How many more tests before the much sough after IOC-2 milestone will be achieved ?
There were reports that the FOC shall begin only after IOC-2. Or is there a plan to start that phase of testing in parallel even if IOC-2 is not achieved ?
Does weaponization lead to highers RCS ? e.g. if the machine guns are mounted then by how much the RCS gets increased ?
Off beat there was report that materials have been developed for warhead on agni 5 that can withstand 2000 to 2500 degrees temperature. Given that there is a need to have materials in kavei engine that need to withstand 1700 degress cellcius, can such is .. can such technology be adapted to the blades of Kaveri engine ?
Has LCA tejas been tested in a digfight with any other IAF plane ? lets say the Mig 21 or the mirage 2000 or mig 29 ?
IOC is not tied to exact number of test flights.
It is a validation of a certain set of test points after implementing 250 requests for action raised by IAF from the time it came on board in 2006.
It will be achieved in a month or two is the statement from ADA.
Test flights program is divided in to two sections i.e IOC and FOC .
So test points for FOC will be validated only after IOC is completed, not before that.
With folded fin BVRS of the future weaponisation for pure to air mode won't add significant RCS . But the present gen R-73s , Derbys and Pythons will add some RCS. Still the total RCS with air to air BVR missiles for Tejas will be less than half of the same figure for any other fighter in IAF fleet,
meaning Tejas can get closest to the target , undetected for any BVR launch on any other fighter operating in south Asian skies.
If 500 KG precision munition is added the RCS will increase significantly
If stealth external weapon bays are implemented on Tejas as it is being done on Hornets and F-15 ,
then tejas will have a total RCS (with weapons )of less than the third of any clean config RCS (or similar stealth external weapon bay implemented ) in IAF fleet like Mig-29, Mirage-2000, and Mig-21,
And it will have a tenth of clean config RCS (or similar stealth external weapon bay implemented )Su-30 MKI in IAF fleet.
Heat shield materials for missiles is carbon composites, but engine blade materials are metal alloys and now ceramic matrix elements . So they can not be adapted straight away for Kaveri is my idea.
Every fighter will have its strengths and weakness in close combat Tejas has a combination of low wing loading and high TWR over Mirage-2000 and Mig-21 in mk-1 version . SO it will do very well as said by test pilots who are Mirage-2000 pilots.
And in mk-2 version it will have comparable TWR along with lower wing loading than Mig-29. SO it will be competent against Mig-29 as well.
It will have less than half the RCS of any of the fighters mentioned above a significant advantage in BVR combat.
Even in WVR close combat it has DASH and high off boresight missiles , against which there are very few counter measures.
So it will be comparable in performance to any other 4.5 gen fighter in the world because the pure gun to gun fight takes place only after all the long range BVR and high off bore sight WVR missiles are expended.
SInce it is very tough for the said fighters to evade WVR missiles (same goes for Tejas as well) it all depends on tactics and numbers along with EW measures like jamming and ESM based targeting mechanisms.
Since tejas mk-2 is supposed to have both OBORG and in flight retracting refueling probe it will have significant endurance advantage over any of the fighters mentioned above when it comes to time on station since peer to peer refueling eliminates the need for high vulnerability tankers to be present in air.
There is no point in comparing MIG-21 to Tejas as tejas will have twice the weapon load, range and radar tracking range along with twice the BVR missile range than the MIg-21 Bisons.
Tactics for dog fights will be validated once the fighter enters IAF fleet.
