Indian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

India's front line combat aircraft Sukhoi-30 fleet was today cleared for flying after being grounded for nearly a month following a crash near Pune.

"The Sukhoi-30 fleet has been cleared for flying," IAF spokesperson Wing Commander Simranpal Singh Birdi said.

Air Force sources said the Court of Inquiry into the accident is still going on and is in the final stages.

They said the Air Force has expressed satisfaction over the safety checks that have been carried out on all the nearly 200 Sukhoi-30 MKI jets.

Incidentally, Air Force chief Air Marshal Arup Raha said earlier in the day that the fleet would be back in air "within a week's time".

This is the longest period that the Russian-made aircraft has been grounded since 2009 when its operation was suspended for nearly three weeks following an accident.

"This (Pune crash on October 14) was an accident which appeared to be automatic firing of the seats. Court of Inquiry is about to be complete and the findings are being finalised," Raha had told reporters.

He said that "preliminary findings" do indicate that they have been able to find the reason and "we will be able to tackle the problem without much issue".

A team of 10 experts from Russia is currently in Pune, the Sukhoi-30 base, probing the crash that took place on October 14 near there with both the pilot seats ejecting without any command during landing.

The pilots were safe but the aircraft crashed about 20 kms short of the runway.

As a precaution, the flying of the aircraft was suspended and a CoI ordered.

The sources said the Russian experts have claimed that the ejection of seats cannot take place automatically, a contention that is not being accepted by the Indian Air Force.

The grounded fleet represents almost a third of the country's fighter plane fleet.

IAF is already down to 34 combat squadrons, as against an authorised strength of 44. Each squadron has up to 18 fighter planes.

This was the fifth accident involving a SU-30 MKI since 2009 and the fleet has at least been grounded twice earlier.

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Jeff Head said:

Here's what I came up with.

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A Bar Brother said:

I think it's fine. The extras may be part of the construction.

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Jeff Head said:

And it could be...but the structure forward and aft looks fairly contiguous and not like what you would expect to see from either containers or construction shacks.

Time will tell. There is no doubt progerss is being made.

I am awaiting much more resolute pictures of the Vikrant progeress and am sure we will get them soon enough.

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A Bar Brother said:

Edited that picture again. Probably kinda like this.

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Indian Defense Senior Member said:

There is no Vikrant in that dry dock/ Vikrant is not present in the dry dock.

It is very old image, probably of the time when Vikrant's keel even wasn't laid.

Check the angle Jetty just north of dry dock, compare it with wikimapia, g-earth and Bhuban. You would know.
2012 google earth, no jetty.

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India on Friday tested its nuclear-capable ballistic missile Dhanush from an Indian Navy patrol vessel in the Bay of Bengal in Odisha, eastern India. The missile, fired from a naval ship somewhere between Puri and Visakhapatnam as part of the training exercise of the Indian Navy, was described as successful by the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO).

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The indigenously built Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas will be given the final operational clearance (FOC) in June 2015 for induction into the Indian Air Force (IAF), a senior defence scientist said Friday.

"FOC for LCA Tejas will be given in June next year for induction into the IAF fleet, which is behind schedule by six months," Defence Research and Development Orgainsiation's (DRDO) chief controller (Aero) K. Tamilmani told reporters here.

The Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (Cemilac) gave initial operational clearance (IOC) to the homegrown fighter in December 2013 for evaluation by IAF ace pilots on various parameters.

"The combat aircraft has been integrated with radars and sensors for flight operations. We have also equipped Tejas with electronic warfare to fire rockets, laser guided bombs and beyond visual range missiles," Tamilmani said on the margins of the 28th National Convention of Aerospace Engineers here.

As a single-engine multi-role supersonic fighter, Tejas is slated to replace the IAF's ageing Russian-made MiG-21 fleet when it is inducted in six squadrons after the FOC.

Though the fourth generation aircraft has been in the making for over three decades, it can fly at 1,350 km per hour and is comparable to the world's best fighters such as the French Mirage 2000, the American F-16 and the Swedish Gripen.

Weighing 8.5 tonnes, the LCA can carry three tonnes of weapons, including air-to-air missiles, laser guided bombs, guns, conventional/retarded bombs and beyond visual range missiles.

Each squadron will have 20 fighters and will be based at Sulur Air Force base near Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu.

The state-run DRDO and its subsidiaries such as Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) have identified critical technology to design and develop an advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (MCA) after approvals by the central government.

Earlier, addressing about 500 delegates at the convention, Tamilmani favoured setting up of an Aeronautical Commission on the lines of the Space Commission and the Atomic Energy Commission to integrate research and development efforts of the various state-run defence agencies across the country.

"Such a statutory commission will provide thrust to projects and synergise efforts of the defence R&D labs for greater indigenisation of products with the help of the private sector," Tamilmani said.

As the state-run defence behemoth Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has an installed capacity to roll out only four-eight LCAs a year, while the IAF needs 20 fighters annually for early induction and formation of Tejas squadrons, the scientist said the private sector should be allowed to augment production after technology transfer.

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