Bangalore, February 7
The Indian Air Force is on its way to be a new-look force with new generation of planes, helicopters, transport planes and fighters to be inducted into it in the coming years.

Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshall NAK Browne, speaking at the Aero India, here today talked about the 10-year-plan for both fixed wing and rotary wing planes.

The biggest of the upgrades will be the deal to buy 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA). This will be the top priority in the 2013-14 fiscal, the IAF Chief said. Cost negotiations with French Dassault Aviation for Rafale planes were progressing in the right direction and the IAF expected the deal to be signed by the middle of 2013.

Further, on procurement plans during the next fiscal, Browne said his force would process fresh order for six C-130J medium lift planes for basing them at Panagarh in West Bengal. These would be in addition to the six C-130Js that are based in Hindon air base near Delhi.

Among other procurements on the priority list is conclusion of 22 Attack helicopters deal with US company Boeing and signing of contract for 15 heavy lift helicopters, apart from six Airbus-330 mid-air refuellers. “The government is fully aware and conscious of our requirements and I am sure, these will go through,” he stated

In the long run will come replacements for 56 Avro small transport aircraft and MiG-21 and MiG-27 fighter jets. Mi-8 helicopters are also slated to be phased out. While the Avros will be replaced by the new turbo prop engine planes, the MI17 V5 choppers will be added to phase out the MI-8 copters. Light Utility Helicopters will replace cheetah helicopters. The C-17 heavy lift transporter will join the fleet in June.

Tejas will join for the first-ever exercise ‘Iron fist’ in Rajasthan in the last week of February.

Meanwhile, the IAF Chief expressed no anxiety by the recent test by China on its heavy-lift transport plane Y-20, saying it looked like 70-tonne capacity plane. The engine was the same as IL 76 (operated by the IAF) had, but it did not look as good as the C-17. “Performance wise, we will have to wait and watch and see how it progresses,” he said. 

Bangalore, February 7
It took them six days to reach Bangalore from Delhi and they have halted at 15 places en route. Dharminder Singh Dangi and Himanshu Kulashrestha were not travelling by the slowest passenger train in business.

Dangi, a Group Captain with the IAF, and Wg Cmdr Kulashrestha, who are test pilots with the Aircrafts and Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE) in Bangalore, flew a 1930s vintage Tiger Moth aircraft all the way from Delhi to Bangalore for the 9th edition of the Aero India air show underway here.

“In each hop, we could cover around 200 km. It took a little more than two hours for covering 200 km. The aircraft can do about 60 knots an hour which is about 100 km only”, Dangi said.

The pilots took off from Delhi on January 19 and reached Bangalore on January 25, a distance that commercial jets cover in three hours flat. And, Dangi and Kulashrestha, being fighter pilots, are accustomed to flying planes at a much greater speed than commercial jets. The former flies Sukhoi and was the first commanding officer of the Sukhoi base at Tezpur, Assam. Kulashreshtha flies Mig 23 and Mig 27.

The Tiger Moth, which flew here yesterday during the inauguration of the aero show and provided a pleasant deviation from the brawny fighter jets roaring in the sky, was the first trainer aircraft of the IAF. Built in 1930 in UK, it became a part of the Royal Air Force in 1932. It came to India in 1939 and, after a brief stint with flying clubs, became the first trainer aircraft of the IAF.

Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh, the only IAF officer to be given the five star rank, had his first flying lessons aboard this aircraft. “There is no aircraft better than it if you want to enjoy the pure thrill of flying. The modern aircrafts are so complicated that they keep you busy all the time,” Dangi said.

Kulashrestha said he was enjoying the scenic beauty as he flew the plane along Dangi, his senior colleague. Though the plane can go up to an altitude of 4 km, they flew the plane at 1 km and one-and-a-half km altitude only and this gave them plenty of opportunity to have a good look at the ground.

R Deshpande, flight testing engineer, who handled the restoration of the aircraft which is part of the IAF’s vintage aircrafts display at Delhi’s Palam Airport, said they worked on the plane for about more than a year to make it airworthy again. The plane, which was retired from service in 1952 and flew for the last time in 1958, was dismantled completely and then assembled again with spares brought from the UK.

Chandigarh residents can see the vintage beauty in action on March 6 when President Pranab Mukherjee will be coming to the city for a Defence Ministry function.

• The Tiger Moth was the first trainer aircraft of the IAF
• Built in 1930 in UK, it became a part of the Royal Air Force in 1932
• It came to India in 1939 and, after a brief stint with flying clubs, became the first trainer aircraft of the IAF
• The plane was retired from service in 1952 and flew for the last time in 1958
• It was dismantled completely and then assembled again with spares brought from the UK
• Marshal Arjan Singh had his first flying lessons on this aircraft

Bangalore, February 7
A top Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) official today said the company was working on a basic trainer that would make a separate plane for intermediate jet training obsolete.

Suvarna Raju, chief of HAL’s design and development section, said air force pilots were trained in two stages the world over, but in India this was done in three stages-basic flying training followed by intermediate training and finally advanced jet training. The Hindustan Turbo Trainer 40 (HTT 40) being developed by HAL would contain features that would enable it to double up for stage 2 (intermediate training).

However, the HAL has not abandoned its commitment of manufacturing an intermediate jet trainer (IJT) for stage 2 training of the rookie fighter pilots of the IAF. The Bangalore headquartered PSU under the Defence Ministry has been facing flak from all quarter for delay in the production of IJT.

HAL chairman RK Tyagi said IJT was in advanced stage of development and was expected to get initial operational clearance (IOC) by December and would be ready by 2015. The IJT had completed 647 flight tests so far, including 185 tests last year and 25 flights this year, he added.

HTT 40 is supposed to replace HPT 32 that was earlier used for basic training of the IAF pilots. HPT 32 trainers were grounded following accidents and the IAF recently acquired Swiss Pilatus aircraft for basic training of pilots.

Raju said HAL had moved proposals thrice for supplying basic trainers for the IAF, but all those proposals were shot down. Getting spares for imported aircraft was a big problem and often exorbitant prices were charged by foreign companies for supplying spares, he added.

The HTT being developed by HAL would cost less than Pilatus. Moreover, it would have weapons training and other features that would enable the pilots to graduate to an advanced jet trainer (AJT) directly from the basic trainer without requiring to go through training aboard an IJT. Pilatus did not have the features of intermediate training like the ones HTT 40 would have, Raju said.