Best OF India : Future Of Indian Airforce

    The Indian Air Force started modernising and upgrading its aging and outdated equipment since the late 90’s. For that reason it has started procuring and developing aircraft, weapons, associated technologies, and infrastructures. Some of these programmes date back to the late 80’s. The primary focus of upgradation are the aircraft procured from the Soviet Union that form the backbone of the Air Force.

Upgrades

   The Indian Air Force began an upgrade of its MiG-29 fleet in 2007. India awarded Russia a US$965 million contract to upgrade its air superiority MiG-29 into multi role MiG-29UPG standard warplanes, on Monday 10 March 2008. According to the deal, Russia will re-arm the twin-engined MiG-29s with air-to-air missiles, and the upgraded MiGs will feature increased fuel capacity and will include latest avionics. The design is a new modification intended for the MiG-29s used by Indian Air Force. It made its maiden flight on 4 February 2011. The standard includes the new Zhuk-M radar, new avionics, a IFR probe as well as new enhanced RD-33 series 3 turbojet engines. The modernization is part of a $900 million contract to upgrade the 69 fighter fleet. Indian Military Future Procurements

Indian Air Force

Transport aircraft 

1. Boeing C-17 Globemaster III - purchase of 10 aircrafts plus option for 10 more aircrafts.

2.Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules - purchase of 6 aircrafts plus option for 6 more.

3.Alenia C-27J Spartan - IAF looking to purchase 16 of this aircraft. 2 more for BSF Air Wing.

4.UAC/HAL Il-214 Multirole Transport Aircraft (MTA) - Indo-Russian joint venture.The Indian Air Force plans to acquire 45 MTAs.

5.NAL Saras - Indian Air Force intends to place an order for up to 45 aircraft.

Fighter aircraft 

1. (MMRCA) - 126 aircraft . There is an option for an additional 74 aircraft.Bidders - Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet,Dassault Rafale,Eurofighter Typhoon,Lockheed Martin F-16IN Super Viper,Mikoyan MiG-35,Saab Gripen NG.

2. HAL TEJAS - The IAF is reported to have a requirement for 200 single-seat and 20 two-seat conversion trainers.

3.Sukhoi/HAL FGFA - Indo-Russian joint venture.Indian Air Force will get 200 twin-seated and 50 single seated FGFAs.The option for further orders will be kept open.

4. Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft - IAF has a requirement of at least 250 AMCAs.

Trainer aircraft

1.Tender For 181 basic trainer aircraft - bidders : Grob G-120TP, Embraer EMB 314 Super Tucano, Korean Aerospace Industries KT-1, Finmeccanica M-311 and Pilatus PC-7 .

2.HAL HJT-36 Sitara - The Indian Air Force has placed placed an order for 73 aircraft, of which the first 12 are in production.The order by the Indian Air Force could eventually grow to 250 aircraft.

3.HAL HTT-40 - will replace HAL HPT-32 Deepak as basic trainer in IAF. 4. BAE HAWK - 123 Ordered.

Airborne early warning aircraft 

1. DRDO AEW&CS - 4 system on order plus additional 20 systems .

2.Beriev A-50 [ PHALCON AWACS ] - 3 operational , order for additional 3 likely.

Attack helicopter 

1.LCH - Order of 65 LCH to IAF.

2. Tender for 22 attack helicopters - Bidders : AH-64D Apache Longbow,Mi-28.

Transport and utility helicopters 

1. Tender for 15 heavy lift helicopters - Bidders : CH-47 Chinook,Mi-26.

2. Mi-17 V-5 - order for 80 plus additional 59 placed .

3. AgustaWestland AW101 - order for 12 helicopters placed . will be used for VIP transport.

4.Tender for 125 light transport helicopter Along with 197 for Army aviation.

5.HAL light observation helicopter [ LOH ] or Light Utility helicopter [LUH] - Requirement for 384 helicopters including for army and air force.

Unmanned aerial vehicles 

1.Tender For stealth UCAV - The Indian air force has submitted a request for information to international suppliers for a unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) with low radar cross-section, high service ceiling, an expected range of 500nm (925km) and the capability to carry precision-guided weapons in an internal weapons bay.

2.RUSTOM MALE UAV - The Rustom will replace/supplement the Heron UAVs in service with the Indian armed force 3. AURA UCAV - The AURA UCAV will be a tactical stealth aircraft built largely with composites, and capable of delivering laser-guided strike weapons. It would be a stealthy flying-wing concept aircraft with internal weapons and a turbofan engine.

Cruise missiles 

1.Nirbhay cruise missile - is a long range, subsonic cruise missile . The missile will have a range of 1,000 km and will arm three services. First test flight by early 2012.

Surface to air missile systems 

1. SPYDER SAM systems - India to acquire 18 of this system.

2. Maitri (missile) - The Maitri missile project is a next-generation Quick Reaction Surface-to-Air Missile (QRSAM) with a lethal hundred per cent kill probability .

Air TO Air Missile

1.Astra (missile) BVRAAM .

40 nuclear capable aircraft for Strategic Nuclear Force

 

    Although not initially designed to carry nuclear or strategic weapons, the Indian Air Force will receive 40 upgraded Su-30MKIs capable of carrying the BrahMos cruise missile possibly by 2012. In addition, there are also plans to integrate the nuclear-capable Nirbhay missile with the aircraft as well.India Today reported that Russia had won a large contract to upgrade 40 Su-30MKI fighters with new radars, onboard computers, electronic warfare systems and the ability to carry the BrahMos missile. The first two prototypes with the 'Super-30' upgrade will be delivered to the Indian Air Force in 2012, after which the same upgrades will be performed on the last batch consisting of 40 production aircraft. The exact value of the contract has yet to be disclosed however. In May 2010,

    In March 2010, India and France finalized the long delayed deal to upgrade all of India's Mirage 2000H to Mirage 2000-5 Mk 2 variant with new radar systems, a new weapon suite, missiles, electronic warfare system etc. French claim that the combat-proven aircraft will be upgraded to next-generation fighter level. The first four to six Mirages will be upgraded in France, with the rest 50 or so being upgraded in India by Hindustan Aeronautics under transfer of technology. Under the upgrade, the entire airframe will be stripped down to be re-wired and re-equipped with new avionics, mission computers, glass cockpits, helmet-mounted displays, electronic warfare suites and of course weapon systems to extend and enhance the operational life of the multi-role fighters by around 20 years.