INS Kesri commissioned!!!

GRSE Yard 3015 (Kesari) was handed over to the Indian Navy on 21 Feb 08 at Kolkata. She has now been commissioned today, 05 April 08, at the Naval Base at Visakhapatnam by His Excellency Shri Narayan Datt Tiwari, the Hon'ble Governor of Andhra Pradesh and dedicated to the service of the Navy. The occasion was graced by VAdm RP Suthan, AVSM, VSM, FOC-in-C, East, VAdm Dilip Deshpande, AVSM, VSM, Controller of Warship Production & Acquisition, IHQ MOD(Navy), RAdm T S Ganeshan, NM, VSM, IN(Retd), Chairman & Managing Director GRSE, senior officers from the services and other distinguished guests.

Full link to the news:

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/NEWS/newsrf.php?newsid=9950

Indigenous Nuclear Powered Submarine - Indian Navy

India's first indigenous nuclear submarine would sail by 2009, marking a major step forward in the country's quest for an undersea credible minimum deterrence.

India also hopes to acquire, on long-term lease, a Russian Akula-class nuclear submarine to train its personnel on operating and building such vessels, Indian Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta told reporters here Monday. 'It is a DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) project but I can tell you that the advanced technology vessel (as the nuclear powered submarine is termed) will be ready in two years' time,' Mehta added.

The navy chief's optimism, an official said, stemmed from the fact that Indian scientists had succeeded in miniaturising the nuclear reactor for the vessel. 'This is a major achievement as very few countries in the world have the capability of miniaturising the reactor. It is now in the process of being mounted on the submarine's hull,' the official pointed out.

According to Mehta, 'in our credible minimum nuclear deterrent plans, the induction of nuclear weapons under sea constitutes the third triad.' 'Hitherto, we haven't been able to devote time to this but I am confident that more attention will now be paid to this,' he added. As for the Akula class submarine, the navy chief said: 'We need this to train our personnel on operating nuclear reactors and platforms.'

Mehta, however, ruled out the early induction of the submarine version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile that Russia and India have jointly developed. 'There has been some talk of this and we have asked for a concrete plan of action which we will then consider,' he stated. The navy has already deployed the BrahMos missile on its frontline vessels.

Indian Navy To Float Global Tender For Maritime Patrol Aircraft

The Indian Navy will soon float a long-delayed global tender for maritime reconnaissance aircraft (MRA), a top military commander said Monday.

The navy is also in talks with the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for developing a rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to enhance its maritime surveillance capabilities, Indian Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta said.

'We have completed our evaluations of various long range maritime patrol aircraft and a request for proposals (RFPs) should go out very soon,' Mehta told reporters here ahead of the annual Navy Week celebrations from Tuesday.

The navy needs the aircraft to replace its ageing fleet of eight Soviet-era Tupolev Tu-42s that are on the verge of completing their service life.

A four-member Indian Navy team headed by a one-star officer had observed trials in July on MRA derivatives of the Airbus A-319 manufactured by EADS Spain and the Boeing P-8A Poseidon in the US.

Since neither of MRA derivatives exists, the flight trials involved simulations on the Airbus A-320 and the Boeing-737 platforms on representative flight profiles and mission system evaluations.

Boeing has offered India a customised version of the P-8A that is scheduled to fly in late 2009 with operational capability set for 2013. The Spanish platform too is expected to be ready around the same time.

Both manufacturers are seriously examining the possibility of partnering Indian companies to jointly develop communications, data-link and identification friend-or-foe (IFF) equipment as an added sales incentive, in keeping with New Delhi's policy of indigenising its defence requirements, officials said.

A General’s letter in anguish to the PM

April 27, 2008 22:22 IST
Retired officers of the Indian armed forces took out a rally in Gurgaon, Haryana, on Sunday to protest against the sixth Pay Commission report. The rally was held in Gurgaon as the Central government refused to allow it to be held in New Delhi and didn’t even allow them to lay a wreath on India Gate to pay homage to soldiers who gave their lives for the country.

Commodore Uday Bhaskar told rediff.com, “The Sixth pay commission’s recommendation, if implemented, will not help raise the morale of the armed forces. The Indian fauj (forces), once the noble ‘profession of arms’, will be reduced to a ignoble ‘profession of alms’ by a callous politico-bureaucratic elite.”

General Nirmal Chander Vij, former Chief of Army Staff, wrote a letter in anguish to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [Images] against the adverse implications of the sixth pay commission on the armed forces.

The army’s foremost strategist and a Kargil war-decorated soldier, General Vij was country’s 21^st Chief of Army Staff. The letter written on April 17, 2008, speaks volumes about the armed forces’ dissatisfaction, which no government can ignore.

The copy of the letter written by N C Vij to Dr Singh is reproduced below.

Adverse implications of sixth Pay Commission report on the armed forces

Last week I had gone to Amritsar [Images] to attend a regimental function. I was surprised to note the intense disappointment and despondency in all the jawans, officers and their families as they spoke vociferously about how let down they felt with the sixth Pay Commission report. The services chiefs have already met the Hon’ble Raksha Mantri (defence minister) and expressed their deep concern.

As a former chief, I feel morally duty-bound to bring this fact to the notice of the Hon’ble Prime Minister in my personal capacity. I take heart from the fact, that it is under your leadership, that, in my tenure, the government went for a major improvement in the ‘operational posture by sanctioning South Western Command and 9 Corps HQs with full complements and also for some restoration of self esteem of the young officers through addressing their delayed promotions-cum-service conditions, by approving Part 1 of Ajay Vikram Singh Committee report’.

If this had been followed up, through a balanced PCR and implementation of Part II of the ‘AVS Report’, things would have reasonably improved, but unfortunately the very opposite has happened.

The PCR has hurt the Armed Forces on the following major accounts:

• Military Service Pay - (X Factor): The Military Service Pay, which has now been introduced, is intended to compensate service personnel for intangible difficulties and risks, which they experience during their service careers. While this is a welcome step, the jawans who face the greatest privations, have been given a paltry amount of Rs 1000/-.As recommended by the three services to the Ministry of Defence, this compensation be fixed in the following manner; (i) for jawans and Junior Commissioned Officers (below Lt rank), MSP should be 62.5 per cent of their basic pay (ii) for officers, MSP be fixed at 56.5 per cent of basic pay (iii) since there is no justification for excluding Maj Generals and Lt Generals from this pay (just 300 in number), they should also be included. (iv)Lastly, as these difficult service conditions have been existing all along, the arrears must be paid wef Jan 1, 2006, as in the case of other recommendations of the Pay Commission. All these recommendations have already been made by the Defence Services.
• Depressed Pay Scales and Lowering of Status of Officers: (i) In determining the grade pay of officers of the rank of Brigadiers and below, the Pay Commission has excluded the rank pay, from the scale of officers, on the ground that rank pay is an element of Military Service Pay now proposed. The exclusion of the rank pay from the pay scale has led to depressed grades of pay and lowering ‘Services’ status in different ranks by one rung below the extant position. This will cause immense functional problems not only for inter-se functioning vis-a-vis the civilian/police counterparts etc but also within the Armed Forces, wherein a large number of civilians are working.The Pay Commission has upgraded the DsG of certain police forces and certain specific posts in other civil services. It is important to note that (i) Lt Generals and equivalent comprise just 0.13% of the Services Officer Cadre as against at least fifteen-twenty times more posts at that level in civil/police services and more than a hundred times in the IAS. Furthermore, the creation of posts of Special Secretaries like the earlier Additional DGP will further upset the entire status equation. The promotions in the Services are achieved (if one escapes the most extraordinary degree of supercessions) with much longer service. For example at the lower level, a Brigadier is promoted after 28 years service and a Major General with 33 years service, whereas their counterparts (in non-military services) get these promotions with 14-16 and 20 years service resulting in huge disparities. The service officers thus suffer both on account of status and total take home salary to the tune of 30-40 lakh and more.

  In order to restore parity, I, therefore, strongly recommend that:- (i) ideally, the rank pay should be restored or in the very least, grade pay be linked to the length of service equivalent to that of the IAS, since the promotions in services are much slower and;(ii) For protecting the status equation of ‘Lieutenant Generals’ it is recommended that they must remain above DsG of Police forces and equivalent to five DsG of the PMF. It may be mentioned that in the Warrant of Precedence, all ‘Lt Generals’ have been placed in Article 24, whereas, DsGP are in Article 25. Hence, any disparity in pay structure will lead to an anomalous situation. Similarly, the status equations finalized in the Fifth Pay Commission for all levels must be maintained. Any further erosion of status will undermine the military leadership in the eyes of their own subordinates.

• Introduction of Running Pay Band and Adverse Impact on Junior and Middle Piece (Majors to Colonels) and Brigadiers level Officers: The new scales now introduced have hurt officers of these levels very badly and are resulting in virtually negligible benefits amounting to just 10 percent or so. This aberration is likely to start a trend of resignations of large number of officers, in these ranks soon on completion of the mandatory minimum 20 years service. I gather that already more than approx 650 officers have been waitlisted for premature release. The Services, which are already heavily undersubscribed, cannot sustain this exodus. One additional pay band is required to be introduced here to ensure suitable benefits to officers at all levels. There is, thus, a need to have two pay bands, one between Lt to Lt Colonels and the other between Colonels to Brigadiers with suitable raise linked to the length of service.
• Lateral Shift and Assured Second Career for Men-’A Myth’: The Pay Commission recommendations for the Services hinge, largely, on the successful implementation of the lateral transfer of the service personnel, into the PMFs/Central Police Organizations (CPOs). Thus, these recommendations have been ‘based on and got eroded’ in the garb of a possible future lateral shift and assured second career. The scheme of lateral transfer, if not implemented or delayed, would negate the most core underlying concept/assumption of these recommendations. I may submit here, that this particular recommendation has been attempted for implementation for decades (included in the Fifth Pay Commission Report also) but with no success earlier. Nor will it succeed in future for the obvious reasons. All Pay Commission recommendations thus need to be re-examined in the absence of this basic assumption of lateral transfer. The lateral transfer was also considered earlier actively and dropped, when I was the Vice Chief.
• Safeguarding of Interest of the Pensioners: Over the past two decades, the government has been able to achieve some parity in the pensions of the current and past retirees. ‘One rank one pension’ was more or less achieved for the men, and in the case of officers, some minimum parity was brought in by grant of pension at the bottom of scale of the rank in which they retired. However, with introduction of running pay bands and the absence of top and bottom of the scales for any rank, the parity with specific bands, achieved over some time now, will be lost. There is, thus, a need to protect the interests of the past retirees by suitable modifications and thereby ensuring enhanced pensionary benefits to the tune of minimum 30%.
• ‘Anomalies Committee’ is Unlikely to Succeed in Addressing the Grievances of the Armed Forces: I have read in the media that an Anomalies Committee has been set up to look into the issues raised by everyone. This will not solve the problems of the Armed Forces for two reasons: (a) The Lack of Sensitivity/ Understanding — This committee, which does not even have representatives of the armed forces as their members, will never be able to achieve a deep understanding or be sensitive enough to their problems. It is for this reason of lack of sensitivity, that the status of the Indian Armed Forces has undergone constant erosion with every Pay Commission Report. (b) Problems are of Basic Principles and Not Mere Technicalities — The anomalies committees can address the technicalities but our problems are on account of the core concepts and approach and not merely of technicalities. The problems of the Services can be solved, only with the involvement of the leadership of the country. Therefore, a ‘Group of Ministers’ alone will be able to address these issues.
• Summary of Recommendations:
  (a) Lateral Shift and Assured Second Careers for Men: Since all recommendations for the men are based on an assured second career, which is likely to be a non starter, a time limit of one year be fixed for implementation of the proposal of ‘lateral shift’. In the interim, all related recommendations for men be reviewed and made applicable as suggested in this paper based on the existing scenario.
  (b) Military Service Pay: As recommended by the three services to the Ministry of Defence, this compensation be fixed in the following manner (i) for jawans and Junior Commissioned Officers, MSP should be 62.5 per cent of their basic pay (ii) for officers at all levels, it should be fixed at 56.5 per cent of their basic pay (iii) since, there is no justification for excluding Major Generals and Lt Generals from this pay (just 300 in number), they should also be included for benefits as all other officers. (iv)Lastly, as these difficult service conditions have been existing all along, the arrears must be paid wef January 1 2006, as in case of other recommendations of the Pay Commission.
  (c) Depressed Pay Scales and Restoration of Status of Officers: In order to restore parity, the recommendations are (i) ideally, the rank pay should be restored or alternatively the grade pay be linked to the length of service equivalent to that of the IAS, since the promotions in the services are much slower and fewer. (ii) with a view to protect the status equations of Lt Generals, they should be above DsG of Police forces and be equivalent to that of the five DsG of the PMFs and remain in Article 24 of the Warrant of Precedence and lastly (iii) the status equations finalized in the Fifth Pay Commission report must be maintained in all the ranks.
  (d) Introduction of Running Pay Band and Adverse Impact on Junior and Middle Piece Officers: To offset the disadvantages of virtually no benefits to junior and middle level officers and also the factor of much delayed-cum-fewer promotions, an additional pay band be introduced. There should, thus, be two pay bands; one for Lt to Lt Cols and second for Colonels to Brigadiers with suitable raise linked to the length of service.
  (e) Protection of Pension for Past Retirees: Fixation of pension scale for the past retirees be done in a manner that their interests are protected and they get raise in their pensions to the tune of minimum 30 percent.
  (f) Group of Ministers: It is recommended that a GOM be appointed to examine the grievances of the Services. Till the time, their recommendations are finalized, the Pay Commission Report for the Services be held up.

Conclusion
Sir, you yourself hail from a state, which has traditionally produced soldiers. You would have often wondered, as to why a supremely fit jawan/JCO who retires at the young age of 42-48, ages and grows old so fast. It is because he has no resources to fall back upon to ensure a decent living for his family after his early retirement. This problem gets further accentuated with the constraints of even poor farming conditions. Why should a soldier retire at this early age (other services serve upto 60 years) and why this man who has served the Nation so valiantly not be given a second career by way of ‘lateral transfer’, which alas will never come about.

The service conditions have become even tougher and more risk prone today than what they were when we joined the service in 1962, because of the pressures of ‘insurgency’. Insurgency poses nearly as much physical danger as a war. A soldier is thus exposed to constant risks and yet he retains the motivation to build a ‘fence of 650 km length at varying altitudes upto 14000 ft’ in six to nine months flat, to successfully defeat the infiltration. The foreign armies are studying the underlying reasons of such a high level of motivation and dedication.

In the Indian Armed Forces, a jawan/officer serves almost every alternate tenure of three years in the insurgency environment, whereas all other armies in the world are not being able to sustain even one ‘nine months’ tenure. Officers and their jawans do it for the izzat (honour) but this raison d’etre is now getting deflated with such Pay Commission reports, and all their expectations are being shattered.

I strongly urge you Sir, to appoint a ‘GOM’ for the armed forces and withhold the implementation of this report, for the defence services, till the justice is given to them. The armed forces cannot sustain any continuation of poor intake of officers and also current wave of resignation requests. Already, the Indian Military Academy and OTA, Chennai are reporting a drop in the intake by over 70 per cent. In case of jawans, this recruitment trend will continue yet for a few more years, but their level of motivation will drop. The country cannot afford either of these situations.

N C Vij

The Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) (formerly known as Air Defense Ship (ADS))

Vikrant class aircraft carrier

Class overview
Name:	Project 71
Preceded by:	INS VIRAT
Cost:	$1 billion(estimate)
Building:	1
Planned:	2
General characteristics
Type:	aircraft carrier
Displacement:	37,500 tons
Length:	252 metres
Beam:	58 metres
Draught:	8.4 metres
Propulsion:	General Electric LM2500+ gas turbines, driving four shafts.
Speed:	28 knots
Range:	7,500 miles at 18 knots
Complement:	approximately 1,400
Aircraft carried:	30 total MiG-29K HAL Tejas HAL Dhruv Ka-31 'Helix'

The Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) (formerly known as Air Defense Ship (ADS)) is the first aircraft carrier to be built by India at the Cochin Shipyard. The steel cutting took place at Cochin Shipyard Ltd on 11 April 2005 ^[1] and the fabrication of the hull has started. This will be the largest and broadest ship ever built by Cochin Shipyard. The Cochin shipyard plans to complete eighty percent of works on the ship before its launch in 2010.^[2] The aircraft carrier is expected to enter service by 2012.^[3] The early warning sensors and anti-aircraft missile capability of the first aircraft carrier is similar to that of the Kolkata class destroyers. A second ship in the series will be a 64,000 ton aircraft carrier which is expected to enter service by the year 2017.^[4]

INS Vikramaditya, India's pride

Career
Builder:	Chernomorskiy yard, Nikolayev
Laid down:	December 1978 (as Admiral Gorshkov)
Launched:	April 17, 1982 (as Admiral Gorshkov)
Commissioned:	August 2008
Status:	Refurbishing, prior to delivery
General Characteristics
Displacement:	45,000 tons full load
Length:	273.1 m overall
Beam:	31.0 m
Draught:	8.2 m
Propulsion:	4 shaft geared steam turbines, 140,000 hp
Speed:	32 knots
Endurance:	13500 miles at 18 kt
Complement:
Armament:	8 CADS-N-1 Kashtan CIWS
Aircraft carried:	16 MiG-29K HAL Tejas Sea Harrier 6 Ka-31 'Helix'

The

aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, the former Admiral Gorshkov, is estimated to enter service in the Indian Navy in 2008.

The Vikramaditya is a modified Type 1143 Kiev class aircraft carrier built in 1978-1982.

Purchase

Russia and India came to an agreement over the sale of the ship, the then-Admiral Gorshkov, which they had been haggling over for many years, in 2004, following which the ship is being extensively refitted. It is projected to replace INS Viraat. US$800 million is budgetted for refit and upgrade by the Indian government. Upgrade plans involve stripping all the weaponry from the ship's foredeck, converting her from a hybrid carrier/cruiser to a pure carrier, allowing her to operate the MiG-29 Fulcrum and Sea Harrier aircraft. The deal also includes the purchase of 30 MIG 29K Fulcrum D (Product 9.41) aircraft, six Kamov Ka-31 Helix attack helicopters and reconnaissance anti-submarine helicopters, torpedo tubes, missile systems, and artillery units, costing an additional US$700 million. The ship will be operated in a STOBAR (Short Take-Off But Assisted Recovery) configuration, with a 14 degree ski-jump on the bow and three arrestor wires on the stern.

All reconfiguration work is being completed at Severomorsk.

Naming

"Vikramāditya" is Sanskrit for "Almighty"^[1] and was the title of some of the most famous kings of in the Indian history, such as the Vikramaditya of Ujjain, famed as a noble ruler and a mighty warrior. It is also a title that was used by the Indian king Chandragupta II who ruled between 375-413/15 AD.

navy-police skirmishes at kochi- THE REAL STORY

btw,i'm a naval officer presently posted at kochi itself... since we remain quiet,media and general public takes us for granted, seriously wen have u seen or heard any defence guy misbehaving wid sum civilian ever,except in news or frm police's mouth???
Well,here at kochi,the case is pretty interesting,which no one else will ever know...the place where these three guys had parked their bikes is not sum main road,its just behind our naval base,and is a completely secluded place... not even 5 cars pass from there in one day, believe me...its not even a main road,its like a circular path in between sum buildings...
next thing,wat were naval guys doing there???there's a juice bar ,and all of us regularly go there to have juices after our runs/exercises/games... its just 100 metres frm our naval base...
so one police havaldar came and took out keys frm these bikes (we have been so regular at the juice bar that we even leave our helmets and keys wid bikes,again BECAUSE no one else comes there!!!).. wen our guys objected,he said... this is NO PARKING!!! the naval officers said, where's d "no parking" board??? and show us your identity.... so he got angry,"U WANT TO SEE KERALA POLICE'S IDENTITY??" .. then he called up his comrades-in-arms who came and beat up these three officers and took them into custody!!!!!
the moment this news reached naval base (just 100 metres away), everyone got excited, coz one of these three guys beaten up n arrested by police was a lieutenant Commander, a pretty senior officer....
so many youngsters (again not 100 or 120, but around 30-40 of them) .these guys went to police station and pelted stones... but then naval senior officers came and called everyone back....that still shud have been the end to story,coz the senior officers even got these arrested officers released.....
all this happened at 2100 hrs, and the matter ended.... but by then the main police station of kochi came to know abt the incident.. and guess wat they did??? at 2300 hrs, that is 2 (YES, COMPLETE TWO) hrs after that... their gypsy came and caught 3 other officers from the main road which leads frm the city to the naval base (not the original three ones, they had been released and were in hospital by now), these unfortunate guys were coming after having dinner from outside in city... hence these guys were caught, beaten up mercilessly to prove police's superiority and then charged under "ATTEMPT TO MURDER" which is one of only three reasons (including rape and culpable homicide) for which a defence officer can be arrested.....
and since this is an attempt to murder case, hence court hasnt granted them bail yet.... and so these three guys are still in CENTRAL JAIL!!!!! AND THEN U WANT ARMED FORCES TO BE MOTIVATED AND HAVE A HIGH MORALE????
see,i dont know wat a civilian thinks and how much a normal person understands abt the fabric of armed forces.... we guys have such a job in which getting killed is as normal as getting fired from office is for a normal person in a private job.... the indian armed forces are respected for the discipline,which comes from respecting and following ur seniors so much so that u r ready to lay ur life for him... and wen u find that the same senior has been beaten by these corrupt cops widout any reason,why shud one control??? we r not sum civilians.. we r also men in uniform.... the guys who have been beaten and arrested are gazzetted officers, senior to an "assistant commissioner of police".. and as per constitution they cannot be arrested like that!!! and still policemen beat them mercilessly and arrest them.. and wat do u expect us in armed forces to do??? satyagrah like mahatma gandhi???
this is actually a dangerous situation..... if things keep happening this way,wat will happen to the morale of armed forces... and tomorrow, wen war comes, or tsunami comes, or even a major riot breaks out.... all the public and netas will again look at the armed forces to save them, and expect the ARMED FORCES to be at their best in spite of all this humiliation we face every day..... thats the irony of our country and thats how its happening..... JAI HIND.