Russia may start buying Ukrainian-built An-70 propfan military transport aircraft in 2012-2013, deputy commander of the Russian Air Force Maj. Gen. Viktor Bondarev said on Wednesday.
"The plane is undergoing factory tests, and next year it will be tested by [Russian] military pilots," Bondarev said.
A final decision on the purchase of the An-70 will be maid by a state commission on the basis of the tests results, General Bondarev said.
The An-70 is a medium-range propfan-powered military transport plane developed by Ukraine's Antonov design bureau. The Antonov company first tested a prototype An-70 in 1994, but a lack of Ukrainian state funds, and political disputes between Moscow and Kiev have prevented large-scale production of the aircraft.
Russia said in 2006 that it would pull out of the project, and buy the Il-76MF instead, after the program suffered a series of setbacks including problems with the propfan engine and two crashes involving prototypes.
The recent thaw in Russian-Ukrainian relations saw Moscow renew long-stalled funding to Ukraine in 2009 for eventual joint production of the plane, although the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said last year it would not finance the project.
There are up to 300 transport aircraft in service with the Russian Air Force, including An-12 Cub, Il-76MD and An-124 Condor transport aircraft.
The An-70 is intended to replace Russia's ageing An-12 aircraft.
Russian Airborne Troops Commander Lt. Gen. Vladimir Shamanov said last year that his service had ordered 40 An-70 planes under the new state arms procurement program for 2011-2020.
The Polish defense minister confirmed on Friday that Warsaw and Washington would sign a deal on the permanent deployment of a U.S. air detachment in Poland after U.S. President Barack Obama's upcoming visit to the European state.
Polish media reports have speculated that Obama could announce the transfer of an F-16 squadron from the Aviano base in Italy to the Lask air field in central Poland during his May 27-28 visit to Warsaw.
"An agreement on the permanent deployment of U.S. Air Force assets in Poland and the periodic rotation of F-16 fighters in the country will be signed after Barack Obama's visit," Defense Minister Bogdan Klich said in an interview with the TOK FM radio.
The U.S. detachment will service F-16 fighter jets, Hercules transport planes, and land personnel periodically visiting Poland, the minister said.
Klich expressed hope that the F-16 rotation could start as early as in 2013.
Meanwhile, Russia warned Poland against hosting U.S. fighter jets, saying it would counter the move.
India will on Friday induct an indigenous medium-power radar at the Naliya air base to enhance its air defence capabilities over Gujarat's airspace, an official said on Tuesday.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) chief, Air Chief Marshal P.V. Naik, will do the honours and induct the 'Arudhra' medium-power radar developed by the Electronics and Radar Development Establishment of the Defence Research and Development Organisation ( DRDO), the official said.
The induction would be done on the sidelines of the three-day Gandhinagar-based South Western Air Command (SWAC) commanders' conference beginning Wednesday.
"This state-of-the-art radar is being inducted towards strengthening the air defence in the Surashtara-Kutch region and forms an important component in the IAF's plan to achieve network-centric operations," the official said.
With the operationalisation of the Integrated Air Command and Control Systems (IACCS), an automated command and control system of the IAF, the overall air defence of the country would achieve a quantum leap. The Arudhra radar, along with the legacy radars, would all be networked in this system.
Should the IAF upgrade all its 51 French Dassault M2000 jets for Rs 14,400 cr or purchase new fighters?
What the IAF wants
The IAF expects the aircraft to have beyond visual range capabilities, lookdown and shoot-down capabilities, advanced electronic counter measures, and multi-target, multi-shoot capabilities
The stumbling block
The proposal does not fulfill requirements. Plus, the upgrade does not include the cost of procuring new weaponry worth Rs 80 cr. Is it cheaper to buy a new fleet?
The Indian Air Force has a dilemma: should it go ahead and upgrade it’s 51-strong Mirage fleet or purchase new fighters for Mirages’ specific role? Talks between the Ministry of Defence and Mirage’s French manufacturer Dassault are in the final stage and a decision is expected soon.
Upgrade of the French Dassault M2000 fighter aircraft would cost a whopping Rs 14,400 crore but it does not include the cost of procuring new weaponry worth Rs 80 crore.
If the Defence Ministry and the manufacturer sign the agreement, Dassault will supply four upgraded aircraft and kits to upgrade the remaining 47 aircraft to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. Roughly Rs 4,500 crore is to be spent by HAL on the upgrade. It will also charge nearly Rs 900 crore for the furnished items.
A section of the IAF top brass feels that the upgrade cost is too high as the officers say that buying a new fighter would work out cheaper.
“Avionics and weaponry are complementary but their capabilities don’t always match. The upgrade process is very complicated and thorough and has to be very convincing for it to be approved,” said Air Marshal (retired) D. Keeler - hero of the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak wars. Mirage fighters were inducted in the IAF during Keeler’s tenure in the mid-eighties. “Upgradation is always planned on the future lifespan of the airframe and engines,” he added.
New weapons required to be fitted in the proposed upgraded aircraft include BVR (RF) MICA missiles, IR MICA missiles, conventional weapons and smart guided weapons with standoff capabilities, and air-to-surface weapons.
Incidentally, Dassault fighter Rafale has been shortlisted along with Eurofighter Typhoon in the over $10.5 billion deal for 126 Medium Multi Role-Combat Aircraft (MMRCA). Two American, one Swedish and one Russian rival firm are out of the race.
The Eurofighter is said to having an edge over Rafale. Dassault sees this as a ‘win-win situation’: If it fails to get the MMRCA deal, it is confident of clinching the Mirage upgrade deal. Purchasing new Mirages is not an option now as France has closed the production line, presumably to avoid competition between Mirage 2000 and the Rafale. When last produced in 2007, the estimated price of a Mirage 2000-09 was Rs 30-35 million.
The first batch of 40 Mirage aircraft was delivered during 1986-87, the second batch of nine during 1988-89 and the third batch of 10 aircraft during 2003-04. Of these 59 aircraft, only 51 are now in the fleet. The rest have been lost.
The proposal is to upgrade all 51 aircraft to extend their operational life and update their capability. The ‘cardinal points’ of the proposal include: no airframe modifications, no changes to major aircraft systems, no modification to equipment bays, limited cockpit modifications, minimum retrofit line modification facilities/activities, and, most significantly, it does not cover the cost of supply of weapons.
As the purpose of the upgrade is to bring the IAF’s Mirage 2000 fleet up to the standard of the Mirage 2000-5 Mk2, which is used by the French and sold as the Mirage 2000-09, would it not be a better option to ascertain whether any country wants to sell some or all of its inventory at a more competitive cost than that represented by the upgrade, questions the anti-upgrade lobby within the IAF.
India had reportedly talked to Qatar, which was looking to sell its Mirage 2000-09 fleet of 12 aircraft. The talks failed as Qatar’s price expectations could not be met. Some senior officers are of the view that this setback does not preclude the attempt to identify another source, provided that the price is reasonable and that there is sufficient service life remaining to justify the acquisition.
India must negotiate and conclude contracts for the upgrade of Mirage fighters and procurement of weapons simultaneously, advise senior IAF officers. Otherwise, they warn, weapon manufacturers will dictate their ‘expensive terms’ later.
Indian Air Chief PV Naik on Monday watched the demonstration flight of the prototype of fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) at a Russian airbase near Moscow, which will be jointly developed and produced by the two countries under an inter-governmental agreement signed in October 2007. Besides the flight demonstration of one of the two prototypes of PAK-FA T-50 (FGFA) fighter, the Indian Air Chief also watched the flight of modernised MiG-29UPG of the Indian Air Force at the airfield of M M Gromov Flight Research Institute in Zhukovsky town near Moscow.
Under a multi-million dollar contract signed in 2008, Russia's MiG Aircraft Corporation is upgrading six of the IAF's fighter MiG-29 fleet, while rest will be modernised in India for which the Russian aircraft maker will supply kits.
In the course of upgradation the MiG-29 fighters in service with IAF their avionics will be unified with the MiG-29K deck based fighters for the Vikramaditya aircraft carrier (former Gorshkov), including systems developed by HAL and Bharat Dynamics and French companies, according to a United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) release, the umbrella organisation of Sukhoi and MiG Corporations.
President of UAC and simultaneously CEO of Sukhoi and MiG corporation, Mikhail Pogosyan, officials of Rosoboronexport state arms exporter and Russian Air Force also present at the airfield during the demonstration of the fighter jets.
"For the United Aircraft Corporation Russian-Indian cooperation is a long-term partnership based on over fifty year long interaction," Pogosyan was quoted as saying by his press service.
This was first high level interaction between Russian and Indian officials after Russia's MiG-35 lost the race for IAF's multi billon dollar mega-tender for the acquisition of 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) last month.
Rejecting the carping by those ejected out of the hotly-contested $10.4 billion MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) race, most notably the US, India is going full throttle to ink the "mother of all defence deals'' by December.
The aim is to ensure that deliveries of the 126 fighters begin from December 2014 onwards to stem IAF's fast-eroding combat edge. Top defence sources, in fact, said plans were afoot to base the first MMRCA squadron in the western sector, most probably at Ambala, by end-2015.
The first 18 jets will come in "fly-away condition" from the aviation major -- only Eurofighter Typhoon (EADS) and French Rafale (Dassault) are now left in contention -- finally selected for the project.
Subsequent batches of the 108 fighters, to be manufactured in India by Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) after transfer of technology, will progressively be based in other operationally relevant locations, with special focus on the eastern front with China.
"The first fighter built in HAL should roll out in December 2016. Thereafter, HAL will deliver six jets per year, which will go up to 20 per year later. HAL will achieve 85% technology absorption by the end,'' said a source.
With plans clearly chalked out, MoD ruled out any scope for comebacks by the eliminated four fighters -- American F/A-18 'Super Hornet' ( Boeing) and F-16 'Super Viper' ( Lockheed Martin), Swedish Gripen (Saab), and Russian MiG-35 ( United Aircraft Corporation).
With only Typhoon and Rafale left in the reckoning after the "gruelling and transparent'' technical and flying evaluation, MoD's Technical Oversight Committee (TOC) and Technical Offsets Evaluation Committee (TOEC) are now working to submit their reports soon.
"We should be ready to open the Typhoon and Rafale commercial bids in July,'' said the source. Thereafter, it will take another month to determine the lowest bidder (L-1) because of "huge mathematical and data verification'' of the lifecycle costs of operating the jets over a 40-year period. Commercial negotiations with the L-1 vendor will then begin before the final contract is ready for signing by December.
Asked about "points'' being raised by eliminated vendors, sources said only Rafale and Typhoon were found "compliant'' on all the 643-660 technical attributes or ASQRs (air staff qualitative requirements) laid down to meet IAF's specific operational requirements.
"Our test pilots flew 222 sorties, over 270 hours, on the six fighters in different weather conditions in India and abroad. Each vendor was informed of its jet's performance at every stage... they have no reason to complain,'' the source said.
But what about the crucial AESA (active electronically scanned array) radar, which is operational only on American fighters at present? MoD said the ASQRs did "not require a flying AESA radar''. Instead, vendors had to demonstrate "a baseline radar model in flight or on a test-bed, the complete working model in a lab and how it would be integrated'' on the Indian MMRCA. "Five fighters, including Rafale and Typhoon, met this requirement,'' said the source.
Overall, MoD and IAF are confident there are "enough safeguards'' built into the project, which include "performance-based logistics'' to ensure India "gets the best machine, spares and product support''.
