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SCENE
The Indian and French governments are
discussing a donation of 31 former Armée
de l’Air Jaguars to India. According to a
French newspaper it was French President
Emanuel Macron who personally made
the offer to an Indian government official
in early June. The offer comes in the
midst of ongoing negotiations for more
Rafale aircraft for the Indian Air Force. It
is believed that Indian Air Chief Marshal
Birender Singh Dhanoa, who was in Paris
from July 17 to 20, also discussed the
Jaguar donation and according to the
Indian defence news outlet, an Indian
delegation will visit BA279 Chateaudun
to assess the state of the Jaguars in mid-
August. The Jaguar aircraft will be used for
spares.
Elsewhere, the sale of 63 former Arméede l’Air Mirage F1s seems to have been
approved by the French Ministry of
Defence. Airborne Tactical Advantage
Company (ATAC) will buy the planes and
spare engines for €21 million, but the
big money will go to the French defence
industry, which will reportedly receive €
million worth of maintenance contracts
over the next 10 to 15 years. The 30-plus
planes will be made airworthy again and
transported from Chateaudun to SABCA
in Belgium for upgrade and removal of
any sensitive equipment. ATAC plans to fly
between 5,000 and 9,000 hours per year
with its new Mirage F1 fleet. According to
French newspapers, the contract should
be signed by August 16. The first Mirage
F1 should fly in the United States by 2018.
Jan KraakJaguars to India,
Mirages to America
Mirage F1CR 653/118-CV assigned to Escadron de Reconnaissance 2/33 ‘Savoie’ in a two-tone
desert colour scheme and special tail markings to mark the type’s role in Africa from 1984. The
last F1CRs retired from Armée de l’Air service in 2014. From next year, aircraft like 653 are set
for a new lease of life as aggressor aircraft in the United States of America. Jan KraakAnother Indian saga
What for years seemed to be the great
advantage of Russia’s PAK FA fighter –
having a large and solid foreign customer at
the design stage – is becoming increasingly
doubtful.
The joint Russian-Indian Perspective Multi-
role Fighter (PMF) programme based on the
Russian PAK FA (commonly referred to in
India as the fifth-generation fighter aircraft
or FGFA) has been the subject of talks
between the two countries since 2001.
An intergovernmental agreement signed in
October 2007 was followed in December
2010 by a contract for preliminary design
of the PMF, dubbed the Type 79L, to be
jointly developed by Sukhoi and Hindustan
Aeronautics Limited of India. The preliminary
design was accepted in June 2013 and the
next contract covering construction and
evaluation of prototypes was expected
to be signed soon after. That has still nothappened.
All current Russian official announcements
about the Russian-Indian PMF project claim
“negotiations with India are in progress”.
When AIR International recently asked a
senior Russian aircraft industry official about
the negotiations, he replied frankly: “Better
not ask.” When Russians speak about
the problems, they mention discrepancies
regarding money and Indian access to the
aircraft. A UAC report published in June
2016 stated: “In [respect of] the financial
matters, a compromise solution has been
reached. In [respect of] allowing Indian pilots
[to fly the PAK FA prototypes] important
decisions have been made and they are
currently being settled with [the Russian]
Ministry of Defence.” According to another
UAC report from June 2017: “technical
negotiations have been concluded” and
“the contract is initialled and is currentlyundergoing approval procedures by Indian
state authorities”.
The Russians always emphasise only that
they are ready to give India fifth-generation
technologies. The question is whether
they really have such technologies. Indian
media quoted an Indian Air Force official
saying: “The FGFA’s engine is unreliable, its
radar inadequate, its stealth features badly
engineered, India’s work-share too low and
the fighter’s price would be exorbitant by
the time it enters service.” Remarkably, in
HAL’s exhibition hall during the Aero India
2017 trade show in February there was
no mention of the PMF, although in 2013
and 2015 HAL displayed a model of the
fighter in Indian Air Force markings. HAL is
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
Nevertheless, negotiations are in progress,
which means the deal is not dead yet. Piotr
ButowskiSu-30SM
upgrade
complete
Irkut Corp and the Russian Ministry of
Defence are set to complete upgrade of
Su-30SM fighters to Su-30SM1 standard.
The upgrade includes mission system
avionics to increase performance and
enable employment of the latest Russian-
made precision-guided weapons.
According to the Russian daily Izestya, the
upgrade has already been implemented
on multiple aircraft used for testing and
evaluation purposes. Alexander MladenovChinese
Mi-171Es
Four Mi-171E multi-role helicopters
were ordered for the Chinese military in
August 2017. The deal was confirmed
by Alexander Mikheev, director
general of Rosoboronexport, Russia’s
arms export agency and includes
four additional VK-2500 engines. All
equipment is due for delivery in 2018.
China is the second largest export
customer (after India) for Russian
tactical transport helicopters this
decade. As many as 84 Mi-171Es
were ordered in two batches, the last
of which were handed over in 2014. So
far, China’s military has preferred buying
Mi-171Es via intermediary companies
instead of placing direct orders. All
84 helicopters were purchased in the
baseline unarmed configuration with
analogue cockpits. Following delivery
to China, the helicopters receive local
upgrades with new mission avionics and
locally-made unguided weapons carried
on outrigger pylons. Alexander Mladenov