Monday, November 26, 2012

Time for India to wake up

The Times of India reported  that A.K. Antony, the Indian Defense minister had urged the Army to go on  a 'fast-track' for the "China border projects".
The daily stated that 'in view of the current security scenario', the minister reviewed the development of new infrastructure including airfields along the China border in the northeast.
A K Antony asked the military top brass to go beyond the expected schedules for completion of the projects.
The meeting to review infrastructure development on the northeast border was attended by the Chiefs of the Army and IAF, the Defence Secretary, the chief of BRO (Border Roads Organisation) and other senior officials, .

In the meantime China is furthering its advance in other domains.
On November 23, 2012, China Military Online reported the launch of high-altitude drones and the undertaking of patrolling-and-inspection tests
The Chinese site says:
Three drones of different types conducted their final test on November 21, 2012 in Hoh Xil, a high-altitude and frigid area in west China's Qinghai province [Amdo province of Tibet] which marked the full completion of the one-month-long flight tests for the  'Applicability study on drone patrolling-and-inspection in high-altitude area' at altitudes between 2,800 and 4,767 meters above sea level.
The drone patrolling-and-inspection flight in high-altitude area is a worldwide problem. The researchers have successively carried out the applicability study on high-altitude patrolling-and-inspection by unmanned helicopters and unmanned fixed-wing airplanes as well as the impact study on drone patrolling-and-inspection under high-altitude weather conditions such as low temperature and sandy wind since March 8, 2012.
The researchers conducted tests for a total of 10 types of unmanned plane platforms with different power, different aerodynamic structure and different taking-off and landing mode in such places in Qinghai province as Wushaoling, Jinyintan, Qinghai Lake, Riyue Mountain, Laji Mountain, Xidatan and Hoh Xil respectively since the end of October in 2012.
A few days earlier, an article in Bloomberg affirmed: "China Drone Maker Expects to Double Sales on Islands Dispute":
China Aerospace Science & Industry Corp., the nation’s biggest maker of non-military drones, expects to double unmanned aerial vehicles sales next year as sovereignty disputes spur government orders.
The country intends to increase monitoring at sea amid a row with Japan about the ownership of islands in the East China Sea, Huang Xingdong, deputy head of CASIC’s drone-making arm, said in a Nov. 13 interview at the Zhuhai airshow. The state- owned company signed an agreement to supply an undisclosed number of drones to an oceanic agency at the expo.
“The government is attaching greater importance to ocean intelligence gathering as the islands disputes heat up,” Huang said. He declined to give an exact sales forecast. The company also makes missiles and parts for China’s space program.
Aviation Industry Corp. of China, the nation’s largest aerospace company, separately debuted the armed Wing Loong UAV at the show, as China translates economic growth into increasing military might. The country, the biggest spender on defense after the U.S., began sailing its first aircraft carrier this year and it’s working on more sophisticated fighter jets, naval vessels and cyberwarfare technology
CASIC showcased six civilian and military drones at the Zhuhai show, and unveiled a new brand name, Hiwing, which means Sea Hawker in Chinese. Its UAVs can fly as fast as 700 kilometers per hour (435 miles per hour) and carry as much as 130 kilograms (287 pounds).
The company sold several dozen UAVs in the past few years, with prices ranging from less than 1 million yuan ($160,000) to about 10 million yuan, Huang said. The local non-military UAV market may eventually grow to as big as several billion yuan a year, he said. He didn’t give an estimate for defense sales.
‘Upward Cycle’
The China drone market is not big, but it’s starting an upward cycle,” Huang said. The company also announced an order from a government surveying agency at the show.
The dispute over East China Sea islands caused China’s relations with Japan to reach their lowest since at least 2005 in September. Demonstrators marched in cities across China and attacked Japanese businesses after Japan’s government bought the islands from a private owner.
In April, Xinhua had mentioned that drones had completed military mapping missions in NW China
The Communist regime mouthpiece said: "An unmanned Chinese military drone recently completed its first digital mapping mission near north China's Helan mountain, capturing high-definition imaging data during more than five consecutive hours of aerial photography."
Adding:
Conducted by the Lanzhou Military Area Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), the mission marked the first time for such type of unmanned drone to be used for military mapping purposes, military sources said Wednesday.
The success of the mission marks the Chinese military's creation of a drone-based emergency mapping support mechanism in north China, said Zhang Zhiyuan, the mission's field commander.
The unmanned Chinese military drone recently completed its first digital mapping mission near north China's Helan mountain [Alashan Mountains in Mongolian], capturing high-definition imaging data during more than five consecutive hours of aerial photography.
Western Tibet (Ngari Prefecture), on the Himachal/Ladakh border also comes under the Lanzhou Military Region.
And I do not mention that China has successfully conducted flight landing on its first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning. A new J-15 fighter jet was used as part of the landing exercise.
In the meantime, DRDO is building revolutionary eco-friendly toilets.
It is time for India to wake up.

1 comment:

RAJ47 said...

Shame on DRDO