AIR ACE

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Sukhoi-30MKI joines Air Force Station Gwalior

The Gwalior Air Base of the Indian Air Force now has the unique distinction of being the only operational base in Indian Air Force with two operational parallel runways and operating top of the line fighters. The ceremony was also marked by the induction of Sukhoi-30 MKI at Air Force Station Gwalior.

During the ceremony, Air Commodore Neeraj Yadav VM VSM, Air Officer Commanding Air Force Station Gwalior and other senior Air Force officials of the air base were also present. A magnificent fly past by three Sukhoi-30MKI aircraft in VIC formation was organized to mark this historic occasion. These aircraft belonging to Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment took off from the Bareilly air base and were the first aircraft to land on the newly constructed runway. The chief guest also received salute from Su-30 MKI, Mirage-2000 and MiG-21 Bison aircraft as they taxied past the dais, symbolising the operationalisation of the new Runway with all types of aircraft based at Gwalior.

The new runway was conceptualised in the year 2006 with work commencing in Feb 2009. A mammoth engineering effort involving more than 200 engineers, supervisors and workers was achieved despite the extreme climatic conditions and record breaking rains at Gwalior. As a strategic asset, the new runway will assist the IAF in its quest of being a formidable aerospace power of the century. Two parallel runways would allow the flexibility to launch and recover multiple aircraft simultaneously towards large operational missions and also enhance the existing air traffic handling capability. This will also result in considerable savings to the exchequer due to reduced fuel consumption as aircraft will be able to launch and recover at a faster rate.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Airbus Military Targets India For A400M

NEW DELHI: Airbus Military says it plans to start discussions with India next year over potential acquisition of the A400M military airlifter.

India so far has not expressed an interest in the European airlifter, which is still in development, but Didier Vernet, head of A400M market development, said “if India is interested, we will be happy to discuss.”

Airbus is desperate to increase foreign sales of the A400M because the core European program — which remains in flux contractually — will not be sufficient to return a profit.

In India, Airbus Military will argue the A400M can fill a niche between the Boeing C-17 and Lockheed Martin C-130J that the country already is looking to buy. India is considering issuing a request for information for an airlifter than could transport large goods and land on airstrips without concrete runways.

Vernet also believes that the fact that several European militaries are taking the A400M as a refueler is an advantage.

He asserts the airlifter has a range of 2,450 naut. mi. with 30 metric tons of payload, or 20 metric tons to 3,450 naut.

The exact figures are still being defined in flight testing.

Vernet concedes there is still uncertainty in the European home markets, where governments and industry are wrestling to agree to contractual terms to cover three years of program delay and additional development costs. This week, Airbus Military will launch its simulator training center for the A400M, CN-235 and C-295 where pilots, technicians and allied staff will be trained.

Monday, October 11, 2010

It's Sukhoi vs Eurofighter as IAF 'takes on' RAF

NEW DELHI: Top-notch fighters and other aircraft from India and UK will match their combat skills in the `Indra-Dhanush' joint exercise at Kalaikunda airbase in West Bengal later this month.

While the British Royal Air Force will deploy their spanking new Eurofighter jets for the exercise slated to begin from October 20, the IAF fleet will be led by the `air dominance' Sukhoi-30MKI fighters.

"The exercise will be held in an AWACS (airborne warning and control systems) environment, with air defence being a major thrust area. We will be fielding different types of our fighters," said a senior official.

Both the Indian and British forces are also expected to use their mid-air refuelling aircraft, like the IL-78 and VC-10 tankers, during the combat manoeuvres.

"The aim of the joint exercise is to learn from each other and enhance mutual operational understanding. With every exercise, IAF has gained valuable experience and gained respect as a highly-professional and motivated force," the official added.

The exercise comes at a time when the $10.4 billion project to acquire 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) for IAF is in the final stages of selection process.

Apart from Eurofighter, the other five contenders in the hotly-contested race to bag the lucrative MMRCA project are the F/A-18 `Super Hornet' and F-16 `Falcon' (both US), Gripen (Swedish), Rafale (French) and MiG-35 (Russian).

A major Indo-UK defence deal has been the `Hawk' AJT (advanced jet trainer) project. As reported earlier, India is going in for another 57 Hawks as a "follow-on" order to the ongoing Rs 8,000 crore AJT project, finalised in March 2004 with BAE Systems, under which IAF is already getting 66 Hawks.

India jets order boosts ailing Russian defence industry

MOSCOW: Russia's ailing defence industry has received one of its biggest boosts in years with a huge fighter jet deal with India, but much of the sector remains stuck in a Soviet-era time warp, analysts said.

India announced Wednesday it planned to buy up to 300 fifth-generation stealth fighters that would be jointly developed with Russia in a deal that may be worth up to USD 30 billion (22 billion euros).

Last year's record arms sales helped mask systemic troubles in Russia's defence industry that have pushed even the Russian military to seek hardware abroad in its drive to overhaul outdated weaponry.

"Russia needs the Indian money like it needs air to accelerate the production of fighter jets for its own military," said Ruslan Pukhov, head of Moscow-based Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies ( CAST).

"It's not only good but revolutionary news." The deal is the biggest ever for India -- one of Russia's top three arms buyers -- and crowned two years of growing defence bookings for Russia that will ensure a steady revenue in the coming years.

But Russia has struggled to innovate technologies to meet the needs of modern warfare and is relying excessively on a few high-performing refurbished Soviet-era models, which form the bulk of its arms sales.

President Dmitry Medvedev lashed out at the "poor" state of the industry last month, as the defence ministry announced it was tripling its procurements budget over the next decade, bucking global trends.

Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov stressed Russia would not hesitate to spend the allotted 19 trillion rubles (USD 613 billion) on imported arms where Russian makes "did not meet the required standards."

"Our producers want to issue outdated models, but we don't want to buy them," Serdyukov told the weekly Russian Newsweek.

The world's second-largest arms supplier has been in talks with France to buy its Mistral-class warships in what would be its first ever purchase of hardware from a NATO member.

The planned procurements are part of a massive military reform that gained speed after Russia's 2008 war with Georgia showed the need to drop its Cold War-style structure to ready for modern-day, irregular warfare.

"Overall the situation in the defence industry is very negative and not consistent: It needs to be diversified," military expert Konstantin Makienko said.