IAF boom in southern airstrips

[nitesh]

IAF boom in southern airstrips - Newindpress.com

IAF boom in southern airstrips
Sunday July 20 2008 09:30 IST

T’PURAM: Beefing up its presence in peninsular India, the Indian Air Force (IAF) is aiming at the maximum use of all available and proposed airports in the southern states.

But it’s not just the spanking new airports that are on the IAF radar. The IAF is planning to revive a World War II-era airstrip in Tamil Nadu built by the British.

If the IAF plan gets through, the airstrip at Kayathar, the small village in Tuticorin district where Veerapandya Kattabomman was hanged, will get a fresh lease of life.

“The Air Force has plans to revive old airstrips. The revival of the one at Kayathar is being actively considered,” a senior IAF officer said.

Kayathar airstrip is currently held by the Tamil Nadu Government, but the IAF has approached it seeking a transfer, it is learnt. What the IAF plans to do is to renovate the strip, install necessary facilities so as to enable landing and easy take-off of fighter aircraft and helicopters in emergencies.

Some years ago, the Tamil Nadu Government had plans to revive the airstrip, as the nearby Gangaikonda was being transformed into an IT hub.

It’s not just the LTTE gaining air power that is putting the IAF on alert in the south. Plans for new seaports and defence installations in the south and the proximity of the east-west international shipping lanes are critical factors pushing the IAF to transfer assets southward.

Tamil Nadu and Kerala feature heavily on the Southern Air Command’s (SAC) future plans. The air bases at Tanjore and Sulur are being heavily fitted out to support fighter squadrons.

Sulur will base a full-fledged LCA squadron, while Tanjore will base Medium Lift Helicopters and Transport Aircraft.

The IAF had recently announced its decision to set up Air Force enclaves alongside commercial airports in southern states. It has approached the Kerala Government for land at the Cochin International Airport Ltd, Nedumbassery, and at the proposed airport in Kannur.

 

[nitesh]

I thought there is no point in opening a new thread so just posting this news:

http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c_online.php?leftnm=10
India floats $750 mn global tender to buy choppers
Press Trust of India / New Delhi July 23, 2008, 18:54 IST
The government is all set to float its biggest military tender this year worth a whopping $750 millionfor buying 197 light utility helicopters for the armed forces with three of the six bidding companies being giant American aviation transnationals.
A request for proposals for the Rs 3,000-crore contract to buy 133 helicopters for Army Aviation and another 64 for Indian Air Force are to be floated tomorrow, officials said.

New helicopters are expected to replace by 2010 Army and IAF's ageing fleet of Cheetah and Chetak choppers, which have been in service for the past over four decades, well past their service ceiling.

All the helicopters are to be procured off the shelf with state-owned HAL being entrusted with only maintenance. The new choppers are being brought on fast track basis to shore up army formations guarding the dizzy Himalayan borders with China and Pakistan.

Like the IAF's $10 billion contract to purchase 126 fighters, the foreign company winning the lucrative contract would have to invest 50 per cent as offsets in India.

The three US companies invited to submit their bids are Bell Helicopters with their Shen 407 light choppers, McDonnel Douglas with their AH-64 A and Sikorsky with their S-3000 helicopters.

Other bidders are European consortium Eurocopter, Russian Rosenbroexport with their new range of Kamov light helicopters and Italian firm Augusta Westland.

"The companies have been given three months time to submit their bids," a Defence Ministry official said, adding it was proposed to complete summer and winter trials for the helicopters by 2009.

 

[nitesh]

I thought there is no point in opening a new thread so just posting this news:

http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c_online.php?leftnm=10
India floats $750 mn global tender to buy choppers
Press Trust of India / New Delhi July 23, 2008, 18:54 IST
The government is all set to float its biggest military tender this year worth a whopping $750 millionfor buying 197 light utility helicopters for the armed forces with three of the six bidding companies being giant American aviation transnationals.
A request for proposals for the Rs 3,000-crore contract to buy 133 helicopters for Army Aviation and another 64 for Indian Air Force are to be floated tomorrow, officials said.

New helicopters are expected to replace by 2010 Army and IAF's ageing fleet of Cheetah and Chetak choppers, which have been in service for the past over four decades, well past their service ceiling.

All the helicopters are to be procured off the shelf with state-owned HAL being entrusted with only maintenance. The new choppers are being brought on fast track basis to shore up army formations guarding the dizzy Himalayan borders with China and Pakistan.

Like the IAF's $10 billion contract to purchase 126 fighters, the foreign company winning the lucrative contract would have to invest 50 per cent as offsets in India.

The three US companies invited to submit their bids are Bell Helicopters with their Shen 407 light choppers, McDonnel Douglas with their AH-64 A and Sikorsky with their S-3000 helicopters.

Other bidders are European consortium Eurocopter, Russian Rosenbroexport with their new range of Kamov light helicopters and Italian firm Augusta Westland.

"The companies have been given three months time to submit their bids," a Defence Ministry official said, adding it was proposed to complete summer and winter trials for the helicopters by 2009.