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Tarmak007 -- A bold blog on Indian defence: World-Beaters: The fly-by-wire FCS will take India to new heights (Part-III-B)
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We had 4 designers and 4 testers in 1993. No man power, no experience. No tools and 50 per cent of us were ladies. And, the government rule says that if you are woman, you can't work beyond 6 pm. But with all issues revolving around the LCA project, we decided to give everything.
During those days it was a remote building and we were scared to move around after 6, due to snakes. Permission was denied to get our two-wheelers inside, despite all these issues. Once, Dr Kalam came to the lab and he had to encounter a snake. The rest is history. We were given permission to get the vehicles.
We had to a huge challenge to make the design document within 3 months. We used to go home sometimes at 2 am and family life went for a toss. Some of our colleagues left the job due to the tough conditions. We stuck on and from that batch, there are only 3 scientists left, including me. (The others are: Asha Garg, Sc F and Sreekalakumary, Sc E.)
Even we impressed the GE A/C management with our ETS: Gurdev, Group Director
The GE A/C management was very impressed with the systems given by ADE. They even invited us (ADE) to bid for developing such systems for their own projects. This was definitely a never-heard-before in DRDO. A total of 5 such ETS have been built and are the workhorse for ATP, HSI, V&V, PIL open loop/ closed loop, fault free tests at HAL Iron Birds. These systems are operational since 1995 and have been used for all DFCCs & software operational in various LCAs fling so far.
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for the guys who are lying through their teeth that IAF waited 25 years for tejas and all the delays of tejas program is due to the faults of ADA , the above link is a clear rebuttal of their argument,
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was none other than philip rajkumar Airmarshal from IAF who was deputed to LCA program who stated in his book, Tejas story, "IAF dropped the ball from 1993 to 2006. It onlt came on board after 2006 and started issuing design changes to suit them , this further delayed the program"
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here is what P Rajkumar (IAF) who was involved with the LCA says -
quote -
Philip Rajkumar on May 1, 2012 at 6:01 am said:
philip rajkumar
I worked in the LCA project for nine years from 17 Sep 1994 to 31 Aug 2003 (actually 17 days short of nine years!). I was deputed to ADA by the IAF to oversee the flight test programme of the Technology Demonstration phase of the project. Having been on both sides of the fence i have a few points to make.
1. Development of a capable aeronautical industry is a small step by small step evolutionary process.Infrastructure and skill sets of the work force have to be built up over decades with considerable effort. All this requires investment of money and managerial resources. Mainly due to financial constraints and lack of vision in the IAF, HAL and the GOI we allowed capabilities built up during the Marut and Kiran programmes to atrophy. While the world leapt ahead with several technological innovations like fly by wire,digital avionics and use of composites for structures HAL did not run a single research programme because it was not the practice to do research unless it was linked to a specicific project.
2.The LCA project is where it is today thanks to one man-Dr VS Arunachalam who as the SA to RM in 1985 had the gumption and clout to go to the GOI and convince them that India could build a fourth generation fighter. It was a leap of faith no doubt.
3. HAL feels wronged about being asked to play second fiddle to ADA. This pique continues to hurt the project even today.
4. Without help from Dassault of France,BAE Systems UK, Lockheed Martin of the USA and Alenia of Italy we would not have succeeded in developing the fly by wire flight control system,glass cockpit,and composite structures for the two TD aircraft.
5. So far the flight safety record of the programme has been good. I pray every day that it remains that way. The loss of an aircraft early in the programme would have surely lead to its closure.
6.All pilots who have flown the aircraft say its handling qualities are very good. It means it is easy to fly and perform the mission.
7.It needs to be put into IAF sevice as soon as possible to gain more experience to iron out bugs which are sure to show up during operational use.
8.Programme management could have been better. IAF is to blame for washing its hands off the project for 20 years from 1986-2006. A management team was put in place at ADA in 2007.
9.Dr Kota Harinarayana and all those who have worked and continue to work have done so with great sincerity and dedication.
10.Indian aeronautics has benefitted immensely from the programme. It is a topic for separate research.
11. It was a rare privilege for me to have been given an opportunity to contribute to the programme by setting up the National Flight Test Centre and putting place a methodology of work which has ensured safety so far.
12. According to me the project can be called a complete success only when the aircraft sees squadron service for a couple of decades. We will have to wait but it is progressing on the right lines and we as a nation have nothing to be ashamed of.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Tejas Debate Continues | TKS' Tales
http://164.100.24.208/ls/CommitteeR/Defence/17threport.pdf
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The project definition phase of the programme was launched in 1987.
In 1991,
Full Scale Engineering Development (FSED – Phase 1) was launched at a
project cost of Rs. 2188 Cr involving design, production of 2 technology
demonstrators, 2 prototype vehicles, one static test specimen and associated
ground and limited flight tests. This work was completed in 2005.[/QUOTE]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We had 4 designers and 4 testers in 1993. No man power, no experience. No tools and 50 per cent of us were ladies. And, the government rule says that if you are woman, you can't work beyond 6 pm. But with all issues revolving around the LCA project, we decided to give everything.
During those days it was a remote building and we were scared to move around after 6, due to snakes. Permission was denied to get our two-wheelers inside, despite all these issues. Once, Dr Kalam came to the lab and he had to encounter a snake. The rest is history. We were given permission to get the vehicles.
We had to a huge challenge to make the design document within 3 months. We used to go home sometimes at 2 am and family life went for a toss. Some of our colleagues left the job due to the tough conditions. We stuck on and from that batch, there are only 3 scientists left, including me. (The others are: Asha Garg, Sc F and Sreekalakumary, Sc E.)
Even we impressed the GE A/C management with our ETS: Gurdev, Group Director
The GE A/C management was very impressed with the systems given by ADE. They even invited us (ADE) to bid for developing such systems for their own projects. This was definitely a never-heard-before in DRDO. A total of 5 such ETS have been built and are the workhorse for ATP, HSI, V&V, PIL open loop/ closed loop, fault free tests at HAL Iron Birds. These systems are operational since 1995 and have been used for all DFCCs & software operational in various LCAs fling so far.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
for the guys who are lying through their teeth that IAF waited 25 years for tejas and all the delays of tejas program is due to the faults of ADA , the above link is a clear rebuttal of their argument,
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was none other than philip rajkumar Airmarshal from IAF who was deputed to LCA program who stated in his book, Tejas story, "IAF dropped the ball from 1993 to 2006. It onlt came on board after 2006 and started issuing design changes to suit them , this further delayed the program"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
here is what P Rajkumar (IAF) who was involved with the LCA says -
quote -
Philip Rajkumar on May 1, 2012 at 6:01 am said:
philip rajkumar
I worked in the LCA project for nine years from 17 Sep 1994 to 31 Aug 2003 (actually 17 days short of nine years!). I was deputed to ADA by the IAF to oversee the flight test programme of the Technology Demonstration phase of the project. Having been on both sides of the fence i have a few points to make.
1. Development of a capable aeronautical industry is a small step by small step evolutionary process.Infrastructure and skill sets of the work force have to be built up over decades with considerable effort. All this requires investment of money and managerial resources. Mainly due to financial constraints and lack of vision in the IAF, HAL and the GOI we allowed capabilities built up during the Marut and Kiran programmes to atrophy. While the world leapt ahead with several technological innovations like fly by wire,digital avionics and use of composites for structures HAL did not run a single research programme because it was not the practice to do research unless it was linked to a specicific project.
2.The LCA project is where it is today thanks to one man-Dr VS Arunachalam who as the SA to RM in 1985 had the gumption and clout to go to the GOI and convince them that India could build a fourth generation fighter. It was a leap of faith no doubt.
3. HAL feels wronged about being asked to play second fiddle to ADA. This pique continues to hurt the project even today.
4. Without help from Dassault of France,BAE Systems UK, Lockheed Martin of the USA and Alenia of Italy we would not have succeeded in developing the fly by wire flight control system,glass cockpit,and composite structures for the two TD aircraft.
5. So far the flight safety record of the programme has been good. I pray every day that it remains that way. The loss of an aircraft early in the programme would have surely lead to its closure.
6.All pilots who have flown the aircraft say its handling qualities are very good. It means it is easy to fly and perform the mission.
7.It needs to be put into IAF sevice as soon as possible to gain more experience to iron out bugs which are sure to show up during operational use.
8.Programme management could have been better. IAF is to blame for washing its hands off the project for 20 years from 1986-2006. A management team was put in place at ADA in 2007.
9.Dr Kota Harinarayana and all those who have worked and continue to work have done so with great sincerity and dedication.
10.Indian aeronautics has benefitted immensely from the programme. It is a topic for separate research.
11. It was a rare privilege for me to have been given an opportunity to contribute to the programme by setting up the National Flight Test Centre and putting place a methodology of work which has ensured safety so far.
12. According to me the project can be called a complete success only when the aircraft sees squadron service for a couple of decades. We will have to wait but it is progressing on the right lines and we as a nation have nothing to be ashamed of.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Tejas Debate Continues | TKS' Tales
http://164.100.24.208/ls/CommitteeR/Defence/17threport.pdf
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The project definition phase of the programme was launched in 1987.
In 1991,
Full Scale Engineering Development (FSED – Phase 1) was launched at a
project cost of Rs. 2188 Cr involving design, production of 2 technology
demonstrators, 2 prototype vehicles, one static test specimen and associated
ground and limited flight tests. This work was completed in 2005.[/QUOTE]
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