from what’s been said, it is the India’s officials that want Dassault to be responsible for any potential defect that may result from HAL’s production… even if it’s entirely HAL’s fault..

That is a highly distorted representation of what is being proposed. Cue back to BAE Hawk spares fiasco, when US ambassador visited HAL’s facility in 2009, he used the reports (slightly incorrect) from the BAE stable in which BAE blamed everything on HAL, which being the downstream vendor and having the maintenance contracts had to use components from the new kits to keep older Hawks flying. In 2010 BAE got penalised for not sticking to spares delivery schedule. In 2011 when wikileaks cables were released, BAE’s story was covered in international aviation magazines while neglecting the follow up events in the case. The current negotiations are aimed at tying the ultimate delivery with upstream liabilities, ei in case an upstream vendor delays transferring a certain technology/components which eventually results in delay in delivery schedule/shortage of availability rates, the liquidated damages on the finished product shall not be imposed on downstream vendor but rather on the upstream vendor on the product value rather than the component value. So looking back at the BAE hawk example, had the deal been made under these rules, BAE would be fined for delay in delivery of spares as well as the penalties pertaining to the downtime/non adherence to maintenance clauses.

India developing guided bombs for fighter jets
PTI : New Delhi, Sun Jun 02 2013, 11:25 hrs

By the end of next year, Indian fighter planes could be equipped with indigenously-developed ‘glide bombs’, which will be guided to their targets for precision attacks.
The first-of-its-kind bomb in the country, being developed by the DRDO, will boost India’s strike capabilities as targets can be hit even beyond the range of a fighter aircraft.

The DRDO is working on developing glide capabilities on the existing bombs of various payloads including 100 kgs, 250 kgs and 500 kgs.

“We are developing glide bombs which can be directed towards their intended targets using guidance mechanisms after being dropped from aircraft of the IAF,” outgoing DRDO chief V K Saraswat said.

The DRDO has already carried out two trials of such bombs successfully and plans to hold more trials this year for proving the capabilities of the ammunition.

“By the end of the next year, we want to complete all the development trials of the glide bombs before offering it to the IAF,” he said.

The outgoing DRDO chief said the organisation is also in the process of developing an anti-radiation missile, which will multiply the strike capabilities of the armed forces by destroying the enemy’s advance warning system.

On the joint venture programmes to develop Medium-range Surface to Air Missile (MR-SAM) and Long-range SAM (LR-SAM) with Israel, he said the programme has been delayed by two years due to some technological problems.

India and Israel have formed a joint venture under which the IAF and the Navy would get these missile systems.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/india-developing-guided-bombs-for-fighter-jets/1123980/0

Any idea when the State trials would begin testing weapons?

I think i saw some picture/graphic on ESTIMATED weapons loadout (Maybe on this forum or maybe elsewhere)..hence i asked

Are you referring to this fan art ?

the best squadron is UN Squadron

What are they ? carnivorous unicorns ?

It was reported that a shore based training facility was being constructed at INS Hansa to train pilots for STOBAR operations. Seems like some parts of it were captured on video reports.

Did a google earth check, it sort of matches with Vikramaditya deck length. Couldn’t find any other ramp like structures so this must be it.

The landing patch seems to be aligned with the take off deck instead of being angled to it. I suppose it is built only for basic carrier flight operations training and the rest would be done on the carrier.

Part 1 of 2 of NDTV’s mini documentary on 60 years of naval aviation (Hindi only). Contains good footage of harriers and a bit of MiG-29K as well.

http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/ndtv-special-ndtv-india/video-story/274617
(an interesting tidbit, the pilot says that there are only 8 weapon hardpoints and centerline pylon carries only fuel)

Or click this report for just MiG-29K (Hindi) http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/news/29k/274539?vod-related

Ka-31 Walkaround

Sea King Walkaround.

How do the three airframes destined for India fit into this?

Probably made by HAL.