IAF had time to build shelters for Sukhois

BANGALORE: With experts attributing the recent crash of a Sukhoi in Pune to possible exposure to heat and dust, the long-term damage from weather to the fighters seems obvious. Exposed Sukhois are in the danger of having nick marks on the engine blades. With a transparent canopy, heat gets settled inside slowly but surely, impacting  multiple non-metallic parts, including those linked to ejection systems. Sources flying and feeding the Sukhois told Express that the shelter-less state of affairs of a modern fighter is “shocking”.HAL officials are perplexed as to why the IAF didn’t provide shelters to the fighters’ biggest bases at Pune and Bareilley. “The IAF had enough time since 2002 to build shelters,” sources said. HAL’s first official communication, expressing serious concerns, is said to have been sent to the IAF’s Maintenance Command in October 2010. The IAF operates over 150 Sukhois from its bases in Pune, Bareilley, Chabua, Jodhpur and Tezpur.Sources said that even a lightning strike didn’t spare a Sukhoi in 2009 causing a serious emergency. “The aircraft suffered structural damage, which is unheard of in modern times. All these are definitely pointing towards quality and design issues,” a veteran pilot, who were among the first to fly the Sukhois, said.An official with the Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC) says that the all Russian aircraft are designed for safe operations in minus temperatures. “If the Sukhois are parked outside, even with a canvass cover, it cannot escape the trapped temperature inside, which will be very high compared to the reflected temperature,” the official said. He claimed that for Indian military platforms (Tejas, Dhruv, Sitara) the rubber parts are tested and qualified to a maxim temperature of 71 degrees Celsius.Air  Marshal (Retd) T S Randhawa, an expert with Sukhois, said IAF is already in the process of getting shelters. “We understand that there can be an effect due to exposing the fighter to sun. The weather varies -  like hot, cold, dust, breeze and over a longer period of time, But, these fighters are serviced as per the IAF SOPs,” he said.