Indian Air-Force News

I am starting this new thread on sumdud's suggestion. Although I had mentioned that the earlier thread was converted into a thread for all news of IAF, his suggestion was right because the title was indeed misleading and someone visiting that thread would be confused on seeing the plethora of unrelated articles.

The problem arose as one cannot change the title of a thread upon starting it once.

I may start another thread titled "Indian Army & Navy news".Thus, there shall be only 3 threads dedicated to Indian military : this one, IA & navy news, and the Indian Space news thread.

The following is a new 'unofficial' website dedicated to the LCA Tejas :



Although it is a bit amateur in design, it is quite informative and has details about many aspects of the LCA project.

It's an interesting design, and I'm pleased to see someone trying to reverse the trend towards bigger, heavier and more expensive combat aircraft which eventually become too expensive for anyone other than the USA. Even they are falling victim to this trend, witness the dramatic reduction in the numbers of F-22s they are buying. Small can indeed be beautiful...

Very intresting Delta-Wing design...Reminds me of Sweedish fighters, but a little extreme.

if this thing have 3d thrust, deadly little bird. I am still wondering, how many hardpoints does this little guy have??

Obi Wan Russell said:

It's an interesting design, and I'm pleased to see someone trying to reverse the trend towards bigger, heavier and more expensive combat aircraft which eventually become too expensive for anyone other than the USA....Small can indeed be beautiful...

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Actually the LCA has been designed as a low-range interceptor aircraft. Hence, its weapons load and range are substantially lesser than aircraft such as the F-16, F-18 or the Su-30.
The development of the LCA began in 1985.

Since it was India's first attempt at producing a 4th gen aircraft, the design parameters were kept lower.

Kampfwaggen said:

Very intresting Delta-Wing design...Reminds me of Sweedish fighters, but a little extreme.

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Yes. The LCA is similar in design to the Grippen of Sweden, except that canards are not present on the LCA. The performance parameters of both the aircraft are similar.

ahho said:

if this thing have 3d thrust, deadly little bird. I am still wondering, how many hardpoints does this little guy have??

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The LCA has 7 external hardpoints.

I believe that the response generated by this thread is good. Thus, I have provided the links of the last few major articles that were posted in the previous thread :

hmm drhuv is another project that i really liked. It has armed varian that is like a attack helicopter, but how well does it perform in maneuverability and protection

Indianfighter said:

A
Yes. The LCA is similar in design to the Grippen of Sweden, except that canards are not present on the LCA. The performance parameters of both the aircraft are similar.

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Its similar in size to Gripen. But not in design. the wings are totally different.leading to a considerably different performance. A bit of comparison from airtoaircombat.com. Please look at the difference in the wing Area and wing loading.

Manufacturer Aeronautical Development Agency (India) Saab AB (Sweden)
Name Tejas LCA Gripen JAS 39A
Wing Span 26.90 ft. /8.20 M 27.56 ft. /8.40 M
Length 43.31 ft/13.20 M 46.26 ft. /14.10 M
Height 14.44 ft. /4.40 M 14.76 ft. /4.50 M
Wing Area 413.33Sq ft. /38.40 Sq. M 274.91 ft./25.54 Sq M
Aspect Ratio 1.8 2.76
Weight Empty 12,125lb. / 5,500.00 Kg 12,346lb. / 5,600.00 Kg
Weight Takeoff 18740lb./8500 Kg 19224lb./8720 Kg
Powerplant(s) 1xF04-GE-F2j3 augmented turbofan 1xVolvo/GE RM-12 augmented turbofan
Max Thrust 18000lb. /0Kg 18105lb. /8212Kg
Military Thrust 0lb. /0Kg 12141lb. /5507Kg
Internal Fuel 0lb./0Kg 5000lb./2268Kg
Fuel Fraction 0 0.26
Max. Thrust Loading 1.04 0.94
Wing Loading 45.35lb. /221.4Kg 70lb. /341Kg
VMax High Mach / VMax Low Mach 1.8+ / 1.8 / NA
Operational Ceiling 50000ft. /15329M 50000ft. /15239M
Rate of Climb 0ft. /0M 50000ft. /25

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ahho said:

hmm drhuv is another project that i really liked. It has armed varian that is like a attack helicopter, but how well does it perform in maneuverability and protection

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the armed variant( known as LCH) is not ready yet. it will be out in 2007.

ajaybhutani said:

Its similar in size to Gripen. But not in design. the wings are totally different.leading to a considerably different performance. A bit of comparison from airtoaircombat.com. Please look at the difference in the wing Area and wing loading.

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The basic design of the LCA and the Gripen are similar. The LCA and Gripen are both tail-less delta winged platforms. The above mentioned difference in the design of the wings are, that the LCA has cranked delta-wings, whereas the wings of the Gripen are conventional delta wings. Thus the wing-area of the Gripen is lesser than that of the LCA, and hence more load can be carried by its wings. Thus, the a missile can be accomodated on the wing-tips of the Gripen, whereas the same is not possible on the LCA.

The above points are demonstrated by the following URLs:



Consequently, the load carried by the fuselage of the Gripen must be lesser, or not much in difference as compared to the LCA.

ajaybhutani said:

the armed variant( known as LCH) is not ready yet. it will be out in 2007.

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The LCH and the Dhruv are different platforms. An armed variant of the Dhruv exists (along with a tranport variant), that is in service with the Indian Army. The photos of the armed variant of the Dhruv are present in the thread, "Indian military photos & videos".

The LCH is a helicopter in the class of the Chetak helicopters. It shall be a light-weight helicopter whereas the Dhruv is in the 5.5 ton class, or the medium-weight class of helicopters.

Indianfighter said:

The basic design of the LCA and the Gripen are similar. The LCA and Gripen are both tail-less delta winged platforms. The above mentioned difference in the design of the wings are, that the LCA has cranked delta-wings, whereas the wings of the Gripen are conventional delta wings. Thus the wing-area of the Gripen is lesser than that of the LCA, and hence more load can be carried by its wings. Thus, the a missile can be accomodated on the wing-tips of the Gripen, whereas the same is not possible on the LCA.

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and thats why i said they differ in the basic design itself.