LCA News and Discussions

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 08 Dec 2010 10:27

the range is 4000 acres and was meant to be a facility for testing UAV and EW in its official role. I guess they decided to make a meal out of any stuff already setup and use it as a target testing....note the stuff will be dummy weapons...it was never meant to be a weapons drop range like pokhran. lot easier to fly out of BLR and do this than deploy a lot of people to jodhpur I suppose.

we cannot have errant live missiles making a beeline for the AEC or IISC facilities next door

Kailash · Post by **Kailash** » 08 Dec 2010 14:26

NRao wrote: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?

Yes Indians don't need the money. But we need the strategic leverage - to make an offer of a cheap fighter to nations who are looking for it. For a change, we giving ToT to someone will be a morale booster. It will teach us how much to share and how to restrict technology theft and reverse engineering.

Also there is the question of long term profitability of a research institute. If we look at the amount of money invested and returns gained on the same for DRDO projects, the trend is clear. Arjun mk-1 is not even breaking-even. The number of LCA's currently in order is a tiny % of inital planned numbers. Akash has finally entered production and we hope it breaks even soon.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 08 Dec 2010 14:41

Yes,sale/leasing of weapons to a friendly nation cements the relationship even more.We can see how the Indo-Russian military exchange made during Cold War days exists even today and is expanding in scope and content to JVs.What the GOI/MOD/MEA should do is to carefully study which Indian made systems are competitive internationally and to which countries they can be exported to.Since it has not been a priority of the GOI for India to become an arms exporter,this attitude must first change.Every Indian mission abroad must have a military/defence adviser attached to it to explore mutually beneficial opportunities.This could even involve training,especially as we have decades of experience training officers from various Afro-Asian countries.There are many SL senior officers who look back at their days spent in India very fondly and maintain their ties with those who trained them.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 08 Dec 2010 15:46

those that don't get a Tejas, might be wooed by a Thandar_bandar

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 08 Dec 2010 18:21

Perhaps nobody is reading/listening to Austin regarding what would make LCA sell.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 08 Dec 2010 20:11

at 4.30pm today, a Tejas took off west with a large sized drum under its fuselage...not long, but considerable diameter....could not figure out what is is.

krishnan · Post by **krishnan** » 08 Dec 2010 20:33

Singha wrote:at 4.30pm today, a Tejas took off west with a large sized drum under its fuselage...not long, but considerable diameter....could not figure out what is is.

LDP?

karan_mc · Post by **karan_mc** » 08 Dec 2010 20:34

Paf is buying Bandaar due to Chinese offering Soft loan and other benefits , India can sell Tejas abroad if they are given at Throw away price or at soft loan

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 08 Dec 2010 21:01

KAB500 with LDP?

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 09 Dec 2010 06:28

Yes Indians don't need the money. But we need the strategic leverage - to make an offer of a cheap fighter to nations who are looking for it. For a change, we giving ToT to someone will be a morale booster. It will teach us how much to share and how to restrict technology theft and reverse engineering.

............

Under the current set of circumstances even that is not needed. ChiPak have been kind enough to kick up enough dust to keep the rest of the nations busy. My read is that these other nations need India more than India needs them today.

Although a good thought (strategic relations), IMHO, it is best India concentrate on consolidating her position vs. Chicom and also build a solid infrastructure.

The opportunities to play the strategy card will arise in 10-15 years. There may be more urgency from their PoV, but not from an Indian PoV IMHO.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 09 Dec 2010 08:34

it did look somewhat like this - KAB500kr - fat and snub nosed
http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:2aOP ... 68.jpg&t=1

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 09 Dec 2010 08:38

SIVA pod?

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 09 Dec 2010 09:22

Fat and snub nosed is a bomb.

Helloooo Chitradurga?

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 09 Dec 2010 10:04

could even be a single basic HSLD bomb...shape is similar to kab500kr.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 09 Dec 2010 12:39

Laser guided "smart" bomb?

shukla · Post by **shukla** » 11 Dec 2010 16:54

Tejas To Demonstrate Stores Release
Aviation week

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 percent clarity on everything now.”

Kartik · Post by **Kartik** » 12 Dec 2010 03:00

Shukla, this article was posted just a few posts above yours.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 12 Dec 2010 03:49

So what are the planned ones for LCA attack - ATGM, ALCM, and other standoffs for various roles it may play in its variants? Whatever we get for MRCA, perhaps we could get them integrated with LCA as well part of the offsets.

shukla · Post by **shukla** » 12 Dec 2010 04:58

Kartik wrote:Shukla, this article was posted just a few posts above yours.

Apologies for the repost.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 12 Dec 2010 05:28

Is sivab still posting here? [the chap worked on the stores management?]

sunilpatel · Post by **sunilpatel** » 13 Dec 2010 16:26

does any gurus have even the speculative figures about radar range etc.. in all articles there is nothing about BVR missiles, radar range...it will be part of FOC though; but it should be confirm to ensure the timeline of FOC...
Thanks in Advance...

Craig Alpert · Post by **Craig Alpert** » 15 Dec 2010 05:18

Udayan pathak · Post by **Udayan pathak** » 15 Dec 2010 15:38

Word just in that the LCA Tejas has completed all test points for low-level flight off the coast of Goa towards initial operational clearance. The first flight of the LCA Navy is expected soon. More details when they're in.

http://livefist.blogspot.com/2010/12/te ... -test.html

Udayan pathak · Post by **Udayan pathak** » 15 Dec 2010 18:12

Breaking on Tarmak007: Tejas 'bombs' Chitradurga test range

http://tarmak007.blogspot.com/2010/12/b ... tores.html

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 15 Dec 2010 18:35

Udayan pathak wrote:
http://tarmak007.blogspot.com/2010/12/b ... tores.html

Bang on target!

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 15 Dec 2010 18:53

Great news. Any tests planned on targets that is not in the center of a bulls eye pattern? designated target from from a clutter of things?

kmc_chacko · Post by **kmc_chacko** » 15 Dec 2010 18:57

great news

chackojoseph · Post by **chackojoseph** » 15 Dec 2010 19:08

Tejas Flight Trials Activate Chitradurga Air-to-Ground Range

Official release

The Chitradurga range became activated today with the bomb dropping trails from LCA Tejas. Consequent to operationalisation of Bangalore International Airport (BIA), Air-to-ground range at Kolar was deactivated, as it was coming in the traffic path of the BIA. Accordingly, the Karnataka state government had allocated suitable land at Chellakere near Chitradurga to set-up a full-fledged Aeronautical Test Range (ATR), for use by all the aeronautical system developers in the country. While work is going on to set-up the facility under the guidance of Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), National Flight Test Centre (NFTC), ADA, took the initiative to activate the air-to-ground range for the ongoing air-to-ground weapon and drop tank jettison trials of Tejas, the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 15 Dec 2010 20:16

saik - patience old chap, today was the first one
flight testing is by nature a meticulous and tedious process

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 15 Dec 2010 21:05

livefist has 2 updates.

- tejas 1st chitradurga bomb trials on target
photo provided by drdo http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_o_no4M2xEPY/T ... 740226.jpg

- tejas cleared all low level flight trials off goa.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 15 Dec 2010 22:25

So its a laser guided bomb based on the bright spot before and after?

ashokpachori · Post by **ashokpachori** » 15 Dec 2010 22:40

ramana wrote:So its a laser guided bomb based on the bright spot before and after?

Radius is marked for CEP it seems.

Sid · Post by **Sid** » 15 Dec 2010 23:28

ramana wrote:So its a laser guided bomb based on the bright spot before and after?

nops. looking at the blast they look more like smaller marker bombs.

Abhibhushan · Post by **Abhibhushan** » 15 Dec 2010 23:33

"for CEP?" Not really. It is a throw back from the past. In the days of the fixed ring and bead sight, a 50 yard or 20 yard circle around the target pin helped the trainee pilot to assess the release range for the bomb in the dive towards the target by comparing the circle on the ground with the size of the 'sighting ring'. We now have a LASER range finder to supplement the eyeball Mk 2!

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 16 Dec 2010 01:17

Oh so its the Laser range finder making the bright spot. If so great job!

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 16 Dec 2010 01:27

ramana wrote:Oh so its the Laser range finder making the bright spot. If so great job!

Ramana garu, the laser is in the infrared spectrum, not visible AFAIK. The bright spot is actually the beginning of the explosion.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 16 Dec 2010 02:04

Sid wrote:
ramana wrote:So its a laser guided bomb based on the bright spot before and after?
nops. looking at the blast they look more like smaller marker bombs.

nachiket's answer contradicts here then...[beginning of the explosion]

bottom line: We would have no clue if Laser designator was used from these pics.

suryag · Post by **suryag** » 16 Dec 2010 02:40

Is the red thing a flag by any chance ?

Gurneesh · Post by **Gurneesh** » 16 Dec 2010 03:31

It is indeed a flag. As nachiket mentioned the laser should be infrared. But even if it was in visible region, the spot diameter would not be larger that a couple of mm (something which cannot be spotted atleast in the images in question).

Sid · Post by **Sid** » 16 Dec 2010 05:40

Well looking at the last LCA stores release tests.. they too begin with small marker bombs before proceeding to 1000 pounder.

so if DRDO had a bigger explosion pic they would have definately published it