Your Q is answered below - P Subramanyam, director of the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), which is developing the LCA and the AMCAtushar_m wrote:does LCA mk2 will have 2 get through all the tests LCA mk1 go through
Article deserves to be posted in full. Look what Tejas has done to the confidence of our scientists and engineers now I'm confident that our 5th gen plane is going to be a world beater.Designers insist Tejas will belie all sceptical questioning
With the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) entering service with Indian Air Force squadrons, the designers of this indigenous fighter have explained why they believe this will be the world’s premier light fighter.
The Tejas Mark II, which will be developed by 2014 and roll off production lines by 2018, will perform 40 per cent better than the current fighter. After which would come the ultra-modern Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft, the AMCA, which the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) says will be a “fifth-generation plus” fighter, more formidable than anything flying today.
In an exclusive interview with Business Standard, P Subramanyam, the director of the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), which is developing the LCA and the AMCA, responded to IAF criticism that the Tejas was not yet a world-class fighter. He pointed out that the Tejas Mark I, still being flight-tested, had been flown to just 85 per cent of its full capability. The Tejas Mark II --- in which a more powerful GE-414 engine will replace the current GE-404 engine --- would perform another 15 per cent better.
“The Tejas Mark I will expand its performance envelope to its full capability by end-2012. And a major performance boost will come from the Tejas Mark II’s new GE-414 engine, which we have signed a US $700 million (Rs 3,135 crore) contract to build here in India. The Mark II will outperform the Mark I by about 15 per cent in the key aspects of take-off run, rate of climb, acceleration, and turn rate. Most of this would come from the higher thrust of the GE-414 engine. Another 2-3 per cent benefit would come from better aerodynamics… since we will re-engineer the fighter to accommodate the new engine. That overall 35-40 per cent improvement would make the LCA the world’s premier light fighter,” says Subramanyam.
The Tejas Mark I is scheduled to obtain Final Operational Clearance by end-2012. A fighter is granted FOC when ready for combat missions, with all its weapons and sensors fitted, integrated and tested. The IAF worries that the Tejas, already long delayed, might not obtain its FOC on schedule.
Meanwhile, ADA designers are working on the Tejas Mk 2, which Subramanyam says will fly by 2014, enter production by 2016, and obtain FOC by 2018. “Besides re-designing the airframe to accommodate the GE-414 engine, ADA will also grab the opportunity to upgrade key electronics --- especially the flight control computer and some avionics --- so that the Tejas Mark II is a cutting-edge fighter when it enters service”, explains the ADA chief.
“No fancy plan”
Brushing aside apprehension of further delay of the kind that has dogged the Tejas programme, Subramanyam insists, “Our design timeline is realistic. The main sub-systems of the Tejas Mark II will remain unchanged except for electronics components. So the Mark II will not need extensive flight-testing because most of its sub-systems will have already been test-flown on the Mark I.”
ADA designers also say that the “maintainability” of the Tejas has already been established. This key attribute relates to how quickly and easily technicians can service and repair the fighter and, therefore, how quickly it can get out of the hangar and into combat. Out of 200 “requests for action” --- which are suggestions from IAF pilots and technicians for design changes that would ease maintenance --- most have already been implemented. Just 12-15 remain for implementing in the Tejas Mark II.
The Tejas programme will provide the springboard for the ADA’s next project, which will be a more heavily armed and capable fighter. Even as Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and Russian aerospace giant, Sukhoi, jointly develop the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA), ADA will go it alone in developing an Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft. The DRDO’s R&D chief, Prahlada, has told Business Standard that the AMCA will have features more advanced than current fifth-generation fighters. That means that the AMCA will be technologically ahead of the FGFA when it enters service at the end of this decade.
Asked whether that might be over-ambitious, Prahlada, retorts, “When we had begun the LCA programme, people asked the same question. They thought we would not be able to build a fighter with composite materials, and with an unstable aerodynamic configuration. The Tejas has proved them wrong. Today we say we will build a fighter that is better than Gen-5. And the sceptics will be proven wrong again.” (Hell yeah)
As Business Standard earlier reported, Rs 10,397 crore have been sanctioned for developing the Tejas Mk 2 for the IAF; and another Rs 3,650 crore for the naval Tejas, which would operate off aircraft carriers. Subramanyam points out that this total expenditure of Rs 14,047 crore would be amortised over 200 Tejas fighters, at about Rs 70 crore per aircraft. This projected order includes two squadrons (40 fighters) of LCA Mk 1 that the IAF has already ordered; and an expected 5 squadrons (100 fighters) of LCA Mk 2; and another 2-3 squadrons (40-60 fighters) for the navy.
In addition, the manufacturing cost of the IAF Tejas is projected at Rs 180-200 crore and that of the naval version at Rs 190-210 crore.
We need to dig more here from a jingo-detailed context how the 35-40% performance boost happens. I guess that would need many BRperts know how.Sagar G wrote:Designers insist Tejas will belie all sceptical questioning
- .. in which a more powerful GE-414 engine will replace the current GE-404 engine --- would perform another 15 per cent better in the key aspects of take-off run, rate of climb, acceleration, and turn rate.
- Another 2-3 per cent benefit would come from better aerodynamics… since we will re-engineer the fighter to accommodate the new engine.
- “Besides re-designing the airframe to accommodate the GE-414 engine, ADA will also grab the opportunity to upgrade key electronics --- especially the flight control computer and some avionics --- so that the Tejas Mark II is a cutting-edge fighter when it enters service.
- The “maintainability” of the Tejas has already been established. This key attribute relates to how quickly and easily technicians can service and repair the fighter and, therefore, how quickly it can get out of the hangar and into combat.
That overall 35-40 per cent improvement would make the LCA the world’s premier light fighter.
They will come when they come.that aircraft is the LSP-7, nearing completion at HAL. The fighter will soon be handed over to the IAF (and later LSP-8 as well) for user evaluation.
Impress BRF...??? why ? BR is not going to order them couple of LCA's if BRF get impressed. The kind of work they are doing is complex and there is no room for error... and they are doing it for the first time...manum wrote:Definitely they are not learning...I guess its because there is still not much to loose for these scientific folks...
given MRCA coming and FGFA...it has taken pressure and spot light off em...LCA team is now worried about PR to impress BRF...because IAF is surely not going to get impressed by lip service...
seemingly IAF is tired about the same thing each time...
They would have done many CFD simulations and chose the most critical ones to test out. This avoids all those expensive trial runs.SaiK wrote:Would have to be tried at various speed levels as well right, and in all direction of the wind. But as long as the aircraft does not lose sudden altitude it should be safe as gravity + aircraft direction should keep it away from contact after release. Apart from clean separation, what would be the condition when the tank can come in contact again within seconds?
Only in January HAL/ADAs LCA (Light Combat Aircraft) ‘Tejas’ was given IOC-acceptance by the IAF, paving the way for the first 100 examples of ‘Tejas’ Mk1 with the GE404 engine. The design dates back to 1990 in an attempt to replace the 100s of obsolete MiG-21s, but its first flight was delayed until 2001. And it needed until 2008 for the first flight of a production-version. Now a much improved Mk2 as well as a naval two-seater are announced for 2014, powered by the G414. The EJ-200 powerplant was not selected. While GpCpt Krishna put the PV2-prototype through its paces, it was explained that ‘Tejas’ would carry almost 60% of its empty 7-ton weight as ordnance, a figure unmatched by any modern aircraft. The tail-less delta-wing is called the smallest modern combat-aircraft and features (or will partly feature) quadruplex digital fly-by-wire control system, an advanced fully digital glass cockpit and would be multi-mission, all-weather capable. The radar is an ELTA EL/M-2032 multi-mode set.http://s188567700.online.de/CMS/index.p ... &Itemid=47
Hi Sir,ramana wrote: The thing of concern is after the stores are released, due to airspeed and lack of weight (partial fuel tanks etc.), they devleop lift and could do a kalidas manouver.
What is interesting in this video is the simple principle of what the wing does (produce lift) - it seems so obvious but also illustrates what can go wrong.Arya Sumantra wrote:relevant videos.
. It doesn't do that.The guy seems to see it coming and tries to bank away - but gets hit nevertheless. Of course we are talking fate here and fate was being tempted. I just wonder if the thing would not have clipped the wing if he had not been banking away? Or if he had merely pushed his nose down? Easy for me to say after watching the slow motion video.SaiK wrote:it appears to me that the chase plane was asking for trouble staying behind and just below.
Here is the Discovery channel video of that incident. Both the pilots ejected and lived. Now there is minimum distance prescribed for the chase planes.Singha wrote:I guess they shifted to zoom lens after this episode. hope the pilots ejection worked out and he made it back in one piece.
http://iafnews.nuvodev.com/posts/iaf-fi ... l-gadgets/“Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) has started the ground integration process of OBOGS in the Technology Demonstrator (TD) version of the LCA Mark-II.
