ADA Tejas (LCA) News and Discussions

[Prashant12]

LCA with refueling probe

 

[Prayash]

Tejas taking off at #AeroIndia2017

 

[ezsasa]

Why was the naval version rejected?

Not rejected.

It was always meant to be technological demonstrator, over enthusiastic journos and defence experts created that narrative for reasons best known to them.

 

[lcafanboy]

Manohar Parrikar confirms French help for revival of Indian Kaveri engine
By Manu Pubby, ET Bureau | Updated: 14 Feb, 2017, 17:59 hrs IST

• Rafale fighter deal likely to be used to fund it, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has said, adding that India will requires a large quantity of engines in the future, including over 5,000 for helicopters itself.
  
  Parrikar said that French firm Safran - which has developed the M88 engines for the Rafale - will be using technology from its engines that go on the Rafale to revive the Indian project. The minister has confirmed a story first reported by ET on July 4, 2016 about the Kaveri revival plan.
  
  As reported by ET, leading manufacturer Safran has finalised a $2 million consultancy agreement to revive the project for combat planes and unmanned aircraft. French experts have studied Kaveri gas turbine project -- which was stalled in 2014 -- and have draw a joint development plan.
• France has offered a one billion euro investment to revive the combat jet engine project, proposing a joint development plan to use offsets credits that will come from the Rafale fighter jet deal.
  
  The Rafale deal has a offset obligation of 50 per cent of the contract cost, which translating into over 3 billion euros. Several rounds of discussions have already taken place between French company Safran and Indian developers since January.
  
  The Kaveri engine project was more of less abandoned for aviation use in 2014 due to power shortcomings. While the consultancy agreement will lead to a detailed plan, initial assessments by French experts has brought out that 25-30 per cent more work is needed for it to get combat worthy.
• http://m.economictimes.com/industry...indian-kaveri-engine/articleshow/57145943.cms

 

[lcafanboy]

Manohar Parrikar confirms French help for revival of Indian Kaveri engine
By Manu Pubby, ET Bureau | Updated: 14 Feb, 2017, 17:59 hrs IST

• Rafale fighter deal likely to be used to fund it, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has said, adding that India will requires a large quantity of engines in the future, including over 5,000 for helicopters itself.
  
  Parrikar said that French firm Safran - which has developed the M88 engines for the Rafale - will be using technology from its engines that go on the Rafale to revive the Indian project. The minister has confirmed a story first reported by ET on July 4, 2016 about the Kaveri revival plan.
  
  As reported by ET, leading manufacturer Safran has finalised a $2 million consultancy agreement to revive the project for combat planes and unmanned aircraft. French experts have studied Kaveri gas turbine project -- which was stalled in 2014 -- and have draw a joint development plan.
• France has offered a one billion euro investment to revive the combat jet engine project, proposing a joint development plan to use offsets credits that will come from the Rafale fighter jet deal.
  
  The Rafale deal has a offset obligation of 50 per cent of the contract cost, which translating into over 3 billion euros. Several rounds of discussions have already taken place between French company Safran and Indian developers since January.
  
  The Kaveri engine project was more of less abandoned for aviation use in 2014 due to power shortcomings. While the consultancy agreement will lead to a detailed plan, initial assessments by French experts has brought out that 25-30 per cent more work is needed for it to get combat worthy.
• http://m.economictimes.com/industry...indian-kaveri-engine/articleshow/57145943.cms

I was the first to confirm on thisforum that Safran and France will be helping us with Jet engine technology and will deliver working Kaveri engine withing 4 years. Several members were skeptical and told that no one parts with their crowning jewel. Now here is the confirmation from horse's mouth.:biggrin2:

 

[lcafanboy]

There is another surprise in the making of sources are to believe d. I can't confirm it now but NLCA mk2 could be twin engined powered by HAL HTFE-25 engine. Even this engine is being improved and after improvement it will pump out 36-38kn dry and 55-57kn with after burner. So 2 of these will give 72-76kn dry & 110-114kn with after burner. Enough for carrier operations.

While developing LCA DRDO had made a twin engine version too which could be used for faster development.:biggrin2::biggrin2::bounce:

 

[Prashant12]

IAF chief flew the #Tejas today at the #AeroIndia2017

 

[abingdonboy]

There is another surprise in the making of sources are to believe d. I can't confirm it now but NLCA mk2 could be twin engined powered by HAL HTFE-25 engine. Even this engine is being improved and after improvement it will pump out 36-38kn dry and 55-57kn with after burner. So 2 of these will give 72-76kn dry & 110-114kn with after burner. Enough for carrier operations.

While developing LCA DRDO had made a twin engine version too which could be used for faster development.:biggrin2::biggrin2::bounce:

The Kaveri will have almost 100kn wet trust itself though, a twin engined version only offering 14% more thrust doesn't really make much sense.

 

[lcafanboy]

IAF chief becomes second IAF chief to fly LCA Tejas

 

[Superdefender]

To all those worried souls who are thinking that Navy has rejected NLCA, please go to this link and read.
[http://defenceforumindia.com/forum/threads/naval-lca.55539/page-24#post-1240441]
I had posted the article written by Vijainder K Thakur. Please get through it and have all your doubts clear.

 

[IndianHawk]

The airforce version can also carry a drop tank on center pylon, but a smaller one. Its because the ground clearance of airforce version is smaller than that of the Navy aircraft

Still it will be good to have a glamorous pic of lca with fully loaded up. Just like they keep posting for that paper gripen

 

[Scrutator]

Still it will be good to have a glamorous pic of lca with fully loaded up. Just like they keep posting for that paper gripen

Here's one from previous years..Tejas (airforce) with loaded center pylon:

 

[Narasimh]

any videos of Tejas flight display?

 

[IndianHawk]

Here's one from previous years..Tejas (airforce) with loaded center pylon:

Nice pic. So it can carry 1200+1200+725=3125litre external fuel.
Not bad.
Also Astra in this display suggests that it will definitely be integrated to LCA.

 

[Scrutator]

Nice pic. So it can carry 1200+1200+725=3125litre external fuel.
Not bad.
Also Astra in this display suggests that it will definitely be integrated to LCA.

This will probably be the configuration for the 'air defense patrol' role (without the gravity bombs).
I think it would be criminal not to integrate Astra with Tejas!!
I heard the Russians were dragging their feet on helping the Agat seeker (on Astra) get integrated with the Israeli radar. Maybe we'll have to wait for the indigenous seeker to get on board Astra!!

 

[Prashant12]

---------------------------------------------------------

 

[tejas warrior]

Two GE F414 engines — one for the AF prototype and one for the LCA Navy — arrived earlier this month, the first batch of eight engines contracted from GE for the Mk.2 programme.

http://www.livefistdefence.com/2017/02/revealed-the-indian-lca-navys-big-fight-back.html

 

[tejas warrior]

REVEALED: The Indian LCA Navy’s Big Fight Back
Shiv AroorFeb 15 2017 1 24 pm

On Tuesday here at the Aero India show, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar added the latest in the series of nails in the coffin of the troubled LCA Navy, the carrier version of India’s in-service LCA Tejas. By now, the LCA Navy team in Bengaluru had gotten round to the reality that a paper plane that began in 2003 wouldn’t ever be an operational jet with a customer. Parrikar cajoled the team separately, assuring them that the government had no plans to pull the plug, and that the good work the team at the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) had done for over a decade would not go to waste. But the reality stuck. All that work on LCA Navy Mk1 wouldn’t result in sales of the aircraft. It would be forever be a technology demonstrator.

The last six months have brought headwind way beyond what this little jet was built for. But beyond the claimed stoicism of continuing endlessly with a project nobody wants, there’s a reality that has gone unreported so far. A reality that provides the first solid hope for a project that’s as good as dead but for an honour lifeline from the Department of Defence Production. And here’s the thing: it isn’t pity at all. Livefist met with ADA chief Commodore C.D. Balaji for what he described after as the frankest chat he’s had on the subject. And at the centre of the LCA Navy’s struggle for relevance is a solid kernel of hope.

The ADA has opened dialogue with the Indian Navy with the hope that its customer will come round to the view that the LCA Navy Mk.2 will be a sensible graduated step to the big twin engine jets it finally wants to operate. “The LCA Navy Mk.2 would be a great stepping stone,” Balaji tells Livefist. And he’s backing his pitch with a solid timeframe.

‘We’re aiming for a first fl

ight of the LCA Navy Mk.2 in late 2020 or early 2021. The detailed design will be complete by 2019. To save time, we’ve already ordered raw materials required,’ Balaji says. Two GE F414 engines — one for the AF prototype and one for the LCA Navy — arrived earlier this month, the first batch of eight engines contracted from GE for the Mk.2 programme. That the LCA Navy will be a more powerful combat jet is well known. What Livefist has now discovered from the team is that there are design and engineering improvements being effected on the LCA Navy Mk.2 that could prove dealmaker if they work out.

For starters, the team plans to move the wings outboard by about 350mm, increasing the space significantly between the fuselage and the wings. This would immediately optimise load transfer (the ADA has had weight issues with the landing gear) and free up the central fuselage for fuel. ‘We believe the change will free up space for up to 700 kg additional fuel, providing about 22 minutes of additional time on task,’ Balaji tells Livefist. That’s huge for the tactical envelope the LCA platform was developed for.

But there’s a great deal of work left on the LCA Navy Mk.1 before the Mk.2 can begin taking shape. In the immediate future this summer, the LCA Navy Mk.1 prototypes will begin ‘taxi in engagement’ drills, where the jets are throttled on ground into the arrester wire at Goa’s Shore Based Test Facility (SBTF) to exercise structural compatibility for a hook. The tests have been delayed three months thanks to a damper failure during field carrier landing practice (FCLP) dummy approaches last year.

‘Our focus with the Mk.1 is carrier suitability. We’ve got a good handle on carrier ops. Control laws have matured well, and sit right on top of our simulations. Deck recoveries are a different challenge and there are several lead-up activities planned,’ he says.

The ADA has built a new test rig to test horizontal and vertical loads during a deck recovery, including 7.1 m/s sink rate and the 45 ton load on an arrester wire. ‘Structurally, everything checks out,’ Balaji says, adding, ‘We are doing more dummy approaches to fine tune our control laws. Want to narrow everything down so we have very predictable landings.’

Balaji smiles when pushed on the question of the Mk.1 and whether they are hoping for anything to come of it. ‘Saab has a Sea Gripen concept. They are in the same stage we were at in 2003 when we decided to create a carrier-capable derivative of the LCA Tejas. We have proven many technologies. The LCA Navy Mk.2 will incorporate every lesson we could possibly have learnt,’ he says.

There’s activity on the radar front too. Balaji’s team will freeing up LCA Tejas LSP-2 shortly for ground integration of India’s indigenous Uttam AESA radar. The ADA has asked the DRDO’s LRDE lab to keep the Uttam’s interfaces as similar as possible to the current syst

em. ‘It will be a challenge, moving from a mechanically scanned radar to the AESA without interface changes but that is the attempt, to save time and forestall any structural changes to the aircraft or radar,’ says Balaji. Interestingly, since the LCA doesn’t have an integrated liquid cooling system necessary for an AESA radar, the team has suggested that a small auxiliary compartment that becomes redundant after the mechanical-to-AESA switch could be utilised to house a liquid cooling system.

A full scale model of the LCA Navy Mk.2 will be ready by early next year. Commodore Balaji and his team now hope their case will have a firm taker by then.

 

[Bhoot Pishach]

REVEALED: The Indian LCA Navy’s Big Fight Back
Shiv AroorFeb 15 2017 1 24 pm

On Tuesday here at the Aero India show, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar added the latest in the series of nails in the coffin of the troubled LCA Navy, the carrier version of India’s in-service LCA Tejas. By now, the LCA Navy team in Bengaluru had gotten round to the reality that a paper plane that began in 2003 wouldn’t ever be an operational jet with a customer. Parrikar cajoled the team separately, assuring them that the government had no plans to pull the plug, and that the good work the team at the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) had done for over a decade would not go to waste. But the reality stuck. All that work on LCA Navy Mk1 wouldn’t result in sales of the aircraft. It would be forever be a technology demonstrator.

The last six months have brought headwind way beyond what this little jet was built for. But beyond the claimed stoicism of continuing endlessly with a project nobody wants, there’s a reality that has gone unreported so far. A reality that provides the first solid hope for a project that’s as good as dead but for an honour lifeline from the Department of Defence Production. And here’s the thing: it isn’t pity at all. Livefist met with ADA chief Commodore C.D. Balaji for what he described after as the frankest chat he’s had on the subject. And at the centre of the LCA Navy’s struggle for relevance is a solid kernel of hope.

The ADA has opened dialogue with the Indian Navy with the hope that its customer will come round to the view that the LCA Navy Mk.2 will be a sensible graduated step to the big twin engine jets it finally wants to operate. “The LCA Navy Mk.2 would be a great stepping stone,” Balaji tells Livefist. And he’s backing his pitch with a solid timeframe.

‘We’re aiming for a first fl

ight of the LCA Navy Mk.2 in late 2020 or early 2021. The detailed design will be complete by 2019. To save time, we’ve already ordered raw materials required,’ Balaji says. Two GE F414 engines — one for the AF prototype and one for the LCA Navy — arrived earlier this month, the first batch of eight engines contracted from GE for the Mk.2 programme. That the LCA Navy will be a more powerful combat jet is well known. What Livefist has now discovered from the team is that there are design and engineering improvements being effected on the LCA Navy Mk.2 that could prove dealmaker if they work out.

For starters, the team plans to move the wings outboard by about 350mm, increasing the space significantly between the fuselage and the wings. This would immediately optimise load transfer (the ADA has had weight issues with the landing gear) and free up the central fuselage for fuel. ‘We believe the change will free up space for up to 700 kg additional fuel, providing about 22 minutes of additional time on task,’ Balaji tells Livefist. That’s huge for the tactical envelope the LCA platform was developed for.

But there’s a great deal of work left on the LCA Navy Mk.1 before the Mk.2 can begin taking shape. In the immediate future this summer, the LCA Navy Mk.1 prototypes will begin ‘taxi in engagement’ drills, where the jets are throttled on ground into the arrester wire at Goa’s Shore Based Test Facility (SBTF) to exercise structural compatibility for a hook. The tests have been delayed three months thanks to a damper failure during field carrier landing practice (FCLP) dummy approaches last year.

‘Our focus with the Mk.1 is carrier suitability. We’ve got a good handle on carrier ops. Control laws have matured well, and sit right on top of our simulations. Deck recoveries are a different challenge and there are several lead-up activities planned,’ he says.

The ADA has built a new test rig to test horizontal and vertical loads during a deck recovery, including 7.1 m/s sink rate and the 45 ton load on an arrester wire. ‘Structurally, everything checks out,’ Balaji says, adding, ‘We are doing more dummy approaches to fine tune our control laws. Want to narrow everything down so we have very predictable landings.’

Balaji smiles when pushed on the question of the Mk.1 and whether they are hoping for anything to come of it. ‘Saab has a Sea Gripen concept. They are in the same stage we were at in 2003 when we decided to create a carrier-capable derivative of the LCA Tejas. We have proven many technologies. The LCA Navy Mk.2 will incorporate every lesson we could possibly have learnt,’ he says.

There’s activity on the radar front too. Balaji’s team will freeing up LCA Tejas LSP-2 shortly for ground integration of India’s indigenous Uttam AESA radar. The ADA has asked the DRDO’s LRDE lab to keep the Uttam’s interfaces as similar as possible to the current syst

em. ‘It will be a challenge, moving from a mechanically scanned radar to the AESA without interface changes but that is the attempt, to save time and forestall any structural changes to the aircraft or radar,’ says Balaji. Interestingly, since the LCA doesn’t have an integrated liquid cooling system necessary for an AESA radar, the team has suggested that a small auxiliary compartment that becomes redundant after the mechanical-to-AESA switch could be utilised to house a liquid cooling system.

A full scale model of the LCA Navy Mk.2 will be ready by early next year. Commodore Balaji and his team now hope their case will have a firm taker by then.

What a news!!!! What a day for India!!! 104 satellites in one go and now this news.

Revival of N-LCA!!! Testing and refinement of CLAWS for Landing with Arrester Wire.


Top of that Integration of UTTAM AESA Radar!!! Which means UTTAM has also attended some serious maturity.

 

[Abhishek Shrivastava]

LCA with refueling probe

Must be LSP 8 .