Rumble Over Russian Aircraft Reliability

The Indian Air Force lost another of its Russian made Su-30MKI jet fighters on February 20th. This is the fourth loss since 2009. Two years ago the commander of the Indian Air Force took an hour-long flight in one of India's Su-30MKI to reassure Indian pilots that the Su-30MKI was safe. Two had crashed in 2009 due to mechanical failures and there were widely publicized reliability problems with the engines and many of the other Russian designed and built components of the aircraft.

 

Indian pilots are understandably nervous about the safety of the many Russian warplanes they fly. The MiG fighters are the most dangerous but the more recent Su-30 models were believed to be a lot safer. Recent problems indicate this may not be the case, thus the 2011 flight by the head of the air force.

 

The MiGs are still crashing, with a MiG-27 going down on February 12th. India has lost so many MiG-21 fighters that it is trying to retire this type of aircraft as quickly as possible. Over the last half century, India has bought 976 MiG-21s and over half are gone, mostly because of accidents. While India was something of an extreme case in this area (other users don't fly their MiG-21s as much), it's been typical of MiG aircraft. All this is part of the decline of the once feared, and admired, MiG reputation. Starting in World War II (the MiG-1 entered service in 1940), through the Korean War (the MiG-15 jet fighter) and the Cold War (the MiG-17/19/21/23/27/29), MiGs comprised the bulk of the jet fighters in communist, and Indian, air forces. But after the Cold War ended in 1991 the flaws of the MiG aircraft (poor quality control and reliability, difficult to fly) caught up with users, in a big way. In the last few years, most of the bad news about military aircraft reliability, accidents, and crashes has involved MiG products. For example all Indian MiG-27s have been grounded several times in the last few years because of suspected mechanical problems. These fears are not new. The MiG-27 and Cold War era Russian warplanes in general, do not age well. 

 

Last year India went public with yet another complaint about the Russian made Su-30 fighters. That was about an unspecified "design flaw" in the electronic flight control system for the aircraft. This bit of information was made public because India found that more discreet communications about these matters results in little or no action from the Russians. For example, India has been pressuring Russia for several years to do something about component failures in the Russian designed AL-31 engines that power the Indian Su-30MKI jet fighters. There have been several AL-31 failures because of this in both Indian and Russian Su-30s. The latest accidents indicate that the problems remain.

India in talks with Russia to upgrade Sukhoi combat jet fleet

India has opened talks with Russia to upgrade its fleet of air superiority Sukhoi Su-30s with a new radar and avionics to make the fighters more lethal than what they already are. The upgrades are likely to begin in 2015.

However, a debate is currently in progress between the two nations on India getting full access to all software and equipment design of the new systems that will be integrated on the upgraded Sukhois, a senior Indian Air Force (IAF) officer told IANS.

"We have begun talks with Russia on modifying the Sukhois and giving them the latest technologies," the officer said of the combat jets that were first inducted by IAF in 1997.

The planes, considered to be in the heavy category of fighter aircraft, are the most advanced the IAF has and is the frontline plane for all forms of airborne warfare.

"The modified Sukhoi will be an entirely new plane in terms of radar and avionics," said the officer, who is in the know of the discussions with Russia.

"We are currently holding a dialogue with Russia for full access to software and design of equipment to be integrated to the aircraft," he added.

India has raised eight of the 14 planned Sukhoi squadrons till now with the ninth squadron planned for raising in Sirsa, Haryana, in December.

Six months from then, India will raise its 10th Sukhoi squadron in the Punjab sector under the Western Air Command.

This will be the third and fourth Su-30MKI squadron of the IAF to be deployed close to the Pakistan border in two years, after Jodhpur in Rajasthan in October 2011 and Halwara in Punjab in September 2012.

It also plans to raise two more squadrons in the eastern sector, adding to the existing two squadrons there.

Besides, four more Sukhoi squadrons will be raised by 2015, completing the entire 272-plane complement of the fleet.

After the raising of these squadrons, India will start upgrading the fleet beginning with the first 50 Sukhois it had inducted in 1997.

India has till now lost three Sukhoi planes in crashes - the first one in April 2009, the second in November 2009 and the third in December 2011. While two IAF pilots were killed in the first accident, two pilots each bailed out to safety in the second and third crashes.

The twin-seater Sukhois are also being modified for carrying the India-Russia joint venture BrahMos supersonic cruise missile.