Pakistan's Acquisition of T129 Combat Helicopters from Turkey

The acquisition of these helicopters (30 in number according to media reports), like the US-made AH-1Z Viper, is facing bottlenecks and is yet to materialize. Like Denel Rooivalk and Mi-35, T129 has been used in combat and selected by Armies having experience of counter-insurgency like Turkey and Philippines. The rotor hub of Mi-35, with classical articulations, is not ideal for sandy environment of desert terrain. A simplified rotor hub with less articulations, like that of Westland Lynx, are less prone to develop issues in sandy atmosphere. The T129 is said to employ T800 engines made by LHTEC, a consortium of Honeywell and Rolls-Royce. Geopolitical reasons of delays in acquisition may include the Engine upgrade for Indian Air Force Jaguar fleet. The Honeywell F125 engine was selected to replace the original Adour engine of Jaguar attack aircraft. This engine order, if finalised, is much more in numbers and finance than the Pakistani helicopter engine order with figures of 280 F125 engines mentioned in media reports. Honeywell already supplies engines for Pakistani K-8 trainer aircrafts and in theory there should be no objection on further enhancing the market of their engines. Some diplomatic maneuvering and dialogues may be needed to convince US authorities that Honeywell engines can be supplied both to India and Pakistan without having to choose one option of the two. The acquisition of utility helicopters having the same engine as the combat helicopter facilitates the logisitics of engine and its spare parts. Examples are AH-1 Cobra and Indian Light Combat Helicopter, both sharing engines with Utility helicopters. AH-1 has the same engine as the UH-1 Huey and HAL LCH has the same engine as the HAL Dhruv helicopter. The business of aviation engines has evolved over the time and they are increasingly being sold by Consortiums or joint ventures. Dealing with these consortia needs proper understanding, skills and knowledge. In these cases, one consortium is built or established for one engine. CFM international has Snecma (Now Safran) and Generak Electric of USA as partners, International Aero Engines (IAE) is made up of firms of Pratt and Whitney, Rolls-Royce, Japanese Aero Engines Corporation and MTU of Germany. In the combat aircraft domain, Eurojet provides engines for Eurofighter Typhoon and is made up of RR, MTU, FiatAvio and ITP of Spain. Panavia Tornado's engines were made by TurboUnion, comprising RR, MTU and FiatAvio as partners. The engines for Sukhoi Superjet-100 are made by PowerJet, a joint venture of Snecma of France and Saturn of Russia. Prior experience of defence contracts with Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) has been that of Pakistan Air Force's upgrade of F-16 fighter fleet. Upgrade kits were purchased by Pakistan from USA and installation carried out in Turkey. One approach would be to purchase T-800 engines directly from Honeywell and fit them in helicopters in Turkey or in Pakistan.

Ballistic Missile Defence and Surface to Air Missiles (SAMs)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8nH9YAHJv4

 

Long-Range Air to Air Missiles : Guidance, Radars and Datalink

Normally, the targets of long-range air to air missiles (LR AAM) were bigger aircrafts like AWACS, transport or aerial refuellers because of their bigger radar size and hence they can be tracked by AI radars of fighters at around 150 km range. Also LR AAM needed a big and powerful radar on the side of firing aircraft, implying that conventionally only big aircrafts could carry such heavy missiles.

 

2008 Mumbai Attacks : Maritime Route or By Air?

The details concerning acts of terror inside the city does not need further elaboration or critique, there are numerious eye-witness accounts. The main area of investigation is journey or mode of journey of attackers from outside India till Mumbai, assuming an act by infiltrators. The official version of events is that attackers took a maritime route from Pakistani shores near Karachi to Mumbai, a distance of around 900 km. With average boat speed of 30 km/h, the travel duration turns out to be 30 hours minimum. With no refueling en route, a fishing boat (captured one) is not expected to run or go for 30 hours. Ajmal Kasab's account mentions departure from Pakistan on 23rd November and reaching target on 26 Nov, showing unnecessary time wasted and not ideal for a perfectly-planned attack when only one day+night and six hours are needed for a journey without stops. Further inaccuracies arise from Kasab's statement about the time of crossing into Indian waters. Major part of journey should have taken place (no choice) in Indian waters, minimum travel time is around 23 hours for a distance of around 700 km till Mumbai. Journey overland with weapons and other items is highly unlikey given the long journey and distance. This only leaves one option, assuming that attackers were foreign intruders, and that is by air. For ten people, two Cessna 172 aircrafts are enough. Their range figures match the needed distance to be covered. With floats attached, these aircrafts can land over water. Two aircraft possibility is strengthened by the fact that attacks took place on two (eastern and western) shores of the Mumbai peninsula. Taj Mahal Hotel being situated on the eastern shore, one aircraft landed there and other on the western shore. Where did these aircrafts go? Most likely an official cover-up. It is automatically assumed that pilots were among attackers and that low-level flying was used to avoid or delay detection by radars as much as possible. The use of other electronic identification (Transponders) manipulations also cant be discarded.

Fake Defense News : Brahmos Fired from Su-30MKI

Fake News (May 2019) : Brahmos-A fired from Su-30MKI of Indian Air Force. The missile is practically in a category to be carried by Bombers. Big and bulky cruise missiles are exclusively carried by Strategic Bombers like B-52, B-2, Tu-160, Tu-22M3 etc. An example is AGM-86 Cruise missile of USAF, carried only by Bombers and not yet seen on any fighter.  The Russian bombers being aged, the only possibility for air-launching these missiles is either a converted transport aircraft OR the dedicated attack version of Flanker, the Su-34. Su-34 has undergone all the modifications necessary for carrying bulky and heavy weapons.

Such bulky weapons are almost always carried on centerline pylon (hardpoint) on fuselage of the fighter jets. This is a prominent feature of all strike aircraft. The heaviest and biggest fuel tank of Mirage F-1 is carried on its centerline pylon on fuselage. Its the same for others like Mirage-2000D, Rafale and Tornado GR4 is a good example having multiple pylons under fuselage for carrying all bulky payloads. F-16, unfortunately, does not have this facility, its centerline pylon is limited to fuel tank, recce pod or jammer pod, something to think about for PAF.

Vindicating Mi-35 Hind Gunships of Indian Air Force

During the Kargil conflict of 1999, the performance of Mi-35 gunship helicopters (export versions of Mi-24) of the Indian Air Force was severely criticised by Indian Army. Air Force came up with many excuses but it was never fully exonerated.

Now the hot borders between India and Pakistan can possibly give a chance to vindicate (or re-vindicate) the name of Hind gunships and their crews. With timely intelligence and vigilance at borders, many planned attacks can be foiled or averted even before they are tried. But is it possible to succeed even when the plans have been compromised? It is this possibility that Indian military command is looking into.

Hind Gunship helicopters of IAF have been given the Mission 24 upgrade by IAI and they are now capable of low-level flying at night and also launching strikes at night. But the problem with helicopters is that they can't penetrate deep behind the border or LoC. Their slow speed means that their chances of escape and safe egress are not high.

An alternative is to use gunship helicopters only for destroying early warning radars of air defence and then follow the attack with strike fighters like the Su-30 Flanker. This obviously would be coordinated in time and space with air raid following shortly after the attack on the radar stations. With radars out of action, it would be very hard for PAF to see the situation in the air and guide its own planes for interception.

In this scenario, now there are two aspects. One, ensuring safety and survival of radars by either changing their position or replacing them with fake ones. It is possible that if the first phase is unsuccessful, the second phase might not follow at all.

With Mi-35 units based at Pathankot air base (according to order of battle), the likely theatre is again the LoC or its surroundings like the Working Boundary etc.

Deceptions of Brahmos Missile Design

The deception used with Brahmos Missile is in its air intake design. Public photos show a fixed intake cone (conical centrebody). Such a cone is technically called conical shock centrebody because it creates a conical shock wave in front of the missile at supersonic speeds. Unlike shown in the public photos, this nose cone has to be moveable (moving forward and backward at varying speeds). 

It is the same as used in Mig-21 fighter aircraft air intake or Mirage-III's half-cone air intakes. Both in Mig-21 and Mirage-III, these cones are moveable and not fixed. It has to be moveable in Brahmos missile too. The engine in Brahmos is a ramjet engine, it is not a scramjet engine. Ramjet engine uses subsonic combustion even at supersonic speeds. Shockwaves are used to slow down the air flow to the subsonic speed. 

Now this has other serious implications for the missile too. The radar seeker shown on the electronic media has to fit inside the moveable nose cone, which means a very reduced size for the antenna and a very complicated design which is highly unlikely for a missile. Such missiles (e.g., British Sea Dart) use semi-active radar guidance with antennas fitted to the nose of the missile or they are passive. This means that such missiles home in on the radio or radar emissions from the target themselves OR an external source of guidance is needed.

Kargil War and Takht-e-Sulaiman Peaks

Ever since Pakistan's military intervention in Kargil in 1999 and the ensuing diplomatic crisis with India, there is debate in Pakistan as to who is responsible for this crisis. PM Nawaz Sharif's view is that he was unaware and General Musharraf insists that the PM knew about it and that operation was a military success but perhaps a political and diplomatic failure. 

In short, Kargil has been made into a blame game between Gen Musharraf and PM Nawaz Sharif. The real pushers who relentlessly push everybody into doing something remain behind the scenes. 

These guys dont tell others the reason for their motivation and drive. The reasons can be completely outrageous like bringing in Pakistan's control the second Takht-e-Sulaiman which is near Srinagar. One Takht-e-Sulaiman (Solomon's Peak) is near DI Khan in Pakistan and these are the two solomon peaks in South Asia (others seem to be in Iran and Central Asia). 

It is a scared mountain which is revered by Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists alike. The hindus call it "Shankaracharya Hill" and they have built a temple on the top of it. This temple is protected by armed CFRP troops. The Mughal King Jehangir and his wife Noor Jehan are said to have climbed this hill together.

Challenges of Governing Tribal Areas : Fence And Strategy

The law and order situation in the tribal areas of Pakistan has drastically improved in the past few years, thanks to the persistent efforts of the state institutions, will of the local people and cooperation of the Afghan Govt. The challenge in such areas is always in maintaining peace and stability for a given period of time after having established it.

Prominent and experienced Afghan leader Ahmed Shah Masood realized in his later years that winning a battle is easier than bringing peace and stability in Afghanistan. This was undoubtedly one of his major disappointments in life (We hope that the current peace talks shall help realise this dream). 

In both Afghanistan and frontier regions of India, different rulers have tried different techniques, from utter barbarity to cunning deceptive schemes. Nobody has tried a wall and it would be a new experiment. Pakistan must explore or re-explore all options and strategies for governing its tribal areas.

The classic British approach in these areas was to give authority and ownership to local chiefs and help them maintain law and order through their local militias. The local chief would almost always be a person who had felt the grip of British power. These Chiefs were mentally and psychologically convinced of the overwhelming British power and hence would not dare rise against them.

Pressure tactics like using Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) and financial blockades were tried in difficult circumstances. Another scheme which was almost permanent was that British would pay Afghanistan, who would then pay tribal chiefs. This way, the British would know who is receiving pay from Kabul. 

These cunning schemes would usually result in improved law and order. The British approach towards winning loyalty and making durable alliances in India was "loyalty in self-interest", "common enemy" and "prospects of better life through superior administration". Chiefs would collaborate with British authorities in self-interest. It remains to be determined as to what exactly are the interests of the tribals in areas like Waziristan. 

Is cross-border smuggling and drug trafficking included in their interests? Historically most rulers have given them the concession of cross-border trade, free electricity, no taxes etc. According to international media reports, the business of drugs in FATA continued uninterrupted under General Zia-Ul-Haq during the whole Soviet-Afghan War (1980-1988).

Now the "common enemy" approach. It happened in the Mogul era in India that many cities and large areas would become victim of robber assaults. The villagers and the Mogul kings would give the control of that city to the British in the hope that they would defeat the robbers. People would collaborate with the British because there was a common enemy to be defeated. Now we come to the superior administration aspect. It happened during several famines in India that people would look towards the British to get them out of the disastrous situations. They believed in the superior administration of the British.

For outright elimination of rebels in the frontier regions, British were helped by Mad Fakirs or ascetics who preached Jihad against the British. This way, the Govt would eliminate hundreds of rebels in a short time.

The task of controlling turbulent tribes is indeed difficult. The Moghul King of India, Aurangzeb Alamgir was given the same task by his father, Shah Jahan. Aurangzeb followed rigorous Islam whereas his father and elder brother had secular views. In 1647, Aurangzeb was sent to Afghanistan to prove his leadership and princely skills. He had to fight Uzbek, Hazara and other tribes and persians in Kandhar. Shah Jahan was perhaps sure that Aurangzeb would fail to subdue the turbulent tribes of Afghanistan. Nobody expected Aurangzeb to get out of the Afghan quagmire.

His approach was sheer demonstration of chivalry, spirituality and sacrificing the unimportant or untenable ground. During a battle with Uzbeks, right on the battlefield, he dismounted from his horse and started to offer his evening prayers. For his coolness under fire, he earned the respect of friends and foes alike. After campaigns in Afghanistan, Prince Aurangzeb was recognized as the coming man.

For further reading,

Rulers of India : Aurangzeb, Stanley Lane-Poole, Edited by W.W. Hunter, Oxford, 1901.

Religious Extremism and Economic Development

If we look at the international news, dozens of Islamic countries around the world are fighting extremist movements and armed struggles for supremacy. From Nigeria in Africa to Philippines in Asia, dozens of states are locked in a struggle against these non-state actors. The areas of insurgency or areas most affected by extremism are those where there is virtually no economic development. Alternatively, it can also be concluded that “international monetary agencies” don't allow any industrial development in such areas.

Experts have already pointed out such areas and they include Pakistani ex-tribal zone (especially Waziristan), Southern Afghanistan, Eastern Syria, North Somalia, Yemen, North-West of Iraq, Fezzan Libya, North-East of Nigeria, Eastern Turkey. Some may also include Xinjiang (China) in this list.

The Khyber-Pukhtoonkhwa (KPK) province of Pakistan is also suffering from economic depression due the same reason. The industrial development that was done in KPK was due to moderate and progressive elite of the province.

An article published in the Daily Statesman, Peshawar on 16 May 2005 about Muhammad Amir Khan Hoti noted, “Aside from politics, he also rendered services for the uplift of NWFP as an industrialist. He can be rightly termed as the "founder of the Industrial base" in the province. It was he who established a sugar mill in the province in the early years of the creation of Pakistan. He also had the honour of becoming the host of the President of the World Bank Mr. McNamara at his farmhouse in Chail Village on the Mardan-Takhtbahi road. It was in this meeting, that McNamara extended loan for the establishment of a paper mill at Charsadda, which got prominence as the Pakistan Paper Corporation (PPC). In this way, Col (Retd) Mohammad Amir Khan laid the foundations for industries in his province”.

The traditional approach of experts on the subject has been to address the root causes of extremism which is lack of employment, frustration and lack of political freedom among other factors.

Lack of economic progress is not the only factor which promotes extremism. It is also the extreme frustration of the youth that leads to it. In the recent past, Saudi Arabia has been criticized internationally for not providing any outlets to its youth leading to their extremist tendencies. Prince Muhammad Bin Salman is conscious of this issue and is planning to provide outlets to the youth with an entire city dedicated to it.

Political freedom also contributes towards control of extremism. Thats why international geopolitical experts have been advising Bachar Al-Assad of Syria to allow freedom for politics in his country. While the lack of political freedom can be addressed, the economic development is not easy to achieve because it is like a vicious circle.

The problem is that nobody wants to invest in areas affected by extremism and the internationally powerful monetary groups don't usually authorize development in such areas until and unless people change and adapt themselves. We see that Northern Afghanistan is developing at a faster pace (with oil refineries and road networks to Central Asia States etc) compared to the Southern Afghanistan and the reason is that Northern Afghanistan is moderate compared to the South.

Education or Re-Education seems to be the only salvation.