Aerospace Diary

Neelam Mathews  21 September 2017 The government of Vietnam has reaffirmed its intention to sell a 20% stake in Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) in 2018, followed by a further 10.4% divestment in 2020. By then, traffic through Vietnamese airports will exceed 100 million including 82 million domestic passengers, investment management firm VinaCapital calculates. In August 2017, the government included ACV in a list of 406 state-owned enterprises to be partially or fully divested by 2020. ADP Group (formerly Aéroports de Paris) is expected to......Read more in JAR....

Neelam Mathews June 15, 2015 Prme Minister Modi and Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, left, have taken the relationship between his nation and India "out of the closet." India’s thrust in the past year to get a greater slice of the international defense equipment pie has resulted in a host of agreements being signed in the first five months of 2015, under the new Narendra Modi government. The country is aggressively tapping the world for hi-tech equipment. Underscoring India’s aerospace technology plans, Minister of State for Defense Rao Inderjit Singh said the focus is to “open opportunities for innovative minds to exploit the globally evolving spirit of teaming up and pooling resources.” Modi has not been shy of talking openly about relations with Israel, which is a top-three exporter of arms, following India’s establishing of diplomatic relations with the country in the early 1990s (which it kept under wraps due to sensitivities). He will become the fi...

Neelam Mathews April 16, 2015 Following India’s delayed decision on the Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA), a process initiated in 2000, the announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the first day of his trip to France on Apr 13, for an ‘in principle’ clearance for the outright purchase of 36 Rafales in flyaway condition, is being seen as a game changer in the way defense procurement will now be done in India. The buy includes life cycle support and 50% offsets, AerospaceDiary learns While India is expected to exercise its option clause for 18 Rafales in future for outright buys that will take its Rafale squadrons to three, in a recent interview by IBN7 with Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar clearly indicated a desire to produce a single-engine fighter on Make in India basis. According to Parrikar the original deal for 126 is valued at approximately $14.50 billion, which leaves a large amount of money to consider the single-engine fighter. We are guessing it wi...

MARITIME SECURITY 10th April 2015 - 15:39 by  Neelam Mathews  in Delhi  Following a seven-year wait India’s Defence Acquisition Council has cleared the way for production of the Short Range Surface-to-Air Missile (SRSAM) for the Indian Navy. It has opened up the possibility of dialogue between manufacturer  MBDA  and the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) following a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to France and Germany on 9 April. The original project was called ‘Maitri’ and it envisioned development of truck-mounted SRSAMs for the Army to replace Russian Strella SAMs, Indian Air Force OSA-AKMs, and Indian Navy’s OSA-M.  Delay in a decision led to the Army and IAF purchasing indigenous 5.6m long, 25km range ‘Akash’ SAM. The IAF is inducting eight Akash squadrons, and the Army two regiments, of which one will be supplied shortly. Akash failed to meet the Navy’s requirements for the system that includes fire cont...