Chandigarh Airforce base to assemble MI-17 V5 helicopters

[SpArK]

Chandigarh Airforce base to assemble MI-17 V5 helicopters
​

October 04, 2011


Chandigarh Airforce base No 3 Repair Depot, which is the only airforce base in the country to carry out repair, overhaul and maintenance of MI-8 and MI-17 helicopters will assemble upgraded version of MI-17 helicopters called MI-17V5 helicopters in India in association with Russian partner Kazan plant, Russia. The Indian Air Force Base has placed order for 80 units of MI-17V5 helicopters to Russia.


Already they have received four helicopters in CKD (Complete knocked down) form and it is targeting to assemble 80 MI 17 V5 helicopters in next three years. Besides this, they also carry out repair, maintenance and overhaul of AN 32 transport aircraft.


This was disclosed by air commodore Suresh Singh, VSM, commander, 3BRD air force station. Base repair depots (BRD) carry out fourth line repair and maintenance of aircraft and equipment in the inventory of the Indian Air Force. These include overhauls, major repairs and major upgradations
Talking about the huge potential for industry to manufacture spare parts for helicopters, airplanes and other defence equipment to the Indian Armed Forces, he added, "The Indian defence forces currently import parts worth Rs 100,000 crore annually and the government has mandated that the defence forces must indigenise 50 per cent of this requirement over the next five years. Infact, even for new equipment being ordered now, the government wants that the assemblies and sub-assemblies should be indigenised from now itself.


For orders of equipment of Rs 300 crore plus placed abroad, it has been made mandatory for the overseas manufacturer to indigenize assemblies and components worth 30 per cent of the total order value for which it can enter into joint ventures and do technology transfer. While earlier joint ventures could be done only with public sector companies, this has now been opened up to the private sector and is a great opportunity for Indian industry.


On being asked their participation in Destination Punjab, which is going to be held in Amritsar, he added, "We will be displaying various parts which could be indigenized by Punjab manufacturers and we will provide all technical and other support to them. We are of the opinion that Punjab manufacturers, both big and small, can procure business worth over Rs 1000 crore per annum. It will be a win-win situation as the defence forces will also be able to reduce the lead time taken to procure a spare part and at a rate lower than the imported one."


Currently, it procures Rs. 20 crore of materials from Punjab.


Chandigarh Airforce base to assemble MI-17 V5 helicopters

 

[Galaxy]

India gets 4 Mi-17 V5 copters, 76 to follow

India gets 4 Mi-17 V5 copters, 76 to follow


The first lot of advanced helicopters Mi-17 V5 has been received from Russia by 3 Base Repair Depot at Chandigarh Air Force Station. In the first lot, four dismantled helicopters accompanied by their Russian specialists were received by the 3BRD on September 29.

Though the delivery was expected earlier this year, it got delayed due to some technical reasons. As a part of the defence deal where more than 80 Mi-17 V5 helicopters are to be procured from Russia over a period of next three years, these would soon replace Mi-8 helicopters which are planned to be completely phased out by 2016. The first lot has been received from Karzan plant in Russia.

Being the largest air force repair depot in the country, the remaining lot of 76 vehicles is also expected to be assembled here. As the deploying of these new choppers is expected to be chosen after taking into account the neighboring countries-China and Pakistan, a significant number of these helicopters is expected to be inducted at the Chandigarh air base.

India gets 4 Mi-17 V5 copters, 76 to follow - Indian Express

 

[Galaxy]

 

[arnabmit]

IAF to assemble 50 more Mi17 choppers | idrw.org
SOURCE: TNN

The Indian Air Force (IAF) may soon assemble another 50 Mi-17 helicopters at its base repair depot (BRD) in Chandigarh. The BRDs come under the IAF's Maintenance Command, which is headquartered at Nagpur.

"So far we have successfully assembled 80 helicopters at the BRD in Chandigarh. There are plans to take up the job for another batch of 50 soon," said Air-Officer-Commanding-in-Chief of the Maintenance Command Air Marshal P Kanakraj while talking to newspersons on the sidelines of the Nagpur air show.

He said there has been considerable progress in indigenization of spares for the helicopters. For certain older versions, the IAF has been able to make as much as 95% of the spares on its own.

Similarly, IAF has also taken up the job to overhaul SU30 fighter planes. However, it is still at an initial stage, with only 5 to 10% of the job being done here. However, Kanakraj hopes for an improvement in the coming days.

Normally, public sector undertaking Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) does the job of assembling aircraft. But recently even the IAF has diversified into this field, starting with helicopters. So far, even the overhaul of SU30s was done by HAL, which makes the aircraft, but due to the increasing workload, IAF has taken up a part of the job.

 

[p2prada]

This move is quite interesting.

 

[JBH22]

IIRC the cold start doctrine requirement is for 300 Choppers to be able to airlift complete brigade.

Wonder why we never went for license production of these choppers, could have customised it with Snecma engines a la SU-30Mki customisation version

 

[datguy79]

What do they mean by complete knocked down? Sort of like this?

 

[arnabmit]

IMHO this is pre-assembled. CKD Kits comes in a container with every part and every panel of he hull separately packed for shipment with only sub-assemblies pre-assembled.

The pic you shared seems like a semi-knocked down kit.

What do they mean by complete knocked down? Sort of like this?

 

[sayareakd]

I think IAF should concentrate on flying and maintenance only, getting into other things will only going to move them from their main objective.

 

[ladder]

3,500th Export Mi-17 Goes to IAF

The Indian Air Force (IAF) will receive the 3,500th export version of the Mi-17 as part of an ongoing contract Mi-17V-5 helicopters signed with Russian Helicopters back in 2012.
The company states that an original order in 2008 for 80 Mi-17V-5s was met and that a further requirement for 71 was issued by India in 2012-13. These are currently in production and are being fitted with the KNEI-8 avionics suite and the PKV-8 autopilot.
Russian Helicopters CEO Alexander Mikheev explained that around 250 Russian built helicopters are operational in India.

Aviation Today :: 3,500th Export Mi-17 Goes to IAF

 

[Blackwater]

3BRD in Chandigarh is overhauling and repair MI series choppers for many decades.