Bharat Rakshak

Vikram Rathore

JE Menon, I think he is...saw his site from Amazon- at www.mainakdhar.com. Seems to be a pretty prolific writer. For my review of Line of Control: As a long time lurker (being a member since 1999 or so) and occasional contributor to BR, and with a lifetime passion for the military, I always hungered...

Vikram Rathore

Found an interesting read on the Amazon Kindle page. A thriller called Line of Control that seems to be based on an India-Pak war and had some rave reviews from the likes of Jasjeet Singh and Gen V.K. Sharma (COAS, Retd) and at $2.99 (the best part of the Kindle store for me)- was an easy decision t...

Vikram Rathore

Folks, In terms of good modern military thrillers with an Indian perspective, I would recommend Line of Control by Mainak Dhar....its really good, and in addition to being a good action thriller with all the military action you could want, its also very well written. Here's a link to the website tha...

Vikram Rathore

As someone who has been sitting on the fence waiting for the `right' time to buy (in other words, couching my own laziness and inertia in more strategic sounding reasons!!), I think the dynamics in the Indian real estate market are not exactly driven entirely by demand and supply- at least in the sh...

Vikram Rathore

A very thought provoking article about what a response to terror could be from each and every one of us. http://maloykrishnadhar.com/do-not-wash-this-blood-do-not-wipe-this-tear-get-angry DO NOT WASH THIS BLOOD; DO NOT WIPE THIS TEAR: GET ANGRY Posted by: Maloy Krishna Dhar on Tuesday, December 9th,...

Vikram Rathore

Line of Control By Mainak Dhar Publisher- Vitasta, Oct 2008 Pages- 322 A review that appeared in Deccan Herald on the 7th December 2008. http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Dec72008/books20081206105108.asp It’s a dangerous world out there, along the LoC. Not just for Indians, but for Pakistanis too...

Vikram Rathore

When I saw the title of this thread, the cynical side of me asked, `what response'? On the face of it, our government seems to be doing little other than pleading and pontificating....leaving a lot of us feeling infuriated and impotent. Then, to escape into a make believe world where things aren't s...

Vikram Rathore

Here's my review of Line of Control by Mainak Dhar . Title: Line of Control Author: Mainak Dhar Paperback- 314 pages Vitasta Publishing, Delhi ISBN 81-89766-39-2 Here's what the novel's blurb says: It is 2011 and the world is a more dangerous place than ever before. A regime allied to Al-Qaeda has s...

Vikram Rathore

Saw this on Youtube- anybody know more about this book?
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Vikram Rathore

The first step in marketing anything (whether a soap, shampoo or fighter jet!) is understanding clearly who the target audience is, and what their needs are. Next comes defining what we can offer that would meet these needs- and finally, how do we go about actually delivering on these. Let me take a...

Vikram Rathore

Mohan, The `beam' maneuver is not the result of a one time s/w bug- it has been praciced and used extensively by air forces around the world. Yes, it is not a simple maneuver, but pilots who have trained for it and know their planes well (eg. Iraqi MiG-25PD pilots) did it several times with success ...

Vikram Rathore

One popular tactic is to force the launching fighter to break radar lock by performing what is known as the `beam' maneuver ie. the intended target in your case the F-7, moves perpendicular to the attacking plane- since the indicated speed on doppler radar would suddenly become zero ie. a zero rate ...

Vikram Rathore

The other country which would desperately need the LCA is TSP :-). With their aging F-16 fleet, F-7s making up the backbone, FC-1 nowhere in sight and not enough money to buy anything new...they would love something like the LCA, though I'm sure the only time the PAF gets a close look at the LCA wil...

Vikram Rathore

The usual prattle of misinformed journalists I'm afraid...`ferocious dog'...almost gets poetic :-)I'd also like to discuss the export potential of the LCA and which markets if any India could look at tapping. The key selling points I'd see for the LCA are:1) Low cost- half of the Mirage 2000 a...

Vikram Rathore

It was me who first `hollered' :-) about the AAMs under the wing- they indeed are R-60 training rounds. Gets one thinking though- wouldn't the `first' flight have been a `clean' one??? Was this then not the very first flight- but the first public flight- with enough confidence to mount dummy AAMs un...

Vikram Rathore

They ARE definitely R-60 dummy rounds AFAIK see....others...expert opinions?

Vikram Rathore

The Yahoo pic has the LCA carrying two dummy R-60 missiles under the wings-- wonder if the others noticed?

Vikram Rathore

Avram,The LCA when it rolls out will definitely not be a match for a Su-30, or perhaps even an upgraded MiG-29. But it will serve two critical purposes: 1) It will be far superior to the MiG-21 and also potential adversaries like the Mirage III, F-6/7, and give the IAF a firm numerical backbon...

Vikram Rathore

Japan should definitely be up there in the list- in my opinion, no 2 or 3. With close to 200 F-15s and AWACS, it is a formidable force. Add to these the second string of upgraded F-4s and F-1s for ground attack, you have a fairly sizeable and competent air force.I would also put Taiwan at parity ...

Vikram Rathore

Good show....The other thing that strikes me is that the IAF seems to be flying almost 4 times as many hours as the PAF! Given that the ratio of number of aircraft is between 2 and 3:1 in favour of the IAF, this should also demolish the other PAF myth of flying many more hours and therefore being...

Vikram Rathore

Another question- can our Harriers carry the R-73? And if not, why don't we enable them to- since our Mirage 2000s can now launch them....the R-73 would give an edge over a MIrage/AIM-9P combo.

Vikram Rathore

Shiv,They don't have the SUper 530, but they do have the R-530, far less capable, but BVR nevertheless.

Vikram Rathore

rsingh,The Jaguar v/s Mirage scenario was a specific one of the jag being `bounced' by a Mirage. presumably on an attack mission. At an academic level, if one discounts fighter escorts (and in reality- they will not always be there), the 2xmagic armament of the Jag probably will not help much v/s...

Vikram Rathore

LNS,agree- the key leverage areas for the RN were the fact that the Argentines were operating at the end of their endurance, and poor tactics by the Argentines- they usually sent 2-3 jets at a time to attack the RN fleet...as the Jane's book quotes an RN officer aas saying that the RN may well ha...

Vikram Rathore

Just finished reading a fascinating book- Jane's Air War- Fighter Combat in the Jet Age...lots of dope, incl about the Falklands.It seems the Argentines were severly handicapped becoz they were flying at the extreme edge of their endurance by the time they got to the RN fleet, and really had no e...

Vikram Rathore

rsingh,15kms is at the outer edge of the range of the AIM-9P...but with the TSP F-16s, we may also need to worry about AIM-7Fs, with a range of some 45 kms...

Vikram Rathore

Skanhai,Maybe....could someone else also give gyan on this....The other funda here is if the radar has a tracking range of just 30 miles...thats a big underutilisation of the R-77, which has a range of some 60+ miles. But anyway, this would still be a big increase in capability for the 21s.

Vikram Rathore

Another question- the detection range of 31miles does not seem too hot...the old Jay Bird had a tracking range of close to 20 miles against fighter sized targets....

Vikram Rathore

Found a link to the citation: <A HREF="http://haynese.winthrop.edu/india/medals/PVC/PVC09.html" TARGET=_blank>http://haynese.winthrop.edu/india/medals/PVC/PVC09.html</A> CITATION During the 1965 Indo-Pak War, 4 Indian Division was entrusted with a two-fold responsibility - capture...

Vikram Rathore

Narayanan,My memory throws up several sources for the RCL story- many books - incl one I remember called 22 Fateful Days (don't remember the author now), written soon after the war, the actual citation itself (some years ago, the govt published a booklet on India's Heroes with all PVC recipients ...

Vikram Rathore

Just a clarification, Abdul Hamid did not do anything as movie-ish as clamber onto enemy tanks and chuck grenades inside. He was with a jeep mounted RCL gun when he knocked out the 3 Paki tanks. Not that this in any way detracts from his act of bravery. Climibing onto tanks in battle is best left to...

Vikram Rathore

Nobody knock the big guy too much...the Foxbat's been a sentimental favorite of mine for years....I believe it never got a fair chance to show its stuff. I mean, piloted by Syrians, it would have been fair game for a mildly retarded 12 year old in a Sopwith Camel...in the Gulf War, it did get some r...

Vikram Rathore

As is usual with Indian defence journalism, I'm not sure how much is junk and how much is sensible analysis. Notice the part about Jaguars carrying the Prithvi!! Now that is JUNK..400 is way too much...only a paranoid madman would lob 4 warheads per target. Also 60 as potential targets for deterr...

Vikram Rathore

Arun,My take on the `dual capable systems' is that there's going to be a unified command and control system (with probably the PM's `hand on the button') for not just dedicated nuke delivery systems (like the Agni) but also conventional systems which can be used to deliver nukes (Prithvi, aircraf...

Vikram Rathore

wow...this sounds really awesome...it would give us a nuclear delivery system neither the Pukis nor the Chinese can hope to intercept.Does anyone know if India is actually using/thinking of using the Foxbats as nuke delivery platforms...If I were the Pukis (and I thank the lord every day that ...

Vikram Rathore

I think India has the R version..which has SLAR. A link to some info on the RB. The dope on its bombing system is `In this version bombing capability was added. It's automatic bombing system is capable of making all-weather, day and night precision attacks at supersonic speeds from heights abo...

Vikram Rathore

Some details from the TOI:Param Vir Chakra for four Kargil heroes Dinesh Kumar NEW DELHI: The soldiers and pilots who sacrificed their lives, engaged in unparalleled valour and fought the recent war in the killer mountains of Kargil were remembered again on Saturday with a ...

Vikram Rathore

back to MANPADS, I think the impact is more of deterrence than actual threat of shooting down fighters. Even in Kargil, India lost just 2 (incl a slow chopper) to MANPADS, and from what I read, over a 100 were reported to have been fired. The Israelis also regularly encountered SA-7s over Beirut and...

Vikram Rathore

ramen,IMHO- their pilots and tactics are excellent, but yes, they lack BVR capability. The F-16s can carry jamming pods to spoof radar- not suree how it works- am a poor seller of soap, not an engineer :-)Their best close combat AAM is the AIM-9L, which by all accounts is an excellent weapon, ...

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