Aerospace Diary

by  Neelam Mathews  -  August 30, 2018, 9:38 AM The Indian Navy has been approved to buy the MH-60R from Sikorsky to replace the dwindling fleet of Westland Sea Kings, the first of which entered service in 1971. Here a late 1980s-vintage Sea King Mk 42B is seen in June this year while visiting the U.S. Navy carrier Ronald Reagan. (photo: U.S. Navy) The Indian Ministry of Defence has finally granted approval to acquire 24 anti-submarine and anti-ship Multi-Role Helicopters (MRH) in answer to a decade-old "urgent" requirement. The news does not come a day too soon for the Indian Navy (IN). The proposal is to acquire Sikorsky MH-60Rs (“Romeos”) by a U.S. Foreign Military Sales channel. Earlier a  direct-sale of the similar Sikorsky S-70B Seahawk  had been approved in principle but foundered over drawn-out price negotiations. The acceptance of necessity (AON) for the MH-60R buy is valid for 18 months, which ordains that the order will have to be made...

by  Neelam Mathews  -  August 28, 2018, 10:09 AM The first biofuel technology demonstration flight ever performed in South Asia on August 27 served as a reminder of how the fast the increasing price of turbine fuel has come to hurt yields among several Indian airlines. At the event, Indian Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said such awareness will soon lead to a policy on biofuels derived from non-edible oils for powering jet, marine and road engines.  The fuel for the 55-minute flight in a SpiceJet Bombardier Q400, performed under its “Green Miles” initiative, consisted of a blend of 75 percent aviation turbine fuel and 25 percent biofuel derived from Jatropha seeds and produced by the Indian Institute of Petroleum. Gadkari said the biofuel policy will call for a 12-year program involving identification of areas for farming, incentivizing farmers to grow the crop on a continuous basis, setting up the industry, and transfer of technolo...

by  Neelam Mathews  -  August 15, 2018, 12:26  India's P-8I aircraft feature a magnetic anomaly detector in a tail boom. They replaced Tu-142s with Indian Naval Air Squadron 312. (photo: Boeing) A desire of the Indian Navy to procure an additional 12 Boeing P-8I maritime patrol aircraft is lying in cold storage following a recent audit report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), an authority that audits all receipts and expenditure of the government. The report has reprimanded the then-Congress government for ordering an initial eight P-8Is, despite their being priced higher than the competing EADS-CASA (now Airbus Defence and Space) A319. India’s rules state that the lowest price (L-1) equipment has to be considered for procurement. In 2016, under the present government, India exercised its options for four more P-8Is, the delivery of which starts in 2020. According to CAG, the financial bid was evaluated with EADS-C...

by  Neelam Mathews  -  August 10, 2018, 7:32 AM Add caption Overcapacity is creating a financial setback for India's airline industry. (Photo: Neelam Mathews) Fortunes have reversed for Indian airlines that had been growing at an average of 18 percent a year for the past three years. An exceedingly competitive fare environment, the adverse impact of a depreciating rupee, and increasing fuel prices have resulted in the sector showing signs of stress. “Cost pressures amidst weakness in fares are turning the operating environment adverse for operators,” Santosh Hiredesai, analyst at Mumbai-based SBICap Securities told  AIN . Fares for a two-hour flight between Delhi to Mumbai can be as low as $48. Given the infrastructure constraints at airports and in the airspace, Hiredesai says capacity rationalization often results in sharp improvement in industry yields. He said when Kingfisher Airlines ceased operations in 2013, followed by budget Spi...

by  Neelam Mathews  -  August 3, 2018, 9:48 AM India’s ministry of civil aviation is now working on a model that would better accommodate business aircraft management, India Business Aviation Operators Association (BAOA) managing director R.K. Bali told  AIN . These new guidelines would help the country’s business aviation sector to become more cost-effective, he said. Ravi Menon, founder of Air Works, India’s oldest and largest maintenance and services company, expects the final guidelines to be released in six months.  AIN  has learned that the ministry of civil aviation has appointed an economic advisor to liaise with numerous ministries, including those of finance and trade,to ensure the rules are enforced expeditiously. “We are taking one step at a time,” noted Bali. “The next issue will be for easing of rules for fractional ownership.” In the past three years, the number of nonscheduled operators in India has decreased from 139 to 110 d...

DB - Digital Battlespace Vendors await delayed Indian RfP for SDRs 4th July 2018 - 01:01 GMT  |  by  Neelam Mathews  in Delhi An RfP for assorted software-defined radios (SDR) for the Indian Army is still awaited after suffering an indefinite delay. The deadline for two separate RfI responses – one for handheld and manpack radios and another for truck-, AFV- and helicopter-mounted radios –to replace legacy radios was back on 17 March 2017. The RfIs asked for multifunctional radio sets able to perform multiple roles and work in different modes. Current Indian uses legacy hardware-based HF, VHF and UHF radios that have little or no data capability. The SDR RfIs listed a communication range of More on Shephardmedia

Vendors wait for India to finalise UAS regulations 13th July 2018 - 03:00 GMT  |  by  Neelam Mathews  in Delhi India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has released draft regulations on requirements for civil UAS operations, but it is yet to release its regulatory policy, and this is holding back the use and manufacture of such systems in India. The date promised to media last November was ‘January ,,,more on Shephard Media

 Co-located radar arrives at Imphal 01-Aug-2018 ELDIS Pardubice (part of the Czechoslovak Group) has provided 14 units of its co-located RL-2000/MSSR-1 airspace surveillance radar to India, including the most recent installation at Imphal Airport .....Read More Subscription Imphal Airport handles 24 flights a day but a terminal expansion plan is under way, so the new co-located radar is essential to handle forecast growth. However, technology is only part of the answer: one airline official, speaking on condition of anonymity, claimed that Imphal “could have grown much faster if it did not lack trained air traffic controllers”, adding that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) considered the remote city as a “hard posting”. Now times are changing, as Manipur Governor Najma Heptulla told  Jane’s  that she is negotiating for more airlines to fly to Imphal. The RL-2000 primary surveillance radar features a solid-state modular system. The ...

Neelam Mathews Aug 1, 2018 In 2015, Indian operator Vistara tapped defense contractor – and then would-be inflight entertainment provider – BAE Systems to install its IntelliCabin wireless IFE solution on Airbus A320 aircraft. BAE  said at the time   that the offering would ultimately include fully integrated Samsung Galaxy Tabs for business class customers. But the program, as described by BAE, did not come to full fruition. Head Injury Criterion (HIC) testing proved an early stumbling block to the integrated tablet IFE idea, and as it transpired, tablets “ were distributed post takeoff   and retrieved by cabin crew prior to landing”, says  Sanjiv ....read more : https://runwaygirlnetwork.com/2018/08/01/vistara-taps-bluebox-for-wireless-ife-on-a320s-eyes-options-for-787-9s/

by  Neelam Mathews  - July 31, 2018, 11:52 AM As India’s general elections draw closer this year, the  deal signed in 2016  for 36 Dassault Rafales is getting attention in parliament as opposition political parties brawl over the contract they label as a “scam and graft,” while promising to make it an election issue against the present Narendra Modi government. Charges leveled against the government-to-government deal include lack of transparency on details and a cost that is claimed to be much higher than that negotiated in early 2012. That year, the Rafale emerged as the winner for the Indian Air Force’s 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft program. Negotiations by congress were not taken further due to unresolved issues on the transfer of technology and offsets between Dassault and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. The flyaway costs of the aircraft being supplied by Dassault Aviation now are less than those negotiated six years ago but, “the Mete...

by  Neelam Mathews  - July 27, 2018, 10:50 AM Indian budget airlines IndiGo and GoAir have proactively grounded eight Airbus A320neos following boroscope checks of the combustion chambers in their Pratt & Whitney PW1100G geared turbofans. The groundings follow earlier AOG events involving GTFs, in which combustion chamber linings developed unanticipated hot spots, reducing their service life. The problem with combustor lining degradation appears specific to India, where particulates in the air had also affected the PW1100G’s predecessor, the IAE V2500. “Only India is experiencing AOGs due to combustor liner configuration,” said a Pratt & Whitney spokesperson. “We work closely with [IndiGo and GoAir] to support their fleet with the latest configuration engine, which includes the improved combustor liner. “Engine removals are being planned and coordinated with the airlines in India as we continue to successfully retrofit the fleet with the latest-confi...