Indian Military

New Delhi — The Aero-India 2011 has broken a record of sorts with its current edition of the air show that is taking place at the Yelahanka Air Force Base in Bangalore. Deemed as the biggest air show in India and Asia, the Aero-India 2011 has broken all records in terms of the turnout of international firms, spectators and content. In fact, for some of the international vendors, Aero-India 2011 is bigger in some respect to the Paris Air Show or Central Europe Air Shows.

As per the figures given by the Department of Defence Production (DDP), the online request for registration of general visitors to the air show this year has already exceeded the 175, 000 which is more than twice than the Aero-India 2009. This year, the organisers have increased the gross area to 75,000 square metres which is a 70 percent increase from the last Aero-India in 2009. The international exhibits have also risen from 380 against 303 in the last edition, indicating a 25 per cent hike in the international section.

New Delhi –The Indian Defence Minister AK Anthony has indicated that the majority of the MiG fighter aircraft in the Armed Forces will be phased out by 2017 and will be replaced by modern fighter aircraft. AK Anthony added that the phasing out will begin by 2014.

At a Parliamentary session in New Delhi, the Defence Minister assured that advanced aircraft like Su-30 MKI, Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) and the Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) will be the new replacement for the ageing fleet of MiGs in the country. Even the Indian Air Force (IAF) has formulated a focused plan to phase out the obsolescent aircraft that has been causing fatal mishaps.

As per the Defence Ministry, there will be a major level of fighter aircraft procurements in the coming years which will dynamically improve the flight safety of the pilots as well as compliment the decisive edge and lethality of air power in the IAF and other forces. At present, the IAF maintains a mix of old and new aircraft in its fleet and each plane has a life span of 30 to 40 years.

New Delhi –The Indian Air Force (IAF) has finally equipped 55 of the Jaguar fighter aircraft with autopilots after the Indian Defence Ministry was criticised for delays in the upgradation. Defence Minister AK Anthony has assured that it will soon be issuing a tender for procuring additional sets of autopilots for the remaining Jaguars in the IAF fleet.

The Comptroller and Auditor General had raised the issue of delay in the induction of autopilot in its report of 2008-09 and the Indian Defence Ministry was blamed for this delay. The Indian Defence Ministry agreed with the audit conclusions and will be issuing a Request for Proposal (RFP) for new sets of autopilots for the Jaguar fighters.

The Jaguar fighters have always been a trusted war horse since they first came to the IAF almost three decades ago. At the time of induction, the Jaguar was considered to be the fastest aircraft and added a new dimension to air operations in the Indian sub-continent. Under an agreement with the Indian Air Force, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has been entrusted with the upgradation of Jaguars that would extend their life by another 15 years, through the year 2020.

New Delhi– India’s new Defence Production Policy (DPP) which will take the domestic defence industry into the new era of self-reliance and indigenisation has been released this week. The draft of the new DPP was approved in December last year by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) headed by Defence Minister AK Anthony.

The draft DPP indicates that the Indian government has decided that preference will be given to indigenous design, development and manufacture of defence equipment. The new policy will apply to long-term needs such as equipment required over 10 years into the future and a robust defence industrial base will be developed for self-reliance. The industrial base will harness the potential of private sector for design, development and manufacture of defence equipment. In the case of strategic and critical technologies, the draft DPP stresses the need to be self-reliant.

The DPP 2011 also has a new offset policy that accepts a key request of foreign as well as Indian vendors in the aviation and homeland security sectors by expanding the existing list of products in the offset category to include internal security and civil aircraft.