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Indigenised spares keep Russian origin IAF chopper, transport fleet flying: 3 BRD

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The Indian Air Force’s 3 Base Repair Depot (BRD) Thursday claimed to have made huge efforts in keeping the MI series helicopters and AN-32 transport aircraft fleet flying despite shortage of spares due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The depot officials have claimed rapid strides in indigenisation of spares for transport aircraft and helicopters. Depot officials claimed to have successfully indigenised approximately 15,000 lines of spares of aircraft well as aero engines.

Addressing media on topics of ‘Make in India’ and ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’, Air Commodore Rajeev Shrivastava, Air Officer Commanding (AOC), 3 BRD said indigenisation of many complex spares has been completed and many more are in advanced stages. “Indigenisation drive of the depot has resulted in savings of hundreds of crores worth of foreign exchange and at the same time has drastically reduced ex-abroad dependency for requirement of aviation spares,” he added.

The BRD officials said the biggest challenge of the depot has been sustenance of huge Medium Lift Helicopter (MLH) fleet, with limited or nil support from OEM in Russia in terms of supply of critical spares. The officials said the indigenisation efforts have contributed immensely in sustaining Mi-series helicopters and AN-32 fleet serviceability especially during Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The AOC further said that in the face of many technological and supply chain challenges due to difficult geo political scenario the depot has always played a pivotal role in sustaining operations of the Russian Helicopters and AN-32 transport fleet of the IAF.

He said 3 BRD is the only Repair Depot of Indian Air Force (IAF) undertaking overhaul of aircraft and aero engines as well as acting as an equipment depot. “The depot has the proud legacy of overhauling 1038 aircrafts since its inception in 1962 which include AN-12. IL-14, Mi-4, Mi-8, Mi- 17, Mi-17 IV, Mi-17V5 and 4025 aero engines in the last 61 years. This resulted in invaluable saving of foreign exchequer and continual Op support to Helicopter and transport fleet of the IAF,” he said.

The depot commenced repair and overhaul of Russian Mi-17 helicopters in 1992. After induction of Mi-171V and avionics heavy Mi-17 V5 helicopters in the IAF, maintenance of the entire Medium Lift Helicopter (MLH) fleet was entrusted to the 3 BRD without Transfer of Technology from the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Russia.
 
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Faced with shifting geopolitics, rapidly evolving technology and budgetary constraints, IAF reviewing its work procedures to ensure efficiency
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Faced with a fast-changing geopolitical environment, rapidly evolving technology and budgetary constraints, the Indian Air Force is going in for a comprehensive review of its structure and work procedures to ensure operational and administrative efficiency.

The IAF has earmarked four establishments where the review will be carried out. These include No.3 Base Repair Depot (BRD) at Chandigarh and No.11 BRD at Nashik that are responsible for the maintenance and overhaul of Russian origin helicopters and fighter aircraft, respectively, Equipment Depot, Nasik that deals with items and spares of fighters, and Air Force Station Tambaram that houses a transport squadron and training establishments.

The project will be outsourced to the industry and the IAF has issued an expression of interest (EoI) inviting consulting firms possessing the stipulated expertise and eligibility to carry out a “workflow analysis and provide management solutions to improve operational and administrative efficiency of selected functions of designated units in the Indian Air Force.”

“Fast paced geo-political events, rapidly evolving technology, limited / finite budgets pose a challenge to the IAF to achieve its assigned tasks in an ever-increasing complex operational environment. Thus, a need has been felt to review the work processes of selected functions and sub-functions within IAF to bring improved efficiency and extract more value in terms of both manpower and resources,” the EoI document states.

Stating that the IAF is a complex organisation, functionally organised in three verticals – operations, maintenance and administration, the EoI states that inter and intra vertical functional workflows and processes within IAF merit a de novo review to enhance the overall operational and administrative efficiency.

“Such a review is aimed at identifying duplications and bottlenecks in each process and ascertaining unproductive activities / functions. Addressing these issues through the implementation of restructured workflows will bring out better information flow and process management across the IAF to achieve greater transparency, increased accountability, improved productivity and enhanced operational efficiency,” the EOI adds. The aim is to simplify tasks and work procedures and extract the full potential of contemporary technologies and professional skill of every personnel.

The exercise will involve a detailed assessment of the existing workflows, identifying gaps, bottlenecks and areas for improvement, suggesting restructured workflows and making recommendations to enhance the overall efficiency in a quantifiable manner.

During the project, expected to be executed over 10 months, production, involving maintenance, repair and overhaul, supply chain management and support services in engineering and administrative domains will be analysed.
 
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With wartime supplies disrupted, IAF to develop indigenous navigation aids for upgraded AN-32 RE transport aircraft

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.
 
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Says the man with the begging bowl.

Beggars have lesser self-respect than even pro$titutes. We give money to IMF, IMF gives money to you. You have food on your plate because of our generosity. We are your benefactors.
See you're not giving respect to others why we should give you a damn
 
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We are giving you food to eat and we give medicine to keep you alive, we have even allowed your cricket team to come to India.

What more do you want?
You're not god or something no trades is happening on the border between India and Pakistan your not giving anything to us in you egoistic nonsense shit
 
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You're not god or something no trades is happening on the border between India and Pakistan your not giving anything to us in you egoistic nonsense shit
Pakistan had already stopped all trade with India to protest the abolition of Article 370?

So Pakistan sold out Kashmiris for a strip of flu medicine?
 
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