Air

Indian Air Force

Highlights

The Indian Force is the fourth largest air force in the world.
The IAF provides close air support to the Indian Army troops on the battlefield as well as strategic and tactical airlift capabilities.
The Indian Air Force is divided into five operational and two functional commands.
The purpose of an operational command is to conduct military operations using aircraft within its area of responsibility, whereas the responsibility of functional commands is to maintain combat readiness.
As of 1 July 2017, the Indian Air Force has a sanctioned strength of 12,550 officers and 142,529 airmen.
The Indian Air Force has currently over 60 air bases spread all over India which are grouped into 7 Commands.
Western Air Command is the largest Air Command. It operates sixteen air stations from Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and a couple of Air stations in Uttar Pradesh.
Farkhor Air Base, located near the town of Farkhor in Tajikistan is operated by the Indian Air Force in collaboration with the Tajik Air Force.
The Siachen Glacier AFS is the highest air force station of the IAF.
IAF has a mix of Russian, Western and a few indigenous platforms and systems.
The IAF has a wide variety of weapon platforms and systems in its inventory, ranging from the legacy MiG 21 class of aircraft to the latest and state of the art new generation SU 30 MKI aircraft.
The Garud Commando Force is the Special Forces unit of the Indian Air Force. It was formed in September 2004 and has a current strength of approximately 1080 personnel.
The Garud Commando Force is known for its search and rescue operations and disaster relief activities during calamities.
The IAF operates three largest transport aircrafts C-17 Globemaster III, C-130J Super Hercules, and Il-76.
The IAF’s primary air superiority fighter with the additional capability to conduct air-ground (strike) missions is Sukhoi Su-30MKI. A variant of the Sukhoi Su-30, it’s a all-weather, long-range fighter jet. In November 2017, India had successfully flight-tested the air variant of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from the fighter jet.
The Tejas is the second supersonic Light Combat Aircraft developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). This single engine, Compound-Delta-Wing, Tailless Aircraft is designed and developed by ADA with HAL as the principal partner along with DRDO, CSIR, BEL, DGAQA, IAF & IN
In the month of March 2018, LCA Tejas SP-8 (LA-5008) successfully completed its first flight. This is the eight serial production aircraft and will be handed over to the No.45 Squadron of the Indian Air Force also called the ‘Flying Daggers’.
HF 24 Marut (1960) was India’s first indigenous fighter aircraft developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
In the month of February 2018, HAL has offered the indigenous ‘Advanced Light Helicopter-Dhruv’ (Civil version) for manufacturing to potential Indian private companies through Transfer of Technology. The Company has invited Expression of Interest (EOI) for identification of Indian Partner.
Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd has developed India’s first indigenous real-time operating system (RTOS). The RTOS is the system software which provides a standard run-time environment for the real-time execution of applications in a safe and reliable manner. The HAL-RTOS provides a comprehensive feature set based on international specification — ARINC-653 — to support Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) architecture.
Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd has developed the indigenous Automatic Flight Control System for the country which has the potential to replace the expensive imported systems.
HAL has also indigenized the Cockpit Display System on LCH, namely Integrated Architecture Display System (IADS) with the participation of Indian private industries.

Indian Air Force – Strength

FIGHTER AIRCRAFTS

SU-30 MKI : Twin seater twin engine multirole fighter of Russian origin which carries One X 30mm GSH gun alongwith 8000 kg external armament. It is capable of carrying a variety of medium-range guided air to air missiles with active or semi-active radar or Infra red homing close range missiles.

Mirage-2000 : A single seater air defence and multi-role fighter of French origin powered by a single engine can attain max speed of 2495 km/hr(Mach 2.3). It carries two 30 mm integral cannons and two matra super 530D medium-range and two R-550 magic II close combat missiles on external stations.

MiG 29: Twin engine, single seater air superiority fighter aircraft of Russian origin capable of attaining max. speed of 2445 km per hour (Mach-2.3). It has a combat ceiling of 17 km. It carries a 30 mm cannon alongwith four R-60 close combat and two R-27 R medium range radar guided missiles.

MiG-27 : Single engine, single seater tactical strike fighter aircraft of Russian origin having a max. speed of 1700 km/hr (Mach 1.6). It carries one 23 mm six-barrel rotary integral cannon and can carry upto 4000 kg of other armament externally.

MiG-21 BISON : Single engine, single seater multirole fighter/ground attack aircraft of Russian origin which forms the back-bone of the IAF. It has a max speed of 2230 km/hr (Mach 2.1) and carries one 23mm twin barrel cannon with four R-60 close combat missiles.

Jaguar : A twin-engine, single seater deep penetration strike aircraft of Anglo-French origin which has a max. speed of 1350 km /hr (Mach 1.3). It has two 30mm guns and can carry two R-350 Magic CCMs (overwing) alongwith 4750 kg of external stores (bombs/fuel).

HELICOPTER AIRCRAFT

MI-25/MI-35 : Twin engine turboshaft, assault and anti armour helicopter capable of carrying 8 men assault squad with four barrel 12.7 mm rotary gun in nose barbette and upto 1500 Kg of external ordnance including Scorpion anti-tank missiles. It has a max cruise speed of 310 km/hr.

MI-26 : Twin engine turboshaft, military heavy lift helicopter of Russian origin with carrying capacity of 70 combat equipped troops or 20,000 kg payload. It has a max speed of 295 km/hr.

MI-17 V5 : The Mi-17 V5 is a potent helicopter platform, equipped with modern avionics and glass cockpit instrumentation. They are equipped with state-of-art navigational equipment, avionics, weather radar and are NVG-compatible.

Chetak : Single engine turboshaft, light utility French helicopter with capacity of 6 passengers or 500 kg load. It has a max speed of 220 km/hr.

Cheetah : Single engine turboshaft, FAC/casevac helicopter of French origin having capacity to carry 3 passengers or 100 kg external sling loads. It has max cruise speed of 121 km/hr and can climb to 1 km in 4 minutes.

TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT

C-130J : The aircraft is capable of performing paradrop, heavy drop, casuality evacuation and can also operate from short and semi prepared surfaces.

C-17 : The aircraft is capable of carrying a payload of 40-70 tons up to a distance of 4200-9000 km in a single hop.

IL-76 : A four engine heavy duty/long haul military transport aircraft of Russian origin with a max speed of 850 km/hr. It has a twin 23 mm cannon in tail turret and capacity to carry 225 paratroopers or 40 tonnes freight, wheeled or tracked armoured vehicles.

AN-32 : Twin engine turboprop, medium tactical transport aircraft of Russian origin with a crew of five and capacity to carry 39 paratroopers or max load of 6.7 tonnes. It has a max cruise speed of 530 km/hr.

EMBRAER : The main role of employment of this executive Jet Air craft is to convey VVIPs/VIPs to destinations within India and abroad.

AVRO : Twin engine turboprop, military transport and freighter of British origin having a capacity of 48 paratroopers or 6 tonnes freight and max cruise speed of 452 km/hr.

Dornier : Twin engine turboprop, logistic air support staff transport aircraft of German origin capable of carrying 19 passengers or 2057 kg freight. It has a max speed of 428 km/hr.

Boeing 737-200 : Twin engine turbofan, VIP passenger aircraft of American origin with total seating capacity of upto 60 passengers. It has a max cruise speed of 943 km/hr.

(Source: IAF’s Official Website)

Indian Air Force- Make in India- Indigenization Initiatives

Indigenization Roadmap Indian Air Force (2016-2025) – A Step to strengthen the partnership between Indian Air Force and Industry

Organization Structure for Indigenous Development

Air HQ.The broad policies, higher-level coordination with other agencies to facilitate indigenization activities is by Director of Indigenization functioning under ACAS (MP). The IAF is represented by ACAS (MP) in the apex indigenization committee.
HQ MC. HQ MC is the nodal agency for all aspects related to indigenization activities. Command Indigenization Officer facilitates, coordinates, and controls the indigenization activities undertaken by BRDs
The BRDs are the executing agencies leading the development activities to a logical and conclusive end through direct interaction with various agencies. At depots, Sqn Cdr of IDS handles all indigenous development related cases.

Indigenization Procedure

Selection of an item for indigenous development.
Obtaining in principle approval of the CFA for indigenous development of identified item.
Generation of Tech Specs, drawing and design parameters. (d) Identification of potential vendors/ firms capable of undertaking the development project.
Obtaining Acceptance of Necessity (AON) sanction from the CFA in consultation with the Integrated Financial Advisor (IFA).
Formulation of Request for Proposal (RFP) in consultation with IFA and issue of RFP.
Technical evaluation of bids.
Opening of commercial bids of technically qualified vendors.
Holding of commercial negotiations with L1 vendor.
Conclusion of contract/ supply order.
Post contract management including qualification tests, user trials and certification.

Indigenization Requirements of IAF

Spares for First to Fourth Line Maintenance of Aircraft/ other Systems
Tools Testers and Ground Equipment (TTGE)
Development of Simulators
Aircraft Tyres
Aircraft Crash Fire Tender
Retreading Technology for Transport Aircraft Tyres
Indigenization of Items like Aircraft Batteries, Bulbs, Filters, Fuel Oil and Lubricants (FOL) etc.
Manufacture and Repair of Main and Tail Rotor Blades
Flares and Chaff Cartridges

For more details read – IAF’s Indigenization Requirements – 2017

Indigenization Roadmap Indian Air Force (2016-2025)

Future Technologies Requirements- Technology Perspective and Capability Roadmap (TPCR) -2018)

Extracts From Indigenization Policy of IAF

IAF TEST FACILITIES FOR PRIVATE ENTITIES

Procedure to Avail Test Facility

The registered private entity shall download the ‘Test Facility Requisition Proforma’, fill it up and forward it to the Nodal Officer along with the ‘End User Certificate’ and ‘Non Disclosure Agreement’ certificate.
The nodal officer at Air Headquarters will study the proposal and obtain the necessary approvals.
On accord of approval, the nodal officer will coordinate the schedule and estimated cost of the test facility with the concerned IAF agency (ASTE/BRD) and the private entity.
Thereafter, the private entity shall place a Service Order including acceptance of the payment terms to the nodal officer and handover the equipment to be tested to the concerned IAF agency as per the schedule.
The nodal officer at Air Headquarters will coordinate the necessary security clearances in respect of the representatives of the private entity for their visit to the concerned IAF agency.
The equipment will be tested as per the test schedule prepared by the IAF agency, in consultation with the private entity. On completion of the test, a test report will be generated and submitted to the private entity.