Why drones are the future of warfare

Swarm attacks buy cheap drones in Syria

My article Why drones are the future of warfare appeared in Mail Today/DailyO

Here is the link...

There is no doubt that drones could leave the infantry jobless in a few decades from now. Does India realise this?

On January 5, something happened in Syria which will remain as a first in the history of warfare. Though it was not widely covered by the world media, it may prove to be a game changer.
The website of Global Risk Insights reported that the Russian forces stationed in Syria suffered a case of swarm attack by drones. Despite the fact that the UAVs were rather crude, it was certainly a new development.
What happened?

Russian bases
Two Russian military bases in Syria – one in Hmeymin and a logistic and supply base in Tartus – were targeted by a swarm of 13 GPS-guided drones carrying improvised explosives. While seven drones were shot down by anti-aircraft missiles, six were hacked by a cyberwarfare unit. Upon landing, three drones exploded causing extensive damage to Russian fighter planes; three others were captured intact by Russian forces.
Quoting experts, Global Risk Insights said that “despite the attack itself not necessarily being spectacular by terrorist standards, this event heralds a near future where technologies like swarm drones will be increasingly employed by violent non-state actors and terrorist organizations.”
The cost of a drone was estimated at 1000 Euros (Rs 75000).
In a recent issue consecrated to The Future of War, The Economist observed: “In the 19th century the speedy victory of the Prussian army over France in 1870 convinced European general staffs that rapid mobilisation by rail, quick-firing artillery and a focus on attack would make wars short and decisive.” In the 1930s, strategists started believing that “aerial bombardment of cities would prove devastating enough to prompt almost immediate capitulation.”
Then in 1990-91, America demonstrated during the first Gulf war what “a combination of its precision-guided munitions, new intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance methods, space-based communications and stealth technology could achieve.”
Then September 11 took place and wars ‘took a different course’.
The Economist’s report argued: “Potentially the biggest change to the way wars are fought will come from deploying lots of robots simultaneously.”
It quoted Paul Scharre, an autonomous-weapons expert at CNAS who has pioneered the concept of swarming: “collectively, swarms of robotic systems have the potential for even more dramatic, disruptive change to military operations. Swarms can bring greater mass, co-ordination, intelligence and speed.”
There is no doubt that drones could leave the infantry jobless in a few decades from now. Does India realize this?
In October 2017, The South China Morning Post mentioned “high-altitude spy drones could help China dominate ‘near space’ – a region of the Earth’s atmosphere that is at the heart of a modern-day space race.”
Near space, which starts some 20km above sea level, has always been considered a ‘death zone’ for drones: “thin air at this altitude makes it hard to generate lift, while extremely low temperatures mean electronic components like batteries are prone to fail,” explained the Hong Kong newspaper: “However, a new type of Chinese-developed drone that is undergoing testing appears to have overcome such difficulties.”
Till then, the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk was the highest flying drone, having reached an altitude of about 19km; that was before a Chinese research facility in Inner Mongolia successfully tested an experimental drone at an altitude of 25km.

Defence technology
Two months later, according to The Drive – The War Zone, researchers from the People's Liberation Army (PLA) National University of Defense Technology (NUDT), conducted an experiment involving approximately two dozen of small fixed wing unmanned aircrafts. Citing an official PLA publication, the website said: “the test consisted of the entire group of drones acting as a swarm to complete a simulated reconnaissance mission. The individual aircraft operated together as a single entity and performed certain, unspecified portions of the flight autonomously.”
Shen Lin Cheng, the head of NUDT’s Institute of Artificial Intelligence Sciences explained: “We have precise short, medium and long term objectives, which are consistent with those set by the government on the modernization of the Chinese armed forces by 2020, 2035 and 2050.”
Already in June 2017, the state-owned China Electronics Technology Group Corporation flew some 120 unmanned fixed wing aircrafts; the entire formation acted either as one entity or in small groups breaking away with separate objectives.

US and China
The US is not left behind; in October 2016, the Department of Defense's Strategic Capabilities Office's tested with its Perdix, a miniature air-dropped unmanned aircraft.
Two months later, the US Department of Defence issued a communiqué announcing that one of the world’s largest micro-drone swarms had been successfully demonstrated at China Lake, California.
Note the name ‘China Lake’.
The test conducted consisted of 103 Perdix drones launched from three F/A-18 Super Hornets. The micro-drones demonstrated ‘advanced swarm behaviors’ such as collective decision-making, adaptive formation flying, and self-healing.
The DoD release added: “The demonstration is one of the first examples of the Pentagon using teams of small, inexpensive, autonomous systems to perform missions once achieved only by large, expensive ones.”
In the meantime, drones belonging to SF Express, China’s biggest private courier company have been drafted by the PLA Air Force in Yunnan and Shaanxi provinces, to explore new kinds of logistics support. The South China Morning Post reported: “In the Yunnan drill, a company drone delivered urgently needed spare parts for a damaged radar in a rugged mountainous area in about an hour after the request was made, less than half the time it would have taken to truck in.”
Whether it is for the State or non-State actors, the drones are here to stay and will be extensively used in future conflicts.
The question is what is India doing?
Incidentally, China has not returned the Indian drone which accidentally fell in the Chumbi Valley.

Invest in the aircraft of tomorrow

The Forth Generation Rafale M

My article Invest in the aircraft of tomorrow appeared yesterday in The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle
Here is the link...

Mr Modi has developed a rapport with Mr Macron and Ms Merkel; it would make economic and strategic sense for India to partner Europe.

On July 13, a day before Bastille Day, during a press conference jointly addressed by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Paris, the two nations announced their intention to cooperate for the development of a future combat aircraft, which could one day replace the Rafale of Dassault Aviations and the Eurofighter/Typhoon.
Mr Macron asserted that “road maps” and joint investment opportunities in 18 areas were discussed with Ms Merkel; it included a fifth-generation fighter plane.
The young French President added that this would help reduce duplication and enable the European nations to more effectively pursue export opportunities.
Apart from the fighter plane, European nations have agreed to further develop the Airbus Helicopters Tiger attack rotorcraft and complete work on a medium-altitude, long-endurance “Eurodrone” unmanned vehicle as well as military satellites.
Mr Macron said: “It is a deep revolution — but we are not scared of revolutions when they are conducted in peaceful manner.”
According to Flight Global, the French President described the venture as part of a broader integration of several European partners for the development, deployment and export of combat equipment.
Airbus Defence and Space, which works on the Eurofighter, welcomed the announcement “to jointly develop a next-generation fighter jet”. A communiqué added: “Strengthening the Franco-German axis will help to safeguard critically needed European defence capabilities in the future.”
On June 9, Fernando Alonso, the head of Airbus Group’s military aircraft division had affirmed: “We have to do this in Europe. There’s no place to do two or three different systems.”
It would not be the first time that Europeans try to collaborate in the field of defence R&D and production, though the outcome has not always been up to the mark.
Soon after the World War II, a man had a revolutionary proposal: to unite the enemies of yesterday, France and Germany, by bringing them to work together. Jean Monnet, the father of Europe wrote: “the course of events must be altered. To do this, men’s attitudes must be changed. Words are not enough.” Monnet thought that since Germany and France had to rebuild their industry, it was bound to revive the old rivalry. Monnet’s idea was to reverse the problem — what had been the seed of war must become the seed of unity — his proposal was therefore to create a high authority which could manage the resources in coal and steel for both nations. This was the birth of the European Coal and Steel Community, the embryo of the European Economic Community (EEC) and later the European Union.
But it is not always easy. Francisco Duarte in The Inquisitr quotes the case of the joint design for the main battle tank for the France and German armies in 1957. He says: “After some years of development and construction of opposing prototypes, one of the German proposals was chosen. Even before the decision was taken, relations started to go sour with other Nato partners, which, among other developments, meant a split in the project for a European tank. The Germans would eventually create the Leopard 1, while the French pursued their own concepts, leading to the unveiling of the AMX-30.”
Hopefully it will be different this time. More recently, we have the example of the UCAV (Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle) developed by Dassault Aviation of France as the prime contractor.
The nEUROn European drone project perfectly reflects the original European “spirit” though ironically, Germany is not directly associated. Six European countries have decided to build an UCAV as a technology demonstrator.
This European programme has been designed to pool the skills and know-how of Alenia Aermacchi (Italy), Saab (Sweden), EADS-CASA (Spain), HAI (Greece), RUAG (Switzerland) and Thales (France) to produce the drone of the future.
With a length of 10 metres, a wingspan of 12.5 metres and an empty weight of five tonnes, the aircraft is powered by a Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Adour engine.
It was French President Jacques Chirac who unveiled the Dassault-led nEUROn project in June 2005; it marked the beginning of the six-nation research programme to build a technical demonstrator.
The project crossed a major milestone on December 2012 when the UCAV had its first successful flight from Istres airbase, near Marseille in South France.
Flight trials in France to evaluate its stealth characteristics were successfully completed in March 2015. It was followed by sensor evaluation trials in Italy, which were completed on August 2015. In July 2016, extensive stealth and detection tests were conducted with the nEUROn and the Charles de Gaulle carrier group.
In November 2014, a two-year feasibility study was started by the French and British governments. It could lead to a programme combining the experience of the BAE Systems Taranis and nEUROn programs into a Future Combat Air System.
One of the most interesting aspects of the project is the close collaboration between different European partners.
Monnet had prophesied: “Europe will be built through concrete realisations, creating at first a de facto solidarity.” For him, it was essential to “develop habits of cooperation among nations which had so far only known relationships based on power”.
Dassault Aviation is the master builder, responsible for the overall architecture and design, flight control system, global testing (static and flight), elements of stealth, final assembly, integration of systems and testing.
NEUROn is undoubtedly an extraordinary technological challenge for the European companies involved.
But let us come back to the development of a fifth-generation combat aircraft. India has tried to work with the Russians. The project is not doing well.
Franz-Stefan Gady wrote in the Diplomat an article entitled: “India, Russia 5th Generation Fighter Jet Deal is Lost”: “The transfer of sensitive defence technology from Russia to India has been one of the most contentious issues between the two sides right from the start.”
Gady commented: “India wants a guarantee that it will be able to upgrade the fighter jet in the future without Russian support, which would require Moscow sharing source codes (sensitive computer code that controls the fighter jet’s various systems — the key to an aircraft’s electronic brains).”
Recently, Sergei Chemezov, the CEO of Rostec, the Russian state corporation which develops and promotes hi-tech defence and civilian products worldwide refused to speak about the future aircraft, which was not mentioned in the Saint Petersburg Declaration (“A vision for the 21st century”), when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Russia in early June.
Delays are said to have been caused because New Delhi and Moscow disagree on over many fundamental aspects such as work and cost share, aircraft technology or numbers of aircraft to be ordered by India.
A question, though presently theoretical, could be raised, why can’t India join the European project? Europe will require a market for its fifth generation aircraft; in the coming decades, India will need hundreds of planes, having to cope with two fronts.
Mr Modi has developed an excellent rapport with Mr Macron and Ms Merkel; it would make economic and strategic sense for India to partner Europe. It could be good for the European industries as well, as they would get crucial financial support and a market.
It is worth thinking about such far-away possibility; it could be a win-win deal for India too as Delhi would be involved in the project from the conception.

Claude Arpi
The writer is based in South India for the past 40 years. He writes on India, China, Tibet and Indo-French relations.
http://www.asianage.com/opinion/oped/290717/invest-in-the-aircraft-of-tomorrow.html
Mr Modi has developed a rapport with Mr Macron and Ms Merkel; it would make economic and strategic sense for India to partner Europe.
Dassault Rafale fighter aircraft (Photo: Youtube screengrab)
On July 13, a day before Bastille Day, during a press conference jointly addressed by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Paris, the two nations announced their intention to cooperate for the development of a future combat aircraft, which could one day replace the Rafale of Dassault Aviations and the Eurofighter/Typhoon.
Mr Macron asserted that “road maps” and joint investment opportunities in 18 areas were discussed with Ms Merkel; it included a fifth-generation fighter plane.
The young French President added that this would help reduce duplication and enable the European nations to more effectively pursue export opportunities.
Apart from the fighter plane, European nations have agreed to further develop the Airbus Helicopters Tiger attack rotorcraft and complete work on a medium-altitude, long-endurance “Eurodrone” unmanned vehicle as well as military satellites.
Mr Macron said: “It is a deep revolution — but we are not scared of revolutions when they are conducted in peaceful manner.”
According to Flight Global, the French President described the venture as part of a broader integration of several European partners for the development, deployment and export of combat equipment.
Airbus Defence and Space, which works on the Eurofighter, welcomed the announcement “to jointly develop a next-generation fighter jet”. A communiqué added: “Strengthening the Franco-German axis will help to safeguard critically needed European defence capabilities in the future.”
On June 9, Fernando Alonso, the head of Airbus Group’s military aircraft division had affirmed: “We have to do this in Europe. There’s no place to do two or three different systems.”
It would not be the first time that Europeans try to collaborate in the field of defence R&D and production, though the outcome has not always been up to the mark.
Soon after the World War II, a man had a revolutionary proposal: to unite the enemies of yesterday, France and Germany, by bringing them to work together. Jean Monnet, the father of Europe wrote: “the course of events must be altered. To do this, men’s attitudes must be changed. Words are not enough.” Monnet thought that since Germany and France had to rebuild their industry, it was bound to revive the old rivalry. Monnet’s idea was to reverse the problem — what had been the seed of war must become the seed of unity — his proposal was therefore to create a high authority which could manage the resources in coal and steel for both nations. This was the birth of the European Coal and Steel Community, the embryo of the European Economic Community (EEC) and later the European Union.
But it is not always easy. Francisco Duarte in The Inquisitr quotes the case of the joint design for the main battle tank for the France and German armies in 1957. He says: “After some years of development and construction of opposing prototypes, one of the German proposals was chosen. Even before the decision was taken, relations started to go sour with other Nato partners, which, among other developments, meant a split in the project for a European tank. The Germans would eventually create the Leopard 1, while the French pursued their own concepts, leading to the unveiling of the AMX-30.”
Hopefully it will be different this time. More recently, we have the example of the UCAV (Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle) developed by Dassault Aviation of France as the prime contractor.
The nEUROn European drone project perfectly reflects the original European “spirit” though ironically, Germany is not directly associated. Six European countries have decided to build an UCAV as a technology demonstrator.
This European programme has been designed to pool the skills and know-how of Alenia Aermacchi (Italy), Saab (Sweden), EADS-CASA (Spain), HAI (Greece), RUAG (Switzerland) and Thales (France) to produce the drone of the future.
With a length of 10 metres, a wingspan of 12.5 metres and an empty weight of five tonnes, the aircraft is powered by a Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Adour engine.
It was French President Jacques Chirac who unveiled the Dassault-led nEUROn project in June 2005; it marked the beginning of the six-nation research programme to build a technical demonstrator.
The project crossed a major milestone on December 2012 when the UCAV had its first successful flight from Istres airbase, near Marseille in South France.
Flight trials in France to evaluate its stealth characteristics were successfully completed in March 2015. It was followed by sensor evaluation trials in Italy, which were completed on August 2015. In July 2016, extensive stealth and detection tests were conducted with the nEUROn and the Charles de Gaulle carrier group.
In November 2014, a two-year feasibility study was started by the French and British governments. It could lead to a programme combining the experience of the BAE Systems Taranis and nEUROn programs into a Future Combat Air System.
One of the most interesting aspects of the project is the close collaboration between different European partners.
Monnet had prophesied: “Europe will be built through concrete realisations, creating at first a de facto solidarity.” For him, it was essential to “develop habits of cooperation among nations which had so far only known relationships based on power”.
Dassault Aviation is the master builder, responsible for the overall architecture and design, flight control system, global testing (static and flight), elements of stealth, final assembly, integration of systems and testing.
NEUROn is undoubtedly an extraordinary technological challenge for the European companies involved.
But let us come back to the development of a fifth-generation combat aircraft. India has tried to work with the Russians. The project is not doing well.
Franz-Stefan Gady wrote in the Diplomat an article entitled: “India, Russia 5th Generation Fighter Jet Deal is Lost”: “The transfer of sensitive defence technology from Russia to India has been one of the most contentious issues between the two sides right from the start.”
Gady commented: “India wants a guarantee that it will be able to upgrade the fighter jet in the future without Russian support, which would require Moscow sharing source codes (sensitive computer code that controls the fighter jet’s various systems — the key to an aircraft’s electronic brains).”
Recently, Sergei Chemezov, the CEO of Rostec, the Russian state corporation which develops and promotes hi-tech defence and civilian products worldwide refused to speak about the future aircraft, which was not mentioned in the Saint Petersburg Declaration (“A vision for the 21st century”), when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Russia in early June.
Delays are said to have been caused because New Delhi and Moscow disagree on over many fundamental aspects such as work and cost share, aircraft technology or numbers of aircraft to be ordered by India.
A question, though presently theoretical, could be raised, why can’t India join the European project? Europe will require a market for its fifth generation aircraft; in the coming decades, India will need hundreds of planes, having to cope with two fronts.
Mr Modi has developed an excellent rapport with Mr Macron and Ms Merkel; it would make economic and strategic sense for India to partner Europe. It could be good for the European industries as well, as they would get crucial financial support and a market.
It is worth thinking about such far-away possibility; it could be a win-win deal for India too as Delhi would be involved in the project from the conception.

Research in China

My article Research in China has been published by Uday India.

It was recently reported that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was extremely unhappy about the state of affairs at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
According to The Times of India, when he visited the DRDO headquarters on August 20, Modi “has asked the tardy organisation to shape-up in the face of competition from the private sector”.
Modi asked the defence minister to conduct a detailed review of the DRDO, and eventually come out with a white paper.
Modi also asked the officers to give up their ‘chalta hai’ (lackadaisical) attitude.
It appears that 15 top DRDO scientists, including Director General Avinash Chander are on extension; Chander holds three posts — Secretary (Defence) R&D, DG (DRDO) and Scientific Advisor to the defence minister.
A senior defence ministry official told The Times of India: "The PM was not happy about [this]. As per a department of personnel and training (DoPT) ruling, only the best scientists of international stature should be considered for extensions. He asked for all the details. He was told about the high attrition rate among the younger scientists."
The daily remarked: “DRDO spokesperson Ravi Gupta could not be contacted for a comment”; ‘Missing in Action’ in Army terms.
In the meantime, China takes giant strides to catch up with the US in the field of military innovations.
Xinhua reported that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) would soon take delivery of a new generation’s aerial drone.
CCTV showed a test flight of the Rainbow 4 (CH-4), a hunter-killer drone, which successfully hit a target with a missile. The new CH-4 has been developed for reconnaissance and military strikes by the China Aerospace Science and Technology.
Li Pingkun, the head of the CH-4 project, told CCTV that the new drone could fly long-distance and hit a target with a error margin of less than 1.5 metres. Li explained that the precision was due to several new original ways to guide the missiles (or smart bombs) to their target.
The South China Morning Post, quoting some reports in the mainland, said: “The Rainbow 4 was developed as the PLA's answer to the MQ-9 Reaper, a hunter-killer drone mainly used by the US military for reconnaissance and high-precision air strikes”.
The nine metres long CH-4 has an 18-metre wingspan. With its 40-hour autonomy, it can carry four missiles, while its ground control centre can be fitted on two trucks.
Can the CH-4 catch up with the US Reaper in terms of targeting precision, flight length and payloads? Certainly not as yet, though intense efforts are being put in the project by Chinese scientists.
If today the Reaper can fly at 740km/h, the Chinese drone’s maximum speed is 235km/h, but the Chinese project is progressing fast.
But that is not all.
Have you heard of 'supercavitation' technology?
During the cold war, Soviet scientists had developed a technology called ‘supercavitation’, by which a submerged vessel would proceed inside an air bubble to avoid water drag.
Theoretically, a supercavitating vessel could reach the speed of sound, and this underwater; it would reduce the time for a transatlantic underwater cruise to less than an hour and for a transpacific journey to about 100 minutes.
Today, it may be science-fiction, but the Chinese scientists are working hard to solve the many technical hurdles.
The South China Morning Post explains: “China has moved a step closer to creating a supersonic submarine that could travel from Shanghai to San Francisco in less than two hours.”
It is hard to believe, but a team of scientists at Harbin Institute of Technology's Complex Flow and Heat Transfer Lab has made some breakthrough which should help a submarine, or a torpedo, to travel at extremely high speeds underwater.
Li Fengchen, professor of fluid machinery and engineering, announced that the new technology “could create the complicated air ‘bubble’ required for rapid underwater travel.”
Well, it is not done, but China is working on it.
Li affirmed that his team has found innovative means of addressing some of the unresolved problems: “Our method is different from any other approach, such as vector propulsion, or thrust created by an engine. By combining liquid-membrane technology with supercavitation, we can significantly reduce the launch challenges and make cruising control easier.”
In future the supercavitation technology will not be limited to military use only; it could also be utilized for civilian projects.
Professor Wang Guoyu, of the Fluid Mechanics Laboratory at Beijing Institute of Technology admits huge scientific and engineering challenges: “The size of the bubble is difficult to control, and the vessel is almost impossible to steer. While cruising at high speed during supercavitation, a fin could be snapped off if it touched the water because of the liquid's far greater density.”
There is more. The Chinese press recently conducted the second flight test of a new, ultra-high-speed missile. Analysts believe that it is part of a global system of attack weapons capable of striking the United States with nuclear warheads.
The flight of the new hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) or Wu-14 took place August 7 at a missile facility in western China.
The Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Jeffrey Pool stated: “We routinely monitor foreign defense activities, however we don’t comment on our intelligence or assessments of foreign weapons systems.”
He however confirmed a first test of the Wu-14 in January, though declined to provide a similar confirmation on the second test.
According to The South China Morning Post: “The first flight test of the Wu-14 took place January 9 and flew at speeds of around Mach 10, or 10 times the speed of sound—around 7,680 miles per hour. Hypersonic speeds pose severe guidance and control challenges for weapons engineers and produce extreme stress to metal and components.”
The US intelligence circles see this as an emerging hypersonic arms race.
The Chinese press did not mention the August 7 test, but reports about the presumed Wu-14 launch appeared on Internet which mentioned a missile launched from the Jiuquan satellite launch facility located in the Gobi Desert. Further, reports and photos posted online indicated that the booster rocket used in the test crash landed in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
The booster crash is consistent with a hypersonic test.
Hypersonic glide vehicles travel in near space and thus the rocket that launched it may not have left the atmosphere.
The Pentagon has tested several hypersonic weapons platforms such as the X-37B Space Plane, the Lockheed Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-2 or the Boeing’s hypersonic craft known as the X-51 WaveRider.
What worries the US defence establishment are the sharp Pentagon budget cuts which may strike the funding for U.S. hypersonic craft.
In the meantime, President Xi Jinping (who is also Chairman of the Central Military Commission) spoke a ‘new military revolution’: "The new military revolution has provided China with opportunities and challenges at the same time and we must have foresight to adapt to changes in warfare.”
He was addressing his 24 colleagues of the Political Bureau
Xi asked Communist Party members to devote more attention to military issues, national defense and military development and military preparedness, and to support national defense and military reforms. The message is clear. Further, according to Xinhua, Xi said: “The changes will include developing new military strategies, technologies, doctrines, combat forces and management models with military informatization being central to modern combat.
Xi also mentioned four principles of comprehensive planning for military ‘renovation’. The Party should formulate an overall strategy to enhance its military strength:

• by developing a new mindset for the different military departments
• by uniting under a coherent strategy,
• by adopting a coordinated approach to innovation, and
• by fostering independent innovation.

The CMC Chairman added: “The new military revolution is developing at a pace so fast and with its impact so broad and profound that has rarely been seen since the end of WWII. The Chinese military must make great leaps in development and innovation so as to close the gap with its better-developed peers in the world.
He further urged the integration of military and civilian innovation “so that the two can accommodate each other and develop together”.
It is time for DRDO (and HAL) to wake up from their slumber. The world is moving; China is progressing fast, India will be left behind.
A solution might be to split DRDO into several autonomous projects with orders to deliver the goods.

Drones and Toilets

Every Indian should be proud that the Indian Railways will finally get the latest technology for its toilets.
The new railway minister, Pawan Kumar Bansal has decided to use the aviation style engineering design. The Rail Coach Factory (RCF) at Kapurthala has already produced 1,200 bio-toilets based on the technology by the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO).
B N Rajshekhar, the RCF Chairman explained to The Times of India: “The DRDO technology…is already the first-of-its kind in the world. With vacuum technology systems, our trains would be as sophisticated as those in Europe."
This is good, but it raises a crucial question: is it the job of the DRDO to spend its resources and energy designing toilets?
A.K. Antony, the Indian Defense minister was recently reported to have urged the Army to go on a 'fast-track' for the “China border projects”.
Does this directive apply to the DRDO?
“In view of the current security scenario”, the minister reviewed infrastructure development, including airfields and military preparedness along the China border in the northeast.
Attended by the Chiefs of the Army and IAF, the Defence Secretary, the Border Roads Organization and other senior officials, the meeting had been called to monitor the progress on the northeast border. The Defence Minister asked the Army to go beyond the ‘expected schedules for completion’ of all projects; in other words, ‘get ready for any eventuality’. That is good.
With Chinese scientists working hard on less down-to-earth projects than toilets, China has furthered its advance in military preparedness.
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 affirms: “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'.”
The tests were conducted at altitudes ranging from 2,800 to 4,767 meters above sea level. The Chinese scientists tested 10 types of unmanned plane platforms with different power, different aerodynamic structure and different taking-off and landing mode in Qinghai province (northeastern Tibet).
China Military Online admits: “The drone patrolling-and-inspection flight in high-altitude area is a worldwide problem”. According to the Chinese, the tests, which were performed under high-altitude weather conditions, low temperature and sandy wind, were successful.
It is not that DRDO is not also making Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs).
The Organization acknowledges that it “plays a predominant role in the modern day warfare where emphasis is on surveillance, intelligence-gathering and dissemination of information.” DRDO knows: “UAVs serve as unique tools, which broaden battlefield situational awareness and the ability to see, target, and destroy the enemy by providing actionable intelligence to the lowest tactical levels.”
But once again, India is facing a situation of comparative slow-pace development compared to China; it is the result of a lack of political will power and motivation. As a consequence, India remains far behind China in terms of project realization.
Already in April, Xinhua had mentioned that drones had undertaken military mapping missions in NW China (Tibet and Xinjiang). The Communist regime mouthpiece said: "An unmanned Chinese military drone recently completed its first digital mapping mission near north China's Helan mountain [Inner Mongolia], capturing high-definition imaging data during more than five consecutive hours of aerial photography.”
The PLA’s Lanzhou Military Area Command was responsible for the mission; it was a first for an unmanned drone in China.
Let us not forget that the Lanzhou Military Region controls Western Tibet (Ngari Prefecture) north of the Indian border in Himachal and Ladakh.
In 2011, The Times of India (TOI) had reported that India had ‘quietly’ undertaken a combat drone project: “Talking about the secretive AURA (Autonomous Unmanned Research Aircraft) programme for the first time, DRDO told TOI that the aim is to develop the UCAVs for IAF in seven to eight years.”
Dr Prahlada, DRDO's Chief Controller R&D (Aeronautics) had told the newspaper: “With Rs 50 crore as seed money, a full-fledged project team with 15-18 scientists has already begun work on the UCAV's preliminary design and technology. With on-board mission computers, data links, fire control radars, identification of friend or foe, and traffic collision avoidance systems, they will be highly intelligent drones”.
The Government has evidently started realizing that UCAVs are ‘game-changers in modern-day warfare’, especially after the US 'Predator' and 'Reaper' drones using Hellfire missiles managed to ‘neutralize’ several senior Taliban leaders at minimum human cost.
A DRDO brochure explains: “A distinct advantage of UAVs is their cost-effectiveness. They can be developed, produced, and operated at lower costs compared to the cost of manned aircraft. The relative savings in engines, airframes, fuel consumption, pilot training, logistics, and maintenance are enormous. The biggest advantage of UAVs, however, is that there is no risk to human lives.”
But while China works aggressively to achieve its target, India does it ‘quietly’, at its own slow pace.
Last month, an article in Bloomberg affirmed: “China Aerospace Science & Industry Corp (CASIC), China’s largest maker of non-military drones, expects to double UAV’s sales next year due to the new sovereignty disputes.”
At the Zhuhai air-show in China, Huang Xingdong, deputy head of CASIC’s drone department declared: “The government is attaching greater importance to ocean intelligence gathering as the islands disputes heat up.”
CASIC presented six civilian and military drones at the Zhuhai show, and unveiled a new one, Hiwing, (‘Sea Hawker’ in Chinese). This UAV can fly at 700 kms/hour and is able to carry 130 kgs.
These technological advances come at a time when Xinhua announced that China has successfully conducted landings on its first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning. A new prototype of its J-15 fighter jet was used for the landing exercise. A spokesperson of the PLA Navy (PLAN) affirmed: “Capabilities of the carrier platform and the J-15 have been tested, meeting all requirements and achieving good compatibility”. It was the first trials for the J-15 as China's first generation multi-purpose carrier-borne fighter jet. Entirely designed by China, the J-15 is able to carry multi-type anti-ship, air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles, as well as precision-guided bombs.
In India, the delivery of the INS Vikramaditya (Admiral Gorshkov), the aircraft carrier from Russia had been further delayed till the end of 2013; it was earlier announced for 2012. The Defence Minister stated in Parliament: “The total project cost of Vikramaditya, as approved by the government in 2004, was $ 974.28 million with the delivery scheduled in August 2008. In March 2010, the cost was renegotiated and increased to $ 2.3 billion with the revised delivery date as December 2012.” Mercifully, the total cost will remain the same. Of course, in this particular case, India is not fully responsible for the delay.
On November 27, a state-owned Chinese firm launched Sri Lanka’s first satellite. Many believe that it is not only a reflection of the deepening strategic and economic ties between the two countries, but also a sign of China’s rapid advancement in the field of satellite launching.
Not to antagonize India, the Sri Lankan government had distanced itself from the launch insisting that ‘there is no state [Chinese] involvement’, however the Sri Lankan company, SupremeSAT had an agreement with the Chinese Great Wall Industry Corporation to launch this satellite at the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in Sichuan province.
It is time for India to wake up.
Good intentions and ‘quietly’ doing things are not enough.