IAF Chief visits M-88 engine facility, Safran offers local
assembly
Safran Aircraft Engines: fully committed to "Make in
India"
India closer to building world’s largest nuclear power plant
IAF To Decide Between Boeing’s KC-46 & Airbus A330 Mid-Air
Refuellers
IAF intensifies efforts for relief as govt asks military to
render maximum help
French aeroengine manufacturer Safran Aircraft Engines signed
a memorandum of understanding with Hindustan Airlines to study the development
of the M-88 engine designed by Safran in India Parts manufacturing and
assembly, while considering related technology transfer.
The plan will help the Indian Air Force to order new Dassault Rafale fighter jets, or Hindustan Airlines will manufacture other fighter jets equipped with M-88 engines in India.
It is reported that Indian authorities are also discussing an
arms contract with their French counterparts, with Rafale fighters.
In addition, the agreement also includes a partnership
between Hindustan Airlines and Safran to specify the local design and
manufacturing of this 110 kN high-thrust engine. And India hinted that once its
agreement is reached, the engine may also be used in India's future advanced
medium-sized fighter, which is the fifth-generation fighter-bomber developed by
Hindustan Airlines.
Indian Air Force chief RKS Bhadauria visited the Safran
Aircraft Engine facility in Villaroche, France, where the M-88 engine that is
used on the Rafale fighter jet is produced. Bhadauria was given a tour of the
facility and was also shown the final assembly of the M-88 engine. Safran
Aircraft Engine also said that it is exploring opportunities to assemble the Safran
M-88 engine and manufacture components for the engine with HAL for additional
batch of Rafale Aircraft for India and for any aircraft manufactured in India
by HAL fitted with M88.
Earlier this year, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Safran
Aircraft Engines had signed a MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) announcing
their intent to work together on bringing niche engine technology to India.
India closer to building world’s largest nuclear power plant
French state-controlled energy group EDF has made a binding
offer to build six third generation EPR nuclear reactors at Jaitapur in
Maharashtra. EDF says it took a key step in contributing towards building the
“world’s most powerful” nuclear plant in India. On April 22 2021, EDF submitted
to the Nuclear Power Corporation of India NPCIL, the offer to supply
engineering studies and equipment for the construction of six, third generation
EPR reactors at the Jaitapur in Maharashtra.
The project once completed will produce 10 gigawatts of electricity
enough to power 70 million Indian households. The project will take 15 years to
complete but will start producing electricity before that.
EDF will only provide nuclear reactors in a deal that
includes US partner GE Steam Power.
EDF is neither an investor in the project nor in charge of
the construction. NPCIL is responsible for the construction and the
commissioning of each of the six units of the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant, as
well as for obtaining all necessary permits and consents in India.
IAF Chief In France As India Looks To Decide Between Boeing’s
KC - 46 & Airbus A330 Mid Air Refuellers
The IAF has been looking at both the US based Boeing
Company’s KC-46 tanker, a derivative of the Boeing 767 passenger aircraft, and
the Airbus A330 multi role tanker transport aircraft.
The plan is to lease these aerial refuellers which are a
critical “force multiplier” for most air operations. The Indian government
lauded the high cooperation and warm relations between both air forces in the
recent past.
The two Air Forces have seen significant operational
interaction in the recent past. IAF and FASF engage in the bilateral air
exercise series ‘Garuda’, as well as hop exercises, the last being Ex Desert
Knight 21 held at Air Force Station Jodhpur in January 2021.
The leasing will be based on hours of availability per year
indicating the minimum and maximum hours required.
IAF wanted to get an Airbus 330 MRTT on wet lease from a
British company, while the French offered about selling six of such second hand
for a much-reduced rate with a 30-year lifespan certification.
Defense experts had earlier criticized the reported move by
India to purchase (not lease) six Airbus mid-air refuelers from France, dubbing
the exercise a “waste of money”.
IAF intensifies efforts for relief as govt asks military to
render maximum help
In the midst of the unrelenting spread of the pandemic across
the country and a frightening shortage of oxygen, hospital beds and medicines,
the Indian Air Force on Saturday intensified its efforts for pandemic relief
with its transport aircraft ferrying large oxygen containers to filling
stations in different parts of the country even as defence minister Rajnath
Singh directed the military and other wings of his ministry to extend all possible
assistance to the civilian administration to tide over the current situation.
Among the many sorties that the IAF undertook on Saturday was
a C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft that flew from the Hindon airbase
outside Delhi to Singapore’s Changi International Airport and returned to
Panagarh in West Bengal with four cryogenic oxygen containers.
Similar sorties of C-17 took off from Hindon to Pune, Pune to
Jamnagar and from Jodhpur to Jamnagar, from Hindon and Bhopal to Ranchi. The
containers will be filled up and transported to different centres for pandemic
relief by rail or road. India also plans to airlift oxygen containers from the
United Arab Emirates.
The IAF is using a variety of aircraft for relief work
including C-17, C-130J, IL-76, AN-32, Avro, Chinook and MI-17 helicopters.
The armed forces and the defence ministry “will leave no
stone unturned in providing all possible assistance to the civilian
administration.
