Shelterless Sukhois suffering from sunstroke?

[Big Boss]

Shelterless Sukhois suffering from sunstroke?

BANGALORE: Sukhois (Su-30 MKI) don’t have shelters. India’s frontline fighters are suffering from a possible sunstroke. This came to light after Express launched an investigation following the fighter’s crash near Pune recently. Along with a list of suspects — Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (blamed for serious quality issues) — the Indian Air Force (IAF) will have to do some answering for “exposing” the fighters.

Express consulted several serving and retired Sukhoi pilots, engineers in HAL, current and former IAF officials and even experts with military airworthiness to verify the findings: If Sukhois are exposed to the sun for a long period, malfunctions will occur. When contacted for a response, all that an email reply from IAF’s media managers said was: “Maintenance shelters have been procured at our airbases solely on the IAF’s initiative and more of these are being procured to cater to the varied environmental conditions of our country.”

HAL says it had communicated to the IAF the need for shelters. The matter was also taken up during quality assurance meets and Commanders’ Conference.

HAL claims that all Sukhois at their Nashik Division are kept under shelters, while the IAF uses canvas to protect them from UV rays, rain and dust.

“UV rays will have faster ageing and hardening effect on rubber and non-metallic parts, which can lead to premature failure in the long run.

Canvas bars UV rays but not heat, which can harm avionics parts,” sources said.

A Sukhoi pilot said dust particles will get deposited on engine blades if they are exposed to heat and dust.

Shelterless Sukhois suffering from sunstroke? - southindia - Bangalore - ibnlive

 

[Big Boss]

Its a very basic thing that how can you don't have any shelters for your best fighters?????????

They should be in a hardened and secure shelters.

Its obvious the rubber, plastic parts will not remain in best shape if exposed to the continues sun and dust will add to the injury.

 

[T90TankGuy]

most of the fighter bases have hardened shelters . but the wingspan of the Su30 mki is huge and does not fit into the existing shelters. the process is on to upgrade 30 fighter bases . till then i am afraid they will have to make do with canvas shelters.

 

[Safriz]

so india has billions to spend on buying planes but doesnt have mere thousands to keep them propperly.
major fail.

 

[Abingdonboy]

so india has billions to spend on buying planes but doesnt have mere thousands to keep them propperly.
major fail.

India has the money but infrastructure up-gradation is a long process, one which IAF is pursuing with some speed. Give it time, all ills will be righted in time.

 

[Safriz]

India has the money but infrastructure up-gradation is a long process, one which IAF is pursuing with some speed. Give it time, all ills will be righted in time.

These things are pre planned.
not post planned after causing millions of dollars of damage and crashing planes.
school boy noob error i would say.

 

[janon]

These things are pre planned.
not post planned after causing millions of dollars of damage and crashing planes.school boy noob error i would say.

Where did you learn that? That there have been millions of dollars of damage and crashes BECAUSE OF lack of shelters? Schoolboy noob error I would say.

 

[Abingdonboy]

These things are pre planned.
not post planned after causing millions of dollars of damage and crashing planes.
school boy noob error i would say.

You are right to some extent. The up-gradation of IAF AFBs was delayed significantly by MoD red-tape (as usual) but these guys seem to have got their act together as of late and now major overhauls of IAF AFBs is well underway and by ~2014 most work should be done. You have to understand though that some of these AFBs that are now housing such advanced ac were just not configured for basing such ac And are only now being configured for such as IAF reorganises itself and looks to expand.

 

[manojb]

This is v serious. It doesnt cost much to build temp shelter beside runways. No wonder we lost so many migs.

 

[joekrish]

Let's take this seriously they are not some PTC busses.

 

[Donatello]

What the eff?

Aren't assets as critical as Su 30s supposed to be in shelters and not only that...in bomb resistant shelters???

 

[Safriz]

now i am glad MMRCA been delayed.
or we would see Eurofighters parked alongside Maruti 800.....under the sky......singing in the rain.

 

[Safriz]

somebdy......please tell me what qualifications you need for being a journalist in india?
just look at the picture in this news report... *face palm*
m.oneindia.in/news//2011/12/26/indias-fighter-plans-sukhois-suffers-without-shelter.html

 

[sudhir007]

Tarmak007 -- A bold blog on Indian defence: EXPRESS INVESTIGATION: 2 | IAF had enough time to build shelters for Sukhois

Exposed Sukhois are in the danger of having nick marks on the engine blades, though the thrust vector part is generally covered. With a transparent (opaque) canopy, the heat gets settled inside, slowly, but surely impacting on multiple non-metallic parts, including those linked to ejection systems. While the Indian Air Force (IAF) failed to give a detailed response to our queries, sources flying and feeding the Sukhois told Express that the shelter-less state of affairs of a modern fighter is 'shocking.'
HAL officials are amused as to why the IAF didn't bother to provide shelters to the fighters' biggest bases at Pune and Barelley. “The IAF had enough time from 2002 onwards to put up shelters in Pune. Weather has an impact on the fighters if they are parked outside,” sources said. HAL's first official communication, expressing serious concerns, is said to have been sent to the IAF's Maintenance Command in October 2010. The IAF operates over 150 Sukhois from its bases in Pune, Barelley, Chabua, Jodhpur and Tezpur.
Sources said that even lightning strike didn't spare a Sukhoi in 2009 causing serious emergency. “The aircraft suffered structural damages, which is unheard of in modern times. All these are definitely pointing towards quality and design issues. If we don't address them now and take corrective steps, it will be a bad publicity for the IAF, HAL, and to both friendly nations of India and Russia. At what cost are we losing them?” a veteran pilot, who were among the first to fly the Sukhois, said.
An official with the Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC) says that the all Russian aircraft are designed for safe operations in minus temperatures. “If the Sukhois are parked outside, even with a canvass cover, it cannot escape from the trapped temperature inside, which will be very high as compared to the reflected temperature. We don't have much insight into the Russian qualification process,” the official said. He claimed that for Indian military platforms (Tejas, Dhruv, Sitara) the rubber parts are tested and qualified to a maxim temperature of 71 degrees Celsius.
Air Marshal (Retd) T.S. Randhawa, an expert with Sukhoi platforms, said that the IAF is already in the process of getting shelters. “We understand that there can be an effect due to exposing the fighter to sun. The weather varies – like hot, cold, dust, breeze and over a longer period of time, YES, there could be an impact. But, these fighters are serviced as per the IAF SOPs,” he said.

 

[Safriz]

The part of world we live in has vigorous temperature fluctuations.
In Pakistan and i am assuming same for india..the day to night temperature can differ by as much as 20 degrees or more.
In europe and same for rusdia the temperatures are low but constant and fluctuate very less.
Then we have the pollution in the air which can eat away metals and protective coatings and the acid rains we get due to pollution can certainly effect anything..no matter hoe high tech.
These are the problems which are almost non existent in europe and modern russia..
For those reasons any equipment bought from abroad must not be exposed to.our weather as it is much harsher thsn theirs.