Air power on the cheap

Kunal Biswas

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http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20101103/edit.htm#7

Revving up the airborne force multiplier
Vijay Mohan

Plans are formulated, future scenarios envisioned, policy papers drafted and issues debated, but on-ground implementation, more often then not, gets bogged down in turf battles, financial constraints, bureaucratic wrangles, indecisiveness and other detrimental factors so commonly associated with the procurement of weapons.

This also seems to be the case with Army Aviation Corps (AAC), in existence for almost a quarter of a century., but still to take off as a full-fledged combat arm that can effectively provide the complete ambit of air support to ground formations or facilitate rapid troop redeployment within a tactical battle zone.

Air power is the dominating force in the battlefield, not only being the eyes and ears of commanders, but also adding a devastating punch to formations' firepower and enhancing logistic capability. Army's aviation units have the advantage of firepower, speed and flexibility, greatly enhancing the field formations' combat effectiveness and the ability to strike in the enemy's depth with little forewarning.

The much-needed expansion and restructuring of the Corps been floundering over the years and the bulk of its assets - the Cheetah and Chetak helicopters -- are obsolete. Acquisition of 197 utility helicopters to replace the aging fleet, the contenders for which include Kamov, Eurocopter and Agusta-Westland, remains mired in technical and bureaucratic muddle.

AAC was raised in 1986 with transfer of the Air Observation Posts from the Regiment of Artillery to form a new corps. It has now 35 Recce and Observation Flights forming 11 squadrons. The only contemporary machine in its inventory is the HAL-made Dhruv, with the French-origin Cheetah and Chetak being of 60s and 70s vintage. Some Cheetahs were upgraded to the Lancer configuration, giving them a marginally enhanced operational capability. It has no medium-lift helicopters or fixed-wing assets.

Tasks envisioned for army aviation are onerous. These are engagement of fixed and mobile targets and fire support to ground forces, reconnaissance and observation, electronic and visual surveillance, provision of airborne command posts, monitoring nuclear, chemical and biological environment, casualty evacuation, communications and logistic support and airlift of troops.

Most of the vital tasks, at present, are carried out by the air force, which maintains and operates attack as well as medium helicopters like Mi-25/35 and Mi-8/17. Some IAF Chetaks also have anti-armour capabilities.

At the conceptual and operation levels, the IAF and AAC are vastly different. The IAF, perceiving itself as an emerging aerospace force through exploiting the realm of outer atmosphere for achieving military objectives, is a strategic force, trained and oriented for missions beyond borders and operations across the entire spectrum of conflict covering the total theatre(s) of war.

On the other hand, AAC is concerned with tactical operations within limited geographical areas and is primarily intended as force-multipliers for field commanders and give them the desired punch and operational flexibility within their area of responsibility. AAC was also conceived to free air force assets to concentrate on achieving the larger strategic objectives.

Given the size of the Army -- six operational commands, 13 corps, three armoured divisions, 32 infantry divisions, two artillery divisions and eight independent armoured brigades, ACC's strength of 200-odd helicopters is, as reiterated often by experts, grossly inadequate.

Besides numbers, deficiencies AAC suffers from include lack of all-weather and night capability, absence of dedicated attack helicopters so vital for fire support, negligible tactical airlift capability and non-availability of electronic surveillance equipment.

Further, the army's involvement in counter-insurgency, anti-terrorist operations and low-intensity conflict had placed added demands on the AAC, but with little wherewithal to meet them. Material and technical constraints notwithstanding, men of the ACC have performed commendably in all operational environments.

Mid and long-term perspective plans to restructure and expand its aviation corps have been drawn up, which include raising aviation brigades at the command and corps level, with each strike formation having its own independent air assets for attack, surveillance and communications.

A special operations squadron is also stated to be on the cards for dedicated air support to the Special Forces or extraordinary missions. Next is a electronic warfare flight to exploit the electromagnetic spectrum for battlefield superiority.

Restructuring is to be backed with new acquisitions, including the proposed 197 utility helicopters, additional squadrons of Dhruvs, including its armed version, medium lift choppers like the Mi-17, tactical battle field support helicopters and, in the long run, light fixed wing aircraft for surveillance and communications. Improvements in its capabilities are focused at achieving all-weather day and night capability, precision strike capability, ability to rapidly induct and de-induct troops and enhancing logistic support capability in high altitude areas. Besides induction of new generation aircraft, it would also require a close look at issues like manpower, training, infrastructure, technical support and maintenance.

As the security environment remains in a flux, the challenge before the AAC is two-fold - have the capability to execute its mandate in a fast-paced convectional war fought in a network centric environment in the back drop of a nuclear threat, and secondly, have the ability to support ground forces in low intensity war or anti-terrorist operations in a varied terrain including mountains, jungles and built-up areas. It would also not be out of place to mention that India's security interests are not just limited to the sub-continent, but encompass central Asia and the Indian Ocean Region and, if experts are to be believed, necessitate force projection and expeditionary operations that would require aerial assets.

If the AAC, so vital for battlefield dominance, is to meet its envisioned charter then there must be a holistic approach and a concerted effort to restructure the force in consonance with the emerging security paradigm and suitably equip it with state-of-the art weapons and logistic platforms.
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Kunal Biswas

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The Indian army wants to expand its aviation corps and has asked the government to give it full control over all tactical air assets in the battlefield, including transport, observation and attack flights.The request sets up a potentially explosive roles and missions battle with the Indian air force, which administers both the country's attack helicopter squadrons and most tactical lift helicopter squadrons. But army officials feel their tactical flexibility is encumbered by this arrangement and are once again appealing to the government to change the balance of power.

If the army has its way, the fleet is likely to see the introduction of more helicopters across the board, as well as fixed-wing assets.

"The coming decade will see the first time that the army operates anti-armor and infantry support helicopters, so far exclusively the domain of the air force," says an aviation corps officer currently deployed on an Alouette-II flight in Leh, the world's highest airfield. "The thought process is simple," he adds, "tactical battlefield assets need to be under the army's operational command. It makes fighting the war more efficient."

Even without the larger mandate, the army has a long aviation modernization agenda.

Army planners are close to finalizing a staff requirement for tactical fixed-wing transport, an effort that could be announced shortly. What is not certain is whether that process will yield to a procurement, since efforts in the past by the army to field such an asset have been blocked. However, army sources say that the case is stronger this time, with statistics showing that even the air force's transport fleet is stretched, especially in the Northern and Eastern theaters.

Indications are that the army will look at light transports of the Dornier Do-228 class, license built by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) at its Kanpur facility. Sources indicated, however, that the army could look at larger aircraft as well.

More near term, the service plans to begin replacing its fleet of around 160 license-built Alouette IIs and IIIs with the winner of the ongoing competition for a light reconnaissance and surveillance helicopter. The army is currently in the final stretch of an exercise to choose between Eurocopter's militarized AS550C3 Fennec and the Russian Kamov Ka-226.

The army will also receive an unconfirmed number of helicopters from HAL's concept light utility helicopter program. The army has asked HAL to concurrently develop an armed version.

The service also is due to receive 150 indigenously developed Dhruv helicopters, a substantial number of which will be the weaponized Dhruv-WSI currently in trials. The army is putting pressure on HAL to accelerate the fielding of that version.

Furthermore, the army may become the second customer for HAL's Light Combat Helicopter (LCH), also in testing. The air force is the lead customer, and HAL officials have been reluctant to discuss the army's potential interest owing to the interservice rivalry. Indian army sources suggest, however, that the aviation corps will induct 25-30 of the rotorcraft starting around 2013-14.

A second prototype of the LCH has joined the flight-test program, and will be on display at the Aero India 2011 air show and defense exhibition outside Bengalaru.

http://idrw.org/?p=2434

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captonjohn

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One question, Can't we develop such turbo-prop aircraft in short time? Will this also take 20-25 years to develop and manufacture?
 

sandeepdg

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Actually, we can use these birds for anti-Naxal operations. To destroy their media towers and satellite-discovered hiding HQs in heavy jungles of east. South America has drug lords, we have Naxalites who're a nuisance in mining sector in India and steal away a lot of wealth for their terrorism. We could load these prop fighters with dumb bombs as well as rockets and unleash hell on Maoists and their supporting tribals. If we don't want to go back to STONE AGE like Khmer Rouge did with Cambodians, we will have to be ruthless. If we keep being politically correct, we will come under the terror of Red flag. And we don't want that.
Buddy, I think that role can be easily filled in by the attack helos, why do we aircraft for operations against the Maoists ? I think using combat aircraft against the Naxalites is a bit of an overkill and unwarranted for. We are not talking about a scenario like that in South American nations, especially like that in Colombia, where the FARC rule half the country and the druglords the other half, and both these groups have a huge and lethal array of firepower as well as huge numbers of members. Hence extreme force is required to face this twin challenge, so in that case air power usage is ok. But that's not the case with the Naxalites here.
 

Kunal Biswas

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One question, Can't we develop such turbo-prop aircraft in short time? Will this also take 20-25 years to develop and manufacture?
AFAIK, HTT-40 is not rejected. HAL is going ahead with plans to develop and operationalize HTT-40 in 5 year timeline and last i heard these trainers will equip later half of AFA's basic trainers fleet.
http://defenceforumindia.com/showthread.php?t=18703&page=1


If presently IAF would have operating a good turbo-prop i would have added it to my list..
Besides we are talking abt IA aviation wing, which will be around 30-40 air-crafts, small number..
 

Kunal Biswas

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buddy, i think that role can be easily filled in by the attack helos, why do we aircraft for operations against the maoists ? I think using combat aircraft against the naxalites is a bit of an overkill and unwarranted for. We are not talking about a scenario like that in south american nations, especially like that in colombia, where the farc rule half the country and the druglords the other half, and both these groups have a huge and lethal array of firepower as well as huge numbers of members. Hence extreme force is required to face this twin challenge, so in that case air power usage is ok. But that's not the case with the naxalites here.
the other side of the coin:
Low-technology aircraft
and little wars

^^This article explains..

 

Vladimir79

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I rather like the idea of using AJTs as your one stop aircraft for air forces on a budget. Not only can you do ground attack, but with the right radar can engage BVR. The M-346 with a Vixen AESA and RCS reduction kit can battle with any 4th generation fighter.
 

Kunal Biswas

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I rather like the idea of using AJTs as your one stop aircraft for air forces on a budget. Not only can you do ground attack, but with the right radar can engage BVR. The M-346 with a Vixen AESA and RCS reduction kit can battle with any 4th generation fighter.
@Vladimir,
AJT is a jet, If our MOD authorized IA to buy jets than i can see its a good platform, Otherwise Turbo-prop is the best solution to our problems, As IA aircraft will be mainly for COIN and PGM strike operations, with low flying cost and easy maintenance, can land on any runway on earth..
 

Tshering22

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If the Super Tucano is being touted so much, then I am sure it will win the turboprop trainer competition that we have held for 75 aircraft. The following are the candidates:

Brazil: Super Tucano
Germany: Grob-120
Switzerland: Pilatus PC-21
USA: T-6
South Korea: KT-1
Italy: M-311

Tucano and KT-1 seem to be frontrunners.
 

sandeepdg

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I also like the Super Tucano and the Korean KT-1. But, I don't think that the IA is in anyway getting these birds for its aviation wing, as of now.
 

Kunal Biswas

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Cool pics, mate. Which plane is that ? Seems like a WW 2 one.
I think its cessna 140..







But do not consider it as a bad, the aircraft may be outdated but the Idea of a Turbo-prop attack Aircraft is in somebody`s mind in the forces..

Its a good sign.. :)
 

venkat

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Army aviation corps...its the refurbished Pushpak.....
 

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