French Navy in Abu Dhabi

They call it the peace camp but it's a full fledged military base in Abu Dhabi. On 26th may 2009 france officially opened it's first major military base in gulf. The base is a dedicated french navy dock to influence this oil rich part of the world. Ofcourse the occasion was important enough to attract french president Nicholas Sarkozy. Sarkozy says the Abu Dhabi base will be used to counter sea-piracy and security patrolling. But the important thing is that france already has a big base in Djibouti. Approx 500 navy personals will be based along with dedicated fleet of warships and aircrafts. Sarkozy also plans to build 2 nuclear reactors in UAE and to sell 60 Rafale Air Superiority Fighters.

US and UK already have their military bases in middle east. No doubt that france wants to play an important role in this part of the world.The region is close to current conflict zone of Afghanistan-Pakistan and probably iran .It;s also the region which includes the important sea trade routes. These routes account for 40% of the world oil supplies.

IAF Update: MidAir ReFuellers Compitition

Terminating an old stalemate with Russian defence industry, India today rejected IL-78 from IAF's midair refuller competition.IAF has decided that it will not field IL-78 tanker to keep it's fighters airborne for considerably longer timesThis marked the first major shift for indian defence forces.Till now Russia was the biggest weapons vendor to india but now things are changing and they are changing pretty fast.It all started with MiG accidents and india's pateince ran out with Admiral Goshkhov aircraft carrier and T-90 Main battle Tanks. Coming back to the original thread...after using IL-78 for last 6 years, IAF now selected Airbus 330 MRTT. Air force says that IL-78 could not meet the given parameters which are required for any "capable" 21st century air force. IL-78 and A-330 were both competing for the global tender for six mid-air refullers floated 3 years ago by ministry of defence.Air force has sent the recomendation to CCS for approval.

It would be logical to have a look at the A-330 refuller.Structurally it's similar to the normal Airbus-330, which is a popular passenger craft.Design and basic aerodyanamics is pretty much the same.Obviously the diffrences would be in avionics and internal load section.The airtanker is build by EADS- which leads a consortium which includes Thales,VT Aerospace and Rolls-Royce.The same consortium would be responsible for the manufacturing and servicing of the aircraft.It will also deal with the training of the pilots and aircrews. The aircraft has considerably high cruise speed..at around 920-50 km/hr. It can cover 4000km with single refuelling and can refuel six aircrafts. It can also carry 43tons of non-fuel cargo.It has a maximum fuel capacity of 111tons.The engines can either be GE or Rolls-Royce.

IMPORTANT UPDATE !

The commander of coalition troops in Afghanistan, U.S. Army Gen. David McKiernan, is being replaced by Army Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

Defense secretary robert gates says that it would be the start of fresh and new approaches to end the 8 year old conflict.Seems like US goverment is becoming really impatient about the chaos in Afghanistan.Damn! they must be remembering about CIA-ISI-Mujahedeen nexus during cold war. It is the same ground where they saw the beating of Soviet union.

Some background info about this new man is   essential. Gen Stanley is taking charge of the most dangerous place on our planet.And the situation cannot be bad than this.Taliban is re-grouping and Pakistan is on the brinks of becoming a failed “nuclear” state.Allies are leaving this war but the US is about to boost the man power.

 

Sure this is a tough situation.

But there are few suggestions to the new general.

1) “Activate” your CIA sub-station in Islamabad. Tell the station chief to break in the tribes…cut the sleeper cells which are operating deep inside pakistan- offer whatever you can—sex..money..alcohol…anything.

2) Start Pressing into NWFP region right from South Waziristan to Khyber region. this will divide the NWFP into two parts.Neutalise the southern NWFP(meanwhile itz very important to build a strong defence at the border of Khyber-Peshawar-Nowsehra).Include this region into FATA and reinforce it.Smash any resistance…General U will have to forget human right fundas.

3) Once the southern NWFP is neutralized start pressing into northen part. Buner will be the first stop and it would be tough.Buner is a region which will remind you of vietnam and korea.Once Buner is captured don’t rush into SWAT(that would be a show spoiler).

4) Instead start pressing towards the east into Shangla..Manshera…Naran. Meanwhile your troops can comb the whole Buner area.I would suggest kill everyone there.And in the east, Indian army will load it’s guns to kill the fleeing militants from Shangla and manshera.They will try to sneak into Kashmir..but we would be ready to slaughter them.U will have a completely secure eastern flank.Don’t forget to share the intel with Indian forces.You don’t have to bring india into any ally group.They will kill these bastards into indian territory only.You just have to push them into there.

5) Press Dir and Chitral region from North west. You can easily do that. Most of the part of Chitral are inhospitable.

6) After all these..Press your attack into SWAT from 3 fronts…Southern Flank…Western Flank And Eastern Flank.Demolish SWAT so that it can never rise again.It’s the terrorist factory.Kill everyone there.

USER TRIALS FOR AGNI-II MISSILE

INDIA is preparing for a user's trial of surface-to-surface Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM), Agni-II, from the missile test range off the Orissa coast this week. The indigenously developed missile will be fired from the launching complex-IV at the Wheeler's Island near Dhamra.Preparations are on in full swing. If everything goes as planned, the missile will be testfired between May 12 and May 14 at Chandipur-on-Sea. It also said the test may be deferred by four-five days if there are problems reported during the preparations. Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) scientists are excited because this user trial will pave the way for the maiden test of Agni-IV that is now under development.
The successful tests of Astra missile from the ITR have encouraged the scientists for user trial of Agni-II. They are doing everything to ensure it's a success story. This missile is part of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDP), while the other missiles include Prithvi, Trishul, Akash and Nag. Agni II has appropriate on-board thrusters fitted on the second stage of the missile. Both stages of Agni-II have a solid propulsion system which allows the missile to be mobile and flexible.It also reduces the operational hazard.The Agni-II missile, which is 20 metres long, has a diameter of one meter and weighs 16 tonne, can neutralize a target at over 2,000 km range. It can carry a payload of around 1,000 kg and its range can also be increased to 3,000 km depending upon the payload. The missile will be used by 555 Missile Group of the Indian Army. Agni-II can be fired from a rail-mobile launcher and is also available in road-mobile configuration. This lends flexibility and reduces vulnerability to first strike. It is in fact a ready-to-fire missile with a launch time of about 15 minutes. Agni-II, along with Agni-I and Agni-III form the triad of the country's minimum, credible, nuclear deterrence.

CVN-77 is War ready!!

Northrop Grumman Corporation delivered the newest and most advanced nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS George H. W. Bush (CVN 77) for US Navy, today. It is the 10th and final Nimitz-class aircraft carrier and was constructed by the company's Shipbuilding sector in Newport News, Va.I think they made history by delivering 10 Nimitz class aircraft carriers. Those of you who are familiar with Nimitz carrier will know what i am saying. for others lemme’ tell that Nimitz carriers,till date, are the largest warships with a displacement of over 100,000tons. for comparison purpose our own INS Viraat aircraft carrier has a displacement which is somewhere around 29000tons.Huge difference!  CVN 77 represents the culmination of years of hard work,experience of carrier deployment n usage in war zone,craftsmanship and dedication by thousands of shipbuilders, whose work will remain with the fleet for the next 50 years.USS George H.W. Bush is the 10th and final Nimitz-class aircraft carrier constructed by Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding's shipyard in Newport News, Va. At 1,092 feet in length, USS George H. W. Bush is nearly as long as the Empire State Building is tall. It weighs 97,000 tons, can carry more than 80 combat aircraft and its top speed exceeds 30 knots. Powered with two nuclear reactors, it will operate for more than 20 years without refueling.
New design features for the USS George H. W. Bush include new propellers, a new underwater hull-coating system, an updated aviation-fuel distribution system, and modernized aircraft launch and recovery equipment. Environmental upgrades have also been designed into the ship, including a new marine sewage system. It is the second carrier to have a modernized island and a new bulbous bow design that provides more buoyancy to the forw ard end of the ship and improves hull efficiency. The ship's keel was laid Sept. 6, 2003, it was christened Oct. 7, 2006 and was commissioned Jan. 10, 2009. The carrier carries up to 56 fixed-wing aircraft including the Hornet, F/A-18A,C,E and F, the Grumman EA-6B Prowler and the Grumman E-2C Hawkeye, and up to 15 helicopters, Sikorsky SH-60F, HH-60H Seahawk and SH-60B Seahawks.The ship carries a crew of over 6,000. But there would be 3,200 crew with 160 officers and 2,500 aircrew. The ship also accommodates the carrier battle group's flag officer and about 70 flag crew. The flight deck is 332.9m long and 76.8m wide. The angle flight deck is 76.8m long. The angled flight deck allows the landing aircraft the option of accelerating safely away if required, minimising the danger of colliding with stationary aircraft on deck. The carrier can launch aircraft at a rate of one every 20 seconds. The deck has four C13-2 steam catapults and three mk7 mod 3-type arrester wires.The carrier has four deck edge elevators. The deck edge elevators allow large aircraft to project over the side of the ship. Two starboard lifts are forward of the island and one is to the aft of the island, and the port lift is also aft of the island towards the stern. The hangar deck, (7.8m high) has capacity for up to about 30 aircraft, depending on the composition of air wing. The ship carries 8,500t of aviation fuel.Lockheed martin is the primary warfare system integrator for CVN 77. The CVN 77's combat data systems are based on the advanced combat direction system (ACDS) with communications Links 4A, 11, and 16. Weapons control is managed by three mk91 mod 1 MFCS directors for the Sea Sparrow missile.The ship is armed with two Raytheon GMLS mk29 octuple missile launchers and the Nato Sea Sparrow or Evolved Sea Sparrow missiles and two guided-missile launch system mk49 with the RIM-116 rolling airframe missile (RAM). The sensors part include The air search radars which is a ITT SPS-48E three-dimensional radar operating at E/F band, Raytheon SPS-49(Version)5 operating at C/D band, and Raytheon mk 23 TAS operating at D band. The ship's surface search radar is the Northrop Grumman Norden Systems SPS-67V, operating at G band. For countermeasures the ship is equipped with a Raytheon SLQ-32(V)4 interception and jamming electronic support and countermeasures system and a Nixie SLQ-25 towed decoy and signal generator set. The ship is steam powered, the steam being generated by the two General Electric (originally Westinghouse) nuclear pressurized water reactors type PWR A4W/A1G. The steam drives four turbines generating a total of 209MW, which drive four shafts. Four standby 8MW diesel engines are installed for emergency power.

This will surely add some relief to US defense forces as they are fighting a tough battle in Afghanistan.Kyrgyzstan parliament has voted to close the US air base.The incident will put pressure on US naval formations in Indian ocean Region(IOR) and Meditterean Region(MR)The lead ship of Nimitz class which is USS Nimitz (CVN-68) is about to retire. There were reports that this CVN-68 will be offered to Indian Navy minus the PW Nuclear Reactor.Indian navy is facing some tough times as Russia delays the delivery of Admiral Goshkhov re-christened by IN a INS Vikramaditya .If Nimitz is offered to India, it would be a logical and wise step to grab this ship…This will truly be a first step to become a powerful “blue water” navy.As a matter of fact conducting peace operations worldwide is different from having a global offensive-defensive reach.India needs to think this over.

MoonShine Tr@il Launched!!….

 

Aloha!

Sorry…I know it’s been over a month i haven’t posted anything on this blog. actually i was busy with my other blog- MoonShine Tr@il (http://moonshinetrail.blogspot.com/). i am working on this blog for quite some time. I Prepared this blog around 45 days ago but it’s XML framework was giving lotsa problems…Widgets were not working..page layout went haywire…font colors were all wrong..and then somehow it seemed like the “right” coding was not working. but atlast i managed to bring the page under opearable conditional…there are still some features which are nt working but as readers you guys won’t be able to see them and i hope that u won’t face any problems.

Why i came up with another blog?? Oh well Ya …u can say that i show up once in a month on this blog…what justice i will do to that blog! actually m working on my blogging habit :). Hopefully it would get better. Moonshine trail is basically for specific purpose …it’s for politics…economics…society…cooking…May add few more thing(heavy issues…difficult issues;)…But importantly it would be my guinea pig, as i will be experimenting with new xml sheets..javascripts and javafx features.