Bangalore:- India’s first Shore-Based Test Facility (SBTF) is nearing completion. Built at the Naval Air Station, INS Hansa in Goa, the facility would replicate as a
static model of the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier
(IAC) being built at the Cochin Shipyard. The SBTF
would have a 14 deg parabolic profile ski-jump
for take-off and an arresting gear for landing.
Sources told Express that all stage design
documents of the facility have been received
from the Russian side. “The take-off area is
nearing completion and the progress of arrester
gear structure manufacturing and site work is on
schedule. The factory acceptance test (FAT) of all
five Russian specialized equipment has been
completed at original equipment manufacturer
(OEM) premises,” sources said.
The Russians (JSC Rosoboronexport) are
executing the design consultancy and supply of
specialized equipment work as per a 2009-pact,
valued at $60 m. The approximate budget
provision for Indian participants is about Rs 175
crore.
The equipment from Russian are expected this
year, with the take-off area scheduled to be
completed by June this year and landing area by
the end of 2012.
The primary objective of SBTF is for certification
of LCA Navy aircraft for ship-borne operations.
This is the mandatory requirement prior to
aircraft operations are taken up from the IAC (INS
Vikrant) for carrier compatibility test (CCT). “The
facility will ensure timely induction of Naval LCA
(NLCA) into naval service and conserve ship-
based test flying effort. Apart from the flight
testing of NLCA, the SBTF can be subsequently
used for training of naval pilots on NLCA and MiG
29K. The SBTF will be the one-of-its-kind facility in
the South Asian region. The US and Ukraine have
a similar facility.
The SBTF will be a equipped with restraining gear
system with ski-jump for take-off, arresting gear
system for landing, optical landing system, TV
landing control system, light signaling system
and other associated auxiliary units, exactly
similar to the IAC.
Spearheaded by the NLCA programme office in
Bangalore, the complete structural work and
system integration of SBTF is being carried out by
Goa Shipyard Ltd. The Civil Engineering activity is
being undertaken by CCER&D (West), Pune in
collaboration with R&DE (Engineers), Pune. A
telemetry ground station with the state-of-the-art
technology is being setup for flight operations by
the National Flight Test Centre (NFTC), Bangalore.
While the SBTF work is probably ahead of the
schedule, sources say that the eagerly-awaited
first flight of NLCA (Naval Prototype NP-1) is on
course. The platform is said to have undergone a
trial for nose-wheel checks (70 km) on Valentine’s
Day, while a LSTT (low-speed taxi trial) at a
possible max speed of 140 km/hour is scheduled
for February 18. This would be followed by a
HSTT (high-speed taxi trial) at a maximum speed
of 200-200 km/hour and then the subsequent
first flight.
