ghostrider883

When Lightning Strikes...

"नभःस्पृशं दीप्तम्" ("Nabhaḥ spr̥śaṁ dīptam") -"Touch the Sky with Glory"

Did not end well for one of the Deltas....

Veltro, Any chance of a Vampire Night Fighter based on this model?

Finally some movement... Here are the latest developments in the story: "I asked the President to supply us with 36 Rafale jet fighter planes, the ready-to-fly models," the Prime Minister said at ajoint news conference. He said terms and conditions of the contract have yet to be finalised and officials from both sides would work out the details. The original plan was for India to buy 18 off-the-shelf jets from France's Dassault Aviation, with 108 others being assembled in India by the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited or HAL in Bengaluru. Sources said if negotiations work out, India would buy 144 aircraft, 18 more than the original 126, ensuring that 108 jets will still be assembled at home. The Modi government, the sources said, will not give up its Make In India push to promote manufacturing at home and to build a domestic military-industrial base. "The French President has supported Make In India. It is not a project, it is a thought," PM Modi said. "France has always been a reliable supplier for India from jet fighters to submarines," the Prime Minister said. India is ordering the 36 off-the shelf Rafale fighters to speed up the purchase and immediately give the air force two squardons of the jets that it desperately needs to upgrade its ageing fleet, sources said. For three years, the Rafale deal has been mired in extensive negotiations. Dassault has been reluctant to provide guarantees for the aircraft that are produced in India. The Rafale was chosen in 2012 over rival offers from the United States, Europe and Russia. The original proposal for 126 fighter jets was worth at least 12 billion dollars.

2014 Hyundai Grand i10 Asta, 1.2L Petrol, 83 BHP 2015 Hyundai i10, 1.1L Petrol, 69 BHP

HAL facilities are not good enough to manufacture Rafales in India. Indian built Su-30MKis seems to suffer from more problems than their Russian built counterparts, and that may be the reason France is hesitant on the warranty clause. Meanwhile, the Indian Defence Minister has declared any further Rafale purchases will be direct government two government negotiations only. The MMRCA contract will be scrapped and the LCA Tejas will be used to make up for shortfall in numbers. As much as I would like the LCA is large numbers, it can never be as capable as Rafale, and this decision is going to make a lot of people in Air Force unhappy, for a Force that is struggling to maintain required fighter numbers.

May I suggest designating Indian Rafales as DI,EI & MI (I for India instead of H for Hindustan)? As part of the ongoing Indian AF Mirage 2000H/TH upgrade, they have been redesignated as Mirage 2000I/TI by Dassault. Really looking forward to them.

All Iranian Su-25 Frogfoot attack planes have just deployed to Iraq Seven Su-25 Frogfoot attack planes operated by the Iranian Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution have arrived at Baghdad to join the war against ISIS militants. On Jul. 1, all the seven operational Su-25 Frogfoot attack planes operated by the Pasdaran (informal name of the IRGC – the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution) have completed their deployment to Imam Ali Airbase where they will join the ex-Russian Air Force Su-25s already delivered to Iraq in the air war against ISIS (Al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant). The aircraft (three Su-25UBKM and four Su-25KM jets, according to ACIG.org sources) will be operated by four Iraqi pilots and 10 Iranian pilots. The aircraft and support to fly them would be part of a military contract (backed by the U.S.) according to which Iran’s IRGC Air Force will receive six Su-30K multirole jets destined to Iraq. Their delivery of the Iranian Su-25 has been filmed and reported by local media outlets and Iraqi MoD that has published the following video as well as the pictures you can find in this post. Iran is believed to have joined the air war on ISIS since Jun. 21 when unidentified war planes launched heavy air strikes on the city of Baiji, north of Baghdad which had been invaded by ISIS. http://theaviationist.com/2014/07/01/iranian-su-25-iraq/

MiG-21FL C1103 flown by Flt Lt A J Singh of No.45 Sqdn had its port leading edge completely torn open by the AA fire. The aircraft C1103 was so badly damaged that it never flew again for the rest of the war.

The Indian Navy lost a submarine a Type 877 Kilo Class submarine INS Sindhurakshak(S63) last night after an explosion in the submarine in the Mumbai dockyard. Another Kilo class submarine, INS Sindhuratan(S59) berthed alongside her was damaged. INS Sindhurakshak had returned from Russia after an upgrade in January that made her capable of firing Club S cruise missiles. She sank to the bottom this morning with 18 of her crew who were inside the submarine, at the time of the explosion, dead. RIP This is very sad, and is just a day after the Indian Navy proudly launched the indigenously built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant. Some of these men may not be alive today

INS Sindhurakshak (S63) salvaged at Mumbai Harbour.

DRDO STATEMENT: India's first indigenously developed Beyond Visual Range (BVR) Air-to-Air missile "ASTRA was successfully test fired by the Indian Air Force on May 04, 2014 from a Naval range in the western sector meeting all the mission objectives. The air-launch was captured by side and forward looking high speed cameras and the separation was exactly as per the simulation. ASTRA is India's first BVR Air-to-Air Missile indigenously designed and developed by DRDO, possessing high Single Shot Kill Probability (SSKP) making it highly reliable. Astra is an all aspect, all weather missile with active Radar terminal guidance, excellent ECCM features, smokeless propulsion and process improved effectiveness in multi-target scenario making it a highly advanced, state-of the-art missile. The Scientific Advisor to Raksha Mantri, Secretary Deptt of Defence R&D and DG, DRDO, Shri Avinash Chander congratulating the team for their high competence and tenacity to make such an event happen seamlessly said "Astra's successful launch from the Su30 combat aircraft is a major step in missile aircraft integration. Extensive flight testing that has preceded today's air launch was indeed a joint effort of DRDO and IAF. This will be followed by launch against actual target shortly. Many more trials are planned and will be conducted to clear the launch envelope. Weapon integration with 'Tejas' Light Combat Aircraft will also be done in the near future." Dr. V.G. Sekaran, Director General (MSS) who chaired the Flight Readiness Review Committee along with Shri. S Som, Director, DRDL, Shri. P Venugopalan, former Director, DRDL among others, said "This is one of the proud moments for DRDO and the entire country." Dr. K Tamilmani, Director General (Aeronautics) who has overlooked the entire flight safety in the program said that quality of integration and performance is of high standards and there was no doubt in the success of the launch. He further added that this is the beginning of the phase for demonstration of launch over a wide air-launch envelope. The Project Director Dr. S. Venugopal said that "the Air Launch of ASTRA was perfect in all respect and is a culmination of years of effort by a very dedicated and competent team of the Missile Complex, Hyderabad, CEMILAC and Indian Air Force. HAL carried out the modification in Su-30 along with IAF specialists, and many Indian industries have an important and enabling role in the production of reliable avionics, propulsion system, materials, airframe and software passing stringent airworthiness requirements for the missile." The missiles have undergone rigorous testing on Su30 in the captive mode for avionics integration and Seeker evaluation in 2013. The project has thus reached the final stage of testing and evaluation, and the Mk-II variant with higher range capability is also planned to be tested by the end of 2014.

Would work Perfectly.

Do you still believe that the Indian Hunter Pilot blasted your Beechcraft on purpose at Islamabad air base during the 1971 Indo-Pak war?

An IAF C-130J-30 Super Hercules, one of six aircraft inducted three years ago, crashed today in Central India. There were five IAF personnel onboard (2 Wing Commanders, 2 Squadron Leaders and 1 Warrant Officer) and six Indian Army personnel, Five dead & six survivors . The aircraft,, call sign Dragon Two, took off from Agra at 10 am and crashed about 72 miles west of the Gwalior Air Force Station, one of the IAF's largest. A court of inquiry has been ordered. The aircraft belonged to the 77 Squadron based at Hindon AFS, Delhi RIP.

Wake Turbulence, Flying Discipline Likely Doomed IAF C-130J The Indian Air Force's C-130J Super Hercules that crashed March 28 in central India is likely to have impacted the ground during a low-level tactical sortie after being thrown out of control by wake turbulence of the lead C-130J flying in front of it. Initial indicators pointed to the high possibility of a sudden loss of control at 1,000 feet, giving the trailing aircraft's crew virtually no time to recover. The IAF's former flight safety boss (and then AOC-in-C, Western Air Command) Air Marshal P.S. Ahluwalia told "From the information available, there appears to have been a breach of flying discipline on two fronts. One, by the ill-fated aircraft, which may not have updated and compensated its flight path to accommodate wake and other turbulence during closely formated flight. And two, by the lead aircraft itself." The ill-fated plane’s crew was simulating manoeuvers to drop paratroopers in a combat zone from an extremely low altitude to evade detection by enemy radars. The plane was flying 300 feet above ground level but had eased up to 1,000 feet, ruling out the possibility of crashing into a hillock. Either way, the ill-fated crew likely had only seconds to apply corrective measures, grossly insufficient to right the aircraft at such low altitude. Investigations into the circumstances of the shock accident are still underway.

I post this because my kid brother is an engineer on board one of Great Eastern Shipping Company's ships, MV Jag *****, that is enroute currently to an East African port. It is re-assuring and heartening to see our Navy swing into action to protect our merchant ships :yes: . BTW, the INS Tabar(F44) is a Talwar(Krivak III) class stealth frigate.

There was confusion initially that Army soldiers were on board as it was on a low level insertion exercise. Later it was confirmed only IAF crew were onboard. The ill fated C-130, srl no. KC-3803 was part of two aircraft formation on a low level covert ops insertion exercise. 1. Wg Cdr Prashant Joshi - Captain 2. Wg Cdr Raji Nair - Co-pilot 3. Sq Ldr Kaushik Mishra - Trainee pilot 4. Sq Ldr Ashish Yadav - Navigator 5. Warrant Officer Krishna Pal Singh - Systems Operator The crew of the other C-130J, which was the lead aircraft in the formation, reported that the ill-fated aircraft grazed a hillock in an otherwise plain landscape. The first aircraft pulled up as it reached the hillock, but the second aircraft went and grazed it. The input is also corroborated by the angle in which it crashed into the ground. KC-3803 on delivery flight:

Hawk T.2

File Name: HAL Chetak package(Beta) File Submitter: ghostrider883 File Submitted: 23 January 2014 File Category: Other Origin ------------------------ HAL Chetak package(Beta) ------------------------ Mod to represent HAL built Alouette IIIs in Indian service(nicknamed "Chetak"). Contains three mods with dedicated skins an serial numbers of all Chetaks built by HAL and imported from France. a) Chetak_IN is the Indian Navy's SAR & MATCH(Marine Torpedo Carrying Helicopter) b) Chetak_IAF is the Indian AF & Army's SAR and Light CAS platform c) Chetak-CG, I just modded for fun as Coast Guard's SAR helicopter It is being uploaded as it is with some FM issues, which is beyond my understanding to fix. Credits: Original Model and weapons - Tracker Skins, based on Tracker's templates - ghostrider883 Pilot model - Marcfighter Sandesh "ghostrider883" Kanchan January 23, 2014 Click here to download this file