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A

aksha

Captain
Government concludes contract negotiations for Apache, Chinook choppers
The Indian government has concluded contract negotiations with US aerospace major Boeing for procuring 22
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AH-64E combat and 15 Chinook CH-47F heavy-lift helicopters.

Disclosing this, the IAF chief, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, told a defence magazine in an interview that the process for the final step, that is approval from the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), has now been initiated and that "once accorded, the contracts would be signed".

Notably, all contracts above Rs.1,000 crore (approximately $165 million at the current exchange rate) in value have to be approved by the CCS, which is headed by the prime minister and includes the finance, defence, external affairs and home ministers.

Procedurally, once the ministry of defence (MoD) approves a proposal for forwarding the case to CCS, it has to be seen and signed by the defence minister and then goes to the finance ministry where likewise, the finance minister has to accord his signature. Any observations by the finance Ministry are generally addressed by the MoD before the case is put up to the CCS.

It normally does not take more than a couple of months once a file is moved for CCS approval. And if all goes well which hopefully should ? then the approval should be there in March or April.

The contract then can be signed on ASAP basis within weeks.

According to Air Chief Marshal Raha, all the contracted aircraft should be delivered within five years of the signing; the first one though is within three years.

India will have to pay 15 percent (or whatever is agreed) of the negotiated value at the time of the contract. Payments are then made in accordance with the delivery schedule.

Sources in the MoD indicated that negotiations were also on with Boeing for buying four more P-8I Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance (LRMR) aircraft as per the options clause, and most likely, the contracts for the helicopters as well as P-8Is should be through by mid-2015.

The Indian Navy has already bought eight P-8Is, of which six have been delivered and two are likely to arrive in India over the next few months. All these aircraft are being acquired on the Direct Commercial Sales (DCS) basis although their weapon systems like radars and missiles would be through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route from the US Government.

As for the the Apaches, Boeing`s Vice President for Defence, Space and Security in India Dennis Swanson has pointed out that the Indian Air Force (IAF) will be getting the very latest helicopter ? the AH-64E ? that has recently been delivered to the US Army. This version has 26 modifications over the earlier AH 64-D model.

The exact specifications for the Indian requirement are not known but normally, one in every three Apaches is equipped with Lockheed Martin`s sophisticated Longbow radar to acquire and designate targets for destruction. At present, IAF has very old Soviet vintage Mi-35 combat and Mi-26 heavy lift helicopters. They have done very well but have aged and need replacement with contemporary systems.
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Jeff Head

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
From the aircraft carrier thread, and very important Indian Military News if true:

aksha said:
over dramatized article, but where there is smoke there is fire

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I would not say that this is "over dramatization."

The key question is whether or not it is accurate.

If this is accurate:

Article said:
Nearly 30 of the RD-33MK engines powering the twin-engine MiG-29K aircraft attached to the ‘Black Panther’ squadron have packed up ever since aviation activities got under way from the deck of the refurbished Soviet-era carrier that was inducted into the Indian Navy in Russia in November, 2013.

But its power to take off just in case the arrester wires are missed is suspect. Therefore, the carrier doesn’t operate too far away from the shores.”
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Then it represents a vry srious issue.

Is the source credible? Is the source right? We do not know who the source is and can therefore not gauge it.

Here are some key points.

US Naval jet aircraft for aircraft carriers with twin engines are designed to be able to "bolt" on one engine. That's a part of the design criteria (at least it has been in the past).

Was the Mig-29K designed to do this? There should really not be a question of it being "suspect." If it is not known, then that would be a very serious missed design consideration...I mean a really serious one. Either it was designed to do this or it was not.

I have not heard of any Mig-29K ditches, and if 30 engines have already failed, then I would expect some of them may have failed in such a fashion...we just do not know. I expect if any had been ditched we would know that.

Now, the Mig-29K is the Vikramadityas (and later the Vikrant's) principle weapon. If it's engine is showing to be this problematic, it is a HUGE issue that must be resolved soon.

And not by saying that the Mig-29K is capable of bolting on one engine. That should be a given and represents a drastic, safety consideration to save the aircraft and the pilot in the rare event of an engine failing while landing. It cannot be considered a normal way of operating. If they have this severe a problem with those engines, they have to fix them...and I expect they will.

All of this presumes that this source is reporting reliable information.
 
A

A Bar Brother

Junior Member
Jeff Head said:
All of this presumes that this source is reporting reliable information.
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The article is rubbish. The navy won't wait until all their engines fail. There should have been some crashes along the way anyway. Most articles that go against common sense should be treated as rubbish.

Just another anti-Russia article. No different from the string of anti-French articles over the last few weeks.
 
Jeff Head

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
A Bar Brother said:
The article is rubbish. The navy won't wait until all their engines fail. There should have been some crashes along the way anyway. Most articles that go against common sense should be treated as rubbish.

Just another anti-Russia article. No different from the string of anti-French articles over the last few weeks.
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Well, I am not going to make the presumption that it is totally rubbish just because I do not happen to believe it. I would caution against such a knee-jerk reaction.

It is a serious allegation and deserves serious scrutiny.

Is the Hindu known for being a "Esquire" type rubbish peddler? I was not aware that it is.

Even then, on occasion, even the Esquire has broken serious news stories, despite its reputation.

So, as I said, such a serious allegation in a major publication MUST be checked out...and then either exposed as rubbish, or exposed for whatever facts it may have included, and then have those addressed.
 
A

A Bar Brother

Junior Member
Jeff Head said:
Well, I am not going to make the presumption that it is totally rubbish just because I do not happen to believe it. I would caution against such a knee-jerk reaction.

It is a serious allegation and deserves serious scrutiny.

Is the Hindu known for being a "Esquire" type rubbish peddler? I was not aware that it is.

Even then, on occasion, even the Esquire has broken serious news stories, despite its reputation.

So, as I said, such a serious allegation in a major publication MUST be checked out...and then either exposed as rubbish, or exposed for whatever facts it may have included, and then have those addressed.
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Generally I would have accepted it if a few engines packed up. But 30 is too much. There's just one squadron on the carrier. ~30 engines is all their operational engines.

The Hindu is generally quite reliable, but I guess it depends on the journalist too. Maybe misreporting the number of engines.
 
Jeff Head

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
A Bar Brother said:
There's just one squadron on the carrier. ~30 engines is all their operational engines.

The Hindu is generally quite reliable, but I guess it depends on the journalist too. Maybe misreporting the number of engines.
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The engines in question may not have only come from the 13 carrier qualified aircraft. There are over 20 total aircraft that have been delivered.

Either way, I too believe the Hindu has been historically fairly reliable, so it adds credence to the report.

It simply needs to be checked out and then addressed one way or the other and certainly not dismissed out of hand.
 
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