Aerospace Diary

News Aerospace Daily & Defense Report Mar 01 , 2010 , p. 14 Neelam Mathews NEW DELHI — India’s defense expenditure has been raised four percent to $31.8 billion for 2010-11. The budget was presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Feb. 26 in parliament. Last year, the government provided a steep hike of about 34 percent for defense. Mukherjee said that considering the importance of defense, more funds would be provided as requirements dictate. “Secure borders and security of life and property fosters development,” he said. “I propose to increase the allocation for defense. Needless to say, any additional requirement for the security of the nation will be provided for.” At the recent land and naval DefExpo 2010 show, Defense Minister A.K. Antony said that India’s defense expenditure, which is 2.5 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP), would be increased. This latest allocation continues to be around 2.5 percent of the GDP. Three years ago, the defense budget was at $20.11...

News Aviation Daily Feb 26 , 2010 , p. 11 Neelam Mathews Planned to coincide with the bi-annual India Aviation Show in Hyderabad starting March 3, engine maker CFM International is launching a training center at the 250-acre Aerospace Park located at Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in a 300-square-meter (3,210 sq. ft.) shop facility. CFM is a leading supplier of aero-engines to the Asia-Pacific region. More than 3,800 CFM56 engines are in service with 116 airlines in 24 countries in the region; Asia-Pacific accounts for about 19% of the worldwide CFM56 fleet in service. Snecma has a big partnership with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. for the supply of forged aluminum parts for the CFM56. In India, more than 320 CFM56 engines are in service, and some 360 engines are on order. CFM’s main customers in India include Jet Airways, Jet Lite, SpiceJet, Go Air, Reliance, the Indian air force, Air India and Air India Express. Airlines in the neighborhood, such as Sri L...

Aerospace Daily & Defense Report February 25,2010 NEW DELHI — Indian officials say they are cooperating with international agencies to ensure security at the Commonwealth Games due to be held here from Oct. 3-14. The comments come as U.S. FBI Director Robert Mueller and Indian government officials conduct talks — evidence of the robust and active counterterrorism cooperation between the U.S. and India. “Our cooperation extends from the highest reaches of both governments and connects across to provide information and training to local law enforcement in both countries,” said Timothy Roemer, U.S. ambassador to India. Home Secretary G.K. Pillai said India was also interacting with many other countries including Canada, the U.K. and New Zealand. “The innovations we are doing here are being noticed by Scotland Yard,” Pillai added. Security in Delhi is not currently being outsourced, Pillai told Aerospace DAILY, although he did acknowledge India’s police force needs to be improved throu...

News Aviation Daily Feb 25 , 2010 , p. 11 Neelam Mathews Zurich-based SR Technics has signed a two-year extension of its engine services contract with the holding company of Air India, National Aviation Co. of India Ltc (NACIL) for maintenance services on CFM56-5B and CFM56-7B engines. Unlike many in the business that have suffered an average 20% downturn worldwide, SR Technics is seeing healthy business traffic. The two-year contract, valued at $55 million, covers 61 aircraft in Air India’s Airbus A320-family and Boeing 737-800 fleet. The work will be done at SR Technics Engine Maintenance Center in Zurich. SR Technics has been Air India’s preferred maintenance services provider for CFM56-5B, -7B and PW4168 engines since 2007, when it opened a sales office in Mumbai to establish a presence in the India market as part of its Asian growth strategy. The company currently provides engine maintenance, overhaul and repair services on the Pratt & Whitney PW4168A engines on Air India’s Ai...

Aerospace Daily & Defense Report February 24, 2010 NEW DELHI — Rockwell Collins has been awarded a contract for Electronic Counter-Counter Measure radio modules by government-owned Electronics Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL). The contract includes GPS hand-held receivers, featuring Graphical User Interfaces and moving maps for portable precision navigation capability. The component hardware card sets will be integrated into ground-based Ultra High Frequency (UHF) radios for use by Indian armed forces for command and control of ground-to-ground and ground-to-air communications. “India is looking at more cohesive armed forces and for homeland security,” said Thud Chee Chan, vice president and managing director, Asia Pacific for Rockwell Collins. “We are [therefore] looking at building up the indigenous industry and are ready to work for local companies and partner with them.” The company also has responded to a request for proposals for network-centric operations for the Indian navy....

News AWIN First Feb 23 , 2010 Neelam Mathews mathews.neelam@gmail.com NEW DELHI Adrian Schofield adrian_schofield@aviationweek.com WASHINGTON The Oneworld alliance plans to add Indian carrier Kingfisher to its ranks, with the airline expected to become a full member sometime next year. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) has been signed by Kingfisher as its first step to joining Oneworld. A more specific target date for the carrier’s membership will be confirmed once Kingfisher has gained approval from India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation, according to the alliance. Oneworld has made no secret of the fact that it wanted to add an airline in India. Its rival Star Alliance is in the process of adding Air India, and is also moving closer to adding Jet Airways. Oneworld has been considering its options in India for some time, “and it became clear that Kingfisher was the best fit,” an alliance spokesman told AviationWeek. The alliance narrowed its focus on Kingfisher late last year, which led...

News Aviation Daily Feb 23 , 2010 , p. 11 Neelam Mathews Air Works Engineering, which has India’s only EASA-approved MRO facility with approvals for Boeing 737 and ATR42/72 aircraft and soon for the Airbus A320, has picked up an 85% stake in Air Livery, U.K. The two companies had announced a 50-50 joint venture in 2008, which this year was boosted to 85% by Air Works to provide dedicated aircraft painting services at its MRO facilities at Hosur Airport in Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore) with a view to serve the entire Asia-Pacific region. In late 2007, New York-based private investment firm Global Technology Investment and India’s construction company Punj Lloyd each bought a 33% stake in Air Works India, one of the oldest family-owned MROs in India. “We as a family cannot be a family business forever. While this is not a complete buyout, this will expand opportunities for us in India,” said Ravi Menon, director of Air Works. The acquisition will make Air Works India’s first dedicated p...

GOA, India — Indian Defense Minister A.K. Antony has now confirmed that India will order an additional 29 MiG-29K combat jets for the Indian navy. This follows the chief of naval staff, Adm. Nirmal Verma, who in his first news conference after becoming chief last year told Aviation Week that more MiG-29Ks would be ordered in Phase Two. The news comes as the Indian navy prepares to induct four Mig-29Ks – part of an order for 16 signed in 2004, of which 12 will be single-seat MiG-29Ks and the rest double-seat trainers (MiG-29 KUBs) – by the end of the year. The order for the additional 29 would be a contract option of the 16 MiG-29Ks, bringing the total order to 45. The MiG-29Ks are to operate from the 44,570-ton Admiral Gorshkov carrier,to be renamed Vikramaditya, which got caught in a web of financial uncertainty and political wrangling between India and Russia. Now there is a belief that the deal for the additional aircraft will be signed and the price of the Gorshkov will be decided ...

Aerospace Daily & Defense Report Feb 18 , 2010 , p. 06 Neelam Mathews NEW DELHI — Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems is in negotiations with Indian public sector company Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) concerning a joint venture program to produce advanced imaging infrared seekers for the Python 5 missile. “The ultimate solution is forming joint ventures,” Rafael Chairman Ilan Biran says. The joint venture with BEL may take a few months, as Rafael has requested that the Indian government increase the Foreign Direct Investment limit from 26 percent to 49 percent. Other issues to be determined include the scope of the project and its market assessment. However, investment is not an issue, BEL Chairman Ashwani Kumar Datt told Aerospace DAILY this week at the land and naval systems DefExpo here. India has ordered 18 Spyder systems that use advanced air-to-air missiles as ground-launched surface-to-air missiles. Besides the Python 5, it has the Derby beyond-visual-range missile, whi...

News Aerospace Daily & Defense Report Feb 18 , 2010 , p. 05 Neelam Mathews NEW DELHI — Boeing will hold discussions with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) to view areas of common interest that could lead to future business opportunities, according to Roger Krone, president of Boeing Network and Space Systems. For the moment, the scope of partnership is limited, as the civil space cooperation agreement between India and the U.S. has yet to be signed. “[Boeing] and ISRO will start discussions on commercial technology for low Earth orbit,” Krone told Aerospace Daily this week at the sixth land and naval systems biannual DefExpo here. “We will start with componentry. We’re taking a long-term view of the Indian market that is likely to include hosted payloads, weather sats, human space flights work on small sats and nanos, training and collaboration with industry.” The talks are being held in the background following the U.S. government’s 2005 approval of a license authorizi...

News Aerospace Daily & Defense Report Feb 17 , 2010 , p. 02 Neelam Mathews NEW DELHI — AgustaWestland and Tata Sons have signed a Shareholders Agreement for the formation of an Indian joint venture company to build a final assembly line in Hyderabad in South India for the AW119 helicopter. The agreement was signed here by Giuseppe Orsi, CEO of AgustaWestland, and Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Sons. The joint venture company will be responsible for AW119 final assembly, completion and delivery, while AgustaWestland will retain responsibility for worldwide marketing and sales. With an initial international order of 50-60 helicopters, the joint venture will roll out the first aircraft from its Indian plant in 2011. The plant will initially have the capacity to produce 30 helicopters annually. AgustaWestland, which also has a facility in Philadelphia, says it will continue looking for its facility in India to grow. “As the market grows, we will look at other models,” Graham Cole, managi...

NEW DELHI — Sweden-based Saab and India’s Samtel Display Systems (SDS), which specializes in products for avionics and military applications, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to jointly develop, manufacture and market the RIGS Head-Up Displays (HUDs) in India. RIGS is an advanced lightweight HUD designed by Saab to provide helicopters with a cost-effective display solution. This is the second MOU signed between Saab and SDS. The first identifies SDS as an offset partner for Saab for the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) contract, in which Saab’s Gripen fighter is one of the contenders. SDS is a part of the Samtel Group, India’s largest integrated manufacturer of a wide range of displays for television, avionics, industrial, medical and professional applications,machinery and engineering services. SDS is already in the advanced stages of developing helmets through its joint venture with Thales, which could later be extended to HUDs. India has ordered 16 Mig-29Ks t...

Aerospace Defense Daily Report February 12, 2010 NEW DELHI — India is making a significant change in its defense industrial policy in the next two months, adding a new Defense Production Procedure (DPP) under its present Make category. The Make category was introduced to provide a framework for increased participation by Indian industry in the defense sector. But it did not take off as there was no financial boost to the industry for research and development (R&D), as well as uncertainty over orders from the military. The news comes on the eve of India’s sixth bi-annual land and naval DefExpo 2010 here, set to kick off Feb. 15. Now, a review is in place. “We are re-looking at the Make procedure to make it easier for Indian industry to participate,” said Defense Production Secretary R.K. Singh. “Since R&D will be involved, we will meet part of the cost for it and [ensure] they get a minimum order quantity. “The government will identify 2-3 companies, and if the prototype succeed...

Aviation Week AWIN First Feb 11 , 2010 Neelam Mathews mathews.neelam@gmail.com NEW DELHI Boeing is looking further ahead in the Indian defense procurement and development market as it now enters the third and final phase of field trials for the proposed F/A-18IN for India’s 126 Medium Multirole Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) competition. India recently sent a letter of request for 10 C-17s, 15 heavy-lift CH-47 Chinooks and 22 Apache AH-64D attack helicopters, for which Boeing has submitted proposals. Field trials will be held this spring, according to Vivek Lall, vice president and India country head for Boeing Defense, Space & Security. Boeing also won the contract for eight P-8I long-range maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft, the first of which will be delivered to the Indian navy in 2013 and the last by 2015. Lall said the Chicago-based contracting giant will meet the $640 million local offset for the Indian P-8s. Meanwhile, the company announced that is has for...

NEW DELHI — India’s Defense Research Development Organization (DRDO) plans to test its 5,000-kilometer (3,100-mile) range Agni-V ballistic missile in a year’s time, following the third successful trial of the 3,500-kilometer range Agni-3 on Feb. 7. Agni-5 is in the subsystem testing phase, according to DRDO chief V.K. Saraswat, scientific advisor to the defense minister. Agni-3 has an all-composite structure, which will be gradually used in the Agni-5. “The building blocks are in a mature stage today. Technology has grown from metallic rocket motors to composite rocket motors applicable to Agni-3 and beyond,” Saraswat said. Two years ago, DRDO developed and tested a large rocket motor with a carbon filament-wound composite casing. “This is a major breakthrough because it provides the key technology for going into longer missions [for instance, the Agni-5 missile] with lighter missiles,” said Avinash Chander, director of DRDO’s advanced systems laboratory. “With this development of moto...

News Aerospace Daily & Defense Report Feb 09 , 2010 , p. 08 Neelam Mathews NEW DELHI — India’s long-range Agni-3 missile was successfully flight tested by the Defense Research Development Organization (DRDO) at 10:50 a.m. Feb. 7 from Wheeler Island, in the Bay of Bengal off the coast of Odisha in East India. Agni-3 was tested for its full 3,500-kilometer (2,200-mile) range, hit its target and met all the mission objectives, according to a DRDO statement. Two downrange ships located near the target tracked and witnessed the missile impact. The Agni-3 missile is 17 meters long with a 2-meter diameter and features a two-stage solid propellant system with a payload capability of 1.5 metric tons. During the course of flight the missile reached a peak altitude of 350 kilometers and re-entered into the atmosphere, successfully tolerating surface temperatures of nearly 3,000 degrees Celsius. V.K. Saraswat, scientific advisor to the defense minister and director general of DRDO, was quoted ...

Intelligence Aviation Daily Feb 04 , 2010 , p. 01 Neelam Mathews Singapore’s BOC Aviation topped the $5 billion asset mark for the first time at the end of 2009 with 142 aircraft in its portfolio. It has been following a counter-cyclical strategy of expanding via purchase and leasebacks since 2008. Owned by Bank of China, it took delivery of 48 aircraft in 2009, of which 23 were from purchase and leaseback deals. It has 53 aircraft on firm order and six on committed purchase and leasebacks for delivery through to 2013, and has signed agreements with four new customers — Air France, Alaska Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Virgin Blue.

News Aviation Daily Feb 09 , 2010 , p. 13 Neelam Mathews Turkish Celebi Holdings is looking to make an investment in ground-handling after recently being awarded ground-handling contracts for Delhi International Airport Private Ltd . and Mumbai International Airport Private Ltd.. Celebi also has received a contract for cargo-handling services at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport. The company claims it aims to invest $100 million in the Indian aviation sector by 2010, of which $30 million worth of equipment will be for ground-handling. However, India has held back its ground-handling policy for the past two years, permitting airlines to continue doing their own handling. Indira Gandhi International Airport is India’s biggest in terms of passenger numbers and the second-largest in terms of cargo traffic; 430,000 tons of cargo were handled at the airport in 2008. According to current projections, the total volume of cargo traffic at the airport will reach 1 million tons per ...

News Aviation Daily Feb 04 , 2010 , p. 13 Neelam Mathews Ailing national carrier Air India, operated by the National Aviation Co. of India Ltd. (NACIL), has been refused an infusion of $260 million for 2010-11 by a group of ministers that included Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Law and Justice Minister M. Veerappa Moily and Minister of State for Civil Aviation Praful Patel. Arvind Jadhav, chairman and managing director, has been tasked with cost cutting and spinning off MRO, cargo and ground-handling departments into separate subsidiaries. The government had approved $173 million for Air India last month after reviewing its performance for November and December and had set a challenging target of achieving a cost saving of $432 million by March. Air India, which releases limited financial and operating data, posted a net loss of $318 million, a 9.7% improvement from the October-December quarter in 2008. Air India added 29 new aircraft in 2009, part of an $11 billion order to Boeing and ...

News Aviation Daily Feb 03 , 2010 , p. 10 Neelam Mathews India may well be proving soothsayers wrong as domestic traffic is bouncing back to previous levels after rising 7.5% last year from 2007. Yields, however, continue to take a beating. The country’s major airlines released their quarterly earnings for three months ending December 2009. Jet Airways led in market share at 26.9% for the main line carrier and JetLite combined. It posted a profit of $23 million, up 149% from the same period last year. Kingfisher Airlines captured a market share of 20.8% and recorded a loss of $91 million widened by a marginal loss of 2%, compared with the third quarter of fiscal 2008. SpiceJet garnered a market share of 12.9% and registered a net profit of $24 million, up from a net loss of $3.8 million in the same quarter year-ago period. All three listed airlines reported operating profits, whereas Jet and SpiceJet in the same quarter in fiscal 2008 had operating losses. The decrease in fuel prices a...

News Aviation Daily Feb 02 , 2010 , p. 13 Neelam Mathews Developers and manufacturers of Diehl Aircabin interiors have selected Teamcenter, Siemens product lifecycle management (PLM) software system. Teamcenter was selected, Diehl Aircabin said, because of its broad functional range, including its ability to more easily configure and visualize complex processes and its open architecture, which enhances collaboration and opens the way to an end-to-end PLM strategy. Diehl Aircabin designs, develops and makes cabin modules, crew rest compartments and air distribution systems for the civil aircraft industry, including the new widebody Airbus A350 XWB. Up until 2008, Diehl Aircabin was a wholly owned subsidiary of Airbus and is now one of the major first tier suppliers for aircraft manufacturers. “Siemens PLM Softwares Teamcenter portfolio will help optimize our engineering process topography, said Markus Marschall, CFO, Diehl Aircabin. “Visualizing all engineering processes in Teamcenter, ...

Major Programs Update Defense Technology International Feb 01 , 2010 , p. 30 Neelam Mathews Printed headline: India Readies Howitzer Trials As India plans to hold trials for towed howitzers in late February, the push for towed and ultra-light guns is drawing interest from two contenders, Singapore Technologies (ST) Kinetics and BAE Systems. BAE Systems is offering its FH77B05 howitzer to India. Credit: BAE SYSTEMS India wants to procure 400 towed 155-mm. howitzers and 144 ultra-light howitzers. The military is reportedly trying to procure BAE’s M777 ultra-light howitzer through the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program, an effort hastened, perhaps, by Pakistan’s acquisition last year of 67 M109 A5 Paladin self-propelled artillery guns from BAE through the U.S. Foreign Military Financing program. Immediate attention is being given to the towed howitzers, which, due to India’s history of re-bids, are undergoing trials for the fifth time. “ST Kinetics’ entry, the iFH2000, a 155-mm./52-calib...