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Vayu Issue I Jan Feb 2012

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Vayu Issue I Jan Feb 2012 I/2012 ARerospace &Defence eview Rafale selected as M-MRCA No 14 Squadron turns 60 India’s ‘Look East’ Policy ‘Chinisation’ of the PAF Israeli Missiles for India MiG-21 Upgrade saga CFM I/2012 I/2012 Aerospace &Defence Review 38 The ‘Look East’ Policy 46 ‘Chinisation’ of the Strategic importance of the Pakistan Air Force Asia-Pacific region is examined Shalini Chawla, Senior Fellow by Lt Gen Kamal Davar, former with CAPS writes on the head of the Defence Intelligence modernisation of Pakistan’s Air Agency, who reviews the Force, primarily with assistance Rafale selected as M-MRCA No 14 Squadron turns 60 challenges and opportunities for India’s ‘Look East’ Policy ‘Chinisation’ of the PAF from China, which includes customer for the Airbus A330 Israeli Missiles for India MiG-21 Upgrade saga India, indeed also for the United substantial numbers of 4th MRTT. A Vayu exclusive. States, in context of China’s generation fighters, AEW&C military growth. A significant Cover : The Dassault Rafale aircraft and maritime patrol aspect of India’s LEP has been (photo courtesy Dassault) aircraft. The JF-17 Thunder the enlargement of cooperation The Tortuous MiG-21 will arguably become the most 76 with ASEAN nations, even as familiar shape in Pakistan’s skies Upgrade Saga there are new initiatives with over the next decades, but, In his series on ‘Testing Times’, EDITORIAL PANEL Australia. in a reflection of real politik, Air Marshal Philip Rajkumar the PAF has also received new recalls the evolution of the IAF’s MANAGING EDITOR block F-16s, C-130s and P-3Cs MiG-21 fleet from the early Vikramjit Singh Chopra from the USA. MiG-21F-13s to the present MiG-21bisons, which continue EDITORIAL ADVISOR in frontline service nearly half Admiral Arun Prakash a century from when the type entered IAF service. EDITORIAL PANEL Pushpindar Singh Air Marshal Brijesh Jayal 120 ‘Operation Vijay’ Air Cdre. Jasjit Singh December 2011 marked 50th anniversary of the liberation Lt. Gen. Kamal Davar President’s Fleet of Goa, Daman and Diu from Gp Capt JC Malik 30 A related article by Air Portuguese colonisation. A Dr SR Valluri Review 2011 Commodore Kaiser Tufail historical recollection of the The Vayu Aerospace & Defence on ‘The Sherdils’, the PAF Cdr M Nirmal brief action and the role and Review was invited to witness formation aerobatic team. deployment of the IAF which Esha Singh Alagh the President’s Fleet Review quickly tipped the balance in Monica Arora 2011 and, like on previous such India’s favour. Richard Gardner (UK) occasions, offers its readers a 66 ‘Raging Bulls’ Turn Reuben Johnson (USA) first hand account of this event at Mumbai Harbour on 20 Sixty No 14 Squadron of the Indian The Daring Eagles ! Simon Watson (UK) December 2011. Plus exclusive Air Force celebrated their 74 Phil Camp and Simon Watson Bertrand de Boisset (France) images taken from the flotilla. Diamond Jubilee in December recently visited various IAF Dr Nick Evesenkin (Russia) 2011, which was attended by stations under Central Air Tamir Eshel (Israel) a galaxy of serving and retired Command, and write about No. senior officers of the Indian Air 105 HU at Gorakhpur, which unit ADVERTISING & MARKETING MANAGER Force. These included many of has a long and distinguished career Husnal Kaur the ‘famous twelve’, pioneers and are presently committed on on the Jaguar in 1979, including Operation Triveni. BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER the present Chief of Air Staff who Premjit Singh formerly released the illustrated history of ‘The Fighting Fourteen’ 110 Dubai Air Show during an impressive ceremony 2011, LIMA’11 at Ambala Air Force Base. Reports on the Dubai Air Show David’s armoury : 2011 and an interview with Alexei 56 Fedorov of Irkut Corporation, also defending India followed by that on the Langkawi Article by Sayan Majumdar Published by: Show where the Malaysian’s are examining six contemporary THE SOCIETY FOR AEROSPACE STUDIES looking at new fighters, their own missiles developed by Israel M-MRCA competition. D-43, Sujan Singh Park, for aerial supremacy and robust New Delhi 110 003 India defence against missiles and Also: Tel: +91 11 24617234 other aerial threats. Rafael’s Fax: +91 11 24628615 Python 5 and Derby are ‘Heliborne operations at Sylhet’, e-mail: [email protected] reportedly weapons of choice ‘Proliferation compounded’, e-mail: [email protected] for the IAF which will also arm 107 Voyager Underway ‘Countering insurgency, jointly’, the Tejas LCA. The Barak-8 at Cobham ‘Converting to Harriers’. Printed at Aegean Offset Printers robust area air defence surface to air missile system has been Richard Gardner reports on Cobham’s role in converting The opinions expressed in the articles adopted by both the Indian Regular features : published in the Vayu Aerospace and Navy and IAF even as the Rafael A330-200s into Voyager Commentary, Viewpoint, Aviation & Defence Review do not necessarily reflect SPYDER has been ordered. tanker/transports for the RAF, Defence in India, World Aviation & the views or policies of The Society for which was the military launch Defence News, Tale Spin. Aerospace Studies. Visit us at: www.vayuaerospace.in C O M M E N T A R Y In conjunction with the defence offset policy, suppliers Smart ways to buy weapons should be required to invest in setting up facilities in India, hen nations buy advanced defence equipment like thereby increasing both service level assurance and help develop Waircraft, capital acquisition costs can run into billions a trained indigenous workforce. of dollars. Today, it is known that in the case of major From: The Economic Times platforms, the sustenance costs work out to be much higher than the one-time acquisition cost of these systems. In many cases, equipment that seemed to be the cheapest in terms of Air Power against Maoists the initial capital cost, turns out to be more expensive over an ndia’s paramilitary forces, which until now had only nine operational lifetime. Ihelicopters for anti-Maoist operations, have been sanctioned There are charges like fuel or energy consumption, six more Mi-17 helicopters by the Centre. The expanded fleet maintenance and replacement of equipment or parts, strength of helicopters will provide the paramilitary forces consumables and disposal, all of which add on to the lifetime much needed agility in their ongoing battle against left-wing cost of the equipment purchased. But traditional models of extremism, significantly reducing their vulnerability to ambushes costing do not consider many of these charges when selecting while negotiating through jungles on foot or by motorised a product. vehicles. Ultimately, the operations and support charges, added to the The cabinet committee on Security headed by the prime acquisition cost, is a better measure of the cost of a platform. minister mandates that the IAF and BSF helicopters will be Lifecycle costing (LCC) is a tool that allows acquisition and used only for air-mobile transportation and casualty evacuation procurement managers to make more informed decisions and not for offensive action. The government in October- by enabling them to incorporate costs and benefits into November 2009 permitted the IAF to defend itself from Maoist their procurement decisions. This LCC is a comprehensive small arms fire and specified conditions for use of weapons in assessment of the total financial commitment associated with self-defence. the platform, and is an international best practice increasingly Consequently the IAF fitted sideward-mounted machine being used by governments to make more informed procurement guns on its helicopters flying in Maoist-affected areas. The decisions. IAF ‘Garud’ commandos flying on-board these helicopters While the upfront acquisition costs are relatively easier to are trained to operate this weaponry. The IAF has drafted estimate and compare, getting an accurate estimate on how ‘Rules of Engagement’ to regulate such action, in order to much the user shall have to spend in operating, maintaining avoid any ambiguity and damage to helicopters or injury and upgrading the equipment till its final disposal involve to aircrew. complicated projections and calculations. While helicopters fly the paramilitary or security forces to Determining the useful life of a platform is generally difficult. If their target areas to ‘induct’ troops into operations and fly them the duration in which an equipment wears out is taken as a measure back after their mission, these whirly birds are exposed for a of how long it will last, how do we make estimates for a new, untried few minutes to hostile fire while ‘landing’ or ‘taking off. To platform? Accurate and dependable data essential for this purpose effectively thwart such hostile attempts to open fire the time- is difficult to come by for new equipment and technologies. tested solution is to ‘secure’ and ‘sanitise’ the landing zone However, a combination of data from manufacturers, against such threats. data from other operators and extrapolation from experience Evidently the government’s decision to use air power to fight from similar equipment can help in making a reasonable left-wing extremism implies a sense of helplessness against an assessment. elusive and hard-hitting foe. Now that New Delhi has opted Since the Government of India has a major defence to use helicopters it may as well use these rotary wing aircraft acquisition programme, it would be prudent to develop databases or helicopters, as weapons platforms against the Maoists. The and analytical models to ensure cost effective long-term advantages of airpower are primarily swift response, lower ownership. This would also ensure economic asset management casualties, larger area of coverage, ease of access to hostile during the life cycle of all equipment purchased. terrain, total destruction, day and night operations and lastly a A recent UK government report cautions on the risk of psychological advantage against the foe.
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