Indian Air Force News & Discussion - 15 Dec 2016

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Mar 2019 19:06

c17 ingests a largeish bird on a takeoff roll and shits it out.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 19 Mar 2019 01:09

From IAF pages:

Art gallery.
Note now famous name!!!!

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Galle ... DebGohain/

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 19 Mar 2019 01:12

I wish Group Captain Deb Ghosian paints Wg. Cdr Abhinandan Varthaman shooting down the F-16.

rkhanna · Post by **rkhanna** » 19 Mar 2019 13:14

Met the legendary Canberra pilot of
@IAF_MCC
Air Cmde KK Bhadwar Vir Chakra. Went through his log book. Here is the picture of the summary of the attacks he made in Pakistan during 1965 and 1971 wars. See the last entry of attack on USS Enterprise that was aborted enroute.

https://mobile.twitter.com/Chopsyturvey ... 3774339072

Rakesh · Post by **Rakesh** » 26 Mar 2019 03:05

VIDEO

https://twitter.com/manaman_chhina/stat ... 9342862336 ---> "Pakistan ke Air Force Chief rear cockpit mein fly kar rahe the." Watch Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa's take a quip on PAF Chief 'leading from the front' in PAF fly past on Pak National Day on March 23rd.

suryag · Post by **suryag** » 26 Mar 2019 07:52

Ouch ley liya chief ney tho

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 31 Mar 2019 05:17

https://twitter.com/Parthu_Potluri/stat ... 3838854149 ---> The PAWS family of Missile Warning Systems (MWS/MAWS) from Elbit Systems Ltd's Elisra subsidiary are present on the IAF's fleet of CH-47F(I) Chinooks and AH-64E Apache Guardians, in place of the regular AN/AAR-57 CMWS.

MeshaVishwas · Post by **MeshaVishwas** » 01 Apr 2019 21:07

IAF fighter jets scrambled last night after Pakistan F-16s flew close to border: Sources
https://www.indiatoday.in/amp/india/sto ... 2019-04-01

esommuk · Post by **esommuk** » 01 Apr 2019 22:44

Is this a new strategy by Pakistan to send cheap Chinese drones and we keep on shooting them down with expensive missiles

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 01 Apr 2019 22:54

We have plwbty of cheap R27's acquired for taking them out.

esommuk · Post by **esommuk** » 01 Apr 2019 23:35

Aditya_V wrote:We have plwbty of cheap R27's acquired for taking them out.

You mean we spend $2500 (R27) for this $100 tin can

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 02 Apr 2019 00:13

Some of those drones look cheap but any drone which has range to cross LOC and intrude is not cheap, CH-4 and Win Long cost 4 million of USD each. Falco drone look like in the photo as acquired by PAF for Euro 5 million each.

esommuk · Post by **esommuk** » 02 Apr 2019 02:13

These are cheap 'made in Pakistan' drones regularly flown near borders to spook our air defence

http://satuma.com.pk/

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 02 Apr 2019 02:15

I dont think these even fly let alone the range, the one shot in Gujarat was a pretty sophisticated drone.

esommuk · Post by **esommuk** » 02 Apr 2019 02:18

and these drones use the German OS max 46 FXi engine clones .. pretty basic flown by ground controllers based close to the borders

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96ZYW1lXEZs

Rakesh · Post by **Rakesh** » 02 Apr 2019 03:01

From The Print...FWIW....

After Balakot, IAF plans to equip Mirage 2000 aircraft with long-range Meteor missiles
https://theprint.in/defence/after-balak ... es/214587/

Rakesh · Post by **Rakesh** » 02 Apr 2019 03:02

IAF Talks Missiles, To Leverage MTCR Membership To Arm Its Mirage 2000 Aircraft With ‘Meteors’
https://swarajyamag.com/insta/iaf-talks ... th-meteors

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 02 Apr 2019 03:26

There are no MTCR restrictions on missiles less than 300km in range. So the Meteor is not affected.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 02 Apr 2019 03:32

Rakesh wrote:From The Print...FWIW....

After Balakot, IAF plans to equip Mirage 2000 aircraft with long-range Meteor missiles
https://theprint.in/defence/after-balak ... es/214587/

See this import hankering wont help. Look at inducting the Astra soon in large numbers.
Next get Astra Mk2 kicked off.
And the SFDR based energy all the way AAM.
or else next crisis all the Meteors will get used up in sorties without being fired.

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 02 Apr 2019 03:40

I'm not sure the Frenchies will play ball with integrating the Meteor with M2k since they are hankering for more Rafale orders. Will not be trivial or cheap in any case. They are even less likely to help in integrating Astra, since that is a more direct competitor to MICA-EM and will stop further MICA orders.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 02 Apr 2019 08:01

Cheaper low flying drones were shot in ganganagar by army aa guns

Anything needing a iaf intervention is a costly high flier like ch4

Vivek K · Post by **Vivek K** » 02 Apr 2019 08:28

Agree with Ramana! Stop these wild goose chases! Build your own and develop solid tacticz and local talent.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 02 Apr 2019 09:19

Singha wrote:Cheaper low flying drones were shot in ganganagar by army aa guns

Anything needing a iaf intervention is a costly high flier like ch4

The imported drones are probably pretty easy to jam their comms. The low flying ones can probably be targeted with a DRDO developed maser DEW.

Bhaskar_T · Post by **Bhaskar_T** » 03 Apr 2019 09:46

A company having significant percentage of it's turnover as unpaid is not a good sign. I thought customer (IAF) and contractor (HAL) sign purchase-order or sales-agreement first, then customer pays sufficient (50% upfront?) money in advance for contractor to initiate the product/service-delivery and upon completion of product/service-delivery, customer pays the rest to the contractor. However, below gives a feeling (poor reporting?) that IAF is slow in paying.

Gurus - Is this delayed payment slow paperwork or lack of funds despite being allocated or poor allocation of money made available to IAF or combination of these reasons?

HAL posts record Rs 19,400 crore turnover, IAF still to pay bills
https://wap.business-standard.com/artic ... 020_1.html

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), which has faced concerted criticism over the past year from both the defence ministry and the Indian Air Force (IAF), has announced a record turnover of over Rs 19,400 crore (provisional and unaudited) for the financial year that ended March 31.

This amounts to 6 per cent revenue growth over the previous year’s turnover of Rs 18,284 crore.

That comfortably beat the revenue growth of 3.8 per cent during 2017-18.

However, the IAF still owes HAL about Rs 20,000 crore in unpaid dues for aircraft delivered and overhauled and for milestone payments due, Business Standard has learnt.

In January, HAL had to take a bank loan of Rs 781 crore to pay salaries to its 29,000 employees.

At the time, HAL Chairman R Madhavan had told Business Standard: “The IAF owes HAL money for aircraft, helicopters and services that we have already delivered. Current dues are at Rs 15,700 crore and will rise to Rs 20,000 crore by March 31.” Madhavan’s projection has turned out to be accurate.

On Monday, a HAL statement said: “In FY18-19, HAL has produced 41 new aircraft/helicopters and 98 new engines and has carried out overhaul of 213 aircraft/helicopters and 540 engines.”

HAL sources say they built 11 Sukhoi-30MKI and seven Tejas fighters in the year just gone by, as well as five Dornier-228 aircraft, three Cheetal light helicopters and 15 Dhruv advanced light helicopters, totalling 41 aircraft.

HAL has overhauled 15 Sukhoi-30MKI (up from 11 the previous year) and several Mirage 2000 and Jaguar fighters, Kiran trainers and a large number of helicopters.

Amongst the research and development (R&D) projects under way in HAL are the Tejas Mark 1A fighter. HAL is also claiming a breakthrough with the HTT-40 basic trainer aircraft, which it expects to certify this year.

“HAL’s R&D projects are on track and are tailor made for the requirement of the armed forces,” the company said on Monday.

HAL said it “expects continued ‘excellent’ MoU rating for the FY18-19 from government of India for meeting all the relevant parameters related to its performance.”

Senior HAL executives say that more than an ‘excellent’ rating, the company requires cash to meet its monthly running expenditure of Rs 1,300-1,400 crore.

Traditionally, cash-rich HAL has, over the past five years, transferred Rs 11,024 crore to the government.

This included Rs 6,393 crore to the government in an “equity buy back scheme. HAL made this payment in two tranches — Rs 5,265 crore in 2015-16 and Rs 1,128 crore in 2017-18.

During this period, HAL also paid the government dividend and taxes worth Rs 4,631 crore: Rs 1,041 crore for 2013-14; Rs 576 crore for 2014-15; Rs 755 crore for 2015-16; Rs 963 crore for 2016-17; and Rs 1,295 crore for 2017-18.

Masked by the healthy turnover, HAL executives are worried about the impending closure of one of its most lucrative lines — the production of Sukhoi-30MKIs at Nashik. Two years down the line, HAL would have delivered all of the 222 Sukhoi-30MKI fighters that are on order, with no production to replace the Rs 4,000-5,000 crore HAL makes annually from building about a dozen fighters.

JayS · Post by **JayS** » 03 Apr 2019 09:56

Bhaskar_T wrote:A company having significant percentage of it's turnover as unpaid is not a good sign. I thought customer (IAF) and contractor (HAL) sign purchase-order or sales-agreement first, then customer pays sufficient (50% upfront?) money in advance for contractor to initiate the product/service-delivery and upon completion of product/service-delivery, customer pays the rest to the contractor. However, below gives a feeling (poor reporting?) that IAF is slow in paying.

Gurus - Is this delayed payment slow paperwork or lack of funds despite being allocated or poor allocation of money made available to IAF or combination of these reasons?

I don't know the exact reason as a matter of fact, but I am highly skeptical that its in IAF's hand to clear the dues. Its MoD babus who would be handling this work. Its likely that MoF is throttling the money to balance its own sheet.

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 03 Apr 2019 10:11

I have a feeling the Govt cut down on expenses to present a better financial year FY 18-19. Remember Govt's accounts are all cash basis, UPA did the same, Disbursements will be happening from this week.

MeshaVishwas · Post by **MeshaVishwas** » 04 Apr 2019 10:18

Short of fighter planes, IAF eyes 21 MiG-29 jets and air-defence aircraft
https://m.hindustantimes.com/india-news ... O_amp.html

“The airframes are ready and Russia has promised to deliver all 21 fighters within 18 months,” the senior IAF official who asked not to be named said.

“The air-frames are ready and available in Russia.”

The 21 MiG -29 are upgraded with a more effective radar system, controls, and avionics systems, dorsal and wing tanks, and air-to-air refueling making the aircraft 4.5 generation fighters — the ones that first appeared on the scene between 1990 and 2000. It costs Rs 285-300 crore per fighter. “The price is extremely competitive,” another senior defence ministry official said. “The endurance of the aircraft is now nearly 5 hours with the additional fuel tanks.”

“We do not need to set up a fresh facility to maintain the fighters. In addition, the Ozar facility has ensured that at least 75% of the fleet is always available for operational deployment,” the second official said.

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 04 Apr 2019 11:42

^^I hope the deal is pushed through quickly. The IAF could certainly use them.

The promise of delivering the fighters withing 18 months needs to be taken with a bucket of salt however, considering it is the Russians who are making this promise.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 04 Apr 2019 12:37

mig29upg would be a good QRT asset, to supplement the existing upg and Tejas mk1.

will permit retirement more quickly of the Mig21/Mig27 leftovers.

mody · Post by **mody** » 04 Apr 2019 15:47

The Mig-29 offer should be taken up. Will add another squadron of Mig-29s upgraded to latest spec. Don't know what they mean by the airframes are ready. Does it mean that partially built airframes are ready or it means upgrade of reserve Mig-29s from Russian inventory. I hope its the former.

Post election, if Modi Sarkar come back to power, they should sign up for an additional 18 Rafael as well, plus adding an additional 16 Tejas MK1 and 18 MK1A to the orders.

This way by 2022, we could have the following:
1). 12 Squadrons for Su-30MKI. (The current pending order would be completed)
2). 4 Squadrons of Mig-29UPG
3). 4 Squadrons of Mig-21 Bison
4). 3 Squadrons of M2K-UPG
5). 2 Squadrons of Rafael (plus 1 more on order)
6). 6 Squadrons of Jaguar DARIN II/III
7). 3 Squadrons MK1 (assuming they order 1 additional squadron)

2 Squadrons of Mig-27UPG and 2 Squadrons of Mig-21 Bison would have been retired.
That would still give us 34 squadrons, plus qualitatively a big upgrade from where we are today. Plus an order for 18 Rafael and hopefully 91 single seat Tejas MK1A would be pending.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 04 Apr 2019 15:52

83 Tejas Mk1A order should be inked asap now that new FY has started.

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 04 Apr 2019 15:55

There are aldready 272 (-8 attrition) Su-30 MKI + 18 more MKIs will be delivered by next year. Why 272 Aircraft will make only 12 squadrons? Each one of these Birds bring a lot of capability. I don't see more than 18 to a squadron.

Wiki still has MiG-21Bis for Squadron 21 and MiG-27ML for Squadron 22, have these Squadrons been number plated like many other squadrons?

DrRatnadip · Post by **DrRatnadip** » 04 Apr 2019 18:57

https://m.timesofindia.com/india/2-iaf- ... 724410.cms

Tragic loss of IAF officers in tragic accident outside Awantipora AFB..

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 04 Apr 2019 19:01

Singha wrote:mig29upg would be a good QRT asset, to supplement the existing upg and Tejas mk1.

will permit retirement more quickly of the Mig21/Mig27 leftovers.

Especially with the fact we have D-29 up and running. With addition of Astra, RVV-SD, RVV-MD, this will be one superbly lethal aircraft in the close in and even BVR fights.
That hunchbacked look our SMTs have make them look cool too.

The original MiG-29 was a classic cobra, these ones are more like dangerous brawlers.

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 04 Apr 2019 19:02

DrRatnadip wrote:https://m.timesofindia.com/india/2-iaf- ... 724410.cms

Tragic loss of IAF officers in tragic accident outside Awantipora AFB..

The IAF really needs to ramp up base security across all bases. Civilian traffic needs to be screened several times over. While this may have been a genuine accident, we simply cannot afford to take any chances, especially with the kind of politicians J&K has.

mmasand · Post by **mmasand** » 04 Apr 2019 20:16

Karan M wrote:
DrRatnadip wrote:https://m.timesofindia.com/india/2-iaf- ... 724410.cms

Tragic loss of IAF officers in tragic accident outside Awantipora AFB..
The IAF really needs to ramp up base security across all bases. Civilian traffic needs to be screened several times over. While this may have been a genuine accident, we simply cannot afford to take any chances, especially with the kind of politicians J&K has.

Saar, every 5th person on the street in the valley is in uniform. The local police is inept and cannot be blamed as they are poorly paid and trained. Every time I'm in the valley, I am reminded of several instances where our jawans often say that we need eyes on the back of our head, we face enemies from both directions.

Rakesh · Post by **Rakesh** » 05 Apr 2019 01:01

Aditya_V wrote:There are aldready 272 (-8 attrition) Su-30 MKI + 18 more MKIs will be delivered by next year. Why 272 Aircraft will make only 12 squadrons? Each one of these Birds bring a lot of capability. I don't see more than 18 to a squadron.

Wiki still has MiG-21Bis for Squadron 21 and MiG-27ML for Squadron 22, have these Squadrons been number plated like many other squadrons?

18 is the rule of thumb for each IAF fixed-wing, combat squadron. However that number varies depending upon a number of factors.

As per the IAF, there are a planned total of 13.5 Su-30MKI squadrons from the 272-aircraft order. The 0.5 sqn is for units like TACDE.

I am not sure about No 21 Squadron, but with regards to No 22 Squadron....it should have been number plated. The MiG-27ML has been retired from active service. Only two units of the MiG-27UPG remain.

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 05 Apr 2019 01:05

I did not understand why we left some Bis squadrons un-upgraded to Bison standard.

Rakesh · Post by **Rakesh** » 05 Apr 2019 01:14

The youngest MiG-21bis is 32 years old. The bis production ended at HAL in 1987. Those MiG-21 squadrons that remained as bis were probably not worth upgrading. But the question remains, why are they still flying then?

Rakesh · Post by **Rakesh** » 05 Apr 2019 01:21

MeshaVishwas wrote:Short of fighter planes, IAF eyes 21 MiG-29 jets and air-defence aircraft
https://m.hindustantimes.com/india-news ... O_amp.html

GE Season in India. No acquisition of anything will happen till GE is over.