Indian Air Force: News & Discussions

[square]

Trump won't clear critical F-16 technologies, Saab uses many American components in its critical technologies which also won't be cleared. This tender with a Make in India initiative is a waste of time because nothing will be cleared under Trump.

heardy matter will the technology be cleared or not....
we have to build technology here and continously has to keep it as par ......
thats what this deal is all about ....

 

[TPFscopes]

How much will the f16 and gripen cost when make in India?

F-16 : 75-80 MILLION USD each.
Gripen- more than 80 miilion USD

Which version of gripen will be made in India?

GRIPEN-E

Is the iaf buying both the two single engine combat jets?

First of all IAF want more ( in triple digit numbers) Rafale than after they want to give light to either SE jet or FGFA.
But if IAF go for Rafale in huge numbers than there will be no money left to sustain other fighter deals (my take).

What happens to indegenous single engine effort called as AF tejas mk2?

LCA mk2 is in design phase and it will be quite similar to NLCA but design is yet to be freezed.

 

[Cutting Edge 2]

Rumours: IAF is trying hard to make sure new DM understands their perspective on certain fighter. Maybe there will be a closed door meeting soon.

 

[Johny_Baba]

Rumours: IAF is trying hard to make sure new DM understands their perspective on certain fighter. Maybe there will be a closed door meeting soon.

If it's true then I only hope that fighter is neither F-16 or Gripen.

 

[Cutting Edge 2]

If it's true then I only hope that fighter is neither F-16 or Gripen.

I think we all know which fighter is IAF's favourite.

 

[lcafanboy]

Need to develop Intellectual Property locally or we are doomed, says IAF Vice Chief
Thursday, September 07, 2017 By: The Hindu Source Link: CLICK HERE





As India opens up its defence manufacturing in a big way under the proposed Strategic Partnership (SP) model, the Vice Chief of Air Force Air Marshal S.B. Deo on Thursday stressed on the need to develop Intellectual Property (IP) within the country.

“We manufacture fighters, helicopters and we need to import a UAV?... If we don’t generate IP here, we are doomed to build-to-print... The quicker we dismantle this build-to-print, the quicker we develop IP here, the better we are,” he said while speaking at a seminar on Energising Indian Aerospace Industry organised by the Centre for Air Power Studies and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

The Air Marshal further added that we are into committees, sub-committees and concepts but we don’t get our hands on it. “We are afraid of failure. This is what is holding us back,” he stated.

He gave the example of Brazil which has teamed up with SAAB of Sweden and managed to develop significant technologies locally.

Air Marshal Deo said that the SP model will give results in the long term “may be in the next decade or so.” Under the SP model, private sector will partner with global firms to build military hardware in India.

His comments assume significance as the Indian Air Force is about to issue a Request for Information (RFI) to the two single-engine fighter manufacturers available in the global market — Lockheed Martin for its F-16 and SAAB for its Gripen — under the SP model estimated at over ₹60,000 crore.

While Tata group has tied up with Lockheed Martin for possible manufacture of F-16s in India, SAAB last week announced a tie up with the Adani group.
http://www.defencenews.in/article/N...-or-we-are-doomed,-says-IAF-Vice-Chief-303780

 

[Vinod DX9]

ON HIS BIRTHDAY WE SALUTE THIS HERO

On 4th Apr 1978, Flying Officer Sudhir Kumar Sinha got airborne in a supersonic aircraft on a training flight. Approximately thirty minutes after take off and about 120 nautical miles away from base, his aircraft had a total electrical failure. His very high Frequency Radio/Telephony sets suddenly faded out and within a couple of minutes all other electrical services ceased to function. He was thus left without Radio/Telephony contact or any navigational aids over desert terrain, which had very few land marks, he calculated his course back to base and headed back with the help of the standby compass which was the only direction indicating instrument available to him. The electrical failure also made it impossible for him to use the entire contents of the auxiliary fuel tank and the fuel gauges were inoperative. He, therefore, had to land back at base in the shortest possible time. His electrical trimmer systems were also inoperative and he had to prepare himself for landing out of trim with a forward centre of gravity configuration.

On his return to base, Flying officer Sinha lowered his undercarriage in preparation for landing and found that his nose wheel cocked to one side. With full knowledge of the disastrous consequences which could result on landing with a cocked nose wheel, Flying Officer Sinha elected to go ahead and brought the aircraft under control immediately after touchdown. He thus saved a valuable aircraft which would otherwise have been lost.

In this action, Flying Officer Sudhir Kumar Sinha displayed great courage, determination and professional skill of a very high order.

Medal - Shaurya Chakra

 

[TPFscopes]

APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) AESA for the F-16

5th Generation Fighter Radar Capability for the F-16
The APG-83 is an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) fire control radar. Building on Northrop Grumman’s 40-year legacy producing radars for the F-16, it integrates within the aircraft's current structural, power and cooling constraints without Group A aircraft modification. The capabilities of this advanced AESA are derived from Northrop Grumman’s family of highly successful 5th generation fighter AESA radars, the F-22’s APG-77 and F-35’s APG-81.


Why Upgrade Now?
Today's battlespace becomes more challenging and dangerous every day. Technology is rapidly becoming more sophisticated and so is the threat. To counter these more sophisticated threats, the world's newest fighter aircraft are being equipped with AESA Radars. The greater bandwidth, speed, and agility of AESA radars enables fighter aircraft to detect, track, and identify a greater numbers of targets, faster and at longer ranges and to operate in hostile electronic environments. The APG-83 AESA provides the following capability enhancements over legacy mechanically scanned APG-66 & APG-68 radars to ensure F-16s remain operationally viable and sustainable for decades to come:

• Autonomous, all-environment stand-off precision targeting
  • BIG SAR wide area high-res maps
  • High quality, coordinate generation
• Greater target detection and tracking range
  • Faster search and target acquisition
  • Smaller target detection
  • Multi-target tracking
  • Robust electronic protection (A/A and A/G)
• Enhanced combat ID
• Interleaved mode operations for greater situational awareness
• Maritime modes
• 3-5X greater reliability and availability

• 
  
  

The APG-83 is available today!
Production is underway for global F-16 upgrade programs, including the United States Air Force.

 

[patriots]

Seaplanes likely to make a return
to Indian skies


http://m.timesofindia.com/india/sea...turn-to-indian-skies/articleshow/60444484.cms

 

[TPFscopes]

Gripen turns aggressor!

Saab has unveiled a new Gripen concept at the ongoing DSEI 17 in London. The Gripen Aggressor, is based on the Gripen C airframe, with a Gripen D-based two-seater an option. The Aggressor proposal is optimised for its mission and would not have live weapons capability.

Instead, it would have a simulation-based capability to fire air-to-air missiles, and its gun. The aircraft would also gain Saab's PS-05 Mk IV radar and an air combat manoeuvring instrumentation pod, while retaining its intra-Gripen fighter link and Link 16 functionality.

The program is aimed at getting rid of ‘‘negative-value’’ air combat training, in which modern aircraft fight against either the same type of aircraft, or against older and less-capable types. By offering dissimilar-type training against modern aircraft, it gives maximum training value, allowing pilots to ‘‘train as they fight’’.

The Gripen Aggressor proposal is being aimed at providing a high-end ‘Red Air’ adversary aircraft and proposed as a solution for the UK's air support to defence operational training (ASDOT) requirement, and part of the US Air Force's adversary air (ADAIR) opportunity.

 

[patriots]

Group X technical rally in odisha




Balangir October 2017 Air Force Open Recruitment Rally/ Bharti for Group ‘X’ (Technical) Trade: Indian Air Force offers opportunities for UNMARRIED MALE INDIAN CITIZENS from designated districts of state of Odisha to join as Airmen. The Recruitment Test for Group ‘X’ (Technical) Trade will be held at Gandhi Stadium, Balangir as per the
Selection Programme given below. Eligible and Interested candidates from the designated districts can report at venue as mentioned below. Other Detail like age, qualification, dates, etc. is given
below............
State Name: Odisha
Districts Covered: Angul, Balasore,
Bhadrak, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Gajapati,
Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur,
Kendrapada, Keonjhar, Khorda,
Mayurbhanj, Nayagarh, Puri, Balangir,
Bargarh, Boudh, Deogarh, Jharsuguda,
Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Koraput,
Malkangiri, Nabrangpur, Nuapada,
Rayagada, Sambalpur, Sundergarh &
Subarnapur
Trade being Screened: Group
"X‟ (Technical)
Open Rally Dates: 28.10.2017 to
31.10.2017

 

[TPFscopes]

. .

 

[Vijyes]

So many times you went crazy along with stupid assumptions...
20000L fuel is one of the most stupid among them.

For the last time, I'm reiterating the facts.
Even if any fighter jet have drop tanks, CFTs and IFR capability, still aircraft have to land for engine lubrications replenishment (which are always limited) along with that pilot fatigue is also an major issue.

For LCA,
If IAF decided to shift Tejas from lowermost Indian point to Leh AFB than they will use their drop tanks (2x 1200 liter + 1x 750 liter) and 1 IFR may also required to ferry the aircraft.

If jet have capability to ferry the whole distance in one go than why should they land for refueling.

If you still believe that

Than you should decide the side of stupidity...

Good Day..

Be patient

First, I am just saying that the ferry range must be meaningful in general. For example, an aircraft has the following routines in a war with Pakistan -
1) full load bombardment flight with multiple sorties - 50%
2) moving tejas to different interior regions like NE, Ladakh etc for strategic reasons - 10%
3) extended surveillance and patrol round the clock - 20%
4) air superiority without on the air refueling - 20% (air superiority can't afford to refuel as that will defeat the purpose of air superiority)

In the above cases, 1st and 4th option can't use fuel pods. 2nd and 3rd option can use fuel pods. The chance that Tejas will be used without fuel pods is 70% or more and chances that fuel pods will be used is 30% or less. So, giving a statistical range about Ferry range without fuel pod makes more sense than with fuel pod as the range without fuel pods is more useful (7:3 or greater).

Now, the definition of ferry range is mere wordplay. What matters is the significance in terms of action or usage. If ferry range has a definition which includes fuel pods, then create another phrase, say, 'NORMAL RANGE' which is maximum distance with only internal fuel and an optimal payload.

Please don't play with language but lets discuss things based on actual utility. Ferry range or range or Normal range, the words by themselves have no value. We only need usable information, using which we can strategise.

Thanks for reading

 

[TPFscopes]

Be patient

First, I am just saying that the ferry range must be meaningful in general. For example, an aircraft has the following routines in a war with Pakistan -
1) full load bombardment flight with multiple sorties - 50%
2) moving tejas to different interior regions like NE, Ladakh etc for strategic reasons - 10%
3) extended surveillance and patrol round the clock - 20%
4) air superiority without on the air refueling - 20% (air superiority can't afford to refuel as that will defeat the purpose of air superiority)

In the above cases, 1st and 4th option can't use fuel pods. 2nd and 3rd option can use fuel pods. The chance that Tejas will be used without fuel pods is 70% or more and chances that fuel pods will be used is 30% or less. So, giving a statistical range about Ferry range without fuel pod makes more sense than with fuel pod as the range without fuel pods is more useful (7:3 or greater).

Now, the definition of ferry range is mere wordplay. What matters is the significance in terms of action or usage. If ferry range has a definition which includes fuel pods, then create another phrase, say, 'NORMAL RANGE' which is maximum distance with only internal fuel and an optimal payload.

Please don't play with language but lets discuss things based on actual utility. Ferry range or range or Normal range, the words by themselves have no value. We only need usable information, using which we can strategise.

Thanks for reading

Below configurations may clear your some doubts

Ferry range is a non-combat term but if you would like to load it with ordinance than it would become combat range and if it will have active combat engagement than it is termed as combat radius. All this was already described in detail in previous posts..

 

[Prayash]

The Legend of Garuda- India's MiG-25R/U Foxbat

The MiG-25R/U Foxbat-B was commissioned in the Indian Air Force as an Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) asset with the No.102 Squadron "Trisonics" which were used extensively during times of peace and war.

The first Indian pilot, to accomplish a flight in MiG-25 - Air Marshal Palamadai Ramachandran posing against the backdrop of the aircraft after the flight; April 25 1976



The MiG-25 was inducted into IAF service on 17 Aug 81 at Bareilly with five MiG-25Rs and two MiG-25Us. The Squadron began operationally flying in October 1987.


The MiG-25's mission objectives for the Indian Air Force and other intelligence agencies was to conduct photo-reconnaissance missions over strategic and tactical military as well as civilian targets.
On the Western Front, the Foxbat earned notoreity among the Paksitan Air Force for conducting missions with utmost freedom and impunity with nothing in the PAF arsenal able to intercept the aircraft.

The MiG-25 flew too fast and too high for PAF fighters to respond and challenged their authority in their own airspace.

The missions were kept covert for the reasons that the Indian side would never accept violating another country's airspace when there was no conflict, the Pakistani side also kept quiet to avoid the possible embarrassment of acknowledging their helplessness and allowing the Indian Air Force aircraft to continue operations without a hitch.

Tumansky R-15B-300 turbojet engines of the MiG-25

However, this changed in May 1997, when one such MiG-25 aircraft of the Indian Air Force took off from an airbase in India & made a deliberate incursion into Pakistan, intentionally flying deep into its airspace at supersonic speeds, resulting in a Sonic Boom that reverberated across Pakistani territory, including in its capital Islamabad announcing its presence
The IAF continued missions into Pakistan and were even used during the 1999 Kargil War and took photographs of enemy installations deep inside their territory.

The foxbats however, weren't just limited to incurisions into Pakistan's airspace, the conducted missions into China as well.

Indian Air Force MiG-25 pilots

Indian Air Force's 102nd Squadron "Trisonics" also conducted Photo Reconnaissance missions into China as well to spy on the Chinese Chengdu Military Center.

Following the Soviet-Sino split, in the 1970-80s the Soviets conducted extensive missions over China using the MiG-25 Foxbat. The Indian Air Force conducted missions and provided intelligence support to the Soviets.

The Chinese air defenses could not shoot down the MiG-25s in the seventies and eighties, they didn't have an appropriate weapon for that.

The Soviet MiG-25 Foxbats were supplemented with Ilyushin IL-20 Coot Elint reconnaissance aircraft as well. Since 1981 a fourth Foxbat squadron settled near the Chinese border.


The Indian MiG-25 Foxbats conducted reconnaissance from the south.

The Indian Trisonics were thus the bane of both hostile neighbors conducting missions with freedom of passage due to its superior speed and altitude advantage.

 

[singh100ful]

By then all of those jets will be obsolete...even pakis will be have a couple of J-31 squadrons.

J-31 is still couples of years (atleast 10 years) away from induction

 

[Narasimh]

Latest Astra Missile Test Video Link here:
http://tarmak007.blogspot.com/2017/09/video-of-latest-astra-trials_17.html

 

[tsunami]

From FB....

Astra air-to-air missile is major indigenous success, analysis of the trials below with a (new image).

On Friday, the defence ministry announced the successful development of the most challenging missile India has developed so far – the Astra. Fired from a fighter aircraft travelling at over 1,000 kilometres per hour, the Astra destroys an enemy fighter at a max 90-100 kilometres away.

According to the ministry, the latest round of trials conducted off the Odisha coast on September 11-14 saw seven Astra missiles fired from a Sukhoi-30MKI fighter at pilotless aircraft that were designated as targets. All seven Astras hit their targets.

The seven missions included:
engagement of target at very long range, engagement of high manoeuvring target at medium range and multiple launches of missiles in salvo to engage multiple targets. All the sub-systems including the indigenous RF Seeker performed accurately, meeting all the mission parameters and objectives. Two missiles were also launched in the combat configuration with warhead and the targets were neutralized.

This round of tests “has completed the development phase of the [Astra] weapon system successfully”, stated a defence ministry release on Friday. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman congratulated the Defence R&D Organisation (DRDO), which developed the Astra; Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), which integrated the Astra onto the Su-30MKI fighter; and over 50 private firms that participated in building the missile.

Fired from a pylon on the wing of a Su-30MKI fighter, the Astra’s smokeless propellant quickly accelerates it to about 4,000 kilometres per hour, as it screams towards its target. The Su-30MKI tracks the target continuously on its radar, and steers the missile towards it over a data link. About 15 kilometres from the target, the Astra’s on-board radio seeker locks onto the target; now, it no longer needs guidance from the Su-30MKI. When it reaches a few metres from the enemy fighter, the Astra warhead is detonated by a “radio proximity fuze”, spraying the target with shrapnel and shooting it down.

The Astra can be launched with 'buddy-mode' guidance (third-party guidance), in a boresight mode and slaved to an infrared search-and-track system or helmet-mounted sight. Lock-on-before-launch (LOBL) and lock-on-after-launch (LOAL) modes are available and the seeker can conduct autonomous searches for a target before launch.

The Astra is fired from the Russian Vympel launcher – a rail under a fighter aircraft’s wing from which the missile hangs, and is launched. The Vympel launcher is integrated with all four of India’s current generation fighters — the Su-30MKI, MiG-29, Mirage 2000 and the Tejas – allowing the Astra to be fired from all of them.

In Picture - Another view of Astra firing from cockpit where the Astra on the port side is being fired, we can also see the Astra on the starboard pylon attached along with a Su-30MKI in the back.

Source- Ajai Shukla & LiveFist.

 

[S.Balaji]

DRDO's indigenous Anti-G suit of NATO standard for Airforce pilots

 

[Prashant12]

Doklam stand-off gain: IAF to build more bomb-proof hangars across northeast

The clearance to build blast-proof in a war footing across the North East came from the Prime Minister Office, top sources told India Today.


The Indian Air Force (IAF) will construct more bomb-proof hangars across airfields in north east India to house fighter jets. Blast-proof hangers protect fighter jets when airfields are under attack.

Although a long standing demand of the IAF, the need for blast proof hangars for fighters was again underlined during the two-and-half-month-long Doklam stand-off in Bhutan between the Indian and Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA).

The clearance to build blast-proof in a war footing across the North East came from the Prime Minister Office, top sources have told India Today. The total project is likely to cost the Indian exchequer about a thousand crore.

The need for more blast-proof hangars had been highlighted earlier too. The previous UPA government, however, had failed to act.

For security reasons India Today will not reveal the numbers or the locations of blast-proof hangars.

Evaluation of the possible scenarios during the crisis showed that India had an edge over China. But, it also revealed the need for more blast-proof hangars to house fighters.

Top sources told India Today, that China suffers from inherent disadvantages. Chinese fighter jets taking -off from the Tibetan Plateau's will have to trade-off between the pay-load and fuel they carry because of the height of the TAR.

India, on the contrary, suffers from no such disadvantage. "Having more blast-proof hangars in the North East will enhance the capability of the IAF further," top sources told India Today.

China has about 10 airfields in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). But, none of the Chinese airfields have blast-proof hangars which can house fighters.

"Positioning or operating fighters from these airfields in case of full-scale war will difficult for China," sources told India Today and added "without boom-proof hangar's protecting fighters on ground will be difficult for them."

The IAF has stationed Russian made Su-30MKi deep strike bombers in Tejpur recently. It has also assets distributed in Chauba in Dibrugarh in Assam and in Hashimara in West Bengal.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/...m-stand-off-bomb-proof-hangars/1/1053184.html