Latest Indian MKI aircraft facing problems

PakTopGun said:

Wouldnt assembly of the aircraft in India be more affordable, I mean labour is dirt cheap there no? then to have it assembled somewhere else?

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Problem is not with manufacturing its with new equipment integration. Infrastructure for MKI manufacturing is almost complete. current MKIs built in India are built from kits supplied from india.

MKI is in its Phase 3 of development, where its supposed to be integrated with Rafael Litening pod, and new avionics, which will allow it to be complete Air-to-Ground role.

and as new equipment will start to integrate so will its price. Watch for the price when "IRBIS" gets intergrated to it. also price escalated due to integration of new weapons to MKI. how it can be said that MKI will cost the same even if we keep on adding new goodies to it

Same goes for other ACs too, like Rafael will cost less then Rafael F2.

Sid

Vladimir Radyuhin

Agreement likely to be inked next week

# Fully assembled 12 SU-30MKI aircraft to be supplied
# Remaining six planes to be delivered in December
# Indo-Russian deal to build multi-role transport aircraft

MOSCOW: India will exchange 18 Sukhoi-30MK aircraft it had earlier purchased from Russia for a more sophisticated version of this long-range fighter jet, Su-30MKI.

Russia's Irkut manufacturer of Sukhoi warplanes said it planned to sign the deal next week. Under an earlier agreement, the SU-30MK planes were to be upgraded to the SU-30MKI version in India.

Irkut head Oleg Demchenko said 12 of the 18 planes were already assembled in the company's factory in Irkutsk. The remaining six would be delivered in December.

License accord

Irkut will also bring the supply of knock-down kits to assemble 140 SU-30MKI aircraft under licence in India. "Responding to a request from the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, we have reached an agreement to fulfil the licence accord in 2012 instead of 2014," the Irkut chief said.

Last week, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had rapped the HAL for huge cost overruns in the production of SU-30MKI under Russian licence.

He said the SU-30MKI kits would be supplied to India in a high degree of assembly. "They will be almost fully assembled aircraft," Mr. Demchenko said.

Source:


With 50 Su-30 MKIs in IAF already, and further 140 MKIs to be inducted by 2012 (preferably with the AESA or 180 km range PESA radar), the IAF shall be able to compensate to a large extent, the depletion of the number of squadrons due to the retirement of aircraft.

Dwindling Numbers


IAF has some difficult times ahead

By Prasun K. Sengupta

Undertaking on a fast-track basis the upgrading of its existing 67 MiG-29B-12s (to the MiG-29SMT standard) at a cost of US$888 million and extend their operational lives for another 15 years. The MiG-29B-12 upgrade project has already been delayed by more than two years, and will begin this June and will be completed by 2010. Two IAF MiG-29s will be sent to Russia for prototype development by RAC-MiG, following which the IAF's Nasik-based 11 Base Repair Depot will begin upgrading the remaining MiG-29s. The upgrade will include the installation of Phazotron's Zhuk-M X-band multi-mode fire-control radars, mid-air refuelling probes, THALES-built AMLCD displays and TopOwl-F helmet-mounted sights, BEL-built Tarang Mk3 radar warning receiver, and HAL-built Mk12 IFF transponders. Aircraft thus upgraded will then be able to fire Vympel's R-27RE1/TE1 or R-77 beyond-visual-range air combat missiles.

• Acquiring 20 new-build tandem-seat Mirage 2000-5s worth Rs70 billion, and upgrading the existing 52 Mirage 2000H/THs (to the Mirage 2000-5 standard) at a cost of Rs35 billion. These aircraft will each be retrofitted with El-Op's Type 967 HUD, two THALES/HAL MFD-55 AMLCDs and one MFD-66 AMLCD, a digital map generator developed by the DRDO's Bangalore-based Defence Avionics Research Establishment (DARE), DARE-developed and BEL-built Tarang Mk4 radar warning receiver incorporating voice recognition/audio warning modes, DARE-developed OSAMC mission computer, THALES' Totem RLG-based inertial navigation system, RAFAEL of Israel's Litening-2 laser/RV designation pod, and ELTA of Israel's EL/M-2052 active phased-array radar. Weapons to be carried by such aircraft will include RAFAEL's Python-5 and Derby air combat missiles, and SAGEM's AASM precision-guided munition (PGM).

* Upgrading another 20 MiG-21bis interceptors to add to the 125 multi-role MiG-21 Bisons now in service. These aircraft will be phased out between 2022 and 2025.

For the entire article, the following URL can be referenced:

^^If i am not wrong there is another thread which Gollevainen assigned for IAF news.ff

LCA-Tejas has completed 530 Test Flights successfully. (25-May-06).

* LCA has completed 530 Test Flights successfully (TD1-172, TD2-217, PV1-129,PV2-12).
* 12th flight of Tejas PV2 occurred on 24th May 06.

Team of National Geographic Channel has visited Aeronautical Development Agency to Know the work done on Tejas on 22-May-06.

Source:

^^If i am not wrong there is another thread which Gollevainen assigned for IAF news.

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Since this thread is not closed and discusses an aspect of the IAF, thus I decided to post IAF news here. The other thread mainly discusses the inadequate supplies of the Indian army and navy.Thus I shall post news of the Indian army and navy there.

The following article of defencetalk.com discusses the design of a new aicraft which incorporates fused body and wing, instead of the conventional "tube and wing" design. I am posting the relevant excerpts.

Aircraft project features wingless design
Air Force, NASA and Boeing to test new plane concept that could offer greater range and better fuel economy for missions
By Jim Skeen
LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS

The X-48B, a joint NASA, Air Force and Boeing research project, is testing a design concept called the "blended wing body" that researchers believe provides more lift, offering greater range and as much as 30 percent greater fuel economy.

Unlike the traditional "tube and wing" design in which wings are attached to a fuselage, the blended-wing body merges the fuselage with the wing-- producing something like a cross between a conventional aircraft and a flying wing such as the B-2 stealth bomber.

Source:


It must be noted that although the wings and the fuselage are distincty shaped in the LCA, they are fused and not separate parts. The LCA is the first combat aircraft in the world that incorporates this feature.

Indianfighter said:

The following article of defencetalk.com discusses the design of a new aicraft which incorporates fused body and wing, instead of the conventional "tube and wing" design. I am posting the relevant excerpts.

Aircraft project features wingless design
Air Force, NASA and Boeing to test new plane concept that could offer greater range and better fuel economy for missions
By Jim Skeen
LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS

The X-48B, a joint NASA, Air Force and Boeing research project, is testing a design concept called the "blended wing body" that researchers believe provides more lift, offering greater range and as much as 30 percent greater fuel economy.

Unlike the traditional "tube and wing" design in which wings are attached to a fuselage, the blended-wing body merges the fuselage with the wing-- producing something like a cross between a conventional aircraft and a flying wing such as the B-2 stealth bomber.

Source:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

It must be noted that although the wings and the fuselage are distincty shaped in the LCA, they are fused and not separate parts. The LCA is the first combat aircraft in the world that incorporates this feature.

Click to expand...

isn't this whole idea already incorporated in the F-22 ? I thought that was one of the measures designed to promote stealth ?

isn't this whole idea already incorporated in the F-22 ? I thought that was one of the measures designed to promote stealth ?

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The concep was first implemented on the LCA, and then maybe the F-22.

Air Force version of BrahMos getting ready

Y. Mallikarjun

HYDERABAD: The design and initial development of the Air Force version of the BrahMos Cruise Missile have been completed. The system is to be fitted into Sukhoi-30 by the end of next year.

A. Sivathanu Pillai, CEO & MD of BrahMos Aerospace, an Indo-Russian Joint Venture, told The Hindu here on Friday that the feasibility of incorporating the Air Force version of the missile was complete. The army version would be inducted in two years.

He said the missile had already been installed on one ship and all ships in the future would be fitted with it.

As a first step, three Talwar class ships being built by Russia for the Indian navy would be fitted with the missile.

Source:

Indianfighter said:

The following article of defencetalk.com discusses the design of a new aicraft which incorporates fused body and wing, instead of the conventional "tube and wing" design. I am posting the relevant excerpts.

Aircraft project features wingless design
Air Force, NASA and Boeing to test new plane concept that could offer greater range and better fuel economy for missions
By Jim Skeen
LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS

The X-48B, a joint NASA, Air Force and Boeing research project, is testing a design concept called the "blended wing body" that researchers believe provides more lift, offering greater range and as much as 30 percent greater fuel economy.

Unlike the traditional "tube and wing" design in which wings are attached to a fuselage, the blended-wing body merges the fuselage with the wing-- producing something like a cross between a conventional aircraft and a flying wing such as the B-2 stealth bomber.

Source:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

It must be noted that although the wings and the fuselage are distincty shaped in the LCA, they are fused and not separate parts. The LCA is the first combat aircraft in the world that incorporates this feature.

Click to expand...

The BWB concept is nothing new and is not even relevent when talking about combat/fighter aircraft such as the LCA or F-22. It is meant as an improvement over current transport aircraft which all have their roots in the Boeing 707, an aircraft designed 50 years ago: tube fuselage, wings attached to it, engine pylons mounted under the wings. This type of design has advantages in ease of manufacture and passenger comfort when compared to a BWB design. One day we will surely see a BWB design for military use and/or cargo, but passenger aircraft are unlikely. (sorry for being off topic)

The concept of BWB may not be revolutionary or new, but the fact remains that the world's first combat jet to have a BWB design is the LCA. Also, the F-22 is not a BWB design, but a conventional design with separate wings, forward and mid-fuselages.