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Navy to have air enclave at CIAL
KOCHI: With an eye on its future aviation requirements, the Navy plans to carve out an air enclave on the sprawling campus of the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL).
Eleven acres of land adjoining the airport's cargo complex have already been acquired for this purpose.
Fencing work has begun and funds have been allocated by the MoD [Ministry of Defence] for the project. However, the construction work will have to be done in coordination with CIAL without upsetting its own expansion drive. We hope to complete it by end-2011, sources said.
The enclave would house maintenance hangars capable of sheltering the Navy's future air assets, especially the medium range maritime reconnaissance aircraft that it is scouting for. The hangars would also have the capacity to provide back-end support to the operation of a squadron from the enclave.
They will also be equipped to back up full-load operation of the long range maritime reconnaissance aircraft, Boeing P8-I, if required. As per the contract that the Navy has signed with Boeing for the purchase of eight P8-I aircraft, the delivery of the first would take place in 2013.
Besides the maintenance hangars, the enclave would have an administration complex and a taxi link to connect it to the CIAL runway.
Currently, Garuda, the Naval Air Station under the Southern Naval Command here, has two runways with lengths of 6,000 feet and 4,500 feet which may not suffice for the operation of bigger, heavier aircraft that would find their way to the Navy's inventory in the future.
The Hindu : National : Navy to have air enclave at CIAL
KOCHI: With an eye on its future aviation requirements, the Navy plans to carve out an air enclave on the sprawling campus of the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL).
Eleven acres of land adjoining the airport's cargo complex have already been acquired for this purpose.
Fencing work has begun and funds have been allocated by the MoD [Ministry of Defence] for the project. However, the construction work will have to be done in coordination with CIAL without upsetting its own expansion drive. We hope to complete it by end-2011, sources said.
The enclave would house maintenance hangars capable of sheltering the Navy's future air assets, especially the medium range maritime reconnaissance aircraft that it is scouting for. The hangars would also have the capacity to provide back-end support to the operation of a squadron from the enclave.
They will also be equipped to back up full-load operation of the long range maritime reconnaissance aircraft, Boeing P8-I, if required. As per the contract that the Navy has signed with Boeing for the purchase of eight P8-I aircraft, the delivery of the first would take place in 2013.
Besides the maintenance hangars, the enclave would have an administration complex and a taxi link to connect it to the CIAL runway.
Currently, Garuda, the Naval Air Station under the Southern Naval Command here, has two runways with lengths of 6,000 feet and 4,500 feet which may not suffice for the operation of bigger, heavier aircraft that would find their way to the Navy's inventory in the future.
The Hindu : National : Navy to have air enclave at CIAL
