Quote:
Originally Posted by saket77 Sir, what an invaluable post- worth its weight in gold.
Please can you or other experts on the matter share that how SU-30 happened to India? Probably someone must have explained and I have missed, but with SU-30 in its fleet, how does India compare to other forces, especially against Pak.
Regards,
Saket |
Please don't call me sir
. We are all aviation enthusiasts here on this thread. As Narayan Sir says so frequently - Every day is a new day to learn something new. I am no expert and I also get to learn something new everyday.
Believe it or not, when the Su -30 sale was first proposed by Russia in the early 90s, there was no requirement at all for a heavy, long range, multi-role fighter by the IAF!!!
The Su-30 sale was first proposed to India during a visit of the then Russian President Boris Yeltsin in 1993. He held talks with the Indian PM - P V Narasimha Rao, which was primarily to renew the old 20 year Indo-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Peace and Co-operation.The same treaty that was signed between in August 1971. The then Indian PM, Indira Gandhi signed withis treaty with Russia as Pakistan was supported by China openly with covert support from the US. This treaty helped in accelerating supplies of Russian military equipment especially in the last quarter of 1971, as India prepared for war with Pakistan.
The 1993 treaty further envisaged to continue supplies of Russian military equipment to meet the needs of the Indian Armed Forces and look at joint production of military equipment. In 1994, the Indian PM visited Russia and signed further agreements, most important of which was the supply of Sukhoi fighters to India.
A couple of months before the Indian PM's visit to Russia to sign the Sukhoi deal agreement, Sukhoi made a proposal to the Indian govt to evaluate Su-30 fighters with and aim of selling it to the IAF. SUkhoi had a number of surplus twin seat Su-27PU(twin seat version of the Su-27P interceptor) airframes after cancellation of an order by the Russian Air Force because of funding problems. As a sales ploy, Sukhoi rebranded the Su-27PU as the "Su-30" to attract potential export customers. A little later an IAF & ASTE team led by then Air Commodore S Krishnaswamy (later Air Chief) visited Russia. The team was impressed by the Su-30 and reported that eventhough the Su-30 was primarily designed in the air defence role(as it was based on the Su-27P), it had tremendous potential to be a true heavy multi-role fighter with the backseater working as the WSO(Weapon Systems Operator). As there was no ASR(Air Staff requirements) for the aircraft type, the IAF & ASTE had to write one for the Su-30.
One of the major comments/requirements in the ASR was about the survivability of the Su-30 in the modern day air defence environment against highly capable SAMs and air to air missiles. It called for integration of modern radar, avionics suite and EW equipment from a mix of Russian, Western( read Israeli/French) and Indian equipment. The ASR also called for a variant equipped with thrust vectoring engines amd canards to aid in maneuverability , a state of the art fly by wire system and the latest Phased array radar available from Russia. This definitive Indian Su-30 variant was to be called the Su-30MKI. To jointly develop the aircraft, an Indian team of IAF pilots and engineers left for Russia in 1997 and stayed will 2001.
The Su-30MKI was to have the following:
*N011M Bars Phased array radar - The radar has a search range of 400 km and a tracking range of 200 km, with 60 km in the rear in the air-to-air mode. Detection range fighter type MIG-29 in area of review of over 300 sq. deg: - on towards course - up to 140 km; - in pursuit of - up to 60 km. Up to 15 air targets can be tracked at once in track while scan mode with 4 of these engaged at once.The N011M can use a number of short range and speed search modes and is capable of identifying the type and number of multiple targets. The Bars radar is compatible with R-77 and R-27 radar guided missiles providing both illumination and data-link guidance as well as the R-73 IR guided missile.
In the air-to-surface mode the radar is capable of detecting ground and naval based moving targets, determining their location and maintaining a track on two surface targets at once. The N011 is capable of detecting the group of tanks target to a maximum range of 40–50 km and a destroyer sized target to a range of 80–120 km. Bars also features a mapping mode using either real beam, doppler beam sharpening or Synthetic aperture radar with a maximum resolution of 10 meters.The Kh-31 anti-radiation missile is also compatible with the radar.
*OLS-30 IRST(Infra Red Search & TracK System- The OLS-30 laser-optical Infra-red search and track includes a day and night FLIR(Forward Looking Infra Red) capability and is used in conjunction with the Pilot's HMS( helmet mounted sighting system). The OLS-30 is a combined IRST/LR device using a cooled, broad waveband sensor. Detection range is up to 90 km, while the laser ranger is effective to 3.5 km. Targets are displayed on the same LCD display as the radar.
*Sura-K HMS & Target Designator
*Saab built Flight Data Recorder & aircraft health monitoring system
* Thales MFDS for the cockpits
* DRDO built Mission Computers
* DRDO/BEL Tarang RWR
* HAL built IFF system, Radio Altimeter and Intercom system.
THe DRDO built systems were actually developed for the MiG-21bis UPG(Bison) and were used for the Su-30MKIs also.
Because of delays in integration of Indian & western origin equipment on the Su-30MKI prototypes( one of them crashed during the Paris Air show in 1999), Russia proposed to supply the first 18 Su-30s in the plain Air Defence variant configuration( K & MK variants) with very limited air to ground capability. These were to be later upgraded to Su-30MKI standards.
The Su-30MKI prototype crash video from the 1999 Paris Air Show
The first eight Su-30MKs(SB-001 to 008) were inducted in the No.24 Sqdn "Hawks" in Pune in a ceremony by then PM, Inder Kumar Gujral. The Hawks further received 10 Su-30Ks( SB009 to SB018) in 1999 (diverted from a cancelled Indonesian Air Force order). The Hawks served as the SU-30 training sqdn , in anticipation of the Su-30MKI induction with more IAF squadrons. These 18 early Su-30s were delivered in the standard Russian three tone blue paint scheme.
Su-30MK SB006 in Indian Flag livery - painted for 2006 Republic Day flypast (SB001, 006 & 008 were painted in this scheme)
Su-30MK SB004 - in standard paint scheme
Su-30K SB010
The first Su-30MKI batch(SB019 to SB028) was delivered in 2002 and No.20 Sqdn "Lightnings" were re-raised on the Su-30MKI. SB019 to SB050 were direct supply Russian built SU-30MKIs(delivered in kits)
HAL built SU-30MKIs started getting delivered from November 2004 onwards (SB101 - SB240).
Meanwhile in 2006, The eighteen original SU-30K/Mks were sold back to o Russia in 2006 after it was found that it was technically, mechanically and economically unfeasable to upgrade them to MKI standards. The sqdn - No. 24, converted to the Su-30MKI.
In 2008, eighter new Su-30MKIs were delivered by Russia.
THe local production of Su-30MKI continues today and the numbers manufactured may be nearing an end as per the license conditions.
The IAF's Su-30MKI Squadrons:
No.24 Squadron "Hawks"
No.20 Squadron "Lightnings"
No.30 Squadron "Rhinos"
No.8 Squadron "Pursoots"
No.31 Squadron "Lions"
No.220 Squadron "Desert Tigers"
No.102 Squadron "Trisonics"
No.106 Squadron "Lynx"
No.2 Squadron 'Winged Arrows"
No.15 Squadron "Flying Lances"
No.221 Squadron "Valiants"
Books on IAF Su-30s (for further reading & Reference):
The early IAF Su-30 is available as 1/72 & 1/200 scale models from JC Wings & Hogan Wings respectively.
DISCLAIMER: Before someone says that all of the above is classified information and should not be posted on an open forum, let me make it clear that it is not (as some have pointed out before on PMs or posts for my older posts)!!! This information is available in books and other open sources, provided you know where to look.