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Subject: India To Buy US Smart Bombs
Softwar    6/21/2007 8:40:29 AM
http://in.news.yahoo.com/070621/43/6h806.html India set to acquire precision bomb technology By IANS Thursday June 21, 01:13 PM Paris, June 21 (IANS) India's state-run Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) is negotiating the acquisition of precision bomb technology from US arms major Raytheon. Ben Ford, senior manager of Raytheon Missile Systems, told IANS at the ongoing Paris Air Show that the company was in discussions to transfer the technology for the Enhanced Paveway-II Dual Mode GPS/Laser Guided Bombs to the OFB for their indigenous manufacture in India for use by the Indian Air Force (IAF). Procedural clearance from the US government should be available, he added. The Paveway, initially developed in 1964, is a standard US Air Force weapon with varying loads for attacking fixed or moving targets. Thanks to its new Global Positioning System (GPS) and laser guidance capability, it can now be dropped exactly as required on a target with an error margin of less than four feet. During the 1999 Kargil War, the IAF had to make last minute imports of laser guidance kits to bomb Pakistani positions inside Indian territory and two aircraft had to be used to designate and hit any target. With both the GPS and laser technologies now available on the same bomb, a strike mission could be mounted with less deployment and without any collateral damage. The IAF's last two chiefs, Air Chief Marshals S. Krishnaswamy and S.P. Tyagi, had emphasised the need for acquiring precision bomb technology. Ford said that Raytheon had supplied some Paveway bombs to India about 10 years ago but now the discussions were about transfer of technology (TOT) 'of this very potent weapon'. It can be launched from the Jaguar, Mirage 2000 or other IAF jets in any weather condition, and at day or night. He said that Raytheon had supplied more than 250,000 Paveway variants to the US and other countries and some 50,000 of these had used in battle, most recently in Iraq. The unique dual mode capability of the Paveway-II offered precision and flexibility 'not available with any other system at present', Ford pointed out.
 
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RockyMTNClimber    Yet Another Example   6/21/2007 10:42:00 AM
 
India continues to develop its relationships with the west and the US in particular.
 
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Rocky
 
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Yimmy       6/21/2007 11:03:16 AM
I am rather surprised they didn't opt for (I expect cheaper) Russian laser guided bombs, especially given they field the Mig 27, Su 30 and Mig 29.

Perhaps this purchase will make the F16 or F18 (or Typhoon) more appealing in the Indian fighter competition, given their new weapons stocks are compatible with them, while not with the Mig 29 or Mig 35.

 
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Herald1234       6/21/2007 11:09:43 AM

I am rather surprised they didn't opt for (I expect cheaper) Russian laser guided bombs, especially given they field the Mig 27, Su 30 and Mig 29.

Perhaps this purchase will make the F16 or F18 (or Typhoon) more appealing in the Indian fighter competition, given their new weapons stocks are compatible with them, while not with the Mig 29 or Mig 35.


Yimmy, The Indians tried Russian PGMs in the Kargill war and found the dud rate to be astonishingly high[about 50%]. I'm surprised the Indian AF didn't go to Israel for the kit fitted Heinenman bombs, myself.  
Herald
 
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Yimmy       6/21/2007 11:51:12 AM



I am rather surprised they didn't opt for (I expect cheaper) Russian laser guided bombs, especially given they field the Mig 27, Su 30 and Mig 29.

Perhaps this purchase will make the F16 or F18 (or Typhoon) more appealing in the Indian fighter competition, given their new weapons stocks are compatible with them, while not with the Mig 29 or Mig 35.



Yimmy, The Indians tried Russian PGMs in the Kargill war and found the dud rate to be astonishingly high[about 50%]. I'm surprised the Indian AF didn't go to Israel for the kit fitted Heinenman bombs, myself.  

Herald

I don't know anything about the kargil conflict, so I read this:
>

Where there is no mention of poor performance with Russian PGM's, in fact they are not mentioned at all.  The author states the vast majority of munitions dropped were unguided, apart from the with Mirage 2000, which the article highly praised.

 
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RockyMTNClimber    Tea Leaves say.....?   6/21/2007 11:58:54 AM
I'm surprised the Indian AF didn't go to Israel for the kit fitted Heinenman bombs, myself.< Herald
 
I had not thought about Israeli systems which should be both performance and price competitive. Is India is making a statement here?
 
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Herald1234       6/22/2007 2:47:48 AM







I am rather surprised they didn't opt for (I expect cheaper) Russian laser guided bombs, especially given they field the Mig 27, Su 30 and Mig 29.

Perhaps this purchase will make the F16 or F18 (or Typhoon) more appealing in the Indian fighter competition, given their new weapons stocks are compatible with them, while not with the Mig 29 or Mig 35.





Yimmy, The Indians tried Russian PGMs in the Kargill war and found the dud rate to be astonishingly high[about 50%]. I'm surprised the Indian AF didn't go to Israel for the kit fitted Heinenman bombs, myself.  



Herald



I don't know anything about the kargil conflict, so I read this:
>


Where there is no mention of poor performance with Russian PGM's, in fact they are not mentioned at all.  The author states the vast majority of munitions dropped were unguided, apart from the with Mirage 2000, which the article highly praised.

The Indians tried some attacks on Tiger Hill with MiG 27s and kept missing with both Russian dumb bombs and Russian TV and laser guided bombs. They introduced Mirage 2000s [which can drop PAVEWAYs] as soon as the US shipped the Indians some PAVEWAYs and then the IAF creamed the Pakistani stooges with a pair of precision strikes. That was around 30 May-1 June 1998.

That must have influenced the IAF decision somewhat as to what bombs to buy.

Its also why I am curious why India hasn't looked at the Mirage 2000 as a possible interim fighter to replace the aging MiG 21s.

The Bofors scandal Isoldier mentioned elsewhere has knocked out, coincidentally, a fine fighter attack aircraft that could have competed well for the interim fighter contract. GRIPEN could drop/launch most of the whole family of US ordnance as well as much of British and German designed as well as Israeli designed munitions.    

Sometimes being designed with a huge amount of American content is an advantage. Not so with RAFALE.

I wonder if the MiG 35 will be offered with Israeli rework to drop US made ordnance?

Herald



 
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Yimmy       6/23/2007 12:57:41 PM
Herald, do you have a source for this failure in Russian PGM's?


 
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Herald1234       6/23/2007 11:46:50 PM

Herald, do you have a source for this failure in Russian PGM's?


Mirage 2000s

IAF Kargil

Mig 27s seen with KH 25s.  The prominence that India gave to PAVEWAYs in their reporting speaks volumes to me ,especially when they already had Dassault supplied  FRENCH LGBs in the inventory for their Mirage 2000s. Why go to the extra effort to reverse engineer the strongbacks and linkage interfaces to fit AMERICAN bombs on the French hardpoints of the Dassaults, if the French 1000 pounders were available? Why use PAVEWAYs at all? WHY?   


And now why order PAVEWAYs when most of the IAF's Russian aircraft will have to be reverse engineered to take the Heinenman PGM bombs?

Answer. India buys from foreign sources what she knows works. Besides she already demonstrated indigenous reverse engineering capability to fit US Heinenman designed ordnance on French aircraft.

Herald

Herald
 
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Herald1234    Correction on dates.   6/23/2007 11:48:57 PM
Tiger Hill was creamed on 24 June 1999. My dates were a year 23 days off.

Herald
 
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Yimmy       6/24/2007 11:33:59 AM
Herald, I can't get your second link to work, but in the first link there is nothing negative said about Russian PGM's.  French PGM's are mentioned as being expensive, but thats it.


 
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