Bharat Rakshak

from what i understand the C-130 requires an extremely short runway for takeoff/landing and its main capability is in landing on unprepared/dirt runways. Which can be critical for SpecOp missions when you dont have the time to prepare a Forward staging area. (example of the botched Iran Rescue opp)..

ALso the SpecOps varient (if that is indeed the one we are getting) comes with a special set of Avionics of Night lowlevel flying and EW Gear to get pass SAM sites.

There are three different variants used in three different roles;

- insertion/retreival deep in denied areas, particularly when you are doing it in numbers, or with equipment (eg vehicles) that make a helicopters impractical. Low-level night flying through someone else's air defences. That's the workhorse role. How much fancy kit you want to put on the plane for this kind of mision is up to the force in question.

- loitering precision close air support, particularly at night or low-visibility. The AC-130 is better in the role than anything else available.

- air-to-air refuelling tankers for long-range helicopter missions. This is really quite frightening stuff. Not being a flying type myself I always had nightmare visions of the helicopter blades slicing in to the fuel hose and producing a bunch of overdone kebabs.

One observation is sf tactical transport aircraft become *horribly* complicated and expensive because senior officers dont know when to say no to extra kit. The result are often problems that simpler aircraft wouldnt have had. The other is that sf support pilots are usually the best there are, and will come up with realistic, exhaustive and (relatively) safe training on their own and should be given the lattitude to make decisions about what is safe or not safe to fly.

the MH53 and MH60 are fitted with huge long nose probes for AAR mission well clear of the fwd arc of rotor. to disengage I think they need to slow down and pitch up a little to let fuel hose get away clean.

but doing it at night over khyber durra aint no picnic.

I wonder these birds for a particular region called Afghanistan, to do what no uncle can do or rather to help uncle do what has to be done for freedom to various regions of Pakistan

Thanks rkhanna & Johann.

Raj It is very interesting though that we would go ahead and purchase exclusively 6 C-130J just for SF role as confired by ACM , Certainly we are thinking in terms of some future continental operation in which SF would have a very important role to play

Turbulence or pilot error from fatigue can push a helicopter in to the tanker's wake. Pitching blades, disengaging drogues, av fuel splattering all over, it happens sometimes, although it hasnt yet produced catastrophe. For those in the back its almost better not to know.

It's important to distinguish between CT units (NSG), CI units (RR) and SF units (Para Cdos, etc).

Unfortunately, we have underutilzed or misutilized our SF units by treating them more like elite infantry.

BBC series on the junior leader commando training camp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re8KeMnI3No
Clip 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMvWKa62J8M
Clip 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qut7zK7khU
Clip 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXWAfb-I6bM
Clip 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCssurS6MD0
Clip 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea1jub28VnI
Clip 6

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv0DFOL3B3E
Clip 7

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZYravwtG80
Clip 8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNwn9du6r9w
Clip 9

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoYHZWkv9iA
Clip 10



Indo US Joint Excercise Shatrujeet 2006 Videos

http://youtube.com/watch?v=FKqvQ-ATYh8
Clip 1

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7Fz4KXG6eiQ
Clip 2

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6VRwtxPTjzA
Clip 3

http://youtube.com/watch?v=abVZLkm478g
Clip 4

http://youtube.com/watch?v=5Oi5rbUsr48
Clip 5

http://youtube.com/watch?v=d4beiyOKzbY
Clip 6

http://youtube.com/watch?v=9z29wESjS_s
Clip 7

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Y2z8M0OjzV0
Clip 8

For those of you who havent seen this series before.....the officer who is seen throughout the programme making jokes and funny comments, Commando Dilip Jha, died about a year after this series was filmed during COIN ops in Mendhar sector, J&K. He killed 4 terrorists before being hit by a freak bullet. Very poignant to see him laughing and entertaining his buddies in these clips...

Folks, wondering whether the Lancer can be modified to accomodate people outside of the chopper like the little bird(MH-6) shown here. Remember the Black Hawk down, Delta forces used the little birds.

MH-6
http://www.acig.org/artman/uploads/military-020.jpg

Lancer
http://media.bharat-rakshak.com/aero/v/ ... 1.JPG.html

More details here
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mag/2002/10/27/stories/2002102700170300.htm Scroll down.
Apparentely he killed 6 bad guys and took a bullet just under his BP jacket. Awarded the Kirti Chakra.
I grew up in the Belgaum Cantoment Area and all the coverage area is very familiar to me.
-Jayram

According to http://indianarmy.nic.in/martyrs/homage ... c_id=59231 he was killed in Op. Parakram

Army Number IC-59231
Rank CAPT
Name DILIP KUMAR JHA
Date of Casualty 02-10-2002
Operation OP PARAKRAM
Regiment Served The Jat Regiment
Unit Served 7 JAT
Home State Bihar

Does anyone know what the Pakistani causualties during operation Parakram were? because for the first time since 1989 the Pakis became very eager for a ceasefire along the LOC after operation parakram came to an end.

Good find! in fact in the first clip you can hear him say his army number to the instructor at the railway station.
Anybody have any info re. this encounter? was it with paki troops or the jehadi piglets?

http://www.nsg.gov.in/TrainingBrochure.pdf

NSG brochure, I had no idea there was a NSG museum - might be worth while checking out if u're in the area

On page 5 one can see 2 CRP women going thru one of the obstacle courses.

Have known about an NSG museum but dont think it is open to aam janta.

Navy's Marine Commandos steal the show
Arunkumar Bhatt

Called the Marcos they fight an insurgent like an insurgent

These diving commandos were deployed in Kashmir for militants were using water bodies such as lakes, rivers and ravines to take cover. Soon they became famous as ``dareewali fauj [bearded force]'' among the militants.
``If civilians see us they would surely mistake us for militants for we look like them but militants would know who we are. If they spot us from a distance, they fire but if spotted nearby they try to run away and that is the time we go for a kill,'' Petty Officer Ram Mehar told The Hindu .

Other Marcos who were honoured were sailors Anoop Singh and Amarjeet. Admiral Mehta also conferred Nao Sena Medal (Gallantry) on diver Ajay Kumar and Petty Officer Ravinder Kumar for recovering explosive-laden containers from the cold waters off Mumbai in zero visibility to save the environment.

Arjun tanks undergo baptism in desert wargames

Seems Tavor have been inducted

Link

A huge read for the special forces fans

They Just Did Not Stand and Stare, They Did and Dared

by Lt Col (Retd.) A.K Sam Sharma

A book Review on:

Special Forces : Doctrine, Structures and Employment Across the Spectrum of Conflict in the Indian Context
Author: Oberoi, Vijay (Ed.)

......These, and many other issue related to the SF, are the content matter of this heavy tome, which essentially minutes a seminar on the issue, held in Nov 2004, which was organized under the aegis of the Centre for Land Air Warfare Studies (CLAWS), a newly conceived think tank headed by a former retired Vice Indian Army Chief : Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi.

Small mistake in the report.
OFB is advertising the Zittara as an Multi-purpose Carbine.i.e. it can fire 3 types of ammo.
5.56x45 mm INSAS & NATO
5.56x30 mm
9x19 mm

More features of the Zittara.
• Weapon capable of being used in an assault rifle role with capability to fire 5.56X45 mm rounds with an accuracy upto 300 m
• Weapon capable of being used in a carbine role with capability to fire 5.56X30 mm and 9X19 mm rounds with an accuracy upto 200 m
• Bull pup configuration making the weapon only 59 cms long and 3 Kgs in weight
• Integrated aiming system – Reflex sight + integral laser pointer.
• Day & Night continuous fighting capability – No zeroing needed.
• Ideal for Close Quarter Battle (CQB) with all calibers owing to all the above features
• Advanced ergonomic design.
• Compact rifle with long barrel – High accuracy.
• Rear center of gravity - Comfort in shooting and holding – Improved hit probability.
• Appropriate for right or left-hand shooter
• Interchangeability of barrel and magazine for both calibers
• Advanced sighting system attached directly to barrel.
• Adjustment of optical system for continuous day & night fighting.

Rs 12k-cr artillery boost for Army?

What is Para SF (Airborne)? There was Para and Para (SF) only when I last heard.

A certain General tried to make all paras into SF -

The ones who hhave not are probably being referred to as airborne

The whole SF thing is a mess. And till itis pulled out of para regiment - I have serious doubts on some of the so called SF

How many SF battalions are there according to MOD??

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/LAND-FORC ... chute.html

Thanks Karkarat

What I meant was is there a MOD official page listing the SF bns?

Why are we buying M4 Rifles.. IMO its a really bad choice and the for the money we are going to be paying for them we could get superior Sig or HK Carbines for the same or a little more money. Most countries that use the M4 Rifle are in the process of finding replacements. The shortcommings of the M4 have been highly documented in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Also do we even get the SOPMOD kit?

M4??...The US Army itself is evaluating various other options like HK416, FN SCAR ans HK XM8. From Wikipedia:

Actually some units like Delta Force and forward deployed SEAL Units have already started buying the HK416 till the pentagon can get its act together.

Simply put the M4 may do as a self defence weapon for tank crews and such but its a suckie SpecOps weapon. The HK-416 also cost the same amount as the M4.

Have you not visited the official Parachute Regiment website? I have not come across any official MOD page listing the SF Btns.

http://www.indianparachuteregiment.kar.nic.in/units.htm

There is a lik to Bharat Rakshak from the Parachute Regiment website . We sure have come long way.

In July 2007, the US Army announced a limited competition between the M4 carbine, FN SCAR, HK416, and the previously-shelved HK XM8. Ten examples of each of the four competitors were involved. Each weapon was fired for 6,000 rounds in an "extreme dust environment." The purpose of the shootoff was for assessing future needs, not to select a replacement for the M4. [2][3] The XM8 scored the best, with only 127 stoppages in 60,000 total rounds, the MK16 SCAR Light had 226 stoppages, while the HK416 had 233 stoppages. The M4 carbine scored "significantly worse" than the rest of the field with 882 stoppages.

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/12/a ... st_071217/

isn't there an army evaluation unit or something which should be looking into these results.

On top of these there are still other choices like the SIG552, AN-92 and AEK-971

I think the FNSCAR-H and the AEK971 can even take AK magazines

FROM PIB

Indian Air Force’s special force ‘Garud’ conducted a week long joint exercise with the National Security Guards named ‘Black Eagle – I’. The exercise was conducted in two phases from 07 Mar 08 to 14 Mar 08. The first phase was conducted at Garud Regimental Training Centre (GRTC) and the second phase was conducted at NSG Force Headquarters at Manesar. The aim of the exercise was to develop compatibility between the Special Forces on each other’s tactics, techniques and procedures and hone their collective skills for special missions. The exercise cultiminated with a capability demonstration by joint forces at NSG Manesar on 14 Mar 08. This demonstration was witnessed by the Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal FH Major and Director General of National Security Guards Shri Jyoti Krishan Dutt IPS. Senior officers from IAF and NSG were also present during the occasion

SPG to raise a dedicated Counter Sniper Unit (CSU)





http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/New_SPG_unit_to_combat_snipers/rssarticleshow/2915574.cms

What is this air wing about?Never heard any mention of this earlier?

Actually the Internet Article is only half of what got printed in the newspaper today (Mumbai Ed. Pg 13).

The New helo unit was only one of the new Info in the Article. (Apart from the CSU being raised).

The Article also claims that the SPG is responsible for 3 layers of security around its principles. The innermost (Proximity) is Provided by the SPG , the second layer is provided by a Unit called the Special Duty Group (SDG) and the third layer is manned by local police with Co-ordination with IB.

This is the First time i have ever heard of SDG or it even mentioned. There is ZERO info or even mention of this Unit anywhere on the net. Is it integral to the SPG? (Like SAG/SRG to the NSG) or is it a completely different independent unit?.

Could these guys in Blue Nomex Overalls that have been turning up in pics lately be SDG?

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=47305&d=1206816208

BTW..the Article mentions that the CSU will be set up with the RedOwl Project like the Americans have..

This is the RedOwl System (kinda like a WRL for Gunshots)





http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2 ... ar-snipers



http://www.biomimetic-systems.com/PR_3_10_05.html

What happens if the insurgents use pilfered American weapons/rounds to jam the system? Will the system ignore the tune of such a round/weapon? I see a market for Lord of War types and some quartermasters with money problems

I thought SPG always had counter sniping units? Maybe this is some technological upgrades.

No the system is designed to detect and identify all kinds of calibre of bullets. The point is that a Counter Sniper Unit has completely different training and objectives than a Sniper Team providing cover fire. A CSU reacts to Hostile Snipers after they have already taken a shot. A sniper team tries to weed out threats to take a pre-emtive shot.