LCA TEJAS MK1 & MK1A: News and Discussion

[another_armchair]

Article is by Sriram ji

DDR kiska? Saurav Jhatu ka. Nothing goes to print without his approval.

 

[jai jaganath]

DDR kiska? Saurav Jhatu ka. Nothing goes to print without his approval.

Ur wish sirji

 

[standard snowball]

41st unit

Indigenous UTTAM AESA Radar Ready: Doubts Loom Over Initial Order Size | Delhi Defence Review

delhidefencereview.com

No it would be from 21st unit and even those 20 units were ordered because we had already made a commitment to the Israelis and made a prepayment because HAL feared that a delay in Uttam may adversely effect the mk1a program (FYI : I am not 100% sure on this, heard about this on Twitter)

 

[NutCracker]

41st unit

Indigenous UTTAM AESA Radar Ready: Doubts Loom Over Initial Order Size | Delhi Defence Review

delhidefencereview.com

Saurav Jhatu ka assertion hai toh galat he hoga.

I hope 21st onwards is the likely scenario.

No it would be from 21st unit and even those 20 units were ordered because we had already made a commitment to the Israelis and made a prepayment because HAL feared that a delay in Uttam may adversely effect the mk1a program (FYI : I am not 100% sure on this, heard about this on Twitter)

There is no confirmation provided about 41st by DDR. It's speculation. So with the order of 100 more we can believe that chances of 41st onwards is less.

 

[Raj Malhotra]

HAL is claiming Annual production capacity of 16+ LCA aircraft. In last five months of the financial year 2023-24 only to LCA aircraft have been produced. HAL has orders for 8 + (10 from 83) twins seater trainer LCA aircraft. The 10 aircraft from the batch of 83 are also a FOC standard twin seater aircraft and as per my understanding not the standard of LCA MKIA.

HAL needs to produce at least 8 twin seater LCA aircraft in financial year 2023-24 and another 10 LCA aircraft in financial year 2024-25, so that LCA MKIA single seaters can start entering service from April 25.

This means that around 1 LCA per month for next 1.5 yrs thereafter higher rate of production

 

[omaebakabaka]

No it would be from 21st unit and even those 20 units were ordered because we had already made a commitment to the Israelis and made a prepayment because HAL feared that a delay in Uttam may adversely effect the mk1a program (FYI : I am not 100% sure on this, heard about this on Twitter)

Mix is good and Israleis are good partners, for some reason I prefer a mix until our tech gets some field experience in combat like scenarios and matures into v2 and so on versions. As long as we get the numbers and reduce the cost per bird with scale, its a win-win for the industry and IAF. As an engineer in manufacturing, having experience behind your products does come with fewer concerns.

 

[standard snowball]

Anyone know who this Prof. Prodyut Das guy is, seems knowledgeable but feels like a really annoying fella always shitting on Tejas,

 

[Johny_Baba]

Anyone know who this Prof. Prodyut Das guy is, seems knowledgeable but feels like a really annoying fella always shitting on Tejas,

man just search his name on DFI search bar,
at least 20 posts are there criticizing that jackass here,
half of them are by our own @ersakthivel only who also dueled with another known tejas critic and gripen fan @Sancho time to time.

 

[Hari Sud]

Here is an article on Gallium Nitride technology, now in use on an Indian Navy radar and planned in the upcoming radars for LCA2 and Sukhois in place Gallium Arsenide.

Is India Edging Ahead In A Global Radar Race?

A Hyderabad-based company is poised to manufacture state-of-the-art radars for India's Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jets.

swarajyamag.com

Do the experts believe in what is written in the article Is correct then a huge progress has been achieved.

 

[silverghost]

Ukrainian Mig-29s are a joke. Few of them had pulse doppler radars, and the most of them were trainers with no FCR to begin with. Comparison with even non-updated UPGs is preposterous. They are target practice even for our Type 69 Bisons.

Ok but why doesn't Russia use Mig 29s either? They have the same no. as India.

 

[johnj]

Here is an article on Gallium Nitride technology, now in use on an Indian Navy radar and planned in the upcoming radars for LCA2 and Sukhois in place Gallium Arsenide.

Is India Edging Ahead In A Global Radar Race?

A Hyderabad-based company is poised to manufacture state-of-the-art radars for India's Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jets.

swarajyamag.com

Do the experts believe in what is written in the article Is correct then a huge progress has been achieved.

Just bluffing and exaggerating with ads form LM, Sukhoi, Chinese etc and fanboy theories, and with a lots of nonsense
If you believe this, then su57 and J20 is superior F22 and F22 having zero chance against them
He started from f2, then Chinese awacs, pl15, f35, su57, f22, mki, rafale, Israel ads, and goes on
Majorities he written is still theories, and/or in development stage

Means, Uttam already entered mass production stage, making of tejas mk2 almost complete and ready for rollout within 4 months, mki start getting uttam in 2024/25,
HAL start mass production of uttam in 2024 and mki gets it in 2025

1. astra mk1 is more advanced than aim120c~d/meteor and 3rd aam type after aa4 & pl15 using such tech
2. DRDO completed development of GaAs and GaN RF sensors and given tech to Astra and HAL respectively and Astra want GaN tech also
3. Mki GaN MFR is superior to Rafale aesa mfr
4. astra mk2/3 help to match US/EU BVR tech
Rest were theories or ads or in development stage or bluffs or over exaggeration except INS Anvesh. Also DRDO can add more mode of operations for MFR in later stage.

 

[johnj]

Ok but why doesn't Russia use Mig 29s either? They have the same no. as India.

Its hard to say which ones mig is in good shape, I think Ukraine mig is better than Russian one, but inferior to Russian sukhoi
Both Indian mig and sukhoi are superior to Russian ones, big question is, how may of Russian mig29 can fly ?? Majority of Russian fighters are zombies, not good for major warfare, except some mig31, su27 plus su30sm, su33, su27, su57 are in bad conditions

 

[binayak95]

Its hard to say which ones mig is in good shape, I think Ukraine mig is better than Russian one, but inferior to Russian sukhoi
Both Indian mig and sukhoi are superior to Russian ones, big question is, how may of Russian mig29 can fly ?? Majority of Russian fighters are zombies, not good for major warfare, except some mig31, su27 plus su30sm, su33, su27, su57 are in bad conditions

Because the manufacturing cost of both platforms in their upgraded avatars is comparable - and the Su 27 enjoys far greater range and payload.

SO if your budget is tight youd rather go for large numbers of long ranged heavy fighters than short ranged medium fighters.

Of course long term that is not sustainable, and we see that reflected in abysmal flying hours for Russian pilots

 

[Corvus Splendens]

Ok but why doesn't Russia use Mig 29s either? They have the same no. as India.

Combat range.

 

[MirageBlue]

20 IOC Deal was signed in 2006 ,
20 FOC deal signed in 2010 .

But first IOC itself was delivered after 10 years in 2016 during Modi tenure.

including lazy ass DRDO-HAL clowns, This is the kind of rot, Modi had to deal with during initial days .
View attachment 219754
How shamelessly such things were being said while in western front Pakistan was inducting JF17 at rapid speed.

The less one talks about AM Matheswaran, the better.

Back then, he was a "consultant" for the Saab Gripen NG in the MRCA contest and was ready to do anything to ensure that no one would try to compare the Tejas with the Gripen.

 

[MirageBlue]

Much better quality shot of the pic by Akshay Daniel showing the Tejas Mk1A prototype with the DRDO ASPJ

 

[Johny_Baba]

Much better quality shot of the pic by Akshay Daniel showing the Tejas Mk1A prototype with the DRDO ASPJ

just a question since i'm noob when it comes to electronics etc;
this jamming pod's shape is quite similar to those laser IR targeting pods etc meant for underbelly pylon on Tejas;
say, by any engineering magic and all, can we integrate both in one single unit ? granted it may go heavier but underbelly centreline pod on Tejas can already withstand 1200 KG for that fuel tank attachment so maybe we can sacrifise a bit there and give that towards this proposed "targeting pod + self protecting jammer pod" unit ?

Reminder that DRDO started to make indigeneous jammer pod for Su-30MKI when the IAF complained that russian supplied one was heavier plus it used to be mounted on wingtips and in return ruining flight envelope on that one, worse was it had limited compatibility, capabilities with our other custom solutions on Su-30MKI...
So yeah, can we try to attempt similar here by combining both pods for same "LD" pylon under Tejas ?

 

[BON PLAN]

 

[patriots]

just a question since i'm noob when it comes to electronics etc;
this jamming pod's shape is quite similar to those laser IR targeting pods etc meant for underbelly pylon on Tejas;
say, by any engineering magic and all, can we integrate both in one single unit ? granted it may go heavier but underbelly centreline pod on Tejas can already withstand 1200 KG for that fuel tank attachment so maybe we can sacrifise a bit there and give that towards this proposed "targeting pod + self protecting jammer pod" unit ?

Reminder that DRDO started to make indigeneous jammer pod for Su-30MKI when the IAF complained that russian supplied one was heavier plus it used to be mounted on wingtips and in return ruining flight envelope on that one, worse was it had limited compatibility, capabilities with our other custom solutions on Su-30MKI...
So yeah, can we try to attempt similar here by combining both pods for same "LD" pylon under Tejas ?

Spj pod works better in outer most pylon,that's the reason it was on the outer most pylon,where ase ldp pod is for a2g operation s...it is just under the belly

 

[MirageBlue]

just a question since i'm noob when it comes to electronics etc;
this jamming pod's shape is quite similar to those laser IR targeting pods etc meant for underbelly pylon on Tejas;
say, by any engineering magic and all, can we integrate both in one single unit ? granted it may go heavier but underbelly centreline pod on Tejas can already withstand 1200 KG for that fuel tank attachment so maybe we can sacrifise a bit there and give that towards this proposed "targeting pod + self protecting jammer pod" unit ?

Reminder that DRDO started to make indigeneous jammer pod for Su-30MKI when the IAF complained that russian supplied one was heavier plus it used to be mounted on wingtips and in return ruining flight envelope on that one, worse was it had limited compatibility, capabilities with our other custom solutions on Su-30MKI...
So yeah, can we try to attempt similar here by combining both pods for same "LD" pylon under Tejas ?

Wouldn't be possible for multiple reasons.

1) First, the IR targeting pod you're referring to for the Tejas is the Litening LDP. That pod itself is jam packed with electronics, cooling circuits, computers, etc. It has the IR sensors, the TV cameras, all the sensors and the computers for processing the images that it receives.

2) The Litening LDP pod weighs 208 kg. Not light at all. And that pylon station is rated accordingly. It isn't a regular hard point where you can load a 500 kg bomb for e.g.

3)Now the ASPJ pod also is packed with sensors and computers to process the signals it receives. All of which have their own weight, their own electrical requirement (which is not insignificant), generate their own intense heat due to the amount of computations that are going on and need their own cooling as a result.

4) That ASPJ pod will likely weigh ~200 kg itself thanks to all the equipment it carries. Adding all that into the LDP (which doesn't have real estate to fit any more electronics) will only increase the weight of the LDP, even assuming you somehow lengthen the LDP to try to fit it all inside. Plus it will increase the cooling requirement of the LDP several fold due to the amount of heat that a SPJ will generate.

5) I'm not 100% sure of this, but the LDP's location is fine since it mostly needs to scan the lower and front sector of the airplane. But the SPJ needs to have it's receivers not masked by the fuselage and be able to receive signals from all 360 degrees.

6) Ideal location for the electronics of the SPJ as well the cooling circuit for it would have been the rear fuselage of the Tejas. Unfortunately, the Tejas is already too jam packed internally and doesn't have enough space left to fit all the SPJ's electronics within the fuselage. Keep in mind, this requirement for internal EW suite was never even contemplated when the Tejas LCA was sized in 1989. Otherwise they would've made it a longer airplane with enough internal real estate available for growth in scope of requirements that would need additional internal real estate.

Hope this clarification makes sense.