Aerospace Diary

RotorHub Neelam Mathews Apr 10, 2015 The first two of eight medium lift   Mi-17 V5   helicopters were inducted by the Indian homeland Border Security Force (BSF) Air Wing inducted on 9 April. However five of six earlier Mi-17 IVs bought in 2003 remain festering in a hangar for lack of spares and training as a result of a turf war between the BSF and  Indian Air Force  (IAF). With a maximum takeoff weight of 13000kg the new V5 aircraft will provide a boost to the starved capability of the force that operates in arduous and inhospitable conditions of rebel-invested areas and on India’s vast northeast, west and eastern borders. However, the buy has brought in a reminder of the acrimony between services and which assumes responsibility for the helicopters.                            (Pixs by Neelam Mathews (Copyright)) Deliveries will be completed by the end of the year and BSF Direct...

AIN DEFENSE PERSPECTIVE  »  DECEMBER 6, 2013 by    NEELAM MATHEWS December 6, 2013, 11:50 AM India’s twice-bid reconnaissance and surveillance helicopter ( RSH ) competition has been delayed again. An oversight committee is now scrutinizing the latest bids to inquire into allegations of improper conduct by an army officer during flight trials of the finalists. The Kamov Ka-226T and Eurocopter  AS550C 3 Fennec are competing for an Army and Air Force requirement for 197 helicopters. “The committee will further investigate the analysis…we would like this to happen [soon],” Lt. Gen Amarjeet Singh Chabbewal, Chief of Staff Western Command for the Indian Army, told  AIN . The  RSH  helicopters are intended to replace an aging fleet of Chetak (Aerospatiale  SA 316 Alouette  III ) and Cheetah ( SA315B  Alouette  II ) helicopters. Spares are now expensive and increasingly difficult to obtain. “We have...

Neelam Mathews Dec 1 2013 India's Border Security Force enters its 49th year today. The last year has been full of challenges says the Director General, Subhash Joshi. The govt has sanctioned a 5 year modernization plan worth approx Rs 4200 crores alongwith infrastructure and new units. It is raising 3 battalions this year and air and water wings being upgraded.  Biggest challenge for the BSF is border infiltrations.To a query whether forthcoming elections would pose a problem on borders, he said fencing on the western border was almost complete and on the Bangladesh border some issues on the fencing re landscape were involved. BSF is also building an   embankment , "an old project",  a 179-km stretch of the border in Jammu to prevent ceasefire violations by Pakistan. "It was felt we need better defenses in this sector...the land is being acquired...when handed to BSF, the construction agency will be requested..., " said Joshi. "We were told it...

Neelam Mathews Feb 22, 2013 When will we as a nation stop shaming ourselves? I am no saint and don't profess to be one but as a silent bystander observing the stuff around us, often wonder, how can we be so passive to happenings around us with such finesse, lack of concern and no appetite to question. Take the RFP the BSF released for two medium transport that had CASA 295 and Alenia's C-27J as final contenders in 2010. The Technical Evaluation Committee cleared  the L1 CASA 295 that came in for commercial opening in 2010. When the contract negotiations started, an MoD official told Aerospace Diary that suddenly the BSF needed a civil certification (not mentioned in the RFP). The OEM, it is believed, agreed. However, out of the blue, it was announced ownership was an issue as was the maintenance of the aircraft. It was also pointed out rather late in the day,a signature had been forged  during the TEC. Why this was done remains a mystery till this day. Nobody was brought...

Neelam Mathews Jan 5, 2012 Intranet Prahari Project was launched today P. Chidambaram, Union Home Minister at the BSF HQ in New Delhi. . “The Intranet Prahari Project valued at Rs. 229 Crores was sanctioned by MHA in February 2010. The project is an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Solution through NIIT Technologies Ltd for Border Security Force (BSF) where  all major processes such as Finance, Inventory Management, Operations and Personnel Information have been automated and integrated to act as a robust and quick Decisions Support System and for consolidated view of data for analyses. Under this Project, network connectivity has been extended up to Battalion level i.e to 237 locations of BSF. Data Centers have been established including the Main Data Center; a Disaster Recovery Data Center ( in a different seismic zone) and Mini Data Centers at frontier locations for data storage. Cyber security measures to ensure network security and to prevent data loss or pilferage have...

Neelam Mathews Nov 1, 2011 U K Bansal, IPS has taken over the charge of the Border Security Force.   Bansal, 60,   belongs to the 1974 batch of Indian Police Service (UP Cadre). Before joining BSF, he was Spl DG(West) and ADG(East) in BSF, Regional Inspector General of Police in three Zones of Uttar Pradesh, Inspector General of Police, ITBP and at various posts in State Police including Additional Director General of Economic Offence Investigations.

Aerospace Daily Jan 21, 2011 PROGRAMS Jan 20, 2011   By Neelam Mathews NEW DELHI Delays in India’s acquisition process are hurting the critical needs of its homeland security forces, with a program to supply transport aircraft for border security caught up in a turf battle. A contract for the supply of two Airbus Military C-295M transport aircraft for the Border Security Force (BSF) is in limbo after contract discussions were disrupted last October because of indecision on whether the aircraft should receive civil or military certification. If the decision is made in favor of civil certification, the BSF will be the owner. If it is made in favor of military, it will be under the management of the Indian air force. The 2008 request for proposals stated the military version should come with a weather radar, emergency locating transmitter and survival equipmen...

Programs Aerospace Daily & Defense Report Dec 02 , 2010 , p. 10 Neelam Mathews NEW DELHI — At its 45th anniversary, the Border Security Force (BSF) — responsible for guarding India’s land boundaries during peacetime — is being transformed into a modern, technology-driven force, according to its director general, Raman Srivastava. “We are pursuing modernization,” Srivastava says. Procurement plans include buying handheld thermal imagers, battlefield surveillance radars, long-range reconnaissance and observation systems, and biometric ID machines. The BSF provides training for bomb disposal to state police and trains commandos. The BSF also may purchase bomb-disposal equipment in the near future. With a sparse aviation wing comprising one Embraer , one Beechcraft and 14 helicopters, BSF is now looking at replacing its aging three Avros. Three helibases also are planned in eastern India. The B...