Taiwan vows to step up patrol in East China Sea

TAIPEI, Taiwan: Taiwan’s president has commissioned a new vessel to beef up patrol in a group of disputed islands in the East China Sea also claimed by China and Japan.

President Ma Ying-jeou Ma on Saturday commissioned the 2,000-ton Xinbei cutter, which is equipped with machine guns and water cannons. The vessel will join a fleet of smaller ships to patrol the islands, known in China as Diaoyu and in Japan as Senkaku.

On board the ship off southern Kaohsiung harbor, Ma renewed his calls for parties to negotiate and set aside their claims to the islands and jointly develop the rich natural resources there.

China has so far ignored Ma’s offer because it still sees Taiwan as part of its territory more than six decades after they split amid civil war.

source New Straits Times 

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Chinese WZ-10 attack helicopter based on Kamov design

The Changhe Aircraft WZ-10 attack helicopter is based on a Russian design commissioned by the Chinese, Kamov's chief design engineer says.





In 1995, Kamov developed a preliminary design in the 6t weight class under a contract with the Chinese government, says Sergey Mikheev, Kamov's chief design engineer, speaking at the Heli-Expo trade show in Las Vegas, Nevada.

"Due to understandable reasons, this information was kept secret," he says.

The Project 941 design was not based on any Soviet-era attack helicopter project and was strictly designed for China's unique requirements, Mikheev says.

"They gave us the desired weight, we discussed preliminary performance parameters, then we signed a contract and we fulfilled the contract," he says.



After Kamov completed the design, the Russian design bureau verified the design via testing.

Kamov then delivered the design to China and the Project 941 concept was accepted by that country's government for further development, he says. Kamov did not participate in any further developmental work on the WZ-10, he insists.

Thereafter, to the country's credit, Mikheev says, the Chinese handled the rest of the developmental work.

That includes the developmental prototypes and the operational aircraft that is currently in production for the Chinese military.

"So I wish success to the helicopter," Mikheev says.

Mikheev would not comment on the WZ-10's performance. "That is a question for the Chinese," he says. "I know what I have done."

source : Asian Defence

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India makes payments to French firm to upgrade Mirage fleet

NEW DELHI: India has started making payments to French defence major Dassault Aviation for upgrading its fleet of Mirage 2000 aircraft under a deal worth $2.4 billion.

The Indian government has started making payments for the deal to upgrade the Mirage aircraft, sources said.

As a result of the payments released for the deal by India, the price of dollar was impacted upon in the exchange today.

As per the proposal, French firms Dassault and Thales will upgrade the aircraft, which will add 20-25 years to the life of the Mirages, inducted by the IAF in the mid-80s.

Two different proposals, one for the upgrade of systems of the aircraft and the other for over 400 MICA missiles for the upgraded fleet, were placed before the CCS.

Under the deal, the French firms will help in upgrading the avionics, navigation systems, mission computers, electronic warfare systems and radars bringing the aircraft to the Mirage-2000-5 standards.

The French companies will have to invest over $900 million into the Indian defence sector as defence offsets.

As per the Indian defence offsets policy, foreign vendors bagging deals worth over Rs 300 crore have to invest at least 30% of the worth of the deal back into the Indian defence, civilian aerospace and homeland security sectors.

As per the agreement, India has sent two of its aircraft to France for upgrades and thereafter the rest would be upgraded at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited facilities.

Source : Times of India

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India clears €950 mn deal for Mirage 2000 missiles

India cleared a €950 million deal on Wednesday to procure 500 air-to-air missiles from a French firm for IAF's Mirage 2000 aircraft fleet.

A Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today cleared the deal to procure 490 MICA missiles manufactured by French firm MBDA for Euro 950 million, Defence Ministry sources said in New Delhi.

The missiles would be deployed on the 51 Mirage 2000 aircraft, which are already undergoing upgrades at French facilities under a €1.47 billion deal signed earlier this year.

Under the deal, MBDA will have to do offsets worth 30 per cent of the deal meaning that they will have to invest 315 million Euros back in the Indian defence sector.

The Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) mandates that foreign vendors bagging deals worth over Rs 300 crore have to invest back at least 30 per cent of the contract's worth into Indian defence, civil aerospace and homeland security sector.

India signed a deal with French companies Thales and Dassault Aviation, which will take ten years to carry out mid-life upgrade of IAF's 51 Mirage-2000 fighters.

Two aircraft have already been flown to France for upgrades and the remaining would be modernised in India at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) facilities here in India.

"The cost of the contract for upgrade of the Mirage 2000 with Thales is Euro 1,470 million while the cost of the contract with HAL is Rs 2,020 crores(around 340 million) Euro.

The upgrade of the aircraft is expected to be completed by mid 2021," Defence Minister AK Antony recently informed Parliament.

Source : Indian Express

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