I would prefer not to have this degenerate into a personal spat between us. So I would let this comment go by. 🙂

Regards

I know , but if it is funny and has something to do with military then i dont mind hearing it !!:D

I’ve sent you a PM regarding that. 😀

Regards

@bring_it_on – All part of diplomacy. Considering the size of the order and the intensity of lobbying from respective governments on behalf of the principal contenders (all major a/c manufacturers who have a candidate that would fit the bill), an appearance of fairness and transparency has to be kept irrespective of the fact that many of these a/c were not in consideration during the initial stages.

As an aside, I had previously pointed out a professional spook on the prowl. His new avatar is Raymond. All BRfites enjoy his antics..lol.

Regards

It would be worth the wait to see which AC the IAF picks. The Typhoon could very well be at the top of the list.

No offense, Joey. I do appreciate your well-informed and well-researched posts, but kindly refrain from advising me until I ask for your valuable opinion…Thank you.

Regards

A pea-sized brain might explode if put under tremendous pressure with such heavy duty thoughts. Relax, go home, and don’t overstrain that feeble mind. I am not referring to anybody in particular here.

Regards

Courtesy: TT

New Delhi, Aug. 28: India today formally threw open the race for the world’s single-largest military order, inviting the US for the first time to take part in such a far-reaching exercise.

Besides two American companies, four suppliers have been requested to submit proposals to sell 126 multi-role combat aircraft. The total size of the order is likely to top Rs 42,000 crore ($10.2 billion).

The Defence Acquisition Council had approved the order on June 29 but the tender issuance today has coincided with a question mark over the fate of the government over ties with the US.

The order will have a bearing on the character of the Indian armed forces for four decades. The aircraft must be combat-worthy for 40 years or 6,000 hours of flying.

Currently, the Indian Air Force’s fighter aircraft inventory is made up of mostly Russian — and some British as well as French-origin — platforms.

The request for proposals to the US-based Lockheed Martin and Boeing has been issued through the American government. The 211-page document was handed over in the defence ministry today to the military attache of the US embassy in New Delhi.

This is because the request for information was earlier sent to the US government which in turn forwarded it to Lockheed and Boeing. If the US companies win the contest, it is likely to be a government-to-government deal.

The other four potential suppliers have been invited to participate commercially. The four are RSK MiG Corporation (Russia), Saab (Sweden), Dassault Aviation (France) and Eurofighter GmbH (European Consortium).

“Everything will be transparent at every stage,” defence minister A.K. Antony told The Telegraph today.

The last time the IAF gave orders for fighter aircraft was to British Aerospace Systems for 66 Advanced Jet Trainers contracted in November 2003 by the NDA government.

In the latest tender, the bidders have time till March 3, 2008, to send their responses. That will be followed by a technical evaluation of the bids, operational trials, opening of the bids, shortlisting and price negotiations and finally the contract. Air headquarters sources estimate that it would take at least five years for the first aircraft to be inducted.

The value of the aircraft will be reached through a “verifiable cost model”, which will take into account factors such as transfer of technology, spares, warranty, expenditure on training and operation and licence royalty.

Such a model was chosen because the Indian armed forces, with a bulk of their hardware of Soviet/Russian-origin, have found their older equipment expensive in the long run, especially since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The figure of 126 was arrived at after the IAF projected that it would need at least seven squadrons of the multi-role combat aircraft as it phases out its obsolete fighters.

Officially, the Indian Air Force has 32 fighter squadrons but the level is now nearly bottoming out at 29. There are about 18 fighter aircraft in each squadron but the figure may vary with the composition and the task assigned to each of the units.

The six aircraft in the competition broadly fall into two categories: single-engined and twin-engined. The F-16 Fighting Falcon Block 60 (from Lockheed Martin) and the JAS 39C Gripen (from Saab) are single-engined.

The IAF decided not to categorise the aircraft on the number of engines they carry but on their capabilities.

Eighteen aircraft would be bought in “flyaway” (off-the-shelf) condition, according to the tender. The other 108 would be co-produced or license-produced in India after transfer of technology.

The sticky issue of offsets — the share of the total project cost that would be ploughed back into India for re-investment — remains. The request for proposals says the offsets value would be 50 per cent.

Details of how the offsets would be computed are still disputed. While one source said the offsets would be calculated on the total foreign exchange outgo, another said it would be on the total project cost.

An independent conclusion cannot be reached because the request for proposals itself is a non-public document and vendors are required to keep the technical requirements it has stipulated secret.

The request for proposals would accommodate price escalation — because of the long gestation — but it would be capped during the price negotiations. Each vendor will be required to submit two responses — a technical bid and a commercial bid.

Upgraded MiG 21 fighter jets lethal for the enemy: Indian Air Force

Courtesy: BR, KUNA

NEW DELHI, Aug 16 (KUNA) — Upgraded version of the MiG-21 figther jets of the Indian Air Force (IAF) are not only among the safest flying machines, but also lethal for the enemy country. Number of mid-air crashes for MiG 21 is now almost zero since these have been upgraded and induction of a training schedule for the pilots has brought down human error, India’s leading English daily ‘Times of India’ reported Thursday. This year, two combat aircraft have so far crashed, but none of them is MiG-21 Bison, the upgraded version of old MiG-21, the Times of India reported today quoting officers from the IAF’s Western Command in the Northern Indian city of Chandigarh. “The MiGs are more safer than ever before. Only four MiG-21 Bison aircraft have crashed since their induction in 2002. IAF plans to fly the Bisons – which it describes as an almost brand new fighter, with latest avionics, improved gearboxes and other advanced systems – till 2017,” the IAF officers said. The MiG-21 Type 75, MiG-21 Type 93, and MiG-21 Bis have been upgraded to MiG-21 Bison with altogether new avionics and on-board electronic systems apart from night-vision devices and mid-air refuelling capabilities, making it more competitive than American F-16 Fighting Falcons, the officers said. “The main reasons for aircraft accidents are human error and technical defect. A continuous and multi-faceted effort is always underway in the IAF to enhance and upgrade flight safety. Measures to enhance the quality of training to improve the skill levels, ability to exercise sound judgement and situational awareness of pilots are being pursued,” the officers said. Constant interaction with Original Equipment Manufactures, both indigenous and foreign, is also maintained to overcome the technical defects of the MiG 21 aircraft, the Times reported. (end) dr.tg KUNA 161556 Aug 07NNNN

Joey, do agree with you about Ravi Sharma and his credibility, but nevertheless made for interesting reading.

Regards

IAF hikes combat jet purchase figure to 200

Courtesy: BR

New Delhi: The Indian Air Force (IAF) could purchase upwards of 200 aircraft to ramp up its ageing and depleting fleet of fighters, adding around 80 more to the figure of 126 it had planned earlier.

“The number could go up by 70-80 if necessary,” Minister of State for Defence M.M. Pallam Raju told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar here.

Hitherto, a figure of 126 multi-role combat aircraft (MRCA) had been mentioned for the IAF order but this number was widely expected to rise due to the prolonged delay in acquiring the new planes.

To add to the IAF’s woes, there have been huge time and cost overruns in developing the indigenous Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA), prototypes of which have been flying since 2000 but which is expected to be inducted into service only by 2012.

The cost of 126 aircraft had been estimated at $10 billion, making it India’s biggest ever defence deal. The additional aircraft would cost $6 billion, raising the size of the deal to $16 billion.

Asked when the global tender for the MRCAs would be issued, Raju cryptically replied, “Soon”.

India’s Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) had cleared the tender June 29, and this was expected to have gone out within a month to the manufacturers of the six aircraft that are in the fray. Officials are tight-lipped on the reasons for the delay but indicate this could be because of some top-level changes in the defence ministry.

Vijay Singh is the new defence secretary in place of Shekhar Dutt, who has retired. N.K. Narang has come in as secretary (Defence Accounts) replacing V.K. Mishra, who has retired. No replacement has been named for Sheelbhadra Banerjee, the director general (Acquisitions) who has moved to another assignment.

All three officials are members of the DAC and would need time to study the voluminous IAF tender to understand its complexities.

While the DAC has cleared a tender for 126 aircraft, the additional jets are likely to be purchased as a “follow-on” order as the IAF has done in the case of 80 Mi-17 medium lift helicopters it is purchasing from Russia.

The IAF desperately needs new aircraft to replace its ageing fleet of Soviet-era MiG-21 fighters that make up 21 squadrons of its 30-squadron fleet of combat aircraft. The IAF has a sanctioned strength of 45 fighter squadrons but the highest it has ever been able to achieve is 39-and-a-half squadrons.

The tender, or Request For Proposal (RFP) would now be sent out to the manufacturers of six aircraft: the US F-16 and F-18 Super Hornet, the Swedish Gripen, the French Rafale, the Russian MiG-35 and the European consortium’s Eurofighter.

Once the RFP is issued, the manufacturers will have six months to respond, following which a professional team would conduct a technical evaluation of the proposals received to check for compliance with the IAF’s operational requirements and other RFP conditions.

Extensive field trials would then be carried out to evaluate the performance of the different aircraft. Finally, the commercial proposal of the vendors short-listed after technical and field evaluations would be examined and compared.

The defence ministry’s Contract Negotiation Committee (CNC) would then hold discussions with the vendors before identifying the manufacturer who would be awarded the IAF order.

The CNC would submit its report to the defence minister, who would forward it to the finance minister. After the file returns to the defence ministry, it would go for final approval to the cabinet committee on security (CCS). This process would take some two-and-a-half years.

After the contract is signed with the chosen manufacturer, it would take another two-and-a-half year before the first aircraft start arriving.