India Defence News

GE Aviation's F414 Engines for HAL Tejas Fighters

LineMint reports that the Aeronautical Development Agency has sent proposal requests to GE Aviation for its state-of-the-art F414 military aviation engines to propel the HAL Tejas light combat fighter jet.
The F414-GE-400 is the U.S. Navy's newest and most advanced technology production fighter engine. It incorporates advanced technology with the proven design base of its F404 predecessor to provide the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet with a durable, reliable and easy to maintain engine.
The engine entered production in late 1998 after a highly successful Engineering and Manufacturing Development program that was completed on time and on budget. F/A-18E/F Super Hornet production deliveries to the U.S. Navy are in process and are planned to continue through 2012. The F414-GE-400 has been highly reliable during initial field service.
ADA will also evaluate EJ2000 engine promoted by the Europe based Eurojet consortium.

Russia will participate in an open tender for the supply of next-generation diesel-electric submarines to the Indian Navy, according to a senior official of the Russian state arms export agency.

"We will offer India an export version of the Lada class diesel submarine - the Amur class vessel. We will take part in the Indian tender when it is announced with these submarines or vessels of another class," said Oleg Azizov, who is leading Rosoboronexport's delegation at the International Maritime Defense Show 2009 in St. Petersburg.

"We have a bilateral cooperation agreement [in the military-technical sphere] until 2020, which includes the possibility of supplying submarines to this country," Azizov added.

Amur Class

The Project-677, or Lada class, diesel submarine, whose export version is known as the Amur 1650, amongst other things, features a new anti-sonar coating for its hull, an extended cruising range, and advanced anti-ship and anti-submarine weaponry, including the Klub-S integrated cruise missile systems. The project's general designer Yuri Kormilitsin has said: "The submarine has been conceived as a kind of an underwater sea hunter, capable of destroying any target ¢â‚¬â€œ surface naval ships, transport vessels, or submarines ¢â‚¬â€œ using torpedoes, missiles, mines and also with the help of frogmen."

The use of state-of-the-art acoustic protection systems and original engineering innovations on Amur-class submarines will make them several times quieter than the earlier Project 877 Kilo-class submarines, a number of which currently serve with the Indian Navy. Control of the submarine, its armament and equipment is highly automated and carried out from operators' consoles concentrated in the main control room.

While the Project 877 EKM submarines represent an earlier, third, generation of submarines, the Amur-class are represent the fourth generation. The Amur will be available in two classes - the 950 and the 1650.

The 950 comes equipped with 10 vertical universal missile launchers, capable of launching the Klub-S anti-ship/land attack missiles. These could also be adjusted to take onboard the Indo-Russian BrahMos submarine-launched supersonic cruise missile.

The entire salvo of 10 missiles can be launched in duration of two minutes.