First indigenously overhauled Sukhoi-30 MKI handed over to IAF, to be deployed in Pune

Source- indianexpress.com

In an important development for the fighter aircraft squadrons of the country, the first indigenously overhauled Sukhoi-30 MKI frontline fighter jet was handed over by the Base Repair Depot (BRD) in Ojhar to the Indian Air Force. It will be deployed with the Air Force base in Pune.

In a ceremony at the Ojhar Air Force Base in Nashik district on Friday, Air Marshal Hemant Sharma, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Maintenance Command, handed over the indigenously overhauled Sukhoi 30 MKI aircraft to Air Marshal HS Arora, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of South Western Air Command. The fighter jet will be deployed at the IAF base at Lohegaon in Pune, which is home to two squadrons of the Sukhoi 30 — the ‘20 Squadron’, also known as ‘Lightnings’, and ‘30 Squadron’, also known as ‘Rhinos.’

“In the process of overhaul, the entire aircraft is opened up, all the worn out parts are replaced and each and every subsystem is checked. The overhauled aircraft is nothing less than a new one, which means its life span is increased. This particular jet will be deployed in Pune, which is one of the important operational bases of the IAF,” said a senior officer of the IAF.

Sukhoi-30 has been developed by Russia and is manufactured under license in India by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Ojhar.

The officer added, “Earlier, this particular overhauled Sukhoi-30 MKI successfully took its first sortie on April 24 and was being flight tested for its air-worthiness, before being inducting for operational tasks at the flying squadron. At a time when there is serious shortage of fighter squadrons and even the Sukhoi squadrons don’t have 100 per cent availability, such additions are important. This also means that there will be more such additions in the future after the overhauls. In the recent past, several steps have been taken to reduce the number of fighter aircraft that are grounded at one point of time. The government and top IAF brass has not only admitted this but is also taking measures at all levels.”

The BRD in Ojhar is the only fighter aircraft repair depot of the IAF. It undertakes repair and overhaul of frontline fighters such as MIG-29 and Sukhoi 30 MKI. It was established in April 1974 and was subsequently renamed as ‘11 Base Repair Depot’. The depot has built up on expertise and infrastructure over the years and by 1983, it had overhauled 100 Sukhoi-7 aircraft. From 1983 to 1988, it undertook overhaul of MIG-21 and 28 aircraft. Later, overhaul facility for MIG-23 aircraft was set up in 1986 and 248 aircraft were overhauled till May 2015. At present, the upgradation of MIG-29 and Repair and Overhaul (ROH) at Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft is being undertaken at the depot. In addition, 11 BRD is the only agency to undertake overhaul of ejection seats and role equipment of Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft.

Marshal Bhushan Gokhale (Retd), the former Vice Chief of the IAF, said, “This is certainly a positive news for the IAF. It shows that expertise has been developed within India to overhaul this extremely complex machine of Russian make. Thus, in the future, the fighters can under the overhaul without any outside assistance.” The ceremony on Friday was witnessed by a large number of senior Air Force officials from the Air Head Quarters in New Delhi, Head Quarters Maintenance Command in Nagpur, South Western Air Command in Gandhinagar, senior officers of HAL (Nasik Division) and the Defence Research and Development Organisation.