Another hole in the sky

The MiG-21s may be prone to accidents but India’s latest, state-of-the-art Sukhoi-30 fleet is now under a cloud. The SU-30, which arriv...

The MiG-21s may be prone to accidents but India’s latest, state-of-the-art Sukhoi-30 fleet is now under a cloud.

The SU-30, which arrived in June 1997, is in trouble as the Indian Air Force (IAF) has been forced to withdraw nearly 40 engines due to wear and tear, raising questions on its quality and causing hiccups in Indo-Russian defence ties. India maintains a fleet of 28 Sukhois — 18 are the original SU-30K from 1997 slated for an upgrade and 10 SU-30 MKI which arrived last year — based at Lohegaon Air Force station, Pune.

Rated among the best fighter aircraft in the world, the SU-30 has been bogged with complaints of engines being withdrawn before it is time to overhaul them. Powered by twin AL-31 engines, the SU-30K engines have a life span of 3,500 flying hours. The upgraded SU-30 MKI’s engine life was increased to a 1,000 flying hours as per the contract between India and Russia.

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But with the fleet clocking an average of a mere 1,000 flying hours, its engines have been bogged down by teething problems attributed to design problems.

It is learnt the engines started developing problems during the trial phase when IAF pilots started flying them at steep angles. The fact that the Sukhoi-30 has two engines on board, has prevented a major mishap so far, say sources.

Each engine has a life that is measured in hours spent flying, taking off and landing. To maintain them, the engines are subjected to periodic overhauling which is calculated as Time Between Overhauls (TBO). However, a majority of Su-30 engines were withdrawn even before they completed their TBO as an anxious Air Headquarters scrambled for answers.

The IAF HQ sent teams to evaluate the high rate of engine failure. The teams also attributed the high rate of failure to pilots’ handling.

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According to HQ sources, the fighter pilots were flying a combat aircraft of such a weight and dimension for the first time. Used to lighter, smaller aircraft like the MiG series, Mirages and Jaguars, they were flying an aircraft which weighs nearly 28 tons (heavier than a AN-32 transport aircraft) .

New Delhi also took up the issue with the Russians. In fact, as both sides went back to the original contract both sides developed major differences. New Delhi pointed out to the Russians that it had not included the life of the engines during the trial phase.

The Russians differed, leading to several rounds of negotiations before the original manufacturers came around to New Delhi’s point of view. The nearly Rs 6,000-crore deal envisages the delivery of 50 aircraft from Russia while a 140 will be manufactured under license from Russia by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.