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Showing posts from April, 2014

AURA , The Future of Indian Airforce

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AURA or Autonomous Unmanned Research Aircraft is an Indian initiative at building an Unmanned Combat Air vehicle (UCAV) with special preference given to the stealth features. The examples of these UCAV’s are X47 of US , Dassault nEUROn (France) & BAE Taranis , all of which are on the initial stage of development & testing. The X47b program of US Navy being front runner as it has recently started taking off from the US Aircraft carriers. The purpose of the DRDO is to provide the Indian Air force with an option to deliver the payloads to enemy location without endangering the life of the pilot . This will act along side with the PAK-FA & AMCA , the 5th Generations of fighter aircrafts that will start showing up on the IAF inventory towards the end of this decade or start of the next. The AURA program is also meant to compete with the other programs to provide the IAF with the best technically advanced UCAV which will form the backbone of the airforce in the next decade

India successfully test fires exo-atmospheric missile interceptor

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The exo-atmospheric missile interceptor was  successfully test-fired at the defence base in Odisha. This is the  first time an  exo-atmospheric  missile is test fired   as part the development of missile shield. The indigenous Advanced Air Defence (AAD) interceptor missile was fired from Wheeler Island off the coast near Dhamra port in Bhadrak district, about 170 km from here. The missile intercepted an incoming ballistic missile as required, a modified variant of the Prithvi fired from a ship off the coast near the integrated test range at Chandipur-on-sea in Balasore district, about 70 km from Wheeler Island. This test is to be followed by trial of cruise missile Nirbhay (whose maiden test had failed last year) and air-to-air missile Astra next month. "The test was successful," test range director M.V.K.V. Prasad told IANS. "It is for the first time that we have successfully conducted the test of an exo-atmospheric interceptor," he said.

India's second navigation satellite placed : One step closer for Desi GPS

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The Indian space agency launched the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle or PSLV successfully 25 times in a row, bringing India one step closer to its own global positioning system or the 'desi' GPS.   The 44 meter, 320 ton, PSLV rocket successfully lifted off into the sky at 5.14 PM from Sriharikota and 19 minutes later accurately placed India's second navigation satellite  IRNSS-1B in space.  A jubilant K Radhakrishnan, the ISRO Chairman, said, "PSLV in its 25th successive successful flight precisely injected India's second regional navigation satellite."    The first Indian navigation satellite  IRNSS-1A  launched last year in July is working normally. All seven satellites are to be launched by March 2014. The satellite navigation system will be a fleet of seven satellites that help provide precise locations within 20 meters. The 'desi GPS' or IRNSS will be similar in function to the American Global Positioning System (GPS) but regional in