Indian Air Force : News, Pics and Discussion thread

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India leading in digital avionics, says expert

>We have bridged the gap between quality of products in other countries and in India, DRDO official
>"Miniaturisation is only area where we still have to work"
>We have to translate the R & D into main products, says Dr. Saraswat

VELLORE: "Indian avionics is headed for good times and we are becoming self-reliant in the field with 70 to 80 per cent indigenisation in aerospace systems," said Vijay Kumar Saraswat, Chief Controller (R & D), distinguished scientist and Programme Director of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Hyderabad.

Dr. Saraswat said India was leading in digital avionics, while also developed fibre optic systems. About 20 to 25 major industries in the private sector were able to manufacture digital components for aviation equipment.

"As a result, fly-by-wire control systems are being used today in missiles and launcher vehicles, which we need no longer import. We have bridged the gap between the quality of the products available in other countries and in India." Miniaturisation is the only area where we still have to work. It is cost intensive.

Miniaturisation can be done only through micro and nano systems," he said, adding, that the Indian Government has made financial provisions for the same.

Dr. Saraswat said that a large number of our private industries, which were manufacturing components, had graduated into sub-system manufacturing recently Asked about the contribution of academic institutions to the indigenous development of avionics, he said, "We have produced some of the best aeronautic engineers and experts who have contributed not only to India but also to the development of avionics in several other countries such as Germany. We have 15 national institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institute of Science and the National Institutes of Technology, and many of these institutions have done excellent work in the design and development of sub-systems. We have to translate the R & D into main products," he noted. Earlier speaking at the seminar organised by the School of Mechanical and Building Sciences (SMBS) of the VIT, Dr. Saraswat stressed the need for bringing down the cost of launcher vehicles.

www.hindu.com...

In the first ever direct military sales offer, US aviation giant Boeing has put in its bid to sell Indian Navy eight long range maritime reconissance and anti-submarine aircraft P-8A and also invited India to be its development partner.

"A high level company team today submitted its proposal to develop and deliver which is currently under development for the US navy," Rick Buck programme manager told newsmen here.

So far, US companies have been only making military sales to India on government to government basis and Buck said that the proposed offer for sale of P-8A would be a direct military sale."The proposed aircraft which is expected to undergo first tests in 2009 for the US navy would provide India with futuristic technology and significantly improved maritime patrol and reconissance capability", the Boeing official said.

Boeing is second major company to respond the Requests for Proposals (RFP) floated by the Navy in December. Besides Boeing, the offer has gone to Lockheed Martin, French Dassault and ATR company, BAe, Brazilian Embraer, Russian Illuyshin and Tupolov and Alenia Aeronautica.

On offer of technical partnership to Indian navy, Buck said "US navy, the prime contractor for the P-8A programme, were looking for development partners for the project. He said Boeing's proposal includes the development of Indian Navy's need-centric P-8A configuration, significant participation for Indian industry, test and certification activities and eight aircraft to be delivered over a four year period.

Full Article >>

If the P-8 enters the fray, then its bye bye for the Nimrod MRA 4 and the other Russian vintages...

For more details on the MPA contest >> www.abovetopsecret.com...&singlepost=2107414

Although I personally very much doubt that India will buy the Nimrod, I don't see how the P-8 appearing in the competiton would automatically make it the loser?

As far as I have seen the Nimrod holds some advantages over the P-8 (ie four engines, larger bomb bay, superior loiter, for three).


Wouldn't anyone rather have this than a weedy looking 737?




[edit on 14-4-2006 by waynos]

[edit on 14-4-2006 by waynos]

I love the headlights in the wing. One mean looking machine

Who can intoduce the developmental background of LCA to me?

i can honestly say that Stealth Spy HATES anything that is British or even European.

No, he likes French. Maybe he has a bit of post imperial resentment? Being British we wouldn't know what that feels like

[edit on 14-4-2006 by waynos]

Is it just me or does anyone else feel like the US is driving itself into another potential 1979 Iran situation? I know its important and fun to be “buddy-buddy” with an emerging power in the region but I don't know how we can have no reservations about offering them advanced military tech. Their relationship with the Russians isn’t making me feel great either. Maybe I'm being unfair but I don’t have too much confidence in their technology transfer regulation and in their ability to keep secret tech out of unwanted hands. Can we also be so sure that India will always comply with our actions? I don't won't our systems to be use against us.

^^ Oye!!!
Now we limit (and exercise) that resentment to one day cricket
SS likes the Jaguars I think.. Or are you saying that its only the Dassault part he holds fondness for? ..

C'mon guys.. cut him some slack..

Originally posted by Harlequin
i can honestly say that Stealth Spy HATES anything that is British or even European.

please dont get me wrong harlleqy, i have no hate for Britian or Europe. Nor the Nimrod for that matter.

That i prefer the Rafale to the Typhoon as a matter of personal choice is no secret with you, but really i have nothing to hate about Britian, let alone Europe. You wont find any "imperial resentment" here as well. I have great regard for the English language and your cricket team as well . I mean it, i really do! I'll even stick my neck out to say that India was rather lucky to be in British hands for the period it was in, rather than, in French or Dutch hands for example as might have well been the case.

However, IMHO comparing Nimrod to the P-8 is like comapirng the F-15 with the F-22. The latter in both cases seems a generation ahead. And please dont extend this into far fetched generalizations aswell.

All is well. Cheers

[edit on 14/4/06 by Stealth Spy]

Originally posted by WestPoint23
Is it just me or does anyone else feel like the US is driving itself into another potential 1979 Iran situation? I know its important and fun to be “buddy-buddy” with an emerging power in the region but I don't know how we can have no reservations about offering them advanced military tech. Their relationship with the Russians isn’t making me feel great either. Maybe I'm being unfair but I don’t have too much confidence in their technology transfer regulation and in their ability to keep secret tech out of unwanted hands. Can we also be so sure that India will always comply with our actions? I don't won't our systems to be use against us.

Quite ironically, concerns of this nature have been expressed more by India towards the US than vice versa!

The history of the US foreign policy and its changing colours added to the last time in 1998-'99 when India got its finger burnt at the hands of the "big brother" with embargos and sanctions has left more than a handful of people here worried about Americas trustworthyness as a stable partner.

Additionally, the US is not offering India these technologies and weapons for free as some sort of "aid package" but are being paid for at rates that one might be justified for terming as unjustified. Similar stuff is also on offer from Russia and several European entities.

Lastly, it is the US which seems over enthusiastic to sell its weaponry to India while the antogonastic term is more apt for the reciprocative reaction.

SS, Daedalus, I was only joking you know (SS Daedalus, wasn't that a ship? )

I know you prefer the Rafale, ss, and I don't have any issues with that at all, I really like the plane too. I just leap in when I see you posting derogatory stuff I feel to be incorrect, speaking of which;

IMHO comparing Nimrod to the P-8 is like comapirng the F-15 with the F-22. The latter in both cases seems a generation ahead.

the 'IMHO' is duly noted, but WHY? One of them is a maritime patrol aircraft based on an old airliner design from many years ago and the other one is the Nimrod, which is the same. you see what I did there?

No, really, why do you think this? actually more of the Nimrod MRA4 is all new and unique to it than is new and unique to the P-8 which is a modified 737 airframe with no major aerodynamic changes.

I know the P-8 is going to be a great aircraft and will serve the USN very well indeed, I'm not knocking it, incidentally.

Additionally, the US is not offering India these technologies and weapons for free as some sort of "aid package" but are being paid for at rates that one might be justified for terming as unjustified. Similar stuff is also on offer from Russia and several European entities.

I didn’t say they were, my point is that no matter how much is offered to purchase our systems we should not sell them, National Security should always come before Boeing’s profits. Europe and Russia as far as I’m concerned can offer them anything they want, it does not mean the US has to.

Lastly, it is the US which seems over enthusiastic to sell its weaponry to India while the antogonastic term is more apt for the reciprocative reaction.

Yes we do seem a bit eager. I wonder why? Perhaps short term geopolitical goals are being put in front of long term security and military dominance? It wouldn't be the first time.

India to seek larger interaction with Chinese armed forces

ARUN DHAR AND SUJIT CHATTERJEE NEW DELHI, APR 14 (PTI)
Proposing new initiatives to build further confidence in ties, India is seeking larger interaction with the Chinese armed forces by scaling-up the level of joint exercises and training programmes.

"My efforts will be to have much larger participation in joint military exercises, more exchange of visits by armed forces personnel and an expanded mutual training programme," Pranab Mukherjee, who embarks on his first visit as Defence Minister to China early next month, told PTI today.

Though India and Chinese navies have held two rounds of joint naval manoeuvres of substantive content, the interaction between the ground forces has been confined to border bonhomie meetings and mountaineering expeditions. There has been no no air force to air force contact.

Now apparently, Mukherjee wants to break the ice by proposing greater military-to military interaction, even as top emissaries continue to sit across to resolve the boundary dispute across the Himalayan frontier.

"We have developed relationship with China politically, economically and commercially....These all-round developments, I think, should also be reflected in defence cooperation," Mukherjee said.

Observing that the two countries have taken "good initiatives" in developing confidence building measures along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), Mukherjee said "their (China's) admission of Sikkim as an integral part of India is a major development, which the Chinese Prime Minister made during his visit to India in April last year. "In that context, my efforts would be to expand this (India-China) relationship in defence cooperation by larger participation in joint exercises, exchange of visits (by armed forces officers) and training and defence-related activities. I would like to build-up closer cooperation with China," Mukherjee said.

Source

Your views on this CW?
And anything more on that prototype test flight of th FC-01 end of this month?
First op unit to be delivered in 2007 aye? Optimistic..but commendable if true.

Originally posted by Daedalus3
Your views on this CW?

Well i posted that article for speculation. But getting closer to america and china?. America might be disappointed to learn that its not full heartly into america.

But i am waiting for the MRCA tender to finish before i make further speculation

And anything more on that prototype test flight of th FC-01 end of this month?

When the peoples daily is publishing information on this its difinatly true

Peoples daily

Its suppose to finish taxing by the end of the week and has already finished engine testing on the ground. Its basically the same airframe but with a few aerodynamic ajustments which would already have been conpenstated by the FBW

First op unit to be delivered in 2007 aye? Optimistic..but commendable if true.

The production centres are already built in chengdu which has a lot of spare capacity since its stopped building J-7s in big numbers.

The JF-17 was originally meant to have started low-level production sometime in 2005 but was changed since it went into a re-design so 2007 doesn't seem ike a hard target

[edit on 15-4-2006 by chinawhite]

Actually i believe the MR4A Nimrod is more advanced than the P-8 - airframe design or not

this is what I am waiting for SS to answer, in what way he believes the P-8 to be 'a generation' more advanced when both types are merely prototypes at the moment.

I'm sorry but I have to digress form the topic very briefly;

Originally posted by WestPoint23
my point is that no matter how much is offered to purchase our systems we should not sell them, National Security should always come before Boeing’s profits.

National Security ? Do you think they are going to launch missiles at the US? You do know that India is exactly halfway round the world in relation to the US, even the Soviets would have had a hard time pulling it off.
With Pakistan, India, China all having nuclear weapons and India having problems with both Pakistan and China, that belt is 'reactive' !
By selling them AWACS and surveillence equipment, IMO there would be greater transperency and thus a lesser chance of a nuclear war !
So you see, it is in the interest of national security or rather global security to prevent nuclear war be it involving the USA or not.
The Russians, the Europeans etc are in essence running some "Gun Fair" down there. Selling anything and everything to who ever is willing to pay in cash. Obviously leaving the USA to deal with the problems of recalcitrant nations and their despotic leaders. So its imperative that we step in and change this situation, in the interest of national security.

Yes we do seem a bit eager. I wonder why? Perhaps short term geopolitical goals are being put in front of long term security and military dominance? It wouldn't be the first time.

I think what we should be wondering is how come the worlds largest democracy and the worlds greatest democracy have been treating each other with so much suspicion ? Is it that they are just too democratic ? Its an irony really. All through the cold war, figting for the cause of democracy all the while one of the largest democracy in the world is cozing up with our greatest enemy!

IMO the problem isnt that we are selling military equipment to them now but why we werent in a position to do so for the past 30 years or so !!

1 billion people of diverse backgrounds and religions participating in an electoral process is an incredible feat to say the least for any nation. How can you compare that to an autocratic Islamic nation?? Sure the Indians wont bend over backwards like our European friends or our Asian friends but ask yourself this, what nation that has fought[actually they didnt fight, but thats another story!] for its independence would be willing to give up its independence to yet another foreign nation ?
Look at this way, if India does become our ally then we would effectively have 1/6th of the worlds populace on our side from this one nation alone ! IMHO it would be worth it.