Author: IANS

Vedanta chairman plans to boost Zambian copper mine output

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Natural resources major Vedanta has said it will invest around $700 million to boost production from the Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) in Zambia, following the company’s previous injection of $300 million as part of the pledge made last year of $1 billion of fresh investments.

According to a Vedanta statement here on Thursday, these investment plans for its Zambian subsidiary were announced by Chairman Anil Agarwal during a two-day visit to Zambia, where he also attended the India-Zambia Business forum held in Lusaka.

Agarwal said Vedanta is fully committed to supporting KCM’s plans to increase production to 400,000 metric tonnes per annum in the next few years.

The chairman told reporters on the sidelines of the business forum that KCM will construct a new cobalt refinery, a coal-fired power plant, a training school for upskilling local talent and continue to invest in local communities in the areas of education, health, sport, poverty eradication and sustainable livelihoods.

“I was eager to come to Zambia almost 15 years ago at a time when KCM was facing a lot of challenges. We have now created a strong position for KCM after investing over $3 billion. Last year, I pledged to invest an extra $1 billion,” a statement cited Agarwal as saying.

Referring to the decision by mining multinational Anglo American, in which Agarwal has become the biggest individual shareholder, to remain in South Africa, he said the country had become another attractive destination for foreign direct investment in view the business friendly disposition of its new President Cyril Ramaphosa.

“Anglo is very much a part of South Africa and they should be proud to remain there. I am happy that they have changed their mind about selling all their assets in South Africa. All this, I am sure, is because investor confidence has picked up in the wake of President Ramaphosa’s election,” he said.

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Boeing to manufacture F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter aircraft with HAL, Mahindra in India

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Aerospace major Boeing on Thursday announced a partnership with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Mahindra Defence Systems (MDS) to manufacture its carrier and land based F/A-18 Super Hornet multi-role fighter aircraft in India.

According to the firm, the future production with Indian partners will involve maximising indigenous content and producing the F/A-18 in India for its armed forces.

“Boeing is excited to team up with India’s only company that manufactures combat fighters, HAL, and India’s only company that manufactures small commercial airplanes, Mahindra,” Pratyush Kumar, President, Boeing India was quoted as saying in a statement.

“This partnership brings the best of Indian public and private enterprises together in partnership with the world’s largest aerospace company, Boeing, to accelerate a contemporary 21st century ecosystem for aerospace and defence manufacturing in India,” he added.

The aerospace major said the “Super Hornet Make in India” proposal is to build an entirely new and state-of-the-art production facility that can be utilised for other programs like India’s Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) programme.

“This partnership is intended to bring Boeing, HAL and MDS’ global scale and supply chain, its best-in-industry precision manufacturing processes, as well as the unrivaled experience designing and optimising aerospace production facilities to both expand India’s aerospace ecosystem and help realise the Make in India vision,” the company said in a statement.

The firm pointed out that the plan addresses the infrastructure, personnel training, and operational tools and techniques required to produce a next-gen fighter aircraft in the country.

“As the most advanced and least expensive aircraft per flight hour of its kind, the F/A-18 Super Hornet will deliver on India’s need for a carrier and land based multi-role fighter,” the statement said.

“The Super Hornet does not only have a low acquisition cost, but it costs less per flight hour to operate than any other tactical aircraft in US forces inventory.”

The aerspace major noted that the F/A-18 Super Hornet has a long life ahead, with the US Navy making significant investments in the latest evolution, the Block III.

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Indian rocket successfully puts into orbit navigation satellite

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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India early on Thursday put into orbit navigation satellite IRNSS-1I, a part of Indian satellite navigation system NavIC in copy-book style.

The 1,425 kg satellite was carried into space by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket’s ‘XL’ variant.

Simply put, NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation, earlier the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System or IRNSS) is the Indian ‘GPS’.

After the successful launch, Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman K. Sivan said:”I am extremely happy to announce that the PSLV has precisely injected the navigation satellite in the targetted orbit.”

He said ISRO is moving towards to get the rocket and satellite through industry.

Sivan said over the next eight months, ISRO has planned nine launch missions including the moon mission towards the end of the year.

At 4.04 a.m., the four stage/engine PSLV-XL rocket, standing 44.4 metres tall and weighing 321 tonnes, blasted off from the first launch pad.

Just over 19 minutes into the flight, the rocket slung IRNSS-1I into the orbit from where the satellite will be taken up to its final position at geo synchronous orbit at a height of 36,000 km.

The Rs 1,420 crore Indian satellite navigation system NavIC consists of nine satellites — seven in orbit and two as substitutes. The fully operational system is expected to provide accurate position information service to users across the country and the region, extending up to an area of 1,500 km.

One of the substitutes was the IRNSS-1H as the in IRNSS-1A’s rubidium atomic clocks, important for giving accurate positional data, had failed. However, the IRNSS-1H satellite launch mission ended in a failure on August 31 last year.

The 1,425 kg IRNSS-1I was the second satellite sent up as replacement for IRNSS-1A and the ninth of the IRNSS satellite series.

Each satellite has three rubidium atomic clocks and a total of 27 clocks for the navigation satellite system (including the standby satellites) were supplied by the same vendor.

Like its other IRNSS predecessors, IRNSS-1I also carries two types of payloads for navigation and ranging.

The navigation payload, operating in L5-band and S-band, will transmit navigation service signals to the users, while the ranging payload consists of a C-band transponder, which facilitates accurate determination of the range of the satellite. IRNSS-1I also carries Corner Cube Retro Reflectors for laser ranging.

NavIC provides two types of services — standard positioning service and restricted service. The former is for all users while the latter is an encrypted service for only authorised users.

According to ISRO, NavIC is useful for fishermen to reach potential fishing areas. The fishermen can also get alert messages relating to bad weather, high waves or when they approach the international maritime boundary line. These services are provided through a software application on a smart phone.

The Indian space agency also said NavIC is useful for merchant ships in their navigation and also during search and rescue operations.

In the road transport sector, NavIC helps commuters to traverse distances and also enables transport operators to track their vehicles.

The navigation system is also helpful for railways in tracking trains and also giving an alert in the case of an unmanned level crossing. It is also used for other applications like location-based services, survey and alignment, and time synchronised services.

Starting in July 2013, the Indian space agency has launched eight navigation satellites, with the last one launched on August 31, 2017. This was a failure as the rocket’s heat shield did not separate three minutes after lift-off and the satellite remained housed inside the heat shield.

Each satellite has a life span of 10 years.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow