Tuesday, February 15, 2011

AeroIndia 2011

The Sukhoi 30 MKI is the upgraded version that the Indian Airforce flies. It is the most advanced of all the Fighters that the IAF possesses. It is a twin jet engines with after-burners and exhaust nozzle vectoring means two jet engines (look near the tail) and the nozzles are direction is adjustable allowing greater maneuveres.

Surya Kiran - Sun Rays - The HJT Kiran Mk2
 The Surya Kirans are the star attraction of the Airshow. The aircraft is the HAL manufactured Kiran MKII flying from the Bidar airbase in Karnataka. The Surya Kirans are nine aircraft flying in formation and perform daring acrobats the most difficult of which are when two crafts fly into each other at high speed. The aircraft let out a tri-color plume and had it not been for the color cast the teal would actually look green in the picture.
"Tejas" - The Light Combat Aircraft

If you did not recognize the craft - This is the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft manufactured by HAL. The Tejas is a single engine multi-role fighter. The Tejas is a supersonic fighter and displayed amazing acrobatic feats during the aero-show. The picture shows the craft inverted after a high speed climb and getting ready for rapid descent. 
Intermediate Jet Trainer - Sitara

The IJT Sitara is also another development of HAL. It is meant to replace the HJT Kirans. It has low swept wings and staggered cockpits. The craft is capable of 0.8 mach and has a range of 1000 km. Fitted with modern avionics the craft is designed with a single canopy to provide good all round view.

This is a a very common scene at the airshow where excited parents seek to give their kids a great vantage point. This one is still to get out of diapers. The airshow is quite and an exercise in crowd management and despite the best arrangements the authorities always seem to be a season behind in crowd management. There is never adequate parking, the advertised routes are always reasons for traffic chaos and the food court was inadequate. God bless the auto-wallahs who can navigate roadless paths and get you to the show in time when your parking is 4 km away from the venue. 
F-16 Flying Falcons
The greatest advantage of carrying an L-Series (White colored PRO) Lens is that you can arrive late at a scene and still get jostle your way to the Prime Spot. This close-up is still at shouting distance - yes shout to make the pilot turn around and wave to us after he had crossed us. The pilot Captain Jeff Schnieder of the Canadian Air-Force is taxiing the F-16 Flying Falcon (or Viper) prior to take off. The F-16 despite its age is a very capable craft. The single engine puts up and impressive flight speed of 2.05 mach, range of 4220 km and Thrust of 144 kN. The roar and the speed was discernible and when I checked the stats it beats the other crafts (even the F-18 Super Hornet). Two young Air-Force Officers watching the show after some prodding told me that they did not like the the American Craft. Their favourite was the Sukhoi 30MKI. The S-30MKI falls short by 0.15 mach, 1220 km in range and a few Kilo Newtons on max thrust. Imagine having to return half way from a Target just because you did not have range. They were fascinated by the vectoring nozzles but later admitted that acrobatics is really not the game. Aircrafts are weapon delivery platforms and not defense or dog-fighters anymore. They closed with the sombre note that all craft will become redundant to the missile one day. Easy to say that when you are engineers and not pilots who will be made redundant by Kalam's Agni II. Anyways I just hope that the MMRCA team buy the best weapon delivery platform for the Indian Air Force.

Eurofighter Typhoon
The Euro-Fighter Typhoon. How do I know that - Its actually pretty confusing as all of them the Indian flag on them and the only sure way is to read it written on the tail. The Typhoon is a Tri-Country plane (German EADS, British BAE, Italian Alenia).  Twin engine, single seater it has a  canard delta wing formation. Capable of 2 mach and a range of 2900 km the Eurofighter is reported to be a serious contender of the MMRCA. Operational since 2003  here are less than 600 crafts serving the Airforces of Saudi Arabia, Spain and Austria apart from the three owner countries.
Dassault Rafale - C
The Dassault Rafale  recognized by the external antenna attached near the cockpit. The craft is famed for low flying speeds and short runway take off. With a range of 3700, 2 mach and 50 kN thrust it has some way to catch up to the F-16.


The L-Lens has associated benefits when you are at a jamboree. A merry group is always willing to smile for the shutterbugs with PRO gear. Sorry folks I don't recall your names but it was fun chatting with you and yes I only blog with the PRO gear - i don't write for the newspapers. So sad if you were hoping to feature on page 3. The media section was anyways different but we took better pictures in the General Visitors enclosure. .  If you agree with that and want a print send in your money order and will have your picture dispatched. Joking - just send a mail to rajat_sud at ymail.com
F-18 Super Hornet
Finally the F-18 Super Hornet of Boeing which I thought would be the most advanced plane of them all. The 1.8 mach top-speed and the 2400 km range is not impressive. The 97 kN on after burners thrust is still short of the best. The Super Hornet is so impressive in its carrying capacity that it is used as a tanker for other crafts.