Indian Air Force: News & Discussions

[Wisemarko]

We are talking of future scenarios here. Even today, your vaunted F-35 is being sold on the basis of its radar stealth and EW suite. A Gripen has an EW suite that already makes it near impossible to lock on to at BVR ranges (this has been confirmed in DACT exercises). Heck even our 40+ year old Bisons have enough jamming power onboard to dodge Amraams beyond 20nm

In an environment where radar stealth, jamming and EW make conventional means of detection at long range irrelevant, you fall back on means such as long range IRST or other passive detection sensors. This brings down your detection to what? If the bandit is coming in cold, radar switched off, no active systems (this is a tactic being practiced by the USAF itself to exploit a tag team of F-15's and F-22's) your detection range without an active IRST scan is almost WVR. So again, I ask, where are you going to use your 80nm+ range missiles? Against AWACS, Tankers, ISTAR assets etc yes...against opposing fighters? Fat chance!

Then why bother buying 150nm range S-400 if fat chance to shoot any fighter beyond 40nm? To shoot down tankers? Sorry, I cannot respond to your juvenile speculations.

 

[vishnugupt]

WHY MMRCA file is not moving , who is delaying MMRCA2??

IAF need new fighter planes but who is delaying all process ??

First, These are Dalal's tactics to keep alive the hope and keep poking Government, IAF and Public conciseness so that if something happened ( conflict ) then it may become possibility.
I seriously doubt there will be a MMRCA 2. If necessary India will order another 36 Rafale in future. Why?
1)Aircraft deals are catchy to media eyes which cause enormous headache to politicians
2) Don't have enough money and priority to indigenization
3) Fresh tender then evaluation then delivery will take almost 8-9 years and by that time Tejas mk2 will be ready. Meanwhile IAF will induct almost 160 aircraft ( 10 Su 30mki, 36 Rafale, 40 Tejas Mk1 and 83 MK1a ).

 

[uoftotaku]

Then why bother buying 150nm range S-400 if fat chance to shoot any fighter beyond 40nm? To shoot down tankers? Sorry, I cannot respond to your juvenile speculations.

You call me juvenile while introducing a theater level area defense SAM system into an air-to-air fight scenario conversation to deflect the argument? Or are you suggesting that your vaunted F-16 Block 70's SABR has a detection range comparable to the 92N6E? Lol

 

[WolfPack86]

Defence Minister @RajnathSingh to fly in an LCA Tejas on Thursday.

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

The mica's best feature is that it can be used as a long range IR guided missile.IR guided cant be jammed and also allow passive interceptions with the enemy not knowing missile has been fired at it.Same as what happened to f16 abhinandan took out.As a radar guided missile mica is mediocre.

 

[aarav]

IAF user trial ASTRA BVRAAM

 

[WolfPack86]

#IAF may order 70 basic trainers made by HAL

.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) plans to start the official process within three months for the possible purchase of 70 locally produced basic trainers from state-owned aircraft maker Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), three senior IAF officers said on condition of anonymity.

IAF is set to send a request for proposal (RFP) to HAL for the indigenous Hindustan Turbo Trainer-40 (HTT-40) before the end of the year, they added.“The HTT-40 has entered the final stages of rigourous testing. The air force is optimistic that the trainer will meet its requirements. If all goes well, the RFP will be out by the year-end,” said one of the officials cited above who asked not to be named.

The HTT-40 is currently undergoing a string of elaborate tests at HAL to demonstrate that it is safe for rookie pilots and meets IAF’s exacting standards for trainer planes. Test pilots have wrapped up intensive flight tests but some brutal trials are yet to be conducted, said a second official.

A few days ago, the aircraft successfully completed the six-turn spin (towards the right), recovering from an uncontrolled flight using conventional methods. “The next stage of trials will be critical as it involves testing the HTT-40’s spin behaviour in the left direction, which is far more complicated,” the second official said.

If the remaining tests go smoothly, HAL could begin production by early 2021, said a third official tracking the air force’s modernisation drive. IAF, however, is clear that it does not want a piecemeal delivery of the basic trainers. “We don’t want HAL to deliver the aircraft in ones and twos as that will not meet our training requirements. We would need at least 20 planes to begin training. According to our estimates, it will take HAL around four years to deliver that number,” the third official added.

To facilitate the release of the RFP this year, IAF plans to seek a fresh Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) from the defence acquisition council to pursue the HTT-40 purchase under the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2016 instead of DPP-2008, which currently covers it. “That’s important because under DPP-2008, user trials have to be conducted before the RFP is issued. However, the provisions of DPP-2016 allow the RFP to come before the user trials,” said the second official cited above.
The upcoming RFP may also allow HAL to release around $25 million to upgrade the Honeywell TPE331-12B turboprop engine that powers the basic trainer to extract maximum performance from the aircraft, said the first official. HAL was reluctant to spend on the upgrade unless the order came through.

Rookie pilots in IAF go through a three-stage training involving the Pilatus PC-7 MkII planes, Kiran trainers and finally the Hawk advanced jet trainers before they can fly fighter jets. As the Kirans are approaching the end of their service life, some amount of Stage 2 training is being done on the PC-7.

The defence ministry in July suspended business dealings with Pilatus Aircraft Limited for one year for violation of a pre-contract integrity pact in a ~2,900-crore contract for 75 basic trainers, and also factoring in ongoing Indian investigations against the Swiss plane maker for alleged corruption and irregularities.

The contract included a follow-on purchase of 38 more planes, but the ban means IAF can’t invoke the clause. The order for additional planes could be sourced from HAL, said a fourth IAF official. Experts welcomed IAF’s decision to take the HTT-40 purchase forward. “It’s a big thumps up to indigenisation and the RFP is an indicator that the locally made trainer will meet IAF’s requirements. It is now up to HAL to meet the timelines and provide adequate technical support. It has been found wanting in some of those aspects in the past,” said Air Vice Marshal Manmohan Bahadur (retd), additional director general, Centre for Air Power Studies.
https://www.facebook.com/pg/TeamAMCA/photos/?ref=page_internal

 

[bhramos]

Bengaluru: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inspected the various aircraft at HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) airport, after he undertook a 30-minute sortie in Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas today. #Karnataka

 

[Bhurki]

AVM RKS Bhadauria is next Chief Of the Indian Air Force.
https://english.manoramaonline.com/...-bhadauria-to-be-next-chief-of-air-staff.html

 

[Bleh]

Are those blue rockets laser-guided or raam-bharose?

AVM RKS Bhadauria is next Chief Of the Indian Air Force.
https://english.manoramaonline.com/...-bhadauria-to-be-next-chief-of-air-staff.html

Holyshit!!! That's great news for Tejas!

 

[hit&run]

..............

 

[uoftotaku]

AVM RKS Bhadauria is next Chief Of the Indian Air Force.
https://english.manoramaonline.com/...-bhadauria-to-be-next-chief-of-air-staff.html

I know lots of people who were rooting for AVM Nambiar. Hope they avoid the airing of dirty laundry in darbaari press like the unseemly mess witnessed recently for CNS appt.

 

[Deathstar]

I know lots of people who were rooting for AVM Nambiar. Hope they avoid the airing of dirty laundry in darbaari press like the unseemly mess witnessed recently for CNS appt.

Is this CAS appointment according to seniority???.....i beleive seniority should be maintained except in extraordinary circumstances. There shouldn't be political appointees

 

[Bhurki]

Is this CAS appointment according to seniority???.....i beleive seniority should be maintained except in extraordinary circumstances. There shouldn't be political appointees

Actually the top contenders based on seniority alone were Air Marshals
Balakrishnan Suresh,
Raghunath Nambiar,
Harjit Singh Arora and
Rajesh Kumar.
So selecting AVM RKSB might have to do something with his career in acquisition and programs like tejas and rafale.
http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/16026

 

[uoftotaku]

Is this CAS appointment according to seniority???.....i beleive seniority should be maintained except in extraordinary circumstances. There shouldn't be political appointees

Final decision has always been political. However in times of peace the Govt had always followed seniority principal without any intervention to avoid ruffling feathers until people forgot that it isn't an enshrined doctrine.

 

[Anathema]

The mica's best feature is that it can be used as a long range IR guided missile.IR guided cant be jammed and also allow passive interceptions with the enemy not knowing missile has been fired at it.Same as what happened to f16 abhinandan took out.As a radar guided missile mica is mediocre.

An IR missile - How far does it track the heat source ? Or the pilots are expected to fire at the general direction of adversary and expect the missile to pick out the heat source when it nears it ?

 

[Anathema]

Actually the top contenders based on seniority alone were Air Marshals
Balakrishnan Suresh,
Raghunath Nambiar,
Harjit Singh Arora and
Rajesh Kumar.
So selecting AVM RKSB might have to do something with his career in acquisition and programs like tejas and rafale.
http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/16026

No ! RKSB is apparently the senior most. He was supposed to retire by month end - apparently. Check out AVM Chopras and Angad singhs tweets

 

[Pahadi]

Correct. He was due to retire on the same day as his appointment - 30 Sept 2019. He has been given extension.

 

[Pahadi]

No ! RKSB is apparently the senior most. He was supposed to retire by month end - apparently. Check out AVM Chopras and Angad singhs tweets

Correct. He was due to retire on the same day as his appointment - 30 Sept 2019. He has been given extension.

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

An IR missile - How far does it track the heat source ? Or the pilots are expected to fire at the general direction of adversary and expect the missile to pick out the heat source when it nears it ?

You use the FSO IR sensor with IR mica for full passive.Or you use radar/spectra and fire a pair of micas - one radar guided ,one IR guided.Enemy sees the radar guided one coming,but not the IR guided one.IR shots are deadly as they cant be jammed.