LCA No.5 (PV 3)takes to the skies

[Adux]

http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?gid=73 .

India's fifth LCA takes to skies on maiden flight


BANGALORE, DEC 1 (PTI)
The prototype aircraft of Tejas, PV3, had its flawless maiden flight today.

It was flown by Group Capt Harish.

It is the fifth light combat aircraft to take to the skies, joining the fleet of two technology Demonstrators (TD1 and TD2) and two proto vehicles (PV1 and PV2), according to the Aeronautical Development Agency, which comes under the Ministry of Defence.

"The perfect maiden flight is a result of maturity gained in development of various systems, building of the aircraft to better and better quality, and thorough ground testing," an ADA statement said.

The LCA programme, in spite of all the setbacks it had due to US sanctions, has moved forward and has completed more than 570 flights, ADA said. Eleven Test Pilots from IAF who have flown and evaluated these aircraft have adjudged the handling qualities as one of the best in its class.

The aircraft, having proved as a good flying platform, is now getting converted into a good weapon platform, with the integration and testing of various weapons and sensors planned over the next 18 months, the statement said.



This is a very postive development and about bloody time too...

Adu

 

[MIG_ACE]

They are going for weapon integration...But still saying nothing abt the radar.I recently saw on another forum, a news article from Force magazine which said that the indigenous MMR was still not ready and the first prod version might carry the Israeli Elta-2052 AESA.

 

[Awesome]

Post some videos of this test if you can find some...

 

[EagleEyes]

The LCA programme, in spite of all the setbacks it had due to US sanctions, has moved forward and has completed more than 570 flights, ADA said. Eleven Test Pilots from IAF who have flown and evaluated these aircraft have adjudged the handling qualities as one of the best in its class.

Not worst than what Pakistan went through. Pakistan was acquiring basic F-7s while India was acquiring advanced Su-30 aircrafts from Russia.

 

[Adux]

There is slight mistake on my part on the title,
The PV 4 is the two seater trainer version, PV 3 is the vanilla LCA, single seater, But it has all the weapons integration done
Sorry guys for the mess up
Mods if u can edit the title, it will be great

Adu

 

[joey]

Webmaster Agreed but also We were robbed by yanks at that time when LCA was at advanced stage of dev, just imagine taking away the FBW, "VISTA" etc etc.

IIRC we had to write own "flight control laws" after 1998 which is quite tedious job.

 

[vnomad]

Mods if u can edit the title, it will be great

Adu

You can do it yourself. Just edit your first post. Select the "go advanced" option and you'll be able to edit the title.

 

[Adux]

thank you vnomad

 

[Awesome]

Naah that option comes under thread tools to edit your thread title. I don't think its available to members. Notice the post title has changed by the thread title remains the same.

I'll change it.

 

[Adux]

Naah that option comes under thread tools to edit your thread title. I don't think its available to members. Notice the post title has changed by the thread title remains the same.

I'll change it.

Thanks a lot Asim

 

[Bull]

BANGALORE, FEB 6 (PTI)
In a significant step in the country's indigenous fighter jet programme, the first light combat aircraft Tejas from a limited series production successfully made a ground run here.

"This ground run on the Limited Series Production-1 is a major event in any production programme running concurrently with the development of prototypes. The aircraft has already undergone extensive ground testing of various systems before undertaking this event," said a release today from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, which is building the jet.

During the ground run yesterday, the aircraft behaved "very well as per the specifications", HAL said. The LCA production team will build seven more aircraft in addition to LSP-1 by 2008.

Under a contract signed by HAL and the Indian Air Force in 2006, the first batch of 20 series production jets will start rolling out of HAL's facilities during 2009-10. A production rate of eight aircraft a year is planned.

 

[Bull]

HAL places USD 100 million engine order with GE


BANGALORE, FEB 6 (PTI)
In a contract valued at over USD 100 million, the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has ordered an additional twentyfour F404-GE-IN20 afterburning engines to power the first operational squadron of Tejas fighter aircraft for the Indian Air Force.

This follows an initial 2004 purchase of 17 F404-GE-IN20 engines to power a limited series of operational production aircraft and naval prototypes, a GE statement said.

Earlier this year, the F404-GE-IN20 was trial-installed in Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) as part of final evaluations towards flight testing, scheduled for mid-2007.

The F404-IN-20 engine has generated more than 19,000 pounds (85 kN) uninstalled thrust and has completed 330 hours of Accelerated Mission testing, which is the equivalent of 1,000 hours of flight operation, the statement said.

 

[Bull]

So very well i guess finally we are going to see the LCA inducted by 2009, phew.

 

[Bull]

I have updated the thread with some new images of LCA here...https://defence.pk/forums/showthread.php?p=48326&posted=1#post48326

 

[Bull]

Bangalore, Feb 5 (ANI): India's indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas is poised for weaponisation in April, said Dr. PS Subramanyam, Director of the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and Programme Director for LCA.

The world's lightest fighter aircraft with state-of-the-art technology would give an impetus to the Indian Air Force in replacing ageing MIGs.

Dr. Subramanyam said the Tejas has evolved from flying stages to combat stages, adding that its weaponisation would prove its tactical capabilities.

"The weaponisation of LCA is a milestone in proving the world Indian capabilities of building a fighter aircraft. This would also take Indian into a league of select nations," Dr. Subramanyam told ANI in an exclusive interview.

According to Dr. Subramanyam, over 200 aircrafts are likely to be built with the help of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited to be inducted into the Indian Air Force by 2008.

"The Indigenously built Indian Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, which took to skies in 2001, has now five aircrafts and has already received an order of one squadron of twenty aircrafts by the Indian air force. In fact, weaponisation is a very crucial and complicated process in a combat aircraft," Dr. Subramanyam said.

Dr Subramanyam is also hopeful of joint efforts by private companies across the globe to market this fourth generation fighter aircraft. (ANI)