Science & Technology

(Current - fact corners)Volume- 1

Ravi P. Agrahari (Science & Technology)

1. World’s Largest Optical Telescope

- A five-nation consortium including India would be constructing the world’s most advanced ground based observatory. This telescope will be developed in Hawaii at the summit of the Mauna Kea Volcano.

- Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) governing body on January 22, 2013 met to decide the contributions to be made by the member nations namely, India, Japan, Canada, China and the US in the development of world’s largest optical telescope. The work on this telescope is expected to start in 2014 and the project is planned at an investment of 1.2 billion US dollars.

2. Internet Turns 30- The internet, a revolutionary communications system used daily by billions of people the world over, turned 30 on January 1, 2013. The computer network officially began functioning when it fully substituted previous networking systems on January 1, 1983. - It was the first time the US Department of Defence-commissioned Arpanet’ network fully switched to use of the Internet Protocol Suite (IPS) communications system.

- British computer scientist Tim Berners – Lee later used it to host a system of interlinked hypertext documents in 1989, known as the World Wide Web (www).

3. Indian Researcher Bags Award for Alzheimers Drug

- London based Indian researcher Mahaveer Golechha has been selected for an award for his work on a drug to cure Alzheimers. He will receive the Alzheimers Drug Discovery Foundations Young Investigator Scholarship Award’ at the 7th Annual Drug Discovery for Neurodegeneration Conference to be held in February 2013.

- He has been recognized for his outstanding research on ‘naringin’ a bioglavonoid found in grape fruits and citrus fruits. In his study, he found that naringin a bioflavonoid found in grape fruits and citrus fruits.

- In his study, he found that naringin possesses significant “anti-Alzheimers activity” and will form the basis of further Reserved to develop as a cure for the degenerative disease in old age, which worsens as it progresses.

- Alzheimers disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that generally affects the elderly population. Till date the treatment was sympotomatic (any medical therapy of a disease that only affect its symptoms, not its cause) but naringin will act at pathological level and have lesser side effects.

4. Gas that Causes Ozone Destruction Discovered- Researchers at the Universities of York and Leeds in the third week of January, 2013, identified a gas from the earlier unknown marine source which led to destruction of ozone over the oceans.

- The researchers found out that the source of iodine oxide could be explained by emissions of hypoiodous acid (HOI) together with molecular iodine (I2).

- Since 1970s, when the gas called methyl iodide (CH3I) was discovered to be present everywhere in the ocean.

5. Emmident Toothbrush

In December, 2012, British scientist have developed the Emmident Toothbrush, the first toothbrush of the world which makes use of the ultrasound waves for cleaning teeth, which means that there is not need of abrasive brushing.

How it Works?• Emmident toothbrush makes 86 million sound waves in minute and these waves in turn are used for cleaning the teeth.• Manufacturers of this product claimed that ultrasound waves which are emitted from this toothbrush create tiny bubbles from special 3.99 pounds toothpaste which should be used with this.• These bubbles can get between teeth as well as the gums which in turn help in killing bacteria. The bacteria which are left on brush head are also killed.

6. World’s First Test Tube Hamburger

Scientists have claimed they would serve the world's first test tube hamburger in October, 2012. According to the team, led by Prof Mark Post of Maastricht University in the Netherlands, it has already grown artificial meat in the laboratory and now aims to create a hamburger, Identical to a real stiff, by generating strips of meat from stem cells.

Steps involved in making test tube hamburger

• Stem cells extracted from healthy animal muscle. Stem cells are primitive form of cell with power to grow and divide into almost any other cell.

• Petri dish Cow Muscle cells are grown in dish with sugars, amino acids, lipids, minerals and all other nutrients

• Exercise thin muscle like strips stretch and contract using electrical stimulation.

• Colour iron containing myoglobin is added to give colour. Finally some 3000 muscle strips are harvested and mixed up with grown in same way from step cells.

What are Stem Cells ?Stem cells are biological found in all multicellular organisms, that can divide and differentiate into diverse specialized cell types and can self renew to produce more stem cells.

7. Sequoia Fastest Computer in the World

- Sequoia the US super computer, was crowned the fastest computer in the world on June 17, 2012. Situated at Lawrence Livemore National Laboratory in California Sequoia is able to make 16.32 quadrillion calculations per second (16.32 petaflops/s).

8. Gold-Producing Bacteria

- Scientist and researchers from the Michigan State University had discovered bacteria that can tolerate 'immense amount of toxicity and can also create 24 carat old.- The researchers found that the bacteria named Cupriavidus metallidurans is a metal-tolerant bacteria, which can grow on huge concentration of gold chloride which itself is a very toxic chemical found in nature. - The researchers fed the bacteria with mismatched amounts of gold chloride, intimating the process they believe happens in nature: In about a week, the bacteria transformed the toxins and produced a gold nugget.- The researchers used a combination of biotechnology, art and alchemy to turn liquid gold into 24 carat old. It is now being called as Microbial alchemy

9. Scientists Developed ‘Superhero’ Mice

- Scientists of the City University of New York in month' of October had genetically engineered mice that have up to 500 times more of nose cells to detect explosives and TNT-like chemicals, using the Genetically Modified Technology.

• The mice are named as 'super hero' sniffer mice and have the ability to smell out land mines and explosives

10. Microsoft Updates 2012-13

-Microsoft launched its new operating' system Windows 8 on October 25, 2012 in 37 languages and 140 worldwide markets. Windows 8 is the current release of the windows operating system and can be used on personal computers, including' home and business desktops, laptops, tablets and home theatre PCs.

- Windows 8 introduces significant changes to the operating system's platform, primarily focused towards improving its user experience on mobile devices such as tablets to rival other mobile operating systems like Android and iOS.

- Windows 8 also introduce a new shell and user interface based on Microsoft's 'Metro' design language, featuring a new start screen with a grid of dynamically updating tiles to represent applications, a new mobile application platform with an emphasis on touch screen input, the new windows store to obtain and purchase applications for the system and the ability to synchronize programs and settings between multiple devices.

Features

• Touch screen monitor, touch screen mouse and keyboard will be used at the same time. • It starts in 10 seconds. • Picture password • ‘Cloud’ based online storage. • It is the one OS for tablet and PC, • Windows 8 introduces a new style of application, Windows store app.

On February 19, 2012, microsoft confirmed that in Windows 8, the windows logo will be significantly updated to reflect the new Metro design language. The logo was designed by pentagram partner Paula Scher.

Windows Server 2012

Microsoft unveiled Windows Server 2012 on September 4, 2012. It is the current release of Windows Server. It powers the cloud Operating System (OS) to provide customers with a «modern platform where, customers can enjoy faster work and worry less about security obstacles. The new AS tries to integrate cloud-based technologies within the network without compromising on security. Windows server 2012 is the first of its kind version of Operating System (OS) that can be controlled remotely so its handiness is an advantage over other operating systems.

New logo of Microsoft

Microsoft launched the new logo on August 23, 2013. Now, Microsoft will use this new logo for the first time in over two and half decades. The software has created a new logo which has been heavily inspired by the emblem of windows operating system. This change in the logo also shows the company's focus on the tile c1ntric Metro interface which used by windows 8 and office suite.

MS Office 2013

Microsoft on July 16, 2012 unveiled next generation office software (Microsoft office 2013) with people using tablets or smart phones to access programme in the internet 'cloud'. The new software was unveiled by Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballman the office software will be compatible with the new window 8 OS. It is available in 33 languages.

11. ROCRA- New Cyber Security Measure

- The cyber spying campaign is termed-;-Red October' or 'ROCRA' by the Kaspersky Lab.

- ROCRA is the short name given to Red October which is' the cyber-spying campaigns. A part from attacking the established computer work, stations, it, can also steal the, data from various smart phones, catch, the files from the removable disk drives as well as abandon 'the network equipment configurations, and also scan through the local network FTP servers as well as email databases'. Other highly automatic cyber-spying campaigns are 'Gauss' and ‘Flame’.

12. Application Rail Radar

Rail Radar, the new online application was launched by the Indian Railways on October 10, 2012. To find out the location of 6500 trains on real time basis on Google Maps. It can be accessed from the website trainenquiry.com

13. World’s Fastest Mobile Processor

- NVIDIA Today introduced NVIDIA Tegra 4, the world’s fastest mobile processor, with record-setting performance and battery life to flawlessly power smart phones and tablets, gaming devices 'auto infotainment and navigation systems, and PCs.

- Tegra 4 offers exceptional graphics processing, with lightning-fast web browsing, stunning visuals and new camera capabilities through computational photography. Tegra 4 consumes up to 45% less power than its preceders, Tegra 3, in common use cases. And it enables up to 14 hours of HD video playback on phones.

14. Indian Puts World’s First Smartphone in Space

- The British-build STRaND-1 spacecraft, developed by scientists in Survey, was sent into orbit from Sriharikota in India to test the capabilities of a standard smart phone in space environment.

- Launched into a 758km Sun-synchronous orbit on Indian Space Research Organisation ISRO’s PSLV launcher, the spacecraft is an innovative 3U CubeSat, weighs 4.3kg and is the world’s first phonesat to go into orbit as well as the first UK CubeSat to be launched.

- During the first phase of the mission, STRaND-1 will be controlled by the satellite’s attitude control system and an new high speed linux-based CubeSat computer.

- During phase two, the STRaND-1 team plans to switch many of the satellite’s in-orbit operations to the smartphone, a Google Nexus One which uses the Android operating system, thereby testing the capabilities of many standard smartphone components for aspace environment.

15. PSLV-C20 Launches 7 Satellites

Indo-French Oceanographic study Satellite ‘SARAL’ and six foreign mini and micro spacecrafts were successfully launched on February 25, 2013 by ISRO’s PSLV-C20 rocket from the spaceport at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

SARAL was injected first into the space about 18 minutes after the lift-off followed by other satellites in the space of about four minutes.

16. NASA Launches TDRS Satellite

NASA launched a new communication satellite on January 31, 2013 to stay in touch with its space station astronauts and relay more Hubble telescope images. An unmanned Atlas V rocket carried the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS).

This is the 11th TDRS satellite to be launched by NASA. The space agency uses the orbiting network to communicate with astronauts living on the International Space Station.

17. NASA to turn Asteroid to Orbit Moon

NASA scientists are planning to capture a 50000 kg asteroid, relocate it and transform it into a space station for astronauts to refuel at on their way to Mars.

It would be the first time a celestial object has ever been moved by humans. An ‘asteroid capture capsule’ would be attached to an old Atlas V rocket and directed the asteroid between the Earth and the Moon.

18. NASA Dicovered Mini Nile River on Saturn’s Moon

Scientist from NASA spotted the longest extra-terrestrial river system ever on Satum's moon 'Titan' which appears to be a miniature version of Earth's Nile River.

As, per NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the river valley on Titan stretches more than 460 km from its headwaters to a large sea comparing it with the Nile River on Earth Which stretches about 6700 km.

The finding came into in light after NASA's Cassini mission sent images which revealed for the first time a: river system this vast and in such high resolution anywhere other than Earth.

Titan is the only body in the solar system apart from Earth which is known to have vast seas and possess a cycle of liquids on its surface. Images from Cassini's visible-light cameras in late 2010 in TItan's equatorial regions revealed the regions to be darkened due to recent rainfall.

Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer confirmed liquid ethane at a lake in Titan's southern hemisphere known as Ontario Lacus In 2008. The radar image taken on September 26, 2012 shows Titan's north polar region, where the river valley flows into Kraken Mare, a sea that is, in terms of size, between the Caspian Sea and the Mediterranean Sea on Earth.

20. New Rover to Mars in 2020

NASA has announced plans for a robust multi-year Mars programme, including a new robotic science' rover set to launch in 2020 after the success of Curiosity's Red Planet landing. The announcement comes a day after NASA released the results of the first soil tested by the Curiosity rover, which found traces of compounds like water and oxygen that are necessary for life.

The plan to design and build a new Mars robotic science rover with a launch in 2020 comes only months after the agency announced In Sight, which will launch in 2016 bringing a total of seven NASA missions operating or being planned to study and explore the Earth-like neighbour.

21. AGNI

Name Type Range

Agni-I MRBM700 – 1,250 km (Operational)Agni-II IRBM2,000 – 3,000 km (Operational)Agni-III IRBM3,500 – 5,000 km (OperationalAgni-IV IRBM3,000 – 4,000 km (Testing)Agni-V ICBM5,000 – 8,000 km (Testing)Agni-VI ICBM8,000 – 10,000 km (Under development)

22. Chandrayaan 2

Chandrayaan 2 is India’s second lunar exploration mission, developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISR0,the mission is proposed to be launched to the Moon in 2015 by a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch vehicle (GSLV), includes a lunar Orbiter, a Lander and a Lunar Rover, all developed by India.

Initially, the mission was a joint venture of 'ISRO' and its Russian counterpart 'Roskosmos' but the latter withdrew from the mission failing to provide a lander within the proposed time. According to ISRO, this mission will use and test various new technologies and conduct new experiments.

The wheeled rover Will move on the lunar surface and will pick up soil or rock samples for on-site chemical analysis. The data will be relayed to Earth through the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter.

The Indian government approved the mission in a meeting of the Union Cabinet held on September 18, 2008, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. On November 12, 2007, representatives of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos] and ISRO signed an agreement for the two agencies to work together on the Chandrayaan-2 project.

ISRO will have the prime responsibility for the Orbiter and Rover, while Roskosmos will be responsible for the Lander. The design of the spacecraft was completed in August, 2009, with scientists of both countries conducting a joint review. The launch date might slip because 'the loss of the Fobos-Grunt Mission, which was a planned as a test for the Russian landing system.

Current Status

Although ISRO has finalized the payload for Chandrayaan-2, the mission was postponed to 2014, and 'was expected to be further rescheduled to 2016 because of a delay in the construction of the Russian Lander.

The delay came in wake of the failure of the Russian Phobos-Grunt Mission to Mars, reason being technical aspects connected with the Phobos-Grunt Mission were also used in the lunar project, which need to be reviewed. When Russia cited its inability to provide the Lander even by 2015, India decided to develop the lunar mission independently.

Design

Spacecraft The mission is planned to fly on a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk-II (GSLV Mk-II) with an approximate lift-off weight, 2650kg from Satish Dhawan Space Centre on Sriharikota Island.

Orbiter ISRO will design the Orbiter, which will orbit the Moon at an altitude of 200km. The mission would carry five instruments on the Orbiter. Three of them are new, while two others are improved versions of those flown on Chandrayaan-1 orbiter. The approximate launch mass will be 1,400 kg

Lander Unlike Chandrayaan-1's Lunar probe, which impacted the Moon's surface, the Lander will make a soft landing. The approximate weight of the Lander and Rover is 1250 kg. The Russian Federal Space agency will design and build the Lander.

Also, a landing beacon that could facilitate future landings was being considered. When Russia expressed its inability provide the Lander to meet even the revised time frame of 2015 for the Chandrayaan-2 launch owing to the phobos-Grunt failure, India will develop the Lander independently.

The design of the indigenous Lander and the preliminary configuration has been completed by the space Applications Centre (SAC) Ahmedabad.

Rover

The Rover will weigh 30 to 100 kg and will operate on solar power. The Rover will move on Wheels on lunar surface pick up samples of soil or rocks, perform chemical analysis and send the data to the Orbiter above which will relay it to the Earth station.

The Rover has been designed in Russia and is being fabricated by Indian scientists. IIT-Kanpur is developing three subsystems to provide mobility -Stereophonic camera-based 3D Vision It will provide the ground team controlling the rovers a 3D view of the surrounding terrain.Kinematic Traction Control It will enable the Rover to negotiate the rough lunar terrain using independent steering provided on four of its wheels. Control and Motor Dynamics The Rover will have six wheels, each driven by an independent electrical motor. Four of the wheels will also be capable of independent steering.

PayloadISRO has announced that an expert committee has decided on five payloads for the Orbiter, and two for the Rover. While it was initially reported that NASA and ESA would participate in the mission by providing some scientific instruments for the Orbiter. ISRO has later clarified that due to weight restrictions it will not be carrying foreign payloads on this mission.Orbiter PayloadLarge Area Soft X-ray Spectrometer (CLASS) from ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC), Bangalore and Solar X-ray Monitor (XsM) from Physical Research Laboratory (PRI), Ahmedabad for mapping major elements present on the lunar surface. L and S-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) from Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad for probing the first few tens of metres of the lunar surface for the presence of different constituents, including water ice. SAR is expected to provide further evidence confirming the presence of water ice below the shadowed regions of the Moon.

Imaging IR Spectrometer (IIRS) from SAC, Ahmedabad for mapping of lunar surface over a wide wavelength range for the study of minerals, water molecules and hydroxyl present.

Neutral Mass Spectrometer (ChACE-2) from Space Physics Laboratory (SPL), Thiruvananthapuram to carry out a detailed study of the lunar exosphere. Terrain Mapping C8mera-2 (TMC-2) from SAC, Ahmedabad for preparing a three-dimensional map essential for studying the lunar mineralogy and geology.

Rover Payload

Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (UBS) from Laboratory for Electro Optic Systems (LEOS), Bangalore. Alpha Particle Induced X-ray Spectroscope (APIXS) from PRL, Ahmedabad.

23. Curiosity Rover on Mars

Curiostiy is a car-sized robotic rover exploring Gale crater on Mars as part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). It was launched from Cape Canaveral on November 26, 2011 aboard the MSL spacecraft and successfully landed on Aeolis Palus in Gale crater on Mars on August 6, 2012. The landing site was Bradbury Landing site. Curiosity’s design will serve as the basis for planned unmanned 2020 Mars rover mission. In December, 2012, Curiosity’s two-year mission was extended indefinitely.

The Rover's goal include

• Investigation of the Martian climate and geology. • Assessment of whether the selected field site inside Gate crater has offered environmental conditions favourable for microbial life.• lnvestigation of the role of water in supporting life on Mars. • Planetary habitability studies in preparation for future human exploration.

Curiosity - An Introduction

Operator - NASAMajor Contractors - Boeing, Lockheed Martin, McDonald DettwilerMission Type - RoverLaunch Date - November 26, 2011Launch Vehicle - Atlas V 541 (AV-028)Launch Site - Cape CanaveralMission Duration - 668 Martian Sols (23 Earth months)Mass - 900 kg (2000 pounds)Power Radioisotope Thermo – electric Generator (RTG)

25. MissileTest Fired in 2012-13

K-15India successfully test-fired the underwater ballistic missile, 'K-15' (code-named B05), off the Vishakhapatnam coast on January 27, 2013. the missile was taste for its full range of 700 km. with the completion of development trial, the process of integrating K-15 missile with INA Arihant, the indigenously-built nuclear submarine, will begin soon.

PinakaThe personnels of Pune-based Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) conducted a series of tests of an advanced version of multi-barrel rocket system Pinaka from a defence base off the Odisha coast on February 28, 2013

DhanushThis single stage missile uses liquid propellant. the Dhanush missile can be used as na anti-ship weapon as well as for destroying land targets depending on the range.

Prithivi - IIIndia test-fired nuclear capable 'Prithvi-II' missile on the December 19, 2012. the surface-to-surface missile was test-fired from a mobile launch pad at Chandipur Coastal test site in Odisha. the missile is capable of carrying a 500-1000 kg nuclear warheads. it has the range of 250 to 350 km.Astra'Astra' air-to-air interceptor missile was successfully test-fired for the third time within a week on December 24, 2012 from the Chandipur defnece base of Odisha.The test was conducted for identifying the missile's interception capability abnd high manoeuvring and was successful in intercepting the simulated target at a altitude of 4 km.

Astra has capabilities of intercepting the enemy aircraft and destroy it at supersonic speed that is for head on mode at range of 1-2 mach and at the tail chase mode at 1-4 Mach.

The missile can be launched form different altitudes and can easily cover a distance of 110 km if launched from at altitude of 15 km, 44 km, when launched from an altitude of 8 km and 21 km when launched form sea level.

The missile with a capability of carrying a conventional warhead of 15 km uses a solid propellant. Astra is of 3.8 m in length and the smallest missile developed by the DRDO till date.

BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile

It has two stages. Its propulsion consists of a solid propellant booster stage and a liquid propellant jet system. It can be launched from ships, submarines, fixed and mobile launches on soils and land. the Indian Navy on October 7, 2012 successfully test-fired the 290km range 'BrahMos' supersonic cruise missile capable of carrying a conventional warhead of 300 kg. from a warship off the Goa coast.

The cruise missile was test-fired from guided missile frigate INS Teg (the Indian Navy's latest induction from Russia). The induction of the First version of BrahMos Missile system in the Indian Navy commenced from 2005 with INS rajput, It is now fully operational with two regiments of the army.

26. Military Exercises in 2012-13

Iron Fist 2013

Fighter jets, helicopters and transport aircrafts of India Air Force (IAF) displayed their operational and precision fire power capabilities in Pakharna, Rajasthan on February 22, 2013. fontline planes like SU-30 MKI Mirage 2000, Jaguar, MIG-21 MIG-29 were demonstrated in this exercise.

Indra

Joint military exercise 'Indra' between India and Russia was held in Mumbai from Novemebr 28 to December 3, 2012. Indra bega in 2003 and is being conducted every two years.

The main objective of this exercise is to enhance interoperability, which will be useful if both the navies ar working against the common threat like the pirates in the Gulf of Aden.

It will be helpful for wider cooperation and mutual understanding between two navies. Destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov, Replebnishemnt iler Irkut and rescue tug Alatau of the Russian Federations's Navy pacific Fleet (PF) Task Unit and India' INS Mysore and INS Tabar are participating in the exercise.

Shoor Veer

Exercise 'Shoor Veer' one of the largest war game conducted by the Indian Army came to an end on May 5, 2012. This exercise was led by the South-Western command. This exercise was unique of the Army, as force and technology were employed. Air Force also participated in this exercise. The activity highlighted the importance of enhanced battle-field transparency and situation awareness.

INDIAN NAVAL SHIP

Rajratan

Indian Coast Guard ship 'Rajratan, the fifth of a series of eight Inshore patrol Vessels (IPVs) was commissioned by Director General Indian Coast Guard, Vice Admiral MP Muralidharan in Kolkata on Februa 11, 2013.

FeaturesIndigenously built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers, Kolkata, the 50 m long IPV displaces 300 tonnes.

Maximum Speed 34 knots, with an endurance of 1500 nautical miles at an economical speed of 16 knots.

Equipped with state-of-the art weaponry and advanced communication and navigational equipment, it makes and ideal platform for undertaking multifarious close-coast missions such as surveillance, interdiction, search and rescue, and medical evacuation.

TarkashThe Second of the Russian build Talwar class stealth trigates 'INS Garkash' was commissioned into the Indian navy on November 9, 2012, it is equipped with supersonic cruise missiles commissioned into the Navy at the Yantar Shipyard in Russia.

SahyadriIndigenously built stealth warship 'INS Sahyadri' on July 21, 2012 was commissioned in the Indian Navy at naval dockyard in Mumbai. INS sahyadri (Constructed at Mazagaon Dock Limited, Mumbai) is the last warship of 'Project-17' undertaken by the Navy.

Along with the capability to launch offensive on enemy vessels, the warship is equipped with advance electronic warfare capabilities and torpedoes ot detect and neutralize enemy submarines. It has an advance sonar and radar system to keep an eye over any enemy movement in deep sea.

RV Sindhu

India's first indigenous ocean research vessel named 'RV Sindhu' was launched on July 31, 2012. it is designed by ABG Shipyard limited at Madgaon. Vessel is equipped with lates data acquisition system and modern laboratories.AdvantagesIt will unravel mysteries of seas and discover hidden resources in ocean to meet the growing demand of minerals and food. To conduct oceanographic research in the field of physics, Chemistry, Biology and Geology.

India & US Finalised Deal for jet Engines

India and the US on January 20, 2013 have finalized at Rs. 3000-crore deal for supplying 99 jhet engines oto be suse in the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft "Tejas" being developed by the DRDO. The engine on offer for the LCA Mark II is GE F-414 engine, which are more powerful that the GE F-404 engines fitted in the first batch of LCAs that the Indian Air Force would receive in near future.

The DRDO is developing the LCA Mk II to meet the Airforce requirements and it will have latest technological equipment including the Active Electronic Scanned Array (AESA) radar and would be able to carry more payload than the LCA MKI.

ALH Dhruv CommissionedIndigenously made advance Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv is going to be commissioned at India's most powerful airbase - Jodhpur Airbase. Currently army has 110 Dhruv helicopters.Speed -250km/hRange- 640kmFuel Capacity- 1100 kilo litres

'Aarush X 1' UnveiledDelhi Technological University Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle (DTU-UAV) Aarush X1 was unveiled on November 2, 2012. The Aarush X 1 is capable of carrying a payload of 8-10 kg an disable to attain a flying speed up to 120 km/h. the application of the vehicle are civil law enforcement, geometrics, meteorological operations, pipeline surveillance, mining surveillance, disaster management, coast and border patrol and news and reporting agencies.

Navy's First P-81 Surveillance AircraftThe navy received the first of the eight P-81 maritime surveillance aircraft from Boeing on December 19, 2012. The first plane was handed over to Indian personnel by the company in seattle. This aircraft, along with two more will arrive in India in May, 2013.

Features of P-8I• P-8I is a derivative of Boeing 737-800 long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft and anti-submarine warfare aircraft.• It is expected to replace the navy's Russian Tupolev Tu-142M maritime surveillance turboprop.Indian had signed a deal worth over $2.1 billion with the American firm in January, 2009 of procuring the long-range surveillance aircraft, which are equipped with anti-submarine weaponry.

Hypersonic Missiles in India by 2017India and Russia could be one of the first nations in the world to flight test hypersonic missiles, which fly at five to seven times the speed of sound. According to Shivathanu Pillai, Chief Executive officer of the Russia-Indian joint venture BrahMos Aerospace, the Hypersonic BrahMos version would be ready for flight testing in 2017. Lakshya - 1 Successfully Test -flownIndia'sindigenously developed, micro-light pilot-less target aircraft 'Lakshya-1' was successfully test flown from the integrated Test Range at Chandipur on August 23, 2012. Lakshya-1 is fitted with and advanced digitally controlled engine. It is a sub-sonic, re-usable aerial target system, is remote controlled from the ground and designed to impart training to both air borne and air defence pilots.

Indian Air Force Turns 80 Age of Glories

Air Force celebrated its 80th anniversary on' October 8, 2012 at Hindon Air ease near Delhi.

Tiger Moth' and 'Sukhoi-30' jetplanes Performed in the airshow at Hindon Air Base. Tiger Moth is the first plane' from. 'vintage scuadron' which participated in this airshow, The Indian Air Force is the air-arm of the Indian armed forces. Its primary responsibility is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during a conflict. It was officially established on October 8, 1932 and named as Royal Indian Nr Force under British rule, however; after India became republic in 1950 royal prefix ,was removed and tram 'then its been known as Indian Air force.

International

Thunderbird - 2A radical new kind of airship funded by the us military is about to make its first test flight. It looks like the Thunderbird -2 from classic TV show and its prototype being prepared.

The Aeroscraft airship will carry three times as much as the biggest military cargo planes over thousands of miles, use q third of the fuel, and it doesn't even need a landing strip. The finished version of the Aeroscraft (expected to be ready in three years) will carry a payload of 66 tonnes at a speed of 120 knots, upto 18000 ft with a range of 3000 nautical miles.

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