Defence Aviation News

The Department of Defense’s much maligned F-35 Joint Strike Fighter ran into yet another setback Tuesday when it was announced that the aircraft will not reach full close-air-support potential until 2022.Unlike previous precision-guided air-dropped weapons, the Small Diameter Bomb II (SDB II) has the ability to track and hit moving targets from up to 40 miles. It will enter service in 2017. The F-35 however, will not have the software package required to operate the bomb until 2022. The delay will reduce the F-35’s ability to provide close-air support to ground troops, and raises questions about the aircraft’s ability to adequately replace the A-10 Warthog if Congress allows the Air Force to retire it. Air Force leaders want to retire the A-10 by February 2019 so it can transfer the resources supporting the aircraft to the development of the F-35, which will be one of many aircraft that will backfill the A-10. The SDB II will not even fit onto the F-35B – the Marine Corps...

India is ready to seal a big project with Russia for the stealth fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA), The Times of India wrote referring to the country’s defense ministry. “Faced with continuing deadlock in the mega deal to acquire 126 French Rafale fighters, India is now pressing the throttle to seal the even bigger project with Russia for the stealth fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA),” the newspaper wrote. “India will overall spend around $25 billion on the FGFA project if it goes ahead with its plan to induct 127 such fighters, as earlier reported by TOI. Meanwhile, India is ready to forego the earlier plan for a 50:50 design and work-share agreement with Russia on its under-development FGFA called PAK-FA or Sukhoi T-50.” The PAK FA – “Prospective Airborne Complex of Frontline Aviation” – is a fifth-generation fighter program of the Russian Air Force. The T-50 is the aircraft designed by Sukhoi for the PAK FA program. The aircraft is a single-seat...

India’s frustration over a stalled $20 billion fighter jet deal with France has prompted New Delhi to accelerate plans with Russia to begin co-production of another, more advanced fighter jet, an Indian newspaper reported Monday.India and Russia are in the final stages of negotiating a contract for the delivery a brand-new stealth fighter designed in tandem under the leadership of Russia’s Sukhoi design bureau. The original plan stipulated that the fighter be built in India, with the first deliveries taking place 94 months after the contract was signed. The total cost of the contract is reported to be over $25 billion for 127 new fighters. But now New Delhi has told Russia it is willing to drop demands for localized production of the new aircraft, known as the PAK FA, if they can promise deliveries beginning 36 months after the contract is signed, according to unidentified Indian military sources quoted by the Times of India. “We have agreed to a lesser work-share f...

India’s frustration over a stalled $20 billion fighter jet deal with France has prompted New Delhi to accelerate plans with Russia to begin co-production of another, more advanced fighter jet, an Indian newspaper reported Monday.India and Russia are in the final stages of negotiating a contract for the delivery a brand-new stealth fighter designed in tandem under the leadership of Russia’s Sukhoi design bureau. The original plan stipulated that the fighter be built in India, with the first deliveries taking place 94 months after the contract was signed. The total cost of the contract is reported to be over $25 billion for 127 new fighters. But now New Delhi has told Russia it is willing to drop demands for localized production of the new aircraft, known as the PAK FA, if they can promise deliveries beginning 36 months after the contract is signed, according to unidentified Indian military sources quoted by the Times of India. “We have agreed to a lesser work-share for a real...

Faced with continuing deadlock in the mega deal to acquire 126 French Rafale fighters, India is now pressing the throttle to seal the even bigger project with Russia for the stealth fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA). India has told Russia it wants deliveries of the FGFA to begin in 36 months after the main contract is inkedThe final FGFA design contract has been hanging fire since India and Russia completed their initial work under the $295 million preliminary design contract signed in December 2010. India will overall spend around $25 billion on the FGFA project if it goes ahead with its plan to induct 127 such fighters, as earlier reported by TOI. All this has gained urgency since India feels French aviation major Dassault is being needlessly intransigent over the pricing mechanism in the final negotiations for the over $20 billion MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) project. Under it, the first 18 Rafale fighters were to be delivered off-the-shelf, with ...

According to report prepared by Pierre Tran and Vivek Raghuvanshi for defensenews.com, claims that India and Russia have agreed to work on 5th-generation fighter aircraft based on Su-35, new aircraft which both countries have agreed on will be a reconfigured as Su-35 dubbed as Su-35S and have termed it as 5th generation fighter jet. Su-35 is classified as 4++ Generation fighter jet, Class which comes close to a 5th-generation fighter aircraft, minus Internal weapons bay and Special Stealth Coating for minimum radar cross section (RCS) and next generation Avionics and weapons systems. Article was seen quoting Rostec CEO Sergey Chemezov but report does not mention what will happen to FGFA 5th-generation fighter aircraft Project which India and Russia were in talks to be developed from Russian variant of Pak-FA aircraft developed by Sukhoi Bureau , nor mentions if it will replace MMRCA or FGFA Program. Article also fails to highlight if India and Russia have agreed to ...

Faced with delays over its biggest airforce deal, a worried Indian government has asked Russia to expedite production of the planned fifth-generation fighter aircraft and given up its earlier condition that it should be a 50-50 joint venture, a report says. The deal for buying 126 Rafale fighter aircraft from France’s Dassault has been delayed over negotiations over the $11 billion price tag and guarantees over quality. This has delayed India’s plans to expand its airforce at a time it is underprepared. The government has asked Russia to speed up the development process of the fifth-generation fighter aircraft, Su-35S, and has agreed to drop some crucial conditions in return. For instance, India is no longer insisting that all aircraft be built by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics. According to a source quoted in the report, India has agreed to the existing practice of importing the initial lot of the fighter aircrafts and manufacturing the rest here under technology transfer ...

A People’s Liberation Army Navy official has confirmed for the first time that China is building its second aircraft carrier, reports Duowei News, a US-based Chinese political news outlet. Ding Haichun, a deputy political commissar of the PLA Navy, acknowledged during an interview with Hong Kong media on March 8 that China’s second aircraft carrier is currently under construction and will be more advanced than the country’s first carrier, the Liaoning, which was retrofitted from the Soviet-era carrier Varyag and commissioned in September 2012. Once the industrial manufacturing department has completed construction, the carrier will be handed over to the PLA Navy to commence training, Ding said. Naval power and electrical engineering specialist Ma Weiming added that China’s catapult launch technology has absolutely no problems and can compete with that of the United States. When questioned by reporters, former PLA Navy political commissar Liu Xiaojiang refused to confirm me...

Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha has repeatedly and publicly declared “there’s no Plan B”, that in effect it is Rafale or nothing with respect to the Indian Air Force’s dubious Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) requirement. It merits his dismissal from service, because these words denote gross incompetence, failure to anticipate the unexpected and prepare for it—axiomatic in all military planning and, hence, of leadership. For every plan there is always an alternative plan of action in case things don’t work out as envisaged. The absence of a fallback scheme is, of course, a ruse by Raha to pressurise the government into acceding to IAF’s wishes for the Rafale, despite defence minister Manohar Parrikar spelling out an alternative—the cost-effective, Nasik-produced Su-30MKI, which won’t require multi-billion dollar investment in another production facility and beats the French combat aircraft by any performance standard. The prohibitive cost and questi...

The Sukhoi-30 MKI which is the main stay of IAF fighter fleets will have to undergo upgradation to remain relevant to future air warfare. Although the software is wearing out too fast, the fighter remains a potent combat machine. The IAF’s SU-30 MKIs which look similar to many Sukhoi fighters is significantly different from other SU-30s in terms of capabilities. This time IAF should clearly spell out what it needs in SU-30MKIs by 2020. Often, the upgradation cost of a jet comes pretty close to buying a new one.  Indian Air Force would be significantly enhancing its combat capabilities by upgrading its most formidable SU-30MKI fighters to the approaching level of Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft, which India plans to develop jointly with the Russian Sukhoi company.  The FGFA and Super Sukhoi would thus form a ferocious combination of multi-role aircraft, which can dominate the skies over the neighboring countries and the entire Indian Ocean area. The FGFA is likely to...