About the New DDPMAS

1.0 Introduction :

DDPMAS 2002 was a single document bringing out the procedure to be followed for design &
development, production, modification, license production and indigenization of airsystems and
airborne strores in the Indian military airworthiness regulatory framework. This was jointly released
by the Secretary (Defence Production and Supplies) and Secretary Defence (Research & Development)
in the year 2002. This document has been in usage and serving its purpose as the procedural and
regulatory framework on which several milestone achievements have been made in Indian Military
Aerounautics for the last two decades.

Taking into consideration of the rapid advancements in the contemporary Indian Aeronautical
scenario, with significant expansion in the design, development and production activities, increasing
accent on self-reliance, indigenisation activities with more and more Public Sector Undertakings,
Private entrepreneurs and small scale industries participation in-line with the Make-in-India Policy of
the government, it is time for the DDPMAS to undergo a revision.

2.0 Guidelines for new DDPMAS :

The new DDPMAS has been written to address the following.

a. To make it contemporary
b. Incorporate the inputs from stakeholders
c. Facilitate Private Industries participation & Make-in-India Policy
d. To be in-line with the latest Defence Procurement Procedures (DPP)
e. To bring it out in a clear, demarcated, structured, coherent and hierarchical manner
f. To make it process dependent
g. Enhance readability and ease of implementation
h. To be in-line with the International Airworthiness community

3.0 What’s new ?

a. New chapters on Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), Air Launched Missiles (ALM), Research
airsystems, Civil Certified Military airsystems, Continued and Continuing airworthiness,
Organisation Approvals, Exports, have been added to be contemporary and address
obsolescence.
b. Inputs from various stakeholders regarding the impediments and difficulties in following the
DDPMAS have been addressed in the DDPMAS wherever technically found to be in order
without compromising the philosophy of airworthiness.
c. Clear and unambiguous demarcation for the requirements for airsystems and airborne stores.
Requirements for Engines, Materials, Software, identification of parts, Test rigs, Tools, Testers
and Ground Equipment (TTGEs) are also separately addressed.
d. To facilitate private industries and Make-in-India policy, organisation approvals for Design,
Production and Maintenance have been added. Airworthiness coverage to private industries,
even when no expression of interest or supply order from the government exists, has also
been addressed.
 e. The document also addresses airworthiness and certification for every acquisition model as
per the DPP.
f. Future of military aviation will involve Joint ventures and Consortiums with individual defined
work packages with design houses of foreign origin. This will entail mutual recognition of
design and certification methodologies. In order to facilitate international understanding, co-
operation and success of the ventures leading to acquiring strategic technologies for our
armed forces and military exports for our country, this DDPMAS has introduced global
parlance and internationally followed terminologies with one-to-one-mapping of equivalent
regulatory articles wherever applicable to Indian processes and procedures. This is done to be
in-line with the international order for airworthiness and certification. The new terminologies
are well defined in the definitions section of the document.
g. In order to enhance readability, ease of implementation, and making it process dependent, the
DDPMAS document is presented in a structured, coherent & hierarchical manner comprising of
POLICY, REGULATIONS and MANUALS.
i. The Policy defines roles, responsibilities and empowerment of stakeholders to
address airworthiness in various scenarios and facets of the airsystem life cycle.
ii. Regulations are procedures and technical requirements for specific phase in the
development life cycle of an airsystem /airborne store that facilitate the applicants
or the stakeholders to unambiguously process and procure Approvals, Clearances
and Airworthiness Certificates from the Airworthiness Authorities for their
products.
iii. The Manuals refer to templates, forms, circulars, airworthiness directives and
airworthiness certification criteria documents that may be referred to by the
applicants and facilitates in implementing the regulations towards ensuring
airworthiness. ( Note: The present document does not contain manuals. The
Manuals will be available as part of the final document and in website )

The DDPMAS POLICY :

The policy is brought out in the following chapters,

CHAPTERS TITLE
PART 1 - MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK
Chapter 1 Introduction to Indian Military Airworthiness
Chapter 2 Indian Military Airworthiness Framework
Chapter 3 Military Acquisition Models
PART 2 - DESIGN DEVELOPMENT & PRODUCTION - POLICY
Chapter 1 Ab-Initio Design, Development, Production and Certification of Airsystems &Airborne Stores
Chapter 2 Licensed Production Of Air Systems And Airborne Stores
Chapter 3 Bought- Out Air Systems And Airborne Stores
Chapter 4 Continuing Airworthiness & Continued Airworthiness
Chapter 5 Flight Testing Of Air Systems And Airborne Stores
 Chapter 6 Unmanned Aerial Systems
Chapter 7 Air Launched Missiles (ALM)
Chapter 8 Research Air Systems And Airborne Stores
Chapter 9 Civil Certified Military Aircraft
Chapter 10 Export of Indigenous Airsystems and airborne stores
Chapter 11 Organisation Approvals
Chapter 12 Indigenous Substitution of Airborne Stores

The Policy document is structured in two parts, Part 1 and Part 2. Part 1 consists of three chapters, the
present introduction chapter, the military airworthiness framework chapter and the military
acquisitions chapter. These three chapters are aimed at introducing the readers to a prelude of
various activities of military airworthiness in the country, the airworthiness framework and the
acquisition models of the services that needs to be addressed for its airworthiness. It is strongly
recommended to read these chapters to set the base for further chapters.

Part 2 contains 12 chapters that deals with the airworthiness policies for various scenarios.

REGULATIONS :

The Regulations are brought in a separate document called Indian Military Technical Airworthiness
Regulations -21 (IMTAR -21). The technical airworthiness requirements at various phases in the
development life cycle of the airsystem and the airborne stores is captured in Subparts. The applicant
has to follow the requirements of the applicable subpart to procure the necessary certification from
the airworthiness authorities, thereby making it a process dependent approach.

The IMTAR-21 is divided into SUBPARTs as follows.

The subparts and their corresponding titles are as follows,

SUBPART TITLE

SUBPART A General Procedure for Indian Military Airworthiness

SUBPART B Ab-initio Development of Air System Leading to RMTC/MTC and Production
B1: Ab-Initio Development of Aircraft
B2: Ab Initio Development of Unmanned Air Systems (UAS)
B3: Ab-Initio Development of Air Launched Missiles (ALMs)
B4: Ab-Initio Development of Aero Engines and Sub Systems
SUBPART C Ab-initio Development of Airborne Stores Leading to IMTSOA / L o A / TA
C1: Ab-Initio Design & Development of Airborne Stores Leading to Issue of
Type Approval
C2: Ab-Initio Design & Development of Air Armament Stores and Air Launched
Weapons Leading to Issue of Type Approval
C3: Airborne Stores which are Materials and Standard/AGS Parts of
Metallic and Non-metallic, in Accordance with Officially Recognised
Standards/Approved CEMILAC Test Plan not Specific to any Platform
Leading to LoA
C4: Ab-initio Development of Airborne Stores leading to LoA
C5: Airborne Stores, for which IMTSO Exists, Leading to IMTSO Approval
 SUBPART TITLE

(IMTSOA)
C6: Airborne / Ground System Software And Complex Electronic Hardware
(CEH)
SUBPART D Modifications of Air Systems Leading to AMTC/SMTC
SUBPART E Modifications of Airborne Stores
SUBPART F Production of Air Systems and Airborne Stores
SUBPART G Organisation Approvals:
G1: Design Approved Organisation Scheme
G2: Production Approved Organisation Scheme
G3: Maintenance Approved Organisation Scheme
SUBPART H Certificates of Airworthiness (CoA) for Air Systems and Airborne Stores
SUBPART I Research Aircraft
SUBPART K Indigenous Substitutions of Airborne Stores
SUBPART L Continued & Continuing Airworthiness
SUBPART M Repairs
SUBPART N Bought Out Air Systems and Airborne stores
SUBPART P Flight Testing of Air Systems and Airborne Stores
SUBPART Q Identification Of Air Systems and Airborne stores
SUBPART R Civil Certified Military Aircraft
SUBPART S Customer Furnished Equipment and Customer Specified Equipment
SUBPART T T1: Test Rigs
T2: Tools, Testers & Ground Equipment (TTGE)
SUBPART U Mutual Recognition

Each Subpart contains all the applicable regulations within the scope of the subpart title, that
represents a facet in the Indian Military Technical Airworthiness Regulatory Framework. The
regulations cover the technical airworthiness requirements for the airsystem/airborne store at various
development phase within the scope of the subpart title.

The Subpart is organised as Rationale, Contents, Regulation, Acceptable Means of Compliance and
Guidance Materials.

Rationale : Each Subpart identifies a Rationale as a basis for the regulations.

Contents : Rationale is followed by the contents of the Subparts, that captures the numbered
topics/titles of the regulations.

Regulation : The Regulation is described and is uniquely numbered with the Regulatory Clause.

Acceptable Means of Compliance (AMC): Each Regulation is supported with Acceptable Means of
Compliance (AMC), which are nonexclusive means of demonstration of compliance with the
regulation and the Technical Airworthiness Authorities. Alternate and equivalent means may also be
listed wherever applicable.

Guidance Material : The Regulation also lists certain guidance material that may be used by the
applicant to facilitate in meeting the AMC, thereby complying to the Regulation. This is to be strictly
used only as guidelines and shall not be viewed as an equivalent to AMC.