Aerospace Diary

by  Neelam Mathews  -  January 4, 2017, 7:35 am India is likely to sign a contract with Airbus Defence and Space for 56   C295 military transports within six months, according to the country's retiring chief of the air staff, Arup Raha. Meanwhile, the Indian Ministry of Defence has cleared the separate acquisition of six   C295 s for an Indian Coast Guard requirement. Both orders will be delivered by the Tata-Airbus partnership that is India’s first-ever private sector aircraft development enterprise. At his end-of-tenure press conference on December 23, Raha told   AIN   that the evaluation of the   C295   bid for the   IAF   is complete and contract negotiations would start soon. “Since benchmarking and other issues [of the aircraft] are known to us, the process will not take very long, especially with a proactive defense minister where things get sorted out faster than they did in the past,” he said. He added that, g...

Neelam Mathews Feb 13, 2013 India’s Center for Military AirWorthiness & Certification (CEMILAC), part of the Defense Research Development Organisation (DRDO), with a primary function to certify military aircraft and airborne systems, that relies on other organisations for testing, has asked for testing facilities. “We need testing infrastructure. Our industry partners do not get slots and as a result, projects are delayed.We are making a request to the government so we can do speedier certification,” P.R Baghel, Group Director, CEMILAC told AerospaceDiary at the international seminar. He refused to comment on the estimated cost for the equipment. Baghel cited the example of Su-30 tyres that had to be taken to China’s Dynometer test facility. " We would like to (start with) an electromagnetic interference ( EMI ) and electromagnetic compatibility ( EMC )  test facility as the tests are important for any electronics certification."

AIN NEWS LIVE FROM AEROINDIA  »  2013 by    NEELAM MATHEWS February 5, 2013, 7:27 AM India’s bid to design and develop its own indigenous civil aircraft is once again under discussion. According to government sources, a new policy decision is expected on the civil aircraft program by February 12. “We would like the model to be a public private partnership [ PPP ] under a special purpose vehicle. We are also looking for a foreign partner,” an official with the country’s National Aerospace Laboratories told   AIN . When queried whether Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd ( HAL ) could handle another program when it is already weighed down by 12 projects he said, “Not all units of HAL  are occupied.” Meanwhile,  NAL ’s twin-turboprop Saras, the first Indian multi-purpose civil aircraft in the light transport aircraft category, is finally set to fly in the next two months. The certification basis for the n...

Neelam Mathews Aug 24, 2012 The first fully modified aircraft for indigenous Airborne Early Warning and Control Systems landed at CABS (Centre for Airborne Systems, Bangalore, a DRDO laboratory) at HAL airport.     The acceptance of the Aircraft was completed over a period of 15 days at Embraer facilities in Brazil by a team from CABS, its work centers, CEMILAC, DGAQA & IAF. “The aircraft ferried with several mission system external components of DRDO including the Active Electronically scanned Array Antenna with passive electronics fitted on the Aircraft,” said a statement. Following integration of the DRDO developed mission system, development flight trials in India will be held in 2013. The contract for the first aircraft delivered by Embraer was signed in 2008. The next aircraft is expected to arrive in December 2012.