Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft for Sulur IAF station by 2016

[sudhir007]

The Hindu : Today's Paper / NATIONAL : Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft for Sulur IAF station by 2016

The Air Force Station at Sulur here will get Sukhoi-30 MKI combat aircraft in 2016, Air Marshal R.K. Jolly, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Air Command, said here on Tuesday.

The IAF station and the fighter base to become operational in Thanjavur will be equipped to progressively build air capabilities in the southern region, he told reporters.

A new runway had been completed, a parallel taxi track was getting ready and other infrastructure development were on at Sulur. These would cater for the Su-30 MKI Squadron and also the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) when the squadron was formed. Referring to the delay in the induction of the LCA, the Air Marshal said that the LCA Squadron would be formed either along with the Su-30 MKI Squadron or “probably after that”.

“The Southern Air Command covers a large coastline of nearly 4,000 km that is relevant in terms of maritime importance. There is a need to protect this and hence the air power in the southern region is being beefed up. The runway in Thanjavur is ready and the base will start operations soon.”

On shortage of personnel in the IAF, he said though there was no severe shortage of officers and airmen, there was a long-term plan to increase the intake and improve training facilities.

 

[Rajaraja Chola]

So SuLur will operate both TEjas and Su 30 !! Great
Operational prepardness of the southern region is a must for safety of sea lanes

 

[kaykay]

that will make its 15th squadron if I am not wrong.....
2 squadrons in bareily
2 squadrons in pune
1 squadron in tezpur
1 squadron in bhatinda
1 squadron in halwara
1 squadron in chabua
1 squadron in jodhpur
1 squadron in kalaikunnda(being raised..12 mkis deployed till now)
1 squadron in sirsa(planned)
1 squadron in bhuj(planned)
1 squadron in hashimara(planned)
1 squadron in tunjavur(planned)
1 squadron in sulur(planned)...
Guys correct me if I am wrong....because initially there were 2 squadrons in bareily but not sure at present.

 

[DroneAcharya]

that will make its 15th squadron if I am not wrong.....
2 squadrons in bareily
2 squadrons in pune
1 squadron in tezpur
1 squadron in bhatinda
1 squadron in halwara
1 squadron in chabua
1 squadron in jodhpur
1 squadron in hisar(planned)
1 squadron in bhuj(planned)
1 squadron in hashimara(planned)
1 squadron in kalaikunda(currently 12 mkis there more will come)
1 squadron in tunjavur(planned)
1 squadron in sulur(planned)...
Guys correct me if I am wrong....because initially there were 2 squadrons in bareily but not sure at present.

I think you meant at Sirsa AFB and not Hisar. BTW, what is the expected duration of raising the Tanjavur base ? Will it be expected before Sulur (before 2016) ?

 

[kaykay]

I think you meant at Sirsa AFB and not Hisar. BTW, what is the expected duration of raising the Tanjavur base ? Will it be expected before Sulur (before 2016) ?

thanks for correcting me...anyway tanjavur squadron is expected to be raised by 2014...atleast this is what they have stated...some delays can be expected though.

 

[BlueDot_in_Space]

So SuLur will operate both TEjas and Su 30 !! Great
Operational prepardness of the southern region is a must for safety of sea lanes

Tejas stay at sulur would be brief, later they will be moved to Rajasthan.

 

[perplexed]

I think you meant at Sirsa AFB and not Hisar. BTW, what is the expected duration of raising the Tanjavur base ? Will it be expected before Sulur (before 2016) ?

aren't sulur and Tanjavur quite near ? What's the use ?

 

[DroneAcharya]

Tejas stay at sulur would be brief, later they will be moved to Rajasthan.

It is reported that Tejas would be the principally operated out Tanjavur along with Mirages, though an MKI squadron in Sulur is good news.

 

[Sergi]

What's in Sulur ??? They would be better in A&N

 

[DroneAcharya]

aren't sulur and Tanjavur quite near ? What's the use ?

What's in Sulur ??? They would be better in A&N

Primarily, i think Sulur would serve as a Test-and-Evaluate centre for aircrafts like Tejas when it goes into production. I think it is a good option, given that normally when you try out different LSPs when incremental advancements are made to a production line, you do that closer to a production centre, in this case Bangalore.

Thanjavur i believe would be more of a logistics-oriented centre, though to what extent, i have no knowledge of.

 

[Sergi]

Primarily, i think Sulur would serve as a Test-and-Evaluate centre for aircrafts like Tejas when it goes into production. I think it is a good option, given that normally when you try out different LSPs when incremental advancements are made to a production line, you do that closer to a production centre, in this case Bangalore.

Thanjavur i believe would be more of a logistics-oriented centre, though to what extent, i have no knowledge of.

Buddy I was talking about MKIs and NOT LCAs

 

[Rajaraja Chola]

Tejas stay at sulur would be brief, later they will be moved to Rajasthan.

No buddy. Atleast one squadron of tejas will be here. It was reported that all 40Mk1 will be based here at first.
Though placing of Su 30 have come as a surprise to me. Southern region have been neglected by IAF for so long.
With IOR gaining security implications, they have finally started giving importance.
The tejas squadron at Sulur have been named as "Flying Daggers"

 

[arp2041]

No buddy. Atleast one squadron of tejas will be here. It was reported that all 40Mk1 will be based here at first.
Though placing of Su 30 have come as a surprise to me. Southern region have been neglected by IAF for so long.
With IOR gaining security implications, they have finally started giving importance.
The tejas squadron at Sulur have been named as "Flying Daggers"

Well, southern region was neglected by IAF for obvious region of having 1000s of Kms of Northern borders with Pakistan & China among others, added to this IAF didn't had AAR capability earlier + Southern states were treated as the "USA" of India with oceans as there neighbors. So IAF didn't see any threat as far as southern states are concerned (this can be said to be our narrow minded approach), but with increasing conventional superiority vis-a-vis Pakistan & somewhat better relations with China (no war situation can arise since both countries can't jeopardize there economic growth stories), IAF has started looking towards the IOR as it has turned out to be the playground of Naval biggies of late, IAF would surely like to compliment the IN by stationing the best fighters in there inventory such as the su-30s in the southern states or even the A&NC.

 

[Badbadman]

At last some deployment news for LCA. Finally it is dragging its feet out of delayed project stigma it had. No matter how week it is compared to other fighters but still when all of its critics see it deployed will regard it as an achievement. For real deal MKII is getting ready. I hope DRDO gets it act together.

 

[sancho]

IAF would surely like to compliment the IN by stationing the best fighters in there inventory such as the su-30s in the southern states or even the A&NC.

The problem is, it looks again more like a fight against eachother, rather than having joint defence policies. There is actually no need to place so many MKI and in future possibly even Rafale squads along the coastlines, when IN will have several major ports and air bases in these regions anyway.