Aerospace Diary

Aerospace Daily & Defense Report March 30, 2010 NEW DELHI —Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems is close to accepting a 26% equity stake in a joint venture with India’s public sector company, Bharat Electronics Ltd., giving speed to the overdue project. The venture is to develop advanced imaging infrared seekers for the Python 5 fifth-generation air-to-air missile.India has ordered 18 Spyder systems that use advanced air-to-air missiles as ground-launched surface-to-air missiles. Besides the Python 5, it has the beyond-visual-range Derby missile, which has an active seeker. BEL says it hopes the joint venture will be sealed within four months. The venture will encourage development of indigenous missile and guidance technologies within India and will enable Rafael to meet offset requirements by transferring technologies and workshare. India restricts foreign equity in defense projects to 26%. This has been a bone of contention among foreign companies that say they are con...

Aerospace Daily & Defense Report March 26, 2010 PROGRAMS NEW DELHI — As field trials for India’s 126-aircraft Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) draw to a close, vendors vying for the program could get the opportunity to revise their pricing. The Saab Gripen is completing its final field trials in Leh, while the Eurofighter is due to start weapons and other equipment tests as part of the third phase of trials in the U.K. and Germany next month. Those trials are scheduled to be completed on April 29. However, this would mean that India will have officially missed the April 28 decision deadline set for the competition. Effectively, this means that vendors can now reprice and revise their bids, since the request for proposals says commercial offers are valid for two years from the date of submission (which was March 28, 2008), and after that date bidding can be reopened for those vendors shortlisted after technical trials and evaluation. The six bidders are Sukhoi’s MiG...

Regulatory/Legislative Aviation Daily Mar 25 , 2010 , p. 12 Neelam Mathews An open-skies agreement among 10 of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations member countries may be signed by their transport ministers at the 16th ASEAN summit in Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam, on April.8. The 10 members of ASEAN (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam), recently adopted a multilateral agreement that seeks to liberalize market access, as well as ownership and control requirements, for air carriers in the region. The agreement is a precursor to an eventual single aviation market arrangement targeted for 2015. Talks on the ASEAN open-skies framework among member countries started in 2003. They included phased plans for liberalizing intra-ASEAN freight and passenger air services. The open-skies pact will liberalize air space among the 10 members to enable regional carriers unlimited flights among capital cities. The...

Aerospace Daily & Defense Report PROGRAMS NEW DELHI — Indian engineering and construction firm Larsen & Toubro has won an order worth $215 million for the design and construction of 36 high-speed interceptor boats for the Indian coast guard, and is in the running for more orders, including the Indian navy’s second line of conventional submarines. Indigenously designed at L&T Marine & Ship Design Division, a part of the $8-billion company’s Heavy Engineering Division, the interceptor boats will have an aluminum-alloy hull construction with water jet propulsion for quick response. The interceptors also can operate effectively in shallow water, which is critical for near-shore action. The Indian navy and coast guard have large requirements for defense vessels and submarines to enhance and replace their aging fleets. L&T has identified shipbuilding as a major thrust area. While the interceptor boats will be constructed at L&T’s existing shipyard at Hazira in the...

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ASIA-PACIFIC Aviation Daily Mar 23 , 2010 , p. 08 Neelam Mathews Air India is sending a technical evaluation team to Dublin as part of its effort to move its European and U.S hub away from Frankfurt Airport in Germany. This follows the visit of its senior management team to Dublin last month. The decision to shift from Frankfurt will be made this summer, according to a senior official. The carrier is also looking at partnering with Ireland’s national carrier Aer Lingus for connecting flights to Europe. The decision of Air India to change its hub was first reported by The DAILY's sister publication, Aviation Week & Space Technology (Feb. 1). Copenhagen is believed to be another contender. Dublin’s new Terminal 2 is due to open in November, and Air India is expected to be one of the first tenants of the Dublin Airports Authority, which is trying to cope with a fall in traffic. “All our decisions need to consider cost effectiveness,” Air India Chairman and Managing Di...

Aerospace Daily & Defense Report March 23, 2010 PROGRAMS NEW DELHI — India plans to test numerous missiles this year, including the Agni, Advanced Air Defense (AAD), Prithvi Air Defense (PAD) anti-ballistic missile and the indigenously developed Shaurya missile, Aviation Week has learned. These follow a successful March 22 test of the Brahmos missile from a vertical launcher fitted on the moving warship INS Ranvir off the Orissa coast in Eastern India. Following the recent success of the 3,500-kilometer Agni-III missile in a test last month, V.K. Saraswat, scientific adviser to the defense minister, says the Agni-V program had moved from the drawing board and material cutting stage to the point of checking subsystems. Testing for Agni-V should be done within a year, he says. Saraswat also is director general of the Defense Research Development Organization (DRDO). The Shaurya, with a range of 750 kilometers and at a price said to be comparable to the Agni, is now awaiting it...