LCA (Light Combat Aircraft) Tejas
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Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)
Tejas(Radiance)
http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/tejas/
http://www.drdo.org/products/lca.htm
The Tejas single-seat, single-engine, lightweight, high-agility supersonic fighter aircraft has been undergoing flight trials in preparation for operational clearance, and by mid 2005 had flown over 400 flights up to speeds of Mach 1.4. The Tejas light combat aircraft design and development program is being led by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) of the Indian Department of Defence with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) as the prime industrial contractor.
The first LCA Demonstrator I aircraft made a maiden flight in January 2001. The LCA Demonstrator II first flew in June 2002. The second Prototype Vehicle (PV-II) made a maiden flight in December 2005.
Tejas, the smallest lightweight, multirole, single-engine tactical fighter aircraft in the world, is being developed as a single-seat fighter aircraft for the Indian Air Force and also as a two-seat training aircraft. It is estimated that the Indian Air Force will have a total requirement of about 200 single-seat Tejas fighter aircraft and 20 two-seat Tejas trainers.
The design of a carrier-borne Tejas in single-seat and two-seat versions with a modified nose, strengthened landing gear and an arrestor hook was granted approval in 1999. The carrier variant has retractable canards and adjustable vortex control. The development program for the carrier-borne versions was agreed by the Indian government in 2002 and the first flights of two prototype aircraft are scheduled for 2007. The carrier variant will replace the fleet of Sea Harriers.
The Indian Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) is carrying out a conceptual design study of the ADA Medium Combat Aircraft, which will be an advanced, stealthy version of the Tejas, to replace the Indian Air Force Jaguar and Mirage 2000 fleet from 2010. The Medium Combat Aircraft has two engines with fully vectoring nozzles and no vertical or horizontal tail.
DESIGN
The aircraft is of delta planform design with shoulder-mounted delta wings. The aircraft has a fin but no horizontal tail. Lightweight materials including aluminium and lithium alloys, titanium alloys and carbon composites have been used in the construction. The wing structure includes composite spares and ribs with a carbon fibre reinforced plastic skin.
The National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), based in Bangalore, has designed and is responsible for the manufacture of the fin and the rudder and the construction of the aircraft fuselage.
COCKPIT
The aircraft is fitted with a night vision compatible glass cockpit with Martin Baker (UK) zero-zero ejection seats.
The cockpit has two 76mm x 76mm colour liquid crystal multi-function displays developed by Bharat Electronics, a head up display developed by the Indian government-owned Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIO) in Chandigarh, a liquid crystal return-to-home-base panel and keyboard. The pilot also has a helmet-mounted display.
The aircraft has a quadruplex fly-by-wire digital automatic flight control. The navigation suite includes a ring laser gyroscope inertial navigation system and an integrated global positioning system and inertial navigation
The communications suite includes VHF to UHF radio communications with built-in counter-countermeasures, air-to-air and air-to-ground data links and a HAL information friend-or-foe interrogator.
The cockpit is fitted with an environmental control system developed by Spectrum Infotech of Bangalore. The avionics suite has an integrated utilities' health monitoring system.
WEAPONS
The aircraft has eight external hardpoints to carry stores, with three under each wing, one on the centre fuselage and one installed under the air intake on the port side. A 23mm twin barrelled GSh-23 gun with a burst firing rate of 50 rounds per second and muzzle velocity of 715m/sec is installed in a blister fairing under the starboard air intake.
The aircraft can be armed with air-to-air, air-to-ground and anti-ship missiles, precision-guided munitions, rockets and bombs. Electronic warfare, targeting, surveillance, reconnaissance or training pods can be carried on the hardpoints. Drop tanks can also be carried.
COUNTERMEASURES
The aircraft's electronic warfare suite, developed by the Advanced Systems Integration and Evaluation Organisation (ASIEO) at Bangalore, includes a radar warning receiver and jammer, laser warner, missile approach warner, and chaff and flare dispenser.
SENSORS
The Electronics Research and Development Establishment and HAL have jointly developed the aircraft's multi-mode radar. The radar has multiple target search and track-while-scan and ground-mapping modes of operation. The radar incorporates pulse Doppler radar with Doppler beam shaping, moving target indication and look up / look down capability. The radar is mounted in a Kevlar radome.
ENGINE
It is planned that a new turbofan engine, the GTX-35VS Kaveri, under development by Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE), will be fitted to the production aircraft. The engine develops 52kN dry power and 80.5kN with afterburn. The aircraft will use multi-axis thrust vectoring nozzles. The engine has Y-duct air intakes.
The prototype development aircraft are fitted with General Electric F404-GE-F2J3 turbofan engines with afterburn. The first production aircraft will be fitted with one General Electric 83.2kN F404-GE-IN20 turbofan engine with full authority digital engine control.
The aircraft has wing and fuselage tanks and an in-flight refuelling probe on the front starboard side. Drop tanks with a capacity up to 4,000L, can be carried on the inner and mid-board wing and fuselage centreline hardpoints.
The aircraft is fitted with a HAL gas turbine starter unit model GTSU-110. -
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The MCA (Medium Combat Aircraft) Design
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Tejas for RSAF? Replace F-5S? Anyone?
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F-15ST is poised to replace our F-5E. While for LCA? It's introduction into service is already a big
Kaveri engine is not ready according to schedule and need foreign assist which India resists initially. USA is not poised to sell more engine for LCA. I think FC-1 is more successful than LCA! The most recent news is even the avionics for LCA also encounter problem. I predict LCA will forever be a blueprint aircraft that will nvr pass the prototype stage and nvr enter service. -
the oringe of LCA is to replace the MiG-21 and MiG-23 ......but somehow the program does not seem to work well.....Originally posted by zenden9:F-15ST is poised to replace our F-5E. While for LCA? It's introduction into service is already a big Kaveri engine is not ready according to schedule and need foreign assist which India resists initially. USA is not poised to sell more engine for LCA. I think FC-1 is more successful than LCA! The most recent news is even the avionics for LCA also encounter problem. I predict LCA will forever be a blueprint aircraft that will nvr pass the prototype stage and nvr enter service. -
Kaveri engine is not ready according to schedule and need foreign assist which India resists initially.
It is true that India is colloborating with foreign companies in solving the problem facing the Kaveri engine. But let me remind you that the American scientists who checked the engine has said that it is one of the best engines in the world.I predict LCA will forever be a blueprint aircraft that will nvr pass the prototype stage and nvr enter service.
Your predictions are not goind to be true. Already 20+20 LCA's are under construction for the Indian Air Force.the oringe of LCA is to replace the MiG-21 and MiG-23 ......but somehow the program does not seem to work well.....
The programmme is going very well and the LCA has already flown 519 times.
It is a project initiated to replace the Migs with a new multirole, highly capable light weight, low cost aircraft.
http://www.ada.gov.in/index.html
ADA's LCA website:
http://www.ada.gov.in/activities/lca/lca.html
There is a naval variant of the LCA
http://www.ada.gov.in/Activities/Future_Variants/LCA_Navy/lca_navy.html -
Originally posted by arjun:
Typical American business tatics? Who is the foreign companies tending for the collaboration? USA too,right? Of cos must say some good word... The engine haven't even finalise,how can they know is a good engine? It 's only good on paper only...
It is true that India is colloborating with foreign companies in solving the problem facing the Kaveri engine. But let me remind you that the American scientists who checked the engine has said that it is one of the best engines in the world.Your predictions are not goind to be true. Already 20+20 LCA's are under construction for the Indian Air Force.
Er hum...May I know what engine r they going to use if the kaveri engine is not ready and US not going to sell more enignes to them?The programmme is going very well and the LCA has already flown 519 times
Definitely! Flying with a foreign engine who is not going to supply them more and flying without the actual avionics? (Pure flying only?)
http://www.ada.gov.in/index.html
IndigenousÂ’ aircraft needs foreign lift, for its radar
shiv aroorPosted online: Saturday, April 08, 2006 at 0000 hrs
NEW DELHI, APRIL 7
After the engine, now the much-vaunted radar of the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) that has been long under development by the DRDO could require foreign help. The multi-mode radar (MMR), considered the very brain of the LCA and the core of its future combat effectiveness, is being developed for the past nine years and a sizeable portion of the Rs 3,214 crore sanctioned for the project has gone into making it. So confident were the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and HAL about their project that they had refused to entertain foreign help for it in the 1990s.
According to the IAF, which proposes to buy 220 of the planes when they are ready, the radar is now ‘‘marooned in uncertainty’’.
The radar is meant to guide the aircraft’s weapons, tracking air and ground targets while scanning and mapping terrain—in short, everything that would make a fighter worthy of war missions. The core of the problem, according to test reports, is a serious compatibility issue between the radar and the advanced signal processor module (SPM) built by DRDO’s Electronics & Radar Development Establishment (LRDE).
While two basic radar modes have been tested, the other modes have failed, throwing up serious questions about the system’s fundamentals. The DRDO may now approach foreign experts to solve the problem. In written replies to queries sent by The Indian Express, DRDO chief M Natarajan said: ‘‘Because of the complexity of technologies involved (in the radar project) and the extent of testing to be done, help of specialists in the field may be sought to complete the task to meet with the requirements of the initial operational clearance (aimed for March 2007) given by the IAF.’’ The DRDO had taken a similar line in the case of the indigenously developed Kaveri engine last year, after it failed during tests. When Natarajan was asked why there was uncertainty over the radar so long after development began, he said: ‘‘The radar is under development by HAL and not at LRDE (the DRDO’s lab).’’ This, even when the signal processor built by the DRDO is the very heart of the radar.
Security analyst K Subrahmanyam has earlier called the dogged refusal to entertain foreign help by the DRDO as reflective of the organisationÂ’s bad project management.
With the radar yet to be even integrated with the LCA—it was tested on a pair of modified Avros a few years ago instead—missiles and other weapons cannot be integrated either, a principle contributor to the overall project delay.
Asked about the development, Natarajan’s predecessor V K Aatre, now a professor in Bangalore, expressed surprise. ‘‘It was the only loose end left in the LCA project when I retired (in August 2004). I am surprised it has not been taken care of even now,’’ he said. On February 23 in Parliament, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the DRDO’s foreign tie-ups were to ‘‘expedite the development pace’’.
http://bharat-rakshak.com/NEWS/newsrf.php?newsid=5968 -
Kaveri engine
http://www.drdo.org/products/kaveri.htm
DRDO looking for global technical partner to develop Kaveri engine
http://www.hindu.com/2005/06/20/stories/2005062003841400.htm
Also note that the U.S has not put any restriction on the sale of GE engines. -
you come to this forum and you will understand what is the whole flaming is abtOriginally posted by arjun:DRDO looking for global technical partner to develop Kaveri engine
http://www.hindu.com/2005/06/20/stories/2005062003841400.htm
Also note that the U.S has not put any restriction on the sale of GE engines.
http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/search.php?searchid=468171 -
I understand that the LCA program have been ongoing for quite a long time, so the question is whether it will still be relevant when they are finally introduced?
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A nice replacement for the F-5s would be Rafales or more F-16s. Aircraft like the Tejas would be more suited for a more "CAS" role. If it can't do more than that effectively, I doubt it would be useful to RSAF since both our F-16s, F-15SG as well as Apaches can play that role effectively.
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LCA is designed to conduct variety of roles
http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/MONITOR/ISSUE3-5/sukumar.html
Another aspect is that it is designed to outwit the fighters like F-16, Mig-29,Mirage and to bring in the latest of the technologies into the LCA program.
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By the way are there any exports of Indian-made combat aircraft (for LCA any other countries express intrest?) to other countries? Arjun can you provide a list here? Thanks
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No export till now. It must first be inducted into the Indian Airforce, then we can see the export taking place.
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Well, LetÂ’s see the real story of the LCA
The LCA puzzle
RAVI SHARMA
in Bangalore
Doubts have been raised about the LCA project's future after indications came from the IAF that it may consider halving the number of aircraft of the type it will place an order for now.
T.L. PRABHAKAR
Tejas, the Light Combat Aircraft, on its maiden supersonic flight in Bangalore on August 1, 2003.
IS the Indian Air Force having second thoughts on Tejas, the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) being developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA)? Tejas is meant to be a fly-by-wire multi-role supersonic advanced fighter that will replace the IAF's ageing MiG-21 fleet, but doubts have cropped up following indications that the IAF may be seriously considering halving the number of aircraft it plans to buy since its announcement during the Aero India 2005 air show in February that it would "soon" place an order for 40 aircraft.
Nearly a decade after it was rolled out and since its maiden flight in January 2001, the LCA has proved that it is a good design platform and that it can fly. The air combat and offensive air support fighter aircraft, which is meant to be a weapons platform and is the product of a Rs.5,500-crore, 22-year programme, can do little else at the moment.
Two technical demonstrators (TD1 and TD2) and the lone prototype (PV1), which are currently flying, have logged around 412 sorties, including around 200 towards the successful completion of the LCA's technical demonstration phase. The flight envelope of the technical demonstration phase includes flying the aircraft at a speed of 1.6 mach (1.4 mach done so far), taking it to an altitude of 15 kilometres (accomplished), and making it capable of sustaining an angle of attack of 25 degrees (20 degrees achieved) and a manoeuvrability (resistance to gravity) of 9 G (4G crossed). The flight envelope will also include sorties to gather data on the aircraft's performance in sideslip.
The ADA has planned seven aircraft in all - five prototypes (PV1 to 5) and two technical demonstrators. PV5 was originally meant to be a two-seat trainer, but this has now been advanced to PV4. According to scientists with the ADA, PV2 is undergoing avionics integration tests and engine ground runs and taxiing trials are expected to take place soon before it can be cleared for flight. The ADA is also hoping to draw two or three aircraft from the limited series production (LSP) line if there is pressure on it from the IAF to hasten weapon integration and trial runs. Drawing aircraft from the LSP will help hasten the entire flight test programme and the flight envelope, as the ADA will be able to deploy more aircraft with specific tasks assigned to them.
While the technology demonstration phase has progressed, albeit with delays, the next stage, the path to Initial Operational Clearance (IOC), whose key components are weapons and stores, is causing concern. Only after the IOC can the `weaponised' aircraft be handed over to the IAF for squadron duty. Following the IOC is the Final Operational Clearance (FOC), which will signify that the aircraft is combat-ready. Prior to the IOC, the aircraft will have to undertake around 1,200 sorties, the vast majority of which have to be test flights where requirements, objectives and parameters are clearly defined.
But according to reliable sources associated with the LCA programme, of the 200-odd sorties that have been completed with the IOC in mind, hardly 10 per cent were `real' experimental test flights. The rest were meant for data generation for parameters such as vibration and radio transmission or were display-flying either before dignitaries (such as the Russian and Venezuelan Presidents, the Malaysian Prime Minister and the Chilean Defence Minister) or in air shows/displays. A retired Air Marshal said: "You can't progress towards your IOC by just taking off and landing the aircraft, the tests have to be done with specific manoeuvres in mind."
That, however, seems some distance away. For a start, the pylons, which are structures fixed to the hard points on the fuselage or wings, are yet to be made. Without them weapons, pods and other stores cannot be attached to the aircraft. Neither have the drop tanks been fitted. As a result, the aircraft's fly-by-wire capabilities with drop tanks and weapons, which will involve a shift in its centre of gravity, are yet to be checked.
Confessed a test pilot: "The LCA has flown almost all its 400 sorties without a change of configuration. This is a dubious record for any aircraft in its test phase. The ADA talks of the speed of the aircraft, but in today's combat, as opposed to close or visual combat that was prevalent in days gone by, what is of greater importance is the power of the BVR [beyond visual range] weapons. Weapon systems that detect and identify a target at 100-plus kilometres away are what will give the aircraft the upper hand."
The LCA's Pulse Doppler Multi-Mode Radar (MMR), which will detect, track, terrain-map and deliver guided BVR weapons, has run into major hitches and, consequently, time and cost overruns. To be developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), which is a sub-contractor to the LCA programme, the MMR is designed to keep track of a maximum of 10 targets and allows simultaneous multiple-target engagement. Although the MMR has been tested on an Avro HS748M, it is yet to be installed on the LCA prototypes. With the MMR nowhere on the horizon, the ADA has had to make do with a weapon delivery pod that is not a primary sensor and hence cannot be used to undertake critical weaponisation of the aircraft. Said a pilot familiar with flight test programmes: "Anything less than a phased-array electronic scanning radar will be obsolete."
According to a scientist at the ADA, the use of a compatible and tested radar that is available of the shelf - such as the Elta from the Israeli Aircraft Industries or the AN/APG-67 from Lockheed Martin (which the ADA evaluated in 1992 and is currently used on the F-16) - can be considered, even as HAL continues to develop its own MMR. This would be similar to what is being done in the case of the LCA's power plant - the GE-404 F2J3 engine of the American company General Electric is being used until the made-in-India Kaveri engine is ready. The contract that the ADA has signed with GE stipulates that should India decide to procure more GE-404 engines the manufacturer will supply them. However, the contract does not insulate India from any political decisions of the United States government and, equally important, the IAF would not like to fly the LCA forever with an American engine.
THE Kaveri engine, which has been under development since 1986 at the Bangalore-based Gas Turbine and Research Establishment (GTRE), is generally seen as the Achilles heel of the LCA programme. Last December the Cabinet Committee on Security revised the estimate for its future development to Rs.2,800 crores. However, the engine, on which the GTRE has already spent Rs.1,300 crores, is still years away from completing the 8,000 or so hours of testing that is necessary for its development phase.
The GTRE has, over the years, been in touch with almost all the global players in aircraft engine development. But collaborations have been restricted to a review of the Kaveri engine and suggestions. According to informed sources, the GTRE is looking to take the collaborations to a higher plane by entering into a tie-up, which will include a risk-sharing, joint development/production relationship on a modified Kaveri engine or any other engine that can be developed afresh to power the LCA.
According to a report tabled in Parliament in April by the Standing Committee on Defence, the Kaveri engine will be installed on the LCA only by 2012 and that, too, at a revised cost of Rs.2,839 crores, almost eight times the projected development cost of Rs.382 crores in 1989.
Many aviation pundits also question the wisdom of launching an ambitious fighter aircraft programme with an untested new engine. They term it "double jeopardy". M.B. Verma, programme director of the LCA programme, admits that the delay in the development of the Kaveri engine has forced the ADA to change its plans. "We had initially planned to fly the third aircraft (PV1) with the Kaveri and had designed the rear fuselage to take on the Kaveri. But after reassessing the [non] availability of Kaveri we had to go back to our old fuselage [TD1 and TD2] design. So, today PV1 is not cleared for the entire flight envelope for which TD1 and TD2 are cleared. But the delay won't affect the programme," said Verma. Having realised that Kaveri will not fructify in the near future, the ADA is designing the second prototype on the basis of the design of the proven technical demonstrator.
Added Verma: "By the end of 2005 we should start carrier trials. Weapon integration will be after that. Since our avionics [suites] are designed with open architecture and stores management, which is also electronically controlled, we will take less time in the weaponisation of this aircraft than has happened in any other programme anywhere in the world."
ONE of the major attributes of the LCA, besides the use of advanced composites, is its low weight - 13 tonnes - and ability to carry as much as 45 per cent of its weight in weapons. But with many key components such as the engine, radar (when it does come) and so on becoming heavier, the aircraft's weapon-carrying capacity has been degraded slowly.
The LCA has also suffered from poor estate management, with designers and engineers fitting equipment "wherever there was place on board". This has meant that while it takes four hours to change an engine on a Mirage 2000, it takes three days to do the same on the Tejas. Poor estate management has also meant that components are not placed where they should ideally be. For instance, though the power amplification unit should ideally be as close to the MMR, in the LCA it is placed some distance away, requiring the use of long wires, which means guide wave losses.
The plethora of paperwork and information on the LCA has also not been documented adequately. Explains an engineer with the programme: "All these years when any of the IAF's fighter aircraft had a problem we would say, `ask the Russians or the French or the British', depending on the original designer of the aircraft. Now that we are developing the LCA, if we don't have proper documentation whom will we ask?"
Many aviation pundits believe that the LCA programme is at a crossroads and only far-sighted decisions in the technical and management spheres will help it achieve its goal: to provide the IAF with around 200 aircraft that can replace the MiG-21 fleet. But the delays that forced the IAF in 1991 to upgrade 125 MiG-21 aircraft in a deal that was worth over $600 million are once again forcing it to shop overseas for 126 multi-role combat aircraft.
Publicly, the IAF has maintained that it would like to have at least one LCA squadron (20 aircraft) by 2010. But there is a feeling that it is not whole-heartedly behind the LCA. The IAF is yet to place a firm order and release the money. Also, the IAF, which is not part of the LCA project management team, has not thought it fit to post even one of its teams at the ADA, "which can monitor and manage, and take the right decisions at the right time". This is something it has done in other aircraft programmes such as the Su-30, the MiG-21 Upgrade and even the most-recent Hawk advanced jet trainer.
Informed sources said that even HAL is not overtly keen on the LCA. It is, without doubt, focussing more on its own Intermediate Jet Trainer programme. The logic is simple: the LCA will never be its project and the ADA, which is basically a research laboratory, continues to wield total financial control over the programme. Reliable sources in HAL said the assembly/production lines for the eventual manufacture of the planned eight LSP aircraft, the first of which should roll out by early 2007, are yet to be set up.
According to the ADA, this is unpardonable since "the ADA has been continuously and simultaneously providing the aircraft's designs via the product line management system to HAL's Aircraft Research and Design Centre where the ADA has invested Rs.40 crores," and also because HAL has been provided the money to set up the Tejas LSP line: "At any time Rs.20 crores of ADA money is parked with HAL," said an informed source.
But even after HAL goes ahead with the production phase it is unlikely to manufacture more than 10 aircraft a year. That is, 20 years for 200 aircraft. The question is will the LCA - even with its open architecture - still be relevant in 2027, 32 years after it was first rolled out?
There have been suggestions that the ADA hand over the reins of the programme and the LSP to a specialised production agency such as HAL once the technical demonstration phase is over. But this raises two questions: Is HAL interested? More crucially, will the ADA be prepared to step aside and forsake the only project for which it was created? The ADA has made it amply clear that it would only like to hand over the project after the FOC is obtained.
Said an informed source at the ADA: "We will continue to have responsibility for the programme. We are the designers. The airworthiness responsibility will be with us, use of new versions of software will be decided by us, any changes in the avionics have to be approved by us, the integration of future sensors will be with us and we are the signatories for all safety features on the aircraft." It is now for the government to decide whether a professional production agency or a defence research laboratory should head the Rs.5,500 crore programme.
Admittedly, U.S. sanctions following India's nuclear explosions in May 1998 affected the availability of key components such as hydraulic actuators (that help in manoeuvring the aircraft, gaining altitude, and determining the trajectory) and ring-laser gyros (to make inertial navigation systems). This did delay the programme, but there have been other causes as well. These include perhaps a lethargy to adapt to the changing global situation, where every major aircraft designer/manufacturer has entered into tie-ups and joint ventures, and to rope in the private aircraft industry to aid the programme as major global players do.
Many experts are of the view that if the LCA has to serve its purpose - provide the IAF with at least 200 aircraft - the government and the ADA should expedite the project -
sigh, u kena chased out by fireice issit?
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IAF to induct more combat aircraft
http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=288134&sid=NAT
Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 13: Indian Air Force is all set to induct more combat aircraft, flight filling aircraft and hawak advanced jet trainers into its fleet, Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi said here today
Addressing a press conference at the southern air command headquarters here, Tyagi said the government had given clearance for the purchase of six flight filling aircraft and 80 medium lift helicopters.
Apart from this, process was on for acquisition of 66 hawk advanced jet trainers , three air borne warning and control systems (AWACS) and 126 combat aircraft, he said. Presently IAF had six flight filling aircrafts, he said.
A squadron of light combat aircraft manufactured at Hal would also be inducted in IAF shortly, he said adding advanced light helicopter being built at Hal would also be added to IAF fleet besides adding intermediary jet trainer and medium transport aircraft.
It was also planned to have 45 medium transport aircrafts with a capacity to transport 15 to 20 tonnes. "Talks with a Russian company for the aircraft is on", he said.
On upgradation programme, he said infrastructure facilites would be improved at Thanjavoor in Tamil Nadu.
On the proposed aero space command, he said the government had accepted in principle the concept. Other details were yet to be worked out. It was originaly planned to have the command at the Southern air command, he said adding "more players are involved now and the structure and the place for setting up was not decided.
Bureau Report -
No offence Arjun.. seems to me u like "Made in India" military stuff very much. But i think they look like things that use to exist in the 80s.. the tanks, aircrafts.. missles.. sigh.. A 1950s F-5 has more beautiful lines than this "new" aircraft pal..
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Now.. u got to be kidding me..Originally posted by arjun:LCA is designed to conduct variety of roles
http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/MONITOR/ISSUE3-5/sukumar.html
Another aspect is that it is designed to outwit the fighters like F-16, Mig-29,Mirage and to bring in the latest of the technologies into the LCA program.
Link
Do u mean F-5s and Mig 21s? -
Another aspect is that it is designed to outwit the fighters like F-16, Mig-29,Mirage and to bring in the latest of the technologies into the LCA program.
F-16, Mig's and Mirages are old aircrafts from the a970's where are the LCA program started only in 1990. And it is not that you can build a plane in one day and it will get obsolute the next day. After induction improvements will be made on the planes to keep it updated with the latest technology. Like the F-16 block 50, 60 etc and Mig-29 versions. And don't be saddened, LCA is made to be better than those planes. -
I applaud you Arjun for your pride in Indian-Made military items.Originally posted by arjun:F-16, Mig's and Mirages ... ... LCA is made to be better than those planes.
Being a Indian patriot (hey, your nick is even taken from non other than the home-made tank), or even hovers to being nationalist to the extreme, it is sometimes this pride that tends to cloud your sentiments (& this applies to other 'patriots', or nationalists, in other forums esp like Sina.com) that your country's products can out-climb, out-fly, out-gun, out-perform, out-turn other more well-known contempories Western/Russian-made military hardwares.
As the saying goes, you can say/claim whatever you want, BUT perhaps the only evidence of that is when that item which you uphold with so much pride can hold/perform & perhaps defeat the opposing weaponry in a .... war (not just that 'harmless' wargames but a no-hold barbs shooting war where someone actually dies...period.
I'm not particularly concern whether the LCA can defeat the Viper, Fulcum or even Mirages 2000s (well ther IAF already flies/possess the latter 2) & the PAF the former. Well, personally I doubt Russia will release the Fulcrum to the PAF or the PAF can afford the M2000s, the most probable opponent that the LCA will see is perhaps the Vipers... or even J-10s (or F-10s) in PAF service. IF the LCA can score against the J-10s, Vipers etc (w/o the former suffering huge losses to itself in return)
THEN Indian-Made military hardware will definitely gain another believer here. -
Hi Mr Indian-Nationalist.... it is good to some extent to be proud of your country's achievements, but it is another matter entirely to insult others in the process of doing so (esp if they're very well-deserving of due respect). incidentally, pray tell, how do you rate your air force's performance against RSAF during SINDEX 04? after all we were only using "old' F16s and you guys bent the ROEs to your advantage? would you like to share with the rest of members here what was the kill ratio? how abt sharing with us what happened after one of your journals/newspapers thumbed down Pakistan's F16s vis-a-vis RSAF's during the Ex? I have the utmost respect for our IAF counterparts and i seriously doubt any of them share your chest thumping boasts here.
it is your gov's perogative if they so decide to choose the LCA to replace your old migs (esp mig21s), but the LCA is certainly not "designed to outwit the fighters like F-16, Mig-29,Mirage". Outwit? u think this is some kinda Survivor tv show? i find it really hard to understand how the LCA is "made to be better than those planes". let me help you thru the thought process of what constitutes the essential qualities of a high performance jet ftr: compile and compare the various components that make up the LCA, F16 and Mirage 2K5. and if you think the LCA is still "better", then whip out that table and i'll go thru each line item with you.
Just the facts, pls. no fantasy/paper planning stuff.... -
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hey, your nick is even taken from non other than the home-made tank
Arjun is a mythological character from the epic Mahabaratha
out-climb, out-fly, out-gun, out-perform, out-turn other more well-known contempories Western/Russian-made military hardwares.
This is not what I say, but the designer himself. Check this out.
http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:6g6pk-kqmh8J:www.cs.usyd.edu.au/~jdavis/wshop/kota.doc+lca%2Bmirage%2Bkota%2Bf-16%2Bmig&hl=en&gl=in&ct=clnk&cd=6THEN Indian-Made military hardware will definitely gain another believer here.
You waiting for another war.
Let me remind you people that one will not become a nationalist if he talks or discusses things related to ones nation. And I am just doing that.but it is another matter entirely to insult others in the process of doing so
Who insulted whom?how abt sharing with us what happened after one of your journals/newspapers thumbed down Pakistan's F16s vis-a-vis RSAF's during the Ex?
I think you are discussing about this article:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/896301.cms
Why are you so bothered about this article on American F-16's losing.
Why should you be bothered about this article. Singapore faces challenges and it is unique to Singapore and the weapon system the Singapore Armed forces possess is enough to counter those challenges. So why worry?
Here is some info on SINDEX:
http://www.mindef.gov.sg/imindef/news_and_events/nr/2004/oct/26oct04_nr.html
http://www.mindef.gov.sg/imindef/news_and_events/nr/2006/jan/03jan06_nr.html