UK unveils unmanned fighter jet 'of the future'

Tue Jul 13, 5:39 am ET
LONDON (AFP) – An unmanned jet capable of striking long-range targets has been dubbed the "combat aircraft of the future" by the Ministry of Defence.
The Taranis -- named after the Celtic god of thunder -- was unveiled at a ceremony at BAE Systems in Warton, Lancashire, on Monday.
The £142.5 million prototype is the size of a light aircraft and has been equipped with stealth technology to make it virtually undetectable.
In a press release, the MoD described the Taranis as "a prototype unmanned combat aircraft of the future."
UK MoD unveils unmanned fighter jet 'of the future'

GRAVESEND: Indian RAF war hero to publish life story

9:00am Sunday 21st February 2010
Squadron Leader Mahinder Singh Pujji joined the RAF in 1940 looking for an adventure. Now aged 91, he tells DAVID MILLS how he became the eyes of the army.

WHEN 22-year-old Mahinder Singh Pujji spotted an Indian newspaper advert calling on pilots to join the RAF in 1940, he eagerly volunteered.

But the Shell Oil refuelling superintendent had not heard much about Hitler, nor did he know much about the war.

Sqn Ldr Pujji always wanted to fly and his dream was realised when he got his pilot licence in 1937 after serving an apprenticeship with Himalayan Airlines.

His employers gladly released him to join the RAF, stating he could have his job back, if he returned alive.

Sqn Ldr Pujji went on to fly 25 different types of aircraft, including Spitfires, Hurricanes and Tomahawks.

He had more than one dice with death and his military achievements led him to meet world leaders such as Winston Churchill, Gandhi, King Farouk of Egypt, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II.

Sqn Ldr Pujji, who lives in sheltered housing in The Grove, Gravesend, has written a book about his experiences during the war called For King and Another Country, due to be published later this year.

His father, one of the few Indian senior officers in government during the Raj, did not agree with his son’s choice to join the RAF.
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GRAVESEND: Indian RAF war hero to publish life story

100 IAF pilots applied for VRS, more may follow

23/09/2009
Gandhinagar: Air Chief Marshal P V Naik today said over 100 pilots of the Indian Air Force had applied for Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) as there were "fewer" promotional avenues for them.

"We have a very steep pyramid structure (in the Air Force) where there are fewer avenues of promotions," Naik told reporters here in reply to a question on IAF pilots seeking VRS.

"When one does not get promotions after 24-25 years of service, one wants to leave and try alternative avenues. Off hand I can tell that we have over 100 applications for VRS from pilots," Air chief said.

Naik said the number of pilots opting for VRS could increase after the improvement in market situation.

"Since there is a slump in the market outside there are fewer applications. Once the slump is over the (number of) applications might increase," he said.
Source: PTI
100 IAF pilots applied for VRS, more may follow
Related reading
India's aircraft strength one-third of China

India ready for war? Forces grapple with delays, red tape

20 Jan 2009, 0602 hrs IST, Rajat Pandit, TNN

NEW DELHI: For all its aspirations about becoming a superpower, India continues to fumble in formulating strategic plans to systematically build the country's military "capabilities" in tune with its geopolitical objectives.

For one, the government is yet to finalise the 11th Defence Plan (2007-2012) due to wrangling between the finance and defence ministries. For another, similar is the fate of the much-touted LTIPP-2007-2022 (long-term integrated perspective plan) till now, say sources.

"Successive governments have failed to formulate budgetary plans with a concrete strategic underpinning," said a top official. India does spend a lot on arms deals but it happens in a haphazard manner, without clear prioritisation, and is dogged by huge delays.

India's defence expenditure, of course, has also fallen below 2% of its GDP for the first time in decades this fiscal despite military experts demanding at least 3%. Even as UPA government now belatedly fast-tracks procurement of military hardware and software in wake of 26/11, here's a look at some of the gaps in military capabilities:

Nuclear Deterrence: India has Agni missiles as well as fighters to deliver nukes but no nuclear-powered submarines armed with nuclear-tipped missiles. The "nuclear triad" is still some four years away from completion, with the 25-year-old indigenous programme to build nuclear subs under the ATV (advanced technology vessel) project yet to come to fruition.

Submarines: To China's 57 attack submarines and submarine-launched ballistic missiles, India has just 16 aging diesel-electric submarines, with huge serviceability problems. Only half of Navy's 10 Russian Kilo-class, four German HDW and two virtually-obsolete Foxtrot submarines are operationally available. The Rs 18,798-crore Scorpene project will deliver six submarines only between 2012 and 2017. Pakistan, meanwhile, is building its submarine arm, inducting three French Agosta-90B vessels.

Fighters: Airpower may be decisive during wars but IAF continues to grapple with a free-fall in its fighter squadrons, down to 32 from its sanctioned strength of 39.5. Though 44 squadrons are needed to meet "a full conflict" with Pakistan, while maintaining "a dissuasive posture" against China, IAF will reach the 39.5 mark only by 2017. Delays in both the indigenous Tejas Light Combat Aircraft as well as the procurement process for 126 new multi-role combat fighters in the $10.4 billion project has led to this situation.

Artillery: The Bofors ghost has derailed Army's artillery modernisation plan, valued to be well over Rs 15,000 crore. There has been no induction of big guns since the 1986 procurement of 410 Bofors 155mm/39-calibre howitzers. Army wants to induct 400 155mm/52-calibre towed guns, with another 1,100 of them to be manufactured indigenously, in a Rs 8,000-crore project; 180 wheeled self-propelled howitzers for around Rs 4,700 crore; 140 air-mobile ultra-light howitzers for around Rs 2,900 crore.

Night-Fighting: Army, in particular, requires a strong dose of third-generation thermal imaging sights and night-vision devices. It wants to equip all its tanks, which include 1,200 T-72 tanks, with solid NF capabilities by around 2010-2011.

Aircraft Carriers: Navy has long demanded three carriers but it does not have even one operating at present since the ageing 28,000-tonne INS Viraat is currently undergoing another life-extension refit to ensure it can run for five more years.
India ready for war? Forces grapple with delays, red tape

IAF chief ‘pleased’ with pay panel proposals

Bangalore, November 12
Air Chief Marshal F.H. Major’s comment here today on the “attractiveness” of the sixth pay commission’s recommendations will be a paean to the ears of the central government, which has been rattled by the dissatisfaction expressed by the armed forces over the discriminatory nature of the recommendations.

The Air Chief Marshal today said the panel’s recommendations on pay packets of the IAF personnel were “attractive” and would help in bringing youngsters to the IAF.

The IAF chief, who was here today in connection with a function at the Air Force Technical College, said: “The IAF is an attractive option after the sixth pay commission”. Major was asked by a reporter whether the slump in the aviation industry would be a blessing in disguise for the IAF as it would stop the exodus of IAF pilots to commercial airliners.

“I do not wish ill to any industry”, Major said on the slump in the aviation sector. He added that losing pilots to commercial air operators had never been a problem with the IAF. “The IAF had never been really bothered by this”, he said.

The IAF is at present having a shortfall of 1,352 officers. Against a sanctioned strength of 12,120 officers, it is having a positioned strength 10,768 officers.

Major told reporters that IAF was now going through a stage of massive modernisation. He said during 11th, 12th and 13th plans, a huge amount of technology was going to be brought into the IAF and this would totally change the IAF’s complexion within a few years. With regard to modernisation, Major mentioned introducing new weapons and use of sensors by IAF. The IAF would soon emerge as a major aerospace power, he said.

The IAF chief said he was “very pleased” with the three dimensional Rohini radar developed jointly by DRDO and BEL. The IAF had placed orders for 30 such radars, he said.

Major also revealed that the IAF would shortly acquire 128 new fighter jets. Evaluation of the jets is at an advanced stage, he said.

He replied in the negative when asked whether the police action against an Army officer in the Malegaon blast case would affect the morale of the Army. “The Indian Army is 1.1 million strong. How can one incident affect the morale of the force”, he said.
Shubhadeep Choudhury
Tribune News Service
IAF chief ‘pleased’ with pay panel proposals

Heed the cry of the armed forces

"Fighter pilot." Whenever I introduced myself that way, while in service and now out of it, I could always espy a sense of awe and admiration.

Yet, I have forever regarded the infantry officer more than anyone else. For, I have been mesmerised by his mettle to command unquestioned obedience from the men he led into battle when everyone knew a likely death lurked round the bend.

But the soldier also knew that his officer would do his utmost to ensure the soldier's safety, and thus reposed unwavering faith in his leadership and followed him in the charge, hollering the war cry.

Infantry officers are moulded out of an extraordinary metal and they form a rare breed. And warriors like them are the ones who make soldiering the noble profession that it is. Where else will you find subordinates ready to live and die for you?

Unlike this sod, the Union government does not apparently think in such mushy terms about the image of its soldiers, sailors and airmen. Otherwise, it would not have compelled the three services chiefs to petition the defence minister to restore the existing parity with those from other central services, with respect to the Sixth Central Pay Commission (SCPC) awards. (A section of the media regrettably painted this as whinging and blackmail by the defence forces. Far from the truth. More than pay, what they are actually pleading is for the restoration of status and honour trampled hitherto by successive governments.)

In response, the government has constituted a panel of three top cabinet ministers to address the discordant subjects (upgrade lieutenant colonel to pay band 4, place lieutenant general in higher administrative grade plus and restore pensionary benefits of personnel below officer rank) highlighted by the chiefs.

The situation report
The forces had earlier raised several disquieting anomalies in the SCPC recommendations, and sought equitable remuneration for the kind of toil they do day in, day out. The government tasked a committee of secretaries to fix it. Given the composition of IAS officers in the committee, only a nincompoop would have expected justice for the servicemen.

The committee should have conjured up adequate pecuniary compensation for the posts in which the officers have to serve long, and also where the deficit of officers was most grave. But instead of smoothening ruffled feathers, its prescription made more hackles to rise. The fear of antagonists sabotaging the hope for obtaining a fair deal had come true.

Worse, the government twisted the knife in at a time when the three services were fighting a rearguard battle to attract talented candidates and to stem the exit of middle- rung officers. Not a soul in the government, evidently, has grasped the acuteness of crisis hobbling the armed forces. Nor has anyone attempted to fathom the depth of their discontentment nor estimate the fallout of the peacetime attrition.

Small wonder then that the services, which lumped the humiliation of its systematic downgrading all these years, were forced to tell the nation that they have had enough. The high and mighty clearly had not heard of the idiom even a worm will turn.

Military vis-a-vis civil service: two universes
Forget the primary role of defending our national territory, waters and air space. Forget fighting the armed inimical elements in Jammu & Kashmir, the Northeast and elsewhere. Now the services are requisitioned to do the salvage job, every day.

When the deluge ravaged Bihar, Assam, UP and Orissa recently, the army, navy and air force had to be marshalled to mount rescue missions. The civil administration was conspicuous by its truancy, making one wonder why crores are spent on such slothful and corrupt bodies, as the army will be SOSed ultimately. Mind you, these bodies are headed by IAS officers, the lot mainly responsible for the rotten state of governance in this country.

Not just natural disasters; they are summoned when the police bungle too. When a party of the anti-Naxal force Greyhounds was ambushed at Chitrakonda in the hills of Malkangiri district of Orissa on June 29, while boating in a reservoir, as the escape routes were heavily mined, the rescue operations had to be supported by air in marginal weather. The air effort and the team of 30 divers were provided by Eastern Naval Command headquartered at Visakhapatnam [Images].

Let me recall a recent news brief in a mainstream English daily as a primer to give you a peek into the contrastive ethos of the military and civilian universes. The vice chief of naval staff lamented that when the navy was called in for rescue and relief in inundated parts of Bihar, formal orders did not come in immediately from the government, and the financial head of the ministry of defence refused to release funds, forcing the navy to use its non-public funds to rush relief teams.

For the babu, the written order dripping officialese is gospel, does not matter if such devotion leads to the drowning of hundreds of citizens!

The serviceman could be excused if he thought that he was being used by the politicians and bureaucrats to conceal their incompetence and to clean up the accumulated mess excreted by their rank misrule.

The army, given the emasculation of the state police, will continue to be employed for internal security -- counter-terrorism, and before long it will be tasked to crush the subnationalist forces and insurrectionists like the Maoists. With body bags set to become an everyday sight, how many parents will be willing to send their sons to this death trap?

Since the very idea of India is at stake, both the polity and policy mavens need to put heads together to pre-empt the portent. But who, ensconced in ivory towers, cares?

The holy warrant of precedence
Why is the State unconscionably shoving its boots on the face of the military? What explains its downhill journey in the warrant of precedence?

Lately, in an article, retired Lt Gen Harwant Singh cited why the defence officers were being hard-bone-by. The bureaucracy, taking advantage of the Congress party's detestation of the military, kept the pot stirred by raising the odds of a military coup, and worked up this fear to emasculate the status of the top echelon, at the cost of the nation's overall strategic disadvantage.

A committee of secretaries revises the warrant of precedence periodically. Gen Harwant Singh writes that as the chief of defence staff in 1981, Gen O P Malhotra raised the issue of downgrading of service officers in the warrant of precedence (this has direct bearing on the pay).

In response, the committee of secretaries recorded, "Military officers were placed unduly high in the old warrant of precedence, presumably as it was considered essential for officers of an army of occupation to be given special status and authority." Mind you, it is not Mirwaiz Umar Farooq but the bureaucrats that called the Indian Army [Images] as an army of occupation!

Of course, Gen Malhotra riposted that the pliant colonial bureaucracy (civil servants and police) was the tool of oppression wielded by the Raj to quell the freedom movement, not the army. In fact, the strike of naval ratings in Bombay on February 18, 1946, that spread to major cities was what signalled to the British that it was time to pack their bags and decamp.

Gen Harwant Singh rightly concluded that it was highly malicious for anyone to decry the Indian Army as an army of occupation.

Once the political class colluded with the bureaucracy, there was no stopping the descent down the warrant of precedence. Perhaps the mandarins still see the military as an army of occupation, which should explain why they are pulling out all the stops to belittle it. Hence their effort to further throttle the services through the SCPC.

Course of action
When I was commissioned into the IAF in 1984, the air force pilot had the highest starting pay among the central government Class I officers. (That is history; the Book has been overwritten several times.)

Smitten by aircraft, bewitched by flying, fascinated by the frisson of foiling gravity, I joined the IAF. The smell of adventure in the air, the prestige associated with the uniform and the decent quality of life it offered were simply inciting appetisers. Oddly, till I was handed my first pay packet, after prevailing three rigorous years at the National Defence Academy and another exacting year at the Air Force Academy, I did not know what my starting pay would be!

Will I embrace the IAF again? I doubt. Gone are those days of chasing quixotic idealism to quench an inner itch. Now lads want to know how much their sweat will swell the bank account. Unless military service is made attractive, few will want to join it. Period.

A decade back, an IAS officer of Maharashtra cadre, a friend, told me he had brought out a paper on the need for officers both military and civilian to bury the hatchet, complement each other, and work together for the larger cause of nation-building instead of cutting the other down to size. Although his supremacist brethren laughed his treatise out of court, I ditto his standpoint.

Though carved out of the same governmental womb, the professions of arms and file-pushing are as different, alas as cold to each other, as the Ambani brothers. So, in the long run, the answer lies in delinking both the pay and stature of the armed forces from their civilian counterparts.

As the nature of jobs, career prospects, hierarchy, attributes, hardships and workplaces are poles apart, the very precept of inter se parity sounds disjointed. Actually it is preposterous to liken a major general with 33 years of service to a joint secretary having 17 years under his belt.

The pyramidal promotion- prospects of the forces and everyone-makes-it framework of the civil services are beyond comparison. Therefore, prudence suggests that instead of indulging in structural tinkering through pay commissions, it makes sense to have a separate pay commission for the defence forces. That is the only durable solution.

As for now, the recently convened ministerial panel must heed the cry of the armed forces and reinstate its stolen status and benefits. It is their due. High morale is the best known force multiplier.

A nation neglects its soldiers at its peril.

M P Anil Kumar is a former fighter pilot of the Indian Air Force.
Heed the cry of the armed forces