Medium Combat Aircraft
The twin-engined Medium Combat Aircraft (MCA) is a stealthy 5th generation strike aircraft being developed by India. It will complement the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) and the Su-30MKI in the Indian Air Force. Design work on the MCA has been started
Background
Although India began the development of the Light Combat Aircraft in 1983, India has mulled the eventual development of a 5th generation fighter aircraft, that would eventually replace the SEPECAT Jaguar and MiG-27 bomber/strike aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF).
Presently there are two proposals before the Government of India, regarding the development programme of the proposed 5th generation fighter. One envisages the indigenous development of the 5th generation aircraft i.e. the MCA, which would be the successor to the LCA project. Another proposal was the development of the fighter in collaboration with another country that has experience in the development of fighter aircraft (notably Russia).
For some years before 2006 (2001), Russia had proposed to India the joint development of its 5th generation fighter aircraft designated as PAK-FA[1]. According to the proposal, this fighter would thus be funded and developed by Russia and India. India had been considering the latter proposal in place of MCA's development for 2 reasons :
Development of a 5th generation fighter indigenously by India may take more time and money, since it will be a technological challenge. Thus, collaboration with an experienced aircraft manufacturer such as Russia would reduce time and costs of this programme.
Russia itself needed a 5th generaton fighter aircraft, but probably had a shortage of finances. India could provide the requisite finances and using Russia's technological expertise, it could develop the PAK-FA in a shorter time.
However in the year 2005, India rejected the Russian proposal of PAK-FA on the grounds that India was not consulted in the design of the PAK-FA since the beginning.[2]
But in January 2007, India and Russia formally resumed fresh negotiations over a fifth-genration fighter development programme which was the PAK-FA. India chose the Sukhoi proposal of PAK-FA, over the other proposal that could most probably have been from MiG, and contractual negotiations are ongoing. [3] According to proposals, both countries will jointly develop the PAK-FA. However, India shall continue developing the MCA's as a separate project. In August 2006, India's defence minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee announced in Parliament that the government is evaluating the experiences gained from the LCA programme for the MCA.
Thus, presently, it is likely that the indigenous MCA programme shall be chosen by India for its future 5th generation fighter aircraft along with the Indo-Russian fifth-generation fighter.
Technical aspects
India is currently developing the LCA which is a light multirole attack plane.
On initial inspection of the released sketches, the MCA appears to be an elongated version of the LCA, with 2 engines and the tail-fin removed. The compound clipped delta wing design is similar to that of the LCA. The engines are likely to be the Kaveri engine, if the development of the same is completed. Whichever engines are chosen, they are likely to be expected to have thrust vectoring and supercruise capabilities. The expected thrust-to-weight ratio of the engines shall be 7.8:1. Thus, the only components common between MCA and LCA will be part of the wing, the Kaveri engine, and some systems and subsystems. MCA will also be heavier than the LCA (12 ton dry weight).
Regarding the stealth features of the MCA, since the tail-fins are removed the frontal radar cross section must be reduced significantly. Since external stores are visible, they will not help in reducing the stealthiness of the MCA. The MCA shall be coated with radar absorbent materials.
The LCA first flew in 2001 and should be inducted around 2008. MCA itself should make its first flight before 2012. It will face direct competition from China's J-XX, whose prototype is expected to be flown in 2015.
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