July 22, 2016
The Antonov AN-32 aircraft (click here) took off at 8.30 am from Tambaram in Chennai and the last contact made was 16 minutes later, according to defence sources.
The aircraft can reportedly fly for up to four hours without refuelling.
A massive search operation has been launched by the IAF, Navy and the Coast Guard, sources said.
India is in a sensitive part of the world and providing jets may increase the focus on India by China and Russia, but, the AN-32 is too old. India needs to decide where their Air Force is going, but, this is a complete embarrassment to the USA.
I hope current satellite data and intelligence is being shared with India to locate their missing old and rickety military propeller plane.
So, what is the AN-32 plane?
According to Bharat Rakshak, the consortium of Indian military websites, the AN-32 forms the backbone of the IAF's medium lift capabilities. It writes, "the AN-32s were hit hard by the chaos in the ex-USSR, as spares became harder to obtain." To compensate, the IAF fitted several AN-32s with AN-12 power plants (after these were retired) and put a number of airframes (an aircraft's mechanical structure that includes fuselage, wings and undercarriage) into storage. It should also be noted that the AN-32s will need replacements by the end of the decade as spares are reportedly hard to come by and the life of the airframes are short.
The Indian Air Force website describes the aircraft as a "twin-engine turboprop, medium tactical transport aircraft of Russian origin with a crew of five and capacity to carry 39 paratroopers or max load of 6.7 tonnes". The website notes that the aircraft has a maximum cruise speed of 530 km/hr....
