Lockheed Martin Shares New Partnership Opportunities
US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin shared information about new partnership opportunities with the Indian companies during A five-day virtual annual suppliers conference that ended on July 31. These opportunities with the Indian industry are in areas like space, aeronautics, rotary and mission systems (RMS) and missiles and fire control (MFC), the company said.
Lockheed Martin, said on 6 August, its RMS team will work with capable Indian companies over the next 7-8 years and provide opportunities to the industry to integrate into the global supply chain.
The company said its annual supplier conference, which took place between July 27-31 virtually, was themed ‘Making India part of the Global Supply Chain’. It said the conference saw participation of more than 200 companies of all sizes — large, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and start-ups.
In April last year, the Indian Air Force issued an RFI (request for information) or an initial tender to acquire 114 multi-role fighter aircraft at a cost of around $18 billion, which is billed as one of the world’s biggest military procurement in recent years.
The top contenders for the deal include Lockheed’s F-21, Boeing’s F/A-18, Dassault Aviation’s Rafale, the Eurofighter Typhoon, Russian aircraft Mig 35 and Saab’s Gripen.
On July 16 last year, Vivek Lall, the then vice president of Strategy and Business Development for Lockheed Martin, had said the company’s offer of F-21 fighter jets is a very robust ‘Make in India’ proposition and if the country goes for the deal it will be “plugging into the world’s largest fighter plane ecosystem”.
BEML Teams Up With IIT-Kanpur for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Bengaluru-headquartered Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML) said, on 14 August, it would collaborate with IIT-Kanpur for joint indigenous development of pilotless target aircraft (PTA) and tactical unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
BEML’s memorandums of understanding (MoU) with IIT-Kanpur and NASSCOM were signed in the virtual presence of defence minister Rajnath Singh and Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat, among others.
ALSO READ UNMANNED SYSTEMS: UAV News
Both the organisations would synergise respective capabilities and undertake feasibility study, design and development, testing and validation of tactical UAVs and PTA, BEML said in a statement. The jointly developed products will substitute the currently imported UAVs and PTA and aims to achieve self- reliance at a reduced cost.
“This will enable BEML achieve a quantum jump in defence and aerospace business and provide a big thrust in ‘Atmanirbharta’ in the defence sector. The potential customers will constitute the armed forces, paramilitary and civilian,” the statement said.
Also, BEML announced that it is teaming up with NASSCOM Centre of Excellence (CoE) for artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT)-related areas. This tie-up aims at technical support for implementation of AI and IoT in BEML products and to set up incubation centre for start-ups, it stated.
BEML Gets Contract for 1,512 Mine Plough for T-90 Tanks
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) signed a Rs 557-crore contract with BEML for procurement of 1,512 mine plough (MP) for the Indian army’s main battle tank T-90, on 20 July.
“Acquisition Wing of Ministry of Defence (MoD), has today signed a Contract with Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) for procurement of 1,512 Mine Plough (MP) for Tank T-90 S/SK at an approximate cost of Rs 557 crore. The contract has Buy and Make (Indian) categorisation with a minimum of 50 per cent indigenous content in make portion of the contract,” the statement said.
Mine ploughs help tanks to clear minefields and minimize risks to men and machines. These mine ploughs will be fitted on T-90 tanks of Armoured Corps which will facilitate individual mobility to tanks while negotiating mine fields. Mobility of tank fleet will enhance manifold, which in turn would extend the reach of armoured formations deep into enemy territory without becoming mine causality.
It also said the army’s combat capability will be further enhanced once the exercise to make and fit the 1,512 mine ploughs is completed by 2027.
The army recently deployed the Russian-origin T-90 main battle tanks in the Galwan Valley sector of Ladakh amid the face-off with Chinese troops.
Bharat Forge Launches AI-based Health Risk Monitoring System
Indian multinational company Bharat Forge Limited (BFL), on 8 July, in collaboration with AI start-up Blackstraw, launched the Health Risk Monitoring System (HRMS), an AI-based solution that enables companies and institutions to comply with government-provided guidelines for safe reopening.
HRMS is an Intelligent Video Analytics solution, which has been developed to empower workplaces with worker safety for holistic growth, and is aligned with the future dependability of enterprises on technology and AI to monitor compliance of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) policies, the company stated in a press release.
ALSO READ Impact of COVID-19 on Aerospace & Defence MSMEs
The integrated system comprising AI, thermal scanning through cameras, and RFID readers records the temperature of associates, and also maintains an automatic daily record of the temperature of every person entering and exiting the premises.
It also has AI Algorithms running on surveillance CCTV cameras to monitor and control human behavior. Using AI software, the system alerts administrators and provides them a dashboard when social distancing norms are not met or if an employee is not wearing a face mask. These alerts and dashboards are then reviewed to drive sustainable behaviour change across the enterprise.
HRMS is ideal for being deployed in high-footfall areas such as educational campuses, hospitals, gated communities, retail stores, railway stations, airports, and transit points to monitor individual and societal health.
Boeing Bid To Sell F-15EX Eagles To India
Boeing is showing growing interest in selling its F-15EX twin-engine multi-role fighters to the Indian Air Force (IAF). In February, Boeing Vice President Pratyush Kumar had stated that the company was seeking a license to export the F-15EX to India.
This latest variant of the nearly 50-year-old F-15 combines decades of upgrades developed for export model Eagles into a new multi-role platform for U.S. service with Air National Guard squadrons. The first eight F-15EXs out of an expected final order of 144 to 200 are due off the St. Louis assembly line in 2021.
Boeing has had some success exporting military aircraft to India, notably deals for Apache Guardian and Chinook helicopters, as well as C-17 transports and P-8I patrol planes. But it has so far been unsuccessful in offering another twin-engine fighter, the F/A-18 Super Hornet.
If Boeing can secure the necessary authorizations, the venerable F-15—a type famously undefeated in air-to-air combat—may then confront a flock of more recent designs.
The IAF has never operated American jet fighters before. Currently the IAF flies Russian Su-30s, MiG-21s and MiG-29s and French Jaguars, Mirage 2000s and Rafales, in addition to its growing fleet of domestic Tejas jet fighters. The Indian Navy also operates MiG-29K carrier-based fighters. The IAF recently purchased 12 more Su-30s and 21 MiG-29s to shore up its flagging numbers.
Lockheed Bags Sonars Contract for Indian MH-60R Helicopters
After bagging a $905 million deal for supplying 24 MH-60R helicopters to the Indian Navy in May 2020, Lockheed Martin is all set to deliver Airborne Low-Frequency Sonars (ALFSs) worth more than $181 million to India, according to US Department of Defence.
The MH-60R helicopters were chosen as a replacement for the Sea Kings and were cleared for purchase by the Defense Ministry in August 2018. The deal of sell 24 helicopters was approved by the Trump administration however the initial cost estimated was $2.6 billion
The press report read – Lockheed Martin Corp is awarded a $181,744,524 modification to previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract N00019-19-C-0013. This modification provides for the production, delivery and integration of 24 Airborne Low-Frequency Sonars (ALFS) for the government of India; eight ALFS for the Navy and seven ALFS for the government of Denmark, into MH-60R Seahawk aircraft. Work will be performed in Brest, France (77%); Portsmouth, Rhode Island (15%); and Owego, New York (8%), and is expected to be completed by December 2024.
The deal was announced on 4th August and includes production, delivery and integration of the ALFS on 24 helicopters for the Indian Navy, 8 systems for the U.S. Navy and 7 for the Danish Navy MH-60R helicopters. It is seen as a significant booster for the Indian Navy in its undersea warfare capabilities and has come at a key point amid heightening tensions with China.
Struggling with its old Sea King helicopters, the Indian Navy has been long-standing in the queue to acquire new multi-role utility helicopters for ASW (anti-submarine warfare) and search & rescue operations.
Tejas Networks Bags Rs. 66 crore Order for Defence Network Project
Tejas Networks announced that it has received a purchase order of Rs. 66 crores from L&T Construction, to supply its GPON-based fiber-broadband products and high-performance Metro Ethernet switches for a prestigious Indian defence network project. The order was received during last quarter and the first set of supplies have started this quarter.
Sanjay Nayak, Managing Director and CEO of Tejas Networks said, “We are honoured to be selected as a communications equipment supplier for this prestigious Indian defence project. It is a matter of great pride that our designed and made in India GPON OLT/ONT products and Metro Ethernet switches will be deployed in this strategic network. This win reinforces our technology strengths and credibility as a trusted provider of defence communication equipment to tri-services, since we have earlier supplied our DWDM and Layer-3 Multi-Gigabit Ethernet switches for the Indian Navy network and our Layer-2 Gigabit Ethernet switches for the Indian Air Force network. With over 10,000 nodes installed in various defence networks across India, we have demonstrated that we are making great progress towards realizing the vision of “Atmanirbhar Bharat” for secured communication infrastructure.”
