Mig 27s: India grounds 100 New Flying coffins

The old Flying Coffins were the Mig 21. Hundreds crashed, and hundreds have been grounded. Now the new Flying Coffins–the Mig 27s have been grounded.  The Mig 27 currently only remains in service with the Indian, Kazakh and Sri Lankan Air Forces in the ground attack role. All Russian and Ukrainian examples have now been retired. Bharat has about 100 in service and all of them have been grounded.

The IAF’s current strength is around 600 of which the MiG-21 fleet of (FL, M, MF and Bis types) comprise 293 aircraft. The IAF has MiG-23 (BN&MF), Mi-17 helicopters, Mi-25/35 attack helicopters, Mi-26 super heavy helicopters, Mirage-2000 multi-role fighters, MiG-29 and Mig-27s.  The IAF  slowly phased out the Fairchild Packet C-119, the Dakota DC-3, Caribou, Otter, Toofani, Mystere 4A, Gnat, Ajeet and the Hunter and later the Canberra light bomber aircraft as well. It has about 30 1996 vintage Sukhoi 30MKI (Flanker: 140 have been ordered and 140 will be assembled from kits). It also is bying the PAKFA (aka FGFA) whose 5th gen credentials have been challenged by international agencies. The IAF has no credible trainer aircraft, a reason given t the highest crash rate in the world. The HPT-32s have been grounded. The HTT-34 was a total failure.
The Mig 21s and Mig-27s have pretty much been grounded. The Il-76 have been grouned, so the IAF really has only about 300 aircraft of unprdictable value. Due to the unavailbility of the LCAs, has ordered 126 planes as part of the MCRC program. However the MMRCA (ten C-17, eight Boeing P8I LRMP (for the Navy), six Lockheed Martin C-130J, six second-hand Sea King helicopters (for the Navy) won’t be delivered for a decade. The IAF may also be buying 12 Mirages from Qatar

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New Delhi: After a fatal crash near Siliguri last week, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has grounded its fleet of nearly 100 Russian-origin MiG- 27 fighters on suspicions of a major engine snag. All five squadrons of the ground attack fighter, deployed primarily in the western and eastern sectors, have been confined to the ground since the February 16 crash in which a Squadron Leader was killed.

Engine trouble is a known problem in the MiG-27 fleet with crashes in the past being attributed to defects in the R 29 engines of the aircraft. More worryingly, the initial probe has pointed to a major flaw in the engine that seems to have occurred during the overhauling of the aircraft by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The entire fleet had also completed an indigenous upgrade programme last year that was executed by HAL.

Raising a red flag on the serviceability of the fleet, Air Chief Marshal PV Naik said the initial probe hinted at a problem during the overhaul stage that went beyond the realm of day-to-day servicing.

“It (last week’s crash) appears to be a fault in the low-pressure turbine blades of the aircraft. This is at the fourth line, at the overhaul stage,” the Air Chief said, explaining the possible cause of the MiG-27 crash. He added that the second crash last week, in which a MiG-21 went down, was due to a sudden loss of engine power but investigations on the cause were still on.

With the grounding, the MiG-27 aircraft will not take part in the mega Vayushakti exercise that has been planned for this Sunday. The MiG-27s, which form the backbone of the IAF’s ground attack fleet, would otherwise had a major role in the exercise that is essentially a demonstration of air-to-ground attacks at day as well as night.

Till the crash last week, the MiG-27 had been planned as one of the main attractions of the major exercise that will witness more than 100 aircraft in the skies performing multiple operations, including precision-guided bombing and mock aerial combat. The MiG-27 will now be the only fighter in the IAF’s inventory not to take part in the exercise.

India had procured 120 of the fighter aircraft from Russia in the late 1980s and had started production in India at the Nashik HAL factory. The IAF has lost close to 35 of the aircraft to accidents in the past two decades.

Last year, two MiG-27s crashed months after the upgrade of the fleet was completed. While the engine was not upgraded, the fighters were equipped with modern avionics and a pilot-friendly cockpit with multi-function displays and a head up display (HUD).

New Delhi: In a massive exercise involving more than 100 aircraft, Indian Air Force will, for the first time,display its prowess in dusk and night-time operations during a fire power demonstration in Pokharan on February 28.

Code-named Vayu Shakti 2010, the mega exercise will demonstrate “day and night employability of air power” by IAF’s frontline fighter aircraft. President Pratibha Patil, top defence ministry officials and defence attaches from all major countries will witness the exercise.

Fighters like Su-30 MKI, Mirage-2000, Jaguar, MiG-21 and MiG-29 and transport aircraft including AN-32, Embraer and IL-76 and Mi-17 1V and Mi-35 attack helicopters will be part of the exercise

In a first, Airborne Early Warning and Control Systems (AWACS) will monitor and coordinate the exercise. IAF will also employ unmanned aerial vehicles to relay live video images of the target under fire.

The aircraft will attack mock radar sites, tanks, marshalling yards, terrorist camps, runways,infantry fighting vehicles, blast pens, convoys and other targets.The exercise will demonstrate coordination between the three armed forces through the insertion and para-drop of IAF’s Garud, Navy’s Marines and Army’s Special Forces. Manu Pubby After fatal crash, IAF grounds 100 MiG-27s.

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on Feb 24 2010. Filed under Editorials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry