Wing Commander Alok Kumar Thakur was convicted by court martial for allegedly accepting bribes from the representative of French aircraft manufacturer Dassault in a reported sting during the Bangalore Air Show in 2011.
The aircraft took off from the company’s manufacturing plant at Long Beach, California on June 11 and made several stops, including one at Barcelona, before it arrived in India.
These aircraft are part of a batch of 57 Hawks ordered jointly by the Indian Navy and Indian Air Force (IAF) for around 700 million pounds, the first 17 of which will go to the navy.
StratPost was invited to the annual Airbus Military Trade Media Briefing in Spain last week and, as it turned out, ended up getting a ride on the A400M. Read about the experience and check out all the pictures.
This first aircraft is expected to be handed over to the IAF this summer and Boeing says it’s ‘on track to deliver four more C-17s to the IAF this year and five in 2014’.
StratPost was invited to visited Airbus Military facilities at Getafe in Spain last week to get a sense of the aircraft acquisition under consideration by the IAF, after the A-330 MRTT was announced as the preferred bid in the refueler competition. Here’s a look at what goes into the aircraft.
The defense ministry has issued a Letter of Request to the US Government for the procurement of 145 pieces of M777 light howitzers, manufactured by BAE Systems.
Boeing is to build Beddown Infrastructure Facilities for the C-17 aircraft ordered by the Indian Air Force (IAF) at Hindon Air Force Station.
Although the case for the acquisition of the two single-engine trainers is still at a preliminary stage, the IAF is ‘desirous’ of getting their ‘numbers up from 49 to 51’ again and is planning to make a pitch for the aircraft to the Ministry of Defense.
The IAF evaluation of the six competing aircraft for the MMRCA contest took into account the issue of life-cycle cost, which could be loosely understood to mean cost of ownership over the period of operation of the aircraft. This was because it was felt that the true cost of owning a fleet of aircraft was not reflected in the purchase price alone.
A recent French media report offers insight into the French position in the negotiations with the Indian defense ministry on the MMRCA fighter aircraft purchase by the IAF. Here’s an edited translation of the report and an analysis of what it could mean.
The study conducted by IHS Jane’s Aerospace and Defense Consulting, compared the operational costs of the Gripen, Lockheed Martin F-16, Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet, Dassault’s Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon and the F-35 aircraft.
DRDO head, Dr. V.K. Saraswat, took a backseat ride in the Swedish Saab’s Gripen C/D aircraft on the sidelines of the Aerospace Forum held at Linköping, Sweden, last week.
“India is a significant market for Boeing and we are committed to working closely with the defense ministry, armed forces and indigenous industry to meet India’s defense and security needs,” said Dennis Swanson, vice president, International Business Development, Boeing Defense, Space & Security in India.
The Dreamliner is set to land at Begumpet Airport on the eve of the show and will be on static display from March 14 to 16.
