This has GOT to be the most retarded piece of news I’ve heard in a while.

This may help a bit……..
excerpts……
Pilots from across the world fly in

XXXX…………Till a few months ago, most CEOs across India’s thriving aviation industry were found worried stiff about one factor that could disrupt their business: shortage of trained pilots. But the MD of Paramount Airways – like some of his counterparts at Sahara, Jet Airways and Air Deccan – has quickly cottoned onto a new secret. The answer lies in a big pile of resumes on his table at his Coimbatore office.

These are applications from pilots from across the world – primarily US, Europe and Australia. Grounded by the severe downturn in the civil aviation business, these pilots are desperate to find employment, with some willing to take salary cuts and work at wage levels lower than their Indian counterparts.

XXXX……….. As per the current regulations, at least one pilot in the cockpit has to be an Indian. Sensing the roadblock, Capt Gopinath, chairman of budget carrier Air Deccan has already approached the civil aviation ministry requesting it to relax the norms relating to the recruitment of foreign pilots in the country
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Now with the plan to increase the number of squadrons to 45 and attrition to Pvt Airlines so high, I wonder if the IAF will increase their intake of pilots ?

Boeing in talks with Indian Air Force to supply F-18s

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Boeing Co. said on Friday it had begun preliminary talks with India on selling and co-producing F-18 Super Hornet fighter planes, a month after New Delhi and Washington signed a far-reaching defence pact.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has plans to buy as many as 126 multi-role fighters for an estimated $9 billion, as it replaces its ageing fleet of Russian-built MiG 21s.

“We have begun initial discussions with the IAF in terms of exploratory relationship building and to provide them with some initial information on the capabilities of the Super Hornet,” Chris Chadwick, Boeing vice president for the F/A-18 programs, told Reuters. “Their response has been very positive.”

The dual-engine F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet is flown only by the U.S. forces while the Hornet version is in the service of seven other air forces, Chadwick said.

He added the price per aircraft would depend on the configuration sought in the planned request for proposal by the IAF. The cost would also be determined by the kind of technology and weapons platform the U.S. government would allow Boeing to export to India, Chadwick said.

“We would be working at setting up a co-production facility for this aircraft in India,” he added.

In June, Indian Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld signed the “New Framework for U.S.-India Defence Relations”, highlighting the growing warmth in ties between the two democracies.

The framework envisages greater cooperation in defence production and research, exchange of military technologies as well as more military exercises and training exchanges between the large armed forces of both nations.

The framework includes a move to push forward a U.S. offer to sell the anti-missile Patriot system to India, which perceives a threat from nuclear-armed neighbours Pakistan and China.

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So does Boeing have a realistically real 🙂 chance at all after the developments of the past few weeks ?

posted by A Sharma @ BR:

From Force magazine

By 2010, when the first totally-built Su-30MKI will roll out from state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd’s production facility in Nasik , it will be equipped with new, active phased-array airborne radar. Called the Irbis (snow leopard), it will replace the NO-11M. Both the LRDE and Tikhomirov NIIP are co-developing the Irbis at a cost of US$160 million.

So AESA by 2010 ? Now that’s better news than the ability to carry 3 Brahmos.

What are your handles on BRF? I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours. :dev2:

I hope some users havent been accidentaly banned ? I still cant access BR today.

And why exactly Goa ?

Is there any naval/air base there ?

Yeah, there’s a Naval Airbase at Dabolim , it’s where the Mig – 29K’s will be based and (I think) where the Harriers are based. There are also Naval helicopters there.

Wow , Jai’s brochure says the Bars – 29 weigh’s only 250 Kg’s. Was’nt the weight of the Bars’s on the MKI’s 700 and something KG’s according to an article a long time back ? That’s a massive reduction in weight .