The 26/11 You Did Not See

Source: Yahoo 

We all remember where we were on 26/11. I myself had a taken a train from VT station that day and was heading to my new home in Bangalore. I was lucky though. My train was in the morning and by the time killing spree began I was halfway through my journey. My family gave me news of the attacks over the phone and I remember being alone and petrified, the pitch darkness of the night not helping. By the time I reached home the images that are now part of our sub-conscious were everywhere. Over the past two years we’ve been bombarded with those same visuals and details. But there is something that most of us haven’t seen …‘Terror in Mumbai’

Dan Reed’s ‘Terror in Mumbai’ is a jaw-dropping documentary on the 26/11 attacks that paralysed Mumbai and stunned the world. The film is narrated by Fareed Zakaria and includes the spine-chilling intercepted phone conversations between the terrorists in Mumbai and their handlers in Pakistan. It also includes CCTV footage from inside the Taj and police interrogation of the sole surviving terrorist – Ajmal Kasab, and never heard before accounts from several of the victims. After hearing the contents if you’re wondering why you haven’t seen this documentary on a TV channel or heard it being discussed in the media – then your guess is as good as mine.

Sample this conversation between the terrorists and their controllers from the documentary:

Controller: The captain of the boat…did you kill him?

Terrorist: Yeah, we finished him off

Controller: How?

Terrorist: We slit his throat

And that conversation is just the beginning of ‘Terror in Mumbai’, co-produced by Channel 4 and HBO. It has been telecast in the UK and the US and is widely available on the internet but has yet to see the day of light on Indian television.

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PM heading to Berlin, Germany to pitch for Eurofighter

By: The Economic Times

Germany is set to sharpen its pitch for selling Eurofighter Typhoon combat jets to India when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh goes to Berlin next month, a day-long trip that will focus on expanding the strategic relationship between the two would-be non-permanent members of the UN Security Council.

Manmohan Singh is expected to fly to Berlin Dec 11 for a day-long visit after attending India's summit with the 27-nation European Union (EU) in Brussels.

This will be the second visit by Manmohan Singh to Berlin since he became the country's prime minister over six years ago.

Manmohan Singh and Merkel met recently at the G20 summit of major and emerging economies in Seoul. A bilateral visit by Manmohan Singh to Germany has been in the making for some time, but it was only last week it was decided to include a day-long visit to Berlin to the prime minister's itinerary that was earlier confined to a stand-alone visit to Brussels for the India-EU summit.

Manmohan Singh and Merkel, who enjoy a special chemistry, are expected to focus on expanding defence relationship and enlarging the scope of their strategic dialogue on key global issues like UN reforms, the international financial crisis, counter-terrorism, non-proliferation and climate change.

The UN reforms will be a key item on agenda, a senior official, who did not wish to be names, told IANS.

Significantly, the meeting between Manmohan Singh and Merkel will take place barely weeks before India and Germany join the UN Security Council as non-permanent members Jan 1, 2011. "This explains the focus on a dialogue over big-picture global issues," said the official.

Both countries are in favour of unity among G-4 countries (India, Brazil, Japan and Germany) to realise their collective quest for permanent seats on an expanded United Nations Security Council (UNSC), a point that was made forcefully by German ambassador to India Thomas Matussek recently.

Germany, on its part, is set to make a renewed pitch for the Eurofighter project at a time when the contest for a $10.4 billion tender for supplying 126 fighter aircraft to India is intensifying by the day.

Germany will contend that the Eurofighter offer is unique as it involves technology transfer and is likely to stress that it is ready to forgo the End-User Monitoring Agreement (EUMA) that even India's close partners like the US insist on, an informed source disclosed.

Early this week, the German envoy outlined the attractions of the Eurofighter Typhoon at a speech at the Indian Council for World Affairs. "We are here for the long haul...We are even forgoing the End-User Monitoring Agreement (EUMA) and offering complete transfer of technology. We would like India to work closely with us in the future development of the aircraft," he had said.

Germany, which is leading the Eurofighter consortium of several leading defence giants in Europe including EADS and BAE Systems , is hoping that India takes a favorable decision on the Eurofighter by the time Merkel comes here in the summer next year, the source disclosed.

The Eurofighter Typhoon will be competing against the US F/A-18 Super Hornet and F-16IN Super Viper, Sweden's Gripen, France's Rafale and Russia's MiG-35 to win the Indian Air Force's medium multi-role combat ircraft (MMRCA) project, touted as the mother of all defence deals.

Britain, Germany, Spain and Italy have come together to pitch for the Typhoon. British Defence Secretary Liam Fox extolled the Typhoon during his visit to India, saying it performed brilliantly in the field trials conducted by the IAF. 

LCA Tejas Falls Short of Earlier Expectations

BY: AviationWeek.com

As India’s homegrown Light Combat Aircraft (LCA Tejas) nears critical initial operational clearance next month, Indian air force officials say the aircraft will fail to meet performance requirements laid down by the service for the limited-profile Mk.1 platform.

According to an Indian air force source associated with the long-delayed indigenous fighter program, when the Tejas passes this milestone in December, it still will not be the fighter the air force had agreed to accept for limited squadron service. Performance specifications that the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) has not been able to attain include sustained turn rate, speed at low altitude, angle of attack and certain weapon delivery profiles. Exactly how far off the performance is from the specification remains classified.

The Tejas program has enlisted EADS to help expand the flight envelope to meet service requirements.

These shortfalls come on top of a thrust deficiency that necessitated the selection of a more powerful engine, General Electric’s F414-INS6, this year for a proposed Mk.2 version.

“We are still working to get the platform on track for initial operational clearance,” says an air force officer.

“It appears the exercise of resolving certain performance parameters will spill over into the post-induction phase,” he notes. “There was a very committed effort toward envelope expansion, though we have fallen short in certain key specifications, which we will continue to work on.”

Former air force chief Srinivasapuram Krishnaswamy, who first pushed the idea of a limited induction of the homegrown fighter even if it did not fully meet service requirements, argues that the aircraft needs to be delivered without any further delay. “Once it is delivered, all outstanding issues can be ironed out and our pilots can get a chance to see what it is capable of. It is important to get it into service. That is the key.”

Initial deliveries of the aircraft early next year will be to the Indian air force’s Aircraft & Systems Testing Establishment in Bangalore, where the platforms will be tested before formal induction into squadron service for a year-long exercise in defining a role for the Tejas. 

The service has ordered 20 Tejas Mk.1 jets (and is processing an order for 20 more), powered by the GE F414-IN20 for two inaugural squadrons that will be established at peninsular air bases after the Aero India show in February.

The Tejas program has embarked on putting the ostensibly more capable Tejas Mk.2 on track, as well. An ADA team is optimizing the Tejas airframe for the F414 powerplant and has initiated studies on the aircraft’s proposed operational envelope, fluid dynamics studies of new components and analysis of new engine components. The team is also producing fresh numerical master geometry and inboard drawings, a new digital mock-up of the entire Mk.2, and a wind tunnel model in collaboration with the National Aerospace Laboratory.

The Tejas Mk.2 is scheduled to make its first flight in 2014, with full-rate production to follow two years later.