Mighty India Power

India is likely to come out with its indigenous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in the coming two to three years, a top official of the country’s only aircraft manufacturing company, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), has said. Talking to media persons on the margins of the inaugural test launch of the Light Combat Helicopter, HAL chairman Ashok Nayak disclosed that work is on for developing India’s very own UAVs. “There are some projects going on in collaboration with the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO),” Nayak said. “May be after two to three years, the HAL might come out with India’s own UAV. We have already developed one, Lakshya, but it was on a smaller scale. Now, we are developing the Lakshya’s MAK-II,” he said. Nayak added that the Lakshya’s MAK-II would be used for ‘air to air practice’, and pointed out that it will not be used for combat or surveillance purposes. Expressing immense pleasure at the successful test flight of the LCH, which has bee

India's first indigenous combat helicopter capable of participating in anti-Naxal and counter terrorism operations on Sunday took to the skies, marking its first official flight at the HAL airport in Bangalore. The Light Combat Helicopter (LCH), designed and developed indigenously by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in four years since the project began in 2006, is likely to be ready for induction by the Army and Air Force before 2014. Witnessed by IAF Vice Chief Air Marshal PK Barbora and Defence Production Secretary RK Singh, the 10-minute flight display caught the attention of those present at the venue, with the 5.8-tonne chopper showcasing its manoeuvrability and stability, including one of the most difficult moves --reverse slide. Defence Minister AK Antony and IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal PV Naik did not attend the event in view of the tragic air crash of a civilian flight in Mangalore yesterday which claimed 158 lives. "It is a red letter day for not o

After the successful launch of the Agni II missile, India is all set to test fire its first Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile, Agni-V, in Mach-April 2011. Agni V is being designed by adding a third composite stage to the two-stage 3,500-km Agni-III, having a range of over 5000 km to carry multiple warheads and will have countermeasures against anti-ballistic missile systems. It is a three-stage solid fuelled missile with composite motor casing in the third stage. Two stages of this missile will be made of composite material. The Agni V will be the first canisterised, road-mobile missile in India. Buoyed by the success of the Agni II missile, Dr W Selvamurthy, DRDO's Chief Controller Research and Development, said: "We are now working on Agni V, which has a range capacity of more than 5,000 kilometres. It is a strategic missile being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation." "It will be ready by next year. We hope during March-April ne

India on Monday successfully test-fired nuclear-capable Agni-II ballistic missile, with a range of 2000 kilometers from the Wheelers Island off Orissa coast. The trial was conducted with a special strategic command force (SSC) raised by the Army with necessary logistic support provided by various laboratories of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientists. The Agni missile family is envisaged to be the mainstay of the Indian missile-based strategic nuclear deterrence. The Agni-II is a medium range ballistic missile (MRBM) with two solid fuel stages and a Post Boost Vehicle (PBV) integrated into the missile's Re-entry Vehicle (RV). The Agni's manoeuvring RV is made of a carbon-carbon composite material that is light and able to sustain high thermal stresses of re-entry, in a variety of trajectories. The missile is part of the Agni series, which includes Agni-I of 700-kilometer range and Agni-III of 3,500-kilometer

India is collaborating with France to launch a satellite within a year to collect data related to climate change, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told the Rajya Sabha thia week. “ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) is planning to launch Megha Tropiques satellite in polar orbit within a year. It will provide data on atmospheric humidity, radiation budget and amount of precipitation to study the climate,” he said. India and France are jointly developing the scientific payloads for the satellite, he added.