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IAF needs to acquire more modern aircrafts: Air Chief Marshal Naik

New Delhi, Apr 29 (ANI): Indian Air Force Chief, Air Chief Marshal P V Naik, said on Thursday that there is a need to replace old aircrafts with better and modernized ones in the Air Force.

Interacting with media after launching the IAF personnel Wives Welfare Association website, here, Air Chief Marshal Naik underlined the need of new aircrafts for the Force.

“These replacements, which are being planned now, towards modern aircraft, there will always be a gap because the older aircrafts will start getting phased out, getting more old. We would like to replace them early, but it’s okay. But now the process has been set in motion and a new aircraft will gradually replace the older aircraft. It s a routine process,” Air Chief Marshal Naik said.

” Definitely, it is a routine cycle. Life of every aircraft is 30 to 40 years. So, by about 20 years of its life, we have to start planning for further purchases. Now what has happened is that 20 years ago, our country did not have money, so we could not afford to buy as many aircrafts of planned replacement,” he added.

On Wednesday, replying to a question in Parliament, Defence Minister A K Antony also raised concern about increasing loss of men and aircrafts.

In last four years India lost 61 aircrafts and 28 pilots in crashes.(ANI)
 
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:: Bharat-Rakshak.com - Indian Military News Headlines ::

The Indian Air Force (IAF) hopes to kick-start its $260-million Modernisation of Airfield Infrastructure project, which envisages upgrading 30 airfields, in the first phase, over the next few weeks.

Contract negotiations are under way with a leading Indian corporate, and the pilot project will begin at the IAF base at Hindan, Ghaziabad, on the outskirts of Delhi. Sources in the IAF said the negotiations were on the verge of conclusion.

The American transport aircraft, C130 J Hercules, will be based in Ghaziabad. The IAF has placed an order with Lockheed Martin for six of these planes, which are expected to arrive next year. Besides the purchase of C130 J Hercules, the IAF will acquire 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft. As these planes have been fitted with sophisticated avionics, the modernisation project has been envisaged.

The project includes supply, testing, integration and sustenance of the Instrument Landing System (ILS), the Distance Measurement Equipment, the Tactical Air Navigation System, the Air Traffic Management System, and the CAT-2 Airfield Lighting System.

In the first phase, the IAF will modernise 30 airfields, and the exercise is expected to be completed in 42 months. The Centre has made a provisional allocation of Rs.180 crore for the project in the 2009-10 budget, and the sum will be released after the contract is signed.

In the past two years, the Parliamentary Committee on Defence has made a special mention of the project; in its latest report, it has noted that as the IAF needs airfields from the strategic point of view, both the phases of the project should be completed expeditiously.

In Phase-II, 20-odd airfields, including those of the IAF, the Army, the Navy and the Coast Guard, will be taken up for modernisation. The Defence Ministry feels that based on the experience gained during the implementation of the first phase, the requirements of the second phase will be consolidated. The second phase is expected to be completed in 42 months.
 
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IAF chopper makes emergency landing in AP idrw.org

An Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopter today made an emergency landing at an agricultural field in Andhra Pradesh’s Nalgonda district after its lubrication system issued an alert, police said.

The IAF Chetak helicopter with a flying instructor and a trainee on-board, flew from Training School Hakimpet here and made the emergency landing around 7.30 am at an agricultural field in Kondapur village of Nalgonda district, they said, adding none was injured in the incident.

“As the temperature in the lubricating system rose, the helicopter issued a warning message after which the pilot decided to make an emergency landing,” a senior police officer told PTI over phone.

After a thorough checking, the helicopter took off after three hours, he added.
 
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The Hindu : News / National : IAF gives nod for HPT-32 revival

The Indian Air Force, which lacks a basic aircraft trainer to train its flying cadets, has given clearance for a parachute recovery system (PRS) to be fitted on the Hindustan Piston Trainer-32 (HPT-32). The PRS, it is hoped, will improve the confidence of HPT-32 pilots, enhance survivability during an emergency in the air and prevent the trainer from dropping out of the sky like a stone.

The IAF's decision, which is based on the recommendations made by a committee headed by Air Vice Marshal Pradeep Singh, will hopefully revive the HPT-32, a Hindustan Aeronautics Limited-designed and manufactured primary trainer that became operational with the defence forces in 1984, but was grounded last July after a fatality near Hyderabad that killed two senior flight instructors.

Reliability of the HPT-32 has long been in question with technical issues caused by the integration between the American Lycoming piston engine and the indigenously designed airframe being the most hurting. For the IAF engine cuts (a situation where the aircraft's engine suddenly switches off in mid-air) on the HPT-32 have been disastrous: there have been over 90 engine cuts during the HPT-32 operational life and given the trainer's poor power of glide, fatalities have been frequent.

But with no other basic trainer available, the IAF is left with no choice but to revive the HPT-32. Ever since the HPT-32 was grounded, it has had to reschedule its flying training making do with the aging Kiran intermediate jet trainer.

The PRS will entail a parachute being fitted on the trainer. During an airborne emergency the pilot will pull a lever which in turn will deploy the parachute, bringing the trainer down safely.

Officials from the HAL told The Hindu that two foreign vendors had been identified and asked to give presentations/proposals on what they could offer. Once the vendor is chosen the airframes of around 100 HPT-32s will be fitted with parachutes with the HAL most likely to undertake the task under a licence arrangement. It could take at least three to four months before the first PRS fitted HPT-32 is airborne.
Modifications

HAL officials said the trainer's airframe would have to undergo modifications. These would include strengthening, to prevent the structure from shearing off when the parachute is deployed, and also to take the extra weight. Trials need to be undertaken to optimise the flight characteristics of the aircraft once the PRS has been fitted, and the Lycoming engine overhauled — since the entire fleet has not flown for nearly nine months. The PRS will also have to ensure that the aircraft comes down horizontally and not nose or tail first.

The IAF, which has already sent out a request for proposal looking to acquire a new trainer aircraft, will like to utilise the PRS-fitted HPT-32 as a stopgap until the new trainer arrives.
 
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IAF to receive BrahMos Missiles by 2012

It is time for the Indian Air Force to take some more lessons in Artillery with its top brass accepting the extensive use of ground-to-ground supersonic missiles for neutralising enemy defence systems just before raiding their assets as a strategic option.

The idea is to pulverise all types of perceived threat and challenges to aircraft from target area with a view to minimising hostility to Indian fighters. With this thinking gaining currency, the Indian Air Force has decided to go one more step forward by installing a battery of its own supersonic cruise missiles to gain that killer edge.

Though IAF was relying on Prithvi missiles, the system is now under the command of the Strategic Forces Command. With BrahMos entering its inventory, IAF has become the first Air Force in the world to operate supersonic ground-to-ground missiles.

The IAF will soon have its own exclusive battery of ground-launched BrahMos Supersonic Missiles to take out enemy targets. This will allow the IAF to initiate action against enemy installations like Air Force bases or anti-aircraft systems that assume a higher priority on its operational doctrine without depending on the Army's missiles to do the job for it.

The Ministry of Defence has already cleared this and has allowed the IAF to place an order for the missiles with the BrahMos Corporation. With this the BrahMos' order books look bright for the coming years as the IAF and Army are planning to purchase missiles worth Rs 11,700 crore between them. While the Army plans to raise two more regiments, IAF's idea is to have an exclusive squadron.
Termed as a highly strategic move, the missiles will give IAF the flexibility to plan its offensive independently.

In fact, the ground-based missiles will allow the Air Force to open yet another flank. "BrahMos with its supersonic possibilities will allow the Air Force to neutralise a zone of intended raid just minutes or even seconds before its fighters fly in there. This would minimise threat to the aircraft from enemy anti-aircraft missiles or guns," knowledgeable sources pointed out.

It, however, is unusual for an Air Force to depend on ground-based supersonic cruise missiles to give its attack plans a killing edge. "With developments in the field of defence research opening up possibilities of innovation in offensive and defensive plans, we will witness more such initiatives in the coming years," sources pointed out.

This version will be slightly different from the Army version though the basic features and aerodynamic characteristics would remain more or less the same. The IAF's prime concern would be enemy assets along the border that post the first line of threat to its aircraft while crossing borders.

But it will be some more time before the IAF gets the BrahMos Air version as the missile is yet to be test-fired. Though the development phase is over, BrahMos is still waiting the Su-30 Flanker H platform on which the missile would be integrated for tests. Apart from the missile, development of the trigger mechanism and connecting mechanism has been completed.

According to Dr A Sivathanupillai, head of BrahMos Aerospace the Air Force version would be integrated in Kerala where the company is all set to open its phase-II. Work on the second phase would begin within two months and would be completed before 2012. The company is planning to produce 25 missiles a year from this unit which has been set up in collaboration with the Kerala Government.

By Manoj K Das,
Journalist, writes on Defence and Strategic Affairs

IAF to receive BrahMos Missiles by 2012 - 1 -  2010: Defence & Internal Security Special on MSN India
 
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Globemaster will be flown to India for trials in June
The Indian Air Force's quest to acquire a tactical heavy lift transport aircraft from the United States will get under way with user trials scheduled for next month in India.

In the last week of April, the U.S. Department of Defense notified Congress of a letter of request from the Indian government for acquiring 10 of Boeing Globemaster III.

Briefing a group of correspondents at its facility here, company representatives said the aircraft, to be taken on lease from the U.S. Air Force, would be flown to India by June 21.

“Unlike many other countries that have brought these aircraft, the Government of India insists on trials, and we will be there in June,” Tommy Dunehew, vice-president, Business Development, Boeing, told The Hindu.

The trials would be one part of a possible $5.8-billion deal, negotiations for which will begin only after Congress approves the sale. The product Boeing offers is the latest Block 18 aircraft, and much will depend on the configuration the IAF will want.

It is for India to decide whether it wants to join the worldwide virtual fleet Boeing has set up with other countries — Australia, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, the UAE and the European Union consortium of 12 nations — that have bought these planes.

The IAF plans to base these tactical aircraft at Agra. They can carry 73,616 kg of payload and can be operated by a crew of just three (two in the cockpit and one loadmaster).

Delivery will begin 24 months after the contract is signed. At present, Boeing is producing one plane every three-and-a-half weeks, or up to 15 a year. Its current order book, including some 30-odd pieces for the U.S. Air Force, will run on till 2011. However, should India order these planes, the schedules will be negotiated, Mr. Dunehew said.

It is being deployed for disaster relief operations in various parts of the world. The U.S. Air Force has transported a brigade of men, tonnes of equipment and 400 vehicles over five nights, flying 17 shifts, he said, explaining the ability of the workhorse.

The plane can carry 188 passengers, has reverse thrust engines for short turnaround and equipped with missile warning system with flares to disengage the incoming missiles.
 
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FLASH! Gripen Demo Clears Leh Trials!

The Gripen Demo aircraft, which landed at Air Force Station Jamnagar, Gujarat on Monday, cleared its high altitude trials in Leh today. Air Force sources confirmed to LiveFist that the aircraft went through the full routine of tests that the Gripen-D did earlier this year. IAF pilots already got a chance to fly the Gripen Demo in the first week of April at Linkoping, Sweden, but calling the Demo airplane to India was necessary to complete all the demands in the field evaluation test (FET) plan.
 
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Indian Air Force to deploy 80 Mi-17 helicopters within four years - People's Daily Online

The Indian Air Force (IAF) will induct 80 Mi-17 transport helicopters within four years, an IAF official said on Thursday.

The first batch of newly-acquired Mi-17s would be delivered to the IAF by the end of this year, the Press Trust of India quoted an IAF official as saying .

The IAF would receive the remaining Mi-17s in a phased manner in the next four years, said the official.

The IAF official said these Mi-17s are newly-developed types, capable of carrying a load of five tons, including 15 fully- equipped troops, while the existing Mi-17s in the IAF'S transport fleet only have the load capacity of 3 tons or so.

There are about 150 Russia-made Mi-8 and Mi-17 transport helicopters in the IAF. They are playing a vital role in the short- distance air transport. However, those Mi-8s are old-styled, and Mi-17s are originally-designed, showing poor performances in the relief operations of the Indian ocean tsunami in 2004 and the heavy snowfall in India-controlled Kashmir in 2005.

In December 2008, India and Russia signed a contract for supplying 80 Mi-17s for the IAF to replace the aging Mi-8s. The contract was worth about one billion U.S. dollars.

The new Mi-17s could carry out many military and civilian tasks, such as ferrying troops and weapons in high-altitude mountainous areas, airdropping relief supplies and evacuating casualties in the disaster-hit areas, the IAF said.
 
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IAF combat and heavy-lift chopper trials to begin by July

The Indian Air Force (IAF) seems set for trials of new combat and heavy lift helicopters this summer, possibly from June or July, as Boeing gets ready to field its latest versions of AH 64D Apache and Chinook CH-47F helicopters.

So confident is Boeing that its top executives say the company is looking forward to be the first in the trials so as to set benchmarks that others in the competition cannot possibly match.

The US spends so much on Research & Development (R&D) that "our products are unbeatable in hi-tech and precision engagement", Dean Millsap, Regional Director, Asia Pacific for Boeing Rotorcraft Systems told India Strategic (..:: India Strategic ::.. Home Page: The authoritative monthly on Defence and Strategic Affairs.) defence magazine.

The heavy lift Chinook, for instance, is the only helicopter that can land on water in an emergency, and also operate just above the water level to land or evacuate troops or people in a natural disaster situation.

IAF is looking for 22 Attack and 15 Heavy Lift helicopters as replacement for its Soviet vintage Mi 35 Attack and Mi 26 Heavy Lift machines which have served well but are too old now either to carry on or bear the burden of modern technology. The RfP for the two new aircraft was issued last year and besides Boeing, Russia's Rosoboronexport has offered newer versions of Mi 35 and Mi 26.

Italy's Finmeccanica, which owns AgustaWestland now, has offered the Mangusta attack helicopter, currently in service with the Italian Army. AgustaWestland has already won the IAF's order for 12 VIP helicopters.

As in case of the combat jets for the Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (M-MRCAs), trials for which have just been over, field trials for both the new helicopters would be held in hot and humid weather in the deserts of Rajasthan and the heights of the Himalayas, Jaisalmer and Leh included.

The Indian Army and Air Force are already holding trials for the utility helicopters in these regions, which are required in large numbers from imported and indigenous production kits. There is no Transfer of Technology (ToT) clause though for manufacturing the Attack and Heavy Lift helicopters in India.

Notably, IAF's Mi 35s have been upgraded over the last few years with Israeli night-fighting devices, but the airframes are too old for any more technology insertions. IAF had acquired half a dozen Mi 26 choppers for ferrying supplies to the Himalayas but hardly a couple of them are now able to fly, one problem being the lack of spares as its manufacturing facilities have closed down after the disintegration of the Soviet Union 20 years back.

Mi 26 is a huge machine though, equivalent to an An-12 aircraft that the IAF once used to fly.

But Millsap says: "No helicopter can match the stability of the Chinook, whose contra-rotating twin-rotors withstand rough weather in land, mountains and sea."

In Afghanistan, where the US and NATO forces are fighting the Al Qaida and Taliban terrorists, Chinooks maintain a steady supply to the troops while the Apaches give them cover if required in a battlezone.

Adds Vivek Lall, vice president and India country head for Boeing Defense and Space (BDS): "The Apache will be a capable and lethal defender of India's troops and assets, while the Chinook will answer many of the Indian military and humanitarian requirements."

While Millsap briefed a visiting Indian media group, invited by Boeing, on the capabilities of the AH 64D Block III, which is still under development, other company executives, Jack Dougherty and Mark Bellow, highlighted the capabilities of the Chinook with graphic footage from the troubled Afghan mountains.

The first Block III Apache would be delivered to the US Army in 2011 and to the IAF within three years or less of the signing of an agreement, Boeing officials said.

IAF combat and heavy-lift chopper trials to begin by July- Hindustan Times
 
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Russia wins large contract to modernize Indian Su-30MKI fighters

India has placed orders with the Russian defense industry to modernize Su-30MKI Flanker-H fighters produced in India under the Russian license, India Today magazine reported in its June issue, without disclosing the sum of the contract.

The project codenamed Super 30 stipulates the installation of new radars, onboard computers, electronic warfare systems and BrahMos supersonic missiles on 40 Su-30MKI fighters, the magazine said.

The Indian Air Force currently operates about 100 Su-30MKI fighters and plans to produce another 170 aircraft in the next 10 years under the Russian license.

India has a long history of defense ties with Moscow. The current cooperation program comprises about 200 joint projects, including the transfer of technology for the licensed assembly of T-90 tanks in India, the production of BrahMos missiles and the purchase of Smerch MLRS by India.

The BrahMos missile has a range of 290 km (180 miles) and can carry a conventional warhead of up to 300 kg (660 lbs). It can effectively engage ground targets from an altitude as low as 10 meters (30 feet) and has a top speed of Mach 2.8, which is about three times faster than the U.S.-made subsonic Tomahawk cruise missile.

Established in 1998, BrahMos Aerospace, a joint Indian-Russian venture, produces and markets BrahMos supersonic missiles. The sea-based and land-based versions have been successfully tested and put into service with the Indian Army and Navy.

NEW DELHI, May 30 (RIA Novosti)



 
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India, France to hold joint air combat exercise next month

NEW DELHI: Six Indian Sukhoi-30MKI fighters, two IL-76 heavy-lift aircraft and a IL-78 mid-air refueller will be leaving for France for a joint air combat exercise with the French Air Force next month.

The exercise, Garuda-IV, will be held at the Istres airbase in France from June 14 to 25. "The exercise will help to further enhance interoperability between the Indian and French air forces since pilots as well as the ground crew will get to see each other's operational, technical and administrative practices from close quarters,'' said an officer.

The exercise comes at a time when India and France are all set now to ink the around Rs 10,000 crore deal to upgrade the 56 Mirage-2000 fighter jets in IAF's combat fleet. The first four to six Mirages will be upgraded in France, with the rest 50 or so being upgraded in India by Hindustan Aeronautics under transfer of technology.

Under the upgrade, the entire airframe will be stripped down to be re-wired and re-equipped with new avionics, mission computers, glass cockpits, helmet-mounted displays, electronic warfare suites and of course weapon systems to extend and enhance the operational life of the multi-role fighters by around 20 years.

India had first inducted 40 Mirages in the mid-1980s, with over 20 more being bought in later years. IAF has had a `good' experience with the fighters, which successfully carried out `targeted bombings' during the 1999 Kargil conflict.

India's defence ties with France are quite broad-based, including as they do the over Rs 20,000-crore project to build six French Scorpene submarines currently underway at Mazagon Docks.

France, of course, has also offered its multi-role Rafale fighter for the ongoing competition in the the gigantic $10.4-billion project to supply 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft to IAF.
 
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$580-million tag for IAF's C-17 aircraft can be cut: Boeing

Operation Cactus in 1988 boosted India’s regional stature when Russian-built IL-76 aircraft airlifted hundreds of paratroopers 2,000 km, non-stop, to the Maldives within 12 hours of an SOS from that country’s coup-embattled president.

With India’s fleet of 24 IL-76 aircraft now obsolescent, planners have decided to buy Boeing’s C-17 Globemaster III, widely acknowledged as the world’s most versatile military transport aircraft.


The downside: At over half a billion dollars a piece, the Globemaster is also the world’s most expensive air-lifter. With criticism rising of India’s $5.8 billion (Rs 27,000 crore) purchase of 10 Globemasters, Boeing now says India could actually pay far less.

Responding to a question from Business Standard about the Globemaster’s high cost, Vivek Lall, the India chief of Boeing Defence Space & Security (BDS), clarified by email that the $5.8 billion, “is on the higher side of what the actual cost could be…. India may not need all the services and items that the US Air Force is offering them. The final cost will be determined by the actual requirements of the Indian Air Force and after negotiations are held.”

In accordance with US law, the US Congress (legislature) was notified on April 23 that India wanted to buy 10 C-17 Globemaster III aircraft directly from the US government (under the Foreign Military Sale, or FMS, programme) for an estimated $580 million per aircraft. In contrast, the IL-76 can be bought for less than one-tenth that price: about $50 million per aircraft.

The $580-million tag could become even bigger if India buys secure communications (COMSEC) and Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation aids, by signing two safeguard agreements that US law demands but New Delhi has so far rejected: The Communications Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement and the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-spatial Cooperation. The recent Congress notification indicates that India’s C-17s will not be fitted with COMSEC equipment; GPS security devices; and certain “Government Furnished equipment”.

Alternatives
Lall indicated that Boeing would provide alternatives to the COMSEC and GPS, but said, “We do not discuss detailed aircraft components, as the deal is a foreign military sale and is between the two governments.”

Business Standard has examined requests, placed to the US Congress over several years, for C-17 sales to NATO, Canada, Australia, the UAE and Oman to determine how Boeing’s ex-factory price of $200-220 million for each unfitted C-17 Globemaster escalates to $580 million for each of the fully-kitted military aircraft that India is buying.

The data indicate that the basic military aircraft, built at Boeing’s Long Beach facility outside Los Angeles, California, costs about $350 million. An additional $150 million per aircraft goes on spare engines, maintenance spares, electronic protection systems, and logistics.

Finally, Boeing’s global maintenance network for the C-17 — called the Globemaster III Sustainment Partnership or GSP charges $75 million every three years — i.e. $25 million per year — to ensure each aircraft covered in this plan remains flying, functional and available almost 90 per cent of the time.

Boeing has confirmed that India was joining the GSP and that the notification to the US Congress included that cost.

Largest C-17 user
Once India’s planned procurement of 10 Globemaster IIIs is completed, it will be the largest C-17 user outside the US, which operates 198 Globemasters. Other users are the UK (six aircraft); Australia and Canada (four aircraft); Qatar (two aircraft) and NATO (three aircraft).

Operating from short, mud-paved landing strips such as those on India’s borders, the C-17 can lift 75-tonne payloads to anywhere in China, Central Asia, the Gulf countries and much of Southeast Asia, without refuelling. Capable of carrying 188 passengers, or 102 fully-kitted paratroopers, Globemasters have brought out as many as 300 refugees at a time during humanitarian missions from disaster zones like Haiti.

The C-17 can also transport a battle-loaded Arjun or T-90 tank, or a Chinook helicopter with its rotors dismantled.
 
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IAF combat and heavy-lift chopper trials to begin by July
Boeing pitches in with Apache Block III and Chinook


chinook2.jpg


Philadephia. The Indian Air Force (IAF) seems set for trials of new combat and heavy lift helicopters this summer, possibly from June or July, and Boeing is getting ready to field its latest versions of AH 64D Apache and Chinook CH 47F helicopters.




So confident is Boeing that its top executives say that Boeing is looking forward to be the first in the trials so as to set benchmarks that others in the competition cannot possibly match.

The US spends so much in Research & Development (R&D) that “our products are unbeatable in hi-tech and precision engagement,” said Mr Dean Millsap, Regional Director Asia Pacific for Boeing Rotorcraft Systems. The heavy lift Chinook for instance is the only helicopter that can land on water in an emergency, and also operate just above the water level to land or evacuate troops or people in a natural disaster situation.

IAF is looking for 22 Attack and 15 Heavy Lift helicopters as replacement for its Soviet vintage Mi 35 Attack and Mi 26 Heavy Lift machines which have served well but are too old now either to carry on or bear the burden of modern technology. The RfP for the two new aircraft was issued last year and besides Boeing, Russia’s Rosobronexport has offered newer versions of Mi 35 and Mi 26.

Italy’s Finmeccanica, which owns AgustaWestland now, has offered the Mangusta attack helicopter, currently in service with the Italian Army. AgustaWestland has already won the IAF’s order for 12 VIP helicopters.

As in case of the combat jets for the Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (M-MRCAs), trials for which have just been over, field trials for both the new helicopters would be held in hot and humid weather in the deserts of Rajasthan and heights of the Himalayas, Jaisalmer and Leh included.

The Indian Army and Air Force are already holding trials for the utility helicopters in these regions, which are required in large numbers from imported and indigenous production kits. There is no Transfer of Technology (ToT) clause though for manufacturing the Attack and Heavy Lift helicopters in India.

Notably, IAF’s Mi 35s have been upgraded over the last few years with Israeli night-fighting capabilities, but the airframes are too old for any more technology insertions. IAF had acquired half a dozen Mi 26 choppers for ferrying supplies to the Himalayas but hardly a couple of them are now able to fly, one problem being the lack of spares as its manufactring facilities have closed down after the disintegration of the Soviet Union 20 years back.

Mi 26 is a huge machine though, equivalent to an An-12 aircraft that the IAF once used to fly. This writer had seen one of them sometime back at a forward air base.

But says Millsap: No helicopter can match the stability of the Chinook, whose contra-rotating twin-rotors withstand rough weather in land, mountains and sea. In Afghanistan, where the US and NATO forces are fighting the Al Qaida and Taliban terrorists, Chinooks maintain a steady supply to the troops while the Apaches give them cover if required in a battlezone.

Adds Dr Vivek Lall, Vice President and India country head for Boeing Defense and Space (BDS): “The Apache will be a capable and lethal defender of India’s troops and assets, while the Chinook will answer many of the Indian military and humanitarian requirements.”

While Mr Millsap briefed a visiting Indian media group, invited by Boeing, on the capabilities of the AH 64D Block III, which is still under development, other company executives, Mr Jack Dougherty and Mr Mark Bellow highlighted the capabilities of the Chinook with its graphic footage from the troubled Afghan mountains.

The first Block III Apache would be delivered to the US Army in 2011, and to the IAF within three years – or less – of the signing of an agreement. India is looking for futuristic aircraft with periodic upgrade capability.

They said that the two rotorcraft more than met the IAF’s RfP requirements, but would not share details as the RfP prohibited that. IAF will get the technology that it wants under a government-togovernment Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme.

The AH 64D has one version with a highly sophisticated radar, the Longbow, for improved target detection, increased situational awareness , survivability and connectivity even with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The combatproven AH-64D Apache Longbow, now being used by the US Army in Afghanistan, is the newest version of the machine.

Mr Dougherty, Vice President and Programme Manager for Boeing Rotorfraft, said that the Apache and Chinook had “a brotherly relationship” to support a war effort. Apache is routinely deployed to protect Chinooks, C 17 Globemaster transporters and other aircraft in low-flying and landing/ takeoff situations.

The Chinook has a multi-spectrum capability for combat assault, beach and aircraft carrier landings, medical evacuation, and even VIP transport. Chinooks have been flown to a height of 16000 feet in Alaska. The requirement for more has not arisen yet. In Afghanistan, US Army has carried as many as 75 fully loaded troops although it was conceived for only 33.

As for the Apache, Mr Millsap pointed out that it was the only combat helicopter in the world with night vision devices for both the pilots, with the capability for switchover roles. It is equipped with multi sensors, electrooptical, infra red and others as well as a 30mm cannon with 3500metre range. Its onboard computers autotarget, calculating the speeds of bullets as well as any target that it seeks to destroy.

There are also the Lockheed Martin Hellfire missiles on board, which are being used by US drones to kill specific terrorist targets in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

© India Strategic
 
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hope we dont dilly dally too much and get the apache's soon,
it will compliment the LCH well.

Looks like there is no TOT in this deal .:undecided:
 
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