Ouch! These are new helos, they shouldn't be having these problems.India Grounds Early Warning Helicopters
By VIVEK RAGHUVANSHI, NEW DELHI
The Indian Navy’s fleet of Russian-built Kamov Ka-31 Airborne Early Warning (AEW) helicopters has been grounded due to technical defects.
A senior Indian Navy official said the nine Ka-31s have been parked at the naval aviation base in Goa for the past two to three months. The service is now looking for parts on the export market to repair the aircraft.
He said there are serious defects in the airframes of the helicopters. Other problems include the failure of seat baskets, bubble formations on rotor blade edges, minor cracks in airframes and the poor material state of rivets and fasteners.
The Navy has no infrastructure or support system for maintenance and overhaul of the fleet, which also is due for upgrade work on main gearboxes, engines and columns.
The Navy ordered four Ka-31 AEW helicopters in 1999, and another five were ordered in 2001. The first batch of four entered service in April 2003 and the second batch was delivered by the end of 2004. The $200 million deal penned with Russian export agency Rosoboronexport in 1999 for the nine helicopters included a service guarantee, which expired in October and has not been renewed.
The helicopters have been deployed on the Navy’s sole aircraft carrier, INS Viraat.
Sources in the Navy said the defects in the frame were detected within the guarantee period, and Rosoboronexport was informed, but no remedial action was taken by either side.
Ministry of Defence sources said that following the detection of faults in the Ka-31 helicopters, there is a belief among defense planners here that India should buy antisubmarine warfare helicopters from other international sources, rather than committing to operate only the Ka-31s.
India and Russia signed a deal in 2004 for the refit and re-equipment of the Russian Admiral Gorshokov carrier, on which will be deployed 16 MiG-29K aircraft and six Ka-31 helicopters.
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php...2975&C=asiapac
According to BR, the IN was looking at SeaKings, but went with the Kamovs because they were cheaper to acquire.
"We will go through our federal budget – page by page, line by line – eliminating those programs we don’t need, and insisting that those we do operate in a sensible cost-effective way." -President Barack Obama 11/25/2008
IN will have to identify other source of AEW if this is not repaired fast. Ka-31 were primary AEW for INS Viraat & soon to come INS Vikramaditya maybe even for ADS. Though Hawkeye was looked at by IN, but for it our carier had to be converted to catapult based, which at present isnt the case.
Hala Madrid!!
Maybe it is just better to renew the service contract with Kamov?Originally Posted by highsea
May be not. These were acquired less than 2 years ago and we see this...
A renewal of maint contract can solve it, but its really not worth it.serious defects in the airframes of the helicopters. Other problems include the failure of seat baskets, bubble formations on rotor blade edges, minor cracks in airframes and the poor material state of rivets and fasteners.
A grain of wheat eclipsed the sun of Adam !!
Anyway something must do the job before replacement is procured.
Yes. Having structural problems after 2 years of service is simply bad quality
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