IAF's Sukhoi Su-30MKI Jets To Be Upgraded To Super Sukhois Level

India's air superiority Sukhoi-30MKI fighters will soon be converted into 'Super Sukhois' by upgrading them with fifth generation combat jet features, the Russian original equipment manufacturer Irkut Corporation has announced.

The upgrade will include a new cockpit, an upgraded radar and advanced stealth characteristics to make the plane less visible to enemy radar than the existing Indian Air Force (IAF) Sukhoi-30 fleet, Irkut's president and chairman Alexy Fedorov said at the Moscow Air Show here.
The IAF currently has five operational Sukhoi 30MKI squadrons numbering around 100
aircraft. It will ultimately have over 230 Sukhoi-30MKIs or 13 squadrons in its fleet.

The fleet is under licenced production at the Bangalore-based Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and the entire fleet will be upgraded to the 'Super Sukhoi' configuration.

'The upgrade will apply not only to the aircraft in service with the Indian Air Force (IAF) but also to those yet to be delivered to India and to be licence-manufactured by HAL,' Fedorov said.

Most significantly, the aircraft will be able to carry a heavier weapon load, including the airborne version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, he added.

Fedorov said the 'Super Sukhoi' will be a potent aircraft similar in features to a fifth generation aircraft. However, he refused to provide specific details of the upgrade, stating that the exact nature of this was still to be decided between the Indian and Russian sides.

Discussions are currently on regarding various aspects of the proposed upgrade, he said.

The Irkut chief did not provide any indication of the cost of the upgrade project. However, going by the general cost trends of similar upgrades, the price could run close to $1 billion.

Meanwhile, HAL is upbeat over its participation in the cutting-edge technology fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) project.
The Sukhoi T-50 aircraft -- also called the PAK-FA -- unveiled at the Moscow International Air Show (MAKS) 2011 Wednesday will make India the only country outside of the US and Russia to have a fifth generation fighter.

HAL chairman Ashok Naik, who is here for the MAKS, told Defenseworld.net that HAL's participation in the project is 'well on track' with a preliminary design contract signed between India and Russia for $295 million.

The preliminary designing could take about 18 months to conclude. Detailed design work would then follow during which the full scope of the project would be defined. The basic requirement for the Indian fighter would be a twin-seater configuration, he added.

'HAL is keen to complete the design phase and move forward on the project,' Naik said, adding that the specific details of the Indian components that will go into the FGFA will be decided during the detailed design phase.

HAL will be working with its Russian partner United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) in co-developing an export version of which the IAF will be the first customer.

India has expressed a requirement of 250 to 300 PAK-FAs, which are scheduled for an Indian induction beginning 2016-17 and the procurement cost of the fleet is likely to exceed $35 billion. Russia too requires equal numbers of the jet.

Read More AT:

Yahoo News

Pakistani JF-17 A Thunder OR A Blunder

Pakistan has witnessed new defense acquisitions in this decade than any other, and in the center of it all is the new fighter which was designed by China with partial funding from Pakistan. It is formally known as JF-17 Thunder. When the fighter was in development, Pakistani online communities were jumping with excitement comparing it with its arch rival India’s modern combatants Su-30MKI, Mig-29S & Mirage-2000H. There were claims of it featuring western Radars and long range missiles, & Chinese ordering some due to its superior capabilities. But the reality is far from it. China having spent significant amount of money into a fighter which it is never going to use, most probably forced Pakistan to accept its avionics to offset some its development costs. Chinese who are known for their self reliance first and quality next, are further downgrading JF-17s capabilities with their poorly copy-pirated avionics. Along with their dubious weapons, any chance of JF...

India Planned Attack On Pak Navy Mehran Base To Kill Chinese Engineers

The terrorist attack on Karachi's Mehran Naval Station on May 22 was conceived and launched by India with the primary objective of killing the Chinese engineers present there, a Pakistani newspaper has claimed, citing 'informed sources'. Four to six Taliban terrorists had entered PNS Mehran on May 22, destroying two maritime surveillance aircraft and killing ten military personnel during their 17-hour siege of the naval air base. "India is the only country in the region that feels troubled by the Pakistan Navy, which had awfully beaten the Indian Navy in Operation Dwarka of 1965. Since then, it has been an earnest desire of India to harm the Pakistan Navy but it was perhaps not possible on the battle front, hence it struck the PNS Mehran," The News quoted sources as saying.

Pakistani F-16s Shoot Down RAF Eurofighter Typhoons During Air Combat Exercises In Turkey

Pakistani pilots flying modernised versions of the 1970s-vintage F-16 Falcon fighter have beaten the RAF's brand-new Eurofighter Typhoon superfighters during air combat exercises in Turkey, according to a Pakistani officer. Analysis: The RAF Typhoon, formerly known as the Eurofighter, should nonetheless have been vastly superior in air-to-air combat whether BVR or close in within visual range (WVR). The cripplingly expensive, long-delayed Eurofighter was specifically designed to address the defects of its predecessor the Tornado F3 – famously almost useless in close-in, dogfighting-style air combat. The Typhoon was meant to see off such deadly in-close threats as Soviet "Fulcrums" and "Flankers" using short-range missiles fired using helmet-mounted sight systems: such planes were thought well able to beat not just Tornados but F-16s in close fighting, and this expectation was borne out after the Cold War when the Luftwaffe inherite...

ASIAN DEFENCE

Search This Blog