BlackArcherNew video on the occasion of the IAF’s 76th anniversary..has some rare footage like that of an An-32 dropping bombs from its cargo bay.
BlackArcherWith reference to when the commercial bids will be opened, the Deccan Herald contains an article saying that the opening “is likely to be delayed till November or early December as the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is bogged down by some clearances it is required to obtain.”
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/194381/delay-likely-aircraft-bidding-process.html
The article states that according to sources in the MOD the bids expire at the end of 2011. There is no chance that would be allowed to happen, is there? Surely some agency would step in to cut through the red tape and fast track things to ensure that the bids did not expire.
I’m pretty sure that the US Govt. is working very actively behind the scenes to try and have this postponed in the hopes of somehow scuttling the short-listing and having the Super Hornet somehow brought back into contention.
BlackArcherIndian AF: wanted Viggen, US said no.
Slight difference here- the Viggen was evaluated as part of a competition and the US refusal to let the JT8D engine basically scuttled it’s chances. It’s not like the IAF had already chosen the Viggen and hence “wanted” it. the Jaguar was revealed to be the IAF’s first choice from the very beginning in an article by a senior IAF officer who flew them.
BlackArcherIAF to induct the Mi-17V5 into service by mid-October.
Augmenting its chopper fleet, the Indian Air Force will induct the first batch of Russian-origin Mi-17 V5 helicopters by mid-October.
India had in 2008 signed a deal with Russia to induct 80 Mi-17 V5 helicopters for strengthening its chopper fleet for humanitarian and disaster relief missions and transport operations.
“We are going to induct the first batch of Mi-17 V5s from Russia by the second week of the month, and by March next year we will have 26 of them,” an IAF official told PTI in New Delhi.
They said one of the first few helicopters would be sent to the northeast sector and will be deployed at the Bagdogra air base under the 156 helicopter Unit.
The compliment of all 80 helicopters is likely to be inducted by late 2013 or early 2014, IAF sources said.The IAF is also looking to induct another 59 such choppers to replace the older Mi-17 variants and the Mi-8 choppers.
The IAF chopper fleet has also been augmented by the induction of around 19 Mi-17 IVs which were operating in the UN missions in Congo and Sudan.
“These missions have been closed and the choppers flown back from there have been provided to units located in central and eastern parts of the country,” they said.
The Mi-35 attack helicopters, which were also part of the UN operations, have been deployed in the desert sector and an attack helicopter squadron has been revived at the Suratgarh air base.
BlackArcherIAF to order 6 more C-130J’s..this was expected, but glad to see it happen so soon. This’ll be another example of the IAF buying a smaller number of airplanes initially and then increasing the order size after assessing the performance in service.
…
Browne said that the sixth and last of the aircraft was due in India in the first half of November, and the government had already approved the acquisition of another six aircraft. ..Discussions with the US Government and the company for the new batch were on, and he expected the order to be signed by January 2012, or in about three months from now. “We are very satisfied with the aircraft’s performance,” he observed.
It may be noted that the government asked the IAF to provide relief to the Sikkim earthquake victims immediately after the disaster, and IAF pressed the C-130Js into service for the first time. Within the first couple of days, IAF airlifted lifted 188.75 tonnes of equipment, 735 personnel, including 20.48 tons of food, 6 tons of medicines, 8.5 tonnes of fuel and about 51.81 tonnes of relief material. Thirty-six casualties were also evacuated.
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BlackArcherJaguar re-engine deal is nearing a possible FMS deal soon and the deal for the new WVR missile for the Jaguar fleet is also nearing a selection..
BlackArcherRafale in switzerland :
Hi Eagle1, any chance you could post the article with the Eurofighter and Gripen offers as well ? Thanks !
BlackArcherQuestion to ask if India ever requested Australia to invest anything in the AMCA. As things stand, India doesn’t need a partner to invest money in the program- if they need anything, it’ll probably be a technological partner in the form of a company, not a country. Besides which, Australia has a long-term history of US purchases, and a high profile purchase like a 5th gen fighter would hardly be made without considering such things.
Regardless of the bull**** that one particular poster with a serious itch writes, the AMCA is a serious program for the IAF and ADA/HAL. There is a lot of knowledge and experience that they’ve gained from the Tejas which will be lost if there is no follow-on program. It gives the IAF the chance to set the requirements from the ground up, which didn’t happen on the PAK-FA. There is much more to gain from this program for the indigenous industry in terms of actual technology investment and development than any MRCA ToT package. If they leverage those MRCA technologies, well and good, they’d have paid for it.
And they have the money to invest on it, unlike some Western country that is now selling out a large bunch of what they have to sustain a miniscule force. Talk about bad times for them. :rolleyes:
BlackArchernice video
BlackArcherThe SMT upgrade is definitely required if the MiG-29 is to be kept operational till 2030..without that its avionics, self-protection systems, cockpit, weapons and radar will be outdated even by 2020..not to mention that it may not be able to fly that long without a program to increase its fatigue life.
BlackArcherIAF’s 5th C-130J on its way to India, being delivered ahead of schedule..really refreshing to read about some defence article being supplied ahead of schedule !
MARIETTA, Ga. , Sept. 08, 2011 – The fifth of six C-130J Super Hercules on order for the Indian Air Force has departed the Lockheed Martin facility in Marietta. This aircraft, like its predecessors, was delivered well ahead of schedule and is now en route to Air Force Station Hindan in India. India’s sixth C-130J will be delivered in October.
BlackArcherIsn’t the US Navy buying the F-35 on the basis that a single-engined aircraft is as safe as a twin?
and yet the USN’s F/A-18 has a demonstrated lower attrition rate than the F-16 operated by the USAF. It may well be so that modern turbofans are more reliable than those on the F-16, but twin engined fighters tend to have a better attrition rate and generally aren’t lost if there is an engine emergency.
BlackArcherMi-17-V5’s set to arrive in India in the next 2 weeks
New Delhi, August 30
A more powerful and versatile variant of the Mi-17 military chopper is slated to arrive from Russia in 2-3 weeks to beef up the Indian Air Force fleet. It will be based in Punjab.Sources confirmed that the first lot of the latest Mi-17-V5 is to arrive in the next couple of weeks and will be stationed at a major airbase in the southern part of Punjab. The location has been chosen with care to cater to surrounding areas.
Originally, the first lot of Mi-17-V5 was expected arrive in March. These are part of the 80 choppers India ordered from Russia in 2008 by signing a contract with Rosoboronexport, the state arms exporter. According to the Indian Ministry of Defence, the deal is worth $1.35 billion (Rs 6,000 crore).
The IAF aims to utilise the Mi-17-V5 helicopters for special heli-borne operations, air-maintenance, transportation of troops and equipment, search and rescue, casualty evacuation and in armed helicopter roles.
For long, Mi-17 chopper variants have been used by para-commandos of the Army and also the Special Operations Group of the NSG. The latest variant will be able to drop 25 troops in one go and from multiple on-board exit points.
At present, the Mi-17-IV version of the chopper is the latest variant in the IAF fleet. The last lot was inducted between 2000 and 2004. The IAF has been operating various types on ‘Mi’ series choppers in the past 40 years. This includes the famous heli-borne operations to drop guns and troops in East Pakistan and also its use during the initial stages of the Kargil war in 1999. The chopper is considered a workhorse in the far-flung areas of Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh in the Himalayas.
….The new variant will have the ability to allow the pilots to start the engines at altitudes of 6,000 m (about 21,000 ft) thus helping in servicing various high-altitude posts in the Himalayas. Each of the two engines can generate 2,200 hp of power. This is a significant improvement over the previous version which has two engines of 1,950 hp each.
BlackArcherHAL launched LCA programme in 1983.
The first TD plane of LCA came out of the factory in 1995.
The first Prototype of LCA made its maiden flight in 2003.
IAF declared the IOC for LCA Tejas on Jan. 10, 2011.
What is your definition of 17 years from start of project to IOC ??
Has HAL begun to build the TD plane or the prototype for AMCA right now ??
wrong timlines-in 1983, ADA didn’t even exist (which BTW is the agency that designed the LCA, not HAL as you wrongly claim) so how on earth could the project have been considered to have begun when the nodal agency didn’t exist?
the feasibility study (which most would agree doesn’t happen AFTER a project has started) was on-going from 1983 to 1985 or so and the final airplane definition was not frozen till 1988 or so. It was the PDP phase that then followed and Full-scale Tech Demo phase started AFTER 1991. Then followed a national fiscal budget crunch which led to funding issues which put the program on hold for a year or so.
Besides, there was no infrastructure nor any experience building or designing or testing a fighter before that. HF-24 Marut was primitive compared to the Tejas, and hardly any experience had lingered on since that program ended 20 years earlier with no follow-on work.
Now, ADA and HAL have a lot more experience and consequently the AMCA shouldn’t take the amount of time that the Tejas took.
BlackArcherEquadorian AF responds to the article by Associated Press of Pakistan that made certain claims about the HAL Dhruv
15:20 the Ecuadorian Air Force, FAE, is not in agreement with the version that the Pakistani Agency of Press gave on the Dhruv helicopters that Ecuador bought India.According to that version, the FAE would have sent a message to the Indian government saying to him that it was thinking not to buy more helicopters by his high price and evil yield. One of this Dhruv already suffered an accident.
In a letter to this means, the commander-in-chief of the FAE, Leonardo Barreiro Muñoz, says that these helicopters are very good and that thanks to it important rescue operations have been realised.
According to Barreiro, the good quality of the Dhruv is demonstrated in “that these airships have flown more than 2700 hours and several of their pilots are operating them in almost permanent form, some is flying instructors and credits 1000 flight hours, only in this equipment”.
The paquistaní agency said that India was receiving much more by the repair of a system that has these apparatuses that what the manufacturer of the United States receives.
“It is important to stand out that it has been possible to save lives of civilian and military personnel on board these helicopters. With these facts the asserted thing by the APP is weakened (Agency Paquistaní de Prensa), with respect to some “deception” of the referred airships”, says Barreiro.The commander of the FAE says in his letter that “is to us praiseworthy to communicate as people in charge of the operation of the Dhruv helicopters and therefore source to him intelligence officer, that thanks to the grant of six helicopters we have been able to fulfill of exact way: missions of rescue, aerial transport, aeromedical evacuations in support of the community and endorsement of our soldiers who are unfolded in the North border”.
Retort: Order of Juan Cortez T., president of Sumil a.c., represents in Ecuador de Hindustan Aeronautics
I allow myself to direct the present communication to him to express my nonconformity and annoyance to him by the data appeared in comercio.com with reference to the helicopters DHRUV, made in India, that come being used with total satisfaction on the part of Mr. President of the Republic and by the Air Force of Ecuador.
The article mentions to have as information base an agency of the news of Pakistan, situation that of no way deserves considering him a conceivable and certain base. On the contrary it contains a series of false affirmations that it only intends to also discredit to a company of the great international prestige and to the Ecuadorian authorities.
It surprises to me that a newspaper of the newspaper trajectory the Commerce can reproduce, without verification of no class, unfounded information, without responsibility company/signature and who knows whereupon intentions.I have the conviction that behind this is a turbid intention impelled by people interested exclusively in causing damage and discrediting good reputation the company HAL and his product, helicopter DHRUV, and the institutions of the Ecuadorian state.
I ask for you very warmly to give space in its newspaper to this note of reclamation, and in addition I solicit uses you to initiate the pertinent investigations to clarify the aspects related to the case.
With the most kind greetings,
Dr. Juan Cortez T.
President SUMIL a.c.
Representative in Ecuador de HINDUSTAN AERONAUTICS LTD.Note of the writing. Our information was based on the paquistaní agency of press Asociated Press of Pakistan.
I think it safely puts an end to the claims that were clearly motivated by “extraneous” factors.
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