Aerospace Diary

  Neelam Mathews on Buddh International Circuit Oct 29, 2011

 Posted by Neelam Mathews Oct 28, 2011 Dr. Ashok Kumar Mishra has taken over as Director Finance of HAL today. Earlier he was Executive Director (Finance) at HAL Corporate Office. Mishra joined HAL as Deputy General Manager (Finance) in 1994. Mishra comes from Madhbani district of Bihar (Village – Nahas Rupouli), did his graduation from City College from Calcutta university, CA from Eastern India Regional Council, Calcutta and Ph.D from Patna University. Mishra is a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and an alumni of National Law School of India (NLSIU).

Chief of Coast Guard, Vice Admiral Anil Chopra has been appointed as the next Flag Officer Commanding in Chief, Eastern Naval Command. He will take over on   Oct 31 from Vice Adml Anup Singh, who is retiring. The Eastern Naval Command, one of the two operational commands of Indian Navy has jurisdiction over the entire Bay of Bengal as well as a large part of the Indian Ocean. The Command stands at the gateway to transformation as new ships, submarines and aircraft are added to the commands asset base. The Command is also seeing enhancement of capability and infrastructure as required to meet growing demands of maritime security on the Eastern seaboard, says the Indian Navy.

Posted by- Neelam Mathews Courtesy- DCNS/Thales Oct 27, 2011 DCNS and Thales have launched a supplementary phase for the Technology Demonstration of a system for automatic landing and deck-landing of UAVs (D2AD), which has just been notified by the French Defense Procurement Authority (DGA). Sea trials of the demonstrator are planned for 2012 using a French Navy frigate and a Boeing, H-6U Unmanned Little Bird rotorcraft.    This notification follows on from the successful landing and deck-landing trials conducted in the U.S last June and July using a moving platform. This new design study is to be conducted in the context of risk reduction for future tactical UAV programs to be managed by the DGA on behalf of the French Navy and the French Army*. The next trials are aimed at demonstrating automatic deck-landing of a UAV on the deck of a frigate in total safety even in high sea state and low visibility, says DCNS. The system must demonstrate its capability for in...

Posted by Neelam Mathews Oct 27, 2011 Since Oct.19, search parties have continued to manually clear the snow and dig the earth on the treacherous slopes using shovels and pickaxes in the area along the lines of impact, in search of the debris of the MiG-29 that crashed on Oct 18. On Oct 25, the Task Force Commander Gp Capt P K Sharma coordinating the search for the missing MiG-29 aircraft and pilot, confirmed locating crash site at 15000’ AMSL above ‘Chokhang’ village in ‘Lahaul’ area. The crash site was located by aerial search and imageries received from the Remotely Piloted Aircraft and other aircraft which conducted the photo reconnaissance of the area. Though the inputs were correct, however, since the crashed aircraft had disintegrated into small pieces and the debris spread across the slopes on either side of the ridge it could not be conclusively identified. Subsequently, sarpanch of ‘Thirot’ village brought back some components with help of locals, identified to be of...

Posted by- Neelam Mathews Oct 26, 2011 Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) crews have started flight training on their first A330 MRTT with Airbus Military instructors at the Airbus Military Getafe facilities in Spain. This will allow the crews to qualify for Air Logistic Transport and Air-to-Air Refueling with pods and boom. This training will prepare the first A330 MRTT delivery to the RSAF to take place next month. Next RSAF MRTT aircraft deliveries are scheduled for 2012.

Posted by- Neelam Mathews Oct 26, 2011 One can expect US to get more aggressive in countries with potential for large procurement like India even as an economic impact analysis projects more than one million American jobs could be lost as a result of defense budget cuts. This will follow if the deficit reduction select committee fails to reach agreement on alternative balanced budget solutions and total cuts to defense reach $1 trillion.  Cuts would lower projected GDP growth by 25% Dr. Stephen S. Fuller, Dwight Schar Faculty Chair, University Professor and Director, Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University and Economic Modeling Specialists Inc. (EMSI) conducted the analysis on behalf of the Aerospace Industries Association.  “Our analysis reveals bleak outcomes for both the defense industry and the economy as a whole if the budget sequestration trigger is pulled and $1 trillion is cut from defense.”  “Dr. Fuller and EMSI’s study shows the dramat...

Neelam Mathews Oct 25, 2011 India is expected to purchase 22 attack helicopters - AH-64D Apache Longbow Block-III - from Boeing even as   Russia’s Mi-28 is said to have lost the bid, according to the Interfax news agency.  Indian defense ministry officials are said to have neither confirmed nor denied the report. “Both aircraft performed exceptionally well, but the American aircraft showed an advantage in key characteristics like the capacity to accept upgrades and multi-role operation,” said an official quoted by the Russian news agency.  If the Government of India selects the Apache, the Government of India will request a possible sale of 50 T700-GE-701D engines, 12 AN/APG-78 Fire Control Radars, 12 AN/APR-48A Radar Frequency Interferometers, 812 AGM-114L-3 HELLFIRE LONGBOW missiles, 542 AGM-114R-3 HELLFIRE II missiles, 245 STINGER Block I-92H missiles, and 23 Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensors, rockets, training...

Neelam Mathews Oct 25, 2011 A massive search operation has been launched by the IAF using   SU-30, Jaguar, RPA, Cheetah, Cheetal and An-32 aircraft to search for the missing Mig-29 aircraft and its pilot Sqn Ldr DS Tomar that crashed on the night of 18 Oct 11 in the mountainous area of Lahaul Spiti in Himachal Pradesh. Till date 132 sorties have been flown towards search and rescue operations. Considering the remote, high altitude treacherous snow clad mountainous region at elevations extending from 15000 ft to 20000 ft above mean sea level and the fact that no radio call was received from the pilot of the missing aircraft has made the search effort very demanding, says the IAF. All available data including that from other aircraft flying in the area, inputs from the formation leader, data on his aircraft as well as reports from civil police received through villagers in the area were collated to ascertain the probable crash site. The National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) ha...

Neelam Mathews Oct 25, 2011 The second indigenous ‘Anti Submarine Warfare’ (ASW) corvette ‘Kadmatt’ - named after an island in Lakshwadeep  - built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE), was launched today. It is part of Indian Navy’s modernization quest under ‘Project-28’. GRSE is slated to launch four ASW corvettes for the Indian Navy each costing nearly Rs. 1,700 crores. Kamorta, the first in the series, is expected to be delivered to the Indian Navy in June 2012 and Kadmatt in March 2013. The keel of the third ASW corvette meanwhile was laid in August 2010. The remaining two ASW corvettes scheduled to float out next from GRSE yards are Kiltan and Kavaratti, says MoD  Stating the Indian Navy and Coast Guard have huge requirement of ships to be met without any time and cost overruns, state minister of defense Pallam Raju emphasized that timely delivery of ‘quality ships’ was the need of the hour. “Modern shipbuilding technology and tools must be adopted t...

Posted by- Neelam Mathews Oct 24, 2011 Kenya Airways fleet modernisation is moving forward with the carrier signing an agreement with General Electric Capital Aviation Services, (GECAS) the commercial aircraft leasing and financing arm of General Electric, for the delivery of two Boeing 777-300s Extended Range (ER). The two aircraft will be delivered in October 2013 and May 2014 and will operate long haul routes of Amsterdam, Bangkok, Guangzhou and Dubai. “With the increased passenger and cargo capacity that the Boeing 777-300ER offers, we are pleased with this development as it will see Kenya Airways significantly increase tonnage and passenger capacity while enhancing our premium service offering to Europe and the Far East,” said  Kenya Airways CEO and   Group Managing Director Titus Naikuni. “This also speaks to Kenya Airways’ efforts of flying a more efficient and environmentally friendly fleet,” he added. The Boeing 777-300ER provides increased passenger and cargo...

Neelam Mathews Oct 24, 2011 With the first decade of the 21 st century behind us, India is still grappling with holding tight to its 20 th century thinking. While I have no affinity to any carrier of any nation personally, the fact that even Hyderabad airport has shown it can handle the Airbus A-380 successfully, gives us reason to stop protecting the national carrier at the cost of Indian citizens’ convenience. Besides, business might just get better if more capacity is allowed in. An Emirates A-380 flying from Bangkok to Dubai was diverted to Hyderabad, due to technical reasons , and landed at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad- that is Code F compliant-   in the early hours of 23rd October due to technical snag in the aircraft. At RGIA, the Airport Rescue Fire Fighters(ARFF) upgraded from CAT-9 to CAT-10 category to ensure safe landing of the aircraft. RGIA is compliant to handle Code-F aircraft movements. Interestingly, for the third time an Airbus A-38...

IAF MiG-29s and IAF and Royal Oman Air Force Jaguars fly at the close of  the four day Exercise Eastern Bridge II.

Posted by- Neelam Mathews Oct 22, 2011 Emirates Airline has said it has big expansion plans - with a mix of Boeing 777 and Airbus A330-200 aircraft - for Pakistan with the launch of additional flights to Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar. Lahore and Islamabad will both be served by non-stop daily flights from October 31 and November 2, while Peshawar will get three weekly flights from November 5.  The airline also serves Karachi, its first destination in Pakistan. Around  2.2 million O&D passengers travelled between Pakistan and the UAE last  year. The non-oil trade between Pakistan and Dubai crossed $2.5 billion in 2010. “The evolving market structure, improved accessibility, rise in remittances and rising consumer spending due to the expanding population are reshaping the aviation sector in Pakistan and Emirates is keen to continue to strengthen its presence in the country,” said a spokesman. Emirates Airlines is the third largest operator between the two countri...

Posted by- Neelam Mathews Oct 22, 2011 Speaking at the International Seapower Symposium in New Port, Rhode Island, Chief of Naval Staff, Adml Nirmal Verma said “ the international efforts towards combating piracy would benefit if there were fewer disparate task forces and independent naval operations. India ’s relative autonomy of efforts towards combating piracy off Somalia can be traced to its preference for a UN mandated operations which we believe if adopted would holistically enhance the efficacy of operations”. Ransom amounts have increased to an average of   $5.4 million per ship, from just $150,000. According to a recent study by One Earth Future the economic cost of piracy maybe as high as $12 billion a year. Presently nine ships with over 300 seafarers of a range of nationalities, including 53 Indians are hostages. Some excerpts: I would highlight the work of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS) under the aegis of the United Nations, which w...