Tejas Mk.1 & Mk.1A: News & Discussions: 04 January 2021

[SSridhar]

One in two Tejas fighters to have Desi radar

Great news. Waiting for a long time.

Critical technologies are being realized. Prasad's interviews show the enormous confidence of the designers. We have crossed the inflection point in aeronautics. Great feeling.

[Aditya_V]

Excellent news , having Uttam on Tejas, 21st MK-1A, so even the 10 trainers are going to have EL 20252 AESA as per the article,

SO HAL orderbook to deliver right now would be



1) Tejas MK1 FOC- 13 single seaters +8 Trainers with EL 2032 radar

2) MK1A 10 Trainers + 11 single seaters with EL 20252 radar

3) 62 Single seater MK1A with Uttam radar.

[Prem Kumar]

Phenomenal news! They must've gotten over the A2G and A2S hurdles in the executive jet, to have such confidence! Great to see that the A2A mode is operating better than they expected

Even as far as 3 years back, Uttam had the capability to detect a 2 sq.m target at 150 Km. It must be doing better than that now, which is mighty impressive. It means that it can even guide Astra-Mk2 at its max range

[Prem Kumar]

Nice progression of indigenization in critical AESA tech

1) Phalcon radar --> Netra
2) Green Pine --> LRTR
3) ELTA 2084 --> Arudhra
4) ELTA 2052 --> Uttam
5) MFSTAR --> ??

ELTA ain't gonna be too happy

[basant]

Phenomenal news! They must've gotten over the A2G and A2S hurdles in the executive jet, to have such confidence! Great to see that the A2A mode is operating better than they expected

Even as far as 3 years back, Uttam had the capability to detect a 2 sq.m target at 150 Km. It must be doing better than that now, which is mighty impressive. It means that it can even guide Astra-Mk2 at its max range

150 km should be better than fine for Astra Mk2 as far as useful Pk is considered.

[mody]

Phenomenal news! They must've gotten over the A2G and A2S hurdles in the executive jet, to have such confidence! Great to see that the A2A mode is operating better than they expected

Even as far as 3 years back, Uttam had the capability to detect a 2 sq.m target at 150 Km. It must be doing better than that now, which is mighty impressive. It means that it can even guide Astra-Mk2 at its max range

The A2G mode on the executive jet has already shown good results. The problems arose, when the same was tried on the Tejas. The speed and the maneuverability of fighter jets is much higher and the software needed to be changed to account for this. The A2A mode seems to have been fully developed and debugged on the 2 LSP aircrafts. The report states that they might be ready to offer the radar for user evaluation for the A2A mode, shortly. There were some reports that DRDO is targeting mid 2021 to complete the A2G mode as well.
The results of the A2A mode, seem to be on par with the Elat 2052, which is huge. The earlier reports had mentioned that they were better then the existing 2032 based hybrid MMR. Even if the radar is upto 90% as effective as the Elta 2052, we should opt for the Uttam only.

Maybe someone like @Dileep will have a better idea about the exact status and the results that have been obtained so far.

I have said this before and will say it again, having almost a completely indigenous weapons suite and indigenous Radar and avionics suite for the Tejas will have a bigger impact for the IAF then any import can ever have. Will also enhance the export potential of the Tejas.
The next target after the Uttam should be the EW suite. Only the Israeli Dash Helmet is the major imported component of the avionics suite.

[Kartik]

One in two Tejas fighters to have Desi radar

Read more at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/arti ... aign=cppst

Incredible stuff. Matches Prasad's report earlier.

21st Tejas onwards to have Uttam, MOU with HAL already signed.

Karan, is the Terrain Avoidance mode something akin to what the RBE2 has on the Rafale to allow low level nap of the earth flying? If so, it'll be absolutely remarkable and Tejas fighters with the Uttam may be able to do so in the future?

[Kartik]

Great news. Waiting for a long time.

Critical technologies are being realized. Prasad's interviews show the enormous confidence of the designers. We have crossed the inflection point in aeronautics. Great feeling.

Truly amazing feeling to see cutting edge technologies maturing this way. We truly have crossed the inflection point. And with a Govt. at the center that is gung-ho on exports, Atmanirbhar programs and incubating MSMEs and startups, it seems like we are on the verge of something big!

[naird]

What an amazing news ! Will greatly help in driving down costs as well as help us in scaling up the weapon integration challenges. So the way i understand is that nap of the earth flying can be broken down into parts
1. Radar - Basically tries to figure the terrain and weather. It provides required inputs to machine.
2. Software / FBW - System takes the inputs from radar , massages/translates it and passes it onto FBW/Display software. FBW/Display software accordingly adjusts the flight controls , presents the required display of the terrain and other such aspects.

If we take the above 2 parts into account then work on part(2) must have already started. Theoretically part1 should be plug and play .i.e replace 2052 with Uttam.

Perhaps this is the reason of confidence.

[Prem Kumar]

Does terrain following + avoidance radar also imply a modified FBW to automatically take over controls? I'd assume that would significantly increase the complexity of the FBW software, which is more concerned about the stability of the aircraft than collision avoidance

If #2 from above post is also available, it can be adopted into LCH & even UAVs for nap of the earth flying.

Do the Jags have this ability with their 2052 radars?

[Vivek K]

What’s the latest about MK1 FOC deliveries?

[Rakesh]

https://twitter.com/strategic_front/sta ... 17604?s=20 ---> Possible future LCA Mk-1 upgrade would include a new Lead-in fighter trainer (LIFT) called LIFT-MAX for Airforce and Navy.

[Rakesh]

What a beautiful photo. Truly gorgeous. You can see it full size, if you drag & drop photo into new window.

https://twitter.com/hvtiaf/status/13641 ... 43971?s=20 ---> Winged Men

[Rakesh]

WOW! 83 Mk1As are causing a lot of takleef.

How Did India Manage to Build an Advanced Fighter Jet Like the Tejas?
https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/02/24/in ... rty-china/
24 Feb 2021

How has a relatively poor country like India that is more famous for call centers than for precision manufacturing managed such a dramatic technological leap?

The biggest-ticket foreign components are the plane’s General Electric F404 jet engine and Israel Aerospace Industries’ radar and electronic warfare systems. Take away these key components, and all you have is an empty airframe.

The Tejas Mark 1A, which has just entered mass production, is being offered for export at a standard price of approximately $43 million per aircraft, much less than the price of a new F-16, the U.S. export standard.

[jamwal]

These reports were incorrect, however, since they fallaciously compared the basic cost of an Indian-produced Su-30 MKI with the procurement cost per unit of all 83 sanctioned Tejas aircraft, with the latter having been obtained by simply dividing the total CCS outlay by 83. Such ludicrous apples to oranges comparisons apart, the actual basic cost of a Tejas Mk1A, arrived at after stripping away various ancillary allocations included in the CCS approval, is significantly lower than that of not just any medium or heavy fourth-generation fighter, but it is also lower than that of any comparable light fighter. In fact, given the advanced features of the Tejas Mk1A, the aircraft is the most cost-competitive multirole capability the IAF could acquire today.

basic per unit cost of the Mk1A will be Rs 309 crore over the course of production, while that of the Mk1 trainer version would be around Rs 280 crore.

Read more at: https://www.deccanherald.com/specials/s ... 45482.html

Good article by Sourav Jha

[ashishvikas]

LCA Tejas to take part in #SriLanka Air Show (3-5th March)

https://twitter.com/neeraj_rajput/statu ... 17800?s=20

[ramana]

Moved.

Let us stick to the topic.

Thanks, r