IAF to upgrade SU-30 fighter aircraft

[Justin Joseph]

IAF to upgrade SU-30 fighter aircraft

NEW DELHI: Modernising its fighter jet fleet, the Indian Air Force is going to upgrade its SU-30 MKI combat aircraft with the help of Russia.

"As part of IAF's modernisation programme, we are going to upgrade 50 Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft with help of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) from Russia," Defence Ministry sources said.

"Su-30 MKIs have been inducted into the IAF in four phases. The ones to be upgraded are from the first phase and the project is likely to be completed in the next three to four years," they added.

Of the 50 aircraft, around five would be sent to the Russian facilities while the remaining would undergo upgrading within India, they said.

Under the modernisation programme, the aircraft will be upgraded to the latest standards and equipped with modern avionics and various other capabilities.

"The airframe of these aircraft would also be strengthened to equip them with air-launched version of the 290 km range BrahMos supersonic cruise missile," the sources said.

The SU-30s were inducted into the IAF in late 90s and at present six squadrons of the aircraft are in service.

The first squadron was of the Su-30 was of the 'K' variant but later they were also upgraded to the latest MKI version. Till now, the IAF has placed orders for around 280 of these heavy air-superiority aircraft of which over 100 have been inducted.

IAF is already upgrading its two main fighter aircraft fleet of 60 MiG-29s and is about to sign an around USD two billion deal with France to modernise its 50 Mirage aircraft. The Jaguar, MiG-27 and MiG-21 fleets have already been upgraded by the force.

IAF to upgrade SU-30 fighter aircraft-Airlines / Aviation-Transportation-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times

 

[SomeGuy]

In reply to this post from another thread:

http://www.defence.pk/forums/military-aviation/32359-jf-17-thunder-multirole-fighter-thread-3-a-194.html#post966644

Source ? Also what do you think will be the next radar ?

Wont MLU help in increasing the power or something like that to incorporate Ibris ? -- The point i am tryin to make is -- Ibris has been a evolution from Bars , so its a logical ugrade ..

Source:

Analysis: China seeks new Russian technology - upiasia.com

Is there any possibility that the PLA Air Force may upgrade its existing Su-30MK2s and J-11s, or the Indian Air Force's Su-30MKIs, to a combat platform close to the Su-35 standard?

Dr. Yury Bely, a general designer at Russia's NIIP Radar Design Bureau, agreed to discuss the question. "It is impossible to import the Su-35's radar system only," he said. Bely stressed that it would be more feasible to import brand new Su-35s than to try upgrading the Su-30MK2.

The Su-35 is equipped with the H035 passive phased array radar system, which has extremely powerful detection capability, Bely pointed out. The average output power of this radar is 5 kW, with peak output at 20 kW; thus the output power of the Su-30MKI and Su-30MK2 would be insufficient. When the H035 radar was tested on Su-30MK No. 503, the detection range was as far as 290 kilometers with 1 kW power output, he said.

Also,

Sukhoi Su-30MKK - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In January 2007, Russia confirmed that the newest Irbis-E (Snow leopard-E) phased array radar in Russia's inventory, developed by Tikhomirov, was offered to China. However, it is highly unlikely that China will adopt this newest Russian airborne radar because all models of the Su-30 series can only provide half of the power required for the 5 kW rated radar, and currently, only Sukhoi Su-35 and Sukhoi Su-37 have enough power to support this newest Russian airborne radar.

 

[Tiger Awan]

Getting Aircrafts in late 90s and now upgrading them. This is over ambitious

I mean India have not even finished inducting them and here they are upgrading the first batch.l

Their airframe must have at-least 35 years life and by then they may have been upgraded 3 times. Best of luck

 

[owcc]

Upgradation of the forces is indeed at a good time.With mmrca being slightly delayed we must maintain a credible deep strike capability.

 

[Ras]

Getting Aircrafts in late 90s and now upgrading them. This is over ambitious

I mean India have not even finished inducting them and here they are upgrading the first batch.l

Their airframe must have at-least 35 years life and by then they may have been upgraded 3 times. Best of luck

This is what you can do when you have money...India has moved from have to use Mig 21's for 40 years to a point where they can afford to modernize jets after 10 years of use. Good for them.

 

[you are fired]

Getting Aircrafts in late 90s and now upgrading them. This is over ambitious

I mean India have not even finished inducting them and here they are upgrading the first batch.l

Their airframe must have at-least 35 years life and by then they may have been upgraded 3 times. Best of luck

well dear IAF is upgrading all its planes and new planes will come soon in IAF

SU30 MKI
mig 29
mig21
mirrage 2000
lca
mmrca
pak-fa


now smile pls

 

[Tiger Awan]

This is what you can do when you have money...India has moved from have to use Mig 21's for 40 years to a point where they can afford to modernize jets after 10 years of use. Good for them.

No its not about money. America, Russia, China there are so many countries with more resources and better infrastructure but they donot do this. Such decisions are not governed by resources but by Mentality

 

[nForce]

Getting Aircrafts in late 90s and now upgrading them. This is over ambitious

I mean India have not even finished inducting them and here they are upgrading the first batch.l

Their airframe must have at-least 35 years life and by then they may have been upgraded 3 times. Best of luck

We know what happened to the early F-16s acquired by PAF...The IAF wants to make sure that their Su-30 MKI s dont share the same fate..

 

[nForce]

No its not about money. America, Russia, China there are so many countries with more resources and better infrastructure but they donot do this. Such decisions are not governed by resources but by Mentality

Now this is great.How did you reach the conclusion that the countries you have mentioned dont provide proper maintenance to their fighter jets???Do you think these birds are like use and throw stuff??

The IAF has the money to do conduct tighter maintenance cycle,increasing safety standards,so it is doing that.It is being done so,because there is a necessity to do so.

It is not like one fine morning the Air Chief Marshal woke up and could not think of any better avenue to blow up his funds so he decided to upgrade the jets....


BTW,exactly what kind of mentality you are talking about here???

 

[Dark Angel]

better radar and avionics is always a delight for the pilots and not to forget deadly too

 

[Ammyy]

Why new 42 sukhoi 30mki cost 78million each ????

 

[sancho]

No its not about money. America, Russia, China there are so many countries with more resources and better infrastructure but they donot do this. Such decisions are not governed by resources but by Mentality

Says who? EF was inducted at the same time as the MKI in IAF (early 2000s) and they will now be upgraded in Tranche 3, with new weapon, upgraded engines, AESA radar, new avionics. The Rafale F3 upgrade includes AESA radar, new avionics and new weapons and an engine upgrade too, it was also inducted into the French forces in the early 2000s.
The MKI upgrade is exactly the same, not an major MLU like PAFs F16s, or our Mig 29s go through, but an upgrade to add new capabilities, so it is nothing unusual at all!

 

[navtrek]

Getting Aircrafts in late 90s and now upgrading them. This is over ambitious

I mean India have not even finished inducting them and here they are upgrading the first batch.l

Their airframe must have at-least 35 years life and by then they may have been upgraded 3 times. Best of luck

But the upgrades are worth it. It makes the planes potent moreover the strength of the IAF fleets are decreasing. So its worth it.

 

[Ammyy]

Getting Aircrafts in late 90s and now upgrading them. This is over ambitious

I mean India have not even finished inducting them and here they are upgrading the first batch.l

Their airframe must have at-least 35 years life and by then they may have been upgraded 3 times. Best of luck

YOU hear about your first 50 JF17 or not ...with in 5 year of induction they will seduled to upgrade

 

[navtrek]

No its not about money. America, Russia, China there are so many countries with more resources and better infrastructure but they donot do this. Such decisions are not governed by resources but by Mentality

I guess its being seen in a wrong sense and these planes are required for Domination of the sky's