The Indian gov approved the Tata-AugustaWestland JV to manufacture the AW119Kx. Hopefully this development will allow a rethink on the Ka-226 fiasco-in-waiting. At the minimum, when the Ka-226 acquisition turns into a fiasco, there will be two viable alternatives in the AW119 and the HAL LUH being manufactured in India.

Can’t say I know any more than what’s been reported in the press. The PAK FA requirement started out with about 250 jets, a figure which was then formally cut to 127. Then last month they again announced that the projection had been downsized to 65 units, probably off-the-shelf.

Given that the program is still a long while from operationalization, its not likely that the actual order would be placed any time soon. Which leaves a basic question unanswered – why cut a ‘notional’ order? The bulk of the actual expenditure is a decade away and the cut isn’t going improve the current cash-flow situation.

My guess is, they’re trying to back out of the FGFA program. The window for India to be involved in the design has long since expired, the ToT offered is less than expected, and the workshare is minuscule. Instead of running a ‘joint venture’, I believe they’re coming around to the opinion that a normal PAK FA acquisition (with possible licensed production a la Su-30MKI) is preferable. No R&D investment.

Though where most parties would have made a clean break, the India govt is backing away quite slowly, since the deal has a political dimension (an outright cancellation would be perceived as a snub to Russia).

I’m not sure if India is completely backing away from the PAK FA. Initially, the plan may have been to use the program to leap frog Indian design, testing, manufacture, and operations capability into the 5th gen. But right now, the Russians are not sharing as much design data as India had initially contracted for and aren’t allowing Indian participation in the testing phase either. So, I believe, India is moving towards using the PAK FA as merely an operational capability. As in using the PAK FA the same way the IAF used a couple of squadrons worth of Mirage 2Ks as the very high-end tip of the spear capability. Money will most likely be diverted to the AMCA program to get Indian design, manufacturing, and testing into the 5th gen. I think that’s a better approach.

Britain as a T1 partner has had more access, influence, and insight into the JSF program than India has had with the PAK FA.

Pakistani official confirms Su-35 talks

IAF keen on US Scorpion aircraft offer

Sources have indicated during the forthcoming visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US from September 22 to 28, besides a likely visit to the Boeing headquarters, military trade between the two countries will be high on the agenda, including the ISR aircraft, 22 Boeing AH-64E Apache and 15 Boeing CH-47F Chinook helicopters, armoured vehicles and other platforms.

Sure, why not? Let’s add another type to the menagerie.

Moscow confused as IAF puts fifth-generation fighter on back burner to buy Rafale

Well-informed sources in Moscow say the IAF vice chief has written a letter that effectively blocks the FGFA project. It criticises 27 different aspects of the FGFA, raising questions that must be answered before New Delhi and Moscow put $2.5 billion each into jointly developing the advanced fighter.

Business Standard also learns the IAF has vetoed a Russian offer to co-develop a fifth-generation engine for the FGFA. This is baffling to the Russians, given the Defence R&D Organisation (DRDO) long-standing attempts at joint engine development in order to end India’s expensive dependency on foreign vendors for aero engines. An internal DRDO estimation reckons that India will import aero engines worth Rs 3,50,000 crore over the next decade.
…
Sergey Chemezov, who heads Rostec, the powerful Russian high-technology agency, downplays India’s delay. “As for the involvement with India, there is a certain delay, though this is not something that we (Russia) can be responsible for. On our end we can fully continue the development of the project as per our commitments,” Chemezov told Business Standard.

Whats your solution and the platforms you are suggesting?

Either the Bell 407GT or the AS550 would have been better risk mitigation strategy than the Ka-226, against the inherently risky LUH.

The Ka-226 deal sounds like yet another one of those WTF decisions by India:

Ok, let’s choose a risky platform of which only a couple dozen have been built on a boutique production line that barely produces 1 helo a month with a small supplier base, all of which is located in one country. And let’s use that risky platform as the basis for the fleet that is required to do most of the grunt work where availability is the key issue.

And… let’s double down on the risk by basing the other half of our needs on a platform (LUH) that hasn’t even flown yet and made by a company that has a questionable track record of delivering on schedule and with the required capabilities.

The risky LUH has to be bought due to domestic mil-ind development reasons, that’s a given. I would have thought the Indian decision makers would at least try to mitigate some of the operational risks of the LUH by choosing a well established (not risky) platform that has flown 10s of thousands of hours and has parts suppliers all over. Nope! They chose to double down on the risk. Watch this space 10 yrs from now and see if this lack of risk mitigation will come back to bite Indian operational capabilities in the butt.

This decision screams of political intervention, just like the T-90 deal. At least I hope it’s a political decision because the alternative is that Indian procurement officials have no concept of risk mitigation.

Added:
Another WTF Indian requirements/ decisions:
India; ARC mulls OV-22 Osprey buy

Why buy just a handful of these platforms for a nearly singular task? The Mi-17s have shown themselves to be very effective at altitude during the Nepalese earthquake HA/DR ops. Why not get a few of those and modify them with kits to meet their requirements? It seems India military is intent on operating every conceivable type of aircraft there is.

INS Vikrant Makes Progress at Cochin Shipyard