link : ISRO gearing up for 2nd prototype test of Reusable Launch Vehicle – TD
ISRO gearing up for 2nd prototype test of Reusable Launch Vehicle – TD
An example of Indian ‘jugaad’ – or improvisation – was the use of stopwatches and handheld GPS receivers in their cockpits by MiG-21 pilots lacking sophisticated onboard navigation suites. According to Prasun K. Sengupta in “Mountain Warfare and Tri-Service Operations”, another novel technique developed by the IAF for use in the campaign entailed selecting weapon impact points so as to create landslides and avalanches that covered intruder supply lines.
The IAF used the MiG-25R – which normally flies at 80,000 ft – in a medium altitude role to improve the resolution of its pictures, something that the aircraft’s Russian designers may not have thought possible.
Lambeth emphasises the complete dominance achieved by India’s MiG-dominated fleet. “Throughout the campaign, whenever IAF reconnaissance or ground attack operations were under way in the immediate combat zone, Western Air Command ensured that MiG-29s or other air-to-air fighters were also airborne on combat air patrol stations over the ground fighting on India’s side of the Line of Control to provide top cover against any attempt by the PAF to enter the fray in a ground attack role. PAF F-16s to the west typically maintained a safe distance of 10 to 20 miles on the Pakistani side, although they occasionally approached as close as 8 miles away from the ongoing ground engagements.”
The PAF’s director of operations during the Kargil War later reported that there had been isolated instances of IAF and PAF fighters locking on to each other with their onboard fire control radars, but that caution had prevailed on both sides and that “no close encounters took place”.
IAF fighters never joined in aerial combat with the PAF F-16s due to the A.B. Vajpayee government’s strict injunction that Indian forces not cross the Line of Control. Seven years later, however, Air Chief Marshal A.Y. Tipnis recalled that he had personally authorised his escorting fighter pilots to chase any Pakistani aircraft back across the Line of Control in hot pursuit were those pilots to be engaged by enemy fighters in aerial combat.
Looking forward, with the IAF’s Sukhoi Su-30 fleet set to touch a figure of 300 or more in the next decade, the MiGs will be reduced to a small – albeit important – component of India’s strike forces. They may have ceded space in the IAF to the superior firepower of the Sukhois, but the MiGs are now about to stamp their dominance over the seas.
" data-image-meta="[]" data-image-title="MiGs make a comeback – at sea" data-large-file="" data-medium-file="" data-orig-file="" data-orig-size="" data-permalink="http://ift.tt/2tZVGqO" data-recalc-dims="1" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uqkA3f7ChST6uDSin5unlQO6SHPgSaPvC6ybFUzscEuxpGQk9PGRB9Je27q9A9jGYjH1MgCLPcxw=s0-d">A little over a year since the successful flight test of the first prototype of the futuristic Reusable Launch Vehicle – Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD), ISRO is gearing up for a second go. Only this time, the prototype will ‘land’ on land instead of water.
Work is progressing at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) here on the second RLV-TD. A senior officer associated with the project said the RLV-TD will almost be a ditto version of the first scaled-down RLV-TD with the only exception being it will have landing gear.
ISRO sources said it may take another year for the model to be ready. They said the present plan is to launch the RLV-TD from Sriharikota and land it on an undisclosed Air Force airfield in the eastern sector. This is yet to be finalised though, they said.
The unmanned RLV-TD comprises a space shuttle-like component fitted atop a booster rocket. The first RLV-TD weighing 1.5 tonnes, was successfully launched from Sriharikota on May 23 last year and splashed down in the Bay of Bengal from a height of 64.8 km.
While VSSC is primarily responsible for building the RLV-TD, the navigational equipment are being provided by the ISRO Inertial Systems Unit in Thiruvananthapuram and ISRO’s Satellite Applications Centre, Ahmedabad. Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd is responsible for the landing gear.
In fact, ISRO plans a series of TDs before attempting to build a fully-fledged vehicle that can be reused for launching satellites. A subsequent TD will possibly involve a slightly larger vehicle which will place a nano-satellite in the orbit.
Source:- New Indian Express
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