts have not been vacated despite the most hostile weather conditions in the past 10 years. The Siachenisation of Kargil is complete.
In 1999, Pakistan launched multiple armed intrusions in unheld areas to cut off Siachen glacier and avenge their 1971 defeat. Now all gaps have been plugged.
In the backdrop of Kargil, one can recall, in 1999 one brigade defended the Line of Control in the Kargil sector-2,400 men.
But, in 2009 there is a full division guarding the same area - that's three infantry brigades and one artillery brigade. Almost 20,000 men have been deployed in the Drass, Kargil batalik region. A division headquarters has come up in Hanuthang for closer monitoring of all developments and to ensure that a Kargil does not happen again.
A specialised battle school has also been set up to train jawans in mountain climbing and high altitude warfare and only the best of the best pass out of the Kargil Battle School.
Army's Achilles heel Artillery was credited for winning the war for the army. Hundreds of guns pounded enemy held peaks during the conflict. Though several regiments have been deployed along the Line of Control, but the lack of artillery modernisation remains the army's Achilee's Heel.
Aerial scanning The skies above Kargil are now constantly scanned. Apart from aviation sorties by Indian Air Forceunmanned aerial vehicles fly over the area of operation to check for any enemy movement. helicopters, both searcher and heron
Vigilance on ground On ground the army has procured sophisticated hand held thermal imagers and night vision devices.
An unofficial estimate suggests that Rs 8 to 10 crores is being spent per day to sustain the troops at this high altitude battlefield.
But all along the LOC one fact is evident - that whatever be the cost it will never again be said that the Indian army was caught off guard.
A LARGE number of "experts" have written numerous articles after India's strategic nuclear submarine, Arihant, was launched on July 26, 2009 by Mrs Gursharan Kaur, wife of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Also, nuclear scientists proudly unveiled the "half boat", or the shore-based miniaturised nuclear reactor, at Kalpakkam on July 29, 2009.
Earlier, in February 2008, the Defence Research and Development Organisation made an unprecedented announcement in the press about the testing of an SLBM (submarine launched ballastic missile). In my opinion, the unnecessary publicity given to these three events should have been avoided.
The nation -- in keeping with worldwide practice -- should have announced only the commissioning, post-successful sea and weapon trials of the Arihant, which is the first in its class.
Unfortunately, in a hurry to get individual achievements lauded, a lot of premature and needless publicity was given. Hopefully, this project will fructify as planned, without the recent "fizzle" controversy surrounding our 1998 thermonuclear test.
This article tries to explain, in simple terms, the unclassified, but misunderstood mysteries of a nuclear submarine.
Let us begin with the miniaturised reactor (known as PWR or pressurised water reactor, similar to the light water reactors, being imported for civilian power plants after the Indo-US nuclear deal of 2008). Common sense dictates that a submarine crew living, eating and working within 20 to 50 metres of the submarine reactor needs to be "safe" from radioactive materials, that is, alpha and beta particles and gamma radiation. Hence, the submarine reactor must be safe, simple, rugged and capable of operating in all situations that a nuclear submarine encounters on surface and underwater.
Secondly, it must be silent. This stealth is achieved by ensuring that the number of pumps, specially the PHT pumps (primary heat transfer pumps), that re-circulate the "closed" first loop radioactive water between the reactor core and the steam boilers, are reduced to a minimum or, in some cases, not used at low submarine speeds by having a "convection system" which does the work of the PHT pumps. Till the '70s, nuclear submarines used two reactors, each with steam boilers and PHT pumps for redundancy though these added to the radiated noise.
But once reactor reliability was established, most advanced nations now use a single reactor for more silent operations. Theoretically, a single reliable PWR reactor, with a single steam boiler and a single PHT pump, would produce the least noise.
The second issue mentioned by "experts" is the reactor life and how the Americans have been operating their ninth generation submarine reactors with 25-year life spans, as compared to the rest of the world. Our "experts" should remember that the world's first nuclear submarine, the American USS Nautilius, had a reactor core life of only two years.There is no doubt that the Americans are 50 years ahead of India in this regard, but we must understand that a safe submarine reactor requires a combination of metallurgy and enriched Uranium-235 (U-235) to achieve longer reactor life. And this data is a closely-guarded secret for obvious reasons.
Some articles in the Indian media, about using 80 to 93 per cent enriched U-235 in a submarine reactor core, are incorrect.
This use of weapon grade U-235, may, under some emergent situations, "convert" a reactor into a fission bomb by making the transition from "critical" to "super critical" stage during operations.
We should be happy that our scientists have made a submarine reactor (irrespective of whether it is a few generations behind the Americans and Russians). The important thing here is to see how the reactor operates in harbour and sea trials. Based on this initial experience, improvements can be made to the life and stealth qualities of this reactor.
The third issue mentioned by the "experts" is the reactor power and why we need an SSBN to have higher reactor power to transit at a speed of 30 knots.
Reactor power, as indicated, is thermal and not electrical (eg 100 MW is 100 megawatts of thermal power). Most SSBNs need a transit speed of below 20 knots since their task is to avoid contact with enemy warships and submarines and launch their SLBMs when ordered in a second strike.
Given our geographical location vis-à-vis our two nuclear-armed adversaries, an SSBN with a speed of 20 to 24 knots, but with SLBMs of about 5,000-km range, should suffice. It should be noted that SSNs (or tactical nuclear attack submarines), which are required to search and sink enemy warships and submarines, would need higher speeds (over 30 knots, which, depending on the SSN size, would require a single reactor of 160 to 200 MW or two reactors, each of about 80 to 100 MW).
There are a few other factors which decide submarine stealth -- improved shock mounts, "rafting" (where the reactor and machinery are not in direct contact with the pressure hull), hydrodynamic hull shape, skewed propellers or the new pump jet propulsion system, "static" electrical machinery, anechoic tiling, silent weapon and garbage discharge systems among others). Similarly, greater diving depths are a combination of metallurgy, pressure hull thickness and frame spacing (steel frames are the inner skeletons which, along with the keel, provide support to the pressure hull.
For example, an expensive titanium-hulled submarine can dive to twice the depth of a modern steel-hulled submarine.
Also, in the case of two "similar" steel-hulled submarines, the one with a thicker pressure hull and "closer, thicker frame spacing" would dive deeper, but would pay a penalty in loss of some speed. Diving depths of submarines are a closely guarded secret, as are noise figures and weapon-firing depths. A nuclear submarine also needs a system to generate oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide and other gases to enable human beings to live and operate in demanding conditions underwater. Production of drinkable sea water and the ability to get rid of garbage (food and human waste) are equally important and technologically demanding.
Our scientists and the Navy personnel involved in work on the Arihant have indeed achieved a major milestone. However, much more needs to be done, and I hope it is done without any unwise and unnecessary publicity.
In addition, India now also needs to begin work on a faster, deeper-diving SSN (tactical nuclear attack submarine) to provide its Navy with a major sea denial capability in the vast expanses of the Indian Ocean. This SSN will require a single 160 to 200 MW reactor and improved stealth and complex metallurgy. We are beginners in the field of nuclear submarines and have a lot of catching up to do before we start celebrating. VICE-ADMIRAL ARUN KUMAR SINGH retired as Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval Command, Visakhapatnam
A soldier of India's elite Assam Rifles stands guard at the India Gate, New Delhi.)
In addition to the regular armed forces, India also has paramilitary forces. These forces have grown dramatically since independence. There are twelve paramilitary organizations, which have an authorized strength of around 1.3 million personnel. In 1994, their reported actual strength was 692,500. These organizations include the Coast Guard Organisation and the Defence Security Force, which are subordinate to the Ministry of Defence. Paramilitary forces subordinate to the Ministry of Home Affairs include the Assam Rifles, the Border Security Force, the Central Industrial Security Force, the Central Reserve Police Force, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, and the Rashtriya Rifles (National Rifles). The National Security Guards, a joint antiterrorist contingency force, are charged with protection of high-level persons (the so-called very very important persons--VVIPs) and are subordinate to the Office of the Prime Minister (also sometimes known as the Prime Minister's Secretariat.) The guards are composed of elements of the armed forces, the Central Reserve Police Force, and the Border Security Force. The Special Frontier Force also is subordinate to the Office of the Prime Minister. The Railway Protection Force is subordinate to the Ministry of Railways. At the local level, there is the Provincial Armed Constabulary, which is controlled by the governments of the states and territories (see State and Other Police Services, this ch.). During the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, local police forces could not deal with the mounting array of sectarian, ethnic, and regional conflicts, and paramilitary forces were increasingly called on for assistance. In addition to security and guard duties, paramilitary organizations assist local and state-level police forces in maintaining public order and shield the army from excessive use in "aid-to-the-civil-power" operations. These operations essentially involve quelling public disorder when local police forces prove inadequate to the task. The Coast Guard Organisation was constituted as an Armed Force of the Union in 1978 under the administrative control of the Ministry of Defence (although it is funded by the Ministry of Home Affairs), following its 1977 establishment as a temporary navy element. Its principal mission is to protect the country's maritime assets, particularly India's 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone and the marine resources contained in the area, which comprises nearly 2.8 million square kilometers. The coast guard is also responsible for the prevention of poaching and smuggling, the control of marine pollution, and carrying out search-and-rescue missions. Under the command of a director general, the coast guard is organized into three national maritime zones: the Western Maritime Zone, headquartered at Bombay; the Eastern Maritime Zone, headquartered at Madras; and the Andaman and Nicobar Maritime Zone, headquartered at Port Blair. The zones are further subdivided into district headquarters, one each for the eight maritime states on the mainland and two in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In times of emergency, the coast guard is expected to work with the navy. In the late 1980s, coast guard units from the eastern zone supported Indian peacekeeping efforts in Sri Lanka. The coast guard's equipment includes about fifty ships, nine helicopters, and thirteen fixed-wing aircraft (see table 38, Appendix). Another Ministry of Defence paramilitary organization has a security mission. The Defence Security Force guards Ministry of Defence facilities throughout India. The Border Security Force was established in the closing days of the 1965 Indo-Pakistani conflict. Its principal mission involves guarding the Indo-Pakistani line of actual control in Jammu and Kashmir as well as borders with Bangladesh and Burma. It works in internal security and counterinsurgency operations in Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, and Punjab. The border force has also been used to deal with communal rioting. Another Ministry of Homes Affairs paramilitary force deployed in Jammu and Kashmir is the Rashtriya Rifles. In 1994 it had 5,000 troops, all of whom served in Jammu and Kashmir. Some observers expected the force to grow to thirty battalions, with around 25,000 personnel. In March 1995, Indian television referred to the Delta Force of the "fledgling" Rashtriya Rifles. It was reported that the force was operating against "terrorists" and "foreign mercenaries" in Doda District in south-central Jammu and Kashmir. Founded in 1939, the Central Reserve Police Force is the country's oldest paramilitary organization. It maintains internal order when local and state-level forces prove inadequate to the task. The Central Reserve Police Force in Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, and Punjab has worked in counterinsurgency operations. This force also was dispatched to Sri Lanka during India's 1987-90 involvement there. The Ministry of Defence's weekly armed forces magazine, Sainik Samachar , reported that the Mahila Battalion (Women's Battalion) of the Central Reserve Police Force had "proved its mettle in hot warlike conditions in Sri Lanka," and had established women as "a force to reckon with" in the paramilitary. Another significant paramilitary organization is the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, established in 1962 in the aftermath of the war with China. It is primarily responsible for the security of the border with China. The Special Frontier Force, established in 1962 in the aftermath of the war with China, is less well publicized by the government. Apparently it is an elite, parachute-qualified commando unit, nominally subordinate to the army and deployed along sensitive areas of the border with China, and recruited partially from among border-area hill tribes and Tibetan refugees. The Special Frontier Force also appears to have a domestic security role; members of the force were involved in the Golden Temple siege in 1984. In 1994 its reported strength was 3,000, making it one of the smallest paramilitary forces.
The DRDO Nishant is an Unmanned Aerial VehicleIndia's ADE (Aeronautical Development Establishment) a branch of DRDO for the Indian Armed Forces. (UAV) developed by The Nishant UAV is primarily tasked with intelligence gathering over enemy territory and also for recon, surveillance, target designation, artillery fire correction, damage assessment, ELINT and SIGINT. The UAV has an endurance of 4 h 30 min. Nishant has completed development phase and user trials.
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