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SP's Aviation - ISSUE No 04-08

Issue Features

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  Lightning Pace
  By Air Marshal (Retd) V.K. Bhatia

  The F-35 Lightning II—whose development is progressing at a feverish tempo—will bring new capabilities to not only the US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps but also serve as a centerpiece for some of the leading international air forces.

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  Charter Services: Trends in Asia
  By Air Marshal V.K. Bhatia

  Business aircraft makers can hope attitudes will change as India Inc gets more comfortable with BizAv.

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  On A Slippery Slope
  

  If oil prices do not climb down and government policies on ATF pricing maintain status quo, the air traveler can expect a wet blanket over leisure and business travel.

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  Rollouts: New Wings
  

  Cessna Aircraft Company, a Textron Inc. company, announced it is closing in on certification of the turbo diesel model of its popular 172 Skyhawk.

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  A Friend In Deed
  By Lt General (Retd) Naresh Chand

  In the last 15 years, Israel has unseated the Russians to become the biggest arms supplier to India. How did the country, accorded a mere token recognition by India only in the early 1990s, become its major arms supplier?

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  Injecting New Life
  By Air Marshal (Retd) P.K. Mehra

  Faced with obsolescence, the IAF’s transport and helicopter fleet needs to undergo upgrade in systems, avionics, engines and life extension. The dilemma, of course, is to identify an agency to carry out the upgrade.

• Budget Blues
  By Lt General (Retd) Naresh Chand

  The US Defence Modernisation 2008-2013 report reveals funding for military personnel, operations and maintenance costs fuelled by the GWOT are gobbling up an increasing share of defence resources.

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  The Eurofighter Invite
  By SP’s Team

  Four nations, four air forces and the four leading European aerospace companies—EADS, EADS Casa, BAE Systems and Alenia Finmeccanica—fully support the Eurofighter campaign in India.

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  Yuri Gagarin (1934–1968)
  By Group Captain (Retd) Joseph Noronha, Goa

  April 11, 1961. 9.07 am. Vostok 1 was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and placed in an elliptical orbit with apogee 327 km and perigee 181 km. Prior to take-off, Gagarin drank water and ate some jelly.

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  A Word from Editor
  By Jayant Baranwal - Publisher & Editor-in-Chief

  Momentous events are playing out as the deadline for submitting proposals to India’s MMRCA deal draws close. As the contenders reveal their cards, the web of India’s ties with traditional partners and new players is assuming the dynamism of a kaleidoscope.

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  Kemper caught in a caper
  By Air Marshal (Retd) B.K. Pandey

  Kemper Aviation, based at Lantana Airport in south Florida, is the focus of federal investigations following three fatal accidents that have claimed eight lives in less than six months. In the most recent accident on March 13, company co-owner Captain Jeff Rozelle died along with three passengers.

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  Mallya mulls master stroke
  By Air Marshal (Retd) V.K. Bhatia

  One big chunk missing in the airline jigsaw puzzle crafted by Vijay Mallya is that Kingfisher still does not operate a flight to the US, one of the busiest and most lucrative routes. The recent acquisition of low-cost player Air Deccan, Mallya hopes, will fill the blank.

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  Solar power from space
  By Air Marshal (Retd) V.K. Bhatia

  A recently concluded study undertaken by the Pentagon’s National Security Space Office (NSSO) has suggested that space-based solar power stations are technologically feasible, provide clean energy and avert potential energy security conflicts in the wake of dwindling fossil fuel resources.

• Russian roulette
  By Air Marshal (Retd) V.K. Bhatia

  Much to India’s dismay, Russia’s state-owned companies that deal with military equipment and related spares are known to arbitrarily jack up prices without full justification and sometimes even without the knowledge of the original manufacturers

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  The big picture
  By Our Special Correspondent

  In the light of the larger issues at stake between India and Russia, senior IAF officers are more inclined to brush off speculations that shortage of tyres had grounded most of the Sukhoi 30 MKIs at Pune’s Lohegaon air base as a minor hiccup

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  An inglorious spat
  By Air Marshal (Retd) B.K. Pandey

  Going by Rajya Sabha MP Abdul Wahab’s yardstick, even Neil Armstrong would perhaps fall in the same subservient social group—of glorified drivers!