Indian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.
- Thread starter bd popeye
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I guess they're sort of sister aircraft, internal/oversized external payload carriers.So they really want to develop and field a fighter akin to the Rafale for the 2038+ scenarios? Why not better developing a navalised variant of the AMCA?
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Navy aircraft tilted towards larger munitions (and survival with them under wings) makes a lot of sense.
Frankly speaking, AMCA itself isn't exactly impressive in 2036(which is Indian schedule, i.e. tends to go right even more than usual).
Lethe
Captain
So they really want to develop and field a fighter akin to the Rafale for the 2038+ scenarios? Why not better developing a navalised variant of the AMCA?
Probably because carrier operations were (probably quite sensibly) never envisaged for MCA/AMCA, such that the aircraft would require extensive redesign to be even notionally adaptable to carrier operations. MCA/AMCA is more than fifteen years old at this point, and existing stakeholders who wish to see it in service before the centenary of the Republic would be advised to resist any such rescoping of the project. The journey is arduous enough without further moving of the goalposts. The more recent TEDBF program appears to owe its existence to the failure of LCA-N owing to marginal performance characteristics (which supports LCA detractors' contention that even the land-based aircraft is chronically overweight) coupled with growth of ambition over time to an aircraft that could, at least in theory, serve as the carrier-based manned combat aircraft for IN. Undoubtedly IN will have been reassured by ADA that TEDBF project cost will be minimised via commonality with LCA systems and learnings from that project. Still, it appears to be an insouciant enterprise with long odds of success.
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China has an aerial version of a similar shot but you have to visit the military records museum in the ETC to see it.
Breathless headlines at Aero India -- for models!
That kinda looks like a PESA radar with a mechanism for horizontal scan and the separate IFF interrogator dipoles on the top edge of it.
The indian PPT hype cycle begins again. I wonder how long it'll take this time for disappointment to set in?
I think that's a bit too harsh. The best India has to offer are pretty capable people. The problem is that they are not appreciated in India, where issues like casteism, regionalism, linguistic bigotry and of course religious intolerance is still rife. On top of that you have terrible wages, massive corruption and horrible quality of life. So no wonder most just escape to the West.
Honestly, I think the main issue for India is impatience. If you look at China's evolution, they really focused on mastering the basics first. This was true even for the education system. China first focused on getting universal literacy and then slowly began to shift attention to higher education. India had great top universities already in the 1950s (IITs were among the best in Asia back then) but only managed to get universal literacy among its youth relatively recently.
The same pattern emerges in jets. China patiently began humbly and slowly built up its capabilities. Let's not pretend there weren't setbacks and delays, there were plenty. But China didn't rush things. India by comparison wants to "leapfrog" without mastering the fundamentals. So you get Indians excited about model airplans and powerpoints. I don't see how the country weans itself off from foreign imports if this is the mentality. Something's gotta change.
I may be harsh but I am correct. Every performance in the past 50 years corroborate with my view. Their fundamental technical capability is limited. You cannot put failures of domestic programs all on corruption. Removal of corruption still put them around 1985 China's level.
The Indian politician's decision to buy foriegn product is not entirely stupid. They know the end product will still be delayed, unsatisfactory. Their military will be outmatched. Instead of SU-57 and Rafale, they will operate likes of Tejas Mk.I for the next 20 years. Would they accept using crap domestic equipment for next 30 years for sake of self-sufficiency? It seems very impractical given their ambitious foriegn policy. Yet this is exactly the harsh choice China made 40 years ago. They were stuck making J-7ABCDEFG... and Type-59ABCDEFG... while everyone around them are better off importing. Nevertheless China endured that and gave up all foriegn ambition for the next 40 years. Do you think Indians can make this harsh choice? Not to mention, what if they can't pull it off like China? They are not focusing on education, so whether their basic technical capability is in question.
If India make all the right choice, it would still take 20 years to hit 2011 J-20 level of designs. (20 years between J-8 to J-20) But lets not kid ourselves, they will not make all the right choice. It is too much to assume for any country. So lets say they don't, just follow status quo. Should Indians wait for 40 years for a domestic J-20 equivalent? This is actually a harder choice than previously assumed.
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