Navy Seeks Anti Missile Decoy for Naval Warships

INS Kolkata D63 during commissioning trials.

The Indian Navy has sent out a RFI for an Anti Missile Decoy system that would give warships 360-deg in azimuth protection against anti-shipping missiles.

The system would comprise of one or more of the following elements

(a) Chaff dipoles dispenser.
(b) Active Off-board Decoy.
(c) Inflatable Floating (waterborne) Decoy with corner reflectors.
(d) IR Decoy

The decoy is intended for fitment on warships of various sizes as follows

(i) Missile Boats 200 T
(ii) Missile Corvettes 1,500 T
(iii) Patrol vessels and Frigates 3,000 T
(iv) Destroyers 6000 T
(v) Fleet Tankers / Support Ships 20,000 T
(vi) Aircraft Carriers 50,000 T

The decoy should be capable of being deployed in the following modes:

(a) Confusion Mode – Deployment of the decoy prior launch of the missile by hostile force.

(b) Distraction Mode – Deployment of the decoy prior commencement of transmission by the inbound missile radar seeker.

(c) Seduction Mode – Deployment of the decoy after commencement of transmission by the inbound missile radar seeker

Besides other details, vendors have been asked to specify the 'Bloom Time' of the system and the probability of success. 

Bloom Time or activation time is the time between launch of the decoy from operating platform and activation of decoy at the designated position post launch.

The Fire Control System (FCS) for the decoy system should be capable of 

(a) Accepting requisite input data both manually (fed by operator) and automatically (based on data being provided from ship sensors in a standard format).

(b) Computing mission parameters for accurate deployment of decoy(s).

Kavach

DRDO developed Kavach is a ship based decoy system deployed on several Navy ships to counter radar guided antii-shipping missiles by dispensing chaff using rockets, but compared to the system being sought the protection provided by Kavach is very limited in scope.

The 'Kavach' system releases chaff made of silver coated glass fiber. Suspended in the air. The radar reflecting chaff presents an incoming guided threat an alternative target with stronger radar signature than the ship, confusing the missile and causing it veer off the target towards the chaff.

The chaff dispensing rockets used by the Kavach system are made at Ammunition Factory Khadki (AFK).

AFK has developed three versions of Kavach chaff dispensing decoy rockets with ranges of 12 km (long range); 5 km (medium range) and 1 km (short range) chaff rockets.

Recent Navy RFIs - IDP Sentinel

GoI to Scrap Current Naval Multi-Role Helicopter (NMRH) Procurement in Favor of Buy and Make Indian? Advantage HAL!

HAL's Multi Role Helicopter could now become the leading contender to fulfill IN's NMRH requirement

The Financial Express reported on September 20, 2014 that GoI is likely to scrap the currently underway procurement of 16 NMRH and requests fresh proposals under "Buy and Make in India" category of defense procurement. The Indian Navy plans to eventually acquire 91 NMRH. (As in September 2014, the Navy had 11 Kamov-28 and 17 Sea King ASW helicopters. The Sea Kings are over 20 years old, the Kamov-28s are due for mid-life upgrade.)

Eighty percent of the cost of development and prototyping under "Buy and Make in India" would be borne by the government, with the developing agency (DA) footing the residual 20%.

Scrapping of the ongoing procurement of 16 NMRH from global vendors would be formally announced after the next meeting of the Defense Acquisition Council (DAC) at the end of this month, official sources told FE.

The change in policy would make HAL's Multi-Role Helicopter project a front runner to meet the Navy's long term requirement.

IDP Sentinel members can view additional details at the links below.

Naval Multi-Role Helicopters (NMRH) (IDP Sentinel)
Indian Multi Role Helicopter (IDP Sentinel)

Brahmos Missile Facts We Tend to Ignore

Brahmos-A mockup on a Su-30MKI at Aero India 2013

Brahmos is not the only supersonic cruise missile, as is often claimed by the DRDO and local India media. The Chinese YJ-12, also powered by a ramjet engine like the Brahmos, can fly at speeds greater than Mach 4 and has a max range of 400-km! The YJ-12 can be launched from Chinese Su-30MKK aircraft.

The missile is armed with a newly designed 205 kg warhead, compared to the 200-kg warhead of the Brahmos missile. (Brahmos-A, the air launched variant of the missile, is reported to have a 300-kg warhead)

YJ-12 AShM can be armed with a radar seeker, an imaging infrared seeker, or a television seeker,

Brahomos-A weighs 2.55-ton or 5,600-lb making it the heaviest ALCM known to mankind! The Russian Kh-101/-102 (conventional and nuclear versions respectively) ALCM, carried by Russian Tu-95MS and Tu-160 bombers. is the current heaviest ALCM with a launch weight estimated at 5,300 lb. The Kh-101 has a range of 2000-3000 km (6,000 miles according to Russian media!) and features a 880-lb / 400-kg warhead,

Further Reading Links for IDP Sentinel Members

Brahmos Missile - IDP Sentinel
Brahmos-A ALCM Variant (IDP Sentinel)

Scorpene (Project 75) Submarines Being Equipped for Speical Ops & Network Centric Warfare

Scorpene. Photo Courtesy DCNS

The Indian Navy is equipping its six Scorpene (Project 75) subs for special operations and network centric operations. The boats will be networked with the rest of the fleet using Ku and S band SATCOM systems.

The boats will feature a Communication Intelligence System with Direction Finding Capability (COMINT/DF) which will enhance situation awareness by displaying the DOA (Direction of Arrival) of the intercepts and other data on MFCCs of Combat System of submarine.

The COMINT/DF fitted on the Scorpenes would also uplink DOA data using a S-Band Satellite Communication System (SATCOM) to the Indian Navy's Rukmini GSAT, so as to provide other fleet ships real-time data on communication intercepts.

COMINT/DF systems typically feature High Sensitivity and High Probability of Interception (HPOI); the system searches, intercepts, measures, classifies, analyzes, locates and monitors ground, airborne and naval communication transmissions. Such transmissions are characterized by high mobility, short duration, complex signals and frequent changes in signal parameter in the most dense electromagnetic environments.

The Scorpene COMINT/DF would provide capability to DF, monitor, intercept, record and analyse communication signals in V/UHF frequency range used for air-to-air and surface-to-air communication.

The S-Band SATCOM system typically provide low data rate communication. As reported earlier, Scorpenes would also be equipped with Ku-band SATCOM high data rate communication.

The Combat System from Project-75 subs is being supplied by M/s DCNS, France.

IDP Sentinel members can read more about the Indian Navy's Project-75 subs at the link below.

Project 75 Scorpene Submarines - IDP Sentinel

Indian Navy Scorpene (Project 75) Submarines to be Equipped with Ku-Band SATCOM

Scorpene Submarine

MoD has initiated procurement of six Ku-Band Satellite Communication Systems (SATCOM) for its Project -75 Scorpene submarines.

The Ku-Band SATCOM system is required to be compatible with Indian Navy SATCOM network operating in Ku-Band using ISRO developed Rukmini Geostationary Communication Satellite (GSAT) dedicated for use by the Indian Navy. The Navy wants the SATCOM terminal to be capable of voice and high speed data at a minimum speed of 256 kbps.

The Ku band SATCOM should also be capable of interfacing with the Combat System supplied by M/s DCNS, France installed onboard Project 75 submarines.

IDP Sentinel members can browse through other recent Navy RFIs at the link below.

Recent Navy RFIs - IDP Sentinel