With wartime supplies disrupted, IAF to develop indigenous navigation aids for upgraded AN-32 RE transport aircraft

Vijay Mohan

Chandigarh, November 2

With the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict affecting the supply of spares for Russian-origin military platforms, the IAF is adopting the indigenous route for developing critical navigation and landing aids for its AN-32 tactical transport fleet.

Navigation and Landing Indicator (NLI) was retrofitted in the AN-32 RE variants during their upgrade in Ukraine over a decade ago. NLI displays information collated from different sources such as magnetic compass, distance measuring equipment, automatic direction finder, instrument landing system and VHF omnidirectional radio-range.

According to IAF sources, the original manufacturer of the NLI is a Russian form, Aeropribor Voskhod, and these were integrated in the AN-32 RE by Ukraine’s Antonov Design Bureau in 2010. Over 55 aircraft have been fitted with the NLI and each aircraft carries two display screens, one on the pilot’s side and the other on the co-pilot’s side.

“However, the supply process for maintenance, repair and replacement is badly affected because of the war between Russia and Ukraine. There were also serious supply issues during the Covid-19 pandemic following which a case for indigenisation of the NLI was taken up,” an IAF officer said. “The project will be executed by No.1 Base Repair Depot (BRD) that is responsible for the maintenance and overhaul of AN-32 aircraft, in collaboration with the industry,” he added.

The twin-engine AN-32 turboprop tactical transport aircraft began entering Indian service in 1984 and about 125 aircraft were procured, out of which over 100 are in service. These are heavily used for crucial air maintenance in northern and north-eastern sectors, besides performing other tasks such as tactical airlift, communication, paratroop training and disaster management.

In 2009, a deal with Ukraine was finalised to upgrade the entire fleet, which included total technical life extension, repowering the engines, certain structural modifications to reduce weight, noise and vibrations, installation of a glass cockpit with a new avionics suite and flight management system, satellite navigation system and anti-collision systems.

Some aircraft were modified in Ukraine, while the remaining fleet was to be modified in India by No.1 BRD. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said in Parliament recently that half the AN-32 fleet had been upgraded.

Specially designed to meet India’s requirement for performance in hot and high environment, AN-32s have been the IAF workhorse. The IAF is witnessing a shift from the Russian AN-32 and IL-76 heavy lift that formed the mainstay of its transport fleet since the 1980s to Western aircraft such as the US C-17 and C-130 and more recently the European C-295 tactical aircraft.