February-March 2017 Volume 12 No. 1 `100.00 (India-Based Buyer Only) AERO INDIA 2017 SPECIAL MEET US AT HALL AB (AB3.46) www.spsnavalforces.com ROUNDUP THE ONLY NAVAL MAGAZINE FOR NAVIES ACROSS ASIA-PACIFIC PAGE 4 COVER STORY EXCLUSIVE Interview PHOTOGRAPH: Boeing Ashok Kumar Gupta Secretary, Defence Production PAGE 5 india’s Maritime Reach — Navy Budget 2017-18 The total allocation for defence is `2,74,114 crore (about $42.17 billion) which is 6.2 per cent higher than last year’s allocation of `2,58,000 crore and is 1.62 per cent of the GD P. Lt General Naresh Chand (Retd) PAGE 7 Royal Malaysian Navy With a coastline of 4,675 km, an exclusive economic zone covering an area of 5,98,540 square km, and geographically straddling some of the most important Indian Navy’s P-8I Long-Range Maritime Reconnaissance & Anti-Submarine Warfare aircraft sea lines of communication in the world, Malaysia is without doubt a maritime nation with an important role to play. Lt General Naresh Chand (Retd) PAGE 8 EXCLUSIVE Navantia is Here Modernisation of (in India) to Remain Indian Naval Aviation The Vision Statement of the Indian Navy envisages itself as the maritime power for national prosperity in the form of multi-dimensional, multi-spectrum and networked force Neetu Dhulia of SP’s Naval Forces had an exclusive opportunity to visit the Frigate n REAR ADMIRAL SUSHIL RAMSAY (RETD) Indian Naval Aviation assumes greater carrier-borne fighter aircraft was found in F-105 – Cristóbal Colón, visiting Mumbai significance and relevance. Hawker, Sea Harriers, FRS 51 in 1983. This and to interact with the Commander Ignacio HE INDIAN NAVY WEBSITE in versatile aircraft of Falkland War fame Cuartero Lorenzo, Commanding Officer, and his team along with Navantia’s Alberto its preamble on Indian Naval Fixed-wing Aircraft served as a shining star of the Indian Naval Gorordo, General Manager India, and Aviation enunciates, Current Carrier-borne Multi-role Fighters Aviation, fulfilling all operational commit- Carmen Gonzalez Martin. projects, ranging from acquisi- The induction of Shorts Sealand, light ments, performing brilliantly during joint tion of an aircraft carrier to amphibious aircraft in 1953, marked exercises at all levels, earning kudos until PLUS Tfitment of the most modern and state- the birth of Indian Naval Aviation. Seven its retirement in 2016. National Defense of-the-art equipment onboard aerial years later with the commissioning of INS With the acquisition of INS Vikrama- Authorization Act of 2017 platforms, are in consonance with the Vikrant, the first aircraft carrier in the ditya, a hunt began to identify a modern and Indo-US Defence envisaged growth of the Navy and the whole of Asian region, Hawker Seahawk aircraft to be the backbone of the Air Wing Partnership 10 challenges that it must face in the future. was inducted in 1960 as the fighter plane of the carrier. Fourth-generation Mikoyan, News in Brief 11 Indian Naval Aviation is set to propel to operate from her deck. Soon thereafter MiG-29K, multi-role fighter was selected itself into the major league of tomor- anti-submarine and electronic surveil- and after suitable refurbishment is now row s navies. The Vision Statement of lance aircraft Breguet Alize followed suit the centrepiece of the Indian Naval Avia- the Indian Navy envisages itself as the to complete the fixed-wing component of tion. Nomenclature wise this aircraft could maritime power for national prosperity, the Air Wing of Vikrant. be likened to Indian Air Force s MiG-29M, in the form of multi-dimensional, multi- Several decades later and with the however, there were substantial modifica- spectrum and networked force. Viewed impending de-commissioning of Seahawk, tions and changes incorporated to make APPLIED FOR in this perspective the modernisation of White Tigers, a replacement of a multi-role the aircraft worthy of carrier-borne opera- 1/2017 1 COVER STORY In consonance with the pre- The other much awaited crucial law relating to the US- Do read the exclusive report amble on Indian Naval Aviation event was India s annual budget India defence partnership, mak- by Neetu Dhulia on the versa- on the website of Indian Navy, which now on will be announced ing India as a major defence tile and agile Frigate from the it is but appropriate that the lead on February 1 of every year partner . The Bill designated as house of Navantia. story covers the development and will also include the railway Ò Enhancing Defense and Secu- This is the year of Aero India and modernisation of the Indian budget. Out of a total alloca- rity Cooperation with India has which is being held at Bengaluru Naval Aviation. The most exciting tion of `86,488.01 crore (about been incorporated as an amend- from February 14-18, 2017. SP news was the issue of request for $13.3 billion) for the capital ment to the National Defence Guide Publications will have information for a multi-role, deck- budget, allocation for the Navy Authorization Act of 2017. This a big presence as usual thus based combat aircraft. is `19,348.16 crore (about Bill has taken Indo-US defence do visit us at Hall AB3.46. The In a rare media interaction $3 billon) which is marginally cooperation to the next level. issue is wrapped up with the with SP’s Naval Forces, Secre- down from last year s revised With a coastline of 4,675 customary News in Brief. tary Defence Production, Ashok estimates of `19,596.28 crore. km, an exclusive economic zone Wish you all discerning Kumar Gupta, lucidly enunci- This is bit of a dampener but covering an area of 5,98,540 readers happy reading, and a EDITORIAL ated his Ministry s initiatives of with elections in five states in square km, and geographically Very Happy New Year 2017. Ô Make in India in the aerospace February, probably this is the straddling some of the most and defence sector. He spoke best the government could do. important sea lines of communi- on a number of issues which With the current capital alloca- cation in the world, Malaysia is are relevant to the subject like tion it will be difficult to achieve a without doubt a maritime nation foreign direct investment, indus- force level of 198 warships from with an important role to play in trial licensing, defence exports, the current fleet of 137 by 2027, the region thus a write-up on its defence offsets and level play- which is the future vision of the navy is included. ing field. On the issue of encour- Navy. Still Navy is on an even SP’s Naval Forces had an aging private shipyards to join keel and way ahead of the Army exclusive opportunity to visit hands in Make in India , he and the Air Force as 47 ships of the Frigate F-105 Crist bal said that a substantial share of all types are under construction. Col n, visiting Mumbai on its defence shipbuilding is being Before demitting office Pres- onwards journey from Spain, JAYANT BARANWAL offered to them. ident Barack Obama signed a circumnavigating the world. Publisher & Editor-in-Chief tions. MiG-29K along with light combat air- Force. For this vital operational role, com- nese amphibious aircraft ShinMaywa US-2. negotiations will soon fructify into a con- craft (LCA) Tejas Navy are also earmarked mensurate aviation assets had to be cre- However, talks reportedly collapsed dur- tract and the option clause of eight addi- for induction as Air Wing for the under ated in a planned manner. Russian made ing 2016 due to concerns over pricing and tional helicopters is granted to bridge the construction Indigenous Aircraft Carrier 1 Ilyushin IL-38 was accordingly inducted in transfer of technology issue. The Indian vital gap in the integral air support to the (IAC-1) Vikrant. 1977 and a decade later the fleet was fur- Navy plans to procure 12 multi-role air- front line ships of the Indian Navy. However, considering that there are ther strengthened with the induction of craft under a government-to-government A joint venture between India and Rus- many imponderables in the power to weight Russian-made Tupolev Tu-142M. deal between 2017 and 2022. sia has already finalised for production of ratio of the aircraft engine and other ancil- Technology advancements and the 200 Kamov Ka-226T light-utility helicop- lary issues in Tejas Navy being developed dwindling spares, product and maintenance Rotary Wing ters worth $1 billion, while the Hindustan on time, Indian Navy has begun a search for support for the Russian-made aviation Naval Multi-role Helicopters Aeronautics Limited is also independently a multi-role fighter for IAC-2 and follow-on. assets, lead to global search for the state- It is a fact that due to fast ageing of the tasked to develop 187 similar choppers. Recently, request for information (RFI) has of-the-art platform to remain on task with Rotary Wing of the Indian Naval Aviation, been issued which stipulates, that the air- sustained endurance on a continuous basis Indian Naval Ships optimum operational Unmanned Aerial Vehicles craft are intended as day-and-night capable, for the surveillance and reconnaissance of capability is restricted to some extent. In keeping with current trends in warfare all-weather, multi-role, deck-based combat the region. With increasing liberalisation The recent policy and efforts of the gov- technology, the Indian Navy has acquired aircraft which can be used for air defence, and fast improving diplomatic and strate- ernment is likely to mitigate this short- two variants of the Unmanned Aerial Vehi- air-to-surface operations, buddy refuelling, gic relationship, a true game-changer and coming.