INDIA ON A GLOBAL HUNT TO BUY AIR-TO-AIR MISSILES FOR JAGUAR
By Bulbul Singh
18 Jun 09. India is on a global hunt to buy short range close Air-to –Air Close Combat Missiles (CCM) along with Helmet Mounted Display (HMD) and associated equipment for the Indian Air Force Jaguar fleet. The total requirement for CCM is 384, 130 HMDs, 226 launchers and associated equipment. The bids have been sent to MBDA of France, Rafael of Israel, Diehl Defence of Germany, and Rosoboronoexport of Russia.
Delivery of CCM missiles, HMD and other systems will be completed in five phases within 54 months of contract signature with the vendor.
The CCM will be launched from over wing pylons and will have to be integrated with the radar and HMD to enable target detection, designation and launch to exploit the full kill zone of the missile.
The CCM will have Fire and Forget capability and advance ECCM features.
The operational requirements of the Indian Air Force demand that the maximum missile weight should not be more than 110 kilograms, and the design dimension and shape of must facilitate safe separation. The launch range should be between 2 to 6 kilometres at medium altitude, and above 6 kilometres at high altitude.
The CCM should have lock-on-after-launch capability and have an Imaging Infra Red (IIR) seeker guidance system, in addition the missile should be capable of distinguishing the targets from all kinds of IR flares and should have a minimum life of 10 years.
The HMD is to display the information/data on the visor and provide the coordinates of line-of-sight to target to the Jaguar aircraft avionics systems.
The field evaluation trials of the HMD and other associated equipment would be carried out by the Indian Army’s team at sites specified by the overseas vendor. The basic capability of the missile sensor and launch range will be checked through live launch from an aircraft. A minimum of two live launches would be planned and one launch would be planned against a target close to maximum range and the other against a manoeuvring target. Other performance characteristics will be checked through laboratory tests and certified documents.
The assessment of the HMD will be carried either through flight tests or laboratory demonstration.
With these missiles on-board the Jaguar, IAF wants to improve the lethality of the fighter aircraft in close range air-to-air combat with enemy aircraft.
The Indian Air Force is also upgrading all 138 Jaguar aircraft to include incorporation of stealth technology for. The stealth technology will enable the aircraft to escape detection by radar and reduce its signature to ground-based radar systems by up to 90 percent. The Jaguars also will be equipped with Magic-2 and R-77 missiles.