Aerospace Diary

Russia Pitches MiG-35 to India as FGFA Project Falters by  Neelam Mathews  - September 7, 2017, 7:56 AM As the contest to supply a new fighter aircraft to the Indian Air Force (IAF) heats up, the MiG-35 has emerged as a viable candidate. India is supposedly seeking about 220 single-engine fighters to replace 11 squadrons of MiG-21/27s that entered service in the 1990s. Rosoboronexport is believed to have offered a licensed production deal for the twin-engine MiG-35 that would compensate for the IAF’s reluctance to proceed with the Indo-Russian Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) project. At the MAKS 2017 airshow in July, Ilya Tarasenko, director general of Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG, said: “We are actively working with the IAF in order to win the tender.” Russia has committed to a 40-year maintenance and upgrade contract to preclude the support issues that have arisen in the past with Russian aircraft in service wit...

by  Neelam Mathews  -  July 10, 2017, 3:50 AM Honeywell’s “Connected Aircraft” demonstrator reached India last week, after appearing at the Paris Air Show and heading east via Copenhagen, Moscow and Dubai. And while most of the company’s briefings in and around the Boeing 757 testbed have stressed  the advantages to be gained from real-time connectivity  by commercial operators,  and their passengers , the technology has clear military applications. Honeywell invited a large number of senior officials from the Indian Air Force ( IAF ) and Indian Navy ( IN ) on a flight from Delhi on July 4. “ We have had a good response from our aviation customers and we are in talks with Indian carriers for deployment of connected technologies,” said Neelu Khatri, president, aerospace, Honeywell India. However, she refused to comment on the military aspect of the product. But the  IAF  and  IN  are experiencing high  AOG  rates w...

Neelam Mathews AEROSPACE / FEBRUARY 2017 After years of procuring equipment from overseas, the Indian Navy is keen to modernise its capability using its own indigenous platforms. NEELAM MATHEWS reports. As security challenges in the region emerge, India is increasingly focusing on modernisation and capability building of its military. The Indian Navy’s guideline document, ‘Indian Naval Indigenization Plan (INIP) 2015-2030,’ articulates its requirement for advanced systems for its platforms and, while the policy priority is clear that there should be a commitment to maximise indigenous production, it does not underscore the need for quality. LCA v/s Global Fighter Clearly, speed is of the essence as delays in procurement decisions in the past have plagued the growth of upgradation. For instance, the naval single engine, Compound-Delta-Wing, tailless Light Combat Aircraft (LCA Mk2) being designed and developed by the government-Aeronautical Development Agency, along with state def...

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...

Sorry-posting it a bit late! AEROSPACE Mag -UK Rafale deal sealed at last 21 October 2016 In the wake of India's deal to acquire 36 Dassault Rafale fighters,  NEELAM MATHEWS  analyses this key defence procurement. A new dawn for Indian air power? (Dassault Aviation)  Four years after Dassault Aviation’s Rafale was chosen for India’s 126 Medium Multi Role Aircraft, India and France have signed a watered down deal for 36 aircraft valued at €7.87bn. It includes 28 single seaters at €91.7m each and eight twin seaters at €94m each. India has become the third international customer to buy Rafale after Qatar and Egypt. India will receive the first Rafale fighter within 36 months of signing the agreement while the remaining jets will be delivered in the following 30 months. “We have requested them to (deliver it) as fast as possible,” said defence minister Manohar Parrikar. Analysts view this in the backdrop of increased cross border tensions following n...

by  Chris Pocock  and Neelam Mathews  - October 28, 2016, 7:37 AM Embraer has agreed to pay some $205 million to settle corruption charges involving sales of military and civil airplanes to four customers. The agreements with the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Brazil’s Ministério Público Federal (MPF) and the Brazilian Comissão de Valores Mobiliários (CVM) end a six-year graft probe that found that Embraer paid bribes and created false records to conceal illicit payments. But further action could be taken against Embraer in India, concerning the acquisition of three EMB-145 aircraft for conversion to the AWACS role, suggested the Indian defense minister. Three EMB-145 turboprop airliners were converted in India for the AWACS mission. (Photo: Neelam Mathews) This inquiry began in 2010, when U.S. authorities questioned Embraer about “potential no...

by  Neelam Mathews  -  August 3, 2016, 8:35 AM An artist's impression of an Indian Air Force A330MRTT refueling two Mirage 2000 fighters. (Airbus D&S) India has withdrawn the tender for a new air refueling tanker, more than three years after choosing the Airbus   A330   MRTT   in preference to the Ilyushin Il-78 following a second round of bidding. This latest example of indecision on major defense projects, following the saga of the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft ( MMRCA ) program, is creating concern in the international defense industry that India is chronically indecisive. However,   AIN   has learned from a senior Indian Ministry of Defence official that the   A330MRTT procurement may still be concluded, on an intergovernmental basis between Spain and India. Though there has been no official confirmation, Indian media reported that the high price of the   MRTT   is the reason behind the natio...

by  Neelam Mathews  and Chris Pocock  -  April 28, 2016, 7:55 AM Lockheed Martin says that its Persistent Threat Detection Systems (PTDS) aerostats have been operationally proven over Afghanistan and Iraq. (Photo: Lockheed Martin) The Indian Air Force is considering a new purchase of radar-carrying aerostats for air and sea surveillance, especially of low-flying targets. The Indian Ministry of Defense issued a request for information ( RFI ) late last year for a batch of four, six or eight static, mobile or portable aerostat systems, and may soon make a request for proposal, which will include a 30 percent offset clause. The aerostats are likely to be employed in the western and or northern sectors of the Indian sub-continent, an Indian defense official told  AIN . Apart from the U.S., only a handful of countries operate such systems, mostly in the Middle East, although  Singapore is joining their number . The two major suppliers in th...

by  Neelam Mathews   Jan 26, 2016 Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed India’s intention to acquire Rafale fighters from Dassault and military helicopters from Airbus, in talks with President François Hollande. France’s nine-year wait for a contract from India for the Rafale is not quite over, but an inter-government agreement covering acquisition of 36 fighters was signed during President François Hollande’s visit to New Delhi on January 26. Invited by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be the chief guest at India's Republic Day military parade in New Delhi, Hollande also joined the Indian leader in witnessing the confirmation of a previously announced partnership between Mahindra Defence and Airbus Helicopters. The Rafale signing “has effectively transformed the nature of the transaction from a commercial bid to a government to government sale,” Rahul Gangal, partner with consultancy group Roland and Berger, told  AIN . While Dassault Aviation...

by  Neelam Mathews  -  January 6, 2016, 1:34 PM The sole current operator of the US-2 amphibian is the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF). (Photo: Chris Pocock) India's aerospace industry stands to miss out on a production partnership for Japan's ShinMaywa  US -2 amphibian aircraft, according to sources close to the situation. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi last month and stressed “the full potential of an India-Japan strategic and global partnership.” However, a deal proposed  during their previous meeting  in 2014 for final assembly in India of the  US -2 remains unsigned. Indian defense industry sources speaking to  AIN  on condition of anonymity said that the delay might cause the Japanese to turn instead to Indonesia as a production partner. Japan’s Ministry of Defense presented a detailed report on production arrangements for the amphibian in India last year, but ...

 Neelam Mathews   Aug 25, 2015 The FlyEye mini-UAV will be offered to the Indian army by Kadet Defence Systems in partnership with WB Electronics of Poland. (Photo: WB Electronics) An Indian Army requirement for approximately 600 sets of mini- UAV s is attracting interest from various manufacturers, who must partner with Indian companies to comply with the government’s “Make in India” industrial strategy. The Directorate General of Infantry has issued a request for information ( RFI ) that will be followed by a request for proposals by late 2016. Indian companies will make the bids. The   OEM s include two Israeli companies: Aeronautics, maker of the Orbiter mini- UAV , and Elbit Systems, maker of the Skylark. Aeronautics' partner is not yet known, while Elbit might team with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd ( HAL ). AeroVironment will   co-develop the Cheel —a version of the Puma—with Dynamatic Technologies. Boeing is with Tata Advanced Systems ...