INDIAN OFFICIALS TESTS NEW 5TH GENERATION FIGHTER

PICTURES: Indian officials get up close to new-look PAK FA fighter


Russia has conducted a flight demonstration with its prototype PAK FA fighter for a delegation of Indian defence ministry and industry officials.

Held at Ramenskoye aerodrome near Moscow on 31 August, the 10min display was made in support of talks over the bilateral development by Moscow and New Delhi of a new fifth-generation fighter.

Indian officials inspected Sukhoi's lone PAK FA following the demonstration, which included low-speed passes and high angle-of-attack manoeuvres. The aircraft, which will be followed by two more prototypes before the end of the year, is pictured with new-look camouflage markings.

The new fighter programme is a topic of discussion by an Indo-Russian commission for military industrial co-operation, along with another to produce a multi-role transport aircraft with a 20t payload capacity.

New Delhi is insisting on executing both programmes as joint ventures, with equal sharing of investment and workshare.

Russia's air force has a requirement for 250-300 next-generation T-50 fighters to enter use from 2015-16, while India plans to buy between 200 and 250 of the joint design. This should use a common airframe and engines, but have its on-board systems and weapons tailored for their individual needs.

First flown in January, the PAK FA prototype is intended to de-risk features such as the use of low-observable materials and thrust-vectoring engines with supercruise performance, plus internally carried weapons.

Russian sources suggest a pre-production batch of between six and 10 aircraft will be built to support future testing of the type, with the nation's air force expected to launch operational trials in Lipetsk around 2012-13.

INDIA'S NEW STELTH FIGHTER IS EXPECTED TO BE READY ON 2017

With aerodynamic design optimisation near complete, the AMCA's broad specifications are final. The aicraft will have a weight of 16-18 tons [16-18 tons with 2-tons of internal weapons and 4-tons of internal fuel with a combat ceiling of 15-km, max speed of 1.8-Mach at 11-km.

As part of the multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) currently on for the AMCA -- a wind tunnel model of which was first publicly displayed at AeroIndia 2009 -- that design-based stealth features will include further optimized airframe shaping, edge matching, body conforming antennae and a low IR signature through nozzle design, engine bay cooling and work on reduced exhaust temperature. RAMs, RAPs, special coatings for polycarbonate canopy and precision manufacturing will all be part of the effort to make the AMCA India's first stealth airplane.

The official CAD images above, from the Advanced Projects & Technologies (AP&T) directorate of India's Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) provide further perspective on the low-observable design elements that are known to be going into India's Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), known for a while now to be a stealth aircraft concept. Serpentine air intakes (with minimum flow distortion and robust pressure recovery) and internal weapons bays, depicted in the images above, are some of the most critical nose-on low observability design elements going into the programme.


The Stealth In India's Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA)







The AMCA will be powered by 2 x 90KN engines with vectored nozzles. For the record, the official ADA document that will finally be processed this year by the government towards formal project launch describes the AMCA as a "multirole combat aircraft for air superiority, point air defence, deep penetration/strike, special missions".

COCHIN IPL PLAYERS LIST

Kochi IPL Domestic Players list

• S Sreesanth
• VVS Laxman
• R P Singh
• Parthiv Patel
• Ravindra Jadeja
• Ramesh Powar
• Vinay Kumar
• Vincent Gomez
• Kedar Jadhav
• Tanmay Srivastava
• Deepak Chougule
• Sushant Marathe
• Yashpal Singh

Kochi IPL International players list

• Mahela Jayawardene (Captain)
• Brendon McCullum
• Steven Smith
• Muttiah Muralitharan
• Brad Hodge
• Thisara Perera
• Steve O'Keefe
• Michael Klinger
• John Hastings
• Owais Shah

COCHIN IPL LOGO AND NAMING

“We are now ‘INDI COMMANDOS’!!! Check our team logo!” it said. The Kochi franchise is the last of the IPL teams to get a name. Earlier Sahara Pune Warriors already announced their name way back in September 2010.

An IPL Kochi official said “The ‘INDI’ stands for an independent Indian cricket team that will go ahead to win a billion hearts. ‘COMMANDOS’ stands for an elite fighting squad, renown for attacking with speed, stealth and deadly power.”




Earlier in an interview with NDTV at IPL Auction 2011 in January, Kochi IPL CEO told that name of the IPL Kochi team would be announced soon in the upcoming few days.

Dr. Prahlada, Chief Controller of Research and Development, DRDO has confirmed, according to newspaper reports, that DRDO developed AWACS integrated on Brazilian Embraer EMB 145 aircrafts will be tested by the end of 2011 and a probable delivery date for the first batch of three is 2015.

Notes from his statements:

India is in the process of developing nine home-grown, state-of-the-art versions and the first of them is expected to be flight-tested by the end of next year.

Five frontline laboratories of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) are working to develop the system which would be "85 per cent indigenous"

Three will be integrated on board the Brazilian Embraer EMB 145 jet and delivered by 2014-15

The base aircraft for the remaining six AWACS is undecided

The tests which were conducted jointly by the DRDO & the Navy are said to be a much bigger technological achievement than even the successful test of Agni 3 missiles. The SLBMs are considered the safest missiles, which make them hard to locate & difficult to destroy.

These latest tests, that were conducted in secret, comes on the heels of 3 other tests that India has conducted in the last one year, taking India closer to possessing the nuclear triad - land based missiles, bombers & Submarine-launched ballistic missiles. India doesn't have a nuclear submarine yet, to launch the SLBMs, in fact the DRDO used a pontoon, or a long tube, in the Bay of Bengal to conduct the test. Government officials have said that the tests have met all key parameters.Television news channel 'Times Now' has reported that India has tested a SLBM (Submarine-launched ballistic missile) which can be capped with a nuclear war-head and which has a range of 1500 km.

The Indian government has approved the purchase of four more Boeing P-8I maritime patrol aircraft, Dow Jones reported Friday.

The four P-8Is come on top of the eight India ordered in 2009, for delivery between 2013 and 2015, and would be delivered after 2015, Boeing Military Aircraft President Chris Chadwick told Dow Jones.

Boeing builds the 737-based P-8 in Renton and Seattle. The P-8I is a variant of the P-8A Poseidon Boeing is building for the U.S. Navy.

Chadwick told Dow Jones that Boeing has offered a P-8I derivative in response to India’s initial request for information for six medium multi-role reconnaissance aircraft and expects India to sign a final agreement to buy 10 C-17 Globemaster III airlifters in the next few months.

The biggest-ever Indo-US defence deal expected to be worth USD 4.1 billion for procuring 10 C-17 heavylift transport aircraft has been delayed over price issue.

The deal was earlier scheduled to be cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) in its meeting in March-end but now will be put up for clearance only after the US answers queries on whether India was being charged more price for the aircraft than other countries, Defence Ministry sources said here.

The per unit cost being charged from India by the US for the C-17 is USD 410 million whereas it is sold to Australia at a price of USD 300 million per aircraft.

After certain representations were made to the Ministry that the aircraft were being sold to India at comparatively higher price, the deal was put on hold and it would be come up before the CCS only after the US government answers Indian government's queries, the sources said.

The aircraft is being purchased through Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route by India under which the sale agreement is signed between the two governments.

The defence ministry had already approved funds for procuring the aircraft in the last fiscal, they said.The US Congress had notified the sale of the C-17s to India at USD 5.8 billion representing the highest possible estimate for the deal which includes all potential services offered.

India is planning to procure the aircraft for augmenting its fleet of Ilyushin-76 aircraft and Antonov-32 transport aircraft from the US.

The negotiations between India and the US for the deal were completed in February this year.

After finalising the initial deal for ten aircraft, the Indian Air Force (IAF) is also planning to place orders for additional six aircraft.

Till date, the biggest defence deal between the two sides is for the procurement of eight P-8I maritime surveillance aircraft for the Indian Navy at USD 2.1 billion.

Since 2005, the US companies have bagged defence deals worth around USD four billion and are participating in all the major tenders issued by Indian armed forces for defence purchases.

The five-day joint naval exercise between the Indian Navy and the Singapore Navy will start tomorrow in the South China Sea. Five Indian navy ships, under the command of Rear Admiral Harish Chandra Singh Bisht, arrived in Singapore today for the drill that aims to strengthen bilateral maritime security relations.

The joint exercises, held on alternate year in the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, has built up understanding and knowledge between Indian and Singapore navies, Rear Admiral Joseph Leong, Fleet Commander of the Republic of Singapore Navy told PTI at a reception hosted on board INS Jyoti.

He cited benefits of the joint exercise and cooperation developed by the Indian and Singapore navies in tackling major challenges and especially the piracy in the Gulf of Aden. "We understand each other and have a high level contact in managing maritime security," said Rear Admiral Leong.

Rear Admiral Bisht said the annual exercises, held since 1994, were important to sharpen the skill of naval forces. INS Delhi, INS Ranvijay, INS Ranveer, INS Jyoti and INS Kirch manned by 1,400 naval personnel are participating in the exercise. Singapore will have four naval ships including a submarine.

INS Ranvijay, the most powerful Indian naval ship, will carry out anti-submarine and anti-missile exercises. But this time, the exercises would be a "mock warfare" though in the past live firing were tried out.

CHINESE BLOCKED FROM ENTERING INDIAN AIR SHOW 2011

"We called some Chinese companies, but nobody is coming," Wing Commander M.D. Singh, joint director of India's Defence Exhibition Organization, told the Global Times.

Citing a defense official, the Indian Express reported Monday that some procedural delays at the country's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had prevented Chinese people from attending the show, as the MEA made "a last-minute change" in its policy to bar China from joining this year's exhibition.

A week ago, Raj Kumar Singh, secretary of defense production of India's Ministry of Defense, said at a press briefing that the MEA had advised organizers not to invite Chinese delegates, nor those from Iran and Pakistan.

"Even Chinese journalists are unable to register at the event, as there is no 'China' option on the official website's registration page," Liao Zhengjun, a People's Daily reporter in Bangalore, told the Global Times.

"No Chinese delegation was invited. The Chinese embassy in New Delhi only received the invitation of the opening ceremony just before the show started. I'm still trying to ask organizers for a press pass," Liao said.

"The show is very popular among Indians, but the organizing of the event is a bit problematic. Some visitors can buy several tickets with just one identification card, a move that is clearly forbidden by organizers," he added.

Aero India is a biennial air show that started in 1996 and has grown into one of the largest aviation exhibitions in Asia. Seven delegates marked China's first attendance in 2009.

Some reports speculated that the MEA's hesitance to invite China this year was payback for Beijing's visa policy in certain areas disputed by the two countries.

Wang Yanan, an associate editor in chief at Aerospace Knowledge magazine, told the Global Times that India's reluctance to invite China to the air show is unreasonable.

"The exhibition is a platform for business, not for political bias. If India bars China from joining the show for political reasons, then it is showing its lack of gravitas as a regional power," Wang said.

The Indian Air Force sent its Surya Kiran aerobatics demonstration team to the 7th China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, in 2008. However, it did not attend the 8th Zhuhai air show in 2010, where China and Pakistan unveiled their co-developed JF-17 Thunder fighter jet.
“Invitations to the airshow have not been sent to China, Pakistan and Iran but these are decided by the foreign ministry,” defence production secretary R.K. Singh told a news conference in New Delhi.

Pakistan and India, who have fought three wars since their 1947 independence from the British, have no military-to-military contacts.

Trade links in recent years have improved between India and China, who fought a brief bloody border war in 1962 but strategic ties are frosty as territorial disputes remain unresolved despite rounds of negotiations.

Singh did not comment on New Delhi’s decision to block Iran from the event.

Aero India 2011, which begins on February 9, has invited a delegation from war-torn Afghanistan, Singh said, as part of India’s national policy to build better ties with the country.

“We have good cooperation with Afghanistan and so we are delighted it is sending a delegation to the airshow. We want such cooperation to grow,” Singh said.

About 350 official and trade delegations from 30 countries including Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Germany and the United States will participate in the five-day event, the organiser said.

"The scale of Aero India 2011 exceeds the 2010 Zhuhai air show due to the presence of military equipment from European and US companies," Wang said, adding that the Zhuhai exhibition was mainly a platform to demonstrate China's aerospace and aviation technology, while the fair in Bangalore is more businessoriented.

According to the Indian Express, the US will be the biggest participant in this year's show, with the presence of 250 members led by Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Andrew J. Shapiro.

This comes as India rises to prominence in the global aviation market, with Boeing predicting that Indian airlines could spend $130 billion in the next two decades on acquisitions.

Airbus, Boeing, Lockheed Martin Corp and three other Western firms are all in the running for a $12 billion deal to sell 126 fighter jets to India, AFP reported.

Russia, which is cooperating with India to develop the fifthgeneration fighter aircraft, also geared up to promote about 80 types of weaponry, including the Su-35 fighter jet and the Be- 200 amphibious aircraft.

According to government figures, India's military spending grew from $12 billion in 2000-2001 to nearly $33 billion in 2010-2011.

International consultancy firm KPMG estimates that New Delhi will hand out military contracts worth $112 billion by 2016, AFP reported.

BURMAN KIA HELPING NORTH EAST TERROROST FOR CHINA

The KIA formed in 1961 in response to a military coup in Myanmar led by General Ne Win, who attempted to consolidate Myanmarese control over regions on the periphery of the state which were home to various ethnic groups.

Originally the KIA fought for independence, but now the official KIO policy goal is for autonomy within a federal union of Myanmar.

‘We have already launched a military operation to drive out the KIA rebels, although we don’t have any immediate information of them setting up bases in our state,’ Dabi said.

The home minister said the KIA controls large part of northern Myanmar – a region where up to a half-a-dozen Indian separatist groups from the restive northeast have well entrenched bases under KIA’s direct patronage.

Arunachal Pradesh Home Minister Tako Dabi told IANS that there were definite intelligence inputs about ethnic guerrillas of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) from adjoining Myanmar infiltrating into the state’s Changlang district in recent weeks.

“It could be possible that the KIA rebels are here to forge links with various militant groups active in the northeast and then help create a corridor through Myanmar to set up bases in China,” the home minister said.

The KIA is the military arm of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), a political group of ethnic Kachins in northern Myanmar and stretching up to Yunnan province in China.

The KIA formed in 1961 in response to a military coup in Myanmar led by General Ne Win, who attempted to consolidate Myanmarese control over regions on the periphery of the state which were home to various ethnic groups.

Originally the KIA fought for independence, but now the official KIO policy goal is for autonomy within a federal union of Myanmar.

“We have already launched a military operation to drive out the KIA rebels, although we don’t have any immediate information of them setting up bases in our state,” Dabi said.

The home minister said the KIA controls large part of northern Myanmar - a region where up to a half-a-dozen Indian separatist groups from the restive northeast have well entrenched bases under KIA’s direct patronage.

“We are trying to ascertain facts about which northeast India militant group is the KIA trying to becoming thick with by entering Arunachal Pradesh. It could be that the KIA was planning to help northeast militant groups in exchange for huge sums of money to fund their own rebel campaign,” Dabi said.

Changlang district in eastern Arunachal Pradesh adjoins Myanmar with the two countries separated by an unfenced border.

“We cannot allow the KIA to stay here for long as it could have dangerous ramifications in the long run as Arunachal Pradesh does not have any home grown terror groups, but the state is becoming a hot bed of imported terror groups.

“We are also trying to find out if the KIA is trying to become close with the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) to help them shift bases to Myanmar and China,” the home minister said.

The NDFB is an outlawed rebel army fighting for an independent homeland for the Bodo tribe in Assam state.

The home minister said two of Assam’s main militant groups, the NDFB and the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), besides two other influential separatist groups from adjoining Nagaland - the Isak-Muivah faction and the S.S. Khaplang group of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland, have presence in Arunachal Pradesh.

“The two NSCN factions have bases or presence in Chalang and Tirap districts, while the ULFA have some temporary set ups in Tirap, Lohit, and Changlang districts, and the NDFB is active in East and West Siang districts,” Dabi said.

Other northeastern Indian groups followed suit. By the 1980s, the Assamese United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), various Manipuri rebel groups and other smaller ethnic-based groups had also set up camps in Sagaing Division as well as Kachin and Chin States.

Although China HELPING its assistance to the groups nearly 30 years, and the KIA also stopped as a result of its ceasefire with the government in 1994, by 2005 there were still at least 27 full-time camps in western Myanmar. ULFA, which is seeking an independent state for the Assamese, has by different estimates between 3,000 and 6,000 fighters and at least four major camps in Myanmar, including the headquarters of its 28th Battalion.

The Manipuri People's Liberation Front (MPLF), an umbrella organization of several Manipuri groups with a combined strength of up to 7,000 also has camps in Myanmar. Other smaller forces representing ethnic groups such as the Kukis and the Zomis, are also believed to maintain operations in Myanmar.

Despite this large number of armed insurgents on its western border, Myanmar's military has paid much less attention to this area compared to its eastern and northern borders with Thailand and China. Analysts and diplomats believe that this is because the groups represent little immediate threat to Myanmar's territorial integrity and unity.

Arunachal Pradesh today sounded a maximum security alert following reports that cadres of an influential Myanmarese guerrilla group have infiltrated into the region to create a safe-corridor for northeast India's separatist groups to set up bases in China.
Arunachal Pradesh home minister Mr Tako Dabi told IANS that there were definite Intelligence inputs about ethnic guerrillas of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) from adjoining Myanmar infiltrating into the state's Changlang district in recent weeks.
"It could be possible that the KIA rebels are here to forge links with various militant groups active in the northeast and then help create a corridor through Myanmar to set up bases in China," the home minister said.
The KIA is the military arm of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), a political group of ethnic Kachins in northern Myanmar and stretching up to Yunnan province in China.
The KIA formed in 1961 in response to a military coup in Myanmar led by General Ne Win, who attempted to consolidate Myanmarese control over regions on the periphery of the state which were home to various ethnic groups.
Originally the KIA fought for independence, but now the official KIO policy goal is for autonomy within a federal union of Myanmar.
"We have already launched a military operation to drive out the KIA rebels, although we don't have any immediate information of them setting up bases in our state," Mr Dabi said.
The home minister said the KIA controls large part of northern Myanmar ~ a region where up to a half-a-dozen Indian separatist groups from the restive northeast have well entrenched bases under KIA's direct patronage.
"We are trying to ascertain facts about which northeast India militant group is the KIA trying to becoming thick with by entering Arunachal Pradesh. It could be that the KIA was planning to help northeast militant groups in exchange for huge sums of money to fund their own rebel campaign," Mr Dabi said.
Changlang district in eastern Arunachal Pradesh adjoins Myanmar with the two countries separated by an unfenced border.


"We cannot allow the KIA to stay here for long as it could have dangerous ramifications in the long run as Arunachal Pradesh does not have any home grown terror groups, but the state is becoming a hot bed of imported terror groups.
"We are also trying to find out if the KIA is trying to become close with the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) to help them shift bases to Myanmar and China," the home minister said.
The NDFB is an outlawed rebel army fighting for an independent homeland for the Bodo tribe in Assam state.

CHINESE ANTI SATELLITE MISSILE TEST STILL REMAINS A TREAT

The test of anti-satellite technology is believed to be the first of its kind in two decades by any nation and raised concerns about the vulnerability of U.S. satellites and a possible arms race in space.

China's action drew sharp protests from other nations with satellite programs -- a predictable response that experts said dramatically illustrates Chinese willingness to face broad international criticism when it comes to space, which Beijing considers a key part of the push to modernize its military and increase its ability to compete in high-tech warfare.

"The U.S. believes China's development and testing of such weapons is inconsistent with the spirit of cooperation that both countries aspire to in the civil space area," National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said yesterday. "We and other countries have expressed our concern regarding this action to the Chinese."

A spokesman at the Chinese Embassy said that he had no information about the anti-satellite test. The Chinese military did not mention the test either. But a Chinese newspaper that concentrates on foreign affairs, Global Times, relayed the reports from Washington in today's editions. The newspaper quoted Maj. Gen. Peng Guangquin as saying that the U.S. government was making too much of the test.

In addition to introducing a renewed military dimension to space, the destruction of the Chinese satellite created a large "debris cloud" that can seriously damage other satellites in nearby orbit, and possibly even spacecraft on their way to the moon or beyond. Analysts said that based on computer models, as many as 300,000 pieces of debris may have been created. While many would be very small, they said, hundreds would be large enough to create potentially serious problems.

The United States and the Soviet Union tested anti-satellite technology in the 1980s, and the United States shot down one of its orbiting satellites in 1985. Partially as a result of the debris problem, both sides stopped the programs.

The Chinese test, first reported online by the magazine Aviation Week and Space Technology, comes at a time of heightened tensions between the United States and China over space. China is leading an effort in the United Nations to set up an international conference to address what many consider to be an imminent space arms race. The United States has opposed the idea, arguing that it is not needed because there is no arms race in space. The Bush administration nevertheless released an updated national space policy last fall that strongly asserted an American right to defend itself in space against any actions it considers hostile.

The U.S. military is especially dependent on satellites for navigation, communications and missile guidance, while the American economy could also be broadly damaged by disruptions of communications, weather and other satellites. Some in the administration believe that this has left the nation especially vulnerable to attack and have proposed efforts to develop ways to defend its assets in space.

The day the test was conducted, the chiefs of major U.S. intelligence agencies presented their annual threat assessments to Congress. Neither China's anti-satellite program nor its general push toward space weapons was mentioned during the public hearing or anywhere in the written testimonies of the director of national intelligence, the director of the Pentagon's intelligence agency or the CIA director.

The United States retains the ability to destroy low-orbit satellites and has been conducting research on more advanced systems for years.

Officials who have been briefed on the test said that the Chinese ballistic missile reached as high as some U.S. spy satellites are positioned. Other satellites positioned at the same altitude are part of the missile defense network that the U.S. military is assembling. Sources said a hit-to-destroy ballistic missile could knock out any satellites at that low orbit. Many sensitive communications satellites are much higher, at about 22,000 miles above Earth, and officials said yesterday that the recent test does not prove that China has the capability to disrupt those systems. Still, U.S. intelligence officers and administration officials fretted.

For the second time in three years, China has shot down one of its dysfunctional satellites with a missile, US-based Foreign Policy magazine reported in its latest issue.

The destruction of the satellite, which reportedly happened in January, shows China's defensive missile ability, the magazine said.

China's Ministry of National Defense has yet to comment on the report.

The reported firing took place at almost the same time as a successful missile interception test that China conducted on Jan 11.

The website of Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV said the anti-satellite missile test, if confirmed, is likely related to the missile interception test, which occurred at the peak of a dispute between Beijing and Washington on a massive US arms sales deal to Taiwan.

During the interception test, US agencies spotted two missiles launched from two locations from the Chinese mainland, colliding outside the atmosphere, a Pentagon spokesperson said.

China's Foreign Ministry then said the interception test was defensive in nature and was not targeting any country.

Many military scholars believe it was targeting the Patriot missile defense system that Taiwan was trying to buy from the US at that time.

China's first anti-satellite missile test was conducted successfully on Jan 11, 2007, destroying an abandoned Chinese satellite.

The Foreign Policy article did not reveal any other details of the move or any response from the US government.

Chinese military experts even warned that Washington appeared determined to surround China with US-build anti-missile systems.

However, Peng Guangqian, a Beijing-based military expert, said the newly reported anti-satellite missile test was not necessarily related to the US arms deal with Taiwan.

"It was a large test which needs time to prepare for," he said.

"If confirmed, I think it was a further step for China to improve its defensive ability in space."

Peng also said that China has long advocated the principle of a nonmilitary outer space, on which the US has long kept silent.

Lobbed into space atop a ballistic missile, the ASAT destroyed the weather-watching satellite that had been orbiting Earth since May 10, 1999 [image]. The result was littering Earth orbit with hundreds upon hundreds of various sizes of shrapnel.

Debris cloud

NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office at the Johnson Space Center is now at liberty to discuss the characteristics and consequences of the debris cloud created by the fragmentation of the Fengyun-1C spacecraft.

As of today, the U.S. military's Space Surveillance Network has cataloged nearly 600 debris fragments, according to NASA's Nicholas Johnson, Chief Scientist for Orbital Debrisat the space agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

However, more than 300 additional fragments are also being tracked, bringing it to a total of more than 900 bits of clutter. "These will be cataloged in due course," Johnson added.

"The total count of tracked objects could go even higher. Based upon the mass of Fengyun-1C and the conditions of the breakup, the standard NASA model for estimating the number of objects greater than 4 inches (10 centimeters) in size predicts a total about 950 such debris," Johnson advised SPACE.com.

Most prolific and serious fragmentation

Johnson said that the debris cloud extends from less than 125 miles (200 kilometers) to more than 2,292 miles (3,850 kilometers), encompassing all of low Earth orbit. The majority of the debris have mean altitudes of 528 miles (850 kilometers) or greater, "which means most will be very long-lived," he said.

The number of smaller orbital debris from this breakup is much higher than the 900-plus being tracked. NASA estimates that the number of debris larger than 1 centimeter is greater than 35,000 bits of riff-raff.

"Any of these debris has the potential for seriously disrupting or terminating the mission of operational spacecraft in low Earth orbit," Johnson pointed out. "This satellite breakup represents the most prolific and serious fragmentation in the course of 50 years of space operations," he said.

Also put in harm's way by the rain of junk from the Chinese ASAT test is the International Space Station (ISS).

"The collision risk between the Fengyun-1C debris cloud and the International Space Station peaked shortly after the breakup and has been declining since. The risk of collisions between ISS and hazardous objects in Earth orbit is now once again dominated by the background debris population existing prior to the breakup of Fengyun-1C," Johnson said.

Collision of coincidences

Last year's signing by U.S. President George W. Bush of a new U.S. National Space Policy addressed the topic of orbital debris. The document flagged the progress made both nationally and internationally regarding proliferation of orbital debris over the past decade - but also underscored the worrisome nature of space junk.

"Orbital debris poses a risk to continued reliable use of space-based services and operations and to the safety of persons and property in space and on Earth," the White House document stated. "The United States shall seek to minimize the creation of orbital debris by government and non-government operations in space in order to preserve the space environment for future generations."

In a collision of coincidences, the 25th meeting of the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) is slated for April 23-26 and is hosted by the China National Space Administration. The meeting is to be held at the China Academy of Space Technology in Beijing.

IADC is an international governmental forum for the worldwide coordination of activities related to the issues of human-made and natural debris in space.

Also, reactions spurred by China's ASAT actions are sure to surface later this month at a meeting of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space in Vienna.

On the UN agenda is the potential approval of draft Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines that were hammered out last year.

DIRTY CHINESE TRICKS ON TRADES

As Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao comes to India for the second summit meeting, he brings with him the largest-ever business delegation from China to India. This must bring some cheer to the Indian business community as the visit could yield major export orders for Indian manufactures and handicrafts.

With more than $2 trillion of foreign exchange reserves, Premier Wen could well have decided to use some of it to redress the growing and unsustainable trade imbalance that has emerged between the two countries. With a trade surplus of nearly $20 billion in the total bilateral trade, which is expected to reach $60 billion by the end of March 2011, China must begin to take effective and urgent steps to rectify the imbalance if economic relations between the countries are to achieve their true potential.

The true potential for trade and investment flows between two giant economies that are both growing at 8-9 per cent annually, is very large. But for this potential to be exploited fully, a much higher degree of trust and understanding of each other’s core interests is required. The implication is that we cannot continue to completely segregate political and economic aspects.

The economic relationship between the two countries cannot continue to grow while political relations remain in their present fragile state. When relations are fragile, it does not take much for mutual mistrust and apprehensions to come in the way of technology, investment and even trade flows. Therefore, it would be very useful if during this visit, the Chinese premier would convey his government’s recognition of India’s core interests like Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh and protection against religious terrorism as India has done for decades with respect to Taiwan and Tibet.