Hundred and seventy two helicopters will also get a new life

guess that means bulk of Alouette-III and Lama fleet will get the Chetan and Cheetal upg.

the army will probably buy the Bell407 scout helo model ~190 from its own
budget…and with ~80 dhruvs delivered, hundreds more are sure to come…
..production rate has ramped up.

this will finally permit army to have helicopter density on par with wealthy nations though not US army std.

WP,

Thats a decent reading though its the IAF being talked about-

That means the bulk of the MiLs will get an upgrade. Plus they are purchasing the local ALH/Dhruvs, theres the WSI variant on the way (weapon systems integrated), the LAC project and new MiL purchases.

The Army’s purchases are different, with its ALHs, Bells..

No fighter could track anything at 500 km… By the way, you think that a fighter radar (Bars has a power of 8 kW) would match a AWACS radar (the power of E 3 radar is 1MW, that’s 1000 kW)?Even if directed by Su 30, I fail to see how a Bison/Baaz/M2k would be undetected by an AWACS. Yeah, sure… A Bars in a tail of a Su 30???? I think you don’t know you are talking about.

Fighter radar ranges, for the IAF are sensitive, so I would avoid going there (and request my brethren to also follow better judgement and not yap) but I can point to one statement:

Even if directed by Su 30, I fail to see how a Bison/Baaz/M2k would be undetected by an AWACS.

It is very unlikely that the PAFs AWACs can continue to give them adequate SA deep into India. The PAF is likely to use a conservative deployment of its AWACs, many Km deep into Pak, and use them defensively to create interlocking zones with significat overlap to reduce the impact of the IAF’s SEAD efforts. But it will also want to take the fight into India & for counterair missions, it will have to rely on its fighters onboard sensors.

And here, I would definitely give the advantage to the Su-30 in combination with the IAF’s ADGES.

K/MKs r still there.
i think india will be fielding the MKIs.after all they were already there in the RSAF and copeII exercises.BVR engagement?? not sure about that.

RSAF, because we wanted to know how they did against Block 52 F-16s- an opportunity too good to match up. And apparently the MKIs did pretty well, winning all ten engagements. But against Tornados with AWACs, K’s with inferior radar performance etc may sweat, but overall the lessons learnt wont be forgotten. Many of the backseaters or even pilots in those K’s will be from operational MKI squadrons, & I’ll bet on that.

In Cope II, there was no BVR matchup, and I’d wager part of this is because neither India nor Russia want the average western nation to get all the facts & figs on their MKIs. Besides, even the RSAF would have been asked to keep all aircraft specifics very close to its chest for Indian opsec reasons and for fear of pissing off the Malaysians who are getting the similar MKM (and one of the reasons why RSAF vs IAF was win-win in terms of training for both sides).

displeased opponents……implications…what cud that be?after all they didnt bring their top notch fighter.

India is currently “the place” to go to if you want excellent talent flying Russian jets. Everyone wants a piece of the Sukhoi. And that with pilots with high flying hours, most of which are spent in full up combat training, and flexible tactics to boot are a good experience.

The US & its allies are particularly interested because of the PRCs huge acquisition of the type. Now tomorrow if India says no more Flankers, & only Mirages, MiG29’s etc- it will disappoint the other AF’s. But by now, these exercises have become sort of regularized, so they will continue.

What people dont realize is how expensive they are. India pays a huge bill for them & part of that cost is to be offset by allowing the RSAF regular hosting in India (Kalaikunda AFB) which they are going to pay for. Singapore has extremely limited airspace for its training requirements & has similar arrangements worldwide.

Also there are apparently going to be three AFB now with ACMI facility or the like if we follow reports- KKD since the RSAF will come there, an AFB in the Punjab for future US-IAF exercises, and Gwalior, which has already has an ACMI and EW range. But even so the MOD (partly because of cost) has imposed a limit on exercises, to the nature of one a year or thereabouts. This is also partly the reason why I said “disappointed”- a person in the know elsewhere, was saying AHQ has been swamped with proposals for DACT after Cope India, but its taking its time & being choosy- it too cannot afford to hold exercises every two-three months.

Its also interesting to see AF development- the IAF is now speedily transitioning into a true large package strike force with BVR as a keystone of its operating requirements. This change is essential to exploit the true advantages of a type such as the Su-30 MKI.

What should be truly positive (from the IAF POV) is the MRCA- these are likely to be highly potent aircraft in the BVR/ long range precision strike role as well. So you can expect that the IAF will want to try out how these work too.

if u read the whole article. S-300V is already outdated and compromised to certain extent. its replacement is Antei-2500. and they consider it best among ATBMs. now where marketing to india is mentioned.

I mixed up the 300 V with its followon the 2500!

MiG-29’s fly in Air Force Day rehearsal

Dated 3/10/2006
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Seven MiG-29 frontline jets Tuesday participated in a rehearsal for the annual IAF Day parade, belying reports the aircraft had been grounded after one of them crashed last week.

The MiG-29s were part of the 60-plus aircraft that participated in the rehearsal for Sunday’s parade at the Hindon airbase on the capital’s outskirts.

Five MiG-29s first flew in formation followed by another two aircraft performing a combat air patrol in support of two bombers on an interdiction mission.

‘There were no instructions from Air Headquarters to ground the MiG-29s after last week’s crash,’ IAF PRO Wing Commander Mahesh Upasani said.

‘As a routine measure after every crash, a court of inquiry is ordered and a thorough check conducted of all aircraft of the type in the squadron concerned. Because of this, the aircraft were on the ground for three days. All MiG-29s of the squadron that lost an aircraft are flying,’ Upasani added.

The MiG-29 that went down belonged to a squadron deployed at the frontline Adampur airbase in Punjab. It was on a routine flight when it went down near the Ambala airbase, also in Punjab.

The pilot, Squadron Leader V. Naik ejected safely.

This was the second MiG-29 crash this year. A twin-seat trainer version had crashed near the Jamnagar airbase in June. Both pilots had ejected safely.

The Indian media are sensationalist idiots who jump to conclusions

Thats 14 million $ per bird…UAVs are pretty expensive..of course, will include spares, life cycle costs, their sensors etc but still..

The report is incorrect in terms of range…the Heron Performance
(from Wiki)

Maximum speed: 207 km/h (130 mph)
Range: 3,300 km (2,063 miles) Service ceiling: 10,000 m (32,800 ft)
Rate of climb:150 m/min ( m/min)
Wing loading: 200kg/m² ( lb/ft²)
Power/Mass: kW/kg ( hp/lb)

A strat UAV in terms of the subcontinent.

Sensors

http://www.defense-update.com/products/m/mosp.htm

http://www.defense-update.com/products/e/elm2055.htm

http://www.defense-update.com/products/h/Heron-UAV.htm

Heron MALE System
Medium Altitude Long Endurance UAV

The Heron (Mahatz) MALE UAV system has been developed by IAI / Malat, to carry out strategic reconnaissance and surveillance. Initially deployed with the Indian defense forces, for high altitude land surveillance and maritime patrol missions, the Heron has been acquired by the Israel Air Force and Turkish defense Forces, for similar applications.

In May 2005 IAI announced the Turkish procurement contract worth $150 million, under which a joint company owned equally by IAI and Elbit Systems will be subcontracted by the Turkish TUSAS Aerospace Industry (TAI) to supply Heron UAVs, Elbit Systems ground systems and payloads for the Turkish MOD. Another contract worth of $50 million was signed with Israel MOD for the supply of Heron UAVs and multi-year support. According to IAI, the delivery of the first system is imminent. The IAF designation of the new UAV will be “Shoval” (Trail in Hebrew). It will replace the Searcher I and II currently in service.

A derivative of the Heron named Eagle was selected by the French Air Force, to provide strategic and theater reconnaissance, intelligence collection and communications support. It is also expected to operate in the maritime surveillance and anti-surface warfare role. The UAV is powered by a 115 hp Rotax 914 engine and is designed to operate on missions of over 40 hours at an altitude of 30,000 feet. It can carry multiple payloads at a total weight of 250kg.

An enhanced version of the Heron, called Heron TP or Eitan, is developed for the Israel Air Force. Both vehicles are fully autonomous throughout the mission, including the automatic takeoff and landing phases. The vehicle is designed to carry multiple payloads, and perform multiple missions, such as COMINT, SIGINT and IMINT or SAR, IMINT and communications relay etc. Eagle can carry several types of sensors, including maritime patrol radar (MPR), different types of SAR/MTI, EO/IR payloads, SIGINT, COMINT, laser designator, communications relays etc.

Case being made for speeding up things..

India reviews Pakistan’s military capabilities

Pioneer News Service | New Delhi

Report to be submitted to Prime Minister soon

The strategic environment in the Indian sub-continent and the military capabilities of neighbours like Pakistan were reviewed here on Wednesday by a panel headed by Cabinet Secretary BK Chaturvedi. This exhaustive assessment will form part of his report to the top political leadership, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and enable the decision-makers to form the required policies.

The two-hour long meeting in the Ministry of Defence along with a detailed presentation of Pakistan’s military capabilities and the Indian operational preparedness was attended by Army chief General JJ Singh, Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi, Defence Secretary Shekhar Dutt, Home Secretary VK Duggal and senior bureaucrats of Defence and Home Ministries.

While there was no official comment about the meeting, it’s learnt that there was a possibility that bilateral talks between India and Pakistan could resume after the holy month of Ramazan. The political leadership, however, wanted to keep itself updated about Pakistan’s capabilities and India’s operational preparedness, sources said.

Incidentally, this high level interaction will be followed by a presentation to the Prime Minister on October 16 by the military top brass during the combined commanders’ conference. The briefing will cover all aspects of the situation around India and the threat perception. The PM will also be informed about the state and pace of modernisation and upgradation in the Armed Forces and their projections.

The Cabinet Secretary’s meeting also saw the defence brass informing him about India’s defence readiness and its strengths and weak points as compared to Pakistan’s military strength. This included its inventory of tanks, planes, ships and other weapon platforms besides its plans for modernisation and acquisitions from countries like USA.

Pakistan’s order of battle (ORBAT) and India’s ORBAT were also matched in the meeting with a detailed briefing on the operational positions and deployment of each other’s fleet of Air Force, Navy and Army positions. The participants also reviewed the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied- Kashmir (POK) with special focus on military aspects and Siachen Glacier.