Aerospace Diary

AK Antony defense minister in parliament today Neelam Mathews March 19, 2012 On Basic Trainers and AJTs Following the grounding of HPT-32 aircraft due to flight safety concerns and shifting of basic flying training to Kiran Mk-I/IA aircraft, the syllabus for basic flying training has been reduced, keeping the available resources in mind. However, flying hours have been increased in other stages of flying to ensure wholesome training, said AK Antony defense minister in parliament today. “A proposal is being progressed for the procurement of 75 Basic Trainer Aircraft from Pilatus Aircraft Limited, Switzerland….….The delivery of the basic trainer aircraft from M/s Pilatus Aircraft Limited, Switzerland is scheduled to commence 15 months from signing of the contract. “There has been no delay in acquiring Advanced Jet Trainers (AJTs). The Hawk-132 Advanced Jet Trainer has been selected for the Indian Air Force. A total of 106 Advanced Jet Trainer aircraft are being inducted into the In...

Neelam Mathews May 22, 2011 Time: 9:40pm IST   Commercial Bids for the 75 basic trainer aircraft for the Indian Air Force were opened late last week. It is expected the contract will be awarded- given all things move smoothly- by July.   India has been anxious to make a procurement decision on the much needed trainers to replace its ageing fleet of over 100 HPT-32 (Hindustan Piston Trainers) that have suffered a spurt of crashes, leaving India to depend on its second line of limited trainers. The final contenders are Beechcraft T-6C military trainer, Pilatus PC-7 and Korea Aerospace KT-1.   The IAF requires its trainers to have a synthetic cockpit, no head on display and a service life of 12,000 hours.   The Basic Trainer RFP comes with a 30% offsets clause.    An additional 106 aircraft may be added. They will be manufactured by government-owned defense manufacturer, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) through technology transfer.    

Asian Defence and Diplomacy Neelam Mathews March 2011 Indian Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik addressing a press conference in Bengaluru at Aero India summed up the India Air Force plans for increasing numbers, replacement and capabilities upgrade under what he termed as “four pillars.” These include ‘See’ (surveillance through satellites and Airborne Early Warning Systems), ‘Reach’ (air-to-air refuelling), ‘Hit’ (air-to-surface missiles) and ‘Protection’ (protection of these assets with surface-toair missiles). The Indian Air Force has repeatedly voiced concerns on the depletion of its squadrons with the shortage of aircraft in the fleet expected to last through till 2014. Naik created a flutter when he said the mother of all contracts, the 126 Medium Multi Range Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) order would be announced by September this year. The six contenders for the MMRCA programme include the MiG-35 from Russia, the Lockheed Martin F-16IN and Boeing F/A-18E/F fr...

February 2011 Neelam Mathews Indian Air Force (IAF), the fourth largest in the world, is striving to match the pace of its modernization in step with India’s changing status in the global economic and security environment. With an escalating need for India to project force beyond its troubled borders, the challenge for the IAF is to augment its reach and maintain its technological qualitative edge. In parallel with this commitment to qualitative measures of air power, the IAF also remains wedded to quantitative measures of strength. The IAF wants both numbers and quality. Under implementation, the Long Term Integrated Perspective Plan (LTIPP) 2002-2017 seeks to acquire cutting edge technology, weapon systems and platforms. In a candid statement, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal P.V. Naik said: “50 percent of equipment - including fighters, transport aircraft and air defence weapons - was obsolete, making the pressure to procure at a faster pace, more imminent.” Lined up f...