Bharat Rakshak

Prem Kumar

Rather than as a Spike/Javelin replacement, it might be better to think of DRDO's MANPATGM 1.0 as a replacement for our massive holdings of Konkur, Milan and Kornets. Otherwise, it will get into unnecessary arguments about weight Our total holdings of Konkurs, Milans and Kornets is upwards of 80,000...

Prem Kumar

I hope we get to see at least 1 photo with the engineers & technicians with their planes/helis, instead of some random babus and management types

Prem Kumar

A malnourished person is debating whether he should eat more proteins or carbs. He is lacking in both That's our pathetic state, but Generals are busy arguing whether my ground-launched-missile is bigger than your air-launched-rocket Neither arm (Artillery or IAF) has covered itself in glory when it...

Prem Kumar

If Arihant undergoes an SSGN conversion & a parallel line opens up, nothing like it! This can keep churning out nuclear attack subs while the 200 MW beast is getting constructed. Same approach as SSBN - crawl, walk, run. Learn how to operate a fleet of SSGN while giving the country first strike ...

Prem Kumar

Once Rafale deal is signed, the camel now has 3 feet in the tent. The French will pitch their UCAV & say that the Rafale is compatible with *only their UCAV* and nothing else. They will refuse to share codes for inter-operability - screw whatever they signed as part of the deal (or the IAF will ...

Prem Kumar

Rocket Force, irrespective of whose command its under, is long overdue. It can decisively tilt the nuclear balance in India's favor, by taking out PAF on the ground. But hey, the IAF jocks want their A2A battles, not actually win the War. The IAF dreams of short-n-sweet wars because they are not pre...

Prem Kumar

Another leg of the triad which has strengthened its importance, is the stealth bomber. Once in the air, its impervious to interception Its vulnerable only when its on the ground. So, if we invest in an "always X aircraft in the air" doctrine (which the US and USSR did), its a highly surviv...

Prem Kumar

GE will deliver enough engines to keep hopes flickering, so that we don't abandon and go full Atmanirbhar on Kaveri But will delay enough to stall/kill the Mk1a, Mk2 and AMCA programs The only way out is to triple-down on homegrown Kaveri (not the Snecma carrot-joke), make it a national mission and ...

Prem Kumar

1) For long range missiles (BMs, Cruise Missiles etc), we have a sophisticated INS/MINGS systems which does course corrections. Plus ITCM is supposed to have DSMAC for scene matching. So, all these provide redundancies. But still, NavIC's crippling makes them less accurate & more reliant on unre...

Prem Kumar

Drive from Palakkad to Guruvayur is a depressing scene. We used to once see Temples

Now, every 1 Km, its either a spanking new Church or Mosque

Gelf money or Missionary money

Prem Kumar

If & when Op Sindoor 2.0 happens, we need to take out PAF, their primary nuke-delivery mechanism. We let them off the hook this time because our civilian & armed forces leadership's overton window hadn't shifted to think of this possibility But to do this, we need to have several things in p...

Prem Kumar

If we are smart about it, we should induct the 120-150 Km interceptor with its radar (or integrated with existing Akash/MRSAM radar) as soon as it clears trials. It will deliver a huge jump in capability while also helping resolve teething issues in Kusha As & when new interceptors, radars are r...

Prem Kumar

Nice try Amber G, trying to burn a strawman. No one here says NavIC cannot (or should not) be revived. In fact almost unanimously, everyone is clamoring precisely for it - and asking that military space programs be prioritized, instead of vanity projects But NavIC is currently dead/crippled. And its...

Prem Kumar

Good article, SSridhar Ji! The Dept of Space, the PMO & ISRO all need a collective kick in the butt. They need to cancel all "pride" programs like Shukrayaan, Gaganyaan etc and focus entirely on military requirements for the next decade. That's how far behind we are Also, just because ...

Prem Kumar

“Nonsense” is dismissing the basics. A degraded NavIC isn’t “useless”—loss of navigation ≠ loss of function; satellites can still provide timing and messaging, which are operationally relevant. And no, the Agni series isn’t a plug-and-play satellite launcher. Push back is fine—but it should be grou...

Prem Kumar

Amber G: you are putting lipstick on a pig. The failure to maintain enough satellites in orbit for a regional navigation system is a program management failure. Aided no doubt by sabotage and/or technical failures in launch systems. But in spite of launch failures, Plan B & C should have been in...

Prem Kumar

As someone wise said: "It takes the same amount of energy to dream big as it does to dream small" With the corollary that the former is hugely motivating, while the latter feels limiting We are happy dreaming small, not ruffling feathers & playing it safe. Be it "Light" comba...

Prem Kumar

IRNSS-1F successfully completed its mission life of 10 years What's galling is the pathetic attempt at spin-doctoring by ISRO Yes, IRNSS-F completed 10 years. But that's not the story. The story is that we are without a working IRNSS system, our so-called answer to GPS/GLONASS Absolute crapshow by ...

Prem Kumar

As a way of saying "Thanks", we are going to order 5 more S-400 squadrons and lots of failed Pantsirs

QRSAM, Akash-NG, VL-Astra, homegrown BMD (PAD, AAD, AD-1, AD-2) are all gathering moss

Prem Kumar

A smarter approach will be to sell Akash/Kusha etc to all the Middle East countries who were attacked by Iran

Prem Kumar

GE is clever. They want to screw over our Tejas program, but not so much that we go our own way. They want us hooked onto them too

So, they will screw us over just enough

Upto us whether we want to carve out our own path

Prem Kumar

So, to reduce foreign dependence, we are embarking on 2 multi-billion, decade-long projects with 2 foreign vendors :lol: If we let Adani import Unitree robots, put Made-in-India stamp on them, kit them out with AK-203 and let them fight on our behalf, our Atmanirbharta in Infantry will also be compl...

Prem Kumar

Same crap is happening in Light Tank. Zorwawar is ready but after all the R&D, a paltry order of 50 or so to be placed before issuing an RFP to multiple vendors. Similarly, LUH can be ready & superior. But an old, shitty design will get the bulk orders because someone's snout is in the tub. ...

Prem Kumar

https://swarajyamag.com/defence/dap-2026-wants-india-to-own-its-defence-tech-its-fine-print-says-otherwise An incisive article in Swarajya. It calls out the systemic rot that has crept into our Atmanirbhar classification. Points to fatal flaws in DAP 2026 that classifies both true innovation & ...

Prem Kumar

The Tejas Mk2 has yet to fly. Only post IOC of the Mk2, can discussions begin between Air HQ and HAL on orders. That has not stopped speculations on estimated production runs. Initially it was 200 air frames, now it has changed to ~ 100 aircraft as a first tranche and then a follow on order. When t...

Prem Kumar

Aridhaman has 8 VLS tubes. So, it should be 24 K-15s or 8 K-4s (not *and*)

Prem Kumar

https://x.com/AniketBS/status/2023074163783794696?s=20 ---> Sir, writer of the article here. Just to clarify: Radar-EW issue is being fixed. IAF will soon review if it has been satisfactorily addressed. This is NOT one of the issues HAL has asked concession on, to the best of my knowledge, and as i...

Prem Kumar

RM's speech was like rubbing salt into the wounds 1) Trickle-feed $100M for the entire Kaveri program vs $40B for Rafale (100X more) 2) Starving GTRE of funds, test facilities etc which has created an exodus of talent + disillusionment 3) Now pouring Billions into Safran in hopes of magical ToT whic...

Prem Kumar

If taxation is anything to go by, we are experts in incorporating the worst ideas from everywhere: onerous e-Invoicing from Brazil, GST from Europe etc

The silver lining is that Ashwani Vaishnaw is in the Parikkar mould - so, hopefully better sense will prevail

Prem Kumar

Saddest day in a long while. It proves that Atmanirbhar is a joke and that the Services can play truant & get their way But there is no money for Kaveri or any other R&D. We want JV for everything and *magically* we will become a superpower. Talent will flee because you can score (minus 8 ) ...

Prem Kumar

Since these are 80 mm rockets, I am not sure how they will fit existing rocket pods of Rudra/Prachand (which are today fitted with 70 mm Thales rockets)

Prem Kumar

HAL's statements are weasel-worded 1) *Major* changes done 2) Design suggestions are being incorporated 3) But they are ready for induction I have no love lost for them, because repeated CMDs have turned out to be liars & hiding their organization's sloth/chalta-hai behavior That being said, IAF...

Prem Kumar

Lots of delays due to ELTA-2052 radar. I am 100% sure that the Uttam integration will be much smoother

Yet, HAL, under Israeli lobby influence, went with the 2052 for the entire batch of 83

Sigh ... this is how we roll

Prem Kumar

Once Gandiva is ready, there ought to be an SFDR powered missile in the Kusha SAM family. Will be a beast with a large NEZ

Prem Kumar

^ I agree with the above When our media reported the flaw with the fuel-control switch that resurfaced again in the Heathrow to India flight, the DGCA was quick to jump in and issue a rejoinder Why are they acting like a Boeing spokesperson? The latter is already muddying the waters by buying off *e...

Prem Kumar

The smart move would have been to keep it as 1 pvt player + HAL I have no love lost for the latter, but this would de-risk the project if things go sideways with the private player To de-risk further, the pvt player must be given Tejas-Mk2 orders too + MRO work on Tejas-Mk1, so that they cut their t...

Prem Kumar

N^3 lamented about this. How our GTRE folks, labs etc all use off-the-shelf CFD software, while not understanding from first principles

The "easy way out"

Meanwhile, China has released open-source equivalents of ANSYS etc

Prem Kumar

Gen Navarane has always loved his own soundbites. He could be a Congressi (yes, to me, that's a disqualification)

Modi & Rajnath have not cleansed the line of succession and are paying the price

Prem Kumar

We are in full-on "10% margin" baniya mode Modi/Rajnath cannot tell the difference between tomato imports and defense imports Well....actually they can (if you look at how the PM is handling semiconductor policy - but that may also be because of the concerned Minister Vaishnaw being cut fr...

Prem Kumar

Looks like ex-COAS Navarane is shooting his mouth off in his memoir. This was one of the import-bahadurs who loved to talk about 6th gen warfare and generally make controversial statements Now, idiot Rahul has picked up on it Serves Modi & Rajnath right - they haven't fixed the line of successio...

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