Combat Aircraft technology and Evolution

Kharavela

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India will spend $187 mn to double production of the LCA Tejas

A proposal for doubling the production rate of India's indigenous Light Combat Aircraft is being processed by the Ministry of Defence. A total of US $187 million will be spent to expand the production line of the LCA.

The infusion of money to upgrade assembly lines will allow HAL to ramp up production of the LCA from the present installed capacity of 8 to 16 aircraft per annum. A proposal in this regard is currently being processed with the Cabinet Committee on Security.

The expenditure of $187 mn will be funded by HAL (50%), Indian Air Force (25%) and the Indian Navy (25%). The timeline for this will be 36 months from the date of sanction.

The LCA is currently undergoing multiple upgrades. A new Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missiles, Air to Air Refueling (AAR) capability and Electronic Warfare (EW) suite are being added to its list of sophisticated hardware.

Full scale production of India’s indigenous Light Combat Aircraft, Tejas is expected to begin next year.

Source:
http://www.defencenews.in/article/I...mn-to-double-production-of-the-LCA-Tejas-3563
 

shuvo@y2k10

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at the rate Iaf is depleting fighter squadrons we need 90-100 aircrafts per year. 16 is not sufficient. solution: bring private players like tata & reliance.
 

tejas warrior

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Tejas SP-2 takes to skies; HAL says plans on track

Bengaluru: The second series production (SP-2) aircraft from the hangars of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) had its maiden flight on Tuesday.

Military sources confirmed to Mathrubhumi that the SP-2 fighter was piloted by Group Capt K K Venugopal of National Flight Test Centre.

“The SP-2 took off at 02:06 pm and stuck to the text-book flight-plan as mandated during the first couple of test sorties. The flight lasted for 37 minutes and the pilot landed back at 2:43 pm,” an official said.

HAL is yet to officially announce the details of the maiden flight.

The first series production variant SP-1 had its first flight on September 30, 2014 and it flew for 25-minutes, touching a maximum speed of 0.6 Mach, then.

Top officials from HAL, DRDO and Aeronautical Development Agency were in New Delhi on Tuesday for a meeting called by Ministry of Defence.

“We are on track. The production plans will scale up now,” says an official from HAL.

During a recent visit to the HAL’s Tejas Division in Bengaluru, Mathrubhumi had witnessed hectic activities ahead of SP-2’s first flight.

HAL has to produce another 18 more Tejas fighters in the Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) standard, so that the Indian Air Force (IAF) can begin formation of initial squadrons.

Another order for 100 aircraft (Tejas MK1-A) too will have to be taken up by HAL in future.

HAL officials now say that the SP-3 would fly by July and from then on the production rate would pick up. A separate plan to ramp up the production schedule of Tejas is in the pipeline.

Interestingly, the Tejas SP-2 had its maiden flight on a day when the fighter was drawn into yet another controversy over a failed Laser Guided Bomb (LGB) that missed the target during Iron Fist.
 

HariPrasad-1

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Air power on the cheap

Small, slow and inexpensive propeller-driven planes are starting to displace fighter jets


JET fighters may be sexy in a Tom Cruise-ish sort of way, but for guerilla warefare—in which the enemy rarely has an air force of his own with which to dogfight—they are often not the tool for the job. Pilotless drones can help fill the gap. Sometimes there is no substitute for having a pilot on the scene, however, so modern air forces are starting to turn to a technology from the yesteryear of flying: the turboprop.

So-called light-attack turboprops are cheap both to build and to fly. A fighter jet can cost $80m. By contrast the 208B Caravan, a light-attack turboprop made by Cessna, costs barely $2m. It also costs as little as $500 a hour to run when it is in the air, compared with $10,000 or more for a fighter jet. And, unlike jets, turboprops can use roads and fields for takeoff and landing.

Nor is it only jets that light-attack turboprops can outperform. Armed drones have drawbacks, too. The Reaper, made by General Atomics, can cost $10m or more, depending on its bells and whistles. On top of that, a single drone can require a team of more than 20 people on the ground to support it, plus satellite communications. A manned turboprop can bomb an insurgent for a third of the cost of using a drone, according to Pat Sullivan, the head of government sales at Cessna. And there are strategic considerations, too. Many countries' armed forces rely on allies such as America for the expertise and satellite networks needed to run drones. Such allies can let you down in a pinch. :happy_2:Piloted light-attack planes offer complete operational independence—and, being lower-tech than many drones, are less subject to restrictions on exports in the first place.

They are also better, in many ways, than helicopters. To land a chopper safely in the dirt requires sophisticated laser scanners to detect obstacles hidden by dust thrown up by the downdraught of the rotors. On top of this, such dust makes helicopter maintenance even more difficult than it is already. Maintaining turboprops, by contrast, is easy. According to Robyn Read, an air-power strategist at the Air Force Research Institute near Montgomery, Alabama, they can be "flown and maintained by plumbers".

Turboprops are also hard to shoot down. Air Tractor, another firm that makes cropdusters, branched out into warplanes last year. One reason was that a fleet of 16 unarmed versions of its aircraft had been used by America's State Department to dust South American drug plantations with herbicide—an activity that tends to provoke a hostile response from the ground. Despite the planes' having been hit by more than 200 rounds, though, neither an aircraft nor a pilot has been lost.


In part, this is because of the robust mechanics of turboprops and in part because Air Tractor's fuel tanks have rubber membranes which close around bullet holes to slow leaks. Add extra fuel tanks, which let the plane stay aloft for ten hours, six 225kg precision-guided bombs and more than 2,000kg of missiles, rockets and ammunition for two 50-calibre machineguns, and you have the AT-802U, a formidable yet reasonably cheap (at $5m) warplane.

Light-attack aircraft also now sport much of the electronics used by fighter jets. The MX-15, an imaging device made by L-3 WESCAM, a Canadian company, allows a pilot to read a vehicle's license plate from a distance of 10km. It is carried by both the AT-802U and the AT-6, a top-of-the-range light-attack plane made by Hawker Beechcraft.

Not surprisingly, then, many countries with small defence budgets are investing in turboprops. Places that now fly them, or are expected to do so, include Brazil, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Indonesia, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco and Venezuela. And the United States. For the biggest military establishment in the world, too, recognises the value of this new old technology. The American air force plans to buy more than 100 turboprops and the navy is now evaluating the Super Tucano, made by Embraer, a Brazilian firm.

In aerial combat, then, low tech may be the new high tech. And there is one other advantage that the turboprop has over the jet, at least according to Mr Read—who flew turboprops on combat missions in Cambodia during the 1970s. It is that you can use a loudspeaker to talk to potential targets before deciding whether to attack them.

http://www.economist.com/node/17079443
here Mig 35 fits very well. It is the best plane available very cheaply at Rs 30mn USD.
 

HariPrasad-1

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I fore see a very effective role of sitara in future. We can use it in mountains and low density conflicts and attacking tanks from missile like Jaguar, I want that 25 KN engine under development to be fitted in Sitara to enhance it potential. Gradually we can equip it lot more goodies like good radars and anti tank missles and guns. This will be a very cost effective solution to engage enemy in low density conflicts.
 

Kunal Biswas

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Lets keep this thread strictly abt turbo props or propeller driven Combat Aircraft ..

Go thought the first post of first page of this thread, Before posting posts ..

I fore see a very effective role of sitara in future. We can use it in mountains and low density conflicts and attacking tanks from missile like Jaguar, I want that 25 KN engine under development to be fitted in Sitara to enhance it potential. Gradually we can equip it lot more goodies like good radars and anti tank missles and guns. This will be a very cost effective solution to engage enemy in low density conflicts.
here Mig 35 fits very well. It is the best plane available very cheaply at Rs 30mn USD.
BTW, what about Predator C "Avenger" UAV.
 

BON PLAN

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Will India surrender its LCA-Tejas to Swedish firm SAAB
Published May 4, 2016
SOURCE: VISHAL KARPE / FOR MY TAKE / IDRW.ORG



Ministry of defence (MoD) has set a deadline of 2018 for state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in developing Upgraded Tejas MK-1A which will come with new Active Electrically Scanned Array (AESA) Radar, Unified Electronic Warfare (EW) Suite, mid-air refuelling capacity and beyond the vision range missiles and easy on Maintenance .

HAL on other hand wants to rope in Makers of Gripen fighter jet Swedish company “SAAB” to help in develop new upgraded LCA-Tejas in less than two years for which Indian Air Force has a requirement for 80 + aircraft .

Swedish company SAAB for long has been insisting on a government-to-government (G2G) deal for their assistance with India in developing and manufacturing a light fighter. SAAB in the previous negotiation had informed India that it wants to set up a Joint venture with HAL for which it has asked for majority shareholding over 50% making it Major Partner in the Company .

India in past has rejected such demand but HAL for long has been asking Government of India to work out a Government 2 Government deal to allow it to set up a JV in India . Any JV with SAAB with them specified has a major partner will mean India’s LCA Tejas will become their product and with India’s plans to manufacture nearly 300 LCA-Tejas aircraft to replace Mig-21s , SAAB will be ensured of a steady supply of Royalties and Income from LCA-Tejas Production line in India .

HAL also has failed to disclose why it needs SAAB’s Help in the development of Tejas MK-1A and what area of work will be awarded to SAAB in the development of upgraded LCA-Tejas . IAF has asked for over 40 modifications in Tejas MK-1A but many of them can be done in house but it seems deadline for less than 2 years is allowing SAAB to get a favorable deal on its side .
 

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