Best Ever LCA - Tejas Pics Collection !

[kingdurgaking]

Looking like a dreadful bat

 

[kingdurgaking]

With regards
Drunken Monke
(Shrikant Parwate, India)

Dear Monke.... your observation is good.. the only one main advantage that F-16 has is the powerplant which vomits a power of 77KN dry and 127KN wet..
while Tejas has a power plant current 54KN dry and 85KN wet.. with new engine around 60KN and 100 KN i guesss.... way tooo less that F-16...

For any fighter the powerplant is utmost important based on which all loads, fuel and even airframe strengthening is carried..

 

[drunken-monke]

Dear Monke.... your observation is good.. the only one main advantage that F-16 has is the powerplant which vomits a power of 77KN dry and 127KN wet..
while Tejas has a power plant current 54KN dry and 85KN wet.. with new engine around 60KN and 100 KN i guesss.... way tooo less that F-16...

For any fighter the powerplant is utmost important based on which all loads, fuel and even airframe strengthening is carried..

Dear King,

Yeah absolutely you are right. And these specs of tejas do give him a respectable position owing to its small size. Thanks for reading the whole data.
regards

 

[drunken-monke]

Looking like a dreadful bat

Hey thats one of the best pic of the small beast. By the way has anybody got pic of tejas with sonic boom?? If yes please post it..
regards

 

[kingdurgaking]

Dear King,

Yeah absolutely you are right. And these specs of tejas do give him a respectable position owing to its small size. Thanks for reading the whole data.
regards

You are absolutely right.. it seems IAF has given a very tough spec to DRDO/ADA... i cant imagine what they are expecting out of such a small bird..
it is indeed a big achievement for us

 

[ganimi kawa]

Is it just me or the Tejas is looking better and better every passing day....

 

[Starfleet]

Hi Shrikant,

Good analysis. But that works only if the numbers you use are correct. There seems to be more weight on the Tejas. Tejas's 'Loaded Weight' (Wikipedia and several other resources including broadsword blog) is 10.5 tonnes. But Empty weight (6.5) + Full fuel (2.5) should be 9 tonnes (what you say in your calculations). Where do you think this additional 1.5 tonnes comes from? I am told almost 1 tonne of that is the weight of the 8 pylons! What about the GSH 23 mm cannon? Is it accounted for in the empty weight?

Also you do not compare weight/thrust ratios between LCA and F16 using full fuel. You will notice that in that case, LCA looks distinctly underpowered.

We know that the LCA MK1 has 3 main problems. 1. AoA (flames out at 28 degrees whereas a competent fighter should be able to sustain atleast 30/32 degrees). 2. Sustained Rate of Turn (this problem occurs even with very low wing loading suggesting serious weight problems) 3. Low level weapon delivery profiles . Could you shed some light on these issues in the context of weight....ie...At what loaded weight wouldthese issues get resolved. Then we can look at whether the weapons and fuel loading needed to achieve those weights seem practical. If the answer is yes, then the LCA is in business.

If not, then we have serious thinking to do.

 

[drunken-monke]

Hi Shrikant,

Good analysis. But that works only if the numbers you use are correct. There seems to be more weight on the Tejas. Tejas's 'Loaded Weight' (Wikipedia and several other resources including broadsword blog) is 10.5 tonnes. But Empty weight (6.5) + Full fuel (2.5) should be 9 tonnes (what you say in your calculations). Where do you think this additional 1.5 tonnes comes from? I am told almost 1 tonne of that is the weight of the 8 pylons! What about the GSH 23 mm cannon? Is it accounted for in the empty weight?

Also you do not compare weight/thrust ratios between LCA and F16 using full fuel. You will notice that in that case, LCA looks distinctly underpowered.

We know that the LCA MK1 has 3 main problems. 1. AoA (flames out at 28 degrees whereas a competent fighter should be able to sustain atleast 30/32 degrees). 2. Sustained Rate of Turn (this problem occurs even with very low wing loading suggesting serious weight problems) 3. Low level weapon delivery profiles . Could you shed some light on these issues in the context of weight....ie...At what loaded weight wouldthese issues get resolved. Then we can look at whether the weapons and fuel loading needed to achieve those weights seem practical. If the answer is yes, then the LCA is in business.

If not, then we have serious thinking to do.

Dear Mr. starflet,

Thanks for reading my post.

The empty weight of the aircraft is 6450 kg (Basic aircraft empty weight is essentially the same and excludes any baggage, passengers, or usable fuel. Some manufacturers define this empty weight as including optional equipment, i.e. GPS, cargo basket, spotlight.) and the loaded weight is 10500. The internal fuel capacity is of 2458 kg. As you have calculated rightfully, 1482 kg of weight is in excess . what i think that may be counting of droptank having 1200 lt fuel capacity. GSh cannon weighs almost 50 kg and even the 220 rounds it wont make more than 100 to 150 kg. That would be the total loaded weight. But in LCA there are 8 total hard points: 1× beneath the port-side intake trunk, 6× under-wing, and 1× under-fuselage with a capacity of 4000 kg external fuel and ordnance. Although this might contradict with what I have said priviously with context of Droptank, but apart from that I dont see any justification for the 1.5 ton weight.. and if you see the maximum takeoff weight of LCA is 13,300 kg.. So the 4000 kg of external fuel raises question with respect to maximum takeoff weight (10500+4000=14500kg) Hence what i think is that 1.5 ton must be droptank + ordanace for twin barrel cannon. (Correct me if my assumptions are wrong)

Also about the AOA and sustained turn rate Tejas have a serious disadvantage due to its underpowered GE 404 engine. Thrust to weight ratio of the FAC is 0.9 as per the Wikipedia which is for sure not enough I say for a FAC which would be a interceptor. That may be overcomed with better engine IMO (may be GE 414, or improved kaveri)..
regards

 

[Starfleet]

Dear Drunken Monke,

I wish they were drop tanks but I suspect not as these are always accounted for in external fuel + ordanance (as you also acknowledge;-)).

I think I can partially account for this 1.5 tonnes. With 8 pylons fitted out at an avg of 75 kgs per pylon thats 600 kgs. Another 300/400 (say 350 avg) is the weight of telemetery equipment for testing that will be reomved after FOC. Say 150 kgs for the cannon + ammo. Thats 1.1 tonnes. Another 400 kgs mystery weight. I suspect some unpleasnt bombshell ADA will drop soon.

Also remember that design Max TOW is constant at 13.5 tonnes and we have already seen a 1 tonne increase in empty weight from 5.5. tonnes to 6.5 tonnes ( 5.5 was achieved and 'frozen' in 2005). So I wont be surprised if there are more surprises lurking.

But having said that I still believe that a decent point intercept mission can be flown. 6500 kgs + 2500 kgs + 300 kgs ( 4 pylons) + 300 kgs ( 4 AA missiles) + 150 kgs ( cannon) =10.1 tonnes.

Good enough in my view and same as Mig 21 Bison which is a pretty good aircarft. So no problem there (as long as air intakes are properly designed and AoA and Sustained Rate of Turn problems are not beacuse of that).

Any weight over 10.5 tonnes and Tejas beocmes sluggish becuase of weight gain and engine woes. So it has to be flown at max max that. This means that no question of a ground attack role.

But I am okay with that.

Re Mk 2 I am not holding my breath. It will take at best 5 years to come.

A

 

[Black Widow]

You are absolutely right.. it seems IAF has given a very tough spec to DRDO/ADA... i cant imagine what they are expecting out of such a small bird..
it is indeed a big achievement for us

IAF want a fighter plane which has size of mouse, strength of elephant, which can run like cheeta, which has AoA of falcon.. These all thing must come in first attempt, else they will choose some other plane (with huge commission)...

Thanks god its a plane, if it would have been road vehicle, they would have been sabotaged its engine as they did with Arjuna...

 

[IndianArmy]

 

[SivHp]

Do these can be fitted with BVR missiles & AESA radar ?

 

[Kinetic]

Do these can be fitted with BVR missiles & AESA radar ?

Current LCA have BVR missile and an AESA under development for future version.

 

[Mr.Ryu]

Evil TEJAS PS



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[drunken-monke]

Current LCA have BVR missile and an AESA under development for future version.

Although the current version doesn't have the AESA but we are negotiating with ELTA for that. Also the Indian version of AESA will be ready in many be couple of years.