Indian Air Force News & Discussions

[Lord Of Gondor]

Vice Chief H.S Arora(Earned his stripes on the MiG-29) front seat on the nimble PC-7 MK-II and Co- Piloting on the SKAT Hawk Mk-132

 

[Lord Of Gondor]

More from AdA

 

[MirageBlue]

Akash-NG, the new gen variant of Akash with an active seeker was tested by DRDO for the first time today. Completely modified the Akash SAM's configuration..not a ramjet missile now it seems. DRDO is on a roll!

On eve of #RepublicDay

@DRDO_India carried out successful maiden launch of Akash-NG (New Generation) Missile at Integrated Test Range off Odisha today. Akash-NG Surface-to-Air Missile meant for use by #IndianAirForce
@IAF_MCC for intercepting high manoeuvring aerial threats

 

[The Eagle]

Akash-NG, the new gen variant of Akash with an active seeker was tested by DRDO for the first time today. Completely modified the Akash SAM's configuration..not a ramjet missile now it seems. DRDO is on a roll!

Is this can be treated as a replacement for Spyder?

 

[Lord Of Gondor]

Is this can be treated as a replacement for Spyder?

Replacement for the Pechora, the SpyDer is new and state of the Art. No comparison as far as engagement is concerned, an active Radar ground launched Derby and IIR seeker equipped Python-4/5
DACT on the Vajra

 

[Lord Of Gondor]

Happy Republic Day:
The Strategic airlifter from the "Sky Lords" flanked by twin Izd 9.20 MiG-29s and Su-30 MKIs.

Loop tumble Yaw on the Su-30 MKI

The 30*165 Gasha
Mi-35 "Akbar" leading the AH-64E Guardians over Rajpath

 

[Lord Of Gondor]

The VayuSena medal for Gallantry awarded to Sqn Ldr. Vivek Gairola for bringing home a Su-30MKI after a Night time Air to Air refueling sortie went awry:

Valour of the story of The Bison(Son of Bis) from the "Sword Arms"

Scary AF, but very well done.

 

[Gomig-21]

Loop tumble Yaw on the Su-30 MKI

That's pretty cool, taking one of the French pilots who delivered one of the Rafales out for a ride in the Su-30MKI? The last 3 that arrived made the trip non-stop with in-flight refueling from a UAE tanker.

Those HAWKs are really outstanding aircraft for what they're designed. I wish the EAF had invested in them instead of the Alpha Jets or even the K-8s.

So @Lord Of Gondor or @MirageBlue , any truth to the Indian air force being interested in the F-15EX?
According to Defense Arab Twitter handle:

Boeing receives approval from the US government to make a bid to sell the new F-15EX fighter jets to India as part of his plans to purchase 114 multi-purpose aircraft for the Indian Air Force • A qualitative transfer to the Indian Air Force (IAI) in the event that they obtain this large number of fighters.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1354770885819985921

Has the IAF shown any interest in so many F-15s (the latest version, mind you) that would prompt Boeing to make this congressional request?

 

[Lord Of Gondor]

That's pretty cool, taking one of the French pilots who delivered one of the Rafales out for a ride in the Su-30MKI? The last 3 that arrived made the trip non-stop with in-flight refueling from a UAE tanker.

No the Rafales of IAF are flown home by IAF pilots, the above sortie was during the AdA-IAF Exercise "Desert Knight 2021".

Those HAWKs are really outstanding aircraft for what they're designed. I wish the EAF had invested in them instead of the Alpha Jets or even the K-8s.

Very successful jet for BAE, no doubt!

I like the looks of the Alpha Jet more (has very nice lines, similar to the Jaguar)

So @Lord Of Gondor or @MirageBlue , any truth to the Indian air force being interested in the F-15EX?
According to Defense Arab Twitter handle:

Boeing receives approval from the US government to make a bid to sell the new F-15EX fighter jets to India as part of his plans to purchase 114 multi-purpose aircraft for the Indian Air Force • A qualitative transfer to the Indian Air Force (IAI) in the event that they obtain this large number of fighters.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1354770885819985921

Has the IAF shown any interest in so many F-15s (the latest version, mind you) that would prompt Boeing to make this congressional request?

Too early to say, they probably wanted to get all the bureaucratic work done before any push.
Rafale is still fan favorite though.

 

[Gomig-21]

No the Rafales of IAF are flown home by IAF pilots, the above sortie was during the AdA-IAF Exercise "Desert Knight 2021".

That's right. I did forget that little bit of an important detail since the same thing was done with the EAF Rafales. You wonder, though, that distance from France to India would need a couple of refuelings but they made it with only one if I'm not mistaken. That's a HUGE testament to the Rafale's range!

I like the looks of the Alpha Jet more (has very nice lines, similar to the Jaguar)

I can see that. I think one of the main "incentives" the French made to Egypt for purchasing the Alpha Jet was for that one, particular, monster, famous anti-ship missile that's handing off the right side pylon there lol.

Too early to say, they probably wanted to get all the bureaucratic work done before any push.
Rafale is still fan favorite though.

Just saw a pic of the Saudi F-15SE and it was carrying 12 AIM-120 AMRAAMs LoloLOLolOL! I really wonder if the US offered that missile to the EAF when they offered the F-15 in exchange for dropping the Su-35? Difficult to find that out but considering they've banned that missile from Egypt, how could they possibly think that would be an enticing deal for the EAF to drop the venerable Su-35 with all its medium & long range A2A missiles for the F-15 WIHTOUT AMRAAMs? If that's what they did, then shame on them for thinking the EAF would be that stupid to accept such an offer. And I'm guessing they did since the answer to that offer was "no thanks, we've determined that the Su-35 is a vastly superior aircraft to the F-15." They wouldn't have been so negatively emphatic about that had the US offered the AMRAAM is my guess. But I don't think India will be exempted from that even if you haven't singed the CISMOA. Or has India signed it already?

 

[Lord Of Gondor]

Just saw a pic of the Saudi F-15SE and it was carrying 12 AIM-120 AMRAAMs LoloLOLolOL! I really wonder if the US offered that missile to the EAF when they offered the F-15 in exchange for dropping the Su-35? Difficult to find that out but considering they've banned that missile from Egypt, how could they possibly think that would be an enticing deal for the EAF to drop the venerable Su-35 with all its medium & long range A2A missiles for the F-15 WIHTOUT AMRAAMs? If that's what they did, then shame on them for thinking the EAF would be that stupid to accept such an offer. And I'm guessing they did since the answer to that offer was "no thanks, we've determined that the Su-35 is a vastly superior aircraft to the F-15." They wouldn't have been so negatively emphatic about that had the US offered the AMRAAM is my guess. But I don't think India will be exempted from that even if you haven't singed the CISMOA. Or has India signed it already?

Well the Su-35S is certainly great, the Eagle certainly carries a LOT more ordinance, is a better multi role jet.
The Airframe is also rated for much greater hours.
Like most things in military aviation, it will be about trade offs, Su-35S has the entire state of Russia behind, US jets have more End User Monitoring and other bureaucratic/political headaches associated.
India has signed all foundational agreements and may well have access to latest stand off weapons, India is one of three Asian nations to have STA-1 status(after treaty allies Japan and SoKo)
Here is Bill Blair from LM India on the F-16....err F-21

The Auto GCAS feature is absolutely superb, will make lives safer for Indian pilots during High Alt Valley Operations in pitch dark nights.
Tejas has an Auto Low Speed Recovery system built into the Control Laws but the above feature will be just a massive safety net, will have IAF attention no doubt.

 

[Gomig-21]

Well the Su-35S is certainly great, the Eagle certainly carries a LOT more ordinance,

Henh?! 11 harpoints on the Eagle to 12 on the Su-35, plus a slew of different types of munitions on the Russian aircraft.

The only edge I would give the Eagle is it's 600 rounds for its gatling gun as opposed to the Su-35's 140 rounds of 40 millimeter I think it is. Other than that, with the variety of PGMs in Russian inventory, tough not to give it the edge.

is a better multi role jet.

I'll take the air superiority AC that also has a deadly air to ground package.

The Airframe is also rated for much greater hours.

Curious as to where did you get that information?

I would've given the Eagle the edge in the radar with its AESA, but I'll take the IRBIS PESA with its 400 km range since I also have the leading edge wing-mounted AESA radar on the Su-35 AND the IRST which is still being developed for the Eagle. And of course, in Egypt's case, the political baggage from the US is absolutely ridiculous beyond belief and makes buying any US equipment now not very enticing to be perfectly honest with you.

I'm not sure what those other agreements are, but I know that the US insists on the CISMOA being signed for non-transfer of sensitive and advanced weapons and particularly the AIM-120 and AIM-9X. Last time I remember when Egypt finally signed it, the only hold-out on it was India which was why I was asking.

 

[Lord Of Gondor]

Henh?! 11 harpoints on the Eagle to 12 on the Su-35, plus a slew of different types of munitions on the Russian aircraft.

The only edge I would give the Eagle is it's 600 rounds for its gatling gun as opposed to the Su-35's 140 rounds of 40 millimeter I think it is. Other than that, with the variety of PGMs in Russian inventory, tough not to give it the edge.



I'll take the air superiority AC that also has a deadly air to ground package.



Curious as to where did you get that information?

The Su carries IIRC 8T of payload, the Eagle carries around 13.5T.
The permutations and combinations are also better thanks to the superb packaging.
The airframe is rated for 20000 hours for the Eagle EX which is just nuts!
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...tentially-replacing-the-f-15e-with-the-f-15ex
The only real advantage,IMO (Aircraft vs. aircraft) the Su-35 enjoys... is lower acquisition costs.

I would've given the Eagle the edge in the radar with its AESA, but I'll take the IRBIS PESA with its 400 km range since I also have the leading edge wing-mounted AESA radar on the Su-35 AND the IRST which is still being developed for the Eagle. And of course, in Egypt's case, the political baggage from the US is absolutely ridiculous beyond belief and makes buying any US equipment now not very enticing to be perfectly honest with you.

I'm not sure what those other agreements are, but I know that the US insists on the CISMOA being signed for non-transfer of sensitive and advanced weapons and particularly the AIM-120 and AIM-9X. Last time I remember when Egypt finally signed it, the only hold-out on it was India which was why I was asking.

Yes, US deals are over complicated during the best of times.
Now with CAATSA....

 

[MirageBlue]

I would've given the Eagle the edge in the radar with its AESA, but I'll take the IRBIS PESA with its 400 km range since I also have the leading edge wing-mounted AESA radar on the Su-35 AND the IRST which is still being developed for the Eagle. And of course, in Egypt's case, the political baggage from the US is absolutely ridiculous beyond belief and makes buying any US equipment now not very enticing to be perfectly honest with you.

I'm not sure what those other agreements are, but I know that the US insists on the CISMOA being signed for non-transfer of sensitive and advanced weapons and particularly the AIM-120 and AIM-9X. Last time I remember when Egypt finally signed it, the only hold-out on it was India which was why I was asking.

Frankly, the Su-35S will not make it to the MRFA trials at all. the IAF is almost 100% sure to ask for AESA as a mandatory requirement of all the fighters participating in the MRFA tender. Even if we assume that Sukhoi offers the Su-35S with the Su-57's AESA or some other AESA radar, it is likely to be very immature, having not being integrated till now. Irbis will not interest the IAF when comparing with the AESA radars that all other MRFA candidates bring to the table. Even for the Su-30MKI upgrade program, talk is now that the indigenous Uttam AESA will form the baseline on which an indigenous AESA radar will be offered to the IAF..reportedly the IAF wasn't too keen on going with the Irbis in place of the Bars on the Su-30MKI.

F-15EX with a GaN AESA radar and GaN EW suite is possibly the best of the lot on offer. And as Lord Of Gondor already mentioned, the 20,000 hour service life is truly insane. But it'll also be the most expensive one overall perhaps. The likely acquisition cost of a F-15EX would be in the range of $90-100 million flyaway or possibly even more. With all the ground infrastructure, spares, logistics, etc. that need to be set up for a fleet as large as 114 fighters, it'll be the costliest fighter in the competition.

Another big thing is the fact that with 260 Su-30MKIs and 59 MiG-29UPGs, plus 12 more Su-30MKIs and 21 MiG-29UPGs on the verge of being ordered, a very large part of the IAF's fleet is of Russian origin. IAF may not want to order what may well be it's last large import, with the Russians.

Price wise, the Russians win on acquisition cost but with life cycle costs, they almost even out or end up being costlier.

AIM-120C7 or AIM-120D may well be excellent BVRAAM missiles, but with Meteor coming with Rafales, Astra Mk1 having entered service and Astra Mk2 about to enter trials this year and SFDR based BVRAAM after that, getting the latest AMRAAM variant isn't the big carrot it once would've been. AIM-260, yes now that would interest the IAF.

The best option remains to go with 2-3 more squadrons of Rafales and end this MRFA contest once and for all. 4-5 squadrons of Rafales with large stocks of Meteors, Scalps and integration of indigenous weapons such as the Astra Mk1/Mk2 and SFDR will give the IAF more than adequate breathing room while Tejas Mk2 and AMCA are developed. Hopefully the IAF can then go with the ORCA derivative of the TEDBF naval fighter for the Indian Navy.

Indigenous upgrade program for the Su-30MKI proposed by HAL

 

[Lord Of Gondor]

Another fully loaded Mirage-2000I image

Courtesy-MoD/Defence PRO Shillong
(Superb loadout, 3 MICA RF+2 MICA IR+2 SPICE 2000+1 Litening Pod+1 Center line Drop Tank)