The aircraft are slated to make the trip in two stages, with air-to-air refueling during the first leg provided by a French Air Force A330 Phenix MRTT tanker.
www.defensenews.com
Apparently they are arriving on the 29th now? Anyway, this is a big boost for the Indian Air Force. Advanced weapons like Meteor could be a game changer in the region.
Thanks for the update and let me share 6 other debatable points for your consideration:
1. Before we over-rate western EW pods, take a look at China's pods and their new electronic warfare (EW) aircraft with additional antenna to gather intelligence.
(a) India's lack of dominance of the electromagnetic spectrum over Line of Actual Control (LAC) airspace can result in the shoot down of 25% of all Indian Su-30MKIs (at BVR ranges).
(b) India’s HAL produces about 12 Su-30MKI multirole fighters each year. The company completed the delivery of 272 Su-30MKI fighters in March 2020. IAF chief Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria, in a media interaction in Oct 2019, confirmed that the additional Sukhoi-30MKI fighters would be built by HAL in Nasik. “We are moving towards ordering 12 more Sukhoi-30s. Whether we need some more in lieu of aircraft that are going to get phased out from 2025 onwards… we will have to take a look later. But at the moment, 12 is what is being followed up straightaway”, Bhadauria said. Each Su-30MKI is built by HAL for US$70.3 million under license by Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation.
(c) Every IAF fighter aircraft goes to HAL for major overhauling and servicing. In case of Sukhois, they are due for overhauling after completing 1,200 hours of flying time. The minor overhauling of the IAF aircraft and helicopters is done at the unit level. The schedule to complete the overhauling was 22 months. However, HAL has not been able to meet even this target as it takes around 27 months to overhaul/service one SU 30 MKI. This delay has caused a number of Sukhois to be non-operational.
(d) Air forces in Asia that can dominate the electromagnetic spectrum against capable opposition are few and far between. Thankfully the Australians, the Japanese and the Koreans have been keeping up with significant investments in this area.
(e) The IAF already operates five EMB-135BJ Legacy business jets. For the SIGINT mission the IAF operates two Learjet 29A and three Gulfstream III SRA platforms. Not sure of the status of IAF's RFI issued back in 2012 specifies that 2 of the 9 aircraft should be certified to perform the signals intelligence (SIGINT) role, given that the mission package for SIGINT commonly requires permanent modifications to the airframe. The remaining 7 according to the RFI are to be configured by the prime contractor for the multi-mission role, 'supporting aerial survey, target towing, communications jamming (COMJAM) and flaring'. If the Indians were serious, they could definitely make much more of the same investments. But thus far, I am not certain of IAF capability in making these billion dollar investments.
2. For the IAF with the Russian pods, the Sukhoi is basically a transport aircraft, one of Indian scientists said. The second issue is even worse. The IAF realised the
SAP-518 pod hadn’t been properly interfacing with the indigenous on-board RWR, therefore killing pilots’ chances to exploit both systems fully. India the largest Flanker operator in the world with the Su-30MKI will get spanked by China in the sky over the LAC, if war breaks out — because the same electromagnetic spectrum technology is sold by the Russians to India’s enemy, for China to reverse engineer and improve.
3. The Meteor compared to China's super long ranged PL-15 and fighters supported by AWACs only levels the playing field. IMO, it is not a game changer, rather the Meteor gives the IAF a fighting chance to get to the merge (when combined with EW pods on the fighter), when these are supported by their PHALCON AWACS. Once at the merge, the new MICA NG missile will be deadly against PLA(AF) fighters. I suspect that:
(a) Indian Su-30MKIs, with their huge RCS and dated EW pods, will not get to the merge, as PL-15 air-to-air missile of the PLA(AF) comes with an AESA radar that can home on jam and is thought to have a range of about 200 km, even if the Indian fighters have Russian or locally made jamming pods installed.
(b) The PLA(AF) are well briefed on the limits of Russian aircraft and missiles — that they also own and have developed tactics against. In air to air combat, or even against the PLA(AF)’s fighters, the IAF lacks control of the electromagnetic spectrum. More importantly, China has modified its Su-30MKK's fire control system to give it the capability to use China’s homegrown weapons.
(c) The USAF and the USN, are taking this new PLA(AF) missile threat seriously. Even with their VLO fleet of B-2s, F-22As, F-35As and F-35Cs, the US military is so concerned about the PL-15 that they are working together to develop a new air-to-air missile called the AIM-260A JATM that will replace the AIM-120. The effort has been fast-tracked for 2022 delivery in order to counter rapid developments in long-range air-to-air missile capabilities among America's peer state competitors.
(d) The AIM-260A JATM program is the number one air-delivered weapon priority for both the USAF and the USN; and out prioritizes other weapon system improvements and modernization efforts on any fielded aircraft. Because of the classified nature of this program, AIM 260A JATM assets cannot be housed in shared facilities with legacy munitions; and must be supported by a facility designed to meet specific operational requirements, and the stricter Special Access Program Facility security requirements.
4. "The [People’s Liberation Army] sees EW as an important force multiplier, and would likely employ it in support of all combat arms and services during a conflict," a US DOD report asserts. "The PLA’s EW units have conducted jamming and anti-jamming operations, testing the military’s understanding of EW weapons, equipment, and performance. This helped improve the military’s confidence in conducting force-on-force, real-equipment confrontation operations in simulated EW environments." According to US reports, China’s EW weapons include "jamming equipment against multiple communication and radar systems and GPS satellite systems. EW systems are also being deployed with other sea- and air-based platforms intended for both offensive and defensive operations." According to some outside experts, the Chinese merge cyber and electronic warfare into a singular discipline.
5. "Electronic warfare, which in the US military has tended to be hived off into thinking about jamming and various other aspects," Dean Cheng, a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, said during a event at the think tank. "But for the Chinese has long been characterized as integrated network and electronic warfare. That the two are two sides of the same coin; one focusing on the data, the other on the electronic equipment."
6. The 2 Rafale squadrons will not even hit IOC in 2021, so delivery of this limited capability is about 1.5 to 3 years away. Indian pilots must be able to integrate the fighter type into their tactics — which includes tactics for the use Dassault's dual aperture Front Sector Optics system. If anything, the Indians have too many aircraft types.
www.airrecognition.com
