Indian Air Force News & Discussions

[redpearl75]

why are these pictures of FGFA blocked...?

 

[flanker143]

IAF's C-130J Takes Its Place On The Flightline In Marietta

 

[adelansari]

self delete

 

[redpearl75]

Russia is set to win another order for 59 multi role Mi 17 V5 helicopters in addition to the 80 ordered earlier, retaining Moscow’s traditionally dominant lead in selling military aircraft to New Delhi.

Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal P V Naik told India Strategic in an interview that the delivery of the first lot of 80 Mi 17 helicopters, ordered in 2008, would begin from later this year while the Indian Air Force (IAF) was now processing another request for an additional 59 helicopters.

IAF’s recent request for 42 SU 30 MKI aircraft has already been cleared by the Ministry of Defence, taking the total number of this air dominance combat jets order to a sizeable 272. IAF has also signed a contract with Rosoboronexport, Russia’s sole 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 navalised version Mig 29K shipboard jets.

The order for the 272 SU 30 MKIs, is the biggest aircraft deal in numbers with Russia after that of the Mig 21s signed with the Soviet Union from 1968 onwards (Rs 2 crores or about $ 300,000 per aircraft at that time).

Aircraft were cheap in the Soviet days but now, an Su 30 MKI is around $ 50 million (Rs 230 crores) each inclusive of some support packages and Transfer of Technology (ToT). The total cost for 272 SU 30 MKIs works out to $ 13.6 billion.

As for the Mig 21s, India bought more than 400 of them, and only around 140 of these aircraft, upgraded to Mig 21 Bis configuration with new avionics and BVR (Beyond the Visual Range) missiles, are to serve in the IAF inventory for another six or seven years. The upgrade has been undertaken by Russian and HAL facilities.

The Mig 29K deal touches nearly $ two billion and the upgrade of Mig 29s for the IAF nearly $ one billion. A Mi 17 V5 helicopter reportedly costs around $ five million (total nearly $ 700 million for 139 machines).

India has also purchased six Il 78 midair refuelers and three IL 76 aircraft for accommodating the Israeli Phalcon electronic radars, two of which have been delivered to India. The third Phalcon is due by end-2010. Meanwhile, IAF has ordered two more Phalcons on the same IL 76 platform.

Notably, as the Phalcon radars are heavy, the IL 76 airlifters have been upgraded with more powerful PS-90 engines, the cost though for them is quite high and not considered appropriate for upgrading the IAF’s fleet of less than 20 old Soviet-vintage Il 76 aircraft.

All these aircraft have served the Indian Air Force well; the Il 76 has a remarkable safety record, the Mi 17 has sustained the lifeline of the Indian troops in Siachin heights, and the Mig 25 gave IAF an intrusive capability that no missile or aircraft could intercept. The only point is that the Soviet vintage machines are old in age as well as in technology and need replacement with newer platforms with newer and extreme technologies to last 30 to 40 years in the coming decades.

Air Chief Marshal Naik disclosed that the IL 76s, first acquired in April 1985, are also under life extension under a contract with Russia. “The life extension of IL-76 aircraft would involve complete overhaul of airframe at the vendor’s premises in Russia… The first aircraft has already been positioned and the servicing has commenced. Various other upgrades would be executed in India. Post-servicing, the aircraft would be available to us for more than 10 years,” he said.

India is also a partner in the develoment of Multi-role Transport Aircraft (MTA) and Russia’s Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA), which it is committed to support financially and then buy as and when they are developed and operational.

On a conservative estimate accordingly, Russia has already won nearly $ 20 billion worth of orders and commitments from India for its aircraft and helicopters. (Sale of other systems for the Army and Navy, like the aircraft carrier Gorshkov for about $ 2.35 billion, ships, submarines, T 90 tanks and missiles etc, are not included in this estimate for Indo-Russian defence trade).

The erstwhile Soviet Union also dominated India’s defence supplies, and nearly 70 per cent of the equipment with the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force was acquired from it. The total cost of this entire equipment however is estimated at a little more that $ 30 billion, or roughly, around 30 per cent more that what the IAF alone has commited over the last 10-12 years since the acquisition of Su 30s.

All the figures are approximate because every deal has add-ons in the form of spares, spare engines, maintenance support and training. ToT is extra. Some figures are not readily available with us.

It may be noted that all the deals with Russia have been single-vendor, based on bilateral discussions and negotiations.

For that matter, except for the tender for the 126-plus Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (M-MRCA), for which there is a multi-vendor global Request for Proposals (RfP), the IAF has acquired all its existing aircraft and helicopters from single vendors.

For instance, the Mirage 2000 was acquired from France, the Jaguar from an Anglo-French partnership involving Breguet (now Dassault Aviation) and British Aircraft Corporation (now BAE Systems), and the Mig 21, Mig 23, Mig 25, Mig 27 and Mig 29 from the Soviet Union.

Pointedly however, the prices of Soviet equipment were much lower those days, and also, what were then called “Friendship prices” for countries like India, Egypt, Syria and Iraq.

Today, as the Gorshkov deal has demonstrated, market prices rule; Russia looks for better prices and India, for better technologies. Russia though has demonstrated its capability to sustain its edge in aircraft and helicopter sales to India.

 

[redpearl75]

---------- Post added at 02:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:37 PM ----------

Looks beautiful....

 

[redpearl75]

The cockpit for this beauty is simply awesome....

 

[sudhir007]

Indian Air Force

Video of Vayu Shakti 2010

 

[sudhir007]

Recce pods procured by IAF were not selected or evaluated as per Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP). The pods have not met performance parameters in trials in India. While the IAF's operational need is yet to be fulfilled even after almost a decade, large proportion of the contractual payment, amounting to Rs 611 crore has already been made to the vendor.

CAG in today's report tabled in Parliament.

Chindits: And Now CAG Slams MoD For Sukhoi's Recce Pods, Not As Per DPP, Pods Failed Trials!

 

[redpearl75]

Well I don't know weather you all have seen this or not but I found this very impressive so sharing the image.. I hope this is not a repeat

 

[redpearl75]

One of the AWACS radar on an Ilyushin Il-76 platform for the IAF..

 

[Bhairava]

1)How many of the IAF fighters are nuclear capable apart from the Jaguars.?

2)Are the MMRCA fighters nuke capable or not.?

First one to answer gets a prize

 

[soaringphnx]

1)How many of the IAF fighters are nuclear capable apart from the Jaguars.?

2)Are the MMRCA fighters nuke capable or not.?

First one to answer gets a prize

1. The Sukhoi Su-30MKI, Dassault Mirage 2000, and MiG-29 serve in the Indian Air Force and are also seen as a means to deliver nuclear weapons. In addition IAF maintains SEPECAT Jaguar and MiG-27M which can be used to drop gravity bombs.

the Indian Air Force will receive 40 upgraded Su-30MKIs capable of carrying the BrahMos cruise missile possibly by 2012. In addition, there are also plans to integrate the nuclear-capable Nirbhay missile with the aircraft as well.

The Mirage 2000Hs were heavily customised during the Kargil War and is the only version of the Mirage, other than the French 2000N, to be able to be armed with nuclear weapons. However, the air force doesn't really see the Mirage as a nuclear strike aircraft.

Though MiG-29 and the HAL Tejas have not been tested to use nuclear weapons, they have the capacity to be armed with them.

Source:Wikipedia

2. I think the Rafale is.

 

[Ghostwhowalks]

that Ilushyn is one mean looking yet s e x y beat- You have to hand it to the Russians- they have no peers when it comes to aircraft design- their designs are in a league of their own.

 

[Archie]

IAF expects combat jet selection within a year, submits trials report



By Gulshan Luthra and Air Marshal Ashok Goel (Retd) Published: August 2010





New Delhi. The Indian Air Force has submitted its Field Evaluation Trials (FET) report of Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (M-MRCA) to the Government, and expects selection of the fighter jet within a year.


Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal P V Naik told India Strategic in an interview that the exhaustive report covered all the aircraft, and that once the selection has been made, he expected the chosen MRCA to be in service within three years, say by 2014.

ACM Naik also disclosed that after the M-MRCA trials, IAF had also completed field trials of Utility helicopters and Combat helicopters in India. The trials of the Heavy Lift helicopters were meanwhile in the final phase.

The next four years are crucial but by 2014, IAF would have all the new aircraft and helicopters well in place as part of its transformation process now underway, he said adding that each of the new system is now being acquired along with its training simulators.

The full report of the interview will be published in India Strategic's August issue, coming mid-month.

As for the M-MRCA selection process, the Air Chief apparently gave no indication as to how each of the six aircraft in the fray performed during the trials. He only observed that the IAF had completed its assignment, and submitted the report to the Ministry of Defence July-end, and on time as promised.

The Russian Mig 35 (initially designated Mig 29M2), Europe’s Eurofighter Typhoon, Swedish Gripen, French Rafale, and the US Boeing F/A 18 E/F Super Hornet and Lockheed Martin’s F 16IN Super Viper are in the fray. The RfP was for 126 aircraft with an option for 63 more.

As for the combat helicopters, ACM Naik said that both the Russian Mi 28 and US Boeing Apache AH 64D had been tested in India. Some weapon trials are due to be conducted in the country of origin. IAF had issued an RfP for 22 combat helicopters to replace its ageing Soviet vintage Mi 35s.

Trials of Boeing’s Chinook CH 47F Heavy Lift helicopters had also been completed in the Heavy Lift category while that of Russian Mi 26 were likely to be held this month (August) within India. IAF needs 15 Heavy Lift helicopters to replace and augment its ageing fleet of half a dozen obsolete Mi 26s acquired in the mid-1980s.

Trials of the utility helicopters, needed both for the IAF and Army, are also over. Eurocopter Fennec 555 and Russia’s Kamov 226 are the two contenders. The two Services have tendered for a combined order for 197 of these helicopters.

All aircraft and helicopters are required to operate in the varied hot, humid, desert and high altitude environment of India, particularly to support the deployments in the Himalayan regions.

IAF wants to minimize its inventory of its flying machines to reduce their maintenance costs on the one hand and to increase their operational availability on the other.

Air Chief Marshal Naik said that appropriate infrastructure and communication nodes were also being built as part of the transformation process now under way.

Notably, IAF aims to have 42 combat squadrons – approximately 800 aircraft – by 2022. Of these, it is already set to acquire more than 270 Su 30 MKI air dominance aircraft from Russia. These include a set of 42 aircraft being ordered through India’s state-run aeronautics giant HAL, which is making this Russian aircraft already under licence and Transfer of Technology (ToT).

..:: India Strategic ::.. Indian Air Force: IAF expects combat jet selection within a year, submits trials report

 

[sudhir007]

Livefist - The Best of Indian Defence: IIT-Bombay's Nuclear-Powered Ramjet/Scramjet Research Concept

IIT-Bombay's Nuclear Ramjet/Scramjet Research Concept