Aerospace Diary

Neelam Mathews Sept 13, 2013 A reader has written to us saying the delivery of  Air Costa's 3rd Embraer ERJ 170 has delayed plans for launch. Air Costa, we hear, conducted trail runs in Vijayawada airport yesterday. It is awaiting the final NOC for airport slots expected by the of this month. The average fleet age is 4.6 years. DGCA norms mandate regional carriers to have a minimum of 3 aircraft, while scheduled operators must maintain 5 aircraft on their fleet.

AIN DEFENSE PERSPECTIVE  »  APRIL 5, 2013 by    NEELAM MATHEWS April 5, 2013, 12:35 PM The  AgustaWestland deal in India for  AW 101 helicopters  that is being investigated after bribery allegations has prompted the Indian government to re-examine its already delayed defense procurement procedure 2013 ( DPP ). This is now focusing on “indigenization,” which defense minister  A.K.  Antony described recently as the “ultimate solution to the scourge of corruption.” In the interim, until the  DPP  2013 is released, amendments on revised offset guidelines will include preference for Indian suppliers for bids. The clause on application-based software for enterprise resource planning ( ERP ), for which Indian companies already have the skills, will be removed. To encourage system-based software development in civil and defense aerospace, high-end avionics, flight controls, flight control laws and Cat ...

Neelam Mathews March 4, 2013 Defense Queries Answered Today (Verbatim) in Lok Sabha on- HAL- So what’s new? More Excuses? Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has taken up indigenous production of SU-30 MKI fighter aircraft, Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), Advanced Jet Trainer (Hawk), Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT), Advance Light Helicopter (ALH), Light Combat Helicopter (LCH), Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) and Dornier-228 for the defence forces. Dornier-228 program has been as per schedule. There have been some delays in deliveries in respect of production programs of other aircraft. In the initial stages of the projects, delays were due to additional re-work on jigs in Hawk, late receipt of drawings from Russia for Su-30 MKI, integration issues of Integrated Architecture and Display System (IADS) with Shakti engine and other new items in respect of ALH and design and development issues relating to IJT and LCA. The certification of IJT was also delayed due to an accid...

Neelam Mathews Oct 25, 201 India’s quest to acquire man-portable Javelins- anti-tank guided missiles- under the Foreign Military Sales route, is not moving. India has not as yet sent the Letter of Request (LOR) that was to go out in 2010.  U.S secretary of defense Leon Panetta on a visit this year to India had  said the US was committed” to providing the weapon to India.  This came in the background of reports the deal was in jeopardy as the US was cutting down on quantity requested.  Panetta reassured: “We have not cut the quantity... I want to reassure that we are committed to the sale of Javelin to India..."  Panetta did admit there had been bureaucratic delays.” We learn one of the reasons for the delay has been caused as   a  result of a senior executive in the US State Dept who felt the numbers asked for by India were “excessive.”   Now, this  must have our babus smiling. They finally met their match!

Neelam Mathews Washington D.C June 19, 2012 As the requirement to get the additional six C130Js from Lockheed Martin gets imminent, the Indian government  seems to have got embroiled in a mesh that involves crossing its Ts and dotting its Is. Since the lead time for delivery is around three years, the need to make a decision seems all the more urgent. . The heart of the matter may be the contract itself which India holds rigidly close to its heart. Meanwhile though the US has strict laws, it does leave space for flexibility.  Delays like this have already resulted in losing the technology edge that India swears it needs. Aerospace Diary learns an offset program for RFID that was to be executed in India could not be initiated fast enough by BEL and a private company as bureaucratic processes got in the way. With no moves on it for two years, the projected was abandoned since technology had moved on. The cost of entry for the new technology , being too ...

Neelam Mathews April 26, 2012 As I began pondering on the state of the defense offsets policy that was to be released last year and still hasn’t been officially released despite major guidelines worked out and given recently to the media, I was informed by an official “they were ironing out issues on the transfer of technology.” What makes us the way we are, I asked a doyen of the industry much loved by all and very experienced in the ways of the world. He told me calmly in a state of attained nirvana, the vacillating and inconsistent ways of the government would also come to pass. Quoting the Bible, “There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die….. a time to be silent and a time to speak….. Has the time come to speak, one wonders. Or is this a policy paralysis –to borrow from the words of the economic advisor- that will take its own time to heal? Or will we continue to cut a sorry figure against the gaze of the w...