India’s IJT Training Aircraft Crashes, Pilots Safe

A crash took place an Indian Air Force training aircraft in the Udedurgam Reserve Forests in the Khrisnagiri District, on Thursday evening. The pilot and the co-pilot have ejected themselves from the flight, eye-witnesses said. According to the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in Bangalore, the incident took place during flight-testing.

The aircraft, which had burst into flames, crashed about 35 km away from Hosur.

With the help of parachutes, the two flight tenants – two squadron leaders – were able to land away from the crash site, about 650 ft. Further.

They weren’t able to land securely however. They were both wounded. One of them sustained a harsh leg injury, and the other became comatosed. With the help of an IAF helicopter, they were taken to Bangalore.

At Bangalore, a person identification exposed that the pilot and co-pilot were Squadron Leader Bathra and Squadron Leader Mathu.

India To Get 10 C-17 Globemaster III Heavy Airlift Aircrafts

A deal is one step away from being closed to purchase a total of 10 C-17 Globemaster-III aircraft units from Boeing of the US. After earlier protestation, the money spent for the acquisition has been approved by the finance ministry. 

Sources revealed that the only formal thing left to be done is the Cabinet committee’s approval, which is expected to follow soon. After this, the deal for the 10 strategic heavy airlift aircraft units will be forwarded to the FMS (Foreign Military Sale). The FMS is a government-to-government system that revolves around military equipment.

The price of the C-17 Globemaster-III aircraft units have been the cause for a lot of rumors concerning the government. The president of Boeing Military Aircraft, Chris Chadwick, dismissed these rumors however, saying that there are no problems with the price related to the C-17 Globemasters, and there’s has been no indication whatsoever from the government that the $5.8-billion sale of 10 of those units are going to be put to the Indian Air Force. He told this to the FE on a recent visit to Delhi, also saying that he thinks that their offer is very fair, and is also mandatorily needed to meet certain requirements concerning the airplane’s capabilities and life-cycle costs. “We are pretty close to signing the contract”, he also said.

EADS Works With India On AEW&C Aircraft

The Indian defense ministry’s Center for Airborne Systems (CABS) has engaged EADS defense unit Cassidian to help with the system integration and flight testing of India’s Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) platform.

The AEW&C is scheduled to be integrated on a modified Embraer EMB-145 aircraft later this year. The Indian air force is set to commission three AEW&C platforms by 2013, with the first flight expected this May.

A senior CABS official tells Aviation Week that Cassidian was brought in as a consultant in January. “Many complex systems will have integration issues and get bogged down by protracted flight testing and evaluation,” the official says. “We hope to dovetail the experience of the Cassidian team into the program so as to compress time schedules.”

India To Get Russian Military System Spares From Global Vendors

The sourcing of spares and consumables for its Russian-built aircraft and weapon systems has sunk to a new low for the IAF, with the government permitting it to issue multiple global tenders for spares across a range of systems. The move marks a striking break from the Indian defense ministry’s traditional practice of contracting spares from original equipment manufacturers via Rosoboronexport. 

 

Now the IAF is turning to vendors in Europe, Israel and the U.S. to respond to an urgent spares call for Russian-built equipment it has in inventory.

There are more than 25 tenders on the street, with more floated each day. The service needs everything from terminals and transformers for its MiG-29 fighters to main wheels for its Su-30 fleet. It also needs multiple spares for its Il-76/-78 transport fleet, Mi-26 and Mi-17 helicopters and virtually all Russian-built ground radars, including its P-19 Danubes. 

The MiG-29 situation may be the most difficult. The aircraft is undergoing an extensive upgrade, which means it needs close to 150 different spare parts, including shield installations, main and nose wheels, video amplifiers and photo diodes, as well as minor items such as transformers, capacitors and resistors. 

IAF To Equip Their Strike Fighter Aircrafts With Special Gadgets

Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter aircraft would soon be equipped with special gadgets that will enable production of oxygen in the air, a step that will allow the pilots to be airborne for longer period, marking India's entry into the elite club of forces.Developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the On Board Oxygen Generation System (OBOGS) produces oxygen inside the aircraft, allowing the pilots to fly without the help of heavy oxygen cylinders they carry for high altitudes and long duration sorties."Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) has started the ground integration process of OBOGS in the Technology Demonstrator (TD) version of the LCA Mark-II. After LCA it will be integrated in all the frontline aircrafts of the IAF," W Selvamurthy, Chief Controller, Life Science, DRDO, told PTI here.LCA Mark-II is expected to join the IAF by 2015. DRDO has approved Larsen and Toubro (L&T) as the industrial partner in further development of the technology and its production.

So far only three countries- United States, Russia and France- have successfully integrated the OBOGS technology in its air force. "It will be a significant force multiplier for IAF focused at enhancing pilots ability to remain airborne. With on-board oxygen generation capability pilots would not be required to land to refill their oxygen supply," Selvamurthy said.Based on a sieve-like structure and fitted into the main frame of the aircraft, OBOGS concentrates the oxygen available in the atmosphere and removes nitrogen content from it. After successfully developing the two-bed OBOGS, DRDO has started working on the three-bed system, which would make India the first country to possess its most advanced version. "We plan to prepare our aircraft for non-stop intercontinental sorties. Once developed the three-bed system would be integrated on all the frontline fighters of the IAF.It would also enable the aircraft to carry extra payload," Selvamurthy said.After acquiring other force multipliers like mid-air refuellers and early warning radars which give an extra edge to the fighter planes, IAF is looking at state-of-the-art technology to aid the pilots and DRDO has chalked out a number of project for the purpose.

Mig-29UPG – The New Strike Fighter For Indian Air Force

Recent successful first flight of the upgraded Mig-29UPG of Indian air force in Russian , marks the birth of a new striker platform for the Indian air force , India had awarded Mig-29 upgrade contract to Russia worth $900 million in 2006 and first flight of the upgraded Mig-29UPG makes it now more formidable strike platform ,which was missing in it earlier .

Mig-29A/B variants were first inducted into Indian air force in 1986 to counter Pakistan’s acquisition of F-16 in their fleet , Mig-29 was designed to be a aerial interceptor aircraft and a dog fighter for the air force , it had little or no capabilities to strike ground targets , but with new upgrades to it avionics and airframe Indian air force will have that capability fighter-bomber capable of striking mobile and stationary targets on the ground and at sea with high-precision weapons under all weather conditions. from this superlative fighter.

This hold quite a importance to Indian air force since its plans to upgrade Mirage -2000 fleet has still not taken off due to higher price asked by the french vendor and also due to safety issues regarding Mig-27 fleet which forms a bulk of the Ground attack fleet along with the Jaguar strike aircraft’s .upgraded Mig-29 fleet will only strengthen strike aircraft fleet of the Indian air force , since addition of MKI’s in IAF’s Fleet has strengthened both the roles for the air force .

Mig-29 as per the contract will get new increased range and payload, new glass cockpit, digital fly-by-wire control system, new avionics, improved radar, KOLS infrared search and track (IRST) and an in-flight refueling probe. The radar will be the Phazotron Zhuk-ME which is capable of tracking ten targets to a maximum range of 245km.

IAF Finalises Order For 10 Boeing C-17 Globemaster-III Strategic Airlifters

The Indian Air Force (IAF) is set to place orders for 10 Boeing C-17 Globemaster-III strategic airlifters within this month in a deal valued at $4.1 billion.

Discussions between the IAF and the US Air Force (USAF), as well as the Indian ministry of defence and the US Department of Defence concluded here Feb 15, with Boeing accepting the detailed terms for 30 percent mandatory offsets clause.

The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), which is the final authority for major defence and other acquisitions, is likely to approve the deal at its next meeting as funds for the purchase of the C-17s have been approved for the fiscal 2010-11.

Vivek Lall, Boeing’s outgoing vice president in India for defence, space and security, confirmed the agreement on offsets but declined to give any financial details.

Sources in Washington, however, told India Strategic defence magazine that the deal is for $4.1 billion, as indicated by the US administration on the eve of President Barack Obama’s visit to India last November.

The IAF chief, Air Chief Marshal P.V. Naik, had told India Strategic that it would be going in for an additional six C-17s.

HAL And GE Aviation to Maintain And Repair Hawk Mk132 For IAF

India’s Hindustan Aeronautics LTD and GE Aviation have just inked an important contract which ensures a 30-year license to carry out repairs and upgrades of all systems of the Hawk Mk132 aircraft. At the moment the Hawk Mk132 is used by the Indian Air Force as an advanced jet trainer.

The contract will give in-house repair and overhauling capabilities to Hindustan Aeronautics for GE Aviation products and will significantly reduce the turn-around-time of all repairs and upgrades. All of the maintenance, repairing and overhaul tasks will be done at Hindustan Aeronautics facilities in Bangalore and Korwa. At the moment the Bangalore facility has to be certified for the repairing of hydraulics, instruments and overhaul while the Korwa one needs a certificate for avionics repairs.

Indian Air Force Personnel To Get 3G Connectivity With Each Other

The Indian Air Force (IAF) will stay connected with each other at all times thanks to the IAF’s unique Wideband CDMA-based 3G portable wireless network which is scheduled to be operational by June 2011. This piece of technology is a part of the AFNET (Air Force Network).

The Wideband CDMA-based 3G portable wireless network is definitely one of the most advanced pieces of communication technology and it will be completely integrated with the AFNET. The purpose of the program is to ensure communication, voice, data and video streaming at all times.