ANTONY URGES AIR WARRIORS TO DEVELOP IAF INTO A DOMINANT AEROSPACE POWER
14:12 IST
The Defence Minister Shri AK Antony has urged the Air Warriors to make all efforts for developing Indian Air Force (IAF) into a dominant Aerospace power. Inaugurating the three-day long Air Force Commanders’ Conference here today, the Minister said that the IAF is in the process of transformation and modernization. Several important projects are in various stages of implementation. He said the Government is aware of the challenges, issues and requirements of the IAF. Adding further, that the IAF is a the technology intensive force, he said our attempts should be to enhance the strategic reach of IAF and integrate potent capabilities in air defence surveillance, space based assets and advance weapon systems to develop it into a dominant aerospace power. He said, “we must also develop asymmetric capabilities against superior forces”.

The Minister said that IAF has an ambitious action plan for acquisition of new systems and upgradation of existing ones over the next three years. Given the substantial amount of public money being used for these efforts, it is imperative that these financial resources are utilized honestly, efficiently and optimally. He said that we have been relying on outside suppliers to meet the requirement of our Defence Forces for quite some time. However, he remarked that a country like India cannot ‘indefinitely’ continue to rely on outside suppliers and self-reliance and indigenization must be our top priority. The Minister said, “self-reliance through indigenization should be the ‘mantra’ for companies in both the public as well as the private sector”.

Complimenting the IAF for its excellent flight safety record in the last financial year, the Minister said all possible efforts must be made by aviation related organizations to ensure that loss of human and financial resources through accidents remains minimal and if possible eliminated altogether. In this context, he stressed upon the need of training and strict adherence to Standard Operating Procedures relating to flight safety. Referring to the problem of serviceability, the Minister said, though long term business agreements have been signed a lot more remains to be done. Emphasizing the need of meticulous planning with regard to procurement of spares, he asked the Chief of Air Staff to chalk out a concrete action plan in this regard.

Deliberating on India’s friendly and cordial relations with all nations, especially country’s in our immediate neighbourhood, the Minister said our relations with Pakistan show signs of improvement. However, Pakistan needs to match its words with actions on dismantling the terrorists and ‘jehadi’ infrastructure. He said, “though we deserve peace with Pakistan and want to continue talks with Pakistan on various issues, it is imperative for us to maintain eternal vigil all along our borders”. Expressing concern over the deteriorating situation in Sri Lanka, he said the air offensive launched by the LTTE is a cause for concern. “On our part we have to be vigilant and continue to safeguard our security concerns”, he added.

http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=28110

Despite complaining at the RSK, India is still buying aircrafts from them, Mig-29K, maybe also the Mig-35. Wondering why is that ?

Lets not talk about the Mig-35 since it hasnt been decided yet.
Indian Navy went for Mig-29K because there werent any other options.

And I agree with Nick_76 here.The RSKMig has been pathetic with spares and support.

Yes, quite right. MORE THAN. How much more is not stated, & unless you’re a prospective customer, you ain’t going to find out exact figures.

Thats right…but still it means that tracking range is probably somewhere between 25-35 nm.

Also, as Sealordlawrence says, it’s a small radar, intended for light fighters & LIFTs, with an array of only 500 elements. With a larger array (& it is offered with a 750 element array, with 1000 being possible) the range would be greater. It isn’t going to be a competitor for CAESAR, or other high-end radars, but that isn’t a reason to dismiss it. Horses for courses.

I agree.And hey I aint dismissing anything..

BTW, I don’t understand why you say the ranges are too small for an AESA. AESA isn’t magic: it doesn’t confer huge range on a radar, by itself. Depends on power output, software, size of antenna (number of elements, for AESA) – just like non-AESA radars. A small radar like Vixen 500E has a shorter range than a bigger, more powerful (& more expensive!) radar. Of course. But it can be fitted in aircraft a bigger, more powerful – and heavier – radar can’t.

I know AESA isnt magic..but I said that from the PoV of the prospective ranges achieved by other AESA and PESA radars intended for fighter aircrafts.

BTW, here’s another Selex AESA radar. Look at the stats. 😀 But that’s what you get from a radar weighing <10kg.

http://www.selexinfrared.com/datasheets/PicoSAR.pdf

Yes AESA has its advantages no doubt.10kms is sufficient for an UAV IMO.

Said to be “not so capable” by who? And in what particular areas of performance?

BTW, from the size of the nose of the LCA I think it could take a bigger antenna than the Vixen 500E. At least the Vixen 750E, & maybe more.

Hey swerve…this states that for 500E

TWS>10 targets
Track formation range >25 nm
Look up detection range >35 nm.

http://www.selexinfrared.com/datasheets/Vixen500E.pdf

Doesnt the detection and tracking ranges seem too small for an AESA :confused:

I wonder if the following has been allowed by the so called neutral moderators to be discussed on this forum

Please explain in what way “Moderators” come into this topic.

[B]29 Military Aircraft Crashed in Three Years

New Delhi

In a damning indictment of state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), parliament was informed Wednesday that 26 of the 29 combat aircraft that crashed in the past three years had been manufactured, overhauled or upgraded by the company.

Stupid attempt to sensationalise things.Most of IAF a/c has been/will be to HAL facilities at some point in their lives.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) operated all the 26 aircraft, which had 40-50 percent of their operational life left when they crashed, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

Okay.

The other three aircraft belonged to the Indian Navy, which has its own repair and maintenance facilities independent of HAL.

Okay.

The IAF and the Indian Navy have ascribed the crashes to either human or technical failures.

Alright.

Giving details, Antony said the IAF had lost eight MiG-21s, six Jaguars, four MiG-27s, four Mirages, three MiG-29s, and one Bison – an upgraded version of the MiG-21 during 2004-05 and 2006-07

.

See below.

The Indian Navy lost three Sea Harriers during this period.

So how again HAL comes into this..since IN has separate facilities for its a/cs?

During 1992-2004, Antony said, HAL had manufactured two MiG-21s and overhauled eight, of which eight had crashed. In addition, the company had overhauled a Bison and upgraded another, of which one crashed.

There has been reports of adulterated fuel being responsible in many cases.

In the case of the Jaguars, the company had manufactured three and overhauled five, of which six crashed.

In the case of the Mirages, HAL had overhauled four, all of which had crashed.

In the case of the MiG-27, HAL had manufactured three and overhauled a similar number, of which four crashed.

As for the MiG-29, HAL had overhauled three, all of which crashed.

Didnt the IAF say that some of the crashes were due to human error and some due to technical error!So how many of these were due to technical errors and how many due to human errors?
Also the technical errors that occurred how many exactly are due to HAL’s work on them?

Of the 29 crashes, 13 had occurred in 2004-05, and eight each in the subsequent two years.

Fine.

BTW..here is another report on accident rates in the IAF

“From an all-time high of 1.84 accidents per 10,000 hours of flying in 1972-73, we have brought down the accident rate to all-time low of 0.44 accidents per 10,000 hours of flying in 2005-06,” Air Marshal P S Ahluwalia, Director General Flight Safety and Inspections at IAF headquarters said in New Delhi.

“Fighters registered a 57 per cent drop in the accident rate, helicopters by 15 per cent and trainer fleet by eight per cent,” Ahluwalia said claiming that the IAF was now on par with air forces like United States Air Force, Russian, Royal British and French air forces in its safety record.

http://www.india-defence.com/reports/2045

Btw..here is an interesting report on PAF accident rate upto 1998 August just for comparison..does anyone have the recent rates..

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/MONITOR/ISSUE2-4/rupak.html

Here is another report on the Mig27 accident..

The Indian Express, 4 April 2005
IAF finds faults in MiG, but says safe for pilots
NEW DELHI, APRIL 3: With engine component problems behind it, the Air Force has now found another major flaw in the MiG-27M ground attack fighter, and gone back to its Russian contractors RAC-MiG for help. However,
it has debunked fears that the fault puts pilots’ lives in danger. The Russian firm recently assisted the IAF inresolving design flaws which had led to cracks on the engine’s ‘fourth stage disc’, a component of the turbine
engine. Now, the IAF has found flaws in the more critical ‘first stage disc’ of the MiG-27s R-29B-300 engine,though it said it was completely safe for the aircraft’s pilots to fly while the fault was being looked into.
Interestingly, R-29 engine’s first stage compressor disc appears as one of the main causes of MiG engine failures in the report submitted by the A.P.J. Abdul Kalam committee on flight safety in 1997. Hence, resolving faults with
the R-29’s first stage disc appear to be in consonance with Kalam’s recommendations.

So now is this also HAL’s fault?

Parliament’s Standing Committee on Defence, in a report tabled last month, had commented adversely on the depleting squadron strength of the IAF, calling for immediate acquisitions and upgrades.

“The committee feels that most of the aircraft in the inventory of the air force are quite old and, therefore, require immediate replacement. The committee also feels the upgradation programme of the air force which is a continuous process is proceeding at a very slow pace,” it had said.

“On the other hand, there has been under utilisation of funds allocated for the purpose during the last financial year 2006-07.

“In view of this, the committee strongly recommended that the ministry should take immediate steps for the ongoing acquisition and upgradation programme by utilising the entire funds allocated for the current year.”
The IAF that had in 2001 projected its requirement for 126 multi-role combat aircraft to ramp up its squadron levels and hopes to float a global tender in next two months.

Out of context..rountine template addendum to lengthen the report.

Its already given here:

Indications are that the existing Weapon Control System has been retained, but a new weapon interface box has been developed for the integration of new weapons.

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/MONITOR/ISSUE2-6/rupak.html

So the reason could be that the old analogue system has been left behind for the old Russian weapons…while newer weapons like PGMs etc. will be integrated with the help of th new interface.

Phazotron NIIR has developed the Zhuk AE AESA now fitted into the Mig-35 prototype.

Here are the specifications:

Till now theres no AESA radar from NIIP Tikhomirov..except for a small experimental(?) radar called the Epaulet-A..

Tikhomirov NIIP institute presented a small Epaulet-A active electronically scanned antenna (AESA) radar.

Unlike another AESA radar, Zhuk-A, shown by Phazotron-NIIR company in the neighboring pavilion, the Epaulet was not a mock-up, but a fully functioning experimental radar dismounted for the time of exposition from the test stand. According to NIIP representatives, the radar operates within frequency range X (centimeter wavelength). The radiation power in each of the antenna channels “amounts to 8-1OW, which may be compared to 5-8W emitted by foreign radars”; noise factor amounts to 3dB, whereas the efficiency factor is about 30%.

The Epaulet-A radar has been built almost exclusively from Russian components with use of Russian technology, which is one of the basic conditions required by Russian air forces for the equipment to be installed in the fifth-generation fighter. The Epaulet-A is an experimental radar used for developing AESA technology and it is composed of only 68 transmit-receive modules; the next radars may be equipped with aerials of any form and size. The price of a single module “will be reduced to an acceptable level, provided that the same technology is used also for other series radiolocation systems made for military and civil applications” say NIIP officials.

Some more here:

http://www.defense-update.com/features/du-1-07/aesaradar_zhuk_AE.htm

http://www.aviapedia.com/forum/field-trials/t-phazotron-zhuk-ae-aesa-radar-654.html