God Speed, Tejas
The much awaited Final Operational Clearance of the indigenous fighter jet Light Combat Aircraft Tejas is expected to take place in 2018. Attaining the FOC will help IAF replenish its depleting squadron strength.
The FOC aircraft would incorporate Beyond Visual Range missiles, improved and better stand-off weapons and air-to-air refueling capability. Our city will get ample chances to prove its prowess to the world. Go for gold, Bangalore.
ISRO Set To Make History, Again
ISRO has set itself an ambitious target for 2018 -- that of launching one rocket every month. This includes putting its own satellites in space as well as commercial launches of foreign countries. This will help ISRO project itself as a reliable and competitive space agency among space faring nations. In 2017, ISRO had five launches of which four were successful and one a failure.
Fly Like An Eagle, SARAS
The SARAS aircraft test flight will be one of the most anticipated sorties of 2018.
The flight, which is expected to take place in January, will be the first flight of the aircraft in nine years. On March 6, 2009 a SARAS prototype aircraft crashed in Seshagiri Halli near Bidadi in the outskirts of Bangalore killing three IAF Officers.The SARAS PT1N (the new aircraft) has undergone a lot of modifications.The indigenous aircraft with range of 1200 KM, altitude up to 3000 feet, and speed 500 km/h has multiple applications for Military Transportation, Air ambulance, Maritime Patrolling, Border surveillance, Commutation for regional connectivity and Special Missions.
A Shot At Glory
Bangalore-based aerospace startup, Team Indus, will attempt to place its spacecraft on the moon’s surface, move it at least 500 m and transmit high-definition video and images back to the Earth stations before March 31, 2018. If successful, it will win the $30 million prize from Google and earn its place in the world. The TeamIndus spacecraft will also carry 10 to 15 payloads which includes a telescope called the Lunar Ultraviolet Cosmic Imager developed by students from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics and a retro-reflector device. Also accompanying the TeamIndus’s robotic rover would be another one developed by HAKUTO, a Japanese team which is one of the competing teams.
MoonWalker
Another moon mission, the Chandrayaan-2, will be launched in the first quarter of 2018. The Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft is a composite module consisting of orbiter, lander and rover. Unlike Chandrayaan-1, where the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) crash-landed on the surface of the Moon, Chandrayaan-2 will soft-land its lander with rover on the lunar surface to conduct next level of scientific studies. Many new technologies are being developed indigenously to achieve the mission requirements.
Rocketman
For ISRO’s workhorse -- the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) -- 2017 was a year of bittersweet memories. While it earned kudos for its record breaking feat of simultaneously launching 104 satellites, it also suffered a failure -- that of PSLV-C 39 on August 31. In January, ISRO will use the PSLV for the first time after last year’s failure. The PSLV will launch the Cartosat-2 satellite along with 28 foreign satellites and hopes to get over last year’s setback.
A New Bird
Another multi purpose aircraft which was hitherto only used for military operations could soon be ferrying commuters to Tier-II and Tier-III cities giving a major boost to the UDAAN scheme. HAL’s Dornier could be used for commercial operations. HAL Do-228 aircraft has got the unique advantage of short take-off and landing capability, high fuel & payload capacity, low maintenance cost, economical fuel consumption, high cruising speed in its class.
Sky Is The Limit
Modi’s ‘Make in India’ dream will get a boost when HAL begins manufacturing the indigenous helicopter, ALH Dhruv (Civil version).
HAL has built 12 ALH Dhruv Civil variant helicopters and are being operated by Government of Jharkhand and BSF.
Drone, Dusted
Karnataka’s unmanned aerial systems or drone policy will be out this year making it the first state in the country to use UAS applications extensively in its departments. Aeromodellers are demanding that a separate category be created within the UAV Classifications, for model aircraft strictly for sports and recreational and educational purposes (excluding, if necessary, all types of multi-rotors and drones) limited to non-commercial use only.