BlackArcherFrom a FlightGlobal article
The air force expects to receive all 272 Su-30MKI’s on order from Hindustan Aeronautics by 2020, forming 13 operational squadrons of the type. The 150th Su-30MKI manufactured by HAL (SB 190) was delivered in January. Poor serviceability continues to plague the fleet, with aircraft availability below 60-65% fleet-wide in the air force. Each aircraft is expected to complete 240 flying hours per year, although at present less than half this number is being achieved.
At 120 hours per year for each aircraft, and with ~200 Su-30MKIs in service (so that 272 would all be supplied by 2020, at the rate of 15 per year) that gives nearly 24,000 hours for the Su-30MKI fleet in the past year. In 15 years, the number would have comfortably exceeded 1,00,000 hours for the type even when one accounts for 15 fewer airframes each preceding year. Clearly, attrition is hardly an issue with this type, as much as the village idiot would like to make it sound like it is.
BlackArcherThanks for the correction Yama. My point of 6 per 100,000 still remains valid though. Even more so the fact IAF never saw any combat with the SU-30
and where did you get the figure of 1,00,000 flight hours for the period of 15 odd years that the Su-30MKI fleet has been operational? Pulled that one out of your rear as well?
BlackArcherMy piece on the Rafale deal which now seems almost through …
Vishnu, have you heard anything on a possible second batch of Rafales since the IAF was looking for at least 4 squadrons of Rafale fighters?
BlackArcherBlackArcherBlackArcherBlackArcherFWIW
Rafale deal- DAC happy with progress in negotiations
New Delhi, Sep 1 (PTI) Signaling that the deadlock in talks over the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets has been resolved, the Defence Acquisition Council today expressed satisfaction at the progress made and asked the Indian negotiating team to “go ahead” regarding the deal.
This means that a government-to-government agreement between India and France is likely to be signed soon to pave the way for the final contract for the fighter jets.The defence ministry’s top acquisition council, which met here this evening under the chairmanship of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, also cleared a Rs 6,966 crore deal for the purchase of 48 Mi17-V5 helicopters from Russia.
Further, approval was given for the purchase of seven additional squadrons of Akash missiles for the air force and eight Chetak helicopters for the navy.
However, the DAC did not take a decision on the navy’s proposal to acquire over 100 utility helicopters. Neither did it take a decision on going ahead with P75I submarine tenders worth over Rs 60,000 crore.
On the the Rafale fighter jets, defence ministry sources said that “the negotiating committee apprised the DAC about the progress made so far. The DAC asked it to go ahead and proceed”.Defence sources said this means that the deadlock has been broken. India’s insistence on 50 per cent off-set clause, tweaking of weaponry technology and plans to set up two bases for Rafale fighter jets were some of the issues which had cropped up during the recent talks that began after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the decision to acquire 36 Rafales during his trip to France in April.
Interestingly, French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian was expected to arrive tonight, but his trip has been delayed. Though defence ministry officials were tight-lipped on it, sources said he would be visiting soon.
BlackArcherWith all due respect, PAF lost 8 or so out of the original 40 F-16s over the first 10 years or so. How would you categorise that? I remember reading an article by a retired paf official AM Ayaz Amir which provided some figures for paf crash rates over 1990s; IIRC those numbers ranged between 1.3 to 1.9 per 10000 flight hours and he called them satisfactory. Every year a few paf fighters accidents happen. Even if 350 Paf fighters are doing 200 hours each, that would put the no. of flight hours at 70000 and crash rate wouldn’t be much lower than 1 per 10000. If you have paf crash fighures available for the last couple of years, it wouldn’t be difficult to put together these estimates. My estimate for MKI was conservative and I still stand by my statement.
wow..a Pakistani poster (the only respectable one on this forum) punching holes into the retard’s arguments..
and the IAF’s Su-30MKI fleet is well in excess of 150 at this time, closer to 170..so the number of hours being flown yearly by just the Su-30MKI fleet is almost 50% of what the PAF flies as per your assumption. Assuming 150*200 hours with a dozen or so in overhaul or repair (same as for the PAF fleet, whose reliability and uptime figures aren’t available openly) that gives a total of 30,000 hours per year..1 crash per year since the fleet has been active puts the attrition rate at approximately 1 crash per 30,000 hours for the last couple of years. Even if we reduce the number of hours flown per year to 20,000 for the fleet, 1 crash per 20,000 hours is nothing to scoff at.
If someone has a problem with that, they clearly don’t know what they’re talking about. But then we’re talking about a poster like Mountain. lol
PAF lost 8 or so out of the original 40 F-16s over the first 10 years or so. How would you categorise that?
I don’t think the troll would even bother to reply to facts, as long as they’re uncomfortable and don’t paint the rosiest picture of the PAF.
BlackArcherBraving adverse weather, IAF Helicopters from Leh rescued 21 British Nationals and 01 French national on 6th and 7th August in a challenging Casualty Evacuation from high altitude. After five days of continuous downpour, all major rivers like Indus, Nubra, Shyok and their tributaries in Ladakh region were flowing beyond their danger mark. The road & telephone communication was cut-off along most major roads. Like always, ‘Siachen Pioneers’, the premier IAF helicopter unit at Leh was pressed into service.
On 06 Aug 15 at 1600h, AF Stn Leh received a SOS message to rescue a group of British citizens who were stranded in the Markha Valley with some members suffering from asthma. Information on exact location and injuries sustained by the trekkers was ambiguous. Even the coordinates and the place given by civil agency were off the actual one by 50 Nautical Miles. Marginal weather and time of the day necessitated a search and rescue to be launched immediately. Two aircraft were launched, led by Commanding Officer Wg Cdr BS Sehrawat VM with Flt Lt Cirag as formation leader and Wg Cdr KS Negi with Sqn Ldr V Chauhan as his number two. Sortie planning was in progress when the crew realised that available window for successful SAR was narrowing owing to deteriorating weather and the approaching sunset.
The mission was airborne at 1645h and keeping in mind the general knowhow of the Markha valley and previous knowledge of the terrain, the formation reached the probable SAR area and commenced intense search in the narrow valley which by now was under cover of hill shadows. After 10 minutes of search, the pilots located the trekkers close to Thinlespa village on the bank of the river. Thankfully, the trekkers had made a temporary “SOS” sign near the rivulet; this distress signal on ground was instrumental in correctly identifying the location. However, the treacherous terrain and vertical slope of more than 70° made landing of the helicopter near the camp of trekkers impossible. The marginal weather and the approaching sunset added to the difficulty and criticality of the mission. At this point No 1 identified a small clear area near the camp on the river bank at 12000 feet around 200 feet North West of the location of the camp, just enough for the skid of the helicopter to be accommodated. For a landing, light contact with ground and holding on the partial power was essential. The weather was deteriorating with turbulence, winds and the sun shadow engulfing the landing site in the narrow valley making the situation near critical.
The approach to the selected landing point itself was restricted and with limited power margin and manoeuvring space, there was no margin for error. The landing area was undulating and rocky and with steep gradient leaving a restricted space for landing take-off and for a go- around. The crew realised that for any chance of rescue they would not get a hold time of more than 1 min on the landing spot because of turbulent winds in the narrow valley and apprehension of helicopter going into a ground-resonance. After landing at the site the leader instructed his No 2 to carry out a landing at the same spot. Thereafter, No 2 carried out an approach and hovered next to the selected landing site. The formation carried out one more shuttle and successfully evacuated a total of 10 British nationals.
By the time the helicopters completed their task, it was nearing sunset. In best tradition of the IAF, Siachen Pioneers once again beat the odds; fighting against time and weather/ environmental elements to rise to the occasion.
Once again on 07th Aug, two sets of two Cheetal helicopters each, took-off at sunrise. In a matter of a few hours the balance 11 Britishers were rescued. Meanwhile, another request for causality evacuation of one French lady, who was badly injured, was received. Even though she had severe spinal injury and broken ribs, she was evacuated to Leh airfield and promptly moved to the hospital. “For a unit engaged in military operations for more than 30 years continuously, beating the odds is an essential character ingrained in every crew”, remarked the Commanding Officer, on completion of the mission.
BlackArcherRafale deal impasse may have to do with Dassault’s refusal to incorporate certain changes that would allow for integration of the Astra BVRAAM for the IAF.
France refuses to budge to IAF specifications
The ongoing negotiations with France to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets has hit an air-pocket with the French negotiators refusing to accept changed technical specifications from the Indian Air Force (IAF) for integrating the indigenous Astra missile to the French platform.The IAF wants certain changes in the platform configuration to integrate the DRDO-made air-to-air, beyond-visual-range Astra missile, which was successfully test-fired from a Su-30 MKI aircraft. The missile was tested twice on consecutive days in March.
Following the success, IAF wants modification and reconfiguration of some of the avionics and weapon systems to keep an window open for integration of Astra at a later date.
The French side objected to the idea because a change in the configuration means going through the aircraft certification process once again, which would lead to an increase in cost. Instead, Paris wants to supply its own air-to-air missiles, which New Delhi will have to purchase additionally.
Another sticky point in the negotiation is the offset clause, under which Rafale manufacturer Dassault Aviation would have to reinvest a part of the money it would earn from India after selling the Rafale jets, in Indian military industry.
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BlackArcherTypically you make personal assumptions about other posters and you always get emabarresed. On the very contrary, I think India is a great, wonderful and diverse country and can go on record as saying that. No place for hate in my heart.
When it comes to my opinion on it’s air force that is another matter…
LOL !!! Yasser, you’re really making my day! 😀
BlackArcherNo one disputes that what is signficant is the IAF’s need to comment almost immediatley after every exercise. Empty vessels creek the loudest and all that…
wow, your hatred for the IAF really shines through..and this article on AvWeek also clearly shows that all these are “empty” boasts..
This year, however, the situation was markedly different. Both the Typhoon and Su-30MKI have matured, and Indian crews were able to use their radars. The Indians also made regular use of “super-maneuverability” provided by the Sukhoi’s 3-D thrust vector control (TVC) system.
“There were no restrictions on this exercise; we had full freedom,” says Indian air force Group Capt. Ashu Srivastav, who led the Indian contingent to the U.K.
Pilots from both sides refused to comment directly on comparisons of the two aircraft and which, if any, enjoyed an advantage, although one British pilot describes the two aircraft as being “equally comparable.”“You can only read and brief so much about the Flanker, but it’s not until you are up in the air with them, and against them, that you see what a great aircraft it is,” says Wing Cmdr. Chris Moon, head of the RAF’s 3 Sqdn., the lead British unit for the exercise.
“These are two of the best dogfighters in the world. . . . One is predominantly a rate [of turn] fighter, and the other is a high-alpha slower-speed fighter,” says Moon, describing the Typhoon and Flanker, respectively.
Srivastav, an Su-30 pilot with more than 2,000 hr. on the type, says the Typhoon enjoyed very high rates of turn but adds, “we have a counter for that.”
One Indian pilot tells Aviation Week that they had used the yaw capability of the TVC to remain inside the tight turn radius of the Typhoon in order to keep the Typhoon within missile launch parameters.It was agreed before the exercise that they would simulate common ranges for both BVR and WVR missiles, rather than the ranges of the actual missile type used on each aircraft.
Best dogfighter in the world along with the Typhoon..a direct comment attributed to a RAF officer. clearly a lie.
And the Indian pilot who spoke to Av Week also lied when he said that they used the TVC capability to remain inside of a tight turn to stay within the missile launch parameters- which obviously meant that the IAF pilots in the Su-30MKI managed to get into positions to launch missiles in WVR combat and stayed in those positions even when the Typhoon was maneuvering hard to escape.
Apply Burnol man, you really need it.
BlackArcherHang on. Now you have found a news item which you like on NDTV suddenly it has become worth quoting here. Only last month you were telling everyone how rubbish NDTV is when it comes to military news!
A quick reminder
read my post again..I clearly said Vishnu Som is one of the few reliable reporters on Defence matters in India. And I also mentioned that he works for NDTV, whose reputation is bad. You Pakistanis are taking this report veryyy hard..:D amuses me no end.
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