Naval LCA Tejas

[Prashant12]

Taxi-in engagement by LCA Navy

 

[Kshithij]

With a country like India they may. Not due to lack of capability but mismanagement of capability which we Indians are famous for. You see, the procurement test flights everything is so slow that I fail to understand what takes them so much time.



This technology is too old. Hope they don't delay fixing it on the plane and delivering things on time.

India is capable of making planes as per requirement. Currently, India lacks technology completely and is very close to achieving it. If planes are made immediately, the planes will become obsolete in 2-3 years when the technology will be fully ready and that is something we don't want unless there is an immediate arms build up. So, we delay and procure slowly to reduce watage.

 

[Vinod DX9]

Big big update.....
N LCA to be tested from INS Vikramaditya

 

[Kshithij]

But if the provision for up-gradation is also kept then I guess they wouldn't get obsolete. AFAIK LCA was built with such considerations.

Major upgrad will require overhauling which is very expensive and hence difficult.

 

[Kay]

The defense budget is low. IAF is trying to convince MOD that carriers are absolete and redundant. There is no money for naval aircrafts since IAF needs planes urgently and that has higher priority. This is wise move by Navy.

 

[Narasimh]

Big big update.....
N LCA to be tested from INS Vikramaditya

If its going to be tested from Vikramaditya, why is Navy not inducting it?

 

[Enquirer]

If its going to be tested from Vikramaditya, why is Navy not inducting it?

(repeating)
Payload!
NP1 & NP2 will eventually become quite capable of taking off and landing from carriers, but without any significant payload (as the landing gear has become very heavy + the aircraft itself had to be strengthened to withstand the forces + the hook) - primarily because the NP1 & NP2 have F404 and secondly because Mk1 design (on which NP1 & NP2 is based on ) is not the aerodynamically most efficient.
Net-net, Naval Tejas if/when inducted was always supposed to be Mk2 version with more powerful F414; and after having fixed some of the aerodynamic issues.
NP1 & NP2 are still significant milestones that will help Naval Tejas Mk2(if ordered, despite its single engine) or Naval AMCA.

 

[G10]

Trust NDTV? First arrestor hook test at full landing speed will be done. Only then they can think of vikramaditya.

 

[WolfPack86]

Navy's Tejas Fighter Preps For Tests On Aircraft Carrier INS Vikramaditya

Within the next five months, a made-in-India Tejas fighter jet will touch down briefly on the deck of the Navy's aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya before taking off again. The series of 'touch-and-go' landings is meant to demonstrate the ability of the fighter to operate safely off the deck of India's only operational aircraft carrier.

If everything goes as planned, two Tejas-Navy prototypes will begin full-fledged flight-tests off Vikramaditya deck by the end of 2019. This will involve landing, refuelling and taking off.

Landing on the deck of the aircraft carrier involves deploying a hook on the fuselage of the jet to snag a wire on the short deck of the ship as the aircraft lands. The hook-wire combination violently slows down the Tejas from its landing speed of 125 knots (approximately 230 kms) to 0 knots in under four seconds.

Today, a Tejas-Navy test pilot, Captain Shivnath Dahiya, successfully tested this system for the first time in Goa. The Tejas fighter touched a speed of approximately 60 knots (111 km) before it was brought to a quick halt.

Over the next few days, the Tejas will conduct more ground tests at speeds first approaching 80-100 knots (148-185 km) before attempting to snag the arrestor wire at its planned landing speed of 125 knots (230 km). These ground tests will be followed by the jet landing at the Goa test-centre to carry out 'arrested landings' before beginning tests on-board Vikramaditya.

Today's successful test on the Naval Tejas turns the clock back on a programme which seemed almost certainly dead. The two Naval variants of the jet had been parked in a desolate spot in a hangar in Bengaluru, their future bleak, before one of the fighters was taken out for a test flight last week, its first in a year.

Unlike the Air Force variant of the Tejas, which are now entering squadron service with the Indian Air Force, not many believed that the Naval Tejas would ever land and operate off an aircraft carrier. In December 2016, Naval Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba had said, ''The LCA-Navy in its present form is not up to the mark and does not meet the operational capability required by the Indian Navy." This is why the Navy began the process of looking to buy 57 new fighters to supplement and replace the Russian-built MiG-29Ks that it presently operates.

Those closely involved with the development of the jet, including its designers at the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), were determined not to let the project go to seed. Though the Tejas-Navy jet being showcased presently is only a technology demonstrator, a full-fledged Navy fighter, they argued, could never be developed without going through the development process. Eventually, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who has strongly backed the Tejas programme, allowed the tests to be re-started giving fresh-life to the once-stalled programme.

The Naval Tejas fighter is significantly different, and in some ways, more advanced than the version of the jet entering service with the Indian Air Force. The Naval Tejas has an altered external structure, strengthened to handle the stresses of landing on-board an aircraft carrier. It has a different undercarriage and additional surfaces on its wings to enable the jet to fly slower as it approaches an aircraft carrier in order to land. The Tejas-Navy comes equipped with significantly modified software which takes into account the oceanic environment the jet is meant to operate in.

As per the Navy's new flight-test regime, the Light Combat Aircraft-Navy is being tested on three key parameters.

The pilots are testing its ability to handle hard landings on the aircraft carrier. The Tejas needs to be able to slow down quickly when it makes an 'arrested landing' on the deck of the Vikramaditya. And the jet's flight control systems also need to be tested to deal with wind conditions as the fighter approaches the carrier to land.

What's clear, however, is that there is a long way for this Tejas-Navy Technology Demonstrator to pave the way for a fully operational Tejas fighter deployed on an Indian aircraft carrier, a process that could take upto a decade. In its present test-configuration, it isn't powerful enough to carry an ideal number of weapons such as missiles and bombs. To address this, the Aeronautical Development Agency will need to build a larger aircraft with a more powerful engine.The design parameters of that new variant of the Tejas jet can only be locked-down and finalised once the technology demonstrator flying today finishes its final tests.
http://www.defencenews.in/article.aspx?id=559822

 

[Prashant12]

#LCA NP-2 piloted by Capt Shivnath Dahiya executea the first contact of arrestor hook system at moderate taxi-in speeds at the Shore Based Test Facility, INS Hansa, Goa, yesterday.

 

[Kay]

They will increase the landing speed from 60 knots to 125 knots. NP2 will go through some serious battering and may have to be further hardened like the Mig -29Ks.

 

[Prashant12]

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[Illusive]

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Why do they have those checkers, are there sensor locations?

 

[Enquirer]

Why do they have those checkers, are there sensor locations?

That's for video tracking & analysis.
The black-white checkered contrast helps during image analysis to get the exact point on the aircraft & it's location to a reference point on the ground. Helps in calculating the speed/acceleration/deceleration/orientation etc.
You'll see this kind of 'pattern' painted on most missiles during initial tests (esp when a missile drop-from-aircraft test is being done.)

 

[Prashant12]

Continuing with the progress from LCA Navy's current Carrier compatibility flight test phase, we present the fans this exclusive image of NP-2 estimating the effects of tail hook bounce and drag on the designated runway meant for arrested landing and bolter.
The statement appears simple. The effort in carrying out this particular test has been enormous. Usually, time runs on its own pace. We, now strive harder to catch up with all the lost time for unforeseen reasons with bigger and stronger steps.
Jai Hind..

 

[WolfPack86]

Naval Tejas Sucess Make Russia Worried

 

[G10]

Naval Tejas Sucess Make Russia Worried

Mental Masturbation. The arrestor hook is Russian. Technical help for ski jump is also Russian.

 

[Advaidhya Tiwari]

Mental Masturbation. The arrestor hook is Russian. Technical help for ski jump is also Russian.

The arrestor hook is Indian. Ski-jump is with Russian help but it is also Indian.

Nevertheless, Russia has provided enough technology to India that it is not correct to say Russia has something to lose. Russian main exports is oil and gas. It exports more than Saudi Arabia in energy.

 

[G10]

The arrestor hook is Indian. Ski-jump is with Russian help but it is also Indian.

Nevertheless, Russia has provided enough technology to India that it is not correct to say Russia has something to lose. Russian main exports is oil and gas. It exports more than Saudi Arabia in energy.

That was the point. Ruskies are way ahead in tech to feel insecure. AMCA may change that.

 

[Advaidhya Tiwari]

That was the point. Ruskies are way ahead in tech to feel insecure. AMCA may change that.

Russia does not see India as a threat. Russia does not need the famed "market" for its arms in India when is is having unbeatable lead in energy supply