Asian Defense News: DTN News - INDIA DEFENSE NEWS: Why Indian Pilot Training Is So Dangerous
Analysis: Internationally, a project for one year takes ten fold longer in India. Decisions are taken at a snail pace and time is wasted on unneccessary red tape bureaucracy. Defense procurement system is politically corrupt, as an example urgently needed Hawk Mk132 advanced jet trainers for Indian Air Force, which took 30 odd years to acquire at the cost of hundreds of young Indian Air Force pilots life. India is the largest democratically governed country in the world as is an examplery system for other nations to follow suit, but at the same time the system is a curse with too many voices and noises, NO ACTION. India should have for some period a system of administration similar to China, which is straightfoward with no two way decision making that would benefit for the betterment of the country at large. (DTN Defense-Technology News)
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Strategy Pages
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 2, 2012: The Indian defense procurement bureaucracy has struck again. Despite over a decade of pressure from the Indian Air Force to obtain new trainers, new basic flight training aircraft have still not been obtained. As a result, trainee pilots are only getting 25 hours of flight time before going off to train on a specific type of aircraft (fighter, transport, helicopter). These trainees are supposed to get 75 hours before moving up to the advanced trainers and service aircraft. This problem has been building for years.
For example, back in 2009 the Indian Air Force shut down its acrobatics team, so that the aircraft they use (which are basically trainers) could be transferred to pilot flight training units, which were desperately short of flyable trainer aircraft. India's fleet of training aircraft is quite old and increasingly prone to breakdowns and crashes.
India has long put off buying new trainers. There are actually three different trainer aircraft types pilots use during their training. The HPT-32 is used for primary flight training. Intermediate training uses the Kiran Mark II and then the Hawk Jet Trainer is used for advanced training for fighter pilots. After that, the pilots are sent to combat units where they learn how to operate a specific type of combat aircraft. But in 2009, all 116 HPT 32 basic trainers had to be grounded because of age related problems. HPT reliability has gone done even more since then. The HPT 32 entered service three decades ago, and there have been over a hundred serious accidents, killing 23 instructor and trainee pilots. Because of the HPT 32 problems, the 96 Kiran Mk1 intermediate trainers had to increasingly be used for both basic and intermediate training. These aircraft are being worn out, but even then, most pilot trainees are only getting a third of the required hours before being moved along in their flight training.
The air force has finally received permission to buy 75 Pilatus PC 7 single engine turboprop trainers to replace the HPT 32s. While the HPT-32 was designed and manufactured in India, the Swiss Pilatus is seen as a better buy. The PC 7 is a two seat, 2.7 ton aircraft. The instructor sits behind the trainee and both have an ejection seat. Nearly 500 PC 7s have been built in the last three decades and they are used by 24 nations.
India has also had problems with advanced trainers. For a long time, new pilots went straight from propeller driven trainer aircraft to high performance jets like the MiG-21. This was made worse by the fact that the MiG-21 has always been a tricky aircraft to fly. This resulted in a high loss rate from peacetime accidents. The solution to this was a new jet trainer. But it took decades for this proposal to make its way through the defense procurement bureaucracy.
Three years ago, India decided to buy another 40 British Hawk jet trainers. Seven years ago, after two decades of effort, BAE Systems finally sold 66 Hawk jet trainers to India, at a cost of some $25 million each. The delays were caused by the Indian unwillingness to spend the money, plus the efforts of French, Russian, Czech, and American aircraft manufacturers to put forward their own candidates. Finally, the growing number of Indian MiG-21 aircraft lost forced the government to close the deal. The Hawk advanced jet trainers are the most successful Western aircraft of this type, at least in terms of sales (over 900 have been sold). The US Navy uses the Hawk and India felt the Hawk was the most suitable for training MiG-21 pilots. The nine ton aircraft are used to train pilots who will eventually fly jet fighters. The Hawk can also be armed and used for ground attack.
*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Strategy Pages
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Asian Defense News: DTN News - IRAN NEWS: Iran Scientists Produce Nuclear Fuel Rod
*Special Note - DTN News would like to thanks readers and viewers for their continue support with comments and DTN News wish each entity a very happy, healthy and bright 2012,
As of to-date, IRAN is in the hot spot seat being the most dangerous country on various factors, topping by producing nucleared powered weapons, Israel invented strike on nuclear facilities, sanctions by USA and EU, least Saudi involvement in Bahrain causing sectarian violence and to complete the cycle, the benefactor USA signing major arms deal with Saudi and Gulf countries creating booming arms industry during financial crisis to avert government shutdown and Obama could be elected for second terms of presidentship of the USA.
*DTN News - POSSIBILITY OF FUTURE CONFLICT NEWS: Iran To Punish Saudi Arabia Brutally ~ Tuesday, March 29, 2011
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 1, 2012: Iranian scientists have produced the nation's first nuclear fuel rod, a feat of engineering the West has doubted Tehran capable of, the country's nuclear agency said Sunday.
The announcement marks another step in Tehran's efforts to achieve proficiency in the entire nuclear fuel cycle—from exploring uranium ore to producing nuclear fuel--despite U.N. sanctions and measures by the U.S. and others to get it to halt aspects of its atomic work that could provide a possible pathway to weapons production.
Tehran has long said it is forced to seek a way to manufacture the fuel rods on its own, since the sanctions ban it from buying them on foreign markets. Nuclear fuel rods are tubes containing pellets of enriched uranium that provide fuel for nuclear reactors.
Iran's atomic energy agency's website said the first domestically made rod has already been inserted into the core of Tehran's research nuclear reactor. But it was unclear if the rod contained pellets or was inserted empty, as part of a test.
"Scientists and researchers at the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran have succeeded in producing and testing the first sample of a nuclear fuel rod," said the announcement.
The U.S. and some of its European allies accuse Iran of using its nuclear program as a cover to develop atomic weapons. Iran denies the charge, saying the program is for peaceful purposes only and is geared toward generating electricity and producing medical radioisotopes to treat cancer patients.
Although the rods are easier to make, Iran is also seeking to produce the pellets with enriched uranium. But so far it is not known whether Iranian nuclear scientists have been able to overcome the technical hurdles to do so.
Tehran focused on domestic production of nuclear fuel rods and pellets in 2010, after talks with the West on a nuclear fuel swap deal ended in failure as Iran backed down on shipping a major part of its stock of enriched uranium abroad in return for fuel.
The announcement on the fuel rod came just a day after Tehran proposed a new round of talks on its nuclear program with six world powers. The last round of negotiations between Iran and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany was held in January in Istanbul, Turkey, but it ended in failure.
The U.N. has imposed four rounds of sanctions on Tehran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, a process that can lead to making a nuclear weapon. Separately, the U.S. and the European Union have imposed their own tough economic and financial penalties.
Separately Sunday, Iran's navy says it has test-fired a medium-range surface-to-air missile during a drill in international waters near the strategic Strait of Hormuz—the passageway for one-sixth of the world's oil supply.
State TV said the missile is designed to evade radars and was developed by Iranian scientists.
The report didn't provide further details or say when the missile was tested.
A spokesman for the exercise, Rear Adm. Mahmoud Mousavi, says torpedoes will be used in the drill on Sunday.
The exercise covers a 1,250-mile (2,000-kilometer) stretch of water beyond the Strait of Hormuz, including parts of the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden.
The drill could bring Iranian ships into proximity with U.S. Navy vessels that operate in the same area.
*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources AP / WSJ
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Asian Defense News: DTN News - 2012 NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS: 2012 Hong Kong ~ Predicted To Be For The People Year - Photo Courtsey Robie Seth
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - December 31, 2011: Revellers around the world are celebrating the end of 2011 and starting to see in 2012. Hong Kong property prices and rents expected to fall in 2012
In Hong Kong the countdown to 2012 was made in giant illuminated numbers on the side of a skyscraper facing the harbour. Toronto, Canada is 12 hours behind Hong Kong. Photo Courtsey Robie Seth
*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com
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