Aerospace Diary

DEFENSE Essential news and analysis on the defense aerospace business. Your trusted source for new and ongoing programs and requirements in military aircraft (manned and unmanned), engines, avionics, weapons and associated systems, including ground-based air defense. GA-ASI finally has a customer for its long-proposed maritime surveillance version of the Predator B UAS. June 29, 2017 Neelam Mathews and Chris Pocock T he U.S. has offered to sell the GA-ASI Sea Guardian unmanned aircraft system (UAS) to India, as part of a planned boost in defense cooperation between the two countries. A meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Washington on June 26, discussed what would be India’s first procurement of a high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) UAS. After the meeting, the White House stated that “the U.S. and India look forward to working together on advanced defense e...

Neelam Mathews Oct 18, 2015 While Boeing Co Chairman, President and CEO James   McNerney announced to an awe-struck audience in Delhi on Oct 16 that the company would be willing to make its twin-engine F-18 fighters in India, when India releases another MMRCA tender in two years, one wonders what is actually happening to thinking in higher echelons of power? I am not even going into issues related to CISMOA, which a few say will be solved ultimately. While it goes to the credit of the OEMs that they are more than willing to include Indian companies in their global supply base, one wonders why homework has not been done to calculate costs that will be incurred should the country add to its already over two dozen different aircraft models? The Indian Air Force, as far as I can remember, has been crying hoarse over this issue. So while, one has no affiliations to the Rafale for instance, why not just set up co-production for another 90 more? We have to start some time. As...

Neelam Mathews June 15, 2015 Prme Minister Modi and Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, left, have taken the relationship between his nation and India "out of the closet." India’s thrust in the past year to get a greater slice of the international defense equipment pie has resulted in a host of agreements being signed in the first five months of 2015, under the new Narendra Modi government. The country is aggressively tapping the world for hi-tech equipment. Underscoring India’s aerospace technology plans, Minister of State for Defense Rao Inderjit Singh said the focus is to “open opportunities for innovative minds to exploit the globally evolving spirit of teaming up and pooling resources.” Modi has not been shy of talking openly about relations with Israel, which is a top-three exporter of arms, following India’s establishing of diplomatic relations with the country in the early 1990s (which it kept under wraps due to sensitivities). He will become the fi...

DEFENCE NOTES 03rd March 2015 - 14:46 by  Neelam Mathews  in Delhi  The US-India Defense Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI) appears to be at a standstill. Three unsigned agreements remain to be signed before the four Pathfinder projects that will introduce co-development and co-production of defence equipment with the US move forward. They have as yet not been approved by India because of sovereignty issues. Speaking to  Shephard  at a media briefing, Frank Kendall, US under-secretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, said the Communication Interoperability and Security Memorandum Agreement (CISMOA) ‘is an important agreement. We would like to get that in time.’ CISMOA is one of the three agreements and is the administrative framework for sharing communications. The other two include the Logistics Support Agreement (LSA), a cross-servicing agreement, to enable the two militaries a quid pro quo for logistics support, r...

by  Neelam Mathews  -  December 10, 2014, 8:09 AM                                            Sikorsky has clinched a sale of S-70B Seahawks to the Indian Navy. (Photo: Sikorsky)     The Sikorsky S-70B Seahawk has been selected to meet the Indian Navy’s multi-role helicopter ( MRH ) requirement. A contract for 16 with an option for eight more is expected to be signed within eight months and will include a complete logistics support and training program. The selection was held up for two years following the controversy over India’s purchase of   AgustaWestland  AW 101  VIP  helicopters . The other shortlisted contender was the   NH -90 from   NH   Industries, which is 32 percent owned by AgustaWestland. The request for proposal mandates that deliveries begin within three years of signing the contract....

Neelam Mathews Sept 12, 2014 Our beloved Jasjit Singh must be smiling benevolently at many sessions of the recently held CAPS-CII conference, as straight talk was the order of the day. Must confess it took many a yawn away! Thanks to a lively session led by Retd Air Marshal Vinod Patney, who was not leaving any speaker off. Perhaps the one to receive maximum counter queries was Capt Todd Squire, Chief Office of Defense Cooperation,US Embassy, apparently not given too much leeway by his government to indulge in 'small talk'. “Co-development and production must be ‘co’.    If there is a desire on both sides to co-produce, problems will sort themselves out…or Indians will ask “Do I really need the equipment,    or shall I go elsewhere?...... We have known US to often say: We have our laws, you change yours,”…… said a candid Patney, Director General, CAPS.  Even as the US takes forward talks on NG weapon production, there are many holdups including Ind...

The Net Defense Technology International Feb 01 , 2011 , p. 51 Neelam Mathews Printed headline: India Balks At Cismoa With major U.S. military sales to India underway and the possibility of a winning American bid for the $10-billion Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft program, one seemingly non-negotiable condition affecting U.S. export of sensitive technology is unresolved—India’s refusal to sign the Communications Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement (Cismoa). Cismoa is a U.S. requirement that is intended to guarantee the secrecy of advanced C4ISR (command, control, communications, computer, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) equipment on aircraft, ships and other platforms. Signing Cismoa would give India access to sensitive U.S. C4ISR technology and increase the interoperability of Indian and American forces during joint exercises and missions. India’s refusal to...

Defense Aviation Week & Space Technology Nov 15 , 2010 , p. 46 Neelam Mathews New Delhi Obama’s visit to India stokes agreements, but not on everything Security Pact Remains U.S.-India Sticking Point The Indian air force is exploring upgrade options for U.S. military aircraft that will be handed over without key capabilities in the absence of an agreement governing those systems. The U.S. is withholding several subsystems until India ratifies the Communication Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement, which governs current and future transfers of intelligence systems to India. India is not ready to commit to the security pact and instead is willing to take slightly less capable U.S. systems initially, expecting to backfill the missing features later. The strategy will be tested when the Indian air force starts taking delivery of six Lockheed Martin C-130Js next month. They are the fir...

Aerospace Daily & Defense Report January 21, 2009 NEW DELHI — India’s unwillingness to sign the long-gestating Logistics Support Agreement and the Communications, Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA)with the U.S. has prompted U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates to remark: “On the U.S. side, we have not done a good job spelling out [the] benefits of signing these agreements.” The agreements “have been lying for quite some time now,” Gates said Jan. 20. “They were put on the table in 2002. It is not a new requirement but has been known for some time. CISMOA will allow [our] defense relationship to expand significantly by increasing interoperability and security of communication equipment. “I see these [pacts] as enablers to allow defense trade ... as it will lead to great interoperability for our forces to work together, whether in relief or security operations,” Gates said. Gates was on a two-day visit to India devoted to furthering the U.S.-India defense r...