Indian Naval Aviation

Thursday, August 6, 2009

NEW DELHI: In a bid to strengthen the Navy's capabilities to detect airborne and surface-based maritime threats, Government has approved the acquisition of five Russian Kamov-31 early warning choppers.

Defence Ministry officials said the Cabinet Committee of Security (CCS) at a meeting on Tuesday gave its approval for procuring these choppers, which can track 30-40 targets on ground and air simultaneously with its airborne electronic warfare radar, mou nted on the underbelly of the chopper.

The deal for the five choppers between India and Russia is expected to be signed in the next couple of months, they said.

Navy already has a fleet of nine Ka-31 helicopters, which are deployed on India's only aircraft carrier INS Virat and the Talwar Class Guided Missile frigates of the Navy.

They are also operated from Navy's shore based air stations.

To modernise its air arm, the Navy is on a look out for various types of helicopters including the 10 tonne class multi-role helicopters for which global tenders were released last year

The Hindu Business Line : Govt okays purchase of Russian copters

New Delhi, Aug 6 (PTI) In a bid to strengthen the Navy's capabilities to detect airborne and surface-based maritime threats, Government has approved the acquisition of five Russian Kamov-31 early warning choppers.

Defence Ministry officials said the Cabinet Committee of Security (CCS) at a meeting on Tuesday gave its approval for procuring these choppers, which can track 30-40 targets on ground and air simultaneously with its airborne electronic warfare radar, mounted on the underbelly of the chopper.

The deal for the five choppers between India and Russia is expected to be signed in the next couple of months, they said.

Navy already has a fleet of nine Ka-31 helicopters, which are deployed on India's only aircraft carrier INS Virat and the Talwar Class Guided Missile frigates of the Navy. They are also operated from Navy's shore based air stations.

fullstory

CCS clears choppers for Navy, projects in Arunachal


The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) has approved purchase of five new Russian-made Kamov 31 early warning helicopters for the Indian Navy.

The choppers, fitted with an airborne, rotating radar that can track multiple targets in air as well as on sea surface, will join the existing fleet of nine similar helicopters that were purchased earlier. The CCS has reportedly also cleared and approved financing of some key infrastructure projects, including a major irrigation project, along the Indo-China border, a day before border talks commence between the two countries. The government was initially planning to seek a loan for the irrigation project but is now understood to have decided to self finance it.

The Navy has grounded the entire Sea Harrier fighter jet fleet in the backdrop of one of the aircraft crashing off Goa last week, rendering its lone aircraft carrier INS Viraat without its aerial firepower.

"The Sea Harriers have been grounded following the crash that left a fighter pilot dead," Navy officials said here on Tuesday.

With the grounding of the 10 Sea Harrier jump jets, INS Viraat, which got afloat at the Cochin Shipyard's dry dock after a 18-month refit a fortnight ago, may have to sail to Gulf of Aden next month without its fighter jets.

"We cannot operate the aircraft till the Board of Inquiry is complete and the reasons for the crash is known.

The problems identified by the probe needs to be rectified before the jump jets are airborne again," officials said.

And, the probe could take a long while as the aircraft does not have a flight data recorder and the wreckage needed to be examined minutely to arrive at the reasons for the mishap, they said.

Following a series of crashes since induction, the Navy is now left with just 10 Sea Harriers of the over 20 it had bought in mid-1980s.

The Navy had recently upgraded the aircraft to extend its service life by five years in view of the delays in DRDO and HAL coming out with the Naval version of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA).

The Navy plans to replace the Sea Harriers with MiG 29K, procured from Russia along with the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov in 2004. However, the MiG 29Ks are expected to join the Navy service only by the end of this year.

Navy grounds Sea Harrier fleet

US clears Hawkeye E-2D aircraft for India

NEW DELHI: The US government cleared yet another high technology system for India, the ‘‘futuristic’’ shipboard Hawkeye E-2D aircraft for Airborne
Early Warning (AEW) and battle management.

The clearance has been described by diplomatic sources as a fallout of the ‘‘successful’’ visit of secretary of state Hillary Clinton and the signing of the End User Monitoring Agreement (EUMA) of military equipment being supplied or sold by the US to India. Like the Boeing P 8I Maritime Multi-mission Aircraft (MMA), of which the Indian Navy has already ordered eight aircraft, the Hawkeye E-2D is the very latest and is yet to be delivered to the US Navy.

India is the second country, after the UAE, to be cleared by the US state and defence departments for sale of this sophisticated system. The US navy has sanctioned $432 million for trials of the aircraft, currently underway at the naval air station Patuxent River in Maryland. The naval systems command based there provides engineering and testing support for new naval systems and weapons.

The Hawkeye E-2D has been under the US government’s consideration for India for some time. In fact, in 2007, Pentagon sources in Washington indicated the aircraft was being cleared, but apparently the previous version, Hawkeye E-2C, was eventually offered to which the Indian navy said ‘‘no’’ in informal discussions.

The aircraft is being manufactured by Northrop Grumman, a leading US player in aerospace, warships, missiles, combat radars and electronic warfare systems.

Northrop Grumman’s programme manager for international business development Tom C Trudell told a magazine that the aircraft has ‘‘just been cleared by the US government for India’’ and that a presentation was made to the Indian navy in August in New Delhi.

Indian navy officers had witnessed the capabilities of the Hawkeye E-2C but told the US officials that as the equipment India buys would be used for years, it must be the best and the latest with future capability insertion potential.

Future aircraft carriers of the Indian navy would also have to be equipped with catapult launching systems, for which it is already looking around.
US clears Hawkeye E-2D aircraft for India - India - NEWS - The Times of India

Northrop Offers Hawkeye AWACS To Indian Navy | India Defence Online

Northrop Offers Hawkeye AWACS To Indian Navy

The U.S major Northrop Grumman has started talks with the Indian Navy for the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, a platform that provides a highly adaptive form of Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C). The issue of export authorization from the U.S government has been resolved and Northrop Grumman has initiated the preliminary briefings in India. Northrop Grumman has been asked to present a shore-based version of the AEW&C.

Following a request for information (RFI) last year and a recent demand to elucidate the technicalities of the E-2D Hawkeye, the U.S representatives have made a presentation to the Indian Navy. The U.S has also stressed on the “interoperability” aspect of the AEW&C. U.S representatives indicated that if India is looking to be interoperable with the U.S. Navy and NATO through data-link systems, the platform should be the E-2D Hawkeye. They added that if an airborne warning system which is unable to communicate with forces and allies around the world, the larger significance of the early warning system is lost.

India has demanded that Northrop Grumman provides a presentation of the shore-based version of the AEW&C since Indian naval aircraft would require ski-jump compatibility and not the conventional catapult-launched version. India is vouching for shore-based versions since its aircraft carrier INS Viraat will be phased out soon and the Admiral Gorshkov is plagued with constant delays.

The Indian Navy is also open to advanced designs which will be resourceful in the future. As for the carrier-based AEW&C of the US Navy, the E-2D Hawkeye has newly developed AN/APY-9 radar which can operate in accordance with surface combatants equipped with the Aegis combat system to detect, track and defeat cruise missile threats at extended range. The new radar represents a two-generational leap in radar technology since it can see smaller targets and more of them at a greater range than currently fielded radar systems.

India has been keen on augmenting its surveillance capabilities and has a requirement of six aircraft.

India has also ordered eight P8-I long-range maritime reconnaissance (LRMR) aircraft to replace its aging Tupolev Tu-142M maritime surveillance turboprops.

E-2D Advanced Hawkeye
The E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, using the E-2C Hawkeye 2000 configuration as a baseline, is slated to feature a state-of-the art radar with a two-generation leap in capability, as well as upgraded aircraft systems that will improve supportability and increase readiness. Using this capability, the E-2D is intended to provide advance warning of approaching enemy surface units, cruise missiles and aircraft, to vector interceptors or strike aircraft to attack. It is also intended to provide area surveillance, communications relay, search and rescue coordination and air traffic control.

Essentially a new aircraft, the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye fundamentally differed from the previous E-2C Hawkeye. While the aircraft's outward appearance remained nearly identical, the mission system was completely redesigned to accommodate new radar, antenna, workstations and displays, as well as a new cockpit layout. Going beyond the single-purpose "glass" cockpits of modern aircraft, Northrop Grumman engineers designed displays that would allow either the pilot or co-pilot to participate as a fourth mission system operator. Navy operator input was been obtained to guide these designs. Other planned features of the Advanced Hawkeye include terrain avoidance systems and global air traffic management system enhancements.

The SDD program also focused on reducing production and total operational support costs. For example, some of the structures on previous Hawkeyes were built-up from individual sheet metal parts. Subsequent designs looked to replace these with single-piece machined parts to reduce both cost and the time needed to construct the subassemblies and mate fuselages. Two-level maintenance concepts, coupled with automated system test capabilities, were being explored to reduce total ownership costs.

The aircraft was designed to meet airborne early warning, surveillance, battle management and theater missile defense needs, as the Navy worked toward its Sea Power 21 concept in support of Joint Vision 2020.

In December 2001, the U.S. Navy took a significant step when it awarded Northrop Grumman a $49 million pre-System Development and Demonstration contract and, in July 2003, the $1.9 billion SDD contract itself for the next-generation Advanced Hawkeye. When the program started in 2003, none of the key technologies were mature.

Under the SDD contract, Northrop Grumman, its radar subcontractor, Lockheed Martin and antenna manufacturer Randtron Antenna Systems (a division of L-3 Communications), were developing a completely new radar and electronically scanned array antenna. The system as planned was to give the Navy far greater threat detection capabilities over land and water, with greater range and precision than any similar system at that time and was the foundation for the Navy's theater air missile defense function.

Initial construction for the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye began in early April 2005. A "Keel Start" ceremony was held on April 25, 2005 at the Northrop Grumman facility in St. Augustine, FL, for the next-generation E-2 aircraft, the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye. After an October 2005 design review, according to the Government Accountability Office, the project had met best practice standards.

The Northrop Grumman E-2D design team, which includes in addition to Lockheed Martin and L-3 Randtron, BAE Systems, Raytheon and Rolls-Royce, was awarded a $2 billion system development and demonstration contract. The first test aircraft, whose keel-start was celebrated in April 2005, was one of two to be built under the contract. The second will be started later that year. Flight testing was scheduled to begin in 2007.

Advanced Hawkeye's planned new communications systems would make it a major node in the Navy's FORCEnet information/decisions grid, enabling it to integrate and deliver key information and surveillance data, fuse decision data and provide forward control and communications capabilities. The E-2D is intended to provide the enhanced airborne command and control and expanded surveillance umbrella that will be a foundation of Sea Power 21.

The SDD program was to lead to a multibillion-dollar Advanced Hawkeye production program. The Navy was, as of late-April 2005, scheduled to receive 75 E-2D Advanced Hawkeyes with the first flight of the Systems Development and Demonstration aircraft scheduled for 2007, and delivery to the fleet in 2011. Production was scheduled to begin in 2010.

A GAO report in March 2007 showed that delays had occured in the maturation of the critical technologies, though backup technologies were available. Usage of the backup technologies would have most likely degraded aircraft performance and not allowed for future system growth. Flight testing with the critical technologies was hoped for the end of FY07, in keeping with previous timelines. In the report a decision about low-rate initial production was to be made by 2009, with the hope that production would commence in March of that year. At the time the US Navy program office insisted that the equipment continued to be low risk with added design complexity stemming from the need to create common standards among the multiple subcontractors.

Between the 2007 and 2008 GAO assessments of the E-2D AHE, the program reported an increase in its baseline procurement cost due to, among other factors, the addition of one aircraft to the program's procurement budget and an increase in the program's material cost estimate. One of the E-2D AHE's four critical technologies was mature. Between assessments, two of these technologies had continued to mature as the program had completed high-fidelity laboratory testing. Although the design met best practice standards at the time of the October 2005 design review, continued increases in the number of required drawings indicated that the design might not be stable. The program office reported in March 2008 that the design was 93 percent complete, but system integration activities had the potential to result in additional design changes.

One of the E-2D AHE's four critical technologies, the space time adaptive processing algorithms, was mature. By March 2008, two additional technologies, the rotodome antenna and the power amplifier module UHF transistor, were approaching maturity as the program completed high-fidelity laboratory testing. The program office anticipated that all four critical technologies would be fully mature through mission system flight testing, which was scheduled to begin at the end of 2007. The program planned to complete a Technology Readiness Assessment in late FY08 in support of the low-rate initial production decision.

The program office reported that 93 percent of total drawings are complete to the GAO for a report published in March 2008. However, continued growth in the number of required drawings indicated that the design might not be stable. The number of required drawings had increased by 39 percent between 2007 and 2008. The program attributed the increase in drawings to, among other things, releases of wiring diagrams, wiring adjustments due to system maturation, and engineering changes that apply to multiple aircraft platforms including the E-2D AHE. This increase in drawings meant that the program had completed only 53 percent of planned drawings prior to the design review. The program office anticipated that 100 percent of the drawings would be complete by the planned start of production in March 2009.

The program office reported that all components were operational in the system integration laboratory in September 2007, and that the first development test of a fully integrated prototype would take place in early 2008. Without the benefit of a systems integration laboratory or a fully integrated prototype prior to entering the systems demonstration phase, the GAO reported that the program increased the likelihood of additional design changes and that problems might be discovered late in development when they would be more costly to address.

In response to the March 2008 GAO assessment the Navy stated that the E-2D program was executing to the approved acquisition program baseline plan, had met all major program events on schedule, and was on track to meet future major program schedule events including the operational assessment in FY08 and the low-rate initial production decision in FY09. Regarding design stability, the growth for E-2D unique drawings was 13 percent. The additional 26 percent of drawing growth included global engineering orders common to the E-2C and C-2A. The E-2D System Integration Laboratory was stood up between critical design review and aircraft test activities as per NAVAIR system engineering best practices and had been an invaluable resource to the program to date. The Navy had chosen not to fund integration of aircraft manufacturing statistical process controls due to the maturity of the 30-plus years of E-2 production history.

Why not IN look in to phalcons only? Why to go for a different system?