A Passion for a Fighter

The Russo-Indian project still does not promise any special advantages

At the end of February - beginning of March, Russia and India may sign the first agreement under a contract for the creation of a fifth generation fighter. For the time being it is a question only of a contract for the creation of the airplane's conceptual and engineering design.

Conversations about this project have been on-going since 2003. It has been declared several times in the 7 years that an agreement about joint development was on the verge of being signed. Timetables for assembly of the airplane even had been named.

In 2008, the Sukhoy company general director, Mikhail Pogosyan, held negotiations in India with that country's air force leadership about realization of the joint development project and the manufacture of a fifth generation fighter.

Sukhoy OKB and Komsomol'sk-on-Amur Yu. A. Gagarin Aviation Production Association specialists became acquainted at that time with the capabilities of Indian design institutes and aircraft construction plants for the project's realization. All this took place within the framework of an intergovernmental agreement on joint development and manufacture of a fifth generation fighter signed in 2007 during the 7th meeting of the Russo-Indian intergovernmental commission on military and technical cooperation.

A representative Indian defense ministry and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) ((in English)) delegation had visited Moscow before that. It discussed the project's organizational and manufacturing questions at the Sukhoy company. Also discussed were Indian air force tactical and technical requirements for the new airplane. Afterwards, the delegation was sent to the aircraft plant at Komsomol'sk-on-Amur.

A fifth generation fighters already has been created in the U.S. - it is the F-22 which was adopted into the inventory, although in a limited quantity. In addition to it, another model is being tested, the F-35 which is intended for mass production and export. Tests of the T-50 prototype began in Russia at the end of 2009. China has also been included in work on the fifth generation aircraft. The 611th scientific and research institute and the Shenyang aviation firm are working on the XXJ ((sic)) project there. It is assumed that it will be an airplane with a takeoff weight of 25 tonnes and two engines with controllable thrust vectoring.

India was unable to remain on the sidelines in this situation. However, she still cannot realize such a high tech and complex project by her own efforts. Therefore, the question arose on cooperating with the Russian Federation, the more so that they already have successful experience of joint activity in the sphere of developing modern weapons - the "BraMos" missile.

Russia also has its own interest - to reduce its own expenses for scientific research and experimental design work, prototype tests and start of the new airplane into production. However, the Indian air force would like to have a fighter which confines itself to their concepts of air warfare of the future with regard to its own theater of military activities. Therefore, the joint Russo-Indian development will be cardinally different from the T-50 being tested now.

The Indian fifth generation fighter which has received the notional designator FGFA (Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft) ((in English)) will be twin-seat. It will cause an unavoidable increase of the fuselage, wing and rudder surfaces. According to the wishes of the Indian side, the series-built fighter is supposed to receive a power plant that is 15 - 20 percent more powerful that the existing one. It is planned that the FGFA, which is supposed to reach the Indian air force inventory by 2015, will replace three types of combat airplanes being used.

The Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) ((in English)) Indian corporation and the Unified Airplane Building Corporation (OAK) will be involved in development of the fifth generation fighter. India plans to assume for herself the production of light, high-strength composites for construction of the airplane, the use of which should reduce the fighter's weight significantly.  Though, this area of participation has still not been determined by each side.

It is assumed that the fifth generation airplane created is supposed to outpace the American F-35 in cost effectiveness and to occupy a definite place in the worldwide marketplace, and not only strengthen Russia and India's military might. Although it still is difficult to imagine a buyer for an airplane costing on the order of 100 million dollars.

According to the first deputy head of the federal service for military and technical cooperation, Aleksandr Fomin, not fewer than 6 - 10 years will be needed for development of the Russo-Indian fifth generation fighter. As regards the cost of the work, a sum of 8 - 10 billion dollars is being named in the Indian media. They estimate HAL's share in the total volume of work at 25 percent. If that is actually so, then it turns out Russia is developing mainly an airplane at its own expense that it does not need. As regards export prospects, then all potential buyers who have billions in budgets at their disposal already are participating in the creation of the American F-35. At the same time, the mandatory purchasing conditions are participation not only with finances, but also with the manufacture of components and development of elements of the avionics of weapons. It is a question not only of the purchase of combat airplanes, but of obtaining new breakthrough technologies.

For the time being not one real buyer for the future Russo-Indian fighter is foreseen. And the Indian love for long negotiations and struggling for every rupee is well known. It is not being ruled out that the process of signing a contract will be extended for a long time. And after receipt of the concept, the project may end on the whole or transition into a stage of many years of further agreements.

Source: 26.02.10, Nezavisimoye Voennoye Obozrenie, Correspondent: Viktor Myasnikov

Russia and Lebanon Seek Alternative to MiG-29 Deliveries

India Upgrading 105 An-32 Transports

The Ukrainian Antonov Aviation Scientific and Engineering complex will begin upgrade of Indian An-32 military transport airplanes in March 2010, Lenta.RU reports referring to Flightglobal.

It is planned to upgrade 105 Indian transport airplanes in all. It earlier had been reported that the cost of the work, which will take 5 years, will be nearly 400 million dollars.

New avionics, an automated airborne collision avoidance warning system, a ground proximity warning system, satellite navigation, new radars and also improved pilot seating will be installed onto the Indian An-32.

Indian pilots will test the uprgraded An-32.

Source: 25.02.10, Avia.RU

Vertolety Rossii Joint Stock Company Choses Ardiden Engine for Ka-62

((The Turbomeca engine will respond to a market calling for helicopters with a five to eight tonne payload capacity.  The company intends to expand its range of lightweight and medium twin-engined multifunctional helicopters which can be used for freight, emergency medical aid, aerial operations and observation.  The Ka-62 itself will be used in the gas industry, for rescue operations and corporate purposes.))

 Source:  25.02.10, Aviation Explorer

Creation of Fifth Generation Fighter by Russia and India to Take 6 - 10 Years

((According to Aleksandr Fomin, deputy chief of the federal service for military and technical cooperation.  In addition, Russian and India intend to sell the airplane to other countries.))

Creation of A-42 One of TANTK Beriev's Priority Tasks

Development of the A-42 special purpose airplane is one the Taganrog Beriev ANTK's priority jobs in the military sector, an informed source in the defense industrial complex has reported to AviaPort.

"The creation of the A-42 airplane is provided for by Russia's arms program for the period to 2015. Development of the design and engineering documentation is under way intensively today and at the same time production is starting up on unchanged elements and assemblies, since the airplane's airframe itself is practically unchanged. All work being done by TANTK Beriev on the A-42 subject is being financed within the framework of the state defense order," the source specified.

According to him, the first A-42 prototype is being created using the manufacturing reserve for the A-40 airplane.

Realization of the A-42 program also will be provided for by the counterpart state program for the period to 2020, the source assumes.

Work on creation of the A-42 was started using the A-40 reserve, but subsequently it was frozen. The anti-submarine defense A-40 lifted into the air for the first time in 1986. It has passed part of its state tests (without special equipment), but at the beginning of the 1990s work was in fact halted because of an absence of financing.

The A-42 airplane is a search and rescue aircraft with a takeoff weight up to 95 tonnes and payload up to 10 tonnes. Its power plant will consist of two PS-90A turbofan engines and as of today there is no talk of using the D-27 propfan engine. Data about the basic flight performance is extremely inconsistent: its speed will be up to 700 - 750 kilometers per hours, flight range depending on payload more than 5,000 kilometers and in some variant, appreciably greater. The A-42 is able to land and take off from the water's surface at a sea state of 4 - 5 balls.

It earlier had been reported about the possibility of installing the "Morskoy Zmey," Novella and others, search and targeting systems onto the A-42, since the A-42 platform allows the creation of practically any modification base on it.

Source: 24.02.10, AviaPort.RU, Correspondent: Dmitriy Kozlov

ANTK Antonov Begins Development of An-178 Transport Project

ANTK Antonov has begun development of the new An-178 transport project. It will be a modification of the An-148 and is supposed to replace the An-26 and An-32 fleet being used actively by Russia's air force and Middle Eastern and African countries, Kommersant na Ukraine newspaper reports. 

It is to be an An-148 transport modification. Standard changes for a cargo version will be introduced into its design. For example, the fuselage will be widened. The new airplane's payload will be 15 - 20 tonnes. It will take nearly two years for preparation of the design, manufacture of a prototype and its testing.

The airplane is supposed to replace worn out aircraft of previous An modifications. Antonov An-26 and An-32 cargo airplanes are beginning to be written off already. In two years this process will reach its peak and the An-178 will be offered to replace the aging models, the OAO Motor Sich head, Vyacheslav Boguslaev, declared. Russia and the countries of the Middle East and Africa will be the new airplane's primary markets. This project cannot aspire to the markets of Europe and the NATO countries since the ANTK does not have the necessary European licenses.

Production volume of the new airplane could be 70 - 75 units a year: 60 in Russia and 10 -15 in Ukraine. Right now the An-148 is being produced at the facilities of the Voronezh joint stock airplane building company, and also at Kiev's Aviant aircraft plant. He estimated total An-178 market demand at 700 - 800 aircraft over 10 - 12 years. Owing to the proposed price of the airplanes at 20 - 25 million dollars, the total market demand ((sic)) will be 14 billion to 20 billion dollars.

((Remaining financial stuff snipped.))

New AWACS Under Development in Russia

The Taganrog Beriev Aviation Scientific and Engineering Complex is developing a project for a future long  range radar observation and control airplane ((airborne warning and control -- AWACS)), the Interfax agency reports.

Development is taking place for the purpose of replacing the fleet of Russian air force A-50 airplanes with an similar designations. The future AWACS complex will surpass appreciably both the upgrade A-50 airplane and the A-50EhI complex being delivered to India, they said at the defense industrial complex.