Indian Military Aviation; News, Updates & Discussions

[StobieWan]

So, anything ending in "owler" - kind of narrows it down really. That's going to be a record in short competitions for the Indian MOD really.

"The list of competitors is <drumroll> EF/18G."

"After much thought we have chosen..<drumroll>..."

You get the idea Surely no point in developing a bespoke platform for that amount of aircraft?

 

[Twinblade]

Gee, if only they'd thought of this requirement during MMRCA, I can think of a particular aircraft that does this role better than anything else in the world...

These aircraft are meant to replace the gulfstream aircraft used by RAW, so their primary objective would be ELINT with only 3 aircraft being requested to be equipped for jamming. Besides look at the RFI, minimum 5 operators and a business jet platform, that effectively cancels out Growler.

 

[Haavarla]

Ukraine is close to signing one of its biggest ever defense deals for air-to-air missiles with India, according to Russian media reports.


Ukraine on Brink of Missile Deal with India - Media | Defense | RIA Novosti

I thought the R-27 was long gone from production..

 

[colay]

Ukraine is close to signing one of its biggest ever defense deals for air-to-air missiles with India, according to Russian media reports.


Ukraine on Brink of Missile Deal with India - Media | Defense | RIA Novosti

I thought the R-27 was long gone from production..

"..worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.." hmm, if that's one of the biggest deals, I wonder what the smaller deals are worth? Lol.

 

[Twinblade]

LCA naval variant’s first flight on Friday


The pitbull is finally ready to leap off its pudgy feet

 

[Twinblade]

Ukraine is close to signing one of its biggest ever defense deals for air-to-air missiles with India, according to Russian media reports.


Ukraine on Brink of Missile Deal with India - Media | Defense | RIA Novosti


I thought the R-27 was long gone from production..

Hundreds of thousands of dollars? What are they selling, two missiles?

Besides, with Astra on the verge of entering service and MiG-29 being upgraded to fire r-77, it doesn't make much sense.

 

[Twinblade]

Naval Tejas finally takes off and successfully completes its first flight.
Livefist: MORE PHOTOS: LCA Navy Lifts Off

 

[amirhessam]

Russia to Sell Off 18 'Indian' Su-30 Fighters

Russia is to put up for sale a batch of 18 Sukhoi Su-30 multirole fighter aircraft, rejected by India on concerns about their engines and returned to Russia in 2003, a defense official said on Wednesday.

"The 18 Su-30s previously used by India and then returned, are in an aviation repair plant in Belarus and are on sale to potential buyers," said Alexander Fomin, deputy director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation. He added that the aircraft could be modernized before being sold on.
The Su-30MKI is India's lead fighter aircraft, and around 140 have been produced under license by HAL Aeronautics in India. The Indian Air Force is expected to buy a total of around 280 during the next decade.
Development of the Su-30 began in the 1980s for the Soviet Armed Forces, based on the Su-27UB conversion trainer.
The first batch of 18 Su-30s delivered to India were Su-30MK and Su-30K standard, and were built to a lower specification than the later Su-30MKI. This meant that they did not have thrust-vectoring engine nozzles or canard foreplanes, enabling extra maneuverability.
Their avionics systems were also built to a lower specification than the later Su-30MKIs built by HAL, which included a high level of Israeli and French-built systems.
http://militaryparsi.ir/en/Defence-News/164-Public-News/1703-Russia-to-Sell-Off-18-Indian-Su-30-Fighters.html

 

[Twinblade]

Naval Tejas finally takes off and successfully completes its first flight.
Livefist: MORE PHOTOS: LCA Navy Lifts Off

Here's the video from the first flight. The cockpit view just before take off looks good to my untrained eyes.

Naval Tejas first flight video.mp4 - YouTube

 

[Twinblade]

Livefist: EXCLUSIVE: First Official Impressions Of India's AURA UCAV

Shiv Aroor has uploaded CAD images of AURA USAV/UCAV which might enter service by 2020.

 

[Feanor]

The MTA contract was signed recently. For 205 aircraft, and the development. The contract was signed between HAL and UAC. At this point I'd love to know whether the Il-112 is still the baseline aircraft for the project.

 

[Twinblade]

The MTA contract was signed recently. For 205 aircraft, and the development. The contract was signed between HAL and UAC. At this point I'd love to know whether the Il-112 is still the baseline aircraft for the project.

From the looks of the models displayed at Defexpo 12, MTA does look like an blown up Il-112.

Pictures of Multirole transport aircraft on display at Defexpo 12.

 

[Twinblade]

India Begins $2.2-billion QR-SAM Procurement Effort

MBDA will be pitching the in-development Indo-French joint short-range surface to air missile (SR-SAM) or Maitri for the competition, in the hope that "enhanced synergies" will see a concept weapon get its big break even before its fully operational. It is not clear if MBDA will field any other product. I hear that MBDA has competition from the Rafael-IAI SpyDer, an upgraded version of Raytheon's MIM-23 Hawk or modified SLAMRAAM and the Russian TOR M1 9M330.

It would be nice to see Maitri being pushed to at least a tech demonstrator status. If it achieves the performance parameters, sooner or later it should receive a few orders, being a semi domestic product.

... and a cutout image of AMCA

 

[Twinblade]

Indian Air Force take delivery of Global 5000

The Indian Air Force have taken delivery of a Global 5000 from Bombardier, from an order originally destined for a Maltese customer.
Arriving at Shannon on Sunday night from St. Louis Downtown, msn 9424 / C-GHVB stayed the night before departing to Tel Aviv the next morning.

Indian Air Force Global 5000 on delivery through Shannon. Photo copyright Malcolm Nason
It’s unclear if the aircraft is destined for some work with Israel Aerospace Industries in Tel Aviv before final delivery, but it is understood that the Indians have been shopping for a system similar to the Raytheon developed Global Express based Airborne Stand-Off Radar (ASTOR) system deployed by the UK’s Royal Air Force recently in Afghanistan.

^^ While this link says that the bombardiers might be used for airborne stand off radar, an earlier Hindustan Times report said that it is meant to replace older RAW assets (for which a global RFI has been issued).

After 20 years, R&AW upgrades to super spy jets - Hindustan Times

 

[Twinblade]

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiWiFFo0BuY&feature=player_embedded"]DRDO chief V.K. Saraswaswat on AWACS , AESA radar and Arjun Tank ( Part - 7) - YouTube[/nomedia]


(bad journo alert: awacs becomes ewoks, aesa becomes aisha )
Dr. Saraswat about indigenous aew&c, Tejas AESA (3:13)

What he says was pretty much confirmed by the market report on Astra microwave earlier this year (partner and sub vendor for both the programs)

(check pg 8)
http://www.astramwp.com/adminpanel/products/1340011618_180612_IER_InitiationReport.pdf

 

[Twinblade]

Some gorgeous shots of LCH heading out for sea trials.
http://livefist.blogspot.in/2012/06/exclusive-photos-light-combat.html

AMCA serpentine intake under tests.

Edit: This seems to be more like an intake meant for AURA.

 

[vivtho]

Some gorgeous shots of LCH heading out for sea trials....

Uhh ... that should be sea-level trials. I got excited thinking that we were also planning to deploy the LCH off carriers

 

[Twinblade]

From SP's aviation:-
(link)

As part of the multidisciplinary design optimisation (MDO) currently on for the AMCA—a wind tunnel model of which was first publicly displayed at AeroIndia 2009—that design-based stealth features will include further optimised airframe shaping, edge matching, body conforming antennae and a low IR signature through nozzle design, engine bay cooling and work on reduced exhaust temperature

With aerodynamic design optimisation near complete, the AMCA's broad specifications are final. The aicraft will have a weight of 16-18 tonnes [16-18 tons with 2-tons of internal weapons and four-tonnes of internal fuel with a combat ceiling of 15-km, max speed of 1.8-Mach at 11-km. The AMCA will be powered by 2 x 90KN engines with vectored nozzles—likely to be the new GTRE-Snecma engine under development.

4 tons of internal fuel is way less than current 4.5 gen fighters, especially when it is expected to fly without drop tanks, but deep down inside I had a feeling that it would come down to having a low fuel fraction.


In other news..
Govt to shortly declare winner of mid-air refueler competition

 

[Twinblade]

Army finally gets the nod to operate attack choppers:-

In what is being seen as a crucial victory for the Indian Army after a long-standing spat with the Indian Air Force, the government today accorded clearance to the Army to operate its own attack helicopter units...

Livefist: Indian Army To Operate Attack Chopper Units

A few more details about AURA UCAV
New Imagery Details Indian Aura UCAV

New Imagery Details Indian Aura UCAV


By Asia-Pacific Staff
Source: Aviation Week & Space Technology

July 16, 2012
Asia-Pacific Staff New Delhi
India's stealthy unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) program is taking shape, with the first images surfacing from the design optimization and concept definition phase.
The flying-wing concept, designated the Indian Unmanned Strike Air Vehicle (IUSAV), is a derivative of existing flying-wing UAVs such as the European Neuron and Boeing Phantom Ray. But in fresh indications coming from the Bengaluru-based team developing the platform, the IUSAV, code-named Aura, could see a first prototype flight by 2015-16, with deliveries by the end of the decade. Such timelines are ambitious—especially for a program involving technologies that India has never before attempted—but the Indian air force (IAF) and government decided to accord special funding and other support to keep the IUSAV on schedule. The director of the Indian Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), V.K. Saraswat, recently visited Sweden, where he is believed to have had discussions with Saab on India's unmanned efforts, including the IUSAV. Saraswat's presentation at the Aerospace Forum there—where he described the IUSAV as an “unmanned bomber”—also revealed that IUSAV program laboratories were pursuing development of radar-absorbent paint and materials, cool exhaust signatures for infrared suppression, conformal sensors and antennas, data links and flying-wing aerodynamics. His presentation also illustrated elaborate threat scenarios involving future combat air systems, which included not just the IUSAV but also an indigenous fifth-generation stealth fighter, the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft, and the Indo-Russian fifth-generation fighter aircraft, or PAK FA.


Representatives from Dassault, Saab and BAE Systems say that all three companies are in discussions with the DRDO for possible technology partnerships in the IUSAV project. DRDO sources indicate that teams from the organization have been invited to visit facilities in France and the U.K., respectively, where the Neuron and BAE Taranis are being developed.

And who would have thought that this deal wasn't signed yet.

India, US close to inking over $600 mlln jet engine deal
PTI
New Delhi, July 15, 2012
First Published: 14:55 IST(15/7/2012)
Last Updated: 14:56 IST(15/7/2012)
India and the US are close to signing a deal worth over $600 million for supplying 99 jet engines that would be used in the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft 'Tejas' being developed by the DRDO. Around two years ago, India had selected the American company General Electric over its rival European Eurojet 2000 for the LCA Mark II programme expected to be ready around 2014-15.
Negotiations with the US firm over various issues involved in the deal, including price and transfer of technology, have been held and it is hoped that the deal for these engines to be fitted on the LCA Mark II would be signed soon, Defence sources told PTI here.


As per the contract, the order could be for 99 engines initially but India will have the option of order for another 100 engines in the future.

India, US close to inking over $600 mlln jet engine deal - Hindustan Times

GE still hasn't released the specs for GE F414 IN56. The specs that were given for GE F404 IN20 engine turned out to be flat rated at 85 KN for Indian conditions while the actual thrust was 90KN.

 

[Twinblade]

Def Min clears Rs 12,000 cr proposal for 56 aircraft

In a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) headed by Defence Minister A K Antony, the IAF proposal to issue a global tender for procuring these aircraft was cleared, Defence Ministry sources said here.


The first 16 aircraft will be procured off-the-shelf from foreign vendors who will have to partner with a local private or public sector firm, they said.


The next 16 aircraft will have to have 30 per cent indigenous component while the remaining 24 planes will have 60 per cent locally-procured and produced items.


Asked why the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) was not be involved in the project, they said the PSU was already burdened with projects such as the SU-30MKI production and upgrades of IAF aircraft fleet including the Mirage, MiG 29 and Jaguar aircraft.


HAL has a vast helicopter division and will also be involved in the forthcoming M-MRCA project for producing 126 combat aircraft, the sources said.


They said the 56-aircraft project would help in developing a domestic aerospace industry and capability to undertake such projects.

Who else if not HAL ? 3 conglomerates with some serious financial backing come into my mind.

1. Mahindra Aerospace, part of the Mahindra group, rumoured to be considering buying Beechcraft.
2. Tata-Lockheed Martin Aero Structures, JV between Tata group and LM to manufacture C-130J components.
3. L&T Cassidian, primarily meant to supply defence electronics, may capitalize on the opportunity for a large project like this.

-Currently neither of the companies have an aircraft assembly line in India.
-All three are capable of raising large amounts of funds and enjoy a very high investor confidence.
-Tata Group and L&T have already made significant inroads in the defence sector as sub-vendors for DRDO and DPSU's and have continuously for the past decade expressed a desire to play an aggressive role in the defence equipment market should there be a policy change.