Weapons – Page 18 – Air Marshal's Perspective

March 4, 2022December 27, 2024

244: Vayu Shakti (Fire Power Demo)

VAYU SHAKTI: CAPABILITY-BASED IAF EXERCISE

Exercise Vayu Shakti was to be held on 07 Mar 22 at Pokharan air to ground range near Jaisalmer air force station.

Unfortunately it has been called off.

This exercise is a display of the capabilities of the Indian Air Force.

Curtain Raiser

https://youtu.be/G5J2yUDMZDk

Display of IAF Capability. It is a display of IAF’s capability to influence events on the ground (in a war). It showcases the ability to hit hard, hit fast and hit with precision, hit during the day, hit during night, and hit under adverse weather conditions.

Display of capability of full-spectrum operations.
Display of ability to destroy targets.
Display of ability for punitive action.
Display of aerial platforms (Fighters, helicopters, Combat support ac. AWACS and Unmanned platforms.
Display of indigenous equipment.
Display of a variety of weapons and their effect.
Display of precision capability.
Display of lethality.
Display of ability for quick insertion and extrication of troops & special forces.
Display of ground attack and air defence capability.
Display of HADR capability.

Long Association

I was lucky to have been associated with this exercise, for a long time and at various ranks, while in the IAF.

As a junior officer participated in the firepower demonstration exercises, firing weapons from Mig-21 and Jaguar aircraft.
Commanded Air force Station Jaisalmer (2005-06). As Station commander was deeply involved with the conduct of a joint Army and Air Force exercise “Ex Desert Strike”, that took place in Nov 2005.
As DGAO was involved with the conduct and review of the exercise Vayu shakti 2016.
As VCAS was involved and reviewed exercise Vayu shakti 2019.

Vayu Shakti 2019: (Trying and Tiring Times)

Vayu Shakti 2019 was conducted in Feb 2019, during very tense times, post terrorist attack at Pulwama. 40 of our brave hearts were martyred during these attacks. Feeling of sorrow, disgust and anger were prevalent, not only amongst the military but entire nation. On 14 Feb 2019, I (as VCAS) was at Jaisalmer reviewing the progress of preparation for exercise Vayu Shakti. On receiving the news of terrorist attack, I headed back to Delhi. The next few days were depressingly busy, with overseeing the staff coordinating the last journey and last rights of the martyrs.

Also the process of decision making for appropriate response to the ghastly incident was also in progress. Use of Air power was chosen for the first time and planning for “Operation Bandar” against the terrorist camp at Balkot commenced. Decision was also taken that the all planned activities would continue as planned. Even other activities like Aero India air show (20 – 24 Feb 19) and planned inauguration of the War memorial (on 25 Feb 19), with fly past were conducted as planned.

Op Staff at Air HQ had many a sleepless nights during those two weeks.

In this back drop the exercise Vayu Shakti was conducted and was a great success as expected.

Press Conference: Feb 2019

Three years have flown by.

Questions and Answers are still relevant.

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February 13, 2022December 27, 2024

235: S-400 Air Defence System

It was great interacting with Aadi Achint on Def Talks on a very current and valid topic.

(All information is based on open sources and views expressed are personal)

For selective viewing please click on the links below:

Bottom Line

The system is much needed and is a game changer.

Question

Will we ever become self reliant on defence equipment, weapons and systems?

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November 10, 2021December 27, 2024

222: Hypersonic Long Range Weapons

Pic Courtesy: France 24

Emerging class of missile technologies include manoeuvrable vehicles that carry warheads through the atmosphere at more than five times the speed of sound. Hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs), like all weapons delivered by medium and longer range rocket boosters, can travel at speeds of at least Mach 5, or about 1 mile per second. The key difference between missiles armed with HGVs and missiles armed with ballistic re-entry vehicles (i.e., those that travel on a ballistic trajectory throughout their flight) is not their speed, but their ability to manoeuvre and change course after they are released from their rocket boosters. Hypersonic weapons can be classified into two distinct categories:

Hypersonic cruise missiles. These operate much like typical sub-sonic and supersonic cruise missiles (using air-breathing engines to power themselves through the atmosphere) but fly at higher speeds. They cannot match the speeds or ranges achievable by boost-glide vehicles.

Pic Courtesy: PTs IAS Academy

Hypersonic boost-glide Vehicles. They are accelerated to extremely high velocities on rocket boosters similar to those used to launch ballistic missiles. They then proceed to glide, unpowered, through the upper atmosphere until reaching their target.

Pic Courtesy: Union of Concerned scientists

The flight of hypersonic boost-glide vehicle is divided into six stages: boost, ballistic, re-entry, pull-up, glide, and terminal phases. In the boost phase, a rocket booster accelerates the missile carrying the hypersonic vehicle until the booster exhausts its fuel, at which point it detaches from the glide vehicle and falls back to Earth. In the ballistic phase, the vehicle travels above the atmosphere on a ballistic trajectory under only the influence of gravity. Both of these phases are comparable to a ballistic missile launch. Hypersonic trajectories diverge from those of ballistic missiles in the re-entry and pull-up phases. Here, the vehicle pierces the upper atmosphere, then slows its descent to enter a stable glide trajectory. In the glide phase, the vehicle generates aerodynamic lift to sustain near-level flight. Finally, in the terminal phase, the glider dives toward its target.

These weapons outperform existing missiles in terms of delivery time and evasion of early warning systems. Their flight characteristics are distinct from those of typical ballistic missiles, which spend most of flight above the atmosphere and are capable of only limited manoeuvrability, and from those of subsonic or supersonic cruise missiles, which travel through the atmosphere but fly more slowly.

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