IAF Chief reaches Jamnagar to reassure his men

As a somber Indian Air Force (IAF) began processes to lay to rest its nine warriors who died in the freak mid-air collision of two Mi-17 helicopters, Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne flew down to Jamnagar airbase in Gujarat on Friday to instill confidence among his men.

 

In the second mid-air collision of two IAF helicopters (the first was in 1967 when two Mi-4 collided with each other) on Thursday the force had lost five officers and four other ranks. On Friday, the force started taking the remains of its bravehearts to their respective families after identification and post-mortem of the bodies.

“The IAF Chief was in Jamnagar to meet the pilots, technicians and ground crew at the base and to reassure them to continue with their mission,” IAF spokesperson Wing Commander Gerard Galway said. The IAF Chief’s visit came as the force suffered its fourth crash on Thursday. 

“Interacting with them, he acknowledged the fine job being done by the aircrew and technicians and urged them to continue to do so with grit and determination while maintaining high standards of efficiency with adequate margins of operational safety,” the IAF spokesperson added. Earlier the IAF Chief, an experienced pilot himself, had flown in Sukhoi Su-30MKI to instill confidence in the bird after they suffer a slew of crashes.

After ceremonies and wreath-laying by the IAF Chief and other top brass of the Air Force, the remains of the two pilots, two co-pilots, two Engineers, two gunnery officers and one other IAF personnel were taken to their families. The cremation of the air warriors will take place on Saturday will complete military honours. The dead included some top aviators from the IAF’s Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment, the force’s equivalent of the US’ Top Gun institute for marine pilots.

In death she gave life to two others

In a first for the armed forces, a combined liver and kidney transplantation was carried out at Army Hospital here and ‘brain-dead’ wife of a retired soldier saved two people fighting for their lives. 

 

It is rarely that a combined liver and kidney transplantation is carried out in the country and it was the first for the armed forces. Liver and a kidney of Meena Devi, wife of Naik (retd) Ugar Singh of Rajput Regiment, was transplanted to one young soldier while her second kidney was given to another retired soldier suffering from kidney failure. Her corneas have been preserved for subsequent transplantation.

The young soldier, who received the kidney and liver, was suffering from kidney failure and was on regular hemodialysis for the last one year. His future was uncertain. “He had Primary Hyperoxaluria, a rather uncommon illness that arises due to a functional defect in the liver and results in kidney failure,” doctors at the Army’s Research and Referral Hospital said. “The only cure for this rare disease is transplantation of both liver and kidney. Getting matched donors for liver and kidney was difficult and with each passing day, despair was setting in for him and his family,” they added. 

In such a scenario the family of Meena Devi was godsend for the young soldier who has got another lease of life. Meena Devi was unfortunate to develop intracranial bleed and was declared brain dead on August 24. The family of Meena Devi took the humanitarian decision of donating her organs.

The Army Hospital has running a very successful organ donation and transplantation program since 2007. Former President APJ Abul Kalam and actress Priyanka Chopra have also pledged their organs under the program. Called Armed Forces Organ Retrieval and Transplantation Authority (AORTA), the programme aims to coordinate all activities related to creating awareness on brain death and organ donation within the armed forces. A total of 111 patients have been declared brain dead at Army Hospital (R&R) till date. Families of 86 of these 111 patients have been counseled for organ donation and in 41 instances relatives of the deceased agreed for donating the organs. The donated organs and tissues (livers, kidneys, corneas and heart valves) have been successfully transplanted to the needy in armed forces.

(People interested in pledging their organs for donation can get more information here - AORTA )

Anti-Submarine Warfare specialist takes over as Indian Navy Chief

Statement by Navy - Admiral Devendra Kumar Joshi took over from Admiral Nirmal Verma on August 31, as the 21st Chief of Naval Staff of Independent India and the 19th Indian to take command of the Indian Navy. 

In the morning, Admiral Joshi paid tribute to the country’s martyrs by laying a wreath at the Amar Jawan Jyoti and inspected an impressive Guard of Honour at the lawns of South Block. Later, in the office of the CNS, Adm Nirmal Verma ceremonially handed over the Chief’s telescope to Admiral DK Joshi. 

In his maiden message to the Navy, saying he was “in gratitude for having been given the honour and privileged opportunity to Command the Navy”, Admiral Joshi indicated his priorities as the new Naval Chief. He stated “for the Navy to fulfil its mandate as a maritime power for national prosperity, 24 x 7 attention would need to be paid at all levels to ensure that there are no gaps in our security preparedness”. He emphasised that “to achieve security related objectives, the man-machine interface is crucial and the Navy would need to professionally re-audit, train and consolidate its preparedness to optimize the existing capabilities as well as harness the full potential of the transformational new capabilities being inducted”. 

Admiral DK Joshi is a specialist in Anti-Submarine Warfare. In his long and distinguished service spanning nearly 38 years, he has served in a variety of Command, Staff and Instructional appointments. Admiral Joshi's Sea Commands include guided missile corvette INS Kuthar, guided missile destroyer INS Ranvir and the aircraft carrier INS Viraat, during which he was awarded Nausena Medal, Vishist Seva Medal and Yudh Seva Medal respectively. He subsequently commanded the Eastern Fleet, wherein he was awarded Ati Vishist Seva Medal (AVSM).  

After his elevation to Flag rank, the Admiral served in the Integrated Headquarters in all nodal Branches. In the Personnel Branch as the Assistant Chief of Personnel (Human Resource Development), in Warship Production and Acquisition as the Assistant Controller of the Aircraft Carrier Programme (ACCP), and thereafter in the Operations Branch both as Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Information Warfare and Operations) and as the Deputy Chief of Naval Staff.

Before taking over as the FOC-in-C Western Naval Command, he contributed towards inter-service integration, first as the Commander-in-Chief of the Andaman and Nicobar Command,the only tri-service integrated Command. He was awarded the Param Vishist Seva Medal (PVSM) during this time. Later, he served as the Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC).  

Admiral Joshi is a distinguished graduate of the Naval War College, USA, an alumnus of the College of Naval Warfare, Mumbai and the prestigious National Defence College, New Delhi. He was also the Defence Advisor in the Indian High Commission at Singapore from 1996 to 1999.

He is married to Mrs Chitra Joshi and the couple have two daughters."

RIP: Nine dead as IAF helicopters collide mid-air

Its a big tragedy for the Indian Air Force (IAF) as it lost nine lives when two of its helicopters on routine training sortie went down near Jamnagar airbase, Gujarat. The accident is being termed as the first mid-air collision of two helicopters for the force. 

The two Russian-built Mi-17 helicopters took off from the air base at 12 pm and it crashed five minutes later near Sarmat range, eight kms from the airbase.

File photo-Mi-17

According to sources, “The two helicopters were flying in close formation as required by the mission objectives. They were to conduct firing practice at the range.”

Nine people on board – including two pilots, co-pilots and crew member perished. “The pilots were senior officers belonging to the TACDE (Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment. Three Wing Commanders, one Squadron Leader, one Flying Officer and four other ranks were onboard the ill-fated helicopter,” sources added. 

Prima facie it seems to be a mid-air collision but the exact reasons behind the crash cannot be zeroed in before a court of inquiry. After collision one of the helicopters is said to have caught fire. “Immediately following the crash, a helicopter was rushed to the site to evacuate survivors. Only three people could be evacuated but nobody survived the tragedy,” sources added.

The pilots, from the Gwalior airbase in Madhya Pradesh, had come to the Jamnagar airbase as part of training. “There can be 100 reasons behind the collision. It could be a technical malfunction, air drift, vibrations or human error. In formations the helicopters do fly close, during display some machines fly even as close as 10 metres from each other,” a military aviator said.

The tragedy has sent shockwaves across the organization that faced slew of crashes in 2011 and beginning 2012. This is the fourth air crash for the IAF this year. Earlier in the year, two Mirage fighter jets and one Kiran trainer aircraft had nosedived. In one of the Mirage crashes, a top ranking IAF official had a close shave.

In 2010 an IAF MI-17 helicopter had crashed at Bomdir near Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, killing all 12 defence personnel on board. The victims included an Army official of the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and 11 IAF personnel, including two pilots. In another air tragedy of this scale in 2009, 13 people had perished in 2009 when the IAF’s workhorse An-32 crashed in heavily forested Mechuka in Arunachal Pradesh.

Army begins process for wheeled artillery acquisition for 3rd time

Facing the critical problem of an obsolete artillery inventory, the Indian Army has began the process of acquiring self-propelled wheeled guns for the fourth time, after its earlier attempts ended in a naught due to corruption allegations. 

Zuzana gun

 

The Indian Army aims to procure 180 units of the self propelled guns aimed to be deployed under five regiments in the plains of Punjab and Rajasthan against Pakistan. A self-propelled gun is armoured and mobile giving teeth to the Indian Army’s firepower by giving it capability to shoot and scoot or for carrying out sustained, intense and burst firing. The tender would be around $ 1 billion.

The latest Request for Information sent by the Indian Army has sought broad specifications from Original Equipment Manufacturers by Sept 20. With Bofors and Rheinmetall blacklisted it remains to be seen who all will respond to the Army’s RFI, which specifies nothing about qualitative requirements of the howitzers. The RFI only states that the requirement is for a 155 mm 45/52 calibre gun.

The procurement process for the guns mounted on six or eight wheeled vehicles was called off in 2011 after the Defence Ministry received complaints of deviation in the field trials conducted in 2010. The Army had submitted its trial evaluation report about Rheimetall Wheeled Gun and Slovakia’s ShKH Zuzana-A1 in 2010. Defence Minister AK Antony received a complaint about technical snag in the Slovakian gun as its barrel allegedly burst during trials. Swedish firm Rhienmetall was later blacklisted by the Indian government earlier this year crippling the Army’s artillery modernization plan.

Slovakian Konštrukta SpGH Zuzana 2, Nexter CAESAR, Rheinmetall RWG-52 and BAE-Bofors FH77 BW L52 Archer are likely to be the prospective respondents to the RFI, which was approved by the Defence Acquisition Council in June 2006.

Presently, the Indian Army’s Artillery wing operates Soviet-vintage D-30 122mm guns, the locally designed and built 105mm Indian Field Guns (IFG) and its Light Field Gun (LFG) derivative and Soviet-vintage 130mm M46 towed field guns. The FH-77 155mm/ 39 caliber Bofors howitzers, 410 of which were imported from 1986 onwards, now reduced to half their original number due to the non-availability of spares and their ensuing cannabalisation, and 180 M46s —retrofitted by Israel’s Soltam to 155mm/45 cal standards.

Most of these artillery systems in the Indian Army are decade old – a lacunae red-flagged by the former Indian Army chief  General VK Singh - and the changing spectrum of military warfare makes it imperative for the Army to induct the new guns. The artillery modernization programme has been jinxed with Swedish Bofors, South African Denel, Singapore Kinetics and Swedish Rhienmetall being banned by the Indian Defence Ministry over corruption charges.

After 7 years Chinese Defence Minister’s India visit on Sep 2

After a hiatus of seven years Chinese Defence Minister General Liang Guanglie will come to India on four-day visit, indicating a thawing of bilateral military relationship that hit an impediment as in July 2010 Beijing denied visa to an Indian Army’s Commander posted in Kashmir. 

 

 

The Chinese Defence Minister’s India visit come shortly before the once-in-decade leadership transition in the country, when the 71-year-old General Guanglie will have to step aside. This is the most high profile defence exchange between the two countries since 2005.

The Chinese Defence Minister will land in Mumbai on September 2 with a 24-member delegation. This former Chief of General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army’s will visit Gandhi Museum in Mumbai and will head to see the famous Taj Mahal before reaching the national capital to hold discussions with his Indian counterpart AK Antony.

This Indo-China defence ties had reached a stage when the two countries had even started joint-military exercises. However, reflecting the deeper on and off nature of the Indo-China defence ties, New Delhi suspended further engagements in July 2010 as Beijing refused to grant visa to the Northern Army Commander Lieutenant General BS Jaswal reasoning that he was posted to “sensitive” Jammu and Kashmir region. It was followed by similar incidents, when China continued to prick India’s stated position on Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh by refusing visa to defence personnels and sportspersons from the region.

“The talks will hover around how to strengthen the military ties between the two countries who share nearly 3,300 km of disputed yet peaceful border. No exercises have been planned this year, so the thrust of the talks with the Defence Minister are likely to hover around need of these exercises future,” sources said.

There has been renewed interest in China to give a fresh impetus to the dithering military ties as made evident by the PLA hosting an Indian Military delegation and taking them to Tibet bordering northern India. China has been sensitive about opening up Tibet military bases to India in the past.

China has also been keen to increase the number of defence attaches posted in each others’ countries. Presently, only one Defence Attaché is posted by both countries to capitals, Beijing has suggested to permanent post one representative each of the army, air force and navy in each others’ embassies.

Besides a disputed land border, both the countries also have overlapping strategic interests in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean Region. An ugly stand-off was averted earlier this year, when a Chinese warship threatened an Indian warship in the South China Sea while on its way back from Vietnam. To avoid any misunderstandings in the region, both the countries have decided to set up maritime hotlines just on the basis of the arrangement on the land.