Arthur C Clarke’s HAL had an Indian master as well, Ken..:P

Really ? I only seen the movies was that the guy Dr. Chandra who appears in 2010 ?

1962 war hero Hercules to make a comeback

Almost 50 years after an earlier version of the military transport aircraft provided a crucial air bridge to transport troops and equipment to the Chinese frontier during the Sino-Indian war, the hardy ‘Hercules’ is making a comeback to India. The Indian Air Force (IAF) is set to get the first of its six C 130 J Super Hercules on order from the US in February 2011, in time for the Aero India air show and two months ahead of the scheduled delivery.
While the new ‘Special Operations’ Hercules that the IAF is getting is several generations ahead of its illustrious predecessor that airlifted several thousand troops that were desperately needed along the entire Chinese border from Ladakh down to the North-East, the stubby-nosed aircraft holds a special place in the military history of the nation.

The year was 1962 and the Chinese invasion was on in full swing when the government realised that it was woefully short of transport aircraft that could carry troops and military equipment to difficult airstrips along the Chinese border. The ties with the US were on a historic high and a request for help by PM Jawaharlal Nehru to President John Kennedy yielded a 12 aircraft detachment of the Hercules for operations in Ladakh and the North-East.

The mainstay of the IAF transport fleet was the Russian AN 12 four-engined aircraft, a sturdier, faster aircraft than the Hercules. But the IAF was finding it difficult to transport heavy loads and personnel to the short Leh airfield located at an altitude of 10,500 feet. The unpressurised AN 12 was also unsuitable to fly in troops to the high- altitude airbase.

Over a nine-month period, the 12 aircraft Hercules detachment brought in thousands of troops to the Chinese frontier, flying regular missions to Ladakh as well as airstrips in the North-East on the Arunachal Pradesh border. In one mission, an aircraft flew out 104 Tibetan orphans whose parents had been killed during the border clash from Leh to South India.

While the lessons learnt during the war helped India in planning out its aircraft acquisition over the next few years, the Hercules never returned as ties with the US steadily deteriorated and India became dependant on Russian imports. Things changed after the new-found bonhomie between the nations that paved the way for a $ 1 billion contract that was inked in 2008 for six ‘special operations’ version of the new C 130 J ‘Super Hercules’.

The new aircraft is very different from its predecessor. It is equipped with a Forward Looking Infra Red, Heads Up Display and navigational aids, that enables operations in low visibility conditions, through fog, clouds and dust storms. The aircraft on order are also designed to land and take off from an airstrip in pitch dark without using external lights.

The initial order is for six aircraft but Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer, is in talks with the IAF for six more. “We have been in discussion (with the government) and hope to see a follow on order for another six aircraft,” said Orville Prins, Senior Vice President, Business Development, India for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics.

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Always been impressed with the running of the JF 17 program, whatever some other users may think. I am waiting for the PAC lines pics as well.

Testing times ahead for HAL

The Russian designers stared transfixed at the monitor as the model of India’s Sitara Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT) went into a spin, rotating like a fan uncontrollably. Despite every attempt to straighten it out with the aircraft controls, the Sitara kept spinning. If this had been a real flight, rather than just a “spin tunnel” test in Russia, both pilots in the Sitara would have died as the uncontrollable trainer smashed into the ground.

Instead, Indian designers at the Aircraft R&D Centre (ARDC) in Bangalore — which is designing and testing the Sitara — have tweaked the Sitara’s aerodynamics until it has passed the “spin tunnel” test.

But now, Chief Test Pilot Baldev Singh has to actually test-fly the Sitara, deliberately throwing the trainer into a hair-raising spin and then coaxing it into level flight again.
Only after that can the Indian Air Force use the Sitara to teach rookie pilots the vital skills needed to recover an aircraft from a spin. During training, IAF instructors will put the IJT into a spin and then hand over controls to the trainee, allowing him or her to stabilise the aircraft.

These are literally testing times at the ARDC, a unit of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, which is preparing for several risky test flights that will determine the success or failure of its key projects.

Although the Sitara has cleared the “spin tunnel” test in Russia, that is no guarantee that the Sitara will recover from its first real life spin. Therefore, to minimise the risk to the test pilot, a special parachute is being fitted on the aircraft’s tail, which the pilot opens if he is unable to recover from a spin. Acting as an aerodynamic drag, the parachute retards the spin, allowing the pilot to recover control.

“There are always uncertainties in testing something for the first time”, explains HRS Prasad, the general manager of ARDC. “So we make doubly sure there is a system that will enable (the pilot) to recover from a potentially disastrous situation. But we are confident of demonstrating that the Sitara can recover from a spin… that is a basic requirement for a trainer.”

Even more dangerous are the flight tests ahead for the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), to demonstrate its ability to handle higher angles of attack, or Alpha, as the designers call it. Simply put, a flying aircraft’s angle of attack is the angle it makes, nose to tail, with the horizontal. A high Alpha provides several benefits to a fighter, especially letting it fly slower to land on shorter runways.

The Tejas has currently tested an Alpha of just 22-24 degrees, and will go up gradually to 28 degrees. But flying a higher Alpha risks stalling the fighter; its engine could go off (or flame out, as pilots call it) leaving the Tejas, without propulsion power, or electrical and hydraulic power for its fly-by-wire controls, to fall out of the sky like a stone.

To guard against that, the ARDC is fitting a test Tejas with a fast-response power pack that US company, Honeywell, manufactures for such flight-testing. Within milliseconds of the Tejas main engine going off, the hydrogen-operated power pack starts up, providing power to the fighter’s hydraulic and electrical systems, and re-lighting the main engine.

“In flying a single-engine aircraft, there is no bigger emergency than a flame-out”, says a former Tejas test pilot. “But no fighter engine should flame out at just 28 degrees Alpha. However, the Tejas air intakes have not been well designed and, as the Alpha increases, the intakes constrict the airflow, and the engine dies for want of air.”

In contrast to the Tejas’ maximum Alpha of 28 degrees, India’s Sukhoi-30MKI can comfortably handle an Alpha of over 50 degrees. The US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet can manage an Alpha of 58 degrees.

The Tejas flight test programme, India’s first such testing process, has been controversial, with critics charging that the slow speed of testing has delayed the Tejas’ induction into service. On the positive side, the Tejas testing has given birth to the National Flight Test Centre (NFTC), a test facility that is of global standard. The Aeronautics Development Agency (ADA), which oversees the Tejas’ development, has now engaged European aerospace giant, EADS, to advise on how to speed up testing.

“We have to proceed cautiously”, the Tejas programme director, PS Subramaniam told Business Standard, while witnessing a test last year. “We have managed to come so far without a single mishap. An accident would seriously damage the credibility of the Tejas programme.”

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May be some one can write to SAAB (Sign or Signatory perhaps) to ask them about the criteria under which they determine the operational costs.

US offers top-of-line weapons to India

NEW DELHI: As India inches closer to finalising the purchase of 126 fighter aircraft, the US has offered India top of the line defence weapon systems.

The Pentagon has said that three agreements that are currently being negotiated between India and the US would allow the country to share key American technologies. “Pentagon is working with India to put three foundational agreements in place with New Delhi that would allow American frontline technologies to be shared with the country,” top Pentagon official Michele Flournoy was quoted as saying.

Her comments come as India is in the final stages of finalising the $10 billion deal to buy 126 fighter aircrafts. US companies Boeing with its F-18 super hornet and Lockheed Martin with its F-16 fighting Falcons are among the bidders for the contract. Making a strong pitch for awarding of the contract to the US companies, Pentagon official Michele Flournoy pushed for US solutions for India’s defence needs” and said India should opt for American fighter jets as it would pave the way for “more effective protection of mutual security interest in the future” .

“Today, two American companies are among the leading competitors for the $10 billion sale of 126 advanced fighter aircraft to the Indian Air Force, currently the world’s biggest defence tender. And we are also looking at future defence sales of the C-17 , as another example of near-term defence cooperation,” she said. The Pentagon official also emphasised that the US looked at defence sales as strategic decisions . “I want to underscore though that we in the Department of Defence do not view defence sales as mere commercial transactions… We understand that India is making a strategic as well as an economic choice when it makes defence acquisitions,” she said.

“Obviously the commercial benefits of defence sales to the US economy can’t be denied. But from a DOD perspective , these sales are even more important in building a strategic partnership that will allow both countries to cooperate more effectively, to protect their mutual security interests in the future,” Ms Flournoy said.

The Pentagon official not only held out the promise of top of the line technology but also revealed that the US is making export control reforms a key priority. “ We see streamlining and modernising of export control system as a national security priority and one that directly affects our ability to build and sustain these key partnerships” .

She further said that US would continue to work with India on countering the spread of WMD, maritime cooperation and identifying new technologies to combat the threat. She noted that US arms sales to India were increasing and pointed out the recent purchase by New Delhi of C-130 J Hercules Transport Aircraft, P-81 Maritime Reconnaissance Aircraft and the proposed sale of heavy-lift C-17 Aircraft.

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