Sukhoi 30 planes belonging to India's air force fly in formation with a Globemaster III
Posted on 10/16/2014 5:21:10 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Are India's ageing air force planes falling out of the sky?
All air forces have accidents, but accounts of Indian warplanes crashing on training flights have become almost routine news.
The latest incident came earlier this week, when a Russian-made Sukhoi-30 crashed in eastern India - both pilots surviving after ejecting for unspecified reasons.
All five crew died in March this year on a training flight in their US-made Hercules transport aircraft.
'Flying coffin' But it is the Russian-made aircraft that form the backbone of the Indian fleet which have been the most accident-prone. The MiG jet in particular has become known as the "flying coffin" or the "widow maker".
Two years ago, India's then defence minister told an astonished parliament that more than half the 872 MiGs it had purchased from Russia had been lost in accidents, at a cost of over 200 lives.
Apparently, pilots regularly complain that some MiG models land too fast and that the design of the window canopy means they can't see the runway properly.
The Indian air force has gradually been retiring the older planes - some dating back to the 1960s.
Yet only this month the air force chief warned the delay in introducing replacements was putting India's security at risk as parts of the fleet were on "their last legs".
Meanwhile, India's regional rival China continues to leap ahead in both spending and firepower.
Indian-designed warplanes have so far not been up to the job. But more than two years since a deal was signed to buy 126 Rafale fighters from France, the bargaining goes on.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Sukhoi 30 planes belonging to India's air force fly in formation with a Globemaster III
What is “gravity”, Alex?
Russian equipment is crap? Who knew. I recall when the Foxbat MiG 25 first appeared and was considered the best military aircraft in the world. Then a defector brought one to us and it had rust on it and would burn up its engines with too much thrust. Message to India: You want the best equipment, get it in America.
Their civilian aviation system (DGCA) is a corrupt, old boy’s club. I can’t imagine how their military might be.
“Then a defector brought one to us and it had rust on it and would burn up its engines with too much thrust”
Then a couple of years later, they figured out that what they had been laughing at before, allowed the Mig-25 to fly and fight in an nuclear EMP environment.
That led to a years long-delay in the Nightwatch/Air Force One 747 programs, as they were refitted for EMP.
Was Soviet Equipment “junk”?
We’ll yeah, by OUR standards.
By Soviet Standards, where they accepted a much higher threshold of losses than we did, they were good for the missions they were designed for.
95% of the time you can look to operations and/or maintenance as the cause. The aircraft itself is usually not to blame.
It pulls no punches and is surprisingly candid in just what a mess the Indian military is.
Is this still true?
(An honest question since I don't have a clue, but I seem to keep reading scary stories about what China is turning out, and I know for a fact that American companies are increasingly turning to foreign skilled labor because they can't find it America anymore.)
Then it is the race against time, budget, etc.
Nyet...don’t take it personally, comrade, it’s just business.
The U.S. inspectors laughed at the MiG-25’s vacuum tube radios. They later discovered these were impervious to EMP.
My 1947 radio phonograph is kept running with Russian made vacuum tubes. Don’t last nearly as long as RCAs or Raytheons, though. At least they’re available.
Indian pilots do fly a lot. 250+ hours for frontal units as per some sources given that they face two nuclear-armed enemies.
http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?48916-Countries-with-the-highest-flying-hours
Comparing with Russian accident statistics is not exactly a realistic thing. Russian pilots, since the fall of the USSR, have seen a steep fall in flying hours. You don’t fly, you don’t crash!
India’s problems stem from a number of factors: the fact that advanced jet trainers were delayed for two decades, lack of quality spares (caused by the fall of the USSR and breakup of production units there) and a absence of strategic planning at both government and military levels.
that's Soviet philosophy to the tee. Numbers that they can put on the field are meant to out weigh technological advantage cause human life is worthless/cheap and they can field huge numbers of inferior tanks, planes etc. to defeat an army that is technologically superior.
Same as it ever was....same as it ever was.
Yup. Perhaps similar to the mass production of tanks by the Roosians during WWII; cheap, but effective and can be mass produced quickly. Who needs quality.
This sounds to me like the winning answer.
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