LCA News and Discussions

[Katare]

Actually India should opt a couple of friendly countries as co-partner for LCA Mk2 and AMCA. South east asian countries for market, scale and money while a country like Brazil could also bring significan technology, manufacturing capability with aircraft development, testing and certification knowledge besides money. May be we offer to buy a few dozen of there commercial aircrafts suitably modified/customized in another joint venture.

Realistically, LCA is not cheap (@Rs 150corer) or ready or have desired/required performance in mk version to suceed in export market. On top of that US engine excludes several potential countries. HAL/ADA do not have any spare capacity either, they are hard pressed and slipping in delivery of several type of aircraft to IAF/IN/IA.

[Rahul M]

150 cr = 33 mn $ ? more like 24 mn $. that's cheaper than everything other than 2nd hand birds and JF17.

[Singha]

imho the FOC Tejas Mk1 with all the mission eqpt and full-spec avionics will come in around $40-45mil. we do not have a huge production order or pre-existing production line to lower the unit cost either...if we add that , unit cost will be more.

however it is a good thing even at $80 mil a pop - base and plinth laying is always costly and time consuming.

[Austin]

Some of the challenge in exporting Tejas in Mk1 or Mk2 variant , they would need export rights (no objection) from all the OEM that have their components ( including weapons ) in the aircraft that would be the first step.

The second thing is Tejas needs to be competitive in its class against its established rivals and beat them in their own game in price/performance parameters.

The third things is to have a good manufacturing base and reliable logistics supply chain that can take care of numbers produced in a year ( for exports and IAF ) and long term contractual obligation that needs has be met through out its life cycle of operation which could be 30 years.

[krishnan]

Some of the challenge in exporting Tejas in Mk1 or Mk2 variant , they would need export rights (no objection) from all the OEM that have their components ( including weapons ) in the aircraft that would be the first step.

The second thing is Tejas needs to be competitive in its class against its established rivals and beat them in their own game in price/performance parameters.

The third things is to have a good manufacturing base and reliable logistics supply chain that can take care of numbers produced in a year ( for exports and IAF ) and long term contractual obligation that needs has be met through out its life cycle of operation which could be 30 years.

All these can be taken care off. Only thing is lobby , case in point in dhurv, after some exports there seems to be no new export order for it.

[Austin]

Its not as easy as it is made out to be to "take care off" , lobby can work if you take care of other parameters that helps you win.
If you build a competitive product that beats the best in the game then you will eventually start winning with or without lobby.

[Cybaru]

imho the FOC Tejas Mk1 with all the mission eqpt and full-spec avionics will come in around $40-45mil. we do not have a huge production order or pre-existing production line to lower the unit cost either...if we add that , unit cost will be more.

however it is a good thing even at $80 mil a pop - base and plinth laying is always costly and time consuming.

Not sure why we are doubling the cost. In an interview posted last week, cost was pegged at $23 Million for the current order.

[Singha]

including the cost of radar and EW systems? I padded it heavily to account for all extras like chaff, flares, EW, el2032, liteningpod, green paint .... starter kit stuff

[Austin]

Do we actually have the cost of each unity of Tejas Mk1 either from HAL or MOD ?

Singha AFAIK when we import aircraft the cost includes that of aircraft , training , logistics, weapons and support , hence the unit cost tends to be higher.

[Tanaji]

From the comments at

http://livefist.blogspot.com/2010/12/is ... n-how.html

Sixth, history MAY be repeated IF, as in the case of the F414, Raytheon's APG-79 gets selected for the Tejas Mk2 in the event of the DRDO being unable to offer the 'indigenous' AESA-based MMR within a pledged timeframe. Raytheon as far back as February 2009 had publicly declared its willingness to offer the APG-79 for the Tejas Mk2.

Where is he even getting this? Does he think that swapping radars is like changing pieces on a Lego/Mecano set?

Plus the pimping for F18 is getting a bit too obvious...

[Singha]

the SABR radar looks in principle like the RDY3 - meant for upgrade of existing a/c with a minimum of fuss but less powerful and functional than their fathers APG80 and RDY2.

[Rahul M]

Do we actually have the cost of each unity of Tejas Mk1 either from HAL or MOD ?

Singha AFAIK when we import aircraft the cost includes that of aircraft , training , logistics, weapons and support , hence the unit cost tends to be higher.

Austin, you have the payments made by IAF and IN for their orders. the price came out to be 23mn for IAF version and 31 mn for IN. of course this doesn't include project costs.

[jamwal]

including the cost of radar and EW systems? I padded it heavily to account for all extras like chaff, flares, EW, el2032, liteningpod, green paint .... starter kit stuff

Why green ?

[Austin]

Austin, you have the payments made by IAF and IN for their orders. the price came out to be 23mn for IAF version and 31 mn for IN. of course this doesn't include project costs.

That still is not an accurate way to judge the unit cost as the payments made past and now can go into many things , the cost of $23 million was a figure quoted by Kalam almost more then a decade back , its will be difficult to believe that after more than a decade the cost will still be $23 million.

I think we need a figure from MOD or IAF to get a approximate figure of plain jane Tejas Mk1.

[SaiK]

If you build a competitive product that beats the best in the game then you will eventually start winning with or without lobby.

[ramana]

Another update from Ananth garu
Tejas logs 1,500th flight; gearbox gets Type Approval from CEMILAC

That altitude of 15km ie 45k feet is very significant. Can we find out more details? Was the trajectory upwards? Or was it downwards for each has different operational aspects.

[Rahul M]

Austin, you have the payments made by IAF and IN for their orders. the price came out to be 23mn for IAF version and 31 mn for IN. of course this doesn't include project costs.

That still is not an accurate way to judge the unit cost as the payments made past and now can go into many things , the cost of $23 million was a figure quoted by Kalam almost more then a decade back , its will be difficult to believe that after more than a decade the cost will still be $23 million.

I think we need a figure from MOD or IAF to get a approximate figure of plain jane Tejas Mk1.

didn't quite get this. when IN signs an agreement with HAL that it will buy x number of aircraft for y amount of money, what else can it mean ? the 'other' costs are paid directly by GOI.
during kalam's time the most quoted figure used to be 15 mn $.

_________________________________________
x-posting

realistically a brand new MKI likely cost $65 mil and a Tejas Mk1 $40 mil. there is no contest between the upg-M2k and the MKI - the MKI is costlier, more complex, needs two engines and two pilots and delivers N times the impact.

the real thinking should be fund more number of Tejas Mk1 or go with this Mirage upg at same cost but on 20-25 yr old airframes compared to zero hr on the Tejas. if the residual life of the M2k is 15 yrs after upg and that of Tejas is 40 yrs - barring the engine (404 vs 414) we can pretty much update the Tejas mk1 any way we want twice in its expected lifetime and get a service life of 3X for the same money.

note the EL-2032 now in Tejas mk1 was considered good enough by the IDF to request the Sufa (block52 F-solah) be allowed to fit it which the US denied as it involved US donated funds...the APG68v9 (same as the new paki f-solah) was used by default instead.

it will feature the same Litening pod, a better cockpit layout and avionics, the best of Indo-Israeli EW, python5/R73 and a bvr missile (R77 possibly to start, later Astra).

except in raw top speed, I dont know if the upg-M2K can beat the Tejas mk1 significantly in other benchmarks? the upg M2k is also supposed to have the cut rate RDY3 radar (the same radar originally proposed for the Bandar) and not the costlier RDY2 (seen on M2K-5) allegedly costing $9 mil each.

http://www.f-16.net/news_article1001.html

I saw we give Sarko the usual daal , roast lamb and naans at bukhara and send him home on a full stomach and empty pocket

the difference is not as much as you are making it out to be.

raw fuel capacity is irrelevant unless we know the range. NFTC pilots have gone on record that the Mk1 has only a little less range than the M2k.
M2k is underpowered compared to the Mk1 and the costly upg will do nothing to rectify that.
all the factors that make M2k a robust strike platform are already there on the tejas or in the process of being added. sure, it has a heavier weapon load but how many fighters actually go to war at full MTOW ? next to zero ?
think of a representative A2G load out and you will find that both M2k and tejas can handle it.

both the Mirage and Tejas in strike role will likely operate with 2 drop tanks which should bring in adequate range. the newer Mirages use larger drop tanks and three of them - but this imo will have a serious affect on manouverability probably and if forced to 'drop' the drop tanks far away from home might be tough to get back.

weapons are becoming smaller and smaller - yesterday's 2000lb job is getting done by todays 1000lb. In Kargil, M2K dropped 6 x 1000lb ccip bomb each in that one major raid on the paki logisitics camp in the snow(muntho dalo). if Tejas can do that should be ok. 6 bombs + 1 laser pod + 2 aam is a good strike loadout.

IN20 engine(54/85 kn) is as powerful than M53(54/85 kn). and Tejas empty weight is lighter. there was a spreadsheet made by a BR member based on the wing and other dimensions of M2k, Tejas, F-solah and Bandar which indicated the wing loading of Tejas less, corner velocity more, ... etc etc....

to settle the issue once and for all, after IOC the IAF should fly in 4 M2K from #1 Tigers , kit them up in identical payloads for various missions and compare the performance of the two planes and also go 1:1 , 2:2 and 4:4 DACT in bvr and wvr and more importantly publish all the results so that we know what are the pros and cons of Mk1 to fix in Mk2.

Rahul M, ofcourse the raw fuel data is useless as you point out so clearly.
of course, I guess that's why you feel a need to repeatedly twist what I said into something I did not.

But I am not comparing B-52 with Su30 here.
of course you are not. but comparing M2k and LCA on raw fuel capacity alone is as stupid as comparing that for B52 and Su30. the difference is only in degrees, the nature of the ignorance that leads to such stupidity remains same.
Both the M2000 and Tejas are comparable in engine power and over all size etc.
yet you didn't bother to actually quantify how comparable any of those were, beyond mentioning for our benefit that they were comparable, which all of us knew anyway.
had you actually bothered to do some calculations instead of throwing misguided sarcastic barbs, it would have been quite clear to you how raw fuel data alone is insufficient. I'll come back to this.
Anyway, what I say is that range (op radius) of Tejas (apart from vague little less little more criteria) is indeterminate as of now as compared to M2000, so to say that Tejas is laregly equal to M2000 is similarly vague.
indeterminate compared to M2k ? and you know the exact range of M2k ? with what payload, under what conditions and at what flight profile ?
let me let you in on a little secret, ALL range data (barring very very few) are vague, deliberately kept so by their OEMs and operators. exact analysis is impossible without detailed knowledge of the aerodynamic characteristics and a host of other factors.

that said, we can compare ranges of two aircraft in a very basic way with two important parameters, fuel fraction and SFC of their engines.
for LCA
fuel fraction = 2486/9500 = 0.262
SFC : 82.6 kg/(kN·h) dry
177.5 kg/(kN·h) full reheat

for M2k
fuel fraction = 3182/(anything between 11000 to 13800 kg. conflicting figures exist) = 0.289 to 0.23
for the purposes of this analysis let's assume it is near the midpoint of the 2 figures i.e 0.259
SFC : 90 kg/(kN·h) dry
210 kg/(kN·h) full reheat

so what do we see, the fuel fraction for both aircraft are very nearly the same, what we have to keep in mind is that the M53 is a generation older than the F404 and burns fuel at a much higher rate.
in ten minutes at full military thrust
the LCA will burn ~ 715.8 kg of fuel IOW 28.8% of its internal fuel load.
in the same time, the M2k will burn 960 kg i.e 30.1% of its internal fuel.

not much to choose, is there ?


Its never a personal ego fight for me, unless you want to make it one.
I see, that must be the reason you prefer sarcastic jibes in replying to a sober discussion

The LCA as previous reports noted has a weight of 10.5T with full internal fuel, 7 pylons & 2 R73E missiles. MTOW is 13T, which gives payload of 2.5T, which can be split between fuel, bombs and other missiles.
In Air to Ground, LCA has 4 pylons free to carry (apart from 2 R-73E) on wings, 2500 Kg of bombs & fuel plus central pylon. IAF has 1000 pound bombs which are 450 Kgs each, LCA can still carry 680 Kgs in center tank, which translates to 750 Liters fuel, assuming tank is 80 Kg itself.

As can be seen, the LCA does have a fairly respectable payload.

Rahul M brings out the comparison with Mirage. So lets look at it compared to the aircraft which it is meant to replace:

MiG 21 bis has a payload half of LCA MK1 at 1250 Kg and fewer pylons (5 to LCAs 7+1).
http://www.mig-21.de/english/technicaldata.htm

Comparing fuel, it shows that Bis has 2750 L of fuel versus LCA which has ~ 3000 L/2486 Kg.
SFC of LCA engine (ref: Rahuls post above) is 82.6 (std units) vs Tumansky R-25's 93:

(93 kg/(h·kN) (0.91 lb/(h·lbf)) at idle)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumansky_R-25

So the LCA clearly outperforms its "predecessor" by a significant margin. This is despite size limits firmly in the MiG-21 class, so it is clearly technology & a newer generation of design coming into play.

And in avionics & systems it compares better than the non upgraded Mirage today (Elbit Dash helmet & R73E missile confirmed versus only Magic 2 on Mirage 2000), and will remain superior in some aspects even after the upgrade especially if Mirage 2000 Upgrade goes for RDY3 not RDY2 radar.

Mirage 2000 brings significantly more payload as it is mentioned as in the class of 5.5T -6T for the Mirage, which should help it for long range missions. Basically, as Rahul M points out, to complement the internal fuel & add range. But how common is this & how often will this be required.

In IAF usage though, only pic i can find is this of something close to a heavy load. See a loadout of a central tank, 2 missiles probably, a heavy bomb & a jammer.

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Image ... 4.jpg.html

The LCA may have lesser payload overall, but has more pylons allowing more flexibility & from estimates, a comparable range on internal fuel alone (going by fuel fraction).
http://www.lca-tejas.org/images/lcaweapup8.jpg

So clearly, for most of its intended missions, LCA MK1 should do ok.

karan loaded weight is 9760 kg by the latest info-board, not 10500 kg.

the significant variation in empty weight and loaded weight even from official sources leads me to believe that they weigh the latest version of the LCA and use its value in the info-boards.
going by which the IOC standard should be somewhere around 9500kg.

Rahul,

I was going by Ajai Shuklas article in Business Standard which states that weight of a LCA with full fuel + 7 pylons + 2 R73E missiles is around 10.5Tons. The weight with fuel & lubricants etc, without pylons, missiles etc is around 9.5T. Putting each pylon as 100 Kg, the missiles as 105Kg each & the rest for gun ammo etc, I think 10.5T is a reasonable estimate.

My point is that even with this estimate, we can see the LCA brings a lot to the table, with a payload which exceeds that of the MiG-21 & with a pylon capability that is better than the MiG-21 & Mirage 2000 both. Both have only 5 pylons displayed in every pic I have seen of these aircraft in IAF service.

[Indranil]

Another update from Ananth garu
Tejas logs 1,500th flight; gearbox gets Type Approval from CEMILAC

The gearbox approval is great news.

Also here's more sweet cream for me

Last week alone we did 25-30 flights in Goa and Bangalore,” an engineer, attached to Mission Goa, said. Each flight is said to have lasted from 30-45 minutes. “This again demonstrates the serviceability of the aircraft,” he adds.

There were two planes in Goa, right?! I don't know how many working days constitute a week. But even going by 7, it is over two flights a day for an entire week! If it is 5 working days, it is nearly 3 flights a day for 5 successive days!

That can't be bad

[Kartik]

That still is not an accurate way to judge the unit cost as the payments made past and now can go into many things , the cost of $23 million was a figure quoted by Kalam almost more then a decade back , its will be difficult to believe that after more than a decade the cost will still be $23 million.

I think we need a figure from MOD or IAF to get a approximate figure of plain jane Tejas Mk1.

As per the 17th Report of the Parliamentary Committee on Defence, the order for the first 20 Tejas Mk1 concluded between IAF and HAL was for Rs 2701.70 crores. That is Rs 135.085 crores per Tejas Mk1 and these were to be delivered between 2010-2012. At today's exchange rates, that works out to be $30 million per unit.

HAL will not include the costs of setting up the assembly line, tooling, jigs etc. for the production line in the cost of these aircraft since that was paid for by the GoI during the sanction for the Full-Scale Engg Development Phase 2. The GoI paid Rs 3301.78 crores for development of LCA leading to IOC and FOC as well as establishing a production line for 8 aircraft per annum.

The next 20 Tejas Mk1s would've been slightly costlier (adjusted for inflation) if they are built to the same specifications as the first batch. I'm not sure about what radar was agreed upon during that deal signing, since the MMR was under development back then and the unit price for the new Elta-2032/MMR hybrid will be higher for sure. So my guess is that a Tejas Mk1 today will be approx $32 million per unit.

[Raman]

Is there any news on whether Tejas IOC is still expected later this month? There was some DDM noise about a delay but it appeared that they might be confused between IOC and FOC.

[shiv]

Talking of pylons on the LCA? Watch the first minute of this video I uploaded yesterday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vttav5DIfjA

[Kartik]

Looks like the GTRE-Snecma talks are going well

Speaking to Aviation Week, Hossein Shafife, national executive at Safran Group, says that negotiations with India’s Defense Research and Development Organization for the co-development of the Kaveri engine for India’s Light Combat Aircraft are in their final stages. “This is a very important project for us,” he says. “We are offering complete transfer of technology for the design and development of Kaveri. The talks are taking good shape.”

article link

[Austin]

That is Rs 135.085 crores per Tejas Mk1 and these were to be delivered between 2010-2012. At today's exchange rates, that works out to be $30 million per unit.

Thanks Kartik , I had a figure of $30-35 million in mind and the figure quoted seems fitting the Mk1 cost.

I would expect the slightly bigger Mk2 with more bells and whistle will cost ~ $40 - 42 million

[ShivaS]

I read an interesting tidbit in a Telugu news paper (Eenadu) on recent Brahmos test. It says

http://eenadu.net/story.asp?qry1=1&reccount=30

Per DRDL, A new system that can disable enemy Radars and Missiles was tested using Tejas fighter. This system works aluminum powder coated with fiber and laser rays (?). This system was developed indigenously.

What the hell is this? DDM or a true weapon system? Reminds me one "military scenario" someone wrote on BRF a while ago....

Thats Tinglish problem (Telugu english transliteration problemo)
It should be understood as

"The aluminum power was impregnated on to fibers which were Laser designated " note the word "DESIGNATED" became "DESI IGNITED"

the conjuctive and is also incorrect (usage)
***
Added later
Basically what it says is the new flares developed indigeniously are nothing but Sivakasi atom bomb bathhis.. aks suthli (Chan thaadu in telugu)b with Magnesium /potash compound wehich woukd ignite the strands and there by creating high temperature strands in and around ( a little further) away from the aicraft

I always prefer Laxi Atom Bomb compared to Vishnu atom bomb, or the Sqaure (boxed suthli) bomb ofcourse there is also Parrot Bomb which never fizzles

[Kailash]

Some of the challenge in exporting Tejas in Mk1 or Mk2 variant , they would need export rights (no objection) from all the OEM that have their components ( including weapons ) in the aircraft that would be the first step.

The second thing is Tejas needs to be competitive in its class against its established rivals and beat them in their own game in price/performance parameters.

The third things is to have a good manufacturing base and reliable logistics supply chain that can take care of numbers produced in a year ( for exports and IAF ) and long term contractual obligation that needs has be met through out its life cycle of operation which could be 30 years.

What if we are unable to obtain a "no objection" to a certain component?

First we need to raise the level of indigenous content in the fighter.
[*]Snap on the Kaveri, shave off unnecessary weight thru consultation.
[*]Create replacements for major component such as radar and engine (these need not be as good as those put on the IAF and IN variants, but need to be competitive and completely indigenous). Created dumbed down versions of the various sub-systems.
[*]Create or reverse engineer the entire gamut of weapons and pods that can be carried. Dumb bombs, LGBs, Short range IR missiles, BVR Astra etc. Or we need to have the diplomatic and military clout to get the leading weapons integrated with Tejas (which would be very difficult).

Have all these tasks running as the lowest priority. Mk2 development and fulfilling local requirement of Mk1s must rank higher than exports. Also good time to work on the DRDO PR wing, advertisements, campaigns when this export variant is in the making.

[Philip]

We are quite late in the day if one is talking about LCA exports.The Gripen is far ahead on that score with sales to middle-power nations like S.Africa,Thailand,etc.For a cheaper buy for Afro-Asian nations the Sino-Pak JF-17 is available at very reasonable cost.Unless about 150+ are inducted into service,including LCA MK-2,exporting the LCA would actually harm our own interests as we desperately need extra numbers to make up,plus add to the IAF's inventory for the future.

[shiv]

LCA Tejas has made 1500 flights.

Here is a photo commemorating that flight. The message along with the photo:

Today Tejas did its 1500th flight.
The aircraft (PV-2) was flown by Gp. Capt. Suneet Krishna from Goa to Bangalore

Click on image..and check what's on da wingg

[Rahul M]

a live R-73 ?

[SaiK]

Q: To test the effect of the missile plume do they have to test fire from a pod adjacent the fuselage?

[ramana]

Another update from Ananth garu
Tejas logs 1,500th flight; gearbox gets Type Approval from CEMILAC

The gearbox approval is great news.

Also here's more sweet cream for me

Last week alone we did 25-30 flights in Goa and Bangalore,” an engineer, attached to Mission Goa, said. Each flight is said to have lasted from 30-45 minutes. “This again demonstrates the serviceability of the aircraft,” he adds.

There were two planes in Goa, right?! I don't know how many working days constitute a week. But even going by 7, it is over two flights a day for an entire week! If it is 5 working days, it is nearly 3 flights a day for 5 successive days!

That can't be bad

So can this be taken as a baseline sortie rate per day for the LCA without surge?

[Kartik]

could someone please re-host the pic on some other website? I cannot see the image..

[ArunK]

LCA Tejas has made 1500 flights.

Here is a photo commemorating that flight. The message along with the photo:

Today Tejas did its 1500th flight.
The aircraft (PV-2) was flown by Gp. Capt. Suneet Krishna from Goa to Bangalore

Click on image..and check what's on da wingg

Fantastic photo. Many thanks. The guy standing second from the right is my cousin. I was wondering when he would make an appearence.

[Indranil]

LCA Tejas has made 1500 flights.

Here is a photo commemorating that flight. The message along with the photo:
Click on image..and check what's on da wingg

Fantastic photo. Many thanks. The guy standing second from the right is my cousin. I was wondering when he would make an appearence.

Arun-ji, I was just wondering what is your and your cousin's favourite sweet .

Is there absolutely anyway that you can get him to visit here once in a while?

[Picklu]

LCA Tejas has made 1500 flights.
Click on image..and check what's on da wingg

The below is to be read in the same glorious tradition of MARCOS scooter helmet ........

Why oh why, can't they wear clothes of decent length!!!!Look at the third guy from the left. There is a HUGE gap between his dress and shoe. No self respecting military allowes this. When will we learn?

[Indranil]

^^^ Are you serious or are you being sarcastic

[Kartik]

Tejas to go for weapons drop trials at Chitradurga ranges

link

By Anantha Krishnan M.
BENGALURU, India

India’s Aeronautical Development Agency is gearing up to start the last phase of flight trials for the Tejas light combat aircraft at Chitradurga in Karnataka, 100 mi. northwest of here.

This will be the first time the new test range of the Defense Research and Development Organization will be put to use.

Test pilots from the National Flight Test Center in Bengaluru are readying themselves to undertake the last leg of weapon trials/stores release in Chitradurga. “Currently, a series of trials are being done to characterize the aerodynamics of the platform,” a senior official associated with the program says. “This will be the first outing for Tejas in Chitradurga. We are now setting up the telemetry range.”

Aviation Week has learned that accuracy studies will be done at Chitradurga when Tejas releases stores. “It will be dummy trials to start with,” the official says. “The pilots will be taking off from Old Bangalore airport and land after finishing their mission in Chitradurga within 10-12 minutes.”

The certification process for Tejas is now entering its last lap with the Center for Military Airworthiness and Certification (Cemilac). “Once the proposed trials in Chitradurga are over, we would have finished all the parameters Tejas should have tested ahead of the initial operational clearance,” the official says.

An Empowered Committee Meeting is scheduled in New Delhi next week with the Indian air force chief to review the certification process. “Once we demonstrate all that the Indian air force [wants], the Cemilac will hand over the documents to the air force,” the official says. “By December 27, we are sure that the Tejas will enter the initial operational clearance phase. However, the production aircraft will be available to air force pilots only by mid-2011. There’s 100% clarity on everything now.”

[karan_mc]

CEMILAC Type Approval for CVRDE’s Aircraft Mounted Accessory Gearbox of LCA

Link http://idrw.org/?p=1730

The Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE), Avadi has indigenously designed and developed Aircraft Mounted Accessory Gearbox (AMAGB) for Light Combat Aircraft LCA-Tejas application.

CVRDE has now successfully obtained the type approval for AMAGB from CEMILAC. The Type Approval Certificate was handed over by Dr. K. Tamilmani, Distinguished Scientist, Chief Executive CEMILAC to Shri. P. Sivakumar, Director CVRDE on 04th December 2010 at a function at CVRDE, where delegates from ADA, CEMILAC and DGAQA participated.

As a pre-curser to induction into Indian Air force, ‘Type Approval’ from CEMILAC (Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification) is mandatory.

The Aircraft Mounted Accessory Gearbox (AMAGB) is capable of transmitting 250 HP at 16,810 rpm with less than 38 kg of weight. It operates in two modes - Starter mode and Accessory mode. In starter mode, it aids in starting the engine through Jet Fuel Starter (JFS). In accessory mode, it drives accessories namely, two hydraulic pumps and an Integrated Drive Generator (IDG).

This gearbox has undergone strenuous environmental and structural test. Further, this gearbox has also undergone 1000 hours of Endurance Test. Till date, AMAGB gearboxes have undergone more than 2000 hours of flight testing.

[NRao]

I would not worry about exporting the LCA. India does not need the money - nice to have it for sure. And then who wants to worry about ToT, etc at this point in time?

[shiv]

Link http://idrw.org/?p=1730

The Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE), Avadi has indigenously designed and developed Aircraft Mounted Accessory Gearbox (AMAGB) for Light Combat Aircraft LCA-Tejas application.

CVRDE has now successfully obtained the type approval for AMAGB from CEMILAC. The Type Approval Certificate was handed over by Dr. K. Tamilmani, Distinguished Scientist, Chief Executive CEMILAC to Shri. P. Sivakumar, Director CVRDE on 04th December 2010 at a function at CVRDE, where delegates from ADA, CEMILAC and DGAQA participated.

As a pre-curser to induction into Indian Air force, ‘Type Approval’ from CEMILAC (Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification) is mandatory.

The Aircraft Mounted Accessory Gearbox (AMAGB) is capable of transmitting 250 HP at 16,810 rpm with less than 38 kg of weight. It operates in two modes - Starter mode and Accessory mode. In starter mode, it aids in starting the engine through Jet Fuel Starter (JFS). In accessory mode, it drives accessories namely, two hydraulic pumps and an Integrated Drive Generator (IDG).

This gearbox has undergone strenuous environmental and structural test. Further, this gearbox has also undergone 1000 hours of Endurance Test. Till date, AMAGB gearboxes have undergone more than 2000 hours of flight testing.

AMAGB as displayed in Aero India 2007
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtiPiuQ_Lxc

[ramana]

In the Chitradurga trials I want to see a all up loaded LCA shoot down a number of targets flown against it.

Also great news the range is ready.