Aerospace Diary

Posted by- Neelam Mathews         Monday, December 9, 2013 Add caption During the last three years and current year, 35 aircraft/helicopters including 3 MiG-29 aircraft of Indian Air Force have crashed as below: 2010-2011                   -           12 2011-2012                   -           13 (01 MiG-29) 2012-2013                   -           06 2013-2014                   -         ...

Posted by- Neelam Mathews March 18, 2013 Answering a question in Parliament today defense minister said some of the major projects of Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) which are lagging behind schedule are given below:- Project Probable Date of Completion (PDC) Original Revised Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), Phase-ll December 2008 December 2012* Naval Light Combat Aircraft (LCA, Navy) Phase-I March 2010 December 2014 Aero-engine Kaveri December 1996 December 2009# Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) System October 2011 March 2014 Long Range Surface-to-Air Missile (LR-SAM) May 2011 December 2015              *PDC is likely to be extended up to March 2015.                 #PDC has been extended within the sanctioned cost and scope . ...

Neelam Mathews Dec 27, 2012 The ghost of the adage, ‘You scratch my back, I scratch yours,’ continues to flutter in India’s corridors of power. Is it fact, imagination or  just a strange coincidence that the day the two Italian marines held for the killing of two fishermen off Kerala’s coast were allowed to ‘go home for Christmas’  even as two of the 12 ordered VVIPs AW101s flew to India? Wonder if the day will come when all those on bail are permitted to fly to Bangkok or the US to celebrate Diwali or Eid with their families? Suppose they miss their relatives too. Coming back to this issue, what in the blazes happened to defense minister A.K Antony ensuring the bribery- report that emanated in Italy on the procurement of the 12 helicopters was shared with the Indian government before it accepted delivery of the helicopters? Here at AerospaceDiary, we do feel that the government should put its foot down when OEMs create issues to derail procurements when rejected....

News analysis Defence Helicopter By Neelam Mathews, New Delhi Bids for India’s 197-aircraft Reconnaissance and Surveillance Helicopter (RSH) requirement may be in jeopardy, as deferrals to the project have resulted in a cost increase of 45% since 2007, when proposals were first evaluated. The helicopters, which would have cost less than $700 million back then, are now valued at over $1 billion. If delayed by another year, this could go up by 4-5%. Rebidding and delaying the finalisation of contracts is not uncommon in India, where bureaucratic and procedural delays are the norm. This has been readily apparent in the RSH project for the Indian Army and air force, which was first issued in 2003 and then again in 2008. Now on its second iteration, RSH flight  rials were completed in 2010 by the two finalists – Russian Helicopters’ Kamov Ka-226T, powered by the Turbomeca Arrius 2G1, and the Eurocopt...

Posted by- Neelam Mathews Sept 30, 2011-09-30 Defense Minister AK Antony starts his three-day visit to Moscow (Oct 3-5) to co-chair the 11 th meeting of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC) with his Russian counterpart AE Serdyukov.  Antony will be accompanied by an official delegation including the Defense Secretary Shashikant Sharma, Secretary Defense Production Shekhar Aggarwal, Lt Gen MS Buttar, Air Marshal RK Sharma, Vice Admiral NN Kumar, Chief Controller of Research & Development of DRDO Avinash Chander, CMD Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Ashok Nayak and DG Acquisition Vivek Ray. Besides regional and global security issues, the progress of ongoing projects such as Admiral Gorshkov, delivery of frigates and Multi-Role Transport Aircraft will come for discussion at the meeting.  Aspects relating to licensed manufacture and maintenance of T-90 Tanks and Su-30 MKI Aircraft in India, are also in the agenda for discu...