ADA Tejas (LCA) News and Discussions

[ezsasa]

You don't get to become the rank of an Admiral by being total idiot.

The Admiral was being brutally honest by saying that frontline fighter development is so expensive that only a few countries can afford to do it alone it anymore. More importantly, if you read between the lines - its not worth spending billions to get a product that is 2 generations behind the frontline state-of-the-art.

Maybe the Chinese have so much money to burn that they can allow their aircraft industry burns hundreds of billions to produce marginal/failed products, but India does not have that type of money.

"Mirage2000s and MIG-29 is more capable than any LCA in 2020" - that is brutal !!

The LCA is a valiant but outdated 3rd Gen aircraft and the FBW and composites, etc does not turn it into a 4th gen fighter. Maybe its the price of the learning curve. The Admiral just brutally called it the way he saw it. Most of DRDO major projects have been failures.

The Admiral's advice is very simple - Don't let techno-nationalism go to your head, and compromise your national security and spend billions of dollars on wasteful defense projects. Fighter development is not a critical requirement for India, unlike nuclear weapons and missiles.

@ersakthivel
Please note that the article was published on 13th jan 2001 and LCA first flight was on 4th Jan 2001, May be Admiral's comments may be valid at that point in time. May not be valid now.
One thing should be appreciated in the article that in 2001 they were sure that LCA will not be operational before 2015. Spot on in that aspect.

 

[sgarg]

You don't get to become the rank of an Admiral by being total idiot.

The Admiral was being brutally honest by saying that frontline fighter development is so expensive that only a few countries can afford to do it alone it anymore. More importantly, if you read between the lines - its not worth spending billions to get a product that is 2 generations behind the frontline state-of-the-art.

Maybe the Chinese have so much money to burn that they can allow their aircraft industry burns hundreds of billions to produce marginal/failed products, but India does not have that type of money.

"Mirage2000s and MIG-29 is more capable than any LCA in 2020" - that is brutal !!

The LCA is a valiant but outdated 3rd Gen aircraft and the FBW and composites, etc does not turn it into a 4th gen fighter. Maybe its the price of the learning curve. The Admiral just brutally called it the way he saw it. Most of DRDO major projects have been failures.

The Admiral's advice is very simple - Don't let techno-nationalism go to your head, and compromise your national security and spend billions of dollars on wasteful defense projects. Fighter development is not a critical requirement for India, unlike nuclear weapons and missiles.

The products, industry, and even the entire country goes through a learning and improvement cycle. It IS EXPECTED that early products developed by local industry will be suboptimal. It is unlikely for any country to make a leap ahead from bullock carts to space-ships. Technology is a gradual time-consuming process. However a country the size of India and complexity cannot continue to have imported products. India has to produce its own and develop its own industries. So the learning has to be gone through. The pain has to be borne.

Strategic objectives cannot be seen just through the angle of expenses. Some expenses cannot be avoided.

The useless and illogical discussion about merits and demerits of LCA Tejas is a foolish exercise. The technology developed for Tejas has already been used in Jaguar and Mig-27 upgrades. So I will contend that R&D expenses have already saved money. LCA Tejas looks a reasonably good platform for its main role - a light multi-role aircraft for immediate neighbourhood of India (for which India still maintains 260+ Mig-21). This is the cheap low end fighter which fills the numerous airbases around the country.

 

[skumar7777]

The Admiral's advice is very simple - Don't let techno-nationalism go to your head, and compromise your national security and spend billions of dollars on wasteful defense projects. Fighter development is not a critical requirement for India, unlike nuclear weapons and missiles.

While what the Admiral said may be true for commercial products, it is not true for national security matters.

National Security cannot be left to the markets! When the US refused to give technology to India, it was not from the fear that poor India would bankrupt itself.

India is not bankrupting itself in trying to build a 4Gen fighter; Mali can go bankrupt and it does not make sense for them to try to build a fighter from scratch.

Why is it so difficult to get through simple thoughts sometimes?

 

[PaliwalWarrior]

@ersakthivel
Please note that the article was published on 13th jan 2001 and LCA first flight was on 4th Jan 2001, May be Admiral's comments may be valid at that point in time. May not be valid now.
One thing should be appreciated in the article that in 2001 they were sure that LCA will not be operational before 2015. Spot on in that aspect.

no

it can also mean that they had predecided to scuttle the project and if not able to fully bury the project that they IAF would delay the project till 2015 by one reason or another

 

[power_monger]

I congratulate LCA tejas being the first indian fighter aircraft with Radar Warning and Jamming Suite(RWJS).Till data IAF jaguars which had RWJS suite could only provide Radar waning facility but not the Jamming capability.

This suite enables the pilot to detect the enemy radar signals and can jam the radar guided aerial threats like air to air missules

With everypassing day LCA tejas is adding lethal capabilities and its getting impossible for IAF to ignore LCA tejas anymore.

 

[power_monger]

Guys do not miss this.This is a Intresting read on tejas EW suite and its delays.Note that this link is from octoer 2013

Why the EW suite for tejas was delayed for a long time.


After eight years of research and postponement, India's first indigenous light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas, positioned at HAL Bangalore, has finally been fitted with electronic warfare (EW) systems.

Now, new test flights will happen with electronic warfare anytime during November or beginning of December. The 2,348 test flights of the LCA so far have not had electronic warfare. The new test flights will bring in new data and information for further development of the aircraft and the electronic systems.

Sources in the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) told Deccan Herald that the LCA Prototype Vehicle-1 (PV-1) has now been fitted with a radar-warning receiver, a radar-warning jammer, laser warner, missile-approach warner, emitter, and a flare dispenser. The systems are now undergoing ground trials with aeronautical engineers simulating multiple threats to the aircraft and then examining its response.

The results of the ground trials will help fine-tune the electronic systems for the actual test flights. The ground trials will take about a fortnight or a month. So, test flights will be held in mid-November or December.

Engineers and scientists working on the project say the radar receivers and jammers will track enemy signals from air and ground, while the emitter will watch out for missile launches from ground. Systems to track missiles from air and enemy aircraft will also be part of the LCA. The entire system has been developed by both Indian and Israeli engineers and scientists.


The fitment of the electronic systems has an interesting history. For almost eight years, a section of the aeronautical community has been resisting its fitment, anxious that the add-ons may cause a first crash, which has never happened so far in the LCA's test-flight history. They have been very keen on securing the operational clearance, initial as well as final from the Indian Air Force, even if the LCA did not have the electronic system.

Their reasoning was that once the IAF certified it as operationally worthy, they would have a successful product to showcase to the world. Also, the LCA has had a perfect record of test flights and no one wished to risk an add-on on the LCA that had not been tried. The idea was to defend the 'zero crash' record.

This was made known sometimes explicitly to engineers and scientists working on the electronic systems, who, however, had been pressing for very long that the systems ought to be fitted and trials conducted to be able to fine-tune them. This difference of perception on the LCA persisted for long, and one consequence was, no vehicle or version of the LCA was identified for many years to fit the equipment. This caused delay of over five years in launching the electronic systems on the LCA and to questioning of the very purpose and objective of building the systems.

After haggling for over eight years, it has been finally decided to instal the electronic systems on the LCA prototype Version-1. But there's a catch here. The PV-1 has not flown for very long and has been parked in the hangar with later versions of the LCA undertaking the test flights. The PV-1, which began flights in around 2001-02, has completed 242 test flights after which it has been grounded. Now, there is a bit of anxiety about how an aircraft that has not done flights for long will perform with the new electronic warfare systems.

The confidence, however, is that the aircraft may perform well because its health has been under check almost daily and every department concerned will certify that all parts of the aircraft are flight-worthy. Without this certification, the PV-1 will not be allowed to fly. But once it passes the certification, the LCA PV-1 will become the first vehicle to fly with electronic warfare systems.

 

[ersakthivel]

Guys do not miss this.This is a Intresting read on tejas EW suite and its delays.Note that this link is from octoer 2013

Why the EW suite for tejas was delayed for a long time.


After eight years of research and postponement, India's first indigenous light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas, positioned at HAL Bangalore, has finally been fitted with electronic warfare (EW) systems.

Now, new test flights will happen with electronic warfare anytime during November or beginning of December. The 2,348 test flights of the LCA so far have not had electronic warfare. The new test flights will bring in new data and information for further development of the aircraft and the electronic systems.

Sources in the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) told Deccan Herald that the LCA Prototype Vehicle-1 (PV-1) has now been fitted with a radar-warning receiver, a radar-warning jammer, laser warner, missile-approach warner, emitter, and a flare dispenser. The systems are now undergoing ground trials with aeronautical engineers simulating multiple threats to the aircraft and then examining its response.

The results of the ground trials will help fine-tune the electronic systems for the actual test flights. The ground trials will take about a fortnight or a month. So, test flights will be held in mid-November or December.

Engineers and scientists working on the project say the radar receivers and jammers will track enemy signals from air and ground, while the emitter will watch out for missile launches from ground. Systems to track missiles from air and enemy aircraft will also be part of the LCA. The entire system has been developed by both Indian and Israeli engineers and scientists.


The fitment of the electronic systems has an interesting history. For almost eight years, a section of the aeronautical community has been resisting its fitment, anxious that the add-ons may cause a first crash, which has never happened so far in the LCA's test-flight history. They have been very keen on securing the operational clearance, initial as well as final from the Indian Air Force, even if the LCA did not have the electronic system.

Their reasoning was that once the IAF certified it as operationally worthy, they would have a successful product to showcase to the world. Also, the LCA has had a perfect record of test flights and no one wished to risk an add-on on the LCA that had not been tried. The idea was to defend the 'zero crash' record.

This was made known sometimes explicitly to engineers and scientists working on the electronic systems, who, however, had been pressing for very long that the systems ought to be fitted and trials conducted to be able to fine-tune them. This difference of perception on the LCA persisted for long, and one consequence was, no vehicle or version of the LCA was identified for many years to fit the equipment. This caused delay of over five years in launching the electronic systems on the LCA and to questioning of the very purpose and objective of building the systems.

After haggling for over eight years, it has been finally decided to instal the electronic systems on the LCA prototype Version-1. But there's a catch here. The PV-1 has not flown for very long and has been parked in the hangar with later versions of the LCA undertaking the test flights. The PV-1, which began flights in around 2001-02, has completed 242 test flights after which it has been grounded. Now, there is a bit of anxiety about how an aircraft that has not done flights for long will perform with the new electronic warfare systems.

The confidence, however, is that the aircraft may perform well because its health has been under check almost daily and every department concerned will certify that all parts of the aircraft are flight-worthy. Without this certification, the PV-1 will not be allowed to fly. But once it passes the certification, the LCA PV-1 will become the first vehicle to fly with electronic warfare systems.

There is no hurry to test EW suit before IOC is achieved.
If at all something wrong happens due to integration problems with Ew suit then IOC will be further delayed.
A lot of people with vested interests were earnestly hoping for such an event.
Besides science and tech lot of politics and vested interests with MNC fighter makers are in play here.
SO ADA may be justified for delaying it in that sense. If at all IAF wanted this suite badly they could have set aside one of their regular fighters to test this 5 years before, since the suite is not exclusive to tejas, they not taking such a step is somethin

 

[Pulkit]

There is no hurry to test EW suit before IOC is achieved.
If at all something wrong happens due to integration problems with Ew suit then IOC will be further delayed.
A lot of people with vested interests were earnestly hoping for such an event.
Besides science and tech lot of politics and vested interests with MNC fighter makers are in play here.
SO ADA may be justified for delaying it in that sense. If at all IAF wanted this suite badly they could have set aside one of their regular fighters to test this 5 years before, since the suite is not exclusive to tejas, they not taking such a step is somethin

Just asking why are writing in present tense ?

Though I do agree that it could have been a hurdle.
As IAF was keen in finding faults and this could have been a area.

Just like now CAG has proved what we said that army was biased towards Arjun same situation is with Tejas lets get CAG investigate it aswell.

 

[archie]

With a population of over 1.2 Billion i think we should be having every Industry possible on this planet .... The question of getting the industry should be when not "do we need the industry".. If Europe having the population of 742.5 million (2013) can have several aircrafts Im sure a Country of 1.2 Billion can have as many....

Its sad that Stratigic Thinkers Like Ret Admirals cant think straight neither look at the security aspects of such a stratigic Industry

 

[Kharavela]

With every passing day LCA Tejas is adding lethal capabilities and its getting impossible for IAF to ignore LCA tejas anymore.

Apart from such capabilities, Tejas does have unshakable support from #ModiSarkar, which is enough for all "Chair Marshals" (particularly those who love anything foreign, imported) to fall in line.

 

[Lone Ranger]

Apart from such capabilities, Tejas does have unshakable support from #ModiSarkar, which is enough for all "Chair Marshals" (particularly those who love anything foreign, imported) to fall in line.

Instead of support GOI should order an enquiry on HAL/DRDO for wasting time + taxpayers money and continuously delaying this , this plane even after 30 yrs is no where in sight and current configuration has serious range , turning radius , radar problems apart from being highly under powered. Its not wrong on IAF part to reject this junk aircraft as pilots and country defenses need best planes not tin cans.
Adding fancy gizmos and composites cannot hide design , range , radar and power problem for this junk.

DRDO needs serious stick on back for several failed projects , kaveri , htt40, ijt, arjun , tejas etc , tax payers money is not for wasting by quota scientists.

 

[sgarg]

There are many Jaichands (traitors) in our country. There are many black sheep at the highest positions including military. There are people who are willing to damage the domestic scientific base and manufacturing base for inducements from abroad. The foreign governments give inducements in various forms (including mundane things like visas).

It is very important to identify and dismiss officers who have been undermining national security.

I keep on seeing silly and useless comments against the scientific establishment in this forum. It is not that DRDO did not make mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes. But DRDO is still working and contributing while Generals are playing golf.
I can bet that the contribution of an average scientist is far higher compared to contribution of an average military officer. The west leaning officer class of military has completely forgotten the idea of national service.

India cannot be successful militarily without developing its military industrial complex. India's output of military goods is too low at this time, specially in the critical war fighting stores.

 

[Abhi9]

Thum! Kaun Aata Hai?

Tejas LCA is to be equipped with an EW suite developed by DRDO's Defense Avionics Research Establishment (DARE) in collaboration with Israel.

The EW suite contains radar illumination, laser illumination and missile-lock warnings, a radar jammer and a flare dispenser.

The suite is capable of dealing with multiple simultaneous threats from air or ground.

Radar Warning and Jammer Suite (RWJS)
The EW suite centerpiece is an integrated Radar Warning and Jammer Suite (RWJS) that can detect when the aircraft is being illuminated by enemy radar, determine the type of radar (ground based or airborne) and its operating mode (track-while-scan, lock-on); alert the pilot and facilitate neutralization of any radar guided surface-to-air or air-to-air missile threat through Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) based signal jamming.

Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) is an electronic method for digitally capturing and coherently re-transmitting RF signal such that the transmitting radar cannot distinguish it from other returns that it receives and processes as targets.

The re-transmitted signal can be tweaked to create false range targets both behind (reactive jamming) and ahead of (predictive jamming) the target intended for protection. Slight variations in frequency can be made to create Doppler (velocity) errors in the victim receiver as well. DRFM can also be used to create distorted phase-fronts at the victim receive antenna which is essential for countering monopulse radar angular measurement techniques. [via Wikipedia]

The DARE RWJS provides 360-deg coverage.

Previous generation fighters, like IAF Jaguars, are equipped with just a Radar Warning Receiver (RWR), which could only alert the pilot to hostile radio frequency emissions, but not jam them.

If the DARE EW Suite clears its currently underway (January 2015) trials, Tejas would become the first Indian fighter aircraft to be fitted with a Radar Warner and Jammer equipment.

The DARE RWJS is similar to ELT/568(V)2 developed by Italy's Elettronica S.p.A. and EL/L-8247/8 developed by Israel's ELTA.

Typically a RWJS can be integrated with any airborne platform's avionics, including Chaff and Flares Dispenser, Missile Warning System, Laser Warning System, Towed RF Decoy and Multi-Function Display. It is flight-line re-programmable. Using PC-based equipment and user-friendly human-machine interface, threats and jamming EW techniques may be easily updated.
RWJS Functioning
Typically RWJS functions as follows:


The RF signals received via the receiving Antennas are amplified by Front-End Amplifiers and fed to the advanced Channelized Receiver in the Central Unit.
The Receiver measures all the RF signals parameters such as PRF, PRI, PW, direction etc., building pulse descriptors that are fed to the Central Processor.
The Central Processor extracts the threats according to priority and level of lethality and provides the situation awareness to the pilot via the Multi-Function display.
Upon detection of a lethal threat, the Central Processor activates the Jammer, selecting the appropriate EW technique for each threat. The jammer is capable of responding simultaneously to several threats by implementing Power Management techniques.

EW Suite Development Progress
The suite was test flown for the first time on Tejas PV1 on January 10, 2015 at HAL airport in Bengaluru. According to a DRDO press release "the equipment was noted to be detecting Radar signals operating in and around the flight path."

Over the coming few months, ADA and DARE will be scheduling further sorties to evaluate the system in various signal scenarios.

An EW system developed by DARE for MiG-29 UPG reportedly was rejected by the IAF due to performance shortfalls.

The suite was earlier tested on the ground using simulation. Airborne testing on PV-1 was initially expected to start in November 2013 or early December 2013.

In October 2013, Deccan Herald reported that DRDO has fitted the EW suite on LCA PV-1.

PV-1 had been on the ground since 2001-02, having flown 242 test flights till then. According to MoD's annual report for 2013-14, Ground Acceptance Test (GAT) has been completed.

IDP Sentinel members can remain updated on the Tejas project by visiting the link below.

 

[Abhi9]

 

[ersakthivel]

Instead of support GOI should order an enquiry on HAL/DRDO for wasting time + taxpayers money and continuously delaying this , this plane even after 30 yrs is no where in sight and current configuration has serious range , turning radius , radar problems apart from being highly under powered. Its not wrong on IAF part to reject this junk aircraft as pilots and country defenses need best planes not tin cans.
Adding fancy gizmos and composites cannot hide design , range , radar and power problem for this junk.

DRDO needs serious stick on back for several failed projects , kaveri , htt40, ijt, arjun , tejas etc , tax payers money is not for wasting by quota scientists.

Your highness should know that DRDO has nothing to do with HTT-40.

If you have been reading newspaper reports for the past few months CAG has categorically accused the army of keeping a lower test standard for T-90 while stalling the much better performing Arjun made as per Indian army GSQR to function flawlessly in indian dessert conditions.

And for the past fifteen years HAL has been sounding IAF with various basic trainer models and for mysterious reasons IAF never agreed in principle to pursue any one of those proposals. And go ahead for HTT-40 as given only in 2009 with more stringent ASR, while even more mysteriously 12 of those stringent ASR parameters were diluted for pliatus purchase in 2012 .

Kaveri is a working jet engine in the final lap of development and DRDO has succeeded in producing a single crystal blade production tech better than the one given by Russians for manufacturing AL-31 SCB blade as per recent reports.

And last of all this thread is not about giving big stick to any one,

Of course all the agnis, prithvis, akash, astra, N bomb, Arihant , various IN warships and destroyers, ALH, LCH, pinaka, Nag , K-series sub launched missiles and Nirbhay sprang out of thin air with no contribution from Quota scientists of DRDO!!!

You should read how for the past 10 years DRDO staff strength was kept in a freeze by the previous UPA govt, while the complexity of the projects increased manifold, and how DRDO budget remained stagnant and how even the meager amount allocated for DRDO in the budget was not fully released.

 

[ersakthivel]

@ersakthivel
Please note that the article was published on 13th jan 2001 and LCA first flight was on 4th Jan 2001, May be Admiral's comments may be valid at that point in time. May not be valid now.
One thing should be appreciated in the article that in 2001 they were sure that LCA will not be operational before 2015. Spot on in that aspect.

Admiral's comment was even more stupid in 2001. Because IAF stringently opposed ADA handling tejas project and after much haggling and compromise struck by none other than Abdul Kalam as SA to PM LCA program was whittled down to two TDs first to prove tech and PVs , LSP latter, with concurrent production and testing mode proposed by ADA for faster production scuttled.

Does the admiral has any foggiest idea about 4.5th gen fighter projects? Even SAAB, Dassault, EADS took close to two decades to finish their 4.5th gen fighter program despite decades of R&D, production experience.

SO what is the point of lamenting in 2001 about the late arrival of a fighter whose tech demo funding itself was given only in 1993? The final ASR was released only in 1995 as pd newly disclosed news from ADA. ANd the HAL chairman and Air marshal MASD woolen has written in the same 2001 , that it will be a miracle if the Tejas attains IOC in 2010 given the complexity of the program and funding crunch.

And IAF upgraded its mig-21 bisons knowing fully well that tejas wil be delayed due to the program being pursued in fits and starts manner. SO why the deep lament?

Doesn't the Admiral know even today most of the indian Navy ships have foreign sub systems for performing crucial tasks? SO why crap about that in tejas?

Doesn't he know the Mig-21s were upgraded by IAF keeping these views in mind?

 

[ersakthivel]

You don't get to become the rank of an Admiral by being total idiot.

The Admiral was being brutally honest by saying that frontline fighter development is so expensive that only a few countries can afford to do it alone it anymore. More importantly, if you read between the lines - its not worth spending billions to get a product that is 2 generations behind the frontline state-of-the-art.

Maybe the Chinese have so much money to burn that they can allow their aircraft industry burns hundreds of billions to produce marginal/failed products, but India does not have that type of money.

"Mirage2000s and MIG-29 is more capable than any LCA in 2020" - that is brutal !!

The LCA is a valiant but outdated 3rd Gen aircraft and the FBW and composites, etc does not turn it into a 4th gen fighter. Maybe its the price of the learning curve. The Admiral just brutally called it the way he saw it. Most of DRDO major projects have been failures.

The Admiral's advice is very simple - Don't let techno-nationalism go to your head, and compromise your national security and spend billions of dollars on wasteful defense projects. Fighter development is not a critical requirement for India, unlike nuclear weapons and missiles.

Recently on a TV show related to the boat that sank off the borbander coast in gujarath while being pursued by coast guard , another rear admiral Raja Menon famously said that ,"four people can not do terrorism". Tell me how many people it take to do terrorism?

Admiral could not have been unaware of the fact that most of the Indian Navy ships were built exactly in the same fashion with crucial sub systems being imported in first production run to be gradually replaced by local content as tech matures.

Doesn't the admiral know , if ADA waited for all the composite tech and engine tech, radar tech and fly by wire tech to be developed , the project definition of LCA would not have started even now?

According to Suneeth Krishna the most experienced and international award winning test pilot of tejas even in present mk1 configuration tejas is atleast equal to mirage-2000. ANd late NTSE chief and Riaz Khokar has aid that in key respects Tejas mk1 scores above mirage-2000.

Also HAL chief and Air Marshal Woolen has written a detailed article on tejas LCA program featured in ADA website , categorically stating given the complexities of the project and late funding it would be a miracle if LCA attains IOC in 2010. Tejas attained IOC in 2013 and in series production now.

The LCA is a valiant but outdated 3rd Gen aircraft and the FBW and composites, etc does not turn it into a 4th gen fighter. Maybe its the price of the learning curve. The Admiral just brutally called it the way he saw it. Most of DRDO major projects have been failures.

The above is your personal opinion and most of the 260 pages in this thread already list almost all the capabilities of Tejas to clearly prove it is a worthwhile cost effective 4.5th gen machine

1. with a half fuel TWR of 1.07,

2.clean config RCS of less than 0.3 sq meter,


3. completed a vertical loop in 20 seconds with 20 deg AOA and 6G limitations in aeroindia 2013,

4.Now AOA has reached 26 deg for fly by wire top limit and G limits are proposed to be 8 plus for mk1 itself,

5.first in IAF to have integrated EW suit with RWRJ DRFM based jammer,

6. Has the lowest wing loading among all the 4.5th gen fighters capable of taking off from high altitude himalayan LEH airfield with meaning ful loads right from day one of its induction in IAF.

7 first in IAF to have close to 90 percent composite outer skin and four channeled all digital fly by wire based Reaxed static stability platform whose naval version completed ski jump take off just a week back making india only the third country in the world to achieve this feat.

 

[ersakthivel]

You don't get to become the rank of an Admiral by being total idiot.

The Admiral was being brutally honest by saying that frontline fighter development is so expensive that only a few countries can afford to do it alone it anymore. More importantly, if you read between the lines - its not worth spending billions to get a product that is 2 generations behind the frontline state-of-the-art.

Maybe the Chinese have so much money to burn that they can allow their aircraft industry burns hundreds of billions to produce marginal/failed products, but India does not have that type of money.

"Mirage2000s and MIG-29 is more capable than any LCA in 2020" - that is brutal !!

The LCA is a valiant but outdated 3rd Gen aircraft and the FBW and composites, etc does not turn it into a 4th gen fighter. Maybe its the price of the learning curve. The Admiral just brutally called it the way he saw it. Most of DRDO major projects have been failures.

The Admiral's advice is very simple - Don't let techno-nationalism go to your head, and compromise your national security and spend billions of dollars on wasteful defense projects. Fighter development is not a critical requirement for India, unlike nuclear weapons and missiles.

"fighter development is not critical for India"??????

Then why Nehru govt roped in Kurt Tank in 1970s itself to make Marut?

IAF and navy have close to 1000 fighters , aren't they critical enough for war?

 

[ersakthivel]

All warships, submarines being built in India: Navy Chief - Oneindia

Navy Chief pats NLCA team Admiral Dhowan met with the Naval LCA team from Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and congratulated them for the recent successful NP-1 trials in Goa. The NLCA had its maiden flight from the Shore-Based Test Facility (SBTF) in Goa, thereby crossing a critical milestone.

The Navy Chief also interacted with Cmde C D Balaji (Retd) Project Director LCA (Navy) and Commodore Jaideep Maolankar, the pilot who undertook the historic ski-jump take-off from SBTF. Later speaking to OneIndia, Cmde Balaji (Retd) said that the second prototype of NLCA (NP-2) will soon have its maiden flight. "We are done with most of the tests barring a few. We are hopeful that the NP-2 will have its first flight within a weeks' time,"

Cmde Balaji (Retd) told OneIndia. DRDO adds more teeth to Tejas In a related development, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said on Saturday that an advanced electronic warfare suite (EW suite) developed by Bengaluru-based Defence Avionics Research Establishment (DARE), was flown on Tejas for the first time. DRDO spokesperson Ravi Gupta said that the Tejas PV1, on which the EW suite was fitted, was also equipped with a jammer.

"It gives the pilot an additional capability of nullifying the effect of detected radar threat by appropriate mode of jamming," he said. DRDO chief Dr Avinash Chander said that the warfare suite added an important capability to Tejas. DRDO claimed that Tejas is the first fighter aircraft of India fitted with a radar warner and jammer equipment.

Read more at: http://www.oneindia.com/feature/all-warships-submarines-being-built-india-navy-chief-1618037.html

Read more at: All warships, submarines being built in India: Navy Chief - Oneindia

 

[ersakthivel]

Israeli connection to Tejas EW Suite | idrw.org

The suite is built around state-of-the-art Unified Electronic Warfare System (UEWS)—An internal EW system consisting of a Unified Receiver Exciter Processor (UREP) with advanced digital receiver/Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) concepts are integrated with Microwave Power Module (MPM)-based transmitter for LCA.

Existing EW systems fitted on various combat aircraft are basic EW equipment known as Radar Warner Receiver to give warning to the aircraft pilot in case of detection of a radar threat, Tejas will be first fighter aircraft of India fitted with a radar warner and jammer equipment

DRDO has also developed Internal state-of-the-art UEWS for MiG-29, consisting of a UREP with advanced digital receiver/DRFM concepts are integrated with Solid State Trans Receive Unit (SSTRU)-based active array transmitter. This system provides all-round azimuth coverage and high accuracy directional capability for both reception and jamming. AAU unit has been developed and successfully evaluated in the establishment.

DRDO also has developed an Internal RWJ system for Jaguar DARIN III upgrade aircraft. EW Self-Protection suite with integrated Radar Warning Receiver (RWR) and Missile Approach Warning System (MAWS) with BDL-CMDS have been developed for Mi-17 helicopters.