sohamsri

NEW DELHI: After the Army's plan to build its own "tactical" air force left IAF fuming, Navy too is going full steam ahead to bolster its ageing air power.

The Navy is in the hunt for more supersonic fighters, reconnaissance aircraft, multi-role and anti-submarine warfare helicopters, UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) and AJTs (advanced jet trainers) to emerge as "a true three-dimensional blue-water force".

"IAF will continue to play the strategic role but both Navy and Army want to strengthen their aviation wings. Moreover, unlike Army, we have long been in the business of operating fighters from aircraft carriers," said a senior Navy officer.

The force, after all, wants to operate two "carrier battle groups" centred around two aircraft carriers, with their own complements of fighters and helicopters, to project power in the Indian Ocean and beyond in the next five to seven years.

First, with the delivery of 16 MiG-29Ks from Russia slated to begin from October, plans are afoot to go in for another 30-36 of these fighters. The MiG-29Ks will be supplemented by the naval variant of the indigenous Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), the first prototype of which will take to the skies by end-2008.

The 16 MiG-29Ks were part of the original $1.5-billion deal signed in 2004 for Admiral Gorshkov, now being renegotiated after Russia demanded another $1.2 billion for refit of the 44,570-tonne aircraft carrier.

"Both Gorshkov and the indigenous aircraft carrier being built at Cochin Shipyard will require MiG-29K squadrons. The 37,500-tonne IAC, for instance, is designed to carry 12 MiG-29Ks, eight LCA and 10 helicopters," said an officer.

Along with this, the Rs 476-crore upgrade of the remaining 10 Sea Harrier jump-jets, which operate from India's solitary carrier INS Viraat, is also currently underway.





:: Bharat-Rakshak.com - Indian Military News Headlines ::

__________________
" THe SiLEnt KNighT.

sohamsri

3 airforces !!!

Could everyone please give their opinions about the advantages and disadvantages of having 3 airforces ?

Won't there be interrivalry ?

Tronic

Errmm.. Where do 3 airforces come in? and what is so new about this? The navy has been operating fighter aircraft for decades; how is this news? Just another case of poorly hyped up publicity. All 3 air wings have different duties and doctrines. Think only thing with army air wing is that now they wish to expand from transport to CAS duties. And really nothing new with the navy's air power; just expansion.

__________________
Nabha Sparasham Deeptam
-Touch The Sky With Glory

sohamsri

Does CAS mean close air-support ?

Then why is the air-force fuming ?

sohamsri

And what exactly does the army mean by a tactical air-force ?

I knew about the army aviation and naval aviation, but what is this sudden expansion ??

Super Dude

What you said is so true.
Really i dont know why. Maybe the air should be under their control. Maybe they want something, but the govt is not giving. Really dont know.

bengalraider

the airforce is fuming at what they see as a loss of exclusivity but they are dead wrong
1- the navy has been operating aircraft for many years now and it should increase with the two indigenous ac's and the vikramaditya we should have upto 50 mig-29k's or naval lca's available to provide the fleet air cover in the open ocean also the naval strike squadrons can provide air support over bombay high and other sensetive areas( the navy is slated to receive one sqadron of su-30mki of its own)
2- the army requires attack helicopters to be embedded in with it's strike divisions these can function as tank killers providing an extended each to the strke corps , as for transport the army should always have it's own transport choppers.

sohamsri

What the hell man..... these idiots keep hyping all the useless news....sorry for taking your time...

In which category can I post about India's missiles ? because they involve land foreces, AF, and navy...

Sumku

A longtime back, I had made a post exploring the utility of Army's Air Wing. See if it helps

Should Indian Army have its own AirForce Wing?