Defence Aviation News

Boeing unveiled a new version of F-15 called Silent Eagle, it’s a improvised stealth version of F-15 Strike eagle. F-15 is a world-class fighter aircraft. Continuous avionics upgrades could keep it competitive with super-fighters like the F-22. But the F-22’s distinct advantage is that the airframe was designed to be stealthy from the start. While Boeing has done a few things to the F-15 airframe to reduce its radar return (submerged weapons carriage, an exportable radar-absorbent material coating on the airframe, and outward-canted fins,) it’s still a decidedly non-stealthy airplane. It’s still not quite a fifth-generation fighter, but it’s not intended to be. For instance, the F-15SE is not going to slip stealthily into defended airspace and wipe out a surface-to-air missile battery. That’s still the job of the all-aspect stealthy F-22 or B-2. Boeing optimized the F-15SE to reduce the aircraft’s head-on radar cross section. That’s not going to fool a ground-based SAM radar, b...

After a delay of almost five years, India's largest warship aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya today reached its home base Karwar in Karnataka. The long-awaited $2.3 billion aircraft carrier had started its voyage towards India from Russia after it was inducted formally on 16 November there by Defence Minister AK Antony. The largest warship in our inventory reached Karwar, which is its home base and developed to berth a vessel of this size, navy officials said in New Delhi. The aircraft carrier will now go through the process of getting inducted and be made fully operational as the Indian Navy pilots train to operate from it, they said. The aircraft carrier is expected to take at least three to four months to get integrated in the force, they said. With Vikramaditya, for the first time in over two decades, the Indian Navy has two operational aircraft including the aging INS Viraat, which is likely to be decommissioned in the next few years. Vikramaditya was earlier scheduled t...

Aircraft spotters outside Zhukovshy airbase spotted something very stunning, the new paint scheme of PAK FA aka T 50. Usually, the Russian stealth fighter prototypes are painted with boring grey scheme. This time the spotters were treated with dual-tone teal green and black commonly seen on Russian Air Force Aircraft, the combination leans closer towards blue which is perfect over Russian skies. Aviationist DAVID   CENCIOTTI remarked the new colour scheme on the T-50 as the Shark Camouflage, calling it stunning and remarked that the White Tip Longimanus shark found typically in the Red Sea inspired the scheme. T-50 seen from a distance looks like a rhomboidal shaped aircraft and appears smaller than the actual aircraft. I usually find Russian Aircraft camouflage scheme very interesting and beautiful. I would love to hear your thoughts on the new paint job. SOURCE :  http://www.defenceaviation.com

The explosion on board the INS Sindhurakshak has blown the lid off the Indian Navy’s claims of battle-preparedness. Most of India’s submarines have lived 75% of their operational life and many of them will be decommissioned in a phased manner in the coming years. Strategic experts claim that successive Indian governments have been obsessed about designing land-based plans to counter Pakistan and China and the navy always took a back seat. The Indian Navy is supposed to guard the 7,500 km-long coastline, 1,200 plus islands, and 2.2 million sq km of exclusive economic zone (EEZ). It is also meant to control the Indian Ocean region which contains one-third of the world's population and 40% of the world's oil and gas reserves. “Induction of submarines into our navy was done more or less in an episodic way. The last of the submarines of the Sindhughosh class was inducted in 1999, 2000. And since then, there has been no new induction, which shows huge lacuna on the part of the g...

MUMBAI: At least 18 Navy personnel are missing after a huge explosion followed by a fire rocked Indian Navy submarine INS Sindhurakshak docked at the high security naval dockyard early on Wednesday, according to Times Now. Among the missing are three officers, according to Navy sources. According to TV reports, the submarine has been damaged extensively in the fire and is submerged half under fire, which was brought under control with the help of 16 fire tenders at around 3am. The Navy has ordered a board of inquiry into the dockyard fire. Many sailors on board the submarine reportedly jumped off to safety. Earlier a defence ministry statement issued at 3.15am said, "There is likelihood of some personnel being trapped inside. The details are being ascertained." Some injured sailors were taken to naval hospital INHS Ashvini in Colaba. The cause of the explosion and blaze is still not known. At least 16 fire tenders of Mumbai Fire Brigade and Mumbai Port Trust were rushed t...

 India unveiled its first indigenously-built aircraft carrier on Monday, a landmark moment in the $5 billion project that seeks to project the country’s power and check the rising influence of China. When the  INS Vikrant  comes into full service in 2018, India will join an elite club of nations that have designed and built their own aircraft carriers including Britain, France, Russia and the US but not China. “It’s a remarkable milestone,” defence minister  A.K. Antony  said as he stood on a red carpet in the shadow of the giant ship which was launched from a dry-dock in the city of Kochi and later pulled out into the harbour by tug boats. “It marks just a first step in a long journey but at the same time an important one,” he added before his wife  Elizabeth  officially launched the 40,000-tonne vessel by placing a garland on its hull. INS Vikrant , which will be fitted with weaponry and machinery and then tested over the next four ye...

India’s latest maritime surveillance aircraft, P8I, has landed at the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, signalling the Navy’s plan to increasingly use the islands to keep an eye on the three crucial sea lanes used by China to ferry its cargo. The maiden landing of the first P8I at INS Utkorsh in Port Blair on Tuesday gave the aircraft’s pilots and crew an opportunity to familiarise themselves with the facilities at the island, which would come handy if the government wanted to operate a few of these surveillance aircraft from the island. The aircraft is equipped with sensors for maritime reconnaissance, anti-submarine operations and electronic intelligence missions. It carries state-of-the-art sensors and highly potent anti-surface and anti-submarine weapons. India purchased eight such aircraft from the US in a $2.1-billion deal. The first one had arrived in May, and the second P8I was expected to reach India by September. The US-origin aircraft, with a range of 8,600 km and an enduran...