India to order another 59 Russian Mi-17 helicopters

[SpArK]

India to order another 59 Russian Mi-17 helicopters

19/08/2010
The Indian Air Force will soon order an additional 59 Russian Mil Mi-17 helicopters on top of the 80 ordered earlier, the IAF chief said on Thursday.
The first deliveries of the 80 Mi-17 helicopters, ordered in 2008, will begin later this year, Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik said in an interview with India Strategic.
The IAF's recent request for 42 Su-30MKI fighters had been cleared by the Defense Ministry, "taking the total number of these air superiority combat jets order to a sizeable 272," he added.
The IAF has also signed a contract with Rosoboronexport, Russia's state-controlled arms exporting agency, to upgrade its fleet of Soviet-vintage MiG-29 fighters and Il-76 airlifters while the Indian Navy has placed an order for 45 MiG-29K carrier-borne fighter jets.
Naik said that the Il-76s, first acquired in April 1985, are also undergoing a life extension program with Russia.
"The life extension of Il-76 aircraft will involve a complete overhaul of the airframe at the manufacturer's premises in Russia... The first aircraft has already been sent and servicing work has commenced. Various other upgrades will be carried out in India. Post-servicing, the aircraft would be available to us for more than 10 years," he said.


India to order another 59 Russian Mi-17 helicopters | Russia | RIA Novosti

 

[IndianRobo]

Wow, another 59 apart from 80?, We would have a great Helicopter Armada When 200+ LCH gets Inducted with these Beauties

 

[SpArK]

Wow, another 59 apart from 80?, We would have a great Helicopter Armada When 200+ LCH gets Inducted with these Beauties

Yaaa.. its for Maoists...will be painting it in red.

 

[Archie]

Well , these helicopters are required
If u look at it , then CAG in its recent report lambasted the IAF for mentaining only 74 % of required helicopters
So IAF needs to mentain a fleet of 425+ Helicopters against a present fleet of 314 Helicopters
The first batch of 80 Mi17 ordered were meant to replace 80 Mi 8 Helicopters , and this new order might be to replace 52 Mi17 helicopters acquired during the 1990s

 

[navtrek]

Yaaa.. its for Maoists...will be painting it in red.

nice one

 

[redpearl75]

 

[sudhir007]

firing by Mi-17 in Vayu shakti 2010

http://www.indianairforce.nic.in/sh...%20Mi-17 Special HeliBorne Operations.flv

 

[WHITESMOKE]

NEW DELHI: Fighter jets may don the main strike role in warfare but helicopters too play a critical part, in both wartime and peacetime, with their reconnaissance, logistical and battlefield-support capabilities. After some setbacks, the armed forces are again pressing the throttle to achieve their aim of inducting around 900 helicopters in the coming decade.

The "rotary birds" in the pipeline include 384 light-utility and observation, 139 medium-lift, 90 naval multi-role, 65 light combat, 22 heavy-duty attack, 15 heavy-lift, 12 VVIP, five maritime early-warning and 86 Dhruv advanced light helicopters.

While contracts for some of these helicopters are being executed after being inked earlier, like the Rs 3,726 crore-deal for the dozen AW-101 three-engine choppers to ferry VVIPs, others are still in the planning stage.

The armed forces want all the projects to get going at the earliest to plug operational gaps and replace ageing fleets. IAF, for instance, is moving towards finalizing a second contract with Russia for another 59 Mi-17-V5 helicopters after the phased delivery of the first 80 of these medium-lift "rotary birds" began in September.

"Of the 80 Mi-17s ordered under the $1.34-billion deal in 2008, the first squadron has come up in Bhatinda. IAF will get 26 of these choppers by end-December, with the second squadron coming up in Srinagar by March. All the 80 will be inducted by 2014," said a senior official.

"The 59 more Mi-17s, which will cost around $1 billion, will be ordered under the follow-on clause in the first contract. They will also be weaponized for combat operations like the first 80. The new Mi-17s will also make it possible for IAF to deploy additional choppers for logistical support in anti-Naxal operations," he added.

Navy, too, is keen to kick-start the induction of 90 multi-role helicopters (MRHs), with both combat and search-and-rescue capabilities, to replace the older Sea King helicopters and meet the requirements of a growing maritime force.

At present, the field trial evaluation report of European NH-90 and American Sikorsky-70B helicopters is being examined for the first over Rs 2,000 crore contract of 16 MRHs. "For the second contract for 75 MRH, the initial proposals of five aviation majors are being studied," said an official.

Boeing is set to bag the $1.4-billion contract to supply 22 missile-armed gunships after its AH-64D Apache Longbow did much better than Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant's Mi-28N `Night Hunter' in the field trials.

But the long-drawn acquisition of 384 light helicopters to replace Army and IAF's ageing Cheetah and Chetak fleets -197 to be acquired from a foreign vendor for over Rs 3, 000 crore, while 187 to be manufactured by HAL - is yet to take shape.

Dogged by several controversies, the technical evaluation report of Russian Kamov Ka-226T and Eurocopter AS 550 C3 Fennec is being studied by the defence ministry before one contender is selected for commercial negotiations.

 

[SajeevJino]

ya its for Chinese child Maoists.........

 

[acetophenol]

Can't we ask for ToT and local production?

 

[aanshu001]

good move love this birds..

 

[SpArK]

Posted it a year back.. same header popped a year after?

 

[WHITESMOKE]

Posted it a year back.. same header popped a year after?

Yeah even after one year same... duno why

 

[brational]

This is the best way to keep the russians happy. I doubt they will be able to supply spares after a decade. Hope the Russian Army & Air force also inducting the same chopper into their services to keep a continuous flow of spares. Any news on Heavy lifters?

 

[acetophenol]

i think its time we ask for local production