Indian Air Force : Updates & Discussions

vstol Jockey said:
Nearly every aircraft deal had brought windfall bribes to politicians in India starting from Gnat deal of 1956.
Click to expand...

Using that logic, we are hitting rock bottom in terms of both inventory and a skewed career progression ratio leading to debilitating crunch in the 'experience' for the air force, with people quitting services for greener pastures in private/civil aviation sectors, this should have seen a spur in massive purchases.

vstol Jockey said:
So they ensured that HAL is never able to realise its full potential and remain tooling agents assembling CKDs. HAL has been used as a source of generating bribes for everyone in the set up.
Click to expand...

So, the management at HAL has no responsibility over it's own evolution as an organization?


vstol Jockey said:
The details as emerging from the recent M2K crash actually give a clean chit to HAL as the aircraft had flown six flights safely before being handed over to the user for trials. And those six flights were done by HAL test Pilots who are also Ex-IAF. I do have a few doubts about the crash.
  1. What forced the pilots to delay their ejection.
  2. When did the failure first get detected and did the pilots recognised its consequences well enough?
  3. Highly trained pilots are known to put all their ability in saving the aircraft , especislly test pilots and therefore end up making judgements which are fatal. But this is what their job demands.
  4. Most Trainer aircraft have seats which eject sideways and upwards to avoid collission between two pilots. even the zero zero seats have side ways ejection to avoid pilot from falling back on stationary aircraft on ground.
  5. A good fighter pilot knows when its time to disengage and run for safety in combat and also when to leave a damaged aircraft. It is instictive for us.
  6. I survived two ejections and both were delayed ejections outside the safe ejection limits of the ejection seat as laid down by Martin Baker and suffered serious injuries as a result.
Click to expand...


So, basically, you are privy to the CVR and CoI findings even before either has been harvested and deliberated respectively? Interesting.

What are the details that allow you to emphatically make the pronouncement as highlighted above? Perhaps, you can share them?

And can you explain to everyone for their knowledge and information, what is the role of ASTE? Is it not the nodal agency which undertakes the pre-induction/platform acceptance trials prior to induction of the platform in the IAF, thereby being the nodal agency of flight testing the products of HAL, DRDO et al?

AIRCRAFT AND SYSTEMS TESTING ESTABLISHMENT | Indian Air Force | Government of India

For above points put forth by you:

Point 1: What was the optimal time for ejection? After what time period of equipment failure warning, perhaps, indicating a mechanical/hydraulic/miscellaneous, did the pilots eject and what time they should have? What is the SOP for a warning and actions required for the altitude/air-speed?

Point 2: When you make this point, does it not directly contradict your assertion as highlighted by me above?
 
  • Like
Reactions: randomradio
Govt gives nod to acquire 54 killer drones from Israel for the Indian Air Force

In a major boost for Indian Air Force’s unmanned warfare capability, the Defence Ministry has approved 54 Israeli HAROP attack drones which can crash into high-value enemy military targets to destroy them completely.

The Air Force already has an inventory of around 110 of these drones which have now been renamed as P-4. These are equipped with electro-optical sensors to loiter over high-value military targets such as surveillance bases and radar stations before exploding them.

harop2013.jpg


"A proposal to acquire these 54 attack drones was approved by the Defence Ministry at a high-level meeting last week," defence sources told ANI.

The project is likely to strengthen the capability of the Air Force which is going to showcase the capabilities of the missile during the forthcoming Exercise Vayushakti where the loitering UAV would be shown destroying a simulated enemy radar target, IAF officials said.

India is also discussing the Project Cheetah with the Israelis under which almost all the drones of the three services would be turned into high-quality attack drones and their surveillance capabilities would also be enhanced.


The three forces have a fleet of more than 100 of these unmanned aerial vehicles which have been acquired over the years in different batches.
The forces are also working on developing indigenous combat drones which would be deployed on both the China and Pakistan border once the project is complete.

Americans have been using the combat drones to carry out targeted assassinations of terrorist leaders in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan but the relatively slow unmanned vehicles are not known to be very effective in warfare where the opposition also has a strong air force.

Harop-IAI
 
  • Like
Reactions: Hellfire
Rahul Gandhi’s remark on IAF pilots indicates his mindset, says Smriti Irani

Rahul Gandhi has come with a revolutionary new paradigm for defense. Instead of buying new, modern aircraft for the IAF, just keep them flying the old and crumbling aircraft they already have, die, and then spend the procurement money you've saved on indemnifying their families.

This is a bold vision for a radically new approach to Indian defense. But I'm sure he can do even better! Perhaps just executing the pilots and indemnifying their families by selling their aircraft to Pakistan? That would save even more money!
 
Chandigarh girl is Air Force’s first woman flight engineer
The Indian Air Force today opened a new page in aviation history when Flight Lieutenant Hina Jaiswal from Chandigarh became the first woman flight engineer.

Though women engineers have been serving as ground duty officers, they have not been part of the aircrew. The flight engineers’ branch was opened to women officers in 2018. The IAF has had women pilots, both for fixed-wing aircraft as well as helicopters, for many years.

Commissioned in 2015, Jaiswal is from the 112th Helicopter Unit at Yelahanka airbase, near Bengaluru. She served as a battery commander in a frontline surface-to-air missile squadron before being selected for the six-month flight engineer course.

Jaiswal did her schooling from Chandigarh and then completed her BTech from Panjab University.
As a flight engineer, Jaiswal will be posted to operational helicopter units that undertake flying missions in varied geographical and climatic conditions, ranging from Siachen Glacier to hot deserts and coastal areas.
A flight engineer is a member of the flight crew responsible for monitoring and operating complex aircraft systems.

“The new assignment also brings with it added responsibilities and tougher duties,” said her father DK Jaiswal, who retired in November 2018 as a senior auditor from the office of the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts. The family has been residing in Chandigarh since the 1980s.

“Hina was the first woman officer in the IAF to apply for the flight engineer’s course when she was posted at Jamnagar and this step was well appreciated by her colleagues as well as seniors. The family has stood by her at all times and backed all her decisions,” he added.
Chandigarh girl is Air Force’s first woman flight engineer
 
  • Like
Reactions: R!cK and randomradio
Pretty impressive.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1098188339285504000

Former Vice Chief of Indian Air Force, Air Marshal SB Deo (retd) offers 4 missiles of different types to Indian armed forces. He has personally designed & developed all the missiles. It includes a 297-km strike range cruise missile Vel and stand-off missile Khagantak

Air Marshal SB Deo: This epitomizes Make in India, foreign exchange content is less than 10%. We have 2 glide bombs of different caliber and a light-weight cruise missile with a range of 297 km that carries a small warhead. They could be inducted in less than 6 months.
 
  • Informative
  • Agree
Reactions: TrueSpirit and _Anonymous_
Hangars and blast-proof pens for IAF Sukhoi and Rafale jets far from ready

NEW DELHI: Indian Air Force fighter bases are facing serious issues related to a shortage of hangars and blast pens for the soon-to-arrive Rafale and Sukhoi fighter jets. Fund crunch in the Defence Ministry has almost brought work on new blast pens and hangars to a stop.

The hangars being constructed to house the Rafale, besides the maintenance work of hangars to house Sukhois at the Gwalior Airbase has also slowed down since January this year with just one to 2 per cent of the contracted work for this year completed. Overall, just 40% of the work on Rafale hangars and 30% of Sukhoi related pens have been completed.

Sources said MoD was due to pay about Rs 2,000 crore to the Military Engineering Services (MES) contracted builders by January this year but only Rs 230 crore was released, that too after association members met Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to apprise her on the situation.

President of the MES Builders Association of India (BAI), Praveen Mahana, said, “Till January only 40% work for the Rafale related hangar, approach route and associated work for two new squadrons being done at Ambala in Punjab and Hashimara in West Bengal, were completed."

“The Sukhoi hangars are stuck with just 30-35% work completed,” Mahana said. MES contractors have stopped work as the bill raised against work has not been paid yet.

The MES BAI, a registered body, has been raising the issue of non-payment for various Armed Forces related projects across the country since January 2018.

At the beginning of this year, the association had warned the MoD that it was getting difficult to carry on work due to paucity of funds.

The liability till December 2018 was Rs 1,600 crore.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ashwin
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back