India’s growing defence needs and its upcoming decisions on buying military equipment has attracted the defence firms all around the world.
In Britain, BAE Systems has a long-term goal to become part of Indian defence network, according to Michael Christie, senior vice-president of BAE Systems India. BAE has set up a separate firm in India, with some 90 employees at present, to drive business in India.
An invitation to visit and tour the BAE Systems main assembly facility at Warton in Lancashire led a group of Indian journalists to close encounters with fighter jets, training jets and different kinds of stealth aircraft.
The human fascination for fighter jets, much in manner of fast cars, is ever-enduring and this was highlighted by first look at the Eurofighter Typhoon, the European consortium’s medium multi-role combat aircraft, which is in race to sell 126 combat aircraft to the Indian Air Force. In Europe, the design, development and manufacture of Typhoon sustain more than 100,000 jobs in 400 companies.
The consortium, formed of Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, manufactures the Typhoon and each country manufactures some parts of the combat aircraft and assembles the fighter jets for domestic use.
The Typhoon in Britain is assembled at Warton and the main hangar, where the assembly takes place, is a spotlessly clean and quiet zone. The hangar, with many Typhoons at different stages of assembling, is a bustling area, but the close tour of twin-engine single-seat combat aircraft, which weighs 11 tonnes in dry configuration, is awe-inspiring.
BAE engineer Martin Topping reveals the intricate engineering and technology behind the combat aircraft — the fighter jet is made of “super plastic” and the platform is “inherently unstable” so the assembly has to be absolutely precise, with help of lasers. The unstable nature is the one that helps the aircraft perform awe-inspiring manoeuvres in air.
The visit to hangars is accompanied by numerous warnings about no-use of cellphones as telecom signals can disrupt the engineering systems and activate ejection platforms.
The tour of Typhoon hangar, followed by a quick briefing on BAE’s newly-developed high technology helmet for use by fighter pilots, puts the technology linked to combat aircraft in perspective. The new helmet, reveals BAE System’s chief test pilot Mark Bowman, is an asset as every bit of information needed by the pilot can be projected on the visor of the 1.9-kg helmet.
Bowman, who delivered the first lot of Hawk AJTs to India, then gave a demonstration of Typhoon in air, and the combat aircraft lives up to its name with a thunderous ear-piercing takeoff and manoeuvres accompanied by roaring noise, shattering the calm of Warton, former American military base during the World War II.
The tour of Hawk hangar, with a few training jets being made ready for use by the Royal Air Force, led to every journalist jumping at the chance to sit in the cockpit of a fully-assembled jet, a unique experience despite the aircraft being anchored to the ground.
BAE is keen to work with the DRDO, especially in helping it to develop stealth unmanned air vehicles, “using our experience with autonomous systems for unmanned air systems,” Dave Kershaw, who heads information platforms and services, said.
The unmanned aircraft, built in image of other fighter jets, come with complex technology systems and high-precision cameras and can also carry military payloads, explained Kershaw, adding that the technology was so advanced that these UAVs could even complete a mission on their own without any human controls.