raids13Tornado drill
Tornado drill
New Delhi: The UK’s Royal Air Force will be flying its fighter aircraft in mock combat drills for the first time since the British transferred power in August 1947. A squadron of Tornado aircraft will be deployed for an exercise with the Indian Air Force in October.
raids13Aircraft supplier for AWACS to be finalised soon
Aircraft supplier for AWACS to be finalised soon
Wednesday, 25 January , 2006, 08:48
Hyderabad: The aircraft supplier for the indigenous Airborne Warning and Control System project (AWACS) will be finalised in the next 3-4 months, the Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister, Dr M. Natarajan, said here on Tuesday.
Top aircraft manufacturers such as Embraer of Brazil and SAAB of Sweden have been shortlisted.
The Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) has given its technical inputs on the merits and demerits of these aircraft to the Indian Air Force (IAF), he told newspersons.
“We have told the IAF that they should finalise the aircraft, since they have to maintain, operate and fly it, once the AWACS is integrated. A meeting with the Chief of Air Staff would be held shortly to finalise details,” Dr Natarajan said.
Once the decision is taken, it would take between 42-48 months to integrate the system. The basic work for the AWACS has been done with the coordination of the Bangalore-based Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS), a DRDO laboratory. |Read more Finance news.|
Referring to the major achievements during 2005 for DRDO, Dr Natarajan said the successful test flight of the prototype II of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), Tejas, with advanced avionics was a big step forward. It has taken the LCA closer to user acceptance with advanced features.
Similarly, the short distance, anti-tank missile – Nag, has come through tests with the intended warhead well. Demonstrations to the user are underway and it would be ready for production.
Asked about Agni-3, Dr Natarajan said: “There is no delay as such, all the systems have been checked out and we are ready for launch, as and when the Government wants us.”
Dr Natarajan was here to participate in a one-day seminar on `Technological challenges in hypersonic systems and reusable launch vehicles’, organised by the Astronautical Society of India.
The newly appointed Director of Defence Research and Development Laboratory, Dr P. Venugopalan, said the lab was building a small vehicle that would be tested to fly at hypersonic speeds of up to Mach 8.
raids13What have you done fantumfan……….
raids13‘RFPs under govt consideration, can be sent to more companies’
‘RFPs under govt consideration, can be sent to more companies’
New Delhi: The Indian Air Force today said that the Request for Proposals (RFPs) for the 126 multi-role combat aircraft the force intends to acquire could be sent to more manufacturers than the four to which the Requests for Information (RFIs) were directed.
”We have drafted the RFPs and sent them them to the government,” IAF chief Air Chief Marshal S P Tyagi told mediapersons on the sidelines of the International Flight Safety Conference here.
He said the delay in issuing the RFPs was due to some ”technical issues,” relating to the inclusion of the offsets provision.
”The RFIs were dispatched prior to the adoption of the new procurement policy. Now, under this policy, the RFPs have to include the provision of ‘offsets,’ amounting to 30 per cent of the value of the contract,” ACM Tyagi said.
The Air Chief denied that the offsets clause could deter potential suppliers.
”Offsets is not a new phenomenon, and is employed by several countries. Besides, we have spoken to the manufacturers concerned and they have no problems in this regard and are ready to comply with the provision,” he said.
He also said that the IAF could send the RFPs to more manufacturers than the original four — Russia’s MiG MAPO, Sweden’s Saab, France’s Dassault Aviation and US’ Lockheed Martin — to which the RFIs had been sent.
”There is no limit on the number of RFPs which we can issue.
They can be sent to anyone who has a product that meets our requirement,” ACM Tyagi said.
However, he said there was no proposal to increase the number of planes planned to be acquired from the original 126,”as of now.” Asked how much time the acquisition process would entail, he indicated they hoped to do it as soon as possible.
”I have never met an Air Chief who did not want new assets by yesterday if possible,” ACM Tyagi quipped.
About the force’s safety record, he said the accident graph was going down ‘sharply.’ ”Such results cannot be obtained overnight, but what we have achieved indicates we are on the right track,” he said, adding that the report of the expert committee to improve the flight safety performance contained no ”earth-shattering” changes but practical provisions which were being implemented.
About Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s announcement that a team had been sent to Russia to obtain spares, the Air Chief said this was a welcome step, that would ”ensure a smoother flow for higher serviceability of the force’s assets.” ”The high point is the team will enter into a long, large contract, which will improve the situation. We cannot rush for spares every six months,” he said.
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Opens the door for Rafael and Typhoon, does it?
raids13800 years? where did you get that figure wolf?
raids13Well Wolf the guys who need to know know inside out of how PLAAF trains, how many hours they fly in a year, where what is based and what part moves when.
Seriously its no joke, the same way PLAAF knows all that needs to be known about IAF. That what the intel guys get paind for, dont they?
Lets stop this useless debate and concentrate on the topic please. But none of us knows the real specs for Mig 29k or for even the mkk or mkk2. Instead of going for each others throats why not try and tabulate whatever data we can get. If not for you someone interested will be able to use that info. Or is it that people here are so deep inside them own ars*es that they just dont care and get a huge kick out of all this cr@p?
raids13Loving the show guys keep it up
Who wont be paranoid living next door to a country which has been fighting wars with almost all its neighbours? And please dont say they were the agressors every time. lemme get it right you did not even care about the pond and went right across it to US of A. hmmm and we indians paranoid?????
By the way cheers guys!! How well have you compared a democracy and an authoritarian rule. Now dont go into saying 10 years and you have changed your ways. India does not rule by stick, We cant and dont force anyone to do anything.
We train our jocks the way we see fit, and trust me we are trained well. how well does PLAAF trains? You must be knowing better, and i wont coment on that.
As far as china consuming more, well yes china does cause it has a stronger manufacturing base. India is going the other way, towards service specific industries.
The tiger and the dragon will one day rule the world. together or seperate lets leave that question for our kids to decide. what say?
raids13We always learn something new isnt it Dieno, Thanks Ha
raids13Sarcasm only looks good if you put it in the right place. :rolleyes:
I dont want to be educated by you.
Rest let me decide where i want to be.
raids13WOW!! care to explain Matt???? How much fuel does the 29k carry and how much does it need to climb to a height where it can refuel?
raids13Indian economy has a new guardian: IAF
Press Trust of India
Gandhinagar, January 16: The growing economy has altered the focus of Indian Air Force which is now concentrating on providing security to economic installations in the country, Chief of Air Staff S P Tyagi said today.
“The Indian economy is unstoppable and so we have altered our focus from geo-political issues to geo-economic issues,” he told reporters on the sidelines of commanders’ conference at South Western Air Command (SWAC) headquarters here.
“Today the concern for economic security has become stronger than political
factors,” Tyagi said, adding the IAF is now concentrating on providing
security for trade and energy installations of the country.
“Today trade and energy needs of the country are on the rise. So we need better reach and more exploitation of air space,” he said. “It is a whole new ball game”.
The Air Chief said in the era of globalisation “geographical boundaries known as borders are vanishing and IAF is looking 25 years ahead.”
“The core-areas we are concentrating on are extending our reach through long-range aero planes. We have flight re-fuelling capacity and we need more, we need radar cover for our planes and so we are getting AWACS which will be delivered by the end of 2007,” Tyagi said.
“We have our goal in place and the time frame of how our plans progress depends on the budgetary allocations for defence,” he added.
The Chief of Air Staff said during year 2005 the IAF had flown about 4,000 hours while providing relief during natural disasters across the country.
“Though IAF took a major hit in Car Nicobar during last year’s tsunami, it did not stop the IAF from providing relief and saving people in the region,” Tyagi said.
After the tsunami where IAF provided relief to as far as Sri Lanka and Maldives, the force airlifted about 8,000 people during an avalanche in Jammu and Kashmir, he added.
He also said that IAF was instrumental in providing relief during floods in Gujarat and Maharashtra and also played a major role in the Jammu and Kashmir earthquake.
Earlier at the commanders’ conference, Tyagi presented 24 trophies to winners of various categories for excellence in operational, maintenance and administrative activities held in the command during the preceding year.
While, `Falcons of Chhamb and Akhnoor’ operating the MIG-21 T-96 won the trophy for the Best Fighter Squadron, `Desert Hawks’, a mi-17 unit of the command won the trophy in the Best Helicopter/Transport unit category. The `sharp shooters’ squadron equipped with Sam-III Pechora missiles won the trophy for Best `Surface to Air guided weapon’ unit.
Forward operating airbase of Naliya in Gujarat, Lohegaon airbase in Pune and Jodhpur in Rajasthan won the trophies for the Best Stations in Operations, Maintenance and Administration respectively.
Tyagi also unveiled a plaque of a MIG-23 MF fighter-bomber aircraft mounted on a pedestal at Chiloda Circle here.
raids13Advanced Light Helicopters airborne again: HAL
Advanced Light Helicopters airborne again: HAL
NEW DELHI, JAN 19 (PTI)
The Country’s indigenous Advanced Light Helicopter ‘Dhruv’ has started flying again, three weeks after being grounded for emergency safety checks following a crash of a chopper near Hyderabad last month.
“Clearance has been given to the operators to commence flying and helicopters have already started operations”, a statement issued here by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, its manufacturer, said here today.
As on cue, ALHs of the IAF are now airborne, taking part in the Republic Day flypast rehearsals. An IAF spokesman said they would be part of the flypast over Rajpath during the Parade.
“The grounding of the helicopters was only a precautionary measure, as a positive step towards safety in the sky,” HAL said.
It said that extensive checks had been carried out on all the choppers already inducted into service and those undergoing trials.
The Aviation major said the ALH tail rotor blades were of “very sound design and had been extensively tested. More than 12,000 hours of flying have been carried so far by HAL as well as other users without any incident”.
It, however, clarified that blades of a particular batch had some snags, but the problem was not (not) related to any design deficiency and these were “duly addressed”.
“Dhruv is an excellent performer in multi-mission, multi-role operations and has proved itself, both in the military and the civilian sector,” HAL said. It said that in the recent incident of the tail rotor of an ALH developing a snag near Hyderabad, the pilot had executed a safe landing without injury to any of the passengers.
“In the incident the design characterstics of the ALH were proved beyond doubt as the helicopter descended from 5,000 feet and the crew and passengers came out of the helicopter with a scratch”, HAL said, adding there was no fuel leak, fire or any other damage.
raids13Good News: HAL accelerates Su-30 production
HAL accelerates Su-30 production
Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 16
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has accelerated the production of indigenously assembled Su-30 multi-role aircraft for the IAF. This will result in the Air Force getting more aircraft every year, while cutting down the time to produce the entire Su-30 fleet by three years.
“We are increasing our production from eight aircraft per annum to 13 aircraft,” Managing Director of HAL, Mr K.P. Puri, said. “The Su-30 production, which was earlier scheduled to finish by 2017-18 will now be over by 2014-15,” he added.
He said the Defence Minister had accorded his approval for the accelerated production. The Su-30 are being produced at HAL’s Nasik complex, which is the largest production unit among its 16 factories across the country.
The Su-30 entered service with the IAF in 1997, with 50-odd aircraft being procured directly from Russia and another about 150 aircraft to be built in India by HAL under licence.
At present, the IAF is operating three Su-30 squadrons — the 20th, 24th and 30th squadrons. It would be the mainstay of the IAF in the
coming decades.
HAL had commenced the indigenous production of the Su-30 in 2004. The first two indigenous aircraft (MKI version) took to the skies in October, 2004, for flight tests and these were handed over to the IAF in March, 2005. The indigenous content in the Su-30 at present is just about 15 per cent and proposed to be increased progressively up to 45 per cent.
Mr Puri said a project to carry out “block-wise” improvement of the Su-30 was also on the cards. Besides HAL, the Defence Research and Development Orgaisation and Russian firms would be involved in the project. The first meeting in this regard was held on January 6.
The improvement programme involving aircraft produced in different blocks will result in aircraft having the same configuration and capabilities.
The first 50 aircraft had some deficiencies that were to be taken care of later.
HAL would also complete the upgradation of the MiG-21 to the Bison configuration this year. So far 94 MiG-21 have been upgraded and work on the remaining 29 aircraft is in progress.
As far as the MiG-27 upgrade programme is concerned, Mr Puri said the prototypes had already been certified and the first batch of 12 upgraded MiG-27s would be handed over to the IAF this year.
Unlike other upgrade programmes, the MiG-27 upgrade is totally indigenous.
The upgraded MiG-27 have a totally new cockpit, mission control computer and advanced avionics, thereby reducing the pilot’s work load significantly.
raids13Are russians working on a steam catapult? I did not beleive it nor would i expect any one else too, but lets speculate; is it possible that vicky is coming with a Steam cat.
raids13TVC or no TVC Flankers can not hover like a helicopter. nor can any other fighter other then VTOL’s and we all know for how long they can afford to hover and how much fuel they burn.
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