Question: Which of the following aircraft of the Indian Air Force is certified to operate on indigenous bio-fuel recently?
(a) AN-32
(b) Jaguar
(c) Tejas
(d) Hercules
Answer: (a)
Related facts:
- Indian Air Force`s formidable workhorse, the Russian made AN-32 aircraft was formally fleet certified to fly on blended aviation fuel containing up to 10% of indigenous bio-jet fuel on May 24,2019.
- The approval certificate was received at the aero-engine test facilities at Chandigarh by Air Commodore Sanjiv Ghuratia VSM, Air Officer Commanding.
Push for greener fuel in Airforce:
- The IAF has undertaken a series of evaluation tests and trials with this green aviation fuel for the last one year. The scope of these checks was in consonance with the international aviation standards.
- The indigenous bio-jet fuel was first produced by the CSIR-IIP lab at Dehradun in 2013, but could not be tested or certified for commercial use on aircraft due to lack of test facilities in the civil aviation sector.
- On 27 July, 2018, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa had formally announced IAF’s intention to permit the use of all its resources for testing and certifying the indigenous fuel.
- Since then, IAF’s flight test crew and engineers have been evaluating the performance of this fuel against international standards.
- This is a huge step in promoting the ‘Make in India’ mission as this bio-fuel would be produced from Tree Borne Oils (TBOs) sourced from tribal areas and farmers, augmenting their income substantially.
Links:
http://www.pib.nic.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=1572562