http://www.defence.pk/forums/indian-defence/164829-indian-ferrari-over-hal-airport.html#post2688401
Indian Ferrari over HAL Airport | idrw.org
If you order a Ferrari 458 Italia today, youll have to wait up to one year to take delivery of your precious Italian stallion. But Hindustan Aeronautics Limited based in Bangalore, is also Developing something similar at its complex.
No we are not talking about any high end Auto Car, nor any currently been developed by HAL. But we are talking about Indigenous developed Light combat Aircraft (LCA). HAL time frame for delivery of Tejas airframes is very close to Ferraris Waiting list, while Ferraris Customers are glad to wait for their car to arrive but its not the same with Indian air force.
How slow is the production? , well HAL was not able to deliver even a single aircraft for the whole year in 2011 , even with LSP-7 took its first flight in march this year , sources close to idrw.org have informed that LSP-8 will only be ready close to end of this year .
In 2003 IAF had ordered 8 Limited serial production (LSP) aircrafts and new GE engines were delivered by 2006, but first LSP-1 took off only in 2007 with older engines and even after 6 years, HAL has only delivered 6 Airframes (LSP-1/2/3/4/5/7).
Even after Indian air force placed orders for 20 aircrafts in 2005, first Serial Production (SP)-1aircrafts will be handed over to IAF only in 2013.slow rate of production has been often been criticised by Indian air force.
As per sources Problem lies with lack of proper supply chain in manufacturing and many critical components are still been produced under labs rather than production house .since HAL has not been able to start full scale production yet .
HAL few years back even with funds allocated, took its own sweet time to built production facility, which took them more then 2 years basically doing nothing. And even the current production facility is underutilised, since HAL has not been able to recruit enough manpower nor able to develop manufacturing equipments.
At current rate of production HAL will only be able to deliver all 40 Tejas MK-1 only in 2019, last year HAL and ADA had faced Fuel leak issues with LSP aircrafts, which took more 6 months to fix the issues, gradually current LSP aircrafts will be pulled out of Test flights to Fix this issues, since changes has been carried out only in LSP-7 aircraft. Test flights has already hit by delays in carrying out Tier-2 Weapons trials.
ADA is already focussing on Tejas MK-2 now and hopes to have its first flight by 2016 and enter its production by 2019, we can only hope that Tejas MK-2 does face any major issues with its design or structure, which might delay it further.
this is the proper section for it ..:
http://www.defence.pk/forums/indian...ter-unlikely-before-2014-a-2.html#post2688403
Battle-ready Tejas fighter unlikely before 2014
Business Line : Companies News : Battle-ready Tejas fighter unlikely before 2014
The battle-ready version of the country's fighter plane, Tejas, may not emerge before late 2013 or 2014 going by its present pace.
On Friday evening, defence scientists in Bangalore flew yet another improved version of the aircraft to test many indigenously-developed instruments. They reported its 18-minute performance as satisfactory'.
Evidently, much work remains before the fighter matches the Indian Air Force's requirement.
Tejas, when fully flight-ready, is tipped to be the world's lightest. Its story has been snagged by delays, including the US sanctions. An official closely associated with Tejas's progress said LSP-8, the next tweaked version, would not be ready until later this year.
LSP-8 would be the version presented for final certification of CEMILAC, the approving body for fighter aircraft, the official told Business Line. The FOC (final operational or flight clearance) and the green flag to produce them could come in late 2013 or beyond.
Development saga
Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has been making all the early pieces of the light combat aircraft (LCA). The defence PSU has an order for the first 40 planes from the IAF. Before that, Tejas must meet all the standards that make it safe and reliable in a war.
In January 2011, Tejas got the initial operational clearance (IOC) with some concessions on milestones. It had not yet met a few yardsticks for the IOC, which allows those outside the lab' IAF pilots in this case to try out the plane.
The Defence Minister, Mr A.K. Antony, has described it as the semi-final' stage in its 25-year, Rs 12,500-crore development saga.
In the coming years, the IAF is expected to need over 200 Tejas fighters to replace the MiGs. The Navy is tipped to seek 40 customised variants and has already funded the early variants. The IAF has placed an order with HAL to deliver two batches of 20 aircraft each. One order for Rs 4,000 crore is for Mark I. The other is for a higher-powered Mark II fitted with GE-F404 engines
HAL has said it can bring out ten LCAs a year or the full complement of 40 around 2018.
The DRDO's nodal body, the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), is developing the LCA for the IAF.
DRDO said Friday's flight, piloted by Group Captain K. K. Venugopal, tested the multi-mode radar, the helmet mounted display system, the auto-pilot and the instrument landing system.
This test flight is significant for the programme, as LSP-7 build standard is close to the IOC standard. Accordingly LSP-7 aircraft, along with LSP-8, will be offered to the IAF for user evaluation trials, DRDO said in a release.
A production test schedule was used for the first time in an early version.
This is also the first time the maiden flight of a prototype was not accompanied by the customary chase' (companion) aircraft. It indicated the level of confidence in the plane, DRDO claimed.