Indian Air Force News & Discussions

[DbnReaper]

Does Indian terrain make these foreign planes suitable for use ?

 

[sancho]

The Only real contenders for this Deal are the
Euro Fighter(Some ToT + design partner)(Aesa radar included)(Super cruise)

Mig-35(easy integration + Full ToT)(Aesa included + optional trust vectoring)

F/A-18 super hornet (Political gains)(Aesa incuded)[-no ToT][old airframe]

The Dassault Rafale has no Aesa Radar, provides no bonus incentive beyond the fact that its a good plane.
ToT will be limited at best.

License build also out of the question, leaving India Hanging high and dry for spare from a potentially unreliable source.
Finaly getting The Dassault Rafale has little impact on the IAF beyond the actual planes. Whilst the other Conteders can signify a more strategic move by India.

Oh buddy, I think you should try to get some latest infos!

EF no AESA ready before 2013!
Mig 35 delayed, still under development, all techs that it offers are already, or will be soon available to MKI.
Rafale, like sudhir007 mentioned AESA ready, full ToT offered, no problem with licence building, one of the most reliable sources India has, even during the sanctions! The only fighter that can provide the bonus of inducting Kaveri engine, which is important now, because LCA won't get it and without a use all the development costs would be just a waste.
Little impact to IAF and won't be a strategic move? How many aircrafts in the competition can offer the advantage of carrying a nuclear payload?
It is at least the second best in nearly all fields and no other fighter in the competiton provides such good allround capabilities (close combat, a2g, maneuverability, payload, low RCS, defense features, possible carrier aircraft and so on) and not to forget the high opinion that IAF has about French fighters after the great experiences with Mirage 2000!
MMRCA don't have to be a stratigic key changer, cause our main aircraft still will be the MKI! But it has to suit good alongside of it and must complement the disadvantages it offers.

 

[sidharth]

Important development.

HAL testing indigenous Su-30MKI engine

August 19, 2009, (Sawf News) - HAL is currently testing an indigenously manufactured version of the Su-30MKI engine and aims to rollout the first MKI manufactured entirely in India from raw materials by 2010.

Speaking to newsmen at MAKS 2009, HAL Chairman V. Balakrishna said HAL mastered the manufacture of the wing and the tail, last year and plans to start producing the fuselage and raw materials this year.

Manufacture of the engine, the most challenging aspect of indigenization, will be undertaken in the final phase.

"We're currently testing the locally produced engine for the Su-30MKI and are planning to launch its production in 2010," he said.

The IAF has placed an order for 140 Su-30MKIs with HAL. By June 2009, HAL had assembled 42 MKIs.

HAL is progressively moving from assembly of the aircraft from CKD kits to manufacture from raw materials within the country.

HAL hopes to manufacture 60 Su-30MKI fighters in the full production cycle till 2015, says Mr. Balakrishnan.

India purchased 50 Su-30K aircraft from Sukhoi in Russia in 1996 and acquired a license to manufacture an additional 140 fighters at HAL.

In January 2009, India ordered an additional 40 Su-30MKIs from Russia.

Here is a summary of the order.

Total Order: 230
Initial Purchase from Russia: 50
Follow-up order on Russia: 40
Initial order on HAL: 140

 

[sidharth]

India and Russia to formally launch MTA joint venture

August 19, 2009, (Sawf News) - Defense Minister A K Antony's is expected to sign a formal agreement for the launch of a joint venture to develop the MTA during his visit to Moscow in September.

Antony is visiting Moscow for a session of Joint Commission on military- technical cooperation.

Speaking to the media at MAKS 2009 on August 19, HAL General Manager V Balakrishnan said the IAF has projected a requirement for 40 MTAs with options for more, while the Russian Air Force has confirmed a requirement of 100 aircraft.

Details of the project are available at the knoll Multi Role Transport Aircraft (MTA)

 

[ironman]

India’s light combat aircraft to phase out Russian jets​

5 Light Combat Aircrafts costing about $31 million each have already been manufactured by state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited while eight more will be ready by mid-2010
Reuters

New Delhi: India will begin deploying its first locally made supersonic combat aircraft next year and gradually phase out its ageing fleet of Russian fighters, defence officials said on Friday.

Five Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) costing about $31 million each have already been manufactured by state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and are undergoing trials, while eight more will be ready by mid-2010, defence officials said.

“We can say 2012 is key for our air force when we will not only have many LCAs, but by then we should also be able to induct more advanced multi-role fighters in the fleet,” said air force spokesman Wing Commander TK Singha.

India started field trials to buy 126 multi-role fighter jets last week, defence officials said, moving forward on a $10.4 billion deal to modernise the air force.

Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet, France’s Dassault Rafale, Lockheed Martin Corp’s F-16, Russia’s MiG-35, Sweden’s Saab JAS-39 Gripen and the Eurofighter Typhoon, produced by a consortium of European companies, is in the race for the contract, one of the biggest in play.

“So we are looking at a scenario, where we will be able to raise our squadron strength considerably with more power,” Singha said.

India wants to increase its air force squadrons from 34 (612 fighters) at present to 42 (756 fighters) by 2020 with modern aircraft.

Twenty LCAs will be deployed by 2012 and the plan is to manufacture 20 more in coordination with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), a DRDO official said in New Delhi.

“The LCA is now on track and the DRDO is very keen to produce more such aircraft indigenously,” a DRDO spokesman said.

The induction of the LCAs was delayed by years of technical problems that forced scientists to go back to the drawing boards and rework the single-seat fighter’s design and engines.

India’s defence ministry began pushing for the LCA after the country lost nearly 200 Russian-made MiG series aircraft in crashes since 1990, blamed by the air force on manufacturing defects.

India, one of the world’s biggest arms importers, plans to spend more than $30 billion over the next five years to upgrade its largely Soviet-era arsenal to counter potential threats from Pakistan and China.

“The LCA trials are in full swing and they could replace even the MiG 23 and MiG 27 if everything works to plan,” said a defence official, who declined to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

 

[TheWarriorIndian]

Yes, the first LCA squardon will be in Tamil nadu, hurray I can see them..

 

[hack]

If it ever comes up....as long as India depends on state entities to do defense work like DRDO and the GTRE,the weapons systems coming out will always lag in quality.The American model where the work is outsourced to pvt companies is the best model and should be followed.

 

[marcos98]

The Indian Air Force (IAF)'s mainstay heavy weight fighters, the Russian Sukhoi 30MKI aircraft to be upgraded, will undergo two types of upgradation programmes. India Director of the Sukhoi programme, Vitaly A Borodich said during the biennial air show MAKS-2009 in Zhukovsky, near Moscow, that Moscow was looking at an increased participation from New Delhi in the upgrade programme.The joint upgrade will involve the Russian Federation's Irkutsk, and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
One of the upgrades will be the structural modification of the aircraft to have the air version of the Brahmos missile installed on it. Active negotiations are on for Brahmos integration on the aircraft. Sources have indicated that the IAF is looking at around three years to recieve the modified aircraft.

The launcher interface is to be integrated to the aircraft, internal trials to be conducted, before the field evaluation tests of the missile could begin, all of which would take a year or slightly more, and three years for its induction in service.

The air-launched version of the missile for the IAF has taken longer than anticipated. The air to ground missile to be integrated on the Sukhoi-30MKI aircraft of the IAF was to be ready by the end of 2007.

The first test of the missile is likely not before 2010-11.

The second upgrade for the existing fleet of the fighter is called the 'deep upgrade', which includes enhanced combat features, systems and avionics, which would increase the flight performance of the aircraft and the variant of this upgrade would keep the aircraft in service for a longer duration.

The technical negotiations between the IAF and ICDS of Russia, which have been going on for sometime, are likely to conclude in October this year, said Borodich.

The biggest feature of the deep upgrade, is the inclusion of the AESA (active electronically scanned array) radar.But the integration would be in two phases, one with array and one without array. Presently the Sukhoi aircraft uses a passive radar. The upgradation of the radar too has two stages, one of which is modification of the radar system, since it has to be integrated on the aircraft, which is possible by 2015, and the other stage would be installation of the system on the aircraft.

Sukhoi CEO Mikhail Pogosyan had several meetings with the IAF Vice Chief Air Marshal P K Barbora, during the MAKS air show, to sort out the configuration of the upgraded radar on the aircraft as specified by the IAF.

The IAF operates three squadrons of the Sukhoi-30MKI aircraft, and has approximately 60 aircraft in its inventory, all of which would have the upgraded data systems, digital glass cockpit, and other systems on board, after the contract is signed for upgrade.

 

[warlock21]

what abt other aircrafts which are capable to carry brahmos?

 

[duhastmish]

Indian Air Force were left without training aircraft

. Air Force India faced a severe shortage of training aircraft fleet, after flying all the basic training aircraft of the Indian development of HPT-32 Deepak had been suspended after a series of crashes, informs the local edition of Business Standard. No less of a problem with military experience and training of pilots at a higher level as in India and could not be fully set up production of the British training aircraft Hawk.

It clarifies the publication, the blame for the situation lay in the largest Indian aircraft maker Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), while another culprit that full production of aircraft has not yet begun, and consider her British partner - the corporation BAE Systems. It is time to execute pre-contract, under which it was necessary to transfer to the customer production technology, related documentation, components and other components.

It involved the sale of 24 ready-made Hawk 132, and the production license 42 more in the company HAL in Bangalore, India. Issued in the UK aircraft have already been transferred to the buyer, then how to set up assembly of these machines in India is not yet fully succeeded. . Instead of fifteen, to date released only five aircraft.

Recall that in April 2009 the military department of India has announced to hold another tender for the purchase of 56 training aircraft. The invitation to take part in it were an Italian company Alenia Aeronautica aircraft with M346, a South Korean with Korean Aerospace Industries T-50 Golden Eagle, the Czech Aero Vodochody with L-159, and the British BAE Systems with the Hawk. In addition, to participate in the contest may be Russia's two aircraft - the Yak-130 and MiG-AT.

http://74.125.153.132/translate_c?hl=en&sl=ru&u=http://www.lenta.ru/news/2009/09/02/aircrafts/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dlenta%2Bru%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG&rurl=translate.google.co.in&usg=ALkJrhitkmpxt9ssMRztrsyUiYmUIvQzmQ

 

[ironman]

Russian Temptation​

HAL gets its platter full with several co-development projects
By Prasun K. Sengupta

Russia’s 8th international air show — MAKS 2009 — held in the suburb of Zhukovsky near Moscow between August 18 and 23, hosted a total of 711 companies from 34 countries, including 436 Russian firms, of which 120 exhibited their milirary products and services. Prominent Indian exhibitors at MAKS 2009 were BrahMos Aerospace (exhibiting a full-scale mock-up of the air-launched BrahMos multi-role supersonic cruise missile), and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL). Contrary to the intense pre-show hype about Russia lifting the curtains off its long-awaited 22.5-tonne PAK-FA fifth-generation multi-role combat aircraft and the first definitive MiG-35UBK tandem-seat prototype (from United Aircraft Corp’s Nizhny Novgorod-based Sokol Aircraft Factory), no such event eventually took place. Instead, what was showcased were a smaller number of new-generation precision-guided munitions (PGM), and avionics for the PAK-FA and its 16.5-tonne variant, the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA).

That Russia’s aviation-related military-industrial infrastructure is still unable to overcome the R&D challenges associated with the development of both the PAK-FA and the FGFA was evidenced by the disclosure from the Commander of the Russian Air Force, Col Gen. Alexander Zelin. The Commander said that the AL-41 turbofan, originally meant to power both these futuristic combat aircraft, will not be available in time for powering the prototypes of these two aircraft. Instead, an uprated AL-31FP turbofan developed by NPO Saturn will be used for the PAK-FA’s initial flight-tests, due to get underway by early next year. However, when it comes to FGFA, which is to be co-developed by HAL, Sukhoi Experimental Aircraft Design Bureau and United Aircraft Corp, the uprated AL-31FP will be the definitive powerplant. It also emerged from the expo that, contrary to India’s expectations, only 30 per cent of the fuselage of the FGFA and even the definitive MiG-35 will incorporate composite materials (the Indian Navy’s MiG-29K/KUB shipborne multi-role combat aircraft also incorporate this same percentage of composites). HAL on the other hand wants this quantum to increase to more than 65 per cent.

Despite the disappointment, HAL remained extremely optimistic of not only the FGFA co-development project, but also about two other projects—one for co-developing the multi-role transport aircraft (MRTA), and the other for co-developing a 12-tonne multi-role utility helicopter (MUH). It is believed that by this November, both India and Russia will officially unveil a joint venture manufacturing company that will develop and series-produce the FGFA, the MRTA and the MUH. All in all, therefore, the future of India-Russia military-industrial cooperation remains extremely bright and mutually rewarding to say the least. On August 21 at Zhukovsky, Rosoboronexport State Corp and HAL inked a contract for the delivery of an initial 26 Klimov RD-33 series 3 turbofans for the to-be-upgraded MiG-29B-12s of the Indian Air Force (IAF). The RD-33 series 3, which can also be retrofitted with KLIWT thrust-vectoring nozzles, will provide greatly enhanced reliability, plus superior manoeuvrability to greatly improve the MiG-29’s performance in close air engagements. In 2005, Rosoboronexport signed a US$250 million contract with India to provide 126 RD-33 series 3 turbofans for the IAF’s 67 remaining MiG-29s. According to the terms of the contract, HAL will licence-assemble 120 RD-33 series 3s at its Koraput-based facility. The very same turbofan will also power the MiG-35 that is being offered for the IAF’s on-going competition for selecting a fourth-generation medium multi-role combat aircraft. Before the year’s end, two tandem-seat MiG-35s will be made available to the IAF for in-country flight evaluations, and for live-firing of PGMs at a Russian weapons firing range at Akhtubinsk.

Rosoboronexport State Corp has also decided to offer the IAF with a new range of PGMs for not only the MiG-35, but also for the IAF’s existing Su-30MKIs and to-be-upgraded MiG-29s. To this end, Russia’s Tactical Missile Weapons Corp JSC has developed three new types of PGMs. The Kh-35UE air-launched anti-ship cruise missile comes fitted with a new smaller turbojet to provide additional fuel space. The subsonic missile’s intake design has also been revised. The maximum range has been extended to 260km (162.5 miles). The missile also comes fitted with a dual-mode seeker, providing both active-radar guidance and passive homing. Other PGMs being offered include the Kh-58Ush long-range anti-radiation missile, the Kh-36 short-range anti-radiation missile, and the multi-role Kh-38 supersonic missile. However, missing from this line-up at MAKS 2009 were the new-generation within-visual-range and beyond-visual-range air combat missiles that are being developed by two traditional rivals—Vympel JSC and Novator JSC. By late next year, Vympel expects to complete all R&D work on the Izdeliye 760 air combat missile, which is a significantly upgraded variant of the existing of the R-73E air combat missile. The Izdeliye 760, also known as R-73M2, will come fitted with an inertial flight-control system and course correction receiver, improved rocket engine and a new-generation multi-mode and imaging infra-red (IIR) seeker. This will be followed in 2013 by the new-generation K-MD within-visual-range air combat missile (called the Izdeliye 300) that will also feature a target discriminating IIR seeker whose lock-on range will be twice more than that of the Izdeliye 760. A new adaptive warhead with laser proximity fuzing will be used, with the missile’s flight-control to be achieved through aerodynamic surfaces and a thrust-vectoring engine nozzle. Vympel has also begun a multi-phase upgrade of its existing medium-range R-77 (Izdeliye 170) and its export variant, the RVV-AE (Izdeliye 190). The upgraded R-77-1 (Izdeliye 170-1) is now undergoing flight qualification trials. Additionally, the R-77M (Izdeliye 180) variant of the missile is being developed. This missile will replace the Izdeliye 190’s latticework fins by more common flat aerodynamic control planes. This in turn will reduce aerodynamic drag and reduce the missile’s radar cross-section. The R-77M will be fitted with a phased-array active radar seeker and new double-pulse solid-propellant rocket to give an engagement range 3.5 times more than the existing Izdeliye 170 (R-77), depending on the launch altitude. Yet another medium-range air-to-air missile as a follow-on to the Izdeliye 180 also is in development and this will feature ramjets similar to those on the MBDA-developed Meteor BVRAAM. Presently, Russia is the only country developing long-range air-to-air missiles capable of engaging targets at distances up to 400km. Two such missiles--the Izdeliye 172 (K-100) from Novator and the Izdeliye 810 from Vympel--are presently competing against one another to go on board the PAK-FA and FGFA.

One Russian company that was having the last laugh at MAKS 2009 was the V Tikhmirov Scientific-Research Institute of Instrument Design, This highly reputable airborne radar manufacturer, which had developed the NO-11M ‘Bars’ passive phased-array radar for the IAF’s Su-30MKI, is still unable to figure out why exactly the Indian Navy ordered the Phazotron JSC-built Zhuk-ME X-band multi-mode radar (with slotted-array antenna) and why the IAF followed suit in selecting the very same radar for its to-be-upgraded MiG-29s, especially when the more advanced and capable ‘Bars 29’ passive phased-array radar (a smaller derivative of the one on board the Su-30MKI) was available since 2005. Both variants of the ‘Bars’ are now being series-produced by the Ryazan Instrument-Making Plant Federal State Unitary Enterprise. Incidentally, V Tikhmirov Scientific-Research Institute of Instrument Design also showcased for the first time its range of active phased-array radars comprising an X-band nose-mounted AESA, plus wing leading-edge-mounted L-band and S-band AESAs, all of which are destined to go on board both the PAK-FA and FGFA, and will also be offered for the mid-life upgrades of existing Su-35BMs, Su-30MKIs and Su-30MK2s. Another radar displayed at MAKS 2009 was the X-band IRBIS-E PESA radar, which can detect combat aircraft-sized airborne targets out to a distance of 400km, can detect 30 targets and engage the eight most threatening ones simultaneously, and most significantly, can do terrain mapping when operating in the synthetic aperture (SAR) mode with a resolution of less than 1 metre, thanks to the utilisation of real-beam and Doppler beam-sharpening operating techniques.

Phazotron JSC showcased its Zhuk-AE AESA (containing 680 X-band transmit/receive modules), which is being offered on board the MiG-35. The company claims that it can detect warships out to 250km, and can detect airborne targets out to to 130km head-on in both look-up or look-down modes, and out to 50km when operating in the look-up tail-on mode. Up to 30 airborne targets can be monitored in the track-while-scan mode, and six of them can be engaged simultaneously with air combat missiles.

 

[INDIAISM]

wow it looks like india will be the only country in the world
which will be introducing three different platform of aircraft
at the same time
LCA TEJAS MK2 4.5TH GEN expected 2014 DRDO(2015-2016 public)
MRCA 4.75 GEN 2013-2014
FGFA 5TH GEN 2016-2017

 

[peace123]

wow it looks like india will be the only country in the world
which will be introducing three different platform of aircraft
at the same time
LCA TEJAS MK2 4.5TH GEN expected 2014 DRDO(2015-2016 public)
MRCA 4.75 GEN 2013-2014
FGFA 5TH GEN 2016-2017

and don't forget mki which will go for heavy updates in 2012 with new aesa, smart skin, new weapons from pak-fa, active electronically scanned transmit/receive arrays on the aircraft’s wings, defensive-aids suite by installing a combined radar/laser warning system and a new missile approach warning system

 

[Born In The USA]

Tezpur air base to field full Sukhoi-30MKI squadron by Oct.

Shillong: The Indian Air Force station at Tezpur in the eastern state of Assam, tasked with keeping an eye on the hostile Arunachal Pradesh frontier bordering China-occupied Tibet will boast of a full complement of Sukhoi-30 MKIs by October this year.

The infrastructure of the airbase has been upgraded said air force officials. According to air officer commanding-in-chief of the Eastern Air Command, Air Marshal SK Bhan, "the up-gradation work at the air base has been completed and a full complement of the fighter jets would be deployed at the base by October."

"Su-30s have operated from the air base when the planes were formally inducted in the base on15 June," Air Marshal Bhan said.

He declined to quantify the number of squadrons of these state-of-the art Sukhoi jets the air force was likely to deploy in the north east, saying the number was dependent on the air force's assessment.

http://www.domain-b.com/defence/air_space/iaf/20090914_indian_air.html

 

[R.A.W.]

LEH: For the first time-ever, the Indian Air Force today landed an AN-32 transport aircraft at the Nyoma Advanced Landing Ground in eastern
Ladakh, just 23 km from the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.

The touchdown by the medium lift transport aircraft signifies India's capability to move its troops quickly to the forward areas, whenever required.

The IAF move comes in the wake of reports of recent Chinese intrusions into the Indian side of the LAC, including airspace violations by their helicopters and painting Mandarin letters on rocks in red.

The AN-32 aircraft, flown by Shaurya Chakra awardee Group Captain S C Chafekar and carrying Western Air Command (WAC) chief Air Marshal N A K Browne and Northern Army Commander Lt Gen P C Bhardwarj, landed at Nyoma at 0625 hours, WAC spokesperson Flt Lt Priya Joshi said in New Delhi.

Nyoma ALG is situated at an altitude of 13,300 feet above sea level and is the third such ALG opened by IAF in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir in the last two years.

The ALGs opened earlier were Daulat Beg Oldi, the world's highest airfield at 16,200 feet, in May last year and Fuk Che in November that year.

The IAF had, before this AN-32 landing, used Nyoma airstrip only for helicopter operations. Only recently, the IAF took up work to convert it into an ALG for transport fixed-wing aircraft operations by laying a compacted airstrip, IAF officials said.

"After deliberating on all aspects and carrying out aerial and ground reccees, it was concluded that Nyoma could be developed for fixed wing operations as well," Joshi said.

An Engineer Regiment of the Army's 14 Corps executed the task of developing the ALG to standards required for fixed wing operations.

"The successful landing of a fixed wing aircraft at Nyoma marks the culmination of joint effort by the IAF and Army to enable the IAF to operate in the inhospitable terrain of Leh-Ladakh region in support of the Army," she said.

"The joint development of Nyoma, braving the extremely difficult working conditions and hostile weather, is yet another step towards enhanced jointmanship between the two services," she added.

Joshi said Nyoma was developed with an aim to connect the remote areas of Ladakh region to the mainland.

"This would also ensure that movements in the area continue when the road traffic gets affected, during the harsh winters besides enabling improved communication network in the region, facilitating economical ferrying of supplies as well as promotion of tourism to the general area," she added.

IAF opens new airstrip in Ladakh nearer to China border - India - NEWS - The Times of India