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New
Delhi, 16 July 2005
F-35
JSF
In a significant move the Indian
Navy categorically stated its preference for
Lockheed Martin’s F-35 JSF (Joint Strike Fighter)
over Boeing’s F/A-18E/F ‘Super Hornet’ offered
by the United States. Chief of Naval Staff Admiral
Arun Prakash, himself a distinguished naval fighter
pilot, expressed as much while speaking to reporters
after commissioning INS Beas, a Brahmaputra
Class Guided Missile armed Helicopter carrying
Frigate (FFGH) at the Garden Reach Shipbuilders and
Engineers Ltd, Kolkata on July 11, 2005.
The CNS cited the inherent
incompatibility of the Super Hornet with the
aircraft carriers of the Indian Navy, which
incorporate the concept of Short Take-Off But
Arrested Recovery (STOBAR), in absence of the steam
catapults necessary for the Super Hornets for
take-off. On the other hand, the Indian aircraft
carriers utilise the “ski-jump” that forms an
integral part of the STOBAR operations. The Short
Take-Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) version of the
F-35B being developed for United States Marine Corps
(USMC) can utilise the ski-jump for take-off and
would be more suitable for the Indian Navy.
If the F-35 enters service with
Indian Navy the CNS is perhaps well aware of the
“technological leap” that the IN and Indian
aerospace industry would obtain, along with transfer
of technology for license manufacture. Incidentally,
the top brass of the US Aerospace Giant Lockheed
Martin had expressed a wish to see the F-35 flying
in Indian Air Force (IAF) colours –– indeed
during Aero India 2005 the Company had depicted F-35
models in IAF colours as a promotional measure.
Alongside other variants, the F-35B STOVL variant is
projected to be developed into an advanced attack
aircraft with outstanding Suppression of Enemy Air
Defence (SEAD) capability, to be operated from
multiple types of naval platforms ranging from
medium attack carriers, British Invincible Class
STOVL carriers, Helicopter carrying Landing
Platforms (LPH) and even from forward battlefield
areas or further interior of beachheads.
The Lockheed-Martin F-35 resembles
a single-engine version of the same company's F/A-22
Raptor, retaining a high degree of stealthy
contouring. The F-35B STOVL version under
development features a vertically mounted "lift
fan" behind the cockpit, driven by a shaft off
the Pratt & Whitney F119 engine, with a three
bearing swivelling vectored exhaust nozzle and two
exhaust ducts, extending from each side of the
engine to exit in the bottom of the wings for roll
control. The lift fan approach minimises hot exhaust
ingestion back into the engine. Infra Red (IR)
signature also remains “under control”. The
engine intake ducting is arranged in a
"serpentine" fashion to eliminate radar
reflections from the compressor blades. However
production aircraft will be powered by either the
F135 or the F136 turbofan being developed by General
Electric and Rolls Royce.
The F-35 is designed to operate
strictly with internal weapons during initial phases
of an air campaign in "first day stealth"
mode to perform stealthy strikes on the enemy air
defence network including ground-based radar,
Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) launchers and their
command & control nodes in SEAD role and to
strike at heavily defended targets. In such mode,
weapons are restricted in two parallel internal bays
each with two hard-points located in front of the
landing gear. Prominent weapons to be carried
internally include Global Positioning System
(GPS)-guided Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM),
Joint Stand-Off Weapon (JSOW), Paveway II Laser
Guided Bombs (LBG) and AIM-120C AMRAAM Beyond Visual
Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM). Internal JDAM
carrying capability of F-35B STOVL is limited two
450-kg loads. However the point of concern is the
possible restriction of weapon loads in internal
bays to US made weapons only. The Indian Navy will
do well to clarify this particular aspect.
In later phases of a conflict, with
enemy air defence network sufficiently shattered,
heavier external loads like Joint Air-to-Surface
Standoff Missile (JASSM) and Storm Shadow cruise
missile may be carried compromising “stealth”
attributes to a certain degree. For further
enhancement of its impressive range, thanks to the
efficient engines, the F-35B has a retractable
refuelling probe on the right side of the nose for
in-flight refuelling.
For IN the “prize catch” will
be the F-35’s sensors and the heart of it is the
Northrop Grumman AN/APG-81 Active Electronically
Scanned Array (AESA) radar, based on the AN/APG-77
AESA set developed for the Lockheed Martin F-22
Raptor. The AESA set consists of an array of
Transmitter-Receiver (T/R) modules linked by
high-speed processors. Different T/R modules in the
array can be allocated to different tasks providing
wide range of functions, thus acting as a multimode
radar, active jamming system, passive electronic
defense system, and communications system. The
system generates signals over a wide range of
frequencies and pulse patterns in an unpredictable
fashion to ensure Low Probability of Intercept (LPI),
successfully “fooling“ enemy Radar Warning
Receivers (RWR).
The AN/APG-81 uses advanced
technology compared to the F-22's AN/APG-77, but
airframe constraints mean that it has fewer T/R
modules, thus limiting its range to 165 km. The
radar system will also incorporate the agile beam
steering capabilities developed for the APG-77.
Since US media reports indicate Bush
administration’s clearance for possible transfer
of sensitive radar technology like Raytheon
AN/APG-79 AESA radar of the Super Hornet to India,
diplomatic bargaining to secure the AN/APG-81 AESA
radar may well bear fruit. Higher echelons of
present US administration have repeatedly expressed
their desire to witness the emergence of India into
a robust continental military power.
A Lockheed Martin Electro-Optical
Targeting System (EOTS) embedded under the F-35’s
nose will provide long-range detection and precision
targeting, along with the Northrop Grumman DAS
(Distributed Aperture System) thermal imaging
system. EOTS will be based on the Sniper XL pod
developed for the F-16, which incorporates a
“third generation” Mid-Wave Forward Looking
Infra Red (MWFLIR) with possibly staring focal plane
technology, dual mode laser, CCD TV, laser spot
tracker and laser marker. Interestingly, EOTS is not
turret-mounted, but has a wide aperture that is
blended into the aircraft's nose contours, covered
by a window that is opaque to radar. On their part,
DAS sensors fitted at multiple locations on the
aircraft consist of multiple infrared cameras
providing full-sphere 360-degrees coverage using
advanced signal conditioning algorithms. The DAS
provides navigation, missile warning and Infra Red
Search & Track (IRST) as well as situational
awareness.
Indo–US cooperation is at an all
time high after “9/11” with all branches of the
Armed Forces of both the nations striving hard to
attain inter-operability and joint-cooperation on a
grand scale. The Indian Navy was perhaps the first
to adapt radically to the changed circumstances, as
it was the only service that has long maintained
“active foreign military links” by conducting
extensive maritime exercises with foreign navies. It
was also becoming apparent that it is in the naval
sphere where active Indo-US military cooperation
robustly lies in keeping Sea Lines Of Communication
(SLOC) open in vast stretches of the Indian Ocean.
Already the United States plans to have an Indian
Navy official on the staff of the United States
Pacific Command acting as liaison officer, to bring
in more cooperation and understanding between the
two armed forces in fighting global terror, as
disclosed a few months ago by Admiral William
Fallon, Commander of the United States Pacific
Command. In this respect Admiral Fallon stated that
he had held discussions on this issue with Indian
Navy’s Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Arun Prakash
during his visit to Washington.
Under such a backdrop the Indian
Navy may gradually induct a considerable number of
United States origin military equipment and systems
as a common inventory will be highly desirable for
both the nations in terms of joint-exercises and
inter-operability. Certain critical naval systems
are already on offer that range from P-3C Orion Long
Range Maritime Patrol (LRMP) platforms, ship-borne
SH-60 Sea Hawk Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW)
helicopters to second-hand yet capable Spruance
Class Guided missile armed Destroyers (DDG) and
Oliver Hazard Perry Class Guided missile armed
Frigates (FFG).
Yet how United States reacts to the bold
assertion of Admiral Arun Prakash in “selecting”
the fifth-generation F-35 JSF needs to be seen.
Certainly the US is well aware of the fact that in
terms of possession of certain military hardware and
operating philosophy and practice India has touched
the developed world and is no longer regarded as a
third-world military power
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