Navy has not abandoned LCA, Media misconstrued Navy Chief's Statement
Dec 03, 2016
Vijainder K Thakur
Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba told the media on December 2, 2016 that the Indian Navy is scouting for another carrier operations compatible fighter besides the MiG-29, since LCA Navy lacks the payload required to be effective when operating from a carrier.
“The present LCA Navy does not meet the carrier capability which is required by the Navy. We will continue to support the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) in their efforts to develop a carrier-based fighter aircraft. At the same time we will seek aircraft elsewhere which can operate on the aircraft carrier,” Admiral Lanba told the media.
"In the present form, the LCA cannot take off with its full weapon load," the Navy Chief added.
With its proclivity to sensationalize, the Indian mainstream media projected the Chief's statement to imply that the Navy has ditched the LCA Navy project. Taking a cue, social media took the disinformation to puerile heights, alluding subversion of indigenous defense R&D by the military leadership of the country.
I feel there is an urgent need to put the Navy Chief's statement in the correct perspective. The Navy Chief did not say LCA Navy development is being abandoned.
The Navy's decision to procure a second carrier compatible fighter other than LCA Navy is prompted by the mismatch in the development of LCA Navy and the projected commissioning of IAC-1 (INS Vikrant) around 2023.
LCA Navy History
The Indian Government sanctioned Full Scale Engineering Development (FSED) of Naval Light Combat Aircraft (LCA-Navy), capable of operating from an aircraft carrier, on March 28, 2003 with a PDC of March 27, 2010.
Subsequently, as a result of the failure of the Kaveri project and a weight spiral LCA performance fell below expectations. In 2008, the IAF, the MoD and the ADA agreed that LCA does not meet critical IAF QRs - Power to Weight Ratio, Sustained Turn Rate and Maximum speeds at low altitudes. The performance shortfalls would be addressed by developing a follow-up LCA variant fitted with the more powerful GE F414 engine. LCA Mk2 was sanctioned in November 2009 with PDC of December 2018.
With LCA Mk1 falling short on critical IAF QRs, LCA Navy, which would be much heavier on account of its strengthened undercarriage, had no chance of meeting the Navy's more stringent QRs for deck operations. It was evident that LCA Navy would have to be based on LCA Mk2.
However, since LCA Mk1 & Mk2 would be similar in design, in order to save time it was decided to start developing LCA Navy technologies using LCA Mk1 as testbed.
The LCA Navy project was recast as a two phased development program. In Phase 1, ADA would use prototypes built in LCA Mk1 configuration (powered by GE-F-404-IN20 with a max thrust of 17,700 lbs.) to develop arrested landing and ski jump take-off technology. In Phase 2, ADA would use prototype aircraft built in the Tejas Mk2 configuration (powered by GE-414-INS6 engine with a max thrust of 22,000 lbs.) to certify LCA Navy for carrier operations.
Navy Hedges its Bet on LCA Navy
The recasting of LCA Navy program notwithstanding, IN decided to hedge its bet on the successful development of the aircraft, in order to ensure that its current and future aircraft carriers embarked lethal fighters. In November 2009, the Navy prudently issued an RFI (request for information) to several global aviation majors, including American Boeing, French Dassault and Russian MiG companies, for ‘an alternate deck-based aircraft.’
LCA Navy Development Delays
A Navy fighter has to be designed and built for carrier operation from the ground up, not as an afterthought, as is the case with LCA Navy. When the LCA project was initially sanctioned, the aircraft was not conceived to be a Navy fighter.
Strengthening the LCA for carrier operations proved to be a nightmare for ADA. Embarked aircraft are required to perform flare less landings with a high sink rate of 7.1 rn/sec. To meet the requirement, LCA Navy undercarriage became grotesquely over-sized. Part of the problem was the positioning of the undercarriage in the fuselage. Aircraft designed for carrier operations generally have the undercarriage in their wing roots.
(Compare the u/c of LCA Navy Mk-1 above with that of the Tejas LCA below. The former looks oversized, the latter, elegant.)
Tejas LCA at Aero India 2015
The strengthened u/c added weight and lowered the aircraft's performance much more than initially expected.
The LCA Navy would have to embark on INS Vikrant (IAC-1) much before its scheduled commissioning in 2023.
LCA Navy, in its present form, cannot be operationally deployed on INS Vikrant - it's very limited weapon load, range and performance wouldn't justify such deployment. This is what the Navy Chief said!
LCA Navy Not Abandoned
At Aero India 2015, the author asked the then LCA Navy Project Director Commodore CD Balaji (He is now ADA chief) if LCA Navy in its present form could operationally be deployed on a carrier, were the LCA Navy Mk-2 project to be delayed.
"LCA Navy Mk-2 will not be delayed," said Balaji with a lot of confidence. "We are close to freezing its design, which has been simplified. The new design would be easy to implement."
Commodore Balaji's confidence was eye-opening - The biggest pay-off from the LCA Navy project may well be ADA's increasing confidence in its ability to tweak fighter aircraft design to squeeze out better performance. This is evident from the following:
LCA Navy Mk-2 has been designed from the ground up as a Navy fighter, independently of Tejas LCA Mk-2.
The fuselage of the aircraft has been broadened and the wing roots moved outwards. As a result, aircraft design has been optimized for supersonic flight with perfect conformance to area rule. (Tejas LCA and LCA Navy Mk-1 do not conform perfectly to area ruling resulting in high supersonic drag.)
Mid-section fuselage broadening allows undercarriage bays to be shifted outwards, allowing a simpler, straight and light undercarriage as in the Rafale.
Mid-section fuselage broadening also increases fuel capacity.
That is three birds with one stone!
The following design layout of LCA Mk-2 from a brochure distributed during Aero India 2015 clarifies what I have stated above about the design tweaks.
Conclusion
What the Navy Chief said on December 2, 2016 did not signal a change in plans. He merely reiterated what the Navy had planned since the sanctioning of the LCA Navy project. If the LCA Navy is not ready on time, the Navy will seek a second carrier based fighter from the global market.
The Navy will continue to support development of LCA Navy. With a former naval officer helming ADA, it wouldn't expect it to be otherwise.
It's unusual for a Navy to have two types of carrier based aircraft, except when one is being phased out on account of obsolescence. It is possible that the Navy's quest for a second carrier fighter stems from shortcomings with MiG-29K operations. It could also be a way of pressurizing Russia to come good with its support for the aircraft.
Source Link:
https://www.myind.net/navy-has-not-abandoned-lca-media-misconstrued-navy-chiefs-statement
