Fighting fit Huma Siddiqui Posted online: Monday , August 11, 2008 at 21:26 hrs http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Fighting-fit/347037/ <The need to be deployable and battle-ready applies just as much to aircraft maintenance capabilities as it does to the fighter aircraft itself. In recent years, the process of repairing and maintaining fighter aircraft is undergoing a change, thanks to advances in computing speed, storage, miniaturisation and wireless communications. No longer are the fighting machines towed away to airport hangers, where maintenance technicians spend days if not months, trying to diagnose the problems plaguing the flying machines. Instead, problem-detecting devices such as portable maintenance aids (PMAs) and automatic test equipment (ATE) are helping technicians diagnose and repair the errors-in engines, wings or weapon shooting equipment-in an astonishing 8-10 minutes, thereby keeping the aircraft air worthy and fit to fly at a short notice. A quiet revolution in fighter aircraft maintenance is round the corner. The likes of Boeing, EADS, Lockheed Martin and Gripen are chipping in with modern fighter aircraft that are easy to maintain. Even if a malfunction occurs, service support-by means of diagnostic and maintenance equipment-is at hand. For India, the issue of aircraft maintenance assumes significance in the wake of its ambitious plans to purchase 126 aircraft worth $10-billion. The requests for proposals (RFP) take into consideration per unit cost of the aircraft, lifetime maintenance support, license production and transfer of technology costs>> Where does the MiG29K/KUB, expected to be based at Dabolim, fit into all this? Or is Dabolim a place where one can do old-fashioned tinkering to one's heart's content? Will the MiG29K/KUB go the Sea Harrier way in its crash proneness? Time will tell.
