Defence Aviation News

The Su-34 Fullback, also known as Su-27IB or export code name Su-32, was developed by OKB Suhogo/Sukhoi Joint Stock Company. Russian Air Force ordered in first rate 32 jets in 2008., and later place order for 92 jets in 2012. Russian Air Force received first two Su-34 in December 2006. Serial production started in January 2008. Until today (February 2015), Russian Air Force received 65 multi role fighter jets Su-34 Fullbacks, and will not stop on that number. Russian Air Force are in modernization status. Few more years will use Su-24 Fencer as main jet for this role, but plan is that Su-34 take Fencers place here. Su-34 is a two seater and designed primarily for tactical deployment against ground and naval targets, on solo and group missions in daytime and at night, under favorable and adverse weather conditions and in a hostile environment with counter-fire and EW counter-measures deployed, as well as for air reconnaissance. Because it is based on the Su-27 family...

The Indian Air Force (IAF) is in negotiations with BAE Systems to weaponise its fleet of Hawk Mk 132 advanced jet trainers (AJTs) so they could be deployed on strike co-ordinated armed reconnaissance and close air support missions. BAE Systems officials told IHS Jane’s at Aero India 2015 that the IAF is evaluating the feasibility of integrating its largely licence-built Hawk Mk 132s with a range of weapon systems that are fitted onto its SEPECAT Jaguar fighters. According to  Dave Corfield, head of Hawk India, this included MBDA’s Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missiles, Rafael Litening targeting pods, and a range of smart weapons. Indian Airforce has a total of around 120 BAE Hawk on order, also Indian navy operated them. With around 80 already in use. They could prove effective in attack role. Highly maneuverable, small and legit.

German newspaper Der Spiegel cited claims from former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden earlier this month that China stole key design information on the US-built F-35 stealth fighter and used it to build their J-20 and FC-31 fighter jets. The United States’ airline industry also said that the FC-31 jet, displayed for the first time during the 10th China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai in November 2014, is a copy of the F-35. Regardless of whether the FC-31 is a copy or the result of stolen designs, various airplane manufacturers and countries often produce jet models that highly resemble one another, which makes the FC-31’s remarkable resemblance to the F-35 far from unusual. However, China’s choice to display the FC-31 at the Zhuhai Air Show has many implications. Firstly, the decision was a move to demonstrate the country’s aerospace capacity to the world. The display of the FC-31’s excellent flight maneuverability during the exhibiti...

The Russian arms industry is ready to offer India, according to media reports, not only the Su-30MKI, but also the MiG-35, if the country refuses to purchase the French jet Rafale. RIA Novosti learned this on Wednesday at the Aero India-2015 Exhibition from the head of RSK MiG, Sergey Korotkov, who was expressing his company’s desire to participate in new tenders and competitions in India. “We have everything that is needed to compete. We have not lost hope that a new tender or competition will be announced,” said Mr. Korotkov, adding that RSK is ready to offer India the more advanced version of jet fighters – the MiG-35. Earlier, Indian media reported that the Indian Ministry of Defense might refuse to purchase 126 fighter jets for its Air Force from Rafale, which won the tender in 2012, and instead buy the Russian Su-30MKI. Shortly after that, the Business Standard, citing sources in the Indian Ministry of Defense, reported that New Delhi would not be buying the Rafale j...

Speaking to idrw.org on sidelines of Aero India 2015 official from Sukhoi Design Bureau revealed that Joint venture on development of 5th generation fighter aircraft which would eventually replace Su-30 and Mig-29 was offered to India for first time in year 2000, almost 15 years back when the Sukhoi Design Bureau was only conducting preliminary design study for development of 5th generation fighter aircraft. First T-50 Prototype designed by Sukhoi had its first flight in 2010, almost a decade after such offer was made to India informed official. India had enough time to take a call and it could have helped at design stage to factor in requirements of India if they had entered into the joint venture in the development of 5th-generation fighter aircraft much earlier, but after a point we could not wait any longer and had to start developmental work for the project to move forward , Russia Defence ministry awarded Sukhoi Design Bureau contract to built 5th generation fighter ...

Three years of negotiations between France’s Dassault and the contract negotiation committee of the India’s Defense Ministry on the purchase of 126 Rafale fighter jets may be about to collapse. Sources mostly blame the exorbitant price. According to Business Standard, citing an anonymous source at the CNC, Dassault’s proposal turned out to be much more expensive than presented in the commercial bid, making it far from being the cheapest one, as announced on January 31, 2012. If true, the reaction of India’s military is expected to deliver a hard blow to Dassault. The order has already decreased from 310 to 180 due to budget cuts. This news may also make Cairo the first and only overseas buyer for Dassault’s Rafale. On Monday, France was announced to sign a 5.2 billion euro deal on export of 24 Rafale fighters to Egypt. Rafale’s true cost for India turned out to be even higher than second-placed bid of Eurofighter Typhoon, which costs approximately €90 million. “An inexpe...

Russia may be leveraging India's anger at French aerospace firm Dassault to kill a $20 billion aircraft deal, after allegations that the company seriously misled New Delhi on pricing its Rafale fighter jets. After three years in limbo, Indian newspaper Business Standard reported on Monday that India's defense ministry now considers the contract "essentially dead." Moscow lost out on the contract in 2012, when India chose Dassault's Rafale fighters over Russia's MiG-35 multi-role aircraft. With tensions between Russia and France high following Paris' decision last year to delay the delivery of two Mistral-class warships over conflict in Ukraine, analysts said that politics may have played a role in the demise of the French aerospace deal. "Obviously, Russia is working to kill the French contract and they are [attacking] from all directions," Ruslan Pukhov, director ...

The question of what airplanes the Indian Air Force will be flying in 2030 is not easy to answer. The important factor is how the Indian economy grows in the next decade which determines how much money is spent on defense. And even when there is money to spend, previous Governments had the lazy attitude that “lets just buy it from another country”. At least Narendra Modi is the first Prime Minister to push “Make in India” even for defence purchases. The Indian Government always seems to approach defence procurement in a very sensible manner i.e. the Air Force (for example) has to convince the politicians that (a) there is a need for an aircraft (b) that there is a reason to make it in India instead of just buying it from another country (c) that it meets all the possible needs of the Air Force so that you get maximum value for your money and finally (d) it is urgent, so India has to start work on it right away. Of course, all Governments do exactly the same thing, but at leas...

India and Russia agreed in early 2007 to jointly develop a fifth generation fighter program. Ever since then, the Sukhol/HAL Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) or as it is called in India, the Perspective Multi-role Fighter (PMF) project, has been plagued by delays, costs overrun, and unsteady technology  In 2014, a prototype of the plane even caught fire during a demonstration flight for technical evaluation, causing heated arguments between India and Russia. “What added to the controversy … was Russia’s refusal to share any details of this failure, to the extent that a technical evaluation team of the Indian Air Force that reportedly was present at the site was refused access to inspect the damaged platform,” Monika Chansoria, senior fellow at the Centre for Land Warfare Studies think tank in New Delhi, was quoted as saying in a Defense News article. Yet in January of this year, Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar stated that many of the differences have now b...

The first LCA Navy single-seat fighter prototype that made its debut flight few days back, will join the existing carrier compatibility test schedule at INS Hansa, Goa from next month. The platform, designated NP2 took to the air just weeks after the first prototype, a twin-seat fighter trainer, made its first launch from the ski-jump at the shore-based test facility (SBTF). The NP2 is the last of the Mk.1 prototypes and together with NP1 will be the only platforms available for the Mk.1 programme towards operational clearance. The Indian Navy has been satisfied with the performance of the NP2 during its first flight, with preliminary data indicating that the aircraft exceeded expectations across several parameters. The next two prototypes, namely NP3 and NP4, will both be Mk.2 fighter variants that involve a multiplicity of improvements and enhancements. Team LCA-N will gradually look to expand the flight envelope of the NP1 and NP2 through a carefully planned series of manoe...

India’s ambitious plan to further expand its fighter jet development programme is making steady progress, with the design of the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) frozen now. “The AMCA configuration has been frozen. Now, we have to have one last dialogue with the Air Force to decide how we go about the engine choice…. We will have a strategy for building the AMCA by the middle of this year,” said P.S. Subramanyam, Director of the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) under the DRDO, who heads India’s combat aircraft programme. He was speaking to The Hindu on the sidelines of a workshop on ‘Embedded Systems for Defence Applications’ organised by the Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory at Nedumbassery on Friday. On the choice of the engine, Mr. Subramanyam said it would be prudent to procure and integrate an available engine into the aircraft so to ensure that the project was not held up. “Since the fighter has been designed to take on an engine with a higher thrust, we...

Russian company United Instrument Manufacturing Corporation will be having a planned meetings  with representatives from the Indian Air Force and aircraft manufactures from the corporation Hindustan Aeronautics Limited on sidelines of  Aero India-2015 exhibition which will be held from February 18-22. Russian Company will discuss the possibility of upgrading the communication equipment of the Su-30MKI Indian fighter jets and also outfitting Russian-Indian aircraft such as the FGFA fighter jet and the MTA transport aircraft with communication equipment. Sergey Skokov, Deputy CEO of UIMC will be offering  S-112 aviation communication system, which provides a new level of data transmission efficiency. In addition, we are presenting in India the NKVS-27 system for multi-voice communication and information exchange between command posts and tactical aircraft.”. corporation will also present the on-board S-404 communication system developed by Polyot Researc...

India and the US have agreed to jointly develop and produce cutting-edge military equipment to enhance the reach and muscle of the Indian military. The Pentagon has agreed to share with New Delhi the electro-magnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS), hot engine and extended battery man pack technologies under the defence trade and technology initiative, government sources said Monday. The world’s biggest importer of weapons, India is looking to promote its domestic arms industry and sharing of technology is a vital part of it. The deal will be inked when US under secretary for acquisition, technology and logistics Frank Kendall arrives in the Capital on February 24. He was in India in January as well to give final touches to defence issues ahead of US President Barack Obama’s Republic Day visit. Currently being developed by General Atomics, EMALS technology will replace the steam catapults used to launch jets from aircraft carriers. The technology was offered by Obama to ...