LCA TEJAS MK1 & MK1A: News and Discussion

IndianHawk

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These are very old target specs. There is no confirmation whether they have been achieved or not. Also, there is a critical point that many claiming that these specs have been met forget. Kaveri is not being flight tested actively. So how does one know that how much thrust it can achieve in flight to make any claim.
Those are tested specs on bench. Confirmed by multiple people related to engine development in India.

Max reheat is already adjusted for decrese in flight condition afaik but I could be wrong here.

Anyway my point for this thread was that even 81 Kn in flying is deemed unsuitable by IAF for lca so f404 should have more thrust than that.
For kaveri info there is kaveri thread.
 

Holy Triad

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IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria will operationalise No. 18 Squadron ‘Flying Bullets’ of the Indian Air Force on 27th May at the Sulur airbase.

The Squadron will be equipped with LCA Tejas FOC Aircraft and will be the second IAF squadron to fly LCA Tejas.

 

HariPrasad-1

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Those are tested specs on bench. Confirmed by multiple people related to engine development in India.

Max reheat is already adjusted for decrese in flight condition afaik but I could be wrong here.

Anyway my point for this thread was that even 81 Kn in flying is deemed unsuitable by IAF for lca so f404 should have more thrust than that.
For kaveri info there is kaveri thread.
Kaveri operates at a very low pressure ratio of 21.5 which is 30 for GE 414. I proposes improving compression in low pressure compression. In hot area, it will require different metallurgy. At least we should address design issues initially. When metallurgy issues are resolved, we can make hot temperature parts ourselves. Recently, a new design of Fan and afterburner was made. We need more and more design changes and up gradation of metallurgy and breakthrough in thermal coating etc to make Kaveri workable.
 

ObiWanKenobi

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They are waiting for mwf which will overcome all shortcomings of mk1/mk1a with huge range , more payload and internal systems for ew and irst .

That is what will be build in continuous huge numbers.

Mmrca is dead. Now they will buy 36 more rafale sometimes after 2022 and rest numbers will be made up with mwf or orca if tedbf is developed.
But that means we limit the production of something good because MWF isn't ready yet. 2027 is a long time away.

They could order 200+Mk1A/B to be delivered till 2027 with a target rate of production of 40 jets a year in 2027. Then follow it up with 250 more MWF on the same production lines. You get 12-13 years of large scale production in both public and private sector - hence setting up a modern and mature aerospace ecosystem - mature enough to handle AMCA.

By 2032-33 - We could have an IAF made of

220+ Tejas Mk1/1A,
250 MWF,
72 Rafales, and
Su-30s (perhaps half will be left).

All Mirage, Jaguar, Mig29 and Mig21 could be retired. We could make massive savings due to fleet commonality and almost fully made-in-India. We will be in a good position to then start inducting the earliest versions of limited production AMCAs which we can expect in the following 5 years.

As for the range 'shortcomings' in Mk1A. Pakistan is 600km deep in the deepest section.
 

AsuraKiller203

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This is probably true. I have read in a science magazine about this when our tech demo flew for the 1st time. That magazine is a highly reliable and produces well researched articles about science and history.
Hi. Nice to see you posting again after a long time.
 
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WolfPack86

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IAF to operationalise second Tejas squadron in Sulur in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday
New Delhi, May 25


The Indian Air Force will operationalise its second squadron comprising indigenously developed light combat aircraft Tejas on Wednesday at Sulur airbase near Coimbatore.



Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria will operationalise the 18 Squadron which is codenamed ‘Flying Bullets’.


“The squadron will be equipped with light combat aircraft Tejas aircraft and it will be the second IAF squadron to fly Tejas,” an IAF spokesperson said.


The Tejas is a fourth-generation combat aircraft developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency and the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.


It is equipped with a fly-by-wire flight control system, integrated digital avionics and multimode radar.


The Indian Air Force has already placed an order for 40 Tejas aircraft and is likely to seal a contract very soon with the HAL for another 83 aircraft at a cost of around Rs 38,000 crore.


The 18 squadron was formed in 1965 with the motto ‘Teevra aur Nirbhaya’ meaning ‘swift and fearless’. The squadron was flying MiG 27 aircraft before it was number plated or decommissioned April 15, 2016.


The squadron was resurrected on April 1 at Sulur. It actively participated in the 1971 war with Pakistan. It earned the sobriquet of ‘Defenders of Kashmir Valley’ by being the first to land and operate from Srinagar.


The Squadron was presented with President's Standard in November 2015. PTI
 

IndianHawk

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Kaveri operates at a very low pressure ratio of 21.5 which is 30 for GE 414. I proposes improving compression in low pressure compression. In hot area, it will require different metallurgy. At least we should address design issues initially. When metallurgy issues are resolved, we can make hot temperature parts ourselves. Recently, a new design of Fan and afterburner was made. We need more and more design changes and up gradation of metallurgy and breakthrough in thermal coating etc to make Kaveri workable.
Low bypass for kaveri was deliberate considering technical challenge at that time.

Our next gen engine can have much better bypass ratio and much more thrust.
 

IndianHawk

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But that means we limit the production of something good because MWF isn't ready yet. 2027 is a long time away.

They could order 200+Mk1A/B to be delivered till 2027 with a target rate of production of 40 jets a year in 2027. Then follow it up with 250 more MWF on the same production lines. You get 12-13 years of large scale production in both public and private sector - hence setting up a modern and mature aerospace ecosystem - mature enough to handle AMCA.

By 2032-33 - We could have an IAF made of

220+ Tejas Mk1/1A,
250 MWF,
72 Rafales, and
Su-30s (perhaps half will be left).

All Mirage, Jaguar, Mig29 and Mig21 could be retired. We could make massive savings due to fleet commonality and almost fully made-in-India. We will be in a good position to then start inducting the earliest versions of limited production AMCAs which we can expect in the following 5 years.

As for the range 'shortcomings' in Mk1A. Pakistan is 600km deep in the deepest section.
It's not just jets. You have to invest in base infra and pilots too. So you want the most capable jet for maximum benefit on your total investment.

Mk1a is enough for pakistan . But for china we need mwf to strike deep into tibet. Hence we'll need mwf in very large numbers ( equalling su30 numbers probably) to be able to dominate tibet and destroy Chinese supply lines completely.
Also mwf have more internal space and is more capable of absorbing future tech upgrades while mk1a size remains a limitation.

But yes even on Pakistan front we could use more mk1a.

Right now we are planning 16 mk1a per year from 2023-2027 and then mwf production.

But we could easily jump to 24 mk1a per year and can get 40 more mk1a over 83 to be ordered.

There on we can build 24 mwf per year .
 

IndianHawk

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By 2032-33 - We could have an IAF made of

220+ Tejas Mk1/1A,
250 MWF,
72 Rafales, and
Su-30s (perhaps half will be left).

All Mirage, Jaguar, Mig29 and Mig21 could be retired.
Not a single su30 will be retired by 2033.
Infact mirage are upgraded to serve till 2035.
( Total 50 years of life.)
And last batch of jaguars were build between 2000-2007 they will serve till 2040 easily.

Su30 mki was inducted first in 2002.
Even the oldest su30 will only be 30 years old in 2032. And it's far more robust and advanced then mirage or jaguar and mig29.

If our mirage and jaguar and mig29 will serve us for 40-45 years with upgrades. Su30 will definitely serve 40 years at the very least.

Not to mention since we build su30 from scratch in India we can always zero the airframe and Renew the su30 for another 20 years.

Mirage was upgraded just recently for another 20 years of service life guarantee.
 

IndianHawk

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BTw from BRF info is that both su30 and foc lca are being fitted with onboard data link via Israeli software defined radio.

We bought some 500 sdr from Israel apparently.
 

IndianHawk

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Not a single su30 will be retired by 2033.
Infact mirage are upgraded to serve till 2035.
( Total 50 years of life.)
And last batch of jaguars were build between 2000-2007 they will serve till 2040 easily.

Su30 mki was inducted first in 2002.
Even the oldest su30 will only be 30 years old in 2032. And it's far more robust and advanced then mirage or jaguar and mig29.

If our mirage and jaguar and mig29 will serve us for 40-45 years with upgrades. Su30 will definitely serve 40 years at the very least.

Not to mention since we build su30 from scratch in India we can always zero the airframe and Renew the su30 for another 20 years.

Mirage was upgraded just recently for another 20 years of service life guarantee.
Adding to this sukhoi upgrade will also improve engine life as well as airframe life ( as fatigued parts will be replaced with new once). A su30 upgrade in 2025 will serve at least till 2045. And it may take us 10 years to upgrade all su30.
 

Chinmoy

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Low bypass for kaveri was deliberate considering technical challenge at that time.

Our next gen engine can have much better bypass ratio and much more thrust.
????? What you even mean by this???

We need a low bypass engine. Fighters all over world use low bypass engine.
 

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