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Old 29th September 2021, 18:36   #1426
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Re: Combat Aircraft of the Indian Air Force

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Originally Posted by shortbread View Post
Quite a lot of the Middle East nations own Mirage 2000s, most of whom have good relations with India. They must be looking to retire these, eg. UAE transferred a batch to the Iraqi Air Force.

Considering they must have seen relatively low flying hours/action vis a vis most other major Air Forces, the Indian Govt. could look into procuring this to add 2-3 squadrons for immediate/near-immediate induction.
That option is said to have been explored years ago. Did not materialize because of the price that was being asked for.
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Old 1st October 2021, 21:42   #1427
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Re: Combat Aircraft of the Indian Air Force

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Originally Posted by dragracer567 View Post
China has claimed that it has finally managed to equip its J-20 stealth fighters with its own domestic WS-10 engines operationally and apparently the aircraft with the new engines was put on show in Chinese city of Zhuhai yesterday.
Andreas Rupprecht, a China mil-av watcher I follow on Twitter has over the last fortnight been posting about his suspicions that there is at last a domestic engined J-20 on show. In fact the tell tale clues for those looking are the treatment of the rear engine outlets, they have a noticeably different serrated treatment.

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Originally Posted by fhdowntheline View Post
I think the same article also quotes that the US Military experts believe that the J-20's stealth capabilities are equivalent to the earlier generation F117 Nighthawk (now semi-retired).
We have to remember that the J-20 was built with a specific remit. It goes all in on the frontal aspect LO and couples that with long legs in order to travel far out into the Pacific theatre, beyond the 2nd island chain, so that in can strike at the vulnerable US support assets without which the USAF fighters are totally handicapped. These are the USAF AWACS and aerial refuelling tankers. After they've knocked those out, it's a simple turn and burn back to the homeland.

Speaking of the F-117 we finally know exactly why they've been brought out of retirement and it's such a clever use.
So we've known that they're being used for training but more importantly we know now that their small RCS makes them ideal surrogates for cruise missiles in training operations. When you think about it, it's so obvious. And given the proliferation of more advanced cruise missiles and missile trucks at both sea and in the air, providing a LO platform to mimic a cruise missile in an attack is a valuable training asset.
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Old 20th October 2021, 20:41   #1428
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Re: Combat Aircraft of the Indian Air Force

Came across this image on Instagram from the recent Blue Flag exercise in Israel. Interesting to see that the exercise included F35s from Italy, Israel and the US. Its easy to lose track of the various bilateral and multilateral exercises that the Indian armed forces have been taking part in, over the past two years despite COVID (the Indian Army is exercising with the US Army in Alaskan right now). At this point, the Indian military probably takes part in more exercises with the western bloc than anyother nation without an US security guarantee.

Also, I believe this is the first time that the IAF is exposed to F35s in an exercise (which I assume is why they sent the Mirages instead of the SU-30s). The Indian Military is also likely to exercise with the returning HMS Queen Elizabeth battlegroup (with RAF & USMC F35Bs) later this month for the first Tri-service exercise with the UK (round 2, since round 1 was just a PASSEX).

I wonder if there ever was an era when the Indian military conducted so many exercises with foreign nations (especially the western bloc) with such frequency (perhaps this is a question that Narayan sir and others of his tenure could answer )

Combat Aircraft of the Indian Air Force-a7c111f2ee6142afaf1ccf2c0aacbf70.jpeg
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Old 21st October 2021, 12:21   #1429
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Re: Combat Aircraft of the Indian Air Force

Looks like a Mirage-2000 of the IAF has crashed in MP with a technical snag. Thankfully the pilot has ejected safely.

Link : Source News - Times Now.

Quote:
"An IAF Mirage 2000 aircraft experienced a technical malfunction during a training sortie in the central sector this morning. The pilot ejected safely. An Inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident," the IAF tweeted.

Hearing the news of the IAF plane crash, locals turned up in huge numbers at the crash site.
I wonder when we'll change in the behaviour mentioned in the last line of that news. Sigh.

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Originally Posted by dragracer567 View Post
I wonder if there ever was an era when the Indian military conducted so many exercises with foreign nations (especially the western bloc) with such frequency (perhaps this is a question that Narayan sir and others of his tenure could answer.
+1 to that! Interestingly - this is when the actual squadron strengths of the IAF are consistently reducing, putting further strain on the service life of the airworthy fleet. Quite a catch22 isn't it? The exercises + exposure
with (current) allies are really good for the force generally.

Last edited by Reinhard : 21st October 2021 at 12:27.
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Old 21st October 2021, 14:08   #1430
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Re: Combat Aircraft of the Indian Air Force

Mirage 2000 numbers are constantly going down. What is going to replace them and when? Rafale? Tejas MK2? I think peacetime losses of IAF is quite high compared to even our neighbors.
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Old 21st October 2021, 14:37   #1431
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Re: Combat Aircraft of the Indian Air Force

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Mirage 2000 numbers are constantly going down. What is going to replace them and when? Rafale? Tejas MK2? I think peacetime losses of IAF is quite high compared to even our neighbors.
Well in the short term there is an order placed for 7-8 "pre-worshipped" Mirage2000s to be procured for attrition replacements as well as spare part replenishment. That said - it is as short term a fix as is possible really. The losses really are quite regular and most painful when trained pilots are lost together with the frame. A valuable soul & primed soldier is the hardest thing to replace.

The real numerical replacement / augmentation - is anybody's guess. The point has been discussed here and all over the world to dust practically. Nobody really knows what's going to happen just yet.

As for the comparison with neighbours its not exactly an apple-to-apple comparison per se. The other variables of the equation like aircraft age of the ones lost, actual flight hours being logged in training by the respective air-forces and type of sorties being carried out. If one doesn't fly their planes much - they are never going to crash are they! Information about Chinese losses during peacetime is practically impossible to validate. Agreed of course - our maintenance record hasn't been the best for fighter planes. Quite a contrast given the civilian fleets of Indian carriers tend to be some of the safest and long lived!

Last edited by Reinhard : 21st October 2021 at 14:40.
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Old 25th October 2021, 19:47   #1432
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Re: Combat Aircraft of the Indian Air Force

There it is. The shot of the Indian Air Force SU-30s & Jaguars with the RAF F35Bs. Not sure how extensive the exercises are but it should give the Indian Air Force valuable experience in engaging so-called stealth aircraft. Especially necessary with the PLA making strides with their J-20 program.

The Americans have long been paranoid of the F35s interacting with Russian platforms (such as the S400) with claims of the Russians having back-door access to these systems sold abroad to steal data but they don’t seem to have any inhibitions in interacting with Indian SU-30s. This for one shows the level of trust between India and the west (unthinkable in not so distant past) but also the fact that the American objections for F35 sales to Turkey due to the claims of Russian back door access via S400 systems was a rouse, rather it was political!

Combat Aircraft of the Indian Air Force-2b6ee3a7bdf54e50aba37e4a042677a8.jpeg
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Old 25th October 2021, 21:19   #1433
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Re: Combat Aircraft of the Indian Air Force

Sometimes looking at the Sukhoi fighters in daytime pics, one gets the feeling that even if one lacks a radar an effective alternative is a simple human observer with binoculars. The size of the thing, most folk can spot it far away!
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Old 26th October 2021, 02:23   #1434
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Re: Combat Aircraft of the Indian Air Force

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Originally Posted by shortbread View Post
Sometimes looking at the Sukhoi fighters in daytime pics, one gets the feeling that even if one lacks a radar an effective alternative is a simple human observer with binoculars. The size of the thing, most folk can spot it far away!
I figured most air superiority fighters designed to have certain levels of thrust, rate of climb, lift characteristics and range end up being pretty large
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Old 26th October 2021, 02:34   #1435
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Re: Combat Aircraft of the Indian Air Force

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Originally Posted by IshaanIan View Post
I figured most air superiority fighters designed to have certain levels of thrust, rate of climb, lift characteristics and range end up being pretty large
It was a light hearted comment.
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Old 26th October 2021, 08:53   #1436
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Re: Combat Aircraft of the Indian Air Force

Are the Jaguars still relevant in IAF scheme of things? I see they are deep penetration strike aircraft but have never heard or seen them in action in recent past. IAF is the only force that is still holding onto these legacy aircraft.
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Old 26th October 2021, 10:58   #1437
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Re: Combat Aircraft of the Indian Air Force

Quote:
Originally Posted by shortbread View Post
Sometimes looking at the Sukhoi fighters in daytime pics, one gets the feeling that even if one lacks a radar an effective alternative is a simple human observer with binoculars. The size of the thing, most folk can spot it far away!
You bet it is! The Flanker family has some of the largest fighters ever made if I am not mistaken. It's quite the surprise that this huge platform also produces the most maneuverable jets ever made such as the Su-30 SMs and Su-35s.

That said, I think there is an opportunity for further development of the Su-30 Mkis like Boeing did for the F15EXs. This could be an indigenous effort by India and be a stop-gap till the AMCA jets see fruition. By the 2030s, the earliest Su-30 Mkis would already be 30 years old.

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Originally Posted by sagarpadaki View Post
Are the Jaguars still relevant in IAF scheme of things? I see they are deep penetration strike aircraft but have never heard or seen them in action in recent past. IAF is the only force that is still holding onto these legacy aircraft.
They are relevant as long as we don't have any jets to replace them. Infact, they are frequently used in exercises with foreign countries and was even sent all the way to Alaska for the Red Flag exercises recently. So, they are very much operational given that the IAF has spend valuable resources upgrading them to DARIN III standard. It is also a key part of the nuclear triad since it is only one of two jets (the other being the Mirage 2000) that has the capability to drop nuclear weapons. And yea, right now, the IAF is the only force using them though in a much upgraded format.

Last edited by dragracer567 : 26th October 2021 at 10:59.
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Old 26th October 2021, 11:11   #1438
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Re: Combat Aircraft of the Indian Air Force

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Originally Posted by sagarpadaki View Post
Are the Jaguars still relevant in IAF scheme of things? I see they are deep penetration strike aircraft but have never heard or seen them in action in recent past. IAF is the only force that is still holding onto these legacy aircraft.
I think the long term strategy is to induct more Tejas Mark 1, then the larger Mark 2 variant (larger aircraft with canrads, more powerful engine) and ultimately the twin engine AMCA. The first two will replace Mirages and Jags when they are phased out.

From the news available, development is happening at full swing. What I'm not convinced is HALs ability to scale up production and meet demand.

Time to rely on the private sector to contract manufacture indigenous fighters.
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Old 26th October 2021, 20:55   #1439
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Re: Combat Aircraft of the Indian Air Force

Swarajyamag has shared a video low speed (40 knots) Taxi Trials Of India's SWiFT Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle Demonstrator

Name:  UCAV.jpg
Views: 347
Size:  16.7 KB

https://swarajyamag.com/defence/watc...TQ2ufv1wgk_S7c
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Old 7th November 2021, 15:39   #1440
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Re: Combat Aircraft of the Indian Air Force

https://forceindia.net/guest-column/...aining-terror/

Does anyone feel the same what I have been feeling for some time now. The paradigm of airborne combat is shifting and shifting fast. The tools, the methods and the art itself is changing. Prowess of drones was seen in Armenian- Azerbaijan conflict. Here comes another one, HGV, a good primer on the Chinese HGV can be read from above link. Things seem strange that only 20-22 years ago we were discussing will or won't of UCAVs and today their efficacy and essentiality is given. The principles of modern war fighting, developed mostly by Prussians, seems to be coming to an end, clash of machines if I may borrow the term from comics seem so near. Over to fighting machines....
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