India thumbs down US P-3C offer; to buy german Donier's

India to buy 11 Dornier planes from Germany

The purchase of Dornier-228 planes along with spares, engines, ground support equipment and operational role equipment would come at a price of Rs 726 crore including Rs 431.65 crore foreign exchange component, Mukherjee said.

These aircraft, already being flown by the Navy and Coast Guard, will be used for maritime surveillance, he said.

The CCS also authorised limited upgradation of 14 vertical landing and take-off Sea Harrier fighter jets of Navy at a cost of Rs 476.69 crore, the Defence Minister said.

He said the upgradation will involve replacement of radars, fitting these with latest air-to-air missiles from Israeli firm Raphael, combat manoeuvring flight recorder, and digital cockpit voice recorder.

full article and more purchase details

i can just see the F-16 and F-18 e/f offer slipping away too, with the offer of top of the line Mig-29's.

The Do228 is hardly a credible alternative to the P-3C, they are two utterly different aircraft, its rather like choosing the Gripen over the F/A-22.

do you have any details of the capabalities of both, comparision charts, etc ??

i guess i was misguided by the fact that both are for maritime recon.

how does the Nmrod match up to the P-3C ??

The Nimrod and the P-3 are in the same class but the Nimrod is faster as it is a jet, not that that is any great advantage in the MR role, it is merely a fact.

The Dornier 228 however is a much smaller twin turboprop that is based upon a 20 passenger feeder liner (the Electra upon which the P-3 is based seated over 100)

According to Jane's the range of the Do 228 is 724 miles compared with 1,500 miles for the P-3 and more than 6,000 miles for the Nimrod MR/A.4 (I have re-checked those figures because I found that last one quite incredible).

sources Dornier and Nimrod - Jane's 1999, P-3C - Janes 1969.

[edit on 10-4-2005 by waynos]

Originally posted by waynos

According to Jane's the range of the Do 228 is 724 miles compared with 1,500 miles for the P-3 and more than 6,000 miles for the Nimrod MR/A.4 (I have re-checked those figures because I found that last one quite incredible).

but in the indian scenario (pakistan is not that far away) i guess the Do-228 will sufice.

question : which other country other than britain has the Nimrod ?

what are the costs of the Do, P3, Nimrod ?

also, this source says :

227 aircraft are in the US Navy fleet but this is to be reduced to 150 by 2005 and the entire fleet is to be replaced by 2013.

www.airforce-technology.com...

which airplane will replace the P-3C ?

That may well be so, it could well be that the range and capacity offered by the larger types is simply unnecessary for India's requirement in which case the Do 228 would make sense.

No other nation operates the Nimrod as it was created specifically for the RAF and the only other nation with a requirement for such a plane at the time was the USA and they already had the P-3 in service. The other European nations have also tended to go for the Breguet Atlantique, a smaller twin turboprop type that is roughly between the Nimrod and the Do 228 in size.

I don't have any info to hand on costs though I dare say it can be found.

The USA's replacement for the P-3 is the Boeing P-8 which is based on the 737, there has been at least one thread about it on this site in the last 6 months if you wish to find it (I can't I'm afraid)

so , the harriers are going FRS 2 standard -

whats the chance of the gripen over the MiG29?

thanks for the info waynos.

the IAF actually shot down one of those Pakistani Atlantique's sometime back.

The Atlantique Kill

Pics of the Atlantique wreckage

Originally posted by Harlequin
so , the harriers are going FRS 2 standard -

whats the chance of the gripen over the MiG29?

what the ?? what are u talking about ?

i suppose your post was directed to this thread . www.abovetopsecret.com...

it happens to me to sometimes when multiple windows are on.

Um... the Dornier deal isn't mutually exclusive with a P-3 deal. The Orion is a dedicated ASW a/c.

The Do-s are to be used for only a maratime recon role, to boost IN and CG capabilities. The IN and IAF already use the type for ELINT and transport roles and are equipped with powerful maritime surveillance radars.

Originally posted by Harlequin
so , the harriers are going FRS 2 standard -
whats the chance of the gripen over the MiG29?

Pretty much zero. The Gripen doesn't have a navalized version to the best of my knowlege, and the -29Ks are a done deal. The first will arrive later this year.


Stealth Spy,
The Orions in USN service will be replaced by the MMA