Indian Air Force : News, Pics and Discussion thread

Light Combat Aircraft project to be completed in 2010

The Light Combat Aircraft project will be completed in year 2010 and India will be in a position to start the aircraft's commercial production the same year, project director of the Bangalore-based Aeronautics Development Agency R K Ramanathan has said.

He said that the scientists involved in the execution of the LCA project had succeeded in not only cutting down the weight of the aircraft by 600 kg to bring it at 12 tonnes, but also in bringing down the number of its components from over 30,000 to around 7,000.

Ramanathan said that the LCA being produced indigenously would be suited to India's security needs as also its climate which the imported LCAs were not. The LCA had already undertaken 485 test flights.

Manas Bihari Verma, a former project director of the ADA and friend of President A P J Abdul Kalam, said that India was only next to the US in developing the digital flight system technology.

Full Article >>

I agree about the Gripen, surely it is much too close to the Tejas to be a serious contender. Also, smugness time, remember me telling you about the Tejas not reaching service until 2011 and you telling me I was wrong it was 2008? A simple 'sorry' will do

Originally posted by waynos
I agree about the Gripen, surely it is much too close to the Tejas to be a serious contender. Also, smugness time, remember me telling you about the Tejas not reaching service until 2011 and you telling me I was wrong it was 2008? A simple 'sorry' will do

Never mind. But really, keeping in mind the previous history of ADA with respect to sticking to schedules, 2011 may well be the time the Tejas enters "full rate production".

My apologies about some uncalled for comments on the Typhoon as well. However i still think its not the right choice for India with regard to its cost. The same goes for the Super H and the Rafale. IMHO the Mig-35 (with AESA+3D TVC+Custom avionics&weapons fit) is the best choice.

[edit on 1-2-2006 by Stealth Spy]

Britain will conduct air force and naval exercises with India this year to boost ties between the military establishments of the two countries, British High Commissioner Michael Arthur said here Monday.

"We have an aircraft carrier group coming in May to exercise with the Indian Navy," Arthur told a news conference on the sidelines of the "India-UK Defence Industry Seminar".The Royal Air Force will send its jets for another war game with its Indian counterpart in October, the first such engagement between the two forces even though they share common origins.

"As India emerges as a global player, we have a common interest in working together," the envoy said.Arthur said such military-to-military exchanges would help strengthen bilateral defence ties.

Malcolm Haworth, director of the Defence Export Services Organisation, said there were strong links between the aeronautical sectors of India and Britain. British firms were now in talks with India's navy and air force to supply hi-tech hardware. Haworth indicated Britain was also interested in pitching the Typhoon fighter for India's plans to buy 126 combat jets to refurbish the fighting arm of its air force.

Full Article >>

How I hope there will a few Typhoon and MKI one on one encounters in those exercises.

EDIT:
Excerpt from an interview with an IAF officier :

What future interactions and exercises have been planned or have been suggested by you between the India Air Force and the Royal Air Force?

In the last 50–60 years the IAF and the RAF have not conducted a bilateral air exercise. There have been areas where the two air forces have interacted and shared experiences (Jaguar training in UK and induction of the Jaguar in 1979; presently the Hawk training of pilots and manufacture of the first 24 aircraft is progressing well in UK). In the last few years the defence co-operation between the two air forces has been formalised and regular staff level talks are conducted every year. This has resulted in a number of exchange visits on reciprocal basis beneficial to both the Air Forces. As a logical step ahead, the RAF has proposed an air exercise with the IAF in October/November 2006 to be conducted in India (RAF plan is to field the Tornados, AWACS and Tanker aircraft). The IAF has accepted the RAF proposal and is looking forward to the exercise code named UKINEX'06.

How do you rate the Royal Air Force in terms of its strength?

Notwithstanding the slight amount of downsizing in the RAF, it is known to be a highly professional and a competent air force. They have proved their mettle in a number of operations/campaigns. Their recent performance along with the US in operation Enduring Freedom/Iraqi Freedom have been commendable. The IAF also considers RAF as among one of the most professional and capable air forces of the world.

So it wont be Typhoons, only Tornados

[edit on 1-2-2006 by Stealth Spy]

Russia evinces keen interest in acquiring the ALH Dhruv

After Chile, Russia has evinced keen interest in acquiring India's Advanced Light Helicopter 'Dhruv', which would be airborne soon after minor rectifications of its rotor blades, Secertary Defence Production K P Singh said here today.

Labelling the ALH as the best helicopter in its class, Singh said that a delegation headed by a Joint Secretary in Defence Production would leave for Moscow in a day or two to negotiate with the Russians on their proposal to acquire the Dhruvs.

Full Article >>

Chile, Israel, Singapore, US Customs and now Russia.




[edit on 1-2-2006 by Stealth Spy]

One of the Dhruv development aircraft crashed recently, though I do not know the cause, the post above simply reminded me that it had not been mentioned yet. I expect the investigation will take some time.

Bangalore, Feb. 1 (PTI): The Tejas light combat aircraft achieved yet another milestone today when it was flown for the first time by a test pilot from the Indian Navy. Commander J A Maolankar, an experienced Sea Harrier pilot, flew the Tejas (Technology Demonstrator-II) for about 30 minutes over Bangalore, Programme Director (Combat Aircraft) and Director of Aeronautical Development Agency, P S Subramanyam, who termed the flight a "breakthrough," said.

ADA officials said development of the Naval version of the Tejas is well underway and flight-testing of the aircraft would also be entrusted to the composite team at NFTC.

Subramanyam said the naval variant of Tejas is expected to be ready by April next year.

Full Article

^^ Check out the last line

HAL Ties up With Northrop Grumman to Supply E-2C Components

India’s sole military aircraft manufacturer, state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL), will supply Northrop Grumman with components for the U.S. company’s E-2C Hawkeye aircraft in a deal announced Feb. 1 at Defexpo ’06. The tie-up means that HAL will provide aircraft assemblies, components, digitization and other related services for the aircraft, according to Tom Trudell, Northrop’s international business development manager.

Trudell said the E-2C Hawkeye airborne early warning and battle management product line will continue for 20 or more years, and HAL could produce parts for more than 100 Hawkeye aircraft.

The policy stipulates a mandatory offset of at least 30 percent for defense contracts of more than $66.6 million. It is expected to generate around $1 billion for India’s defense market in the next one to two years.

Full Article >>

More :
Agusta Westland Offers EH101 to India

Eurocopter Fennec AS 550 C3 also bidding

for those tags beneath who wrote propaganda?

I wrote stealth spy but who wrote propaganda

French Mirage pulled out of dogfight for IAF deal

New Delhi: The dogfight for bagging the Indian order for 126 fighter aircraft has taken a sensational twist. The front-runner, the French Mirage 2000-5, has pulled out, complaining that India is taking too much time to make up its mind.

The French aviation company Dassault cannot wait anymore for the Indians to make up their mind on whether or not to buy the Mirage 2000-5.

The production line for this fighter aircraft in France has closed down.
Source

Bye bye Mirage!


[edit on 2-2-2006 by Zion Mainframe]

Or, to put it another way, 'Dassault has realised that it really needs to win an export order for the Rafale, they have also realised that they can make more money out of India if they buy Rafales rather than Mirages and offering two different types of aircraft from the same manufacturer is just silly when one of them, their newest and most expensive model lacks any exports at all, "seeing as aircraft like the Super Hornet and Typhoon are now in the running we might as well go for broke with our unloved baby, after all, stealth spy thinks its even better than we do" said a spokesman, allegedly of course

Speaking about Dassault offering two different types to India, they've been here before, in the late 1970's Dassault broke their necks to get India to buy the Mirage F1 in preference to the Jaguar, the difference being of course that Dassault built 100% of the Mirage F.1, whereas they supplied much less than 50% (by value) of the Jaguar International which was marketed exclusively by BAe . France never really forgave BAe for beating them to that order and I've always suspected this was at leaat partly behind the French stance on EFA, when they demanded design leadership, export sales responsibility and all final assembly and flight testing for themselves (which the others were never going to agree to, and France knew it). The idea being that this would kill the project stone dead and clear the decks for their own fighter (to become Rafale). I don't blame them for thinking this would work as in those days I don't think anybody really believed that an Anglo German fighter would really get built, luckily they got it wrong.

Closing down the Mirage 2000 production line would be a sensible decison. Contrary to the US we cannot afford ordering a small batch of aircraft from time to time to keep the production line open while waiting for an export order (and we already ordered the Mirage 2000-5F just to show potential export customers that the program had official support, although it wasn't the result of an official demand but of a private initiative from Dassault), and we don't have the political might to guarantee a minimum level of export orders. With the Brazilian F-X program dead it was clear that the Mirage 2000 only chance was India, which seemed more unlikely as time passed. Initially there was to a French-Indian deal for the Mirages without competition, then it evolved into an open process. With time passing the Mirage simply get older and buying it get less interesting, technology-wise. So the odds of winning get smaller...

Now, maybe we'll try and sell the Mirage production line itself...


Now, considering the industrial aspect. The Rafale deliveries are late, partly because of our government's numerous hesitations and partly because of various other delays including some from oiur industrials. Dassault has to increase its delivery pace to reach the delivery goals, and with this in mind it's clear that the Mirage production line is distracting some needed resources. Now, taking into account the governement's new will to plan future Rafale upgrades, and the absence of a market for the Mirage, putting all our eggs in the Rafale basket seems the only logical choice. As a matter of fact, I'd say it's a choice we should have made much earlier.

Don't get me wrong, I think the Mirage 2000 is a superb aircraft but its capacities were not enough better than previous models', except for its flight systems. The real step forward is the Rafale, and I think it has been partly delayed because of the Mirage 2000 improvements (although one could argue that had the Rafale be ready earlier, the need for such improvements would have been non-existant). In other terms, the logic behind the Rafale, i.e. replacing several models (Mirage F1, Jaguar, Crusader, Etendard, Super Etendard, Mirage IV and finally the Mirage 2000) with a single one should have been more dynamically put into action, because aging planes have increased maintenance costs which drag moeny that could have been used for development costs. Hell we're still improving that old hag Super Etendard, after all the overhaul / upgrade programs we did on the Crusader ! That's insane !



[edit on 2//2 by echoblade]

[edit on 2//2 by echoblade]

Well the Mirage 2000 is a fine jet, however considering that the competition was offering AESA radars, 3D Thrust Vectoring and avionics of a higher generation, the Mirage 2000's pullout comes as no surprise, as its selection prospects were bleak. Instead it is very likely that the Rafale will take its place as a part of the Dassault offer.

In addition, it might not be a bad idea for the IAF to get the existing 40 odd Mirage 2000's upgradrd to 2000-5/9 standard.

The 2000-5's pull out was in speculation about a month back and i had posted about it on page 4 of this very thread ( www.abovetopsecret.com...&singlepost=1868263 ) . At that point of time, the article was rather a hard to believe one (because of a DDM's dream about Mirgage-4000) - but the prospect has now crystallised.

[edit on 2-2-2006 by Stealth Spy]

$10 bn deal for air defence system to India on : Russia

Russia today said it was in "advanced" negotiations with India on a 10 billion dollar deal to provide the country with an anti-missile and a fool proof air defence system encompassing the whole geographical area.

"We have made major breakthroughs in the S-300 anti-missile sheet and have demonstrated the effectiveness of the system to the Indians," Vyatcheslav Dzirkaln, heading a high level Russian defence delegation, said here.

He said the system on offer would encompass coverage of the entire country plus regional grids and "our system is much more sophisticated and better than the American Patriot PAC-3 system."

Full Article >>

Hmmm..this is up again. Remember that US is offering the Patriot PAC-3, Israel the Arrow-2, European MBDA is offering the new Aster-30 and DRDO is proposing to make an new indigenous Missile Defence System that they say will be "much better than the THAAD". There is also the ADS/MDS variant of the indigenous Akash surface to air missile.

So its another heavy value IAF tender that's coming up.

I think when anyone starts saying they are offering a 'fool proof' air defence system they have lost the plot. There is no such thing and nor can there ever be.

Another scratchy unclear article about some "infrared flares, etc ". Take this with a grain of salt.

Innovative Infrared Flares and Anti-laser, Anti-thermal Screening mechanisms from India’s DRDO provide a lead forward for Indian security

India’s Defense Research Organization DRDO has accomplished quite a bit in recent days to make India Security infrastructure fairly sound and protected. One of the major advancement is in the area of electronic jamming of all possible night vision and laser guided enemy apparatus. It can make night vision impossible and laser guided missiles useless.

At the same time advanced innovative special IR flares have been developed that can overcome the adversary’s jamming process of traditional Anti-laser, Anti-thermal screens.

Scientists are real busy all over the world in designing innovative Infrared flares that can penetrate the traditional stealth specifically at night. In addition, scientists are busy designing the stealth needed to hide thermal as well as laser sensitive electronic or other military gears.

The recent achievements of DRDO are remarkable. According some experts India’s achievement in this regard may be unparalleled in the world.

Article >>

Originally posted by waynos
I think when anyone starts saying they are offering a 'fool proof' air defence system they have lost the plot. There is no such thing and nor can there ever be.

Nothing can be fully fool proof - but for 10 billion $'s it better work properly.

If there was anything that can be trusted to be close to "fool proof" - my choice would surely be the Arrow-2 system. India has alredy purchased the AESA Green Pine radars of this system in addition to 5 Phalcon AWACS systems that incorporate the same radar technology. So IMHO the Arrow-2 is a good choice.

The Arrow 2 missile approaches the target at a maximum speed of Mach 9, or 2.5km/s, to a maximum altitude of 50,000 m.



Green Pine is an electronically scanned, solid state, phased array radar operating at L-band in the range 500MHz to 1,000MHz, and was developed from the Elta Music phased array radar. The radar operates in search, detection, tracking and missile guidance modes simultaneously.

The radar can detect targets at ranges up to about 500km and is able to track targets up to speeds over 3,000m/s. The radar illuminates the target and guides the Arrow missile to within 4m of the target. India has placed an order for the supply of two Elta Green Pine for use with India's air defence system against ballistic missiles. The first was delivered in 2001. The Green Pine Radar system is already deployed in India. The radar system, developed for Israel's Arrow anti-missile missile, is a transportable ground-based multimode solid-state phased array radar, capable of predicting impact points of incoming tactical ballistic missiles. The Green Pine radar's strategic value along the Indian-Pakistani border is reportedly inestimable. "It covers all of Pakistan's military command centers and bases between Islamabad, the capital, and the Indian frontier.

Full >>

DRDO's RCI Labs is working on something as well :

Vijay Kumar Saraswat, RCI director, said Feb 10 that the system RCI is working on will be superior to the Patriot-2 and Russia’s S-300 PMU, and will be ready to enter service by 2008. Saraswat claimed the system will have a mobile launcher carrying three surface-to-air, solid-fuel missiles, equipped with directional warheads.

He said the unnamed system will begin flight trials in mid-2006. RCI will carry out about 10 flights before deploying it with the Indian defense forces.

The DRDO scientist said the indigenous air defense system will have a mission control system that will conduct target acquisition, classification and track estimation, among other functions.

He said another major element is the active phased-array radar system purchased from Israel. Called Sword Fish, the system was purchased in early 2004 for $50 million and is undergoing trials at Hasan in Karnataka state.

Once the air defense system is operational, the DRDO scientist said, RCI will integrate it with other defense systems via satellite links and a secure digital data link that will enable it to track and transmit data up to a range of 1,000 kilometers

Full Article >>



Thales offers latest missile detecting radars to India

French defence major, Thales has offered an across the board technology transfer to India in state-of-art radar knowhow to help New Delhi move speedily towards bridging the gaps in its air space coverage, specially in detecting low flying intrusions.

Undettered by the recent US efforts at political level to muscle into the lucrative Indian market, Thales with an almost 50 year presence in India has set up an Indian subsidiary and is also offering to set up joint ventures in the country.

"The radars have the capability to detect incoming missiles, aircraft, helicopters as well as low-flying Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV'S) as well as guide missiles and other weapons to deal with these threats," Perrier told visiting Indian newsmen as the company unveiled the latest range of radars at Lnemore facility in the city suburbs.

The Herakles MFR-30 can perform in any weather conditions and have back scanning capability enabling it to release missiles to intercept incoming missiles threats, a capability which Indian armed forces lack so far.

Though US efforts at political level have caused some ripples in the French Defence industry, which is India's third largest arms trading partner, Perrier told PTI that Thales was not unduly worried over the American onslaught.

"French companies will not shy away from competition. All we want is a level playing field to let our weapons platform and systems speak for themseleves," he said."We were pitted against the Israelis, who could not match our systems and we are confident that we can outmatch any new bidders" Perrier said.

India was to procure 19 LLTR's under the deal with the rest to be manufactured by BEL under full technology transfer. Though there is no no official word from the Defence Ministry, high-level defence officials said the Israeli bid was rejected as it did not not meet Indian qualitative standards.

full article........

________________________

Hers is a copmilation of recent developments in the field :

Citing an announcement by defense officials at a press conference, India’s The Statesman reports that India could establish an air and missile defense shield for a 200 square kilometer area within five or six years, quoting defense scientists said. Such a system could reportedly be duplicated to protect “big cities and strategic facilities like nuclear reactors and space launching sites against incoming missiles.” The interceptor is said to be a surface-to-air missile with a range of 80-85 km, and another interceptor with a range of about 20 km. The Akash SAM is mentioned as a possible interceptor for such a system; “Meanwhile, the Akash will have some anti-missile system capabilities.”

As for the radars for such a system, Mr M. Natarajan, DRDO chief and scientific advisor to the defense minister, said they might include a phased-array radar placed on an executive jet, such as the Brazilian Embrear. India has already purchased from Israel the Phalcon aircraft-mounted radar system

link

India not impressed with the PAC-3 that it was offered

India is not impressed with the PAC-3 missile unit offered with the two-tier US anti-missile defence system, on the grounds that it is slow for the very low reaction period in the sub-continent, and therefore, the Pentagon will demonstrate more advanced technologies when defence minister Pranab Mukherjee visits the country.

Besides more advanced units than PAC-3, the US is offering mid-air jamming systems

link


India to outpace the rest of Asia in development and deployment of missiles and missile shields

India plans to outpace Asia and may be rest of the world in missile research and missile shield development and deployment. According to media sources in India, India will invest about Rs. 12,000 crore in the next eight years to produce world-class missiles. According to Prahlada, Director, Hyderabad-based Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), besides this investment, which will go to industry, another Rs. 1000, crore will be spent on maintaining the missiles and upgrading their technology.

India’s strategic interest is in having a defense alliance with United States to protect India with a missile defense umbrella or shield. The strategic missile defense is considered by Indian defense establishments are most critical. The recent US-India ten-year defense alliance will help India to achieve its goal. India and the United States will sign an Overall Umbrella agreement on Science and Technology during the forthcoming US visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. This will further enhance the possibilities of achieving the Indian goals.

link

India rules out accepting US missile defence system

India on Tuesday ruled out accepting a missile defence system from the United States.
"There is no question of accepting (a) missile shield from anyone," Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee told a news conference in reply to a question.

"What we are interested in is developing our own missile programme and we are doing that."

The United States said last June that it was willing to talk to India about supplying missile defence systems.

"We are willing to talk to India about missile defence. Missile defence is very expensive. So it is not something that India will enter into lightly," US assistant secretary of state for arms control, Stephen Rademaker, had told reporters on a visit to New Delhi.

India and the United States last week signed a groundbreaking 10-year plan for military cooperation during a visit to Washington by Mukherjee.

India, a Cold War ally of the Soviet Union, has recently moved closer to the United States.

link


India pursuing manipulation of ionosphere to fry electronics of incoming warheads

India’s Missile experts realized very well that Ballistic missiles are useless since most countries can manipulate the ionosphere to destroy the missile.........focused on frying all the electronics of any incoming ballistic missile that leave the earth’s atmosphere and then reenter the same on the other side of the world.........use electromagnetic waves, laser and low frequency arrays to create billions of watts on of energy in the ionosphere to fry all the electronics of an incoming missile.

link

India's Phalcon system to “Neutralize” Pakistani Missiles

Israel’s Phalcon system, previously sold to India, is capable of “neutralizing” Pakistan’s Shaheen II ballisic missile, according to a news report, which came just after Pakistan’s test of the Shaheen II on March 16.

link

India rejects PAC-3 and asks for THAAD ; US mum

There was no word on whether the Israeli-American Arrow THAAD missile defense system, which India has previously sought, would also be approved, though Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee did express India's position that all technology restrictions should be dropped.

link

All that the US said on the request for the THAAD

We are willing to talk to India about missile defence. Missile defence is very expensive. So, it is not something that India will enter into lightly," visiting US assistant secretary of state for arms control, Stephen Rademaker, told reporters.

link

And finally something concrete ... it will be an indigenous ADS system, with external assistance ...

India has decided on a synergised land and air-based missile defence system, and the US, Russia, France and Israel would be invited as technology partners, should they agree, and on the Indian side, DRDO, ISRO and BARC will participate.

Following a US presentation weeks ago, the government mulled the offer of outright purchase of a missile defence system, and rejected it, given the peculiar nature of the threat to India, with in-flight missile time from Pakistan being merely 3.50 minutes and from China seven minutes.

Under the new thinking, India will not export whole systems from the US or another country, but would invite them for technological participation, and informally, the US, France, Israel and Russia have been intimated, although officials expressed doubts if the US would participate.

Full Article >>


Perhaps Akash system( CLICK HERE ) which is called "The Indian Patriot will serve as the second line of defence - with the primary one being the new RCI proposed system or the Arrow-2. The PAC-3 is almost out of contention. MBDA might be the technical partner again with this new system (just like in the case of the Astra BVRAAM)

India says no to US P-3C Orion aircraft

In a rare 'no' to Washington, the Indian Navy has called off the leasing of two US Navy P-3C Orion maritime reconnaissance aircraft (MRA) on grounds they are too expensive.The 18-24 months it would take the US Navy to retrofit the two aircraft to the Indian Navy specifications once the lease had been finalised also contributed to New Delhi opting out of the deal. "The lease (of two P-3C Orions) is timed out. It was expensive and time-consuming," a senior Indian official associated with the lease negotiations said.

The US Navy is believed to have demanded Rs 8 billion for the lease via the foreign military sales programme.Fear of US sanctions, like the ones imposed following India's 1998 nuclear tests that led to the Indian Navy's entire Sea King MK42 fleet being grounded due to a shortage of spares, also influenced the navy's decision, officials indicated.

In anticipation of the lease deal , P-3C Orion manufacturers Lockheed Martin had signed a non-disclosure technical assistance agreement with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd in Bangalore last year to share export controlled data related to technical and commercial proposals to retrofit the MRAs to the Indian Navy's requirements.

The Indian Navy has now sent out to MRA manufacturers in the US, France, Britain and Russia a request for proposals for the outright purchase of eight MRAs.

These will replace a similar number of Tupolev Tu 142 'Bear Foxtrot' MRAs that are being retired after negotiations with Russia and Israel to retrofit them were called off three years ago.

Inclusion of India into the P-8 MMA project ?

The Indian Navy confirmed that it was also involved in exploratory talks with Boeing Corp for possible involvement in the P-8A MMA it is developing based on the Boeing 737NG platform.

The Indian Navy believes that the P-8A would match the combined operational profile presently being executed by its existing fleet of Ilyushin Il-38 and Tu 142 MRAs. It also considers its involvement in the Boeing MMA programme an 'evaluation' and 'test' of Washington's long-term military and strategic commitment to India and a possible counter to possible future sanctions.

Washington considers the Indian Navy a stabilising force in the Indian Ocean region and wants a closer working relationship with it as it straddles the strongest area of strategic convergence: sea-lane protection. The US is also keen that the Indian Navy, which has a formidable presence in the Indian Ocean region, to officially join the Washington-led proliferation security initiative (PSI) which seeks to interdict vessels suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction and associated equipment.

Il-38's upgraded

Meanwhile, the Indian Navy last month received the first of its five Il-38 MRAs upgraded to the Il-38 SD standard and equipped with the Morskoi Amei (Sea Dragon) radar system compatible with the navy's proposed strategic deterrence.The remaining four similarly upgraded MRAs will be delivered to the Indian Navy by early next year.

Currently, the Indian Navy is dependent on its fleet of around 20 Dornier 228 aircraft and Israeli Searcher Mark II and Heron unmanned aerial vehicles to monitor India's 7,516-km long coastline, 1,197 islands and a two-million sq km exclusive economic zone.

Full Article >>

With a no to the P-3C, at such an advanced stage of the deal, might well close the door on any prospects of the P-8 MMA.

For more on this check out this thread >> www.abovetopsecret.com...

Moscow, Feb. 3 (PTI): Belarus is going to seal an estimated $300-million deal with India for 18 second-hand Sukhoi Su-30K fighters to modernise its air force.

According to the financial daily Vedomosti, the fighters with limited capabilities were supplied to the Indian Air Force in 1997-98 at the initial stage of the $4.9-billion Sukhoi deal for the development of a multi-role Su-30 MKI, tailored for its specific requirements.

The cash-strapped former Soviet republic would modernise the Su-30K jets to the Su-30KN at its facilities with the help of Russkaya Avionika (Russian Avionics), a subsidiary of the original manufacturer, Irkut Corporation.

Belarus is likely to field the jets against F-16s received by neighbour Poland after joining the Nato, the sources said.

Full Article >>

Well, the Su-30K's of the IAF are pretty battered up after 8 years in service. They have been mostly used for long range missions and in air exercises. Infact it was the Su-30K's that rose to media attention after the famous air exercises with the US F-15's.

Since it would be easier to build new MKI's instead of upgrading the K's, i guess its being sold off to a needy customer. I suspect that Russia might have negotiated the deal for the two countries.

The Su-30 MKI and the Su-30 K differ in the following major aspects :

> MKI has canards, which the K does not.
> MKI has new thrust vectoring engines, which the K does not.
> The MKI has an electronically scanned phased array N011M Bars radar, while the K only has an older and less capable slotted array radar.
> The MKI has quadraplex full digitial FCS/FBW, which the K does not.
> The MKI has newer an better Indian Radar computers, French MFD's, Indian ECM systems, Israeli HUD, Ukraineian HMS, South African store management systems, etc and avionics of a higher generation... while the K only has the baseline Russian parts that are now almost a decade old.
> The IRST on the MKI is newer and better.


[edit on 4-2-2006 by Stealth Spy]