Defexpo 2012 Special See us at Hall 14 Booth 14.26 SP’s AN SP GUIDE PUBLICATION ED BUYER ONLY) ED BUYER -BAS A NDI I News Flies. We Gather Intelligence. Every Month. From India. 75.00 ( ` www.spsaviation.net APRIL • 2012 AviationSOLE OFFICIAL MEDIA PARTNER AIR • CURRENT STATUS OF BUSINESS AVIATION IN INDIA to • AIR SAFETY IN REGIONAL AVIATION • INDIA AVIATION AT HYDeraBad – GLIMPSE OF THE SHOW • INDIA'S AWACS PROGRAMME AIR • ARMY AVIATIOn – MODERNISATION STATUS SOLUTION • ATTACK HELICOPTERS A330 MRTT REFUELLER IN FLIGHT RNI NUMBER: DELENG/2008/24199 SP’s AN SP GUIDE PUBLICATION TABLE of CONTENTS News Flies. We Gather Intelligence. Every Month. From India. AviationIssue 4 • 2012 The A330 MRTT is able to perform simultaneously three different types of missions: aerial refuelling (tanker role), 38 passenger and/or freight transport, and/or medical evacuation (MEDEVAC)—making it exceptionally productive CIVIL 41 Industry Business Aviation Elettronica: Italian Technology 12 SPOTLIGHT & International Commitment Still a Luxury? MARKETING FEATURE 14 Business Aviation MULTI-MISSION CAPABILITIES ‘Business jet is a tool which 36 Russian Arms Export supports our organisations Airbus Military is developing, Russian Aviation and industry’ producing, selling and for India 15 Business Aviation supporting a comprehensive Efficient Business Tool family of airlifters from three to REGULAR DEPARTMENTS 16 Regional Aviation 45 tonnes of payload 4 A Word from Editor Better Safe than Sorry Page 38 6 NewsWithViews Show Report – India Displaces China as 18 • World’s Largest Arms Importer India Promising Defexpo 2012 Special See us at Hall 14 Booth 14.26 SP’s AN SP GUIDE PUBLICATION – Kingfisher Heading for a 22 Engine News Flies. We Gather Intelligence. Every Month. From India. Crash Landing! 75.00 (INDIA-BASED BUYER ONLY) BUYER 75.00 (INDIA-BASED ` The Real Power... behind the www.spsaviation.net APRIL • 2012 AviationSOLE OFFICIAL MEDIA PARTNER Sukhoi SuperJet 100 8 In Focus AIR • CURRENT STATUS OF BUSINESS Far from Sufficient AVIATION IN INDIA to • AIR SAFETY IN REGIONAL AVIATION • INDIA AVIATION AT HYDERABAD – GLIMPSE OF THE SHOW MILITARY • INDIA'S AWACS PROGRAMME Forum AIR • ARMY AVIATION – MODERNISATION 9 STATUS SOLUTION • ATTACK HELICOPTERS 24 Force-Multipliers A330 MRTT REFUELLER IN FLIGHT Inadequate & Intimidating Indigenous AWACS 43 Hall of Fame Frank Whittle (1907-1996) 27 Army Aviation Boost Capability RNI NUMBER: DELENG/2008/24199 44 NewsDigest SP's Aviation Cover 04-12.indd 1 26/03/12 5:59 PM 31 Attack Helicopters 48 LastWord Cover Photo: A330 MRTT offers military Can We Take On the Dragon? Enhancing Capabilities strategic air transport as well as air-to-air refuelling 34 Combat Jets capabilities. It is participating in the ongoing IAF 5th Gen Aspirations programme for acquiring six multi-role tanker transport aircraft. NEXT ISSUE: 40 Helicopter Greenfield Airports Ready to Serve Image By: Airbus Military Issue 4 • 2012 SP’S AVIATION 1 TABLE of CONTENTS PLUS... PUBLISHER AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF DESIGN & LAYOUT Jayant Baranwal Senior Art Director: Anoop Kamath Designers: Vimlesh Kumar Yadav, ASSISTANT GROUP EDITOR Sonu Singh Bisht R. Chandrakanth DIRECTOR SALES & MARKETING SENIOR VISITING EDITOR Neetu Dhulia Air Marshal (Retd) V.K. Bhatia SALES & MARKETING Head Vertical Sales: Rajeev Chugh SENIOR TECHNICAL GROUP EDITORS Air Marshal (Retd) B.K. Pandey SP’S WEBSITES Lt General (Retd) Naresh Chand Sr Web Developer: Shailendra Prakash Ashish Web Developer: Ugrashen Vishwakarma 12 Still a Luxury? 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Fax: +7 (495) 912 1260 2 SP’S AVIATION Issue 4 • 2012 www.spsaviation.net Your CEO, stockholders and chief pilot will love it. Even if they all happen to be you. Step aboard the King Air 250 and know you’ve arrived. As you settle in, every sensation conveys this is the aircraft for you. Expansive interior. Winglets. Composite scimitar propellers. Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21™ flight deck. Each detail, every amenity, combines to deliver the dependability, performance, technology, and efficiency that today’s passengers and pilots demand. We build aircraft you can believe in. HawkerBeechcraft.com. King Air 250 © 2012 HAWKER BEECHCRAFT CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. HAWKER AND BEECHCRAFT ARE TRADEMARKS OF HAWKER BEECHCRAFT CORPORATION. SP_Aviation_KingAir_250.indd 1 3/5/12 8:19 AM A Word from Editor The combined shopping list of the armed forces is long and varied. There will therefore be great opportunities for the vast gathering of exhibitors to do meaningful businesses in the forthcoming Defexpo he traditional announcement of the national bud- force level of 42 jet fighter squadrons by 2022. get during the ‘Budget Session’ in February each As far as the Indian Army is concerned, it needs to des- year slipped by nearly a month and was finally un- perately accelerate the processes to bring its modernisation veiled on March 16. The defence budget was once plans on track including that of the Army Aviation Corps again a two-liner with Finance Minister Pranab (AAC) which continues to lament that its modernisation pro- Mukherjee announcing an allotment of `1,93,407 cess is woefully slow. The AAC is firmly of the view that Army crore ($39 billion) for the financial year 2012-13 and that, if re- Aviation is the arm of the future, a force-multiplier which can Tquired, more funds would be provided to meet defence needs. tilt the balance in any future conflict. Its greatly expanded re- A nearly 17 per cent increase in this year’s defence budget may quirements, especially in terms of its rotary wing capabilities appear to be a bold move on Mukherjee’s part, saddled as he is need immediate attention by the government. with the problems of a sluggish economic growth, rising global The combined shopping list of the armed forces is long prices of crude oil and a burgeoning fiscal deficit, but the nag- and varied. There will therefore be great opportunities for the ging question is, has he really been able to deliver especially on vast gathering of exhibitors from both domestic, but mostly the modernisation front of the armed forces. from around the globe, to do meaningful businesses in the On the face of it, this year’s defence budget may show a 17 forthcoming Defexpo to be held in Delhi (March 29-April 1). per cent increase over the 2011-12 defence budget, but when At SP Guide Publications, while wishing the organisers computing against the revised allocations for the previous and the exhibitors the ‘very best’, we are all set to welcome year, it slides down to a 13.1 per cent increase. Secondly, while our readers and guests to India’s ‘Defexpo 2012’ in the pres- `1,13,828 crore earmarked under the revenue head expendi- tigious capacity as the show’s official media partner. ture might be able to meet the requirements of the services, See you all there! it is the allotment under the capital head which is a cause of concern. Once again, the `79,579 crore ($16 billion) funds allotted for capital expenditure appear to be a substantial im- provement over the previous year but when viewed against the depleting value of the rupee against the dollar (down by more than 20 per cent in last one year) and the ever rising in- flationary pressures—both global and domestic—there is little reason left to cheer for the enhanced allocations. Notwithstanding the above, it is sincerely hoped that whatever funds earmarked for the capital acquisitions— Army: `18,828 crore ($3.8 billion); Navy: `23,865 crore ($4.8 billion); and the Air Force: `29,853 crore ($6 billion)— would at least be allowed to be spent fully this year. In the past, MoD has been forced to surrender the money from capital account on one pretext or the other by the Finance Ministry. In the same vein, it is also to be hoped that for timely fructification of the armed forces’ capability build- ing programmes, the capital fund allotments would be in- creased to the desired levels. It is worth noting that the IAF Jayant Baranwal alone needs between $100-150 billion in the next ten years Publisher & Editor-in-Chief or so, if it has to build up its combat power which includes a 4 SP’S AVIATION Issue 4 • 2012 www.spsaviation.net INDIA DISPLACES CHIna as world’s LARGEST ARMS IMPORTER Views Thanks to its aggressive shopping in the international arms bazaar and very limited indigenous supplies, India was the world’s largest arms im- porter between 2007 and 2011, according to the latest data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).