In addition to combat aircraft, the Indian Air Force has a significant fleet of military transport vehicles. For strategic transportation, 15 Il-76MD are intended, in addition, the Indian Air Force uses 6 Il-78MKI tanker aircraft. On the basis of the Il-76, India, Israel and Russia jointly created the AWACS A-50EI aircraft. The aircraft is equipped with new economical PS-90A-76 engines and a multifunctional pulse-Doppler radar EL / W-2090 of the Israeli company Elta. Unlike the Russian AWACS aircraft, which uses a radar with a rotating antenna, the "dish" of the Indian A-50EI is stationary.
Google earth snapshot: A-50EI AWACS aircraft at the Agra airfield
According to a contract signed in 2004 for the amount of $ 1.1 billion, India is to receive three A-50EIs. Currently, two AWACS aircraft have been delivered. The main base of the Il-76MD, Il-78MKI and A-50EI aircraft is the Agra airbase, 150 km south of Delhi. For this, the airbase has an excellent runway with a length of more than 3 km, large parking areas and large hangars for routine repair and maintenance of aircraft.
In addition to heavy Russian-made Il-76s, the Indian Air Force operates other foreign military transport aircraft. There are three American C-17 Globemaster IIIs in India today. They plan to gradually replace the Il-76MD. The purchase agreement with the US government and Boeing was signed in 2011, the contract provides for the supply of 10 C-17 military-technical cooperation with an option for 6 aircraft.
Google earth snapshot: C-17 military transport aircraft at New Delhi airfield
To replace the decommissioned An-12s due to extreme physical wear and tear, India plans to purchase 12 C-130J Super Hercules. According to information posted on the official website of the IAF, the Indian Air Force already operates five "Super Hercules". Like the Il-76, American transport aircraft are used heavily and can be seen in satellite imagery at airfields in various parts of India.
Google earth snapshot: C-130J at New Delhi airfield
India is the largest operator of An-32 aircraft. At the moment, there are 104 aircraft of this type in this country. In June 2009, a $ 400 million contract was signed, according to which 40 An-32s were to be repaired and modernized in Ukraine, and the remaining 65 at the Indian Air Force aircraft repair plant in Kanpur, while supplies of repair kits from Ukraine were envisaged. In the light of recent events, this contract was in jeopardy, and, most likely, India will have to deal with repair and modernization on its own or look for other contractors.
The An-32 turned out to be a very popular aircraft and a real "workhorse" in the IAF. Indian pilots appreciated the unpretentiousness of this aircraft and good takeoff and landing characteristics when operating in hot climates at mountain airfields. In addition, some of the Indian An-32s are prepared for use as a night bomber. The Indian military already has experience in using transport aircraft in this role. Each aircraft can hold up to 7 tons of large-caliber bombs inside the cargo compartment.
Google earth snapshot: An-32 and HAL-748 at the Baroda airfield
Before the start of deliveries of the An-32, the main medium-class transport aircraft in the IAF was the British twin-engine turboprop Hawker Siddeley HS 748. This aircraft made its first flight in 1960. Licensed production in India was carried out by Hindustan Aeronautics under the index HAL-748. In total, HAL has built 92 aircraft for the Indian Air Force. The HAL-748 was produced in a wide variety of designs, including a radar patrol aircraft with a characteristic large radar fairing. Despite the fact that the HS 748 is in many ways inferior to the An-32, the Indian military still operates more than 50 aircraft.
Google earth snapshot: Do-228 at Tambaram airfield
For auxiliary purposes and as patrollers, 40 light twin-engine Do-228 turboprop aircraft are used. This machine with fixed landing gear is capable of flying from short unpaved strips. 4 Boeing-737 and 4 Embraer ECJ-135 are also used for transport and passenger transportation. The Indian Air Force pilots are trained on training aircraft: HJT-16 Kiran, Pilatus PC-7 and BAe Hawk Mk 132. In total, there are 182 TCBs in training squadrons.
The most numerous helicopters in the Indian Air Force are the Mi-8 / Mi-17. 21 helicopter squadrons have 146 aircraft purchased from the USSR and Russia. The most modern ones are the 72 Mi-17V-5 - the export version of the Mi-8MTV-5. Helicopters of this modification have been created taking into account a comprehensive analysis of the experience of using helicopter technology in combat operations in various "hot spots". They can be equipped with equipment for night flights and a set of weapons that allow them to be used as anti-tank and fire support helicopters, as well as a complex of armor protection for the crew.
Google earth snapshot: Mi-17V-5 helicopters and a military transport aircraft at the parking lot of the Barrakpur airfield
In addition to the Mi-8 / Mi-17, two Indian squadrons are armed with 20 combat helicopters Mi-25 and Mi-35. In the past, these vehicles have been used repeatedly in hostilities in Sri Lanka, on the border with Pakistan and against internal illegal armed groups. According to information published in the media, the Indian military plans in the future to replace Russian combat helicopters with American AH-64 "Apache", in 2015 a contract was signed for the supply of 22 AH-64E.
Google earth snapshot: Mi-25 / Mi-35 helicopters at Pathankot airfield
The Indian aircraft industry also produces helicopters of its own design. The Air Force has 18 Dhruv multi-role helicopters and about 80 Aluette III, which were built in Bangalore under the Chetak designation. In the late 1980s, 4 Mi-26s were ordered for the transportation of bulky and heavy cargo. One of them crashed at the end of 2015. In 2012, the Russian Mi-26T2 helicopter lost to the American CH-47F Chinook in an Indian military tender. Despite the fact that the Russian heavy transport helicopter has a much higher payload, the main factor that influenced the decision of the Indian military was the price - the cost of each Chinook, as well as its after-sales service, is much lower than the Russian Mi-26 helicopter. At the moment, India has only one Mi-26 "heavyweight" in flight condition, two more helicopters are in need of repair.
Google earth snapshot: Mi-26 helicopters at Chandigar airfield
The Indian military has a fairly serious fleet of drones at its disposal, mainly Israeli-made UAVs. For reconnaissance and surveillance, 50 middle-class IAI Heron UAVs were purchased. It is adapted for long flights at medium and high altitudes and is equipped with a real-time data transmission complex or an EL / M-2055 SAR / MTI reconnaissance container. For reconnaissance of remote ground targets, the Elta EL / M-2022U radar can be equipped.
Satellite image of Google earth: UAV "Heron" at Tezpur airfield
A more modern unmanned vehicle is the IAI Harop - it was first publicly presented at the military-industrial exhibition Aero-India 2009. The Harop UAV is capable of conducting long patrols in a given area and destroying ground targets. The peculiarity of this UAV is that when a target is detected, the device "turns" into a homing aircraft-projectile. Also, the Indian Air Force has a number of lighter IAI Harpy drones. It is mainly designed to combat anti-aircraft systems and radars. After detecting the signals of the radar "Harpy" determines the location of the target, dives at it and strikes with a high-explosive fragmentation warhead. It is launched from a container-type mobile launcher using solid-propellant launch boosters.
In general, the Indian Air Force fleet is well balanced, the IAF has a significant number of both air superiority fighters and strike vehicles. Due to the presence of a wide network of capital airfields and a sufficient number of military transport aircraft, transport aviation is able to carry out large-scale air transportation of personnel, equipment, weapons and various cargoes. However, the Indian Air Force suffers from a high accident rate, and in the coming years, in connection with the decommissioning of the MiG-21 and MiG-27, it will be necessary to acquire abroad or build at its own enterprises about three hundred new combat aircraft.
Satellite image of Google earth: radar THD-1955 in the vicinity of Delhi
More than 40 radar posts are monitoring the air situation in India. The highest concentration of radar stations is observed along the border with Pakistan and the PRC. If in the past these were stationary high-power radars: American AN / TRRS-77, French THD-1955 and Soviet P-37, then in recent years these obsolete bulky radars have been replaced by modern Russian 36D6 stations.
Satellite image of Google earth: radar AN / TRS-77 in the vicinity of Gopasandra
In border areas, Israeli radar balloon systems EL / M 2083 are used with a range of up to 500 km. France is purchasing Thales GS-100 mobile radars with AFAR. The Indian industry is supplying radar troops: INDRA I and INDRA II, 3D CAR and Arudhra. Together with Israel, an early warning radar with AFAR Swordfish LRTR is being developed.
Google earth satellite image: EL / M 2083 radar system balloon
For the issuance of target designation of the S-75, S-125 and "Kvadrat" air defense systems, the Soviet P-12 and P-18 meter-range radars were used for a long time. The deliveries of medium-range anti-aircraft missile systems SA-75M "Dvina" to India began in the first half of the 70s. In total, the Indian anti-aircraft missile forces (ZRV), organizationally part of the Air Force, received 20 anti-aircraft missile battalions (srn) SA-75 and 639 B-750 missiles. Indian air defense systems of medium and short range belonging to the IAF, as a rule, are located in the vicinity of airfields. Early modification "seventy-fives" served in India until the end of the 90s, after which they were written off due to extreme wear.
Satellite image of Google earth: the position of the C-125 air defense system in the vicinity of the Vadodara airfield
In the 1980s, India acquired 60 S-125M Pechora-M air defense systems and 1539 V-601PD air defense systems. In the vicinity of the city of Tuhlaka-Badi, with the help of the USSR, a repair enterprise was built, where the repair and modernization of the SA-75M and C-125M air defense systems was carried out. Currently, the Indian Air Force has about one and a half dozen low-altitude S-125 systems. All of them are used to cover airfields, but, apparently, they are not on constant combat duty. Unlike a number of countries that have upgraded their S-125 air defense systems to the Pechora-2M level, the Indian military has not shown any initiative in this matter. Remaining in India, the S-125M Pechora-M complexes are already at the limit of their life cycle, all the existing V-601PD missiles have expired many times over their service lives, and are not installed on launchers for combat duty.
In the future, the S-125 low-altitude air defense systems in the Indian Armed Forces should be replaced by the Akash air defense system. This complex, created on the basis of the Soviet air defense system "Kvadrat" (export version "Cuba"), is another Indian "long-term construction". Its development began 25 years ago, and testing began in the 2000s. The deliveries of the Akash air defense system to the troops began only recently. A total of 8 complexes have been built. Two zardn are on constant duty, covering the air bases of Pune and Gorakhpur.
Satellite image of Google earth: the position of the "Akash" air defense system at the Pune airfield
In recent years, the Indian military leadership has expressed interest in adopting the most modern anti-aircraft systems. It is known that Indian representatives are negotiating the purchase of S-400 long-range air defense systems from Russia. At the same time, as part of the diversification of the arms procurement program, it is planned to purchase Israeli anti-aircraft systems Barak 8 / LR-SAM and Spyder. In addition, in India, together with Israel and the United States, a program is underway to create an Advanced Air Defense (AAD) anti-missile system. According to a statement from Indian officials, the AAD missile defense system is primarily designed to protect against medium-range ballistic missiles at Pakistan's disposal. However, besides Pakistan, India's rival is China, whose missile arsenals are much more numerous.
Google Earth Satellite Image: Wheeler Island Test Site
To test anti-missile systems on Wheeler Island, the Abdul Kalam missile range has been created. The first test took place on March 15, 2010. A total of ten test launches of anti-missile missiles are known. The last test took place on May 15, 2016. According to information published in open sources, the Indian anti-missile missile, launched from a mobile launcher, is 7.5 meters long and weighs more than 1.2 tons. At the initial stage of the flight, control is carried out by an inertial system with radio correction in the middle section. In the immediate vicinity of the target, an active radar guidance system is activated, the defeat of an enemy warhead occurs as a result of a direct collision with the kinetic warhead of the anti-missile. This method of hitting a target makes very high demands on the accuracy of the anti-missile guidance in the final phase of the flight. After adopting its own missile defense system, India will enter the elite club of countries possessing such weapons. Currently, anti-missile systems are available in Russia, the United States and Israel. However, even taking into account the progress made, according to some experts, it will take Indian specialists about 10 more years before the AAD anti-missile system is put on alert.
