Samtel to build Cockpit Displays for Sukhoi-30MKI

Delhi-based Samtel Display Systems has vaulted a giant hurdle on the way to its declared goal of becoming a major supplier to the armed forces. After a year of rigorous flight trials in the Indian Air Force’s frontline Sukhoi-30MKI fighters, Samtel’s home-built cockpit displays have been certified as suitable for introduction into frontline service.

Multi-Function Displays (MFD), as these cockpit displays are termed, are ranged in front of the Su-30MKI pilots. They get digital signals from dozens of sensors on various aircraft systems and display these to the pilot on an easy-to-read screen. A quick glance across his MFDs tells the pilot how his aircraft is flying and fighting.

So far, a French company, Thales, has provided the Sukhoi-30’s high-tech MFDs. But Samtel has aggressively targeted this market, even choosing to go it alone rather than work through its joint venture with Thales. With Samtel’s price significantly cheaper than Thales’, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), which builds the Sukhoi-30 at its Nashik facility, has placed orders on Samtel.

Just the start
Puneet Kaura, executive director of Samtel, anticipates MFD orders for at least Rs 250 crore. So far, HAL has placed only a modest order on Samtel but Kaura says that is normal. In a programme like the Su-30, which involves building 280 fighters over a decade, the aircraft’s internal systems are ordered in small batches.

“The Su-30 MFDs are just the beginning,” says Kaura. “Samtel and HAL have set up a joint venture, Samtel HAL Display Systems (Samtel, 60 per cent; HAL, 40 per cent), to design and build MFDs for all HAL-built aircraft, including transport aircraft. With offsets applicable on all aircraft sales to India, Samtel will be offering them the capability to indigenously build MFDs for their aircraft.”

Samtel’s success with Su-30 MFDs seems likely to bring in another set of orders. When Samtel HAL Display Systems had offered to supply cockpit displays for the HAL-built Sitara Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT), at a price significantly cheaper than the current foreign suppliers, HAL had responded with Yes, if your MFDs for the Su-30MKI pass the test.

Down the line
Samtel is also eyeing a major role in developing advanced cockpit displays for the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA), which India and Russia are building collaboratively. Cockpit systems and avionics, which can amount to 30-35 per cent of the cost of a modern fighter, fall within India’s work share in the FGFA’s Preliminary Design Contract, likely to be signed during Russian President Medvedev’s visit later this year.

Meanwhile, Samtel has partnered the Defence research and Development Organisation laboratory, Defence Avionics Research Establishment, and the IAF, in developing ‘Smart MFDs’, a new generation of cockpit displays for the IAF’s Jaguar fighters. In these, embedded software cards allow the display to do its own symbology, doing away with the need for a separate display processor. Puneet Kaura says Samtel Display Systems will produce a fully indigenous engineering prototype of the Smart MFD by March 2011.

Unsurprisingly, all six aerospace giants competing in the IAF’s tender for 126 medium multi-role fighters have signed memoranda of understanding with Samtel Display Systems for manufacturing cockpit displays in case their fighter is selected. While these are pure ‘Build to Print’ arrangements, aimed at meeting offset obligations, those foreign vendors, too, would consider designing in India and sourcing globally from here, provided offset benefits are clea

IAF To Get 42 More HAL-Produced Su-30MKIs Fighters

Hindustan Aeronautics expects the Indian air force to order an additional 42 locally produced Sukhoi Su-30MKIs.

The possible order would come on top of the 180 Su-30MKIs HAL is already producing for the air force, says company chairman Ashok Nayak.

About 105 aircraft from the 180-strong order have been delivered so far, Nayak says. In addition, in mid-2010, India ordered 40 Su-30MKIs as flyaways from Russia's Sukhoi.

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Russia Has Offered To Equip The Indian Su-30MKI Fighter Aircraft With AESA Radar

Russia has offered to equip the Indian Su-30MKI aircraft with the electronically scanned array radar to bring them on par with the most modern fighter aircraft in the world. Currently the technical configuration of the upgraded aircraft with onboard AESA radar is being discussed by Russian and Indian experts. The upgraded aircraft could be equipped with perspective Russian or foreign-made weapon, including Indo-Russian “BrahMos” anti-ship missiles.

An Irkut statement said at Aero India 2011 A multirole Su-30MKI aircraft which became a sort of symbol of the IRKUT Corporation deserves an honourable place in the exposition of the company. 

Fighter developed by JSC “Sukhoi Design Bureau” on demand of the Indian Air Force are mass-manufactured at the Irkutsk Aviation Plant. The IRKUT Corporation delivers to India ready-made Su-30MKI fighters as well as Su-30MKI technical kits for license production by India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd Corporation. 

Su30MKI At Aero-India 2011

SU-30MKI Multi-Role Fighter

Indian Su-30mKI To Get AESA Radar Under Super- 30 Modernization project

HAL will start modernization of last batch of 40 Sukhoi Su 30MKI under “Super -30” Project from 2012. Russian and Indian Specialist are still working on technical performance, under this Project Indian government will be allocating close to US$2.4 billion for Deep Modernization for all the Sukhoi Su30 MKI fleet currently but these upgrades will be carried out only on newly built Su-30, which will be last batch of Su-30 to join IAF.  

This first 40 aircrafts will also get, strengthening of air frame to enable them to carry near 2.5 tonne, Air launched version of Brahmos , Indian air force have already provided two Su-30MKI aircrafts in 2010 to carry out such modification to the airframe and Air launch variant is also ready only integration with airframe is left . Under “Super -30” Project, Su 30MKI will get Russian Phazotron Zhuk-AE Active Electronically Scanned Array AESA radars along with new onboard mission computers, electronic warfare systems and new Russian BVR Missiles rumored to be Novator K-100 missile also known has “AWCS Killer ” and also India’s own Astra BVR Missile. 

Current batches of Su -30 which HAL has been manufacturing are from MKI-3 variants which are further improvement over earlier batches, and “Super -30” upgrades will be carried out in batch wise and older lot of MKI-1 will be covered first. After initial 40 plus aircrafts, older aircrafts will not be receiving any airframe modification to carry Air launched variant of Brahmos, so Brahmos air variant will limited to certain number airframes of MKI fleet only and not all, but all other aircraft fleet of Sukhoi 30 in Indian air force will be able to carry DRDO developed Sub-sonic Cruise Missile “Nirbhay” and other newly developed BVR missiles.

IAF's Sukhoi Su-30MKI Jets To Be Upgraded To Super Sukhois Level

India's air superiority Sukhoi-30MKI fighters will soon be converted into 'Super Sukhois' by upgrading them with fifth generation combat jet features, the Russian original equipment manufacturer Irkut Corporation has announced.

The upgrade will include a new cockpit, an upgraded radar and advanced stealth characteristics to make the plane less visible to enemy radar than the existing Indian Air Force (IAF) Sukhoi-30 fleet, Irkut's president and chairman Alexy Fedorov said at the Moscow Air Show here.
The IAF currently has five operational Sukhoi 30MKI squadrons numbering around 100
aircraft. It will ultimately have over 230 Sukhoi-30MKIs or 13 squadrons in its fleet.

The fleet is under licenced production at the Bangalore-based Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and the entire fleet will be upgraded to the 'Super Sukhoi' configuration.

'The upgrade will apply not only to the aircraft in service with the Indian Air Force (IAF) but also to those yet to be delivered to India and to be licence-manufactured by HAL,' Fedorov said.

Most significantly, the aircraft will be able to carry a heavier weapon load, including the airborne version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, he added.

Fedorov said the 'Super Sukhoi' will be a potent aircraft similar in features to a fifth generation aircraft. However, he refused to provide specific details of the upgrade, stating that the exact nature of this was still to be decided between the Indian and Russian sides.

Discussions are currently on regarding various aspects of the proposed upgrade, he said.

The Irkut chief did not provide any indication of the cost of the upgrade project. However, going by the general cost trends of similar upgrades, the price could run close to $1 billion.

Meanwhile, HAL is upbeat over its participation in the cutting-edge technology fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) project.
The Sukhoi T-50 aircraft -- also called the PAK-FA -- unveiled at the Moscow International Air Show (MAKS) 2011 Wednesday will make India the only country outside of the US and Russia to have a fifth generation fighter.

HAL chairman Ashok Naik, who is here for the MAKS, told Defenseworld.net that HAL's participation in the project is 'well on track' with a preliminary design contract signed between India and Russia for $295 million.

The preliminary designing could take about 18 months to conclude. Detailed design work would then follow during which the full scope of the project would be defined. The basic requirement for the Indian fighter would be a twin-seater configuration, he added.

'HAL is keen to complete the design phase and move forward on the project,' Naik said, adding that the specific details of the Indian components that will go into the FGFA will be decided during the detailed design phase.

HAL will be working with its Russian partner United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) in co-developing an export version of which the IAF will be the first customer.

India has expressed a requirement of 250 to 300 PAK-FAs, which are scheduled for an Indian induction beginning 2016-17 and the procurement cost of the fleet is likely to exceed $35 billion. Russia too requires equal numbers of the jet.

IAF To Deploy Su-30MKI Fighter Aircraft Along Pak Border

The Indian Air Force will deploy two squadrons of its frontline air superiority Su-30MKI fighter here.

"We have decided to deploy two squadrons of Su-30MKI fighter squadrons in Jodhpur in next two years," South Western Air Command chief Air Marshal A K Gogoi told reporters here.

Gogoi is on a three-day visit to the air force bases in and around Jodhpur.

Jodhpur will be the first Su-30MKI base along the Pakistan border. Till now, the IAF has deployed its main strike fighter in Lohegaon near Pune, Bareilly, and Tezpur and Chabua in Assam.

IAF also plans to deploy the aircraft at its Halwara air base in Punjab.

IAF has started operating Su-30s in high-altitude areas too and its squadrons on a regular basis practice flights from the Leh air base in Jammu and Kashmir.

Talking about strengthening air surveillance capabilities, Gogoi said medium power radars have been deployed under the command, which will be the first one to use them.

Total indigenisation of Sukhoi next year: HAL

The first fully indigenous Su-30MKI fighter plane will roll off Indian assembly lines in 2010, a top executive at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited said on Wednesday. 

 

“Next year, HAL will achieve 100 per cent indigenisation of the Sukhoi aircraft — from the production of raw materials to the final plane assembly,” V. Balakrishnan, general manager, Aircraft Manufacturing Division, told.

A five-member HAL delegation is taking part in MAKS-2009, Russia’s international air show now under way here. 

Out of the 230 Su-30MKI air superiority multirole fighters the Indian Air Force plans to induct by 2015, 140 aircraft are to be built in India. License production began in 2004, with the first planes assembled from knockdown kits supplied by Russia. The programme provided for a gradual increase in the number of parts and components produced locally.

Last year, HAL mastered the manufacture of the wing and the tail. This year, it started producing the fuselage and raw materials, Mr. Balakrishnan said. The final and most challenging phase involved the indigenous manufacture of the engine. 

“We’re currently testing the locally produced engine for the Su-30MKI and are planning to launch its production in 2010.” HAL would manufacture 60 Su-30MKI fighters in the full production cycle till 2015, he said.

India also plans to sign an inter-governmental agreement (IGA) with Russia for supply of HAL-manufactured Sukhoi airframes for third countries. It is already supplying some avionics equipment for Sukhoi aircraft Russia is building for third countries.

Later this year, India and Russia would sign a design accord for a fifth generation fighter aircraft they agreed to build jointly in 2007. India would be responsible for the manufacture of composite-material parts of the airframe, avionics and software packages, Mr. Balakrishnan said.

The Russian single-seat version of the fifth generation fighter plane is expected to make its maiden flight in the coming winter. India will induct a twin-seat version.

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http://www.hindu.com/2009/08/20/stories/2009082057882000.htm

British Euro-Fighter Typhoons Strikes India’s Sukhois Su-30MKI In Joint Exercises

Britain’s frontline fighter jet Eurofighter Typhoon, shortlisted for India’s $10.4-billion combat jets tender, whacked the Indian Air Force (IAF) warhorse Sukhoi in one-on-one dog fights during bilateral air war games, if Britain’s air chief is to be believed.

‘Well, they lost,’ was Stephen Dalton’s response when IANS asked how the Russia-developed India-manufactured Su-30MKI air superiority jets performed against the Royal Air Force’s (RAF) Typhoons when they matched their wits during the joint exercises in recent years.

However, he was quick to add that the two aircraft are different in technologies, and that Typhoons are next generation, and hence there is no comparison.

Dalton was interacting with IANS at the recently held Royal International Air Tattoo military air show at the RAF base here.

The two aircraft were pitted against each other during ‘Indradhanush’ exercises in 2007 at Waddington in Britain and in 2010 at Kalaikunda in India.


Interestingly, the IAF had claimed in 2007 that Sukhoi’s performance against Typhoon had convinced the RAF of its superiority. ‘The RAF pilots were candid in their admission of the Su-30 MKI’s observed superior manoeuvring in the air, just as they had studied, prepared and anticipated,’ an Indian defence ministry release had said during the July 2007 Indradhanush.

It was, however, fair to Typhoon, saying the IAF pilots were impressed with its agility in the air.

Dalton was also all praise for the IAF for training its pilots to put any aircraft they fly to best use.

‘The issue is you are comparing technology and people. So, more often than not, technology can give you a great edge, a great lead. But actually it is always the people (behind the machines) who make the difference at the end of the day,’ he said.

‘It is not just how the aircraft did in the air. It is also about how the individual thinks, how they work, and their willingness to develop and to experiment.

‘I have always found the IAF to be extremely good. Yes, technology is a significant element, but also the individual is really important in this,’ he added.

Dalton also indicated that the IAF inventory of Sukhois, MiGs and Mirages are no match to the Typhoons.

‘Nothing that India has got is anything anywhere near this (the Typhoon). I would say that absolutely. This airplane is phenomenally different in both performance and technology in anything they (IAF) got right now,’ he said.

But, he added, it was not criticism, as Typhoon is the product of next generation technology.

‘I would say the IAF crew that I have worked with and seen are every bit as clever as any other air crew in the world, and in many cases better. It is all about the man as the machine that they operate,’ he added.

Dalton said the cooperation between the RAF and the IAF will continue, as Britain valued this relationship. ‘IAF has a lot of experience and I would like to suck that out and use it, quite frankly,’ he added.

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http://www.inewsone.com/2011/07/24/british-typhoons-whacked-indias-sukhois-in-joint-exercises/64776