IAF to induct 15 indigenously-built 'Saras' light transport aircraft

[New Vision]

I don't buy this "indegeniously built" mentality. How could you spend so much money that out dated in design and not even worth the quality? Yes, you might benefit with knowledge and expertise, but the cost is way too high, you'd never have any comparative edge over others.

Rather build planes with partnership with other countries. Develop and exchange technologies to have a comparative edge over others. The whole idea of "reinventing the wheel" so to speak just to give it a indigenious colour is really stupid IMO and defies laws of science and modern economics.

I dont see what is so difficult to understand this. buying or collaborating is going to render us dependent forever, here the idea is to evolve technology and come up with better things inthe future. Even if the tech. is not better than our adversaries in war, at least we have the tech to produce what we can and put up a fight rather that be totally handicapped and come to a stand still. In many ways these aircraft have technologies from foreign countries, but the idea is to have the main tech. mastered by our own guys

 

[New Vision]

Hi,

What do you mean by ‘so much money’? Can you please elaborate?

The total project cost of Saras is Rs. 131.38 crores. NAL/HAL have pegged the cost per aircraft at Rs. 39.4 crores. IAF has already placed an order for 15 aircrafts, meaning the very first order for the aircraft will amount to Rs. 591 crores – more than 4 times the development cost recovered from the very first order! The IAF is also expected to place a follow on order for 30 more Saras aircrafts to replace its ageing fleet of Dorniers, which will take the total revenues for HAL/NAL to Rs. 1773 crores from IAF alone. Moreover, such an aircraft is ideal for executive transport, light package carrier, remote sensing and aerial research service, coast guard, border patrolling, air ambulance and other community services (see the original article). If marketed properly, it has a potential of bringing huge revenues to the developer and manufacturer.

Coming to the quality part – the fact that IAF has already placed firm orders for 15 of these even before the final prototype has taken to the skies should give you some indication about its quality. I am not claiming that it is the best in its class – at least not yet but the point is it needn’t be the best or in your words it needn’t have ‘any comparative edge over others’ coz it doesn’t have to compete with others – as long as it is reasonably priced, it will sell like hot cakes in one of the largest markets of the world!

Ultimately I would say , we have the capacity for a Saras type aircraft. We have the capacity for a LCA type of aircraft and we can produce these machines on our own. So now that we have achieved that , lets move to the next step, bigger and better

 

[arihant]

Saras is now looking for 90 seater plane. This will help in regional flights and dependences on Airbus and Beoing will be less now.

 

[RPK]

Saras is now looking for 90 seater plane. This will help in regional flights and dependences on Airbus and Beoing will be less now.

Saras is 14 seat passenger



70-seat passenger aircraft called the RTA-70 for regional transport.

 

[TOPGUN]

I wonder if this aircraft could be used by the indian navy ? imagine it landing on a ac after being modifed ..lol overall i don't think there is anything wrong with it good for india.

 

[wangrong]

copy Piaggio P-180 and CBA-123

 

[Kavin]

copy Piaggio P-180 and CBA-123

Good work, as usual:

http://www.defence.pk/forums/india-defence/38132-tejas-lca-setting-record-straight-8.html#post546933

But I'm not satisfied because we are far behind China in copying

 

[RPK]

^^^ I think you find one similar thing propeler fan great going

 

[mrwarrior006]

@wangrong


i have two legs two eyes and two hand does tat make me ur copy or u of my copy

copy means copying without changing anything now- in this engines are different
features ar different and even if u notice design it also differs like radar missing,fins below cockpit missing

 

[ebungo]

@wangrong


i have two legs two eyes and two hand does tat make me ur copy or u of my copy

copy means copying without changing anything now- in this engines are different
features ar different and even if u notice design it also differs like radar missing,fins below cockpit missing

 

[wangrong]

@wangrong


i have two legs two eyes and two hand does tat make me ur copy or u of my copy

copy means copying without changing anything now- in this engines are different
features ar different and even if u notice design it also differs like radar missing,fins below cockpit missing

you can say:No leaves are exactly the same in the world.

 

[mrwarrior006]

@wangrong

exactly mate but china can even copy tat --ok just kidding

 

[arihant]

@wangrong

exactly mate but china can even copy tat --ok just kidding

Although people see it very strangely but this capability of copying by china is great.

 

[mrwarrior006]

^^^ agreed

 

[idea123]

What's the comparative advantage & disadvantage of pusher propeller over conventional propeller driven planes?
Y NAL went for pusher propeller in their first try....Y not the conventional propeller?