Indian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Following the in-principle agreement reached by India and Russia for the production of Russian helicopters in India, both sides are carrying out discussions to work out the details to quickly conclude a deal.

Initially the helicopters will be used to cater to the requirements of the Indian armed forces and only after that will exports happen, Russian embassy officials told The Hindu.

This effectively means that the Utility Helicopter deal which was earlier cancelled as a global tender and changed into “Buy and Make” category under the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) will go the Russian way.

The Russian Deputy Premier Dmitry Rogozin who accompanied the Russian President Vladimir Putin to India on December 11 has said that “the understanding is to assemble 400 advanced Kamov-226T helicopters per year built by Russian Technologies in India”.

No partner has been identified from the Indian side for partnering and as of now it is open to both public and private sector. “Hindustan Aeronautics Limited is a major player but private sector is also part of the negotiations” sources told The Hindu. However embassy officials did not identify those private players. Defence Ministry officials said the details are being worked out.

On the operational front Russian choppers are known for their ruggedness and Indian Armed Forces have been using them for decades which will help in their quick integration. Russian Mi-17 choppers are the mainstay of the Indian Air Force used in diverse roles from search and rescue to VIP transport.

On the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft of which there was no mention in the recent joint statement, embassy officials have said negotiations to sort out the work share are going on and an agreement is likely as early as January.

Russian officials said that Russia is open for equal work share but stated that “Russia has problems with the Indian demand. If India has the ability to provide certain design knowhow and technologies we are open for equal work. But this may not be so as seen with the case of Light Combat Program (LCA) and the aircraft under development is a Fifth Generation program.”

On the new line of submarines under Project-75I, Russia is open to technology transfer and joint production of diesel-electric submarines. India has submitted its requirements and the Russian side responded with attractive options, sources said.

Russian officials felt that, for advanced defence equipment, India and Russia should reach a governmental agreement under the Inter-Governmental framework on similar lines that India has with the US.

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INDIAN RAFALE HITS STORM FRONT ONCE AGAIN
2014/12/21

In the beginning of this month we at Airheadsfly.com were hopeful the Indian-French deal on the Dassault Rafale would move forward, but it seems that once again the great looking fighter jet hit a storm front.

“The newly-appointed Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and a top official of his ministry are determined to block the deal till the ministry’s demands are accepted by the French side,” Indian media including the New Indian Express report on 21 December.

While the Indian Air Force is eager to get its hands on the prime fighter, France is reluctant to meet all Indian demands. India wants to buy just 18 planes directly from Dassault and prefers its indigenous Hindustan Aeronautics Limited to manufacture the other 108 Rafales under license in Bangalore.

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Air Force Brat said:

I can remember the old man coming home after hearing that USAF was going to camouflage the C-130s he flew, he was so angry, just P.O.ed to the max. so awesome aluminum work.

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aksha said:

C130 ,excellent and tough plane,
the time it has been in service and the number of airforces it serves is a testimony to its quality and verastility of the aircraft.
the indian airforce bought a few of them and On 20 August 2013, the Indian Air Force performed the highest landing of a C-130J at the Daulat Beg Oldi airstrip in Ladakh at the height of 16614 feet (5065 meters)

i believe one US c130 even took off from a USN aircraft carrier

your dad must have been a proud pilot



the first c130 being made for the IAF
[video=youtube;xx3ckTmjS88]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx3ckTmjS88[/video]

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Painting a grim picture of India’s combat readiness, a Parliamentary panel on Monday dropped a bombshell by revealing that the force levels of the Indian Air Force are down to a mere 25 fighter squadrons. The IAF till recently had maintained it had 32-34 squadrons with about 18 planes each.

But the revelation by the standing committee on defence in a report tabled in Parliament indicates the IAF's traditional air superiority over Pakistan may have been severely diluted.

India requires 45 fighter squadrons to counter a “two-front collusive threat,” but the panel found that the air force has only 25 active fighter units.

"Moreover, 14 of these squadrons are equipped with MiG-21 and MiG – 27 which will retire between 2015- 2024. Thus the strength will be reduced to just 11 squadrons by 2024..our capability has already come down,” the panel said.

It flagged concerns about India’s depleting military capability in the context of tackling a two-front challenge – euphemism for a combined threat from China and Pakistan.

The committee slammed the government for its failure to modernise the armed forces and asked it to take prompt measures to plug crucial gaps.

The panel noted crippling deficiencies in military equipment was fast-eroding India’s capability vis-à-vis its neighbours. The reports enumerated challenges being faced by the military ranging from inadequate number of fighter planes to shortfall of warships, missiles, tanks and even bullet proof jackets.

The panel found the navy had inducted only one submarine during the last 15 years, while it had retired five. “It’s high time that adequate budgetary provisions are made so that deficiencies are mitigated and the country is capable to take on two front challenges,” the panel said.

The panel expressed deep concerns over “critical shortages” of artillery guns and missiles. Dubbing missiles a “very crucial component” in any modern force “with a high deterrent value”, the committee said missiles should be made available to the army in required quantity. The panel was perturbed to learn that bullet-proof vests had not been bought by the defence ministry, “jeopardizing the lives of thousands of soldiers.”

The panel was surprised to note that the government was raising a mountain strike corps but no separate allocation had been made for it. “An amount of 5000 crore has been earmarked for it but it is not over and above the actual budget allocated and the Army has been asked to raise this Corps out of its own budget,” it said.

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aksha said:

well they did try out some modifications, but with IAF becoming more demanding, and the arrival and licence production of the mig21 in the 1970's ,lead to loss of of interest in the aircraft, decay of the experience in HAL

It became so bad that that DRDO's ADA was chosen to design tejas (HAL designed the Marut,even though Kurt Tank (

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) was the head of the designing team ).


the govt of the time played a big role in its demise ,not to mention the IAF.

and Tejas had to be developed from the scratch.

no wonder the indian forums call the 1970's and 1980's as the lost ages in indian aeronautical technology.
(HAL ended up being a screwdriver engineers during that time )

many of them also fear that the Dassault Rafale will have a similar effect on the Tejas that the Mig 21 had on the Marut

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tphuang said:

That's a rather silly concern. IAF has enough money to fund both a foreign fighter jet and a domestic option. If anything, the big issue is that every project goes to HAL, which doesn't create any level of competition. If let's say HAL 1 gets Rafale and HAL 2 gets domestic project, you will a lot more progress in Tejas.

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