Prasun K. Sengupta said...
To MRIDUL BARUAH: Firstly, kindly note that Tejas Mk1s LSP-7 is being subjected to right now are still airworthiness certification flight-tests (after which the aircrafts technical & maintenance manuals will be drafted), all of which is CEMILAC's & not the IAF's responsibility. Once the CofA is awarded by CEMILAC, the LSP-7 & in future the LSP-8 will be heading to Gwalior where the IAFs Tactics & Combat Development Establishment (TACDE) will use these two aircraft as well as the first 20 SP-series aircraft (to be delivered by late 2015) for drafting the aircrafts operational usage manuals for air combat & precision ground-strike. ONLY AFTER this is completed by 2017 will the IOC phase begin. IOC cant even commence unless all the four manuals Ive mentioned above are ready for dessimination. IOC & FOC are all about an aircraft's aircrew & ground crew & related ground-based squadron-level MRO facilities acquiring a degree of proficiency that will enable the aircraft to be employed in wartime on a sustained basis. Therefore, all talk of IOC-1/2/3/4 etc & FOC is highly premature to even talk about at this stage, something which the 'desi' journalists & the 'desi' Defence Minister of the MoD as well as the IAFs CAS ought to understand & stop taking the gullible public for a ride to nowhere. As for CofA-related flight-tests in Leh, even the MiG-21 Bison could not pass them, only the MiG-29B & Su-30MKI could due to their higher-thrust turbofans. The Tejas Mk2 powered by GE-built F414 turbofan will be able to succeed in taking off from & landing in Leh for sure.
Prasun K. Sengupta said...
To ARJUN:
The maximum range of BrahMos-2 will be 300km as of now. Since is being developed as a JV with Russia, the question of bypassing Russia for the sake of increasing the missiles range envelope doesnt arise. For GPS-based navigation there are two types of accuracy-based codes that are available: the civilian C-code where high-level accuracy is not required, while the Py-code is encrypted & offers the highest level of accuracy. GAGAN will be fully operational by 2014. The LCH will be vulnerable to MANPADS if the missile is launched from higher altitudes, as was done by the Stingers in both Afghanistan & Kargil.