ADA Tejas (LCA) News and Discussions

[sasum]

DFI is a powerful tool, but to remain credible, we need to counter the points in a presentable manner. Making points is not enough, one needs to be able to present it in a way that the reader will be convinced. I am impressed by the number of things @ersakthivel has written at various points, and I have asked him to prepare a proper write-up, which if accepted by DFI Staff, could be published in DFI, and I would love to volunteer to be the editor. This, however, will only happen if he writes a proper rebuttal, with credible citations.

@ersakthivel posted interesting stuff but not active now-a-days.

 

[Navnit Kundu]

Hmm, no I have read it in news a week ago. You can search too. I don't know for Mk.3, but SAAB is giving some additional technical knowhow regarding Mk.2.

Not Mk2, SAAB will be giving upgrades to Mk1 to bring it up to Mk2 standards.

 

[smestarz]

===============================

----------------------------------- No comments -----------------------------------

Are you sure this is Tejas Radar? Looks like F-16s Radar to me
http://www.raytheon.com/media/sas/aesa/timeline/
Look at 2010

 

[garg_bharat]

Israel copies American technology. So any resemblance may be intentional.

 

[Kunal Biswas]

I took that from a Kfir upgrade, Destine for some south American nation ..

Are you sure this is Tejas Radar? Looks like F-16s Radar to me
http://www.raytheon.com/media/sas/aesa/timeline/
Look at 2010

 

[Kunal Biswas]

TATA built composite structures for LCA

 

[Yumdoot]

With three hardpoints capable of taking 1200 kg we should aim for yet another addition of Brahmos meant for LCA. Like XASM-3.

If wishes could come true easily.

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Nirbhay Air launched variant is meant for Tejas in future ..

With three hardpoints capable of taking 1200 kg we should aim for yet another addition of Brahmos meant for LCA. Like XASM-3.

If wishes could come true easily.

 

[kr9]

With three hardpoints capable of taking 1200 kg we should aim for yet another addition of Brahmos meant for LCA. Like XASM-3.

If wishes could come true easily.

If the structure is indeed strong enough, I, for one, would like 2 more hard-points for aerial combat on the IAF version.
After all, The LCA is primarily a short-mid range defender of the Indian airspace.

More cruise missiles may make sense for the naval LCA as it should have some anti-ship / offshore support capability.

 

[tejas warrior]

Sri Lanka, Egypt evince interest in Tejas

India's Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, which was several years in the making, has now caught the attention of foreign buyers with Sri Lanka and Egypt evincing interest in the indigenously built fighter jet.

Sri Lanka had recently rejected Pakistan's JF-17 aircraft built with Chinese help, while Egypt had last year signed a contract for 24 French-made Rafale fighter jets.

The two countries are interested in the current version of the Tejas and not the upgraded one which will be rolled out later.

However, state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), the manufacturer of Tejas, is focusing on delivering the aircraft to the IAF first.

"While there is an interest which has been shown (by other countries), let us get the product first to our own customer. The confidence that will come to others when our own Air Force flies it will be immense. So at first, we should at least meet the initial requirement of the IAF," HAL chairman T Suvarna Raju told PTI.

Refusing to share information on which are the countries that have evinced interest in Tejas, he expressed confidence in his marketing team and said they are equipped to take forward the talks. However, Defence sources said that the two countries which have evinced interest in Tejas were Sri Lanka and Egypt.

He said the "current version is more than enough" for smaller nations.

Two things that go in favour of the Tejas are its lower cost and flying ability.

"We have proved its flying ability and the aircraft, for that class, is a terrific one. We did take some time but we need to remember that DRDO and us did everything from the scratch," Raju said.

Raju said that the upgraded version of Tejas, with Active Electrically Scanned Array (AESA) Radar, Unified Electronic Warfare (EW) Suite, mid-air refuelling capacity and beyond the vision range missiles, will cost between Rs 275 crore and Rs 300 crore.

Sources said enquiries by foreign countries came during the Bahrain air show in January, the first time that Tejas flew outside the country.
The decision to send Tejas abroad was of Defence Minister

Manohar Parrikar, who has put his weight behind the aircraft.

LCA Tejas performed 8-G (gravity) pull, vertical loop, slow fly-past and barrel roll at the air show, which the Indian officials described as "historic".

Interestingly, soon after the announcement of Tejas' participation in Bahrain, Pakistan had withdrawn its JF-17 aircraft from the show despite having paid the initial installment which ran into a few millions US dollars.

Tejas is perhaps the world's smallest lightweight, multi-role single engine tactical fighter aircraft.

JF-17 has been developed jointly by the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex and the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation of China. However, experts feel that the aircraft has been assembled in Pakistan from readymade Chinese kits.

HAL is likely to hand over the fourth Tejas aircraft to the Air Force by June end. The four aircraft will make up the first squadron of IAF which will be used for training and familarisation.

Rather than wait for LAC Mk II, IAF had decided to go for an upgraded version of the existing Tejas with over 40 modifications.

IAF plans to acquire 120 Tejas aircraft, with 100 of these having major modifications.

As per the production plan, six aircraft will be made this year and HAL will subsequently scale it up to eight and 16 aircraft per year.

The LCA programme was initiated in 1983 to replace the ageing MiG-21s planes in IAF's combat fleet but has missed several deadlines due to various reasons.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

Nirbhay Air launched variant is meant for Tejas in future ..

Isn't that too heavy for a light fighter like Tejas?
More realistically, it's AMCA.
Moreover, LCA and MCA are supersonic planes. Nirbhay is subsonic.

 

[Shaitan]

Modular approach would be much more fruitful. Several private players will produce different components and HAL will integrate them under one roof.

HAL is in talks with the private sector for wings, fuselage, etc. Up to 80% of the current work HAL does with Tejas will be outsourced.

 

[sasum]

Isn't that too heavy for a light fighter like Tejas?
More realistically, it's AMCA.
Moreover, LCA and MCA are supersonic planes. Nirbhay is subsonic.

There is a plan to resize the Nirbhay to make it suitable for loading onto Tejas. DRDO Head, Tamilmani confirmed.
http://www.oneindia.com/india/onein...air-launched-vversion-of-nirbhay-1651065.html

 

[Indx TechStyle]

There is a plan to resize the Nirbhay to make it suitable for loading onto Tejas. DRDO Head, Tamilmani confirmed.
http://www.oneindia.com/india/onein...air-launched-vversion-of-nirbhay-1651065.html

My point's still alive though.
He talked of current configuration for Flanker, which could be mounted on a fighter like AMCA or FGFA further.
But for Tejas, it needs a long wait, plus a smaller version with limited capabilities.
Believe me, configuration for Tejas will be scrapped. We have much better options.

 

[sasum]

My point's still alive though.
He talked of current configuration for Flanker, which could be mounted on a fighter like AMCA or FGFA further.
But for Tejas, it needs a long wait, plus a smaller version with limited capabilities.
Believe me, configuration for Tejas will be scrapped. We have much better options.

Yes, already Nirbhay is configured to carry very small war-head of 300-400 gm(cruise missiles are like that). Further miniaturisation/ weight reduction will diminish its effectiveness.
Btw, as per Saurabh Jha's blog, a new type of 2nd stage engine (prop fan) is being considered for Nirbhay. May be reason behind Nirbhay's repeated failure is its 2nd stage engine.

 

[sasum]

HAL is in talks with the private sector for wings, fuselage, etc. Up to 80% of the current work HAL does with Tejas will be outsourced.

In future, HAL's role will be limited to that of a chief integrator only. Better than to be disinvested !

 

[Gessler]

Isn't that too heavy for a light fighter like Tejas?
More realistically, it's AMCA.

There's gonna be two versions of air-launched Nirbhay. A 1200-km one which will be a direct conversion of the existing ground-launched version, weighs about 1 ton or lesser. This will be equipped only on Su-30MKI.

There will also be a smaller 750-km version that will also be much lighter. This can be carried by pretty much any IAF combat aircraft, depending on requirement.

Moreover, LCA and MCA are supersonic planes. Nirbhay is subsonic.

It can be launched when the plane is flying subsonic. Besides, I'm pretty sure Nirbhay is designed to reach supersonic/transonic speeds at some point of it's flight profile, although it's cruise speed remains at 0.7 mach - this was revealed about an year ago.

So it shouldn't have any problem even while travelling at higher speeds, carried by launch aircraft.

 

[MKM]

If the structure is indeed strong enough, I, for one, would like 2 more hard-points for aerial combat on the IAF version.
After all, The LCA is primarily a short-mid range defender of the Indian airspace.

More cruise missiles may make sense for the naval LCA as it should have some anti-ship / offshore support capability.

For anti-ship purpose it has to fire a AShM that's why air-launched Exocet exist.

Isn't that too heavy for a light fighter like Tejas?
More realistically, it's AMCA.
It was said Tejas will be able to carry 1 BrahMos-NG so it can carry Nirbhay.

 

[cannonfodder]

Sir, Is ADA/HAL working to get FOC by mid-2016? Or this goal has been deferred due to Mark-1A scheduled for 2017?

===============================

----------------------------------- No comments -----------------------------------

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Nirbhay air launched version will be lighter and can be used by Tejas as well ..

Nirbhay is subsonic and has greater range than PJ-10 ..

Isn't that too heavy for a light fighter like Tejas?
More realistically, it's AMCA.
Moreover, LCA and MCA are supersonic planes. Nirbhay is subsonic.