75 years: Soaring hopes and Ambitious plans

At the 75th Anniversary Celebrations of the Indian Air Force at Hindon Air Base, the rows of VVIPs (Including the president, Vice-prez, PM and group) were enthralled by our hi-flying boys-in-blue. And what better occasion to trumpet the achievements and plans of the IAF. Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Major's address did just that; and in the process, helped clear up a lot of confusion, and provide a checklist (almost) of the Force's plans for the next few years.

You can check out the full address at Press Info. Bureau of GoI. (Link)

The Press releases for the MoD can be found here.


Some juicy tit-bits provided by the CAS are:

Aircraft Entering Service:

- Hawk AJTs- Will arrive next month.
- Phalcon AWACS- Will be here next year.
- LCA - 1st sqn operational by 2010 (IOC)

Contracts to be signed soon:

- 6 C-130J 'Super Hercules' Tactical Transport Aircraft for the Special Forces.
- 80 Mi-17 1Vs.
- 54 ALH Dhruvs.
- Aerostats for Air Defence and over-the-horizon Surveillance {{Obviously from Israel}}.

Upgrades:

- Jaguar & Mig-27 - Upgrades almost done
- Mirage-2000 & MIg-29 - Being Negotiated
- Il-76, An-32, Helos - Will start after that

Other:

- Integration of Civil Radars.
- 'Combat Communications Network' to be set up.
- Joint Design & Development of 5th Gen Fighter Aircraft and MTA (Medium Transport Aircraft) being negotiated. {{This is probably the clearest indicator that the FGFA project is not the PAK-FA being developed by Russia, since its design has been frozen.}}