Bharat Rakshak

What I said was that when Germany suggested that NATO rent An-124s, many NATO members and a couple others readily joined the scheme for it made sense and was cost effective.

They then renewed SALIS (the An-124 rental agreement) and SAC (the C-17 purchase scheme) is now running in parallel to it instead of having replaced it.

In order for SAC to be formed, the US, which itself, had no need for SAC, had to join it

My only point was that the C-17 is very expensive to buy and very expensive to operate, even if operating this aircraft inside a pool of users.

When you say 'many NATO members', what you really mean is 'the A400M consortium'

SAC & SALIS: Hungary, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden, Finland (7)
SAC only: Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania, United States (5)
SALIS only (non-A400M partner): Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Portugal, Slovakia (6)
SALIS only (A400M partner): Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Germany, United Kingdom (5)

In any event, let us see what happens to SALIS once the A400M has been delivered. After the A400M consortium has native airlift capability, they won't feel the need to subsidize SALIS and the other countries won't be able to afford to keep it running so it will disappear.

Meanwhile, SAC will still be going strong and likely picking up the SALIS refugees.

What will you say then?

they should ask the quote to be split clearly - flyaway unit cost and cost of support for X years with line item breakdowns.

Long Beach-built Boeing C-17 Globemaster jets owned by the United States, Canada and Qatar are playing an increasing role in operations across war-scarred Libya, including the recent airlift of wounded rebel fighters....

.....A Qatari Air Force C-17 was used in early April to ferry 15 seriously injured fighters from outside the eastern harbour town of Brega, where revolutionaries have been clashing with fighters loyal to longtime Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.....

......The C-17 is likely one of the only heavy-lift jets capable of operating in that country right now, largely because of its ability to land and takeoff on unpaved runways as short as 3,500 feet............

.......The main airport in the capital, Tripoli, remains under the control of Gaddafi, and the tiny one-runway airport in the area of Brega, where the Qatari rescue mission occurred, has been the scene of fierce fighting and is believed damaged......


......However, the mostly flat desert around the small town would be ideal for the C-17, which has operated successfully under similar geographical conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan for years.......

Russians and americans are both making planes for long and both have economies of scale working for them. Yet how come Russian planes less than half the cost. Differential of labour cost can't certainly account for 100s of millions per plane!

India is developing its first civilian aircraft, which would be a 70 to 90-seater plane catering to the regional aviation market, and a feasibility study is currently on, a top scientist said today.

"We are looking at creating a Regional Transport Aircraft (RTA) which would be 70 or a 90-seater. The feasibility study is being carried out now," M R Nayak, Advisor and Chief Scientist at the state-owned National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) said here.

A high-powered committee headed by former Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) G Madhavan Nair has already been set up to guide the project. He said the aircraft would be developed through the public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

Besides NAL which is the nodal agency for the project, the public sector firms participating in the project are HAL, DRDO, ISRP, BEL and ADA, while those in the private sector included HCL, QUEST, Infosys, Mahindras, L&T and Tata Group.

Nayak was speaking at a meeting of Indo-US aviation manufacturers, where Boeing India President Dinesh Keskar said the growing aviation market in the country had greatly enhanced the opportunities for businesses of both countries to collaborate in such projects.

Keskar said India would require 1,150 civilian planes, worth USD 130 billion, over the next two decades, and another USD 30 billion worth of military aircraft, missiles and other aerospace equipment.

The Regional Transport Aircraft (RTA) is being developed to have a range of 800 kilometres, making it conducive for travel within India due to the close proximity of Tier-I and Tier-II cities.

Reports said as many as 400 RTAs were planned to be manufactured with half of them going to the armed forces. NAL was in discussions with global engine manufacturers including Pratt & Whitney of Canada and General Electric of US, and avionics firms like Rockwell Collins and Diehl Aerospace.

Addressing the meet, Aaron Wilkins, Indian representative of US aviation regulator Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), stressed on joint efforts to enhance quality of Indian aviation sector processes and achieve standardisation of Indian equipment.

He said as many as 21 training programmes were being offered on aviation-related technical issues in the country under the US-India Aviation Cooperation Programme.

With fast-paced developments in aviation technology, DGCA was in the process of upgrading its process of certifying the new technologies, A K Saran, Joint Director General of the DGCA, said.

The deal to buy 10 C-17 Globemaster-III aircraft from Boeing of the US is a step closer to being clinched. The finance ministry, after initial objections, has sanctioned the money for the acquisition.

According to sources, after this development, the only formality left is the approval by the Cabinet committee on security, which is expected soon.

+1 to that.

what amazes me is how iran has managed to keep some F-4 phantoms operating ... is there a 2nd hand market from operators like germany disposing off their kit to 'brokers' who sell the plane for the value of its dismantled spares?

or does the US have a secret deal to supply iran with spares in exchange for 'good behaviour' on some fronts?

I dont think its easy to outsource spare or procure it from any where except OEM be it Eastern or Western aircraft or other platforms.

......................

Considering we import 70 % of defence equipment and the way RFI/RFP is going out these days t these problems are here to stay for a long time to come.

The Russians should be happy for India!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What are friends meant for?

+1 to that.

what amazes me is how iran has managed to keep some F-4 phantoms operating ... is there a 2nd hand market from operators like germany disposing off their kit to 'brokers' who sell the plane for the value of its dismantled spares?

or does the US have a secret deal to supply iran with spares in exchange for 'good behaviour' on some fronts?

Defence ministry sources on Thursday said the Globemaster deal, a direct government-to-government contract under the American FMS (foreign military sales) programme, should get the "final nod" from the Cabinet Committee on Security "within this month".

Seemingly exasperated by low-availability/serviceability for years as a consequence of what it has described unofficially as "unpredictable Russian support" and the country's apparent unwillingness to honour after-sales commitments, the Indian Air Force is looking for the first time beyond Russia for long-term maintenance and product support of its fleet of Ilyushin-76 heavy transports and Ilyushin-78M tanker transports at Agra, Chandigarh, Delhi and Nagpur.

In April this year, the IAF broke with tradition and floated a global tender to provide its Il-76/78 fleet "service support to ensure IAF requirements to maintain present airworthiness standards" for a period of five years, extendable to ten. The IAF has been improvising plenty to keep the heavy jets airworthy, but does not believe it can continue to do so without solid support. The Russian OEM, apparently, cannot be relied upon. The IAF has stipulated that bidders need to have the support of the Ilyushin Design Bureau.

According to the tender document, "The primary requirement of the contract is to ensure a minimum serviceability of 70% of number of [aircraft] included in the contract during the currency of contract. Period of contract shall be five years, further extendable for another five years. The vendor is required to meet this requirement by providing all the required maintenance and product support." It further stipulates that, "on any single day the serviceability of each fleet (IL-76 and IL-78) should not fall below 50% of total number of ac included in the contract."

Interestingly, the IAF has offered to pay the winning bidder an incentive if higher serviceability percentage above the minimum specified is achieved during execution of the contract. And they'll be penalised if they fall short of the required mark.

Nine IAF Ilyushins which will be undergoing overhaul and total life extension at the time the contract is expected to be awarded will not be included. An additional unspecified number of Ilyushins has remained grounded indefinitely "for want of spares/aggregates which have become unserviceable or expired their TBO/TTL".

Here's the Full IAF Request for Information.