Sea Fury - Go to http://www.meiermotors.com/index.php
/projekte/hawker-seafury-d-cace/
hawker-seafury-restaurierung
to see the marvellous job that Meier Motors are doing in restoring red Sea Fury D-CACE. Make sure you see all 6 pages. It was originally converted at Dunsfold in 1963.
    Sea Harrier - INS Viraat (HMS Hermes), which has completed a service life of 56 years, was retired after getting a grand farewell at the International Fleet Review at Visakhapatnam in February 2016. Sea Harriers did much appreciated demonstrations including hovers close to the beach.
    The Sea Harriers, currently based at INS Hansa, Goa, have been carrying out regular flights along with Mig-29Ks but mounting maintenance costs and the small fleet of only seven aircraft in service means the Navy cannot keep them in the operational fleet for much longer and they may well be retired with Viraat. The Ministry of Defence will make the decision.

Aircraft News

Under the Limited Upgrade Sea Harrier (LUSH) programme some 15 aircraft were fitted with the Israeli Elta EL/M-2032 radar and Rafael Derby BVRAAM missiles (Beyond Visual Range Air to Air Missiles). Since then the Navy has lost a number of aircraft and, due to the lack of spares, some were cannibalised to keep the others airworthy.
    The Navy has ordered carrier-qualified Mig-29ks and Hawk Mk 132 advanced jet trainers. The Migs will fly from the 14 deg ski-jump equipped 45,400 ton carrier INS Vikramaditya, a Soviet Kiev class ship launched in 1987 as the Baku, renamed Admiral Gorshkov in the Russian navy in 1996, sold to India in 2004 and in-service in 2013. Described as a STOBAR ship, Short Take-Off But Arrested Landing, the Mig 29ks make hold-back ski jump take-offs and tail hook arrested landings on the angled deck. INS Viraat was not capable of supporting STOBAR operations. In 2018 a new indigenous 40,000 ton carrier, INS Vikrant, is expected to enter service.
    (Information via Bob Bounden - thanks, Bob.)