Frontier India » CEMILAC

Indian Army inducts Weaponised Advanced Light Helicopter Rudra

(FINN) Frontier India News Network — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 09:06:51 +0000

Bangalore: In a milestone for Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv Project (ALH Dhruv), the Indian Army today received the first of the 38 weapon integrated version named Rudra. ALH Rudra was earlier refered as Dhruv-WSI (Weapons Systems Integrated). Made by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) ALH Rudra has received the Initial Operation clearance by Center for Military Airworthiness & Certification (CEMILAC). The Indian air Force has placed an initial order of 16 Rudra’s.

Advanced Light Helicopter Mk-IV Rudra

Advanced Light Helicopter Mk-IV (ALH MK-4) is the Army version of Rudra. The helicopter features avionics and weapon systems from Israel, France, Belgium, South Africa, Germany, Italy, USA and India. Indian made helicopter launched Anti Tank missile HELINA will be a part of the arsenal once the flight trials complete. Helina is the air launched version of anti tank Missile NAG, made by DRDO. Indian Army already has built up a fleet of ALH Dhruv and it provides commonality for upkeep of Rudra.

P Soundara Rajan, Managing Director said “Rudra, first armoured helicopter – is the Mk IV variant of the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) designed and manufactured by HAL. This helicopter is fitted with Day and Night Targeting systems and can carry a mix of weapons (70 rockets, anti-tank missiles, air to air missiles and 20 mm turret gun), providing the required capability to search and destroy any targets”.

In October 2012, Defence Ministry had cleared the path for Indian Army to raise its own fleet of attack helicopters. So far it relied on the Indian Air Force.

EMB-145I AEW&C a starting point for much larger AWACS India Programme : Air Chief

(FINN) Frontier India News Network — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 14:24:51 +0000

Bangalore: India is looking at creating a complex AWACS program said Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne PVSM AVSM VM ADC, Chief of Air Staff, Indian Air Force. He said that he was personally very satisfied with this significant milestone in the programme which was not, and still is not, an easy programme. He said the EMB-145 I AEW&C programme is the starting point for much larger, more complex projects such as AWACS India programme. He was speaking at the formal receipt function of the AEW&C India aircraft EMB-145I platform by Centre for Airborne System (CABS), the DRDO laboratory spear heading the programme. The platform was designed and developed by modifying and EMB-145 aircraft by DRDO, Indian Air Force, Center for Military Airworthiness and. Certification (CEMILAC), Directorate General of Aeronautical Quality Assurance (DGAQA), and the Brazilian aircraft maker EMBRAER.

“The ultimate milestone – the delivery of the fleet of AEW&C System to the Indian Air Force is not only our goal but also a dream for DRDO. The indigenous AEW&C System based on projections by the IAF and built on the EMB-145I by DRDO has incorporated more operational capabilities than contemporary systems of its class,” said Dr Vijay Kumar Saraswat, the Director general of Countries prestigious Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

DRDO CABS EMB-145I

“The programme involves installation of the systems on the aircraft, integration of these systems and & make the system perform to its fullest capability meeting the user aspirations” he said .

The platform with more than 300 mission system items supplied by CABS landed in Bangalore HAL Airport on 22 Aug 2012.

Earlier, while welcoming the gathering Dr S Christopher, Distinguished Scientist, Programme Director AEW&C System & Director CABS informed that after the operational requirements were firmed up between DRDO & IAF in 2007, the contract for three modified aircraft was finalized in August 2008 with EMBRAER, Brazil. The present air craft is scheduled to go for ‘shake down’ trials in the coming week. It will take about a year for completing the integration and development flight trials.

Samtel-HAL MFD’s to replace imported MFDs on IAF Su30 MKIs

(FINN) Frontier India News Network — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 07:23:30 +0000

Samtel HAL Display Systems, a JV between Samtel Display Systems and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited had received the production clearance from RCMA (Regional Centre for Military Airworthiness), CEMILAC for induction of indigenously made multi-function displays on Sukhoi 30 MKI aircraft. Samtel HAL are expected to begin the deliveries of the 5″x5″ and 6″x6″ multifunction displays (MFDs) to HAL within the next week for inducting on Su30 MKIs. The potential of this order will be Rs 250 crores over the next few years for the entire Sukhoi fleet.

Samtel HAL JV becomes first Indian company to indigenously produce a hi-tech cockpit display for fighter aircraft. These MFDs were jointly developed by DRDO, Samtel and HAL, and have replaced the multifunction displays which were till now being imported by HAL for induction on Sukhoi 30 MKIs.

The MFDs had received flight clearance from RCMA for airworthiness in 2008. later flight trials were conducted by HAL for the MFDs on Sukhoi 30 MKIs. It is after the successful completion of flight trials that Samtel HAL has received a production clearance by RCMA for supply of MFDs to HAL.

The joint venture between Samtel Display Systems and HAL was formed in 2006. The JV plans to induct cockpit displays across all platforms of HAL with Samtel-HAL JV’s products. This joint venture is the first public-private partnership in the defence avionics sector in India.

Indian Light Combat Aircraft’s LSP – 3 takes to skies

(FINN) Frontier India News Network — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 12:53:55 +0000

Bangalore: Indian military aviation R&D got a boost today as the Limited Series Production (LSP) # 3 aircraft, the ninth test vehicle joined the flight line to undertake development flight trials of the Light Combat Aircraft Tejas towards operational clearance for induction in the IAF by the end of the year. Successful, copy book maiden test flight of LSP-3 is significant on many counts.

The LSP-3 is a quantum jump in terms of the equipment fit on the aircraft. It is almost the final configuration including the new air-data computers, Multi Mode Radar, new communication and navigation equipment and radar warning receiver. With this successful flight, the LCA (Tejas) programme is very close to the Initial Operations Clearance, which is to be completed by December 2010. The remaining effort is mostly the flight testing and demonstration of sensors and weapon performance.

The test aircraft was flown by Wg Cdr G Thomas, VM of the National Flight Test Centre (NFTC) at ADA. As per procedure the first flight was accompanied by a chase aircraft which was a Tejas Trainer flown by Gp Capt RR Tyagi, the Chief Test Pilot and (Retd) Wg Cdr PK Raveendran SC, the Group Director (Flight Test). The test flight was conducted from the Telemetry station by the Test Director, Wg Cdr S Toffeen, under the supervision of Air Cmde Rohit Varma VM, the Project Director (Flight Test). The flight took off from HAL airport in Bangalore and all the objectives of the flight were met within the duration of 52 minutes.

With this flight the total number of test flights accumulated across nine test vehicles of the Tejas programme has reached one thousand three hundred and fifty and has logged about 800 hrs of flight.

On the successful flight of the LSP-3 Director – ADA, Mr PS Subramanyam has said that this is the “culmination of the efforts of the Tejas Team comprising of members from HAL, IAF, CEMILAC, DG-AQA, DRDO labs, PSUs, coordinated by ADA”.