HAL Tejas Jet Fighter

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Parrikar also said that with India buying around 36 Rafale jets for now, government savings on this project is likely to be up Rs 60,000-65,000 crore. This money, Parrikar said, will be used to accelerate defence manufacturing in India, including speeding up the long-ingestation Light Combat Aircraft. The minister said LCA will be inducted in large numbers, up to 200 fighters or 10 squadrons.
 

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it seems TEJAS MK1.5 /TEJAS MK1P will have the Elta 2052 AESA RADAR while the TEJAS Mk2 will have the UTTAM AESA

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Bangalore. India’s Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas programme has been delayed indeed, but to make up for it,HAL is now working on developing a new variant, LCA-I P, which will be equipped with an advanced AESA Radar and an electro-optic Electronic Warfare (EW) sensor suite.


The timeline for this variant has been set at 2017, two years from now. The AESA radar will be supplied by Israel’s ELTA Systems, a subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). ELTA had earlier supplied its AEW&C (Airborne Early Warning & Control) system for IAF’s IL-76 based Intelligence and surveillance aircraft, designated by IAF as AWACS (Airborne Warning & Control Systems) aircraft.

AESA, or Active Electronically Scanned Array radar, is the key component in the AWACS, enabling a 360 degree look-down-and-around capability to IAF for about 400 km. The aircraft is designed to guide combat fleets and ground assets in a war scenario. With no moving part, AESA is much faster in capability than earlier airborne radars in which rotodomes moved mechanically – and rather slowly – to scan different areas.

AESA in fact was always in the LCA programme, and there were discussions with some foreign companies as well as with the state-run BEL in developing it. Finally the choice has gone to ELTA, which in any case has been collaborating with BEL. LCA also has a sophisticated fly by wire system and glass cockpit. Once the programme gets going, HAL may manufacture some 200 aircraft for IAF and perhaps another 100 for the Navy.

AESA in the LCAs will obviously have a lower range, but it will be well integrated within the IAF network, and give a quantum technology jump to IAF’s combat capability. Notably, the 36 Rafales being acquired by IAF in the Government-to-Government deal will also have the AESA radar, developed by Thales.

IAF’s AWACS aircraft – three delivered, two on order – are already integrated with its combat, transport and land assets and also networked with aircraft of the Indian Navy.

HAL has in principle support from the Government, and is now working on the proposal with the IAF (Indian Air Force) in this regard. This variant will be developed on the existing LCA-MkI model, and will meet IAF’s requirements till the larger LCA Mk II is developed by 2021 with the more powerful GE 414 engine.

HAL Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) T Suvarna Raju told
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in an interview that HAL shared the technology concerns of the user – IAF – as well as the urgency for production of the aircraft in view of the falling numbers of IAF combat squadrons due to obsolescence. The AESA and EW suite will make the new LCA variant more advanced than the supersonic MiG 21s in capability, even though it will be a subsonic aircraft compared to the ageing aircraft of the Soviet vintage.

A key technology being adopted now is 3D printing, which will cut design and production time by months. This is now being used for engines but it is being adopted for various aspects of aircraft design and production.

P in the LCA-I P stands for prototype, but once accepted by IAF, it could be designated LCA-MkI-A or whatever.



LCA-MkI, which achieved IOC-II (Initial Operational Capability, stage II) in January 2014 for acceptance by IAF as it is produced and tested, is yet to get the FOC (Final Operational Capability) but the focus now is on adding the EW package, originally planned for the LCA-MkII.

The aircraft will continue to have the same GE 404 engine however in this variant, but the lack of adequate power will be compensated by the warfare capability generated by the new sensors, with AESA providing a formidable force multiplication. This type of radar uses multiple frequencies to electronically scan several targets simultaneously.

The earlier radars used to have mechanically moving parts, whose output was painfully slow compared to the new generation electronic technology.

Notably, US companies Raytheon and Northrop Grumman have an established lead in the AESA systems while in Europe, Thales has just about achieved it for installation on Rafale and Eurofighter aircraft. In fact, AESA was a key requirement for India’s MMRCA (Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft) competition, and the 36 Rafale jets being acquired from France should have both the AESA as well as the Infra Red Search and Track (IRST) system.

Israel is known for its excellence in electronic warfare systems, and ELTA should be able to meet IAF’s specific requirements.

Notably, IAF is not happy with the GE 404 engine, regarding it as underpowered for warfare. But only 40 aircraft are slated for production with this engine. For LCA-MkII aircraft, there is an agreement for 99 GE 414 engines already with the US engine maker. The production of that aircraft is due to begin from 2021.


The new LCA-MkI-P variant with the EW Package will also add some 50 kilos of more weight, but then, Mr Raju explained, the capability of the aircraft increases significantly, offsetting the disadvantage of a smaller engine.

The current LCA-MkI version uses 210 kilos with ballast in the nose to stabilize the aircraft. This will be removed, and the AESA and EW suite weighing about 250 kilos will be added. The net weight gain will be of about 50 kilos.

LCA-MkI and LCA-MkII are both single engine aircraft, hence the power of their engines to provide thrust to the aircraft and sustain their power-guzzling electric and electronic systems, particularly the radar, will always be critical.

There are two naval versions also with high landing gear as technology demonstrators. The naval version has to be much stronger than air force aircraft as every landing on the limited space of a carrier is like a crash landing, and the aircraft has to be stopped by one of the three onboard arrestor wires which latches on to a hook in the tail of the aircraft. If the attempt fails by chance, then the aircraft has to take off again, and that is why its engine(s) are kept on full power.

Mr Raju said that Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar was taking personal interest in the development of indigenous technologies and systems, including in the LCA, and HAL was working to speed up whatever it could do.

For one thing, it is proposing now to take full charge of the LCA development programme to become the single responsible agency. Right now, the design and development of the aircraft, engines, weapons package etc, are with DRDO and its Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA).

During a recent visit to HAL, this writer saw several young engineers, one of them trained in the UK. Like them, Mr Raju had joined HAL while young some 40 years back. He is as passionate now as he was perhaps then. He observed optimistically: We are taking steps in talent and technology to meet the timelines.

There is an emphasis on composite materials, for which Indian companies, both in public and private sectors, need to do a lot. Significantly, about half of the LCA is made of composite materials, which are lighter but stronger than the aircraft grade aluminum.

HAL has built seven LCA-MkI aircraft under LSP (Low Rate Series Production) and two under the SP (Series Production).

Significantly, LCA has passed several crucial tests in operating from tough summer and mountainous terrains as well as in firing missiles.
 

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Carpet bombing: Tejas to demonstrate fire power ahead of FOC


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Bengaluru, June 29: The Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas is all set undertake critical test flights carrying an array of missiles and bombs to complete its scheduled weapon trials. ADVERTISEMENT Top sources with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed to this Correspondent that the integration of Russian-made Close Combat Missile (CCM) R-73 has been completed. Tejas The ground integration of the Israeli-made CMM Python-5 too has been completed ahead of the flight trials. The Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missile Derby has also been integrated on to the aircraft. Tejas can carry two CCMs with a range of 15 km at the extreme end pods. These missiles can home on to the enemy aircraft based on their heat signature.

The Derby (two missiles) is being integrated on the mid-board-pods of Tejas and they have a range varying between 80 and 100 km. The home-grown fighter carries the laser-guided bomb (LGB) Griffin, which has a range of 5-6 km. Tejas will also carry LGB Paveway, which according to sources, has already demonstrated its capabilities with an accuracy of 1 meter. "These missiles have demonstrated their capabilities to strike with precision during day and night," says an official. BVR missiles to be tested in July The laser-designator pod also has been integrated on to the aircraft. "Tejas can carry drop tanks with 1200-litre and 800-725-litre capacity. The R-73 has completed flight trials in Goa, Jaisalmer and Jamnagar over 10 times. The LGB has been tested for six times now," the official said. The BVR testes scheduled to be held in May has now been fixed for July at forward bases. "The CCMs and BVRs used on Tejas are capable of SSKP (Single Shot Kill Probability). In a war scenario, the pilot can increase the kill probability by opting for firing both CCMs, or both BVRs together," the official added. The integration of Russian-made gun for Tejas Gsh-23 has been completed. The gun has been already ground tested at a facility in Nasik.
FOC may spill over to March 2016? When asked whether Tejas would skip the December 2015 deadline for Final Operational Clearance (FOC), the top MoD official said: "There are still some passing clouds hanging around. But the teams from Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) are confident of beating the deadline." However, another official told this Correspondent that the programme might skip the December deadline by maximum three months. "May be it will spill over to the last quarter of this FY. The FOC will be in by March 2016," he said. Refueling probe, nose cone radome awaited To complete the FOC points, the air-to-air refueling probe from Cobham hasn't arrived yet. The nose cone quartz radome too is being awaited. There are already some rumours floating around in the corridors of HAL and ADA over the delay in accessing these pending foreign systems. A Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) official says that they are hopeful of thrashing the issue. "Definitely there are concerns. But, we are hoping to get clarity by July. Hopefully, we should have access to all hardware within a month. We don't see any more technology challenges after the integration of these pending items," says the senior DRDO official. ADA says that almost 75 per cent of work related to FOC has been completed. The siblings of Tejas have completed 2971 flights so far logging around 1909 hours, at the time this piece went live on the web.

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18 aircraft each, will be pulled out due to the end of their life cyle, an additional squadron of the Su-30 fighter aircraft is expected.
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ee squadrons of the aging MiG 21 and MiG 27 fighter jets are set to be phased out this year even as Indian Air Force focuses on cannibalization to keep the serviceability rate of its aircraft high.

Top defence sources said that while three squadrons, 18 aircraft each, will be pulled out due to the end of their life cyle, an additional squadron of the Su-30 fighter aircraft is expected. The planes - MiG 21s and MiG 27s, were bought from Russia in the 60s and 70s.

Senior Air Force officials are hopeful that the government will quickly wrap up the ongoing negotiations for 36 Rafale jets with France even as they await the Mark 2 version of indigenous Light Combat Aircraft Tejas. "As we phase out a particular squadron, we need to bring in at least another squadron to keep the current strength. To reach the sanctioned strength, we need to induct more," the sources said.

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Air Force currently operates 35 squadron even though the sanctioned strength is 42. The sanctioned strength for a possible two way fight - Pakistan and China combined - is 45. While no one was willing to come on record about whether the force is content with the 36 Rafales instead of the earlier 126, a senior official said "At least in this government we are getting 36. The UPA was there for 10 years and nothing was decided".

The Air Force is hopeful that the government might go in for more Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft than the 36 Rafales that have been decided. Talking about serviceability (aircraft available for operation), the sources said the force was depending on 'Christmas tree' to keep it high.

Christmas tree is a term used by the Air Force in which parts of one aircraft are used as spare parts to keep the other running, a practice also known as cannibalization.

"But even the parts of each aircraft have their own life cycle and service requirements. It is not as simple as one would imagine," the sources said.
 

aksha

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:D when the news reaches Air HQ, it will be hard to sink in

the irony of ADA (which is developing Tejas and AMCA) being led by an ex-Navy guy,

but they have only themselves to blame

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A4qffA9.jpg

new ADA Chief at AI2015 snapped next to his passion


Commodore C.D.Balaji (Retd), Outstanding Scientist, on Friday took charge as the Director of the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and Programme Director of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), according to an official announcement.

ADA, based in Bengaluru, is the premier multi-agency body spearheading the development of combat aircraft for the Air Force and the Navy - among them the LCA and the proposed Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft AMCA.

Prior to his elevation, Cmde Balaji was Project Director of the LCA’s naval version. He succeeds P.S. Subramanyam, Distinguished Scientist, who superannuated on June 30.

Cmde Balaji holds a BE in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. Commissioned into the Indian Navy's engineering branch in September 1978, Cmde Balaji has specialised in the Naval Aviation Arm. He has served as Air Engineer Officer of INAS 310 (Alize aircraft) for about 3 years embarking the Aircraft Carrier Vikrant.

He joined ADA on deputation in 2002 to work on the development of a naval version of the light fighter. In December 2006, he left the Navy and fully moved to ADA.

The plane's first prototype, LCA (NP1), made its historic maiden flight on April 27, 2012, followed by the first crucial ski jump launch on December 20, 2014. He is credited with playing a key role in conceiving and building the Air Force trainer prototypes and the Shore-Based Test Facility (SBTF) at Dabolim naval station in Goa. The SBTF is built to replicate an aircraft carrier and provides the test platform equipped with a ski jump for take-off and arresting gear to stop the aircraft while landing.
 

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The much awaited Final Operational Clearance of India’s Tejas Light Combat Aircraft is again delayed due to non-supply of newly designed quartz radome and a bolt on inflight refueling probe by Cobham UK.

Other than software tweaks, the main difference b/w IOC-2 and FOC standard will involve the integration of a newly designed quartz radome and a bolt on inflight refueling probe, both supplied by Cobham UK.

The quartz nose cone in particular is expected to increase the detection range of the ELTA MMR on onboard from 50 Kms to 80 plus Kms. Cobham has missed three successive delivery timelines (Oct 2014, end of Jan 2015 and April 2015) for both items and was expected to deliver the first of three ordered units by the end of April 2015. That will delay FOC even more.

Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar had handed over to Tejas to Indian Air Force (IAF) earlier this year. However the handing over does not make the light combat aircraft combat ready due to inadequacies caused by non-supply of quartz radome and a bolt on inflight refueling probe by Cobham.

“There is no other reason than non-supply of newly designed quartz radome and in-flight refueling probe by Cobham UK, the next FOC is scheduled for March 2016,” DRDO Chief Dr S Christopher told Indian media Monday.

“There are no technological issues deferring FOC but merely process related ones subject to the vagaries of the foreign supplier for the two afore said parts,” Dr Tamilmani, Director General (Aero),DRDO had said during the first time delay by Cobham.
 

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The continuing saga over India's LCA Tejas Mk.1 fighter continues, with the government today putting out in new detail the "shortcomings" in the platform expected to enter service over the next one year. Here's what it told Parliament today:

The following shortcomings have been reported in Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas-Mk-I:

1. Absence of Internal Jammer affecting survivability.
2. Aircraft performance shortfalls.
3. Maintainability issues.

The above shortcomings were primarily due to following reasons:
- Internal jammer technology at that time was based on TWT amplifier which needed about 1000 ltr volume space for integration on aircraft. Hence it could not be accommodated at the time of development of LCA Tejas, Mk-I.2.

The maintainability issues were raised by Indian Air Force (IAF) late in 2009, when design and drawings were already frozen for Mk-I. However, many of the safety critical maintenance issues are already addressed in Mk-I.3.

Government has sanctioned project for development of LCA Mk-II in 2009. Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) is the prime agency for development of LCA Mk-II with the public and private partnerships.

All the above mentioned shortcomings in LCA Mk-I have been addressed in LCA Mk-II version.
 
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aksha

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number of flights

·2977th flight on 30 July

TD1 : 233

PV1: 245

PV3: 387

LSP1: 74

LSP3-257

LSP5: 285

TD2 : 305

PV2: 222

PV5: 110

LSP2: 314

LSP4: 167

LSP7: 146

NP1: 43

LSP8 : 145

PV6: 34

NP2: 10
 
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