HAL Tejas | Updates, News & Discussions-[Thread 2]

[PurpleStone]

The French help runs into billions of dollars in offsets.

I at least want the dry thrust Kaveri certified and ready for Ghatak as soon as possible.

The main issue is, Karevi would no longer be indigenous as it would sport Snecma M88 core. It is as good as OR should I say as bad as any other imported engine.

 

[MimophantSlayer]

The main issue is, Karevi would no longer be indigenous as it would sport Snecma M88 core. It is as good as OR should I say as bad as any other imported engine.

I think the M88 core story was bs to begin with.
Kabini core will still be used.

 

[MimophantSlayer]

Post upgradation Tejas’ Mark-2 to
become a medium weight fighter
By Raghu Krishnan, ET Bureau | Updated: May 18, 2018, 08.40 AM IST

The Tejas aircraft, which first flew in January 2001, is short of completing its final operational clearance, even as it has met the initial requirements set by the air force.

BENGALURU: India is redesignating the Mark-2 upgrade of the homegrown Tejas aircraft as a
medium weight fighter due to its increased weight and weapon carrying capacity. It is also designing the plane to replace the Mirage-2000 fleet of the Indian Air Force.

Aeronautical Development Agency, the design agency of the indigenous fighter aircraft programme, has finalised the systems and is looking to freeze the design of the medium weight fighter in a couple of months, a top scientist told ET. It is expected to have a maximum take off weight of 17.5 tonnes with an improvement of over 85% in weapons and payload carrying capacity to that of Tejas, light combat aircraft (LCA).
Tejas, powered by a single GE-404 engine, is a fly-by-wire fighter that has delta wings and no tail. Fly-bywire technology enables a pilot to control the plane electronically through computers. It has a a maximum take off weight of 13.5 tonnes.
“The LCA was designed to replace the MiG-21aircraft, whereas the Mk-2 is being designed to replace the Mirage 2000,” Dr Girish Deodhar, programme director of ADA told ET. “It is being redesignated as a medium weight fighter.”

India bought Mirage 2000 planes from Dassault Aviation of France in the 1980s. In 2011, Hindustan Aeronautics signed a pact with Thales and Dassault to upgrade the Mirage-2000 with new avionics, radar and weapons. Dassault has shut its Mirage plant since then.

The Tejas aircraft, which first flew in January 2001, is short of completing its final operational clearance, even as it has met the initial requirements set by the air force. The IAF has inducted over six Tejas aircraft in its No 45 Squadron called the Flying Daggers that is based in Sulur, near Coimbatore. It has placed order of 40 Tejas with an additional request for information placed with Hindustan Aeronautics for 83 more planes with the GE-404 engines.

After the initial flights of the LCA, the IAF had expressed concern over the low power thrust of the engine and asked ADA, a unit of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for design changes and more powerful engine for the LCA-Mk2. India has finalised the GE-414 engine, a powerplant similar to the one that powers the F-18 aircraft of Boeing.

The Gas Turbine andResearch Establishment or GTRE, a DRDO unit in Bengaluru, has failed to deliver the indigenous Kaveri engine for the Tejas fighter after nearly two decades of development.

https://m.economictimes.com/news/de...edium-weight-fighter/articleshow/64214939.cms

 

[leapx]

Post upgradation Tejas’ Mark-2 to
become a medium weight fighter
By Raghu Krishnan, ET Bureau | Updated: May 18, 2018, 08.40 AM IST

The Tejas aircraft, which first flew in January 2001, is short of completing its final operational clearance, even as it has met the initial requirements set by the air force.

BENGALURU: India is redesignating the Mark-2 upgrade of the homegrown Tejas aircraft as a
medium weight fighter due to its increased weight and weapon carrying capacity. It is also designing the plane to replace the Mirage-2000 fleet of the Indian Air Force.

Aeronautical Development Agency, the design agency of the indigenous fighter aircraft programme, has finalised the systems and is looking to freeze the design of the medium weight fighter in a couple of months, a top scientist told ET. It is expected to have a maximum take off weight of 17.5 tonnes with an improvement of over 85% in weapons and payload carrying capacity to that of Tejas, light combat aircraft (LCA).
Tejas, powered by a single GE-404 engine, is a fly-by-wire fighter that has delta wings and no tail. Fly-bywire technology enables a pilot to control the plane electronically through computers. It has a a maximum take off weight of 13.5 tonnes.
“The LCA was designed to replace the MiG-21aircraft, whereas the Mk-2 is being designed to replace the Mirage 2000,” Dr Girish Deodhar, programme director of ADA told ET. “It is being redesignated as a medium weight fighter.”

India bought Mirage 2000 planes from Dassault Aviation of France in the 1980s. In 2011, Hindustan Aeronautics signed a pact with Thales and Dassault to upgrade the Mirage-2000 with new avionics, radar and weapons. Dassault has shut its Mirage plant since then.

The Tejas aircraft, which first flew in January 2001, is short of completing its final operational clearance, even as it has met the initial requirements set by the air force. The IAF has inducted over six Tejas aircraft in its No 45 Squadron called the Flying Daggers that is based in Sulur, near Coimbatore. It has placed order of 40 Tejas with an additional request for information placed with Hindustan Aeronautics for 83 more planes with the GE-404 engines.

After the initial flights of the LCA, the IAF had expressed concern over the low power thrust of the engine and asked ADA, a unit of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for design changes and more powerful engine for the LCA-Mk2. India has finalised the GE-414 engine, a powerplant similar to the one that powers the F-18 aircraft of Boeing.

The Gas Turbine andResearch Establishment or GTRE, a DRDO unit in Bengaluru, has failed to deliver the indigenous Kaveri engine for the Tejas fighter after nearly two decades of development.

https://m.economictimes.com/news/de...edium-weight-fighter/articleshow/64214939.cms

Another confusing decision.
Yes, Gripen is getting bigger and heavier. But Gripen users basically have Gripen
only. While India already has a lot SU30 in service and rafale coming.

 

[randomradio]

Another confusing decision.
Yes, Gripen is getting bigger and heavier. But Gripen users basically have Gripen
only. While India already has a lot SU30 in service and rafale coming.

Otoh, Gripen users are small air forces while the IAF is very big.

 

[araberuni7]

India's LCA Mk 1A programme faces delays as IAF insists on additional requirements
Serial production of India’s indigenously developed Tejas Mk 1A Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) could face further delays as the Indian Air Force (IAF) demands the incorporation of new and upgraded systems.

Sources from within manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) told Jane’s on 22 May that the IAF recently informed the state-owned aerospace company that the Mk 1A model needs to feature advanced ‘smart cockpit’ multi-function displays and identification friend-or-foe (IFF) systems.

Moreover, the service demands that digital map generators and upgraded radio altimeters be fitted onto the aircraft before it is approved for serial production.

Industry sources said that although some of these systems can be commercially sourced, integrating them with the software currently installed on the fighter’s mission computer would be “time-consuming” and could defer the fighter’s production schedule by about two years.
http://www.janes.com/article/80238/...ays-as-iaf-insists-on-additional-requirements

 

[aman_rai0007]

Any updates on sp10
I saw upto sp14 on various jigs in a 8 months old video on YouTube

 

[MimophantSlayer]

More or less a confirmation of this....

GTRE to fly Kaveri in a test aircraft again next year before Aero India 2019 after instituting necessary changes outlined by Snecma.
__________________________________________

Foreign expertise key to fire up India's jets
While India has managed to create a fourth-generation jet fighter, it is yet to perfect a low-bypass turbofan (LBTF) engine that can power an aircraft of this class. Indeed, without mastering contemporary jet engine technology, India’s objective of becoming a true aerospace power will remain unfulfilled.

As such, after years of domestic effort by the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE) to develop the Kaveri LBTF engine on its own, India is now turning towards foreign handholding to modify the existing design in order to make it flightworthy.

While the current collaborative effort is limited in scope, a much bigger programme is needed to bring India up to speed in jet engine technology. It must be noted that China is investing very heavily in this domain and will likely steal a march over India if the latter does not do the same.

After some Rs 2,133 crores in expenditure and a couple of decades of development, GTRE’s Kaveri has not yet met its design goals in their entirety. As opposed to a targeted wet thrust level of 81 kilo newtons (KN), the current standard of preparation (SoP) prototypes manage 7-8% less than that figure.

SoP prototypes have achieved dry thrust goals though having demonstrated about 52 KN without afterburner. However, current Kaveri SoP prototypes are not flight capable given their tendency to stall in certain regimes, besides other reliability issues. It has been clear for a while now that foreign expertise is needed to modify the existing SoP level design to make it flightworthy.

This is precisely why the DRDO has engaged France’s Safran Aircraft Engines (Snecma) to perform a design audit on the Kaveri. At the moment, Snecma is preparing a detailed report outlining the design changes needed to create flightworthy Kaveri prototypes.

Once Snecma’s report is ready, GTRE expects to get the go-ahead for the next phase of work that will involve modifying existing SoP prototypes and testing them, with a view to creating new prototypes that can be integrated with an actual flight capable airframe. Snecma will also be a consultant for aircraft integration activities.

As it turns out, GTRE is yet to access some Rs 500 crore in funds that were approved years ago by New Delhi for aircraft integration work as part of the overall outlay for the Kaveri programme. Now that GTRE is looking to actually fly a Tejas test vehicle using a Kaveri engine, it is likely to write to the Centre to disburse this sum.

It seems GTRE will first incorporate Snecma’s recommended design changes onto three existing SoP Kaveri prototypes called K6, K8 and K9. These will be tested both on GTRE’s testbed and on a flying testbed at the Gromov Flight Research Institute in Russia.

After which, a few refined prototypes will be built that are likely to meet the Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification’s (CEMILAC) reliability standards and receive certification for a limited number of flights on board a Tejas class aircraft.

One of these engines post-CEMILAC clearance will be integrated with a Tejas prototype and some 30-40 sorties will be conducted to demonstrate India’s ability to build a LBTF in the 70-80 KN class. GTRE expects to accomplish all this by Aero India 2019.

Greater thrust needed

However, an engine with this level of thrust is inadequate to power even current combat capable Tejas variants, not to mention future ones. Indeed, the Tejas MK-2 design, given its much greater maximum take-off weight will need a jet engine in the 90 KN wet thrust class.

It is felt that the work done on the Kaveri programme should be taken forward by enlisting Snecma’s help to create a Kaveri-derived engine in the 90 KN category that would be compatible with the Tejas. To be compatible with the Tejas, this engine would have to retain the dimensions of the existing Kaveri design with compressor and turbine sizes remaining unchanged.

So, the chief way in which a similar sized derivative can be uprated to 90 KN would be by having an engine core that can withstand much higher turbine entry temperatures. This, in turn, would require the core to be made up of different materials, such as next generation titanium alloys, from what make up the current Kaveri engine core called Kabini.

This undertaking will not prove cheap though. Dr K Tamilmani, former Director General of DRDO’s Aeronautics cluster, estimates that this effort may cost Rs 10,000 crores and take a decade to complete if work began now.

However, given that India is likely to import engines worth several multiples of that figure in the next 15 years or so, the expense could well be worth it, since the expertise gained could allow India to indigenise several classes of jet engines, besides delivering an indigenous LBTF for the Indian Air Force’s Tejas fleet.

Incidentally, the Chinese have already understood the critical importance of being able to design and build modern jet engines and have apparently engaged thousands of technical personnel in a multi-billion dollar effort to achieve the same.

https://www.deccanherald.com/amp?params=LzIwMTcvMDQvMTkvNTg0NTIz

 

[aman_rai]

Shoulder they first fly it with a twin engine jets...
And what does limited envelop flight test means

 

[$@rJen]

Lca Tejas Achieves Yet Another Milestone on it way to FOC Certification
Published July 5, 2018 | By admin
SOURCE: DRDO WITH INPUTS FROM IDRW NEWS NETWORK

Tejas, the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) successfully fred Derby air-to-air Beyond Visual Range Missile (BVRM) to expand its fring envelope as well as to demonstrate safe operation of the aircraft during missile plume ingestion into the aircraft engine under worst case scenarios. The missile was launched from LCA Tejas piloted by Wg Cdr Siddharth Singh on 27 April 2018 from the firing range off the Goa coast after exhaustive study of the missile separation characteristics and plume envelope.

Integration of Derby is one of the major objectives of Final Operational Clearance (FOC) of Tejas. Tejas has been designed and developed by DRDO’s autonomous society Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA). The aircraft was tracked by two other Tejas aircraft in close formation to capture the firing event in the specially instrumented high speed cameras for detail analysis and comparison with the simulation model for validation.

The entire planning, practice sorties and final fring was carried out by ADA and its National Flight Test Centre (NFTC) officials Cmde JA Maolankar and Gp Capt A Kabadwal; IAF; DG (AQA); HAL and INS HANSA. Based on the successful integration and demonstration, Regional Centre for Military Airworthiness (RCMA), a unit of DRDO, cleared the series production aircraft of Squadron 45 to be equipped with Derby operational capability.

LCA Tejas has successfully completed a series of captive ?ight trials to clear Derby for the full operational capability in the entire FOC envelope. In the past, Tejas has qualified for the armaments and missile release related trials. Raksha Mantri Smt Nirmala Sitharaman complimented DRDO and other agencies involved in making Tejas a world-class aircraft platform. Chairman, DRDO, and Secretary, Department of Defence R&D, Dr S Christopher in his congratulatory message said that with this fring Tejas has achieved another major milestone towards FOC certification.

FOC

Demonstration of Inflight Refueling Capabilities are only major hurdle which are left to be demonstrated on LCA-Tejas before FOC Certification is granted to the LCA-Tejas Program according to the information provided by sources close to idrw.org . LCA-Tejas already has completed all Captive flight trials with the AAR probe successfully and also has demonstrated on ground Refueling Capabilities using the AAR probe. Most of the Computer simulations of LCA-Tejas carrying out Inflight Refueling from Ilyushin IL-78 “MARS” (Mid Air Refuelling System) and Sukhoi-30MKI aircraft from various altitudes have been carried out successfully at present aircrafts are performing dry contact trials where AAR probe connect with the aircrafts fuel transfer system but don’t perform actual fuel transfer .

 

[Shamsher1990]

Another confusing decision.
Yes, Gripen is getting bigger and heavier. But Gripen users basically have Gripen
only. While India already has a lot SU30 in service and rafale coming.

Its similar to what China was doing in 60s. J-8 and J-9 projects. Trying to gain mastery of modern aviation while keeping the fighter strength to an acceptable level.

 

[randomradio]

https://english-manoramaonline-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/english.manoramaonline.com/news/nation/2018/07/12/hal-readies-tejas-sp-10-for-first-flight.amp.html?_gsa=1&amp_js_v=0.1#amp_tf=From %1$s&share=https://english.manoramaonline.com/news/nation/2018/07/12/hal-readies-tejas-sp-10-for-first-flight.html

SP-10 is ready to fly.

 

[aman_rai]

https://english-manoramaonline-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/english.manoramaonline.com/news/nation/2018/07/12/hal-readies-tejas-sp-10-for-first-flight.amp.html?_gsa=1&amp_js_v=0.1#amp_tf=From %1$s&share=https://english.manoramaonline.com/news/nation/2018/07/12/hal-readies-tejas-sp-10-for-first-flight.html

SP-10 is ready to fly.

Tejas should be handed by the private sector for efficient production

 

[Winter_is_coming!]

Naval LCA MK1 might not enter in production, but it will complete its objective of testing and certification which will lead to set of technologies being available to India for any other future Naval Aircraft.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1021433007566094336

 

[Water Car Engineer]