Naval and IAF Tejas Mark 2 Designs Revealed

[Super Falcon]

HAL and DRDO wants the mockery of indian budget

 

[amardeep mishra]

Good design changes. But I am worried about the induction timeline.

Also, the Indian Navy has not committed any real solid numbers for the naval variant.

They have still expressed keenness to actually have twin-engined medium sized jets off the carriers (either Super Hornets or Rafale-Ms). Navy would not go for a 4.5th generation single engine jet.

Aircraft carriers are not supposed to do a point-defence or interdiction role that Tejas will undertake. The are meant to do area denial over the seas and rain hell on enemy warships.

I see no problem with 2023-2025 timeline. It is perfectly doable.

 

[Shabi1]

I see no problem with 2023-2025 timeline. It is perfectly doable.

The problem is India can't afford to wait, it needs to start inducting current variant Tejas's in large numbers and once the MK-2 becomes available orders will convert to that. Before moving to the next model the current one has to be fixed and inducted regardless of shortcomings as long as they are not putting the aircraft flight at risk.

If India buys a interim fighter like the Grippen, F-16/21, more Rafaels or SU-35, then in presence of the MK-2 the numbers will not make feasibility for the sellers or the buyer for "Make In India". And by the time the MK-2 comes online and enters service in numbers it will be facing 5th gen prospective threats just after it inducts. And knowing how things have progressed in the past it could suffer the same project creep fate of the previous version with requirement update requests delaying it further. On the plus side now it will have a fuselage large enough to offer better flexibility for future upgrades.
Its a cache 22 situation for India and HALs delays have caused it. Current Tejas needs a new thicker canopy, needs the gun vibration issue sorted and InAF has requested new MFDs plus better mission computers.
https://defenceupdate.in/tejas-mark-1a-faces-delay-as-air-force-adds-to-demands/

 

[Arulmozhi Varman]

Hi @ziaulislam
Actually to be honest, LCA MK2 is indeed a new plane altogther! It no longer is in light weight category and in fact comes in medium weight. Both the airforce and the naval version are completely redesigned with additional control surfaces. This redesign is very deep as it has undergone structural changes- for instance the fuselage has been widened to accomodate the new F414 engine making way for some 800+kgs of additional fuel. The fuel capacity will now increase beyond 3300kgs. This will make MK2 slightly bigger than the Mirage 2000. The main requirement from the IAF is that they want 6.5t payload capacity in LCA MK2. LCA MK2 will also incorporate a lot of lessons learnt via the LCA MK1 (FOC), LCA MK1A program- notably in the field of maintenance. Contrary to what a lot of people believe, LCA with canards was actually tried in wind tunnel facilities here in bangalore in early-mid 90s. It seems ADA has brought back the concept of canards because with a much more powerful engine and a lengthened airframe, they can accommodate the actuators for canards without degrading the performance of the jet.
The canards that you see in LCA are not the normal canards- they are close coupled canards similar to rafale and grippen. The close coupled canard sit very close to the main wing, slight above it. This allows canard to energize the flow over the wing- notably the wing root. When you energize the flow over a wing- you are essentially enhancing the normal lift of the main wing. The effect is more pronounced at higher AoAs. So at higher AoA, there is still sufficient lift available and the aircraft doesnt stall. This will effectively allow the LCA MK2 to pull higher AoAs than it's competitors as now canards will delay the stall. On the flipside it increases overall drag and requires a much more complicated flight control system. Speaking of digital flight control systems, it is one area where India has acquired sufficient expertise over past 3 decades.
What is also astonishing is that 6.5t payload will be distributed on 11 weapon stations with dual rack ejector for BVR. For me this is a very very serious capability enhancement (from 3.8-4t payload in MK1A to 6.5t in MK2).
Finally as for the time frames, it wont take as much time as it took them to graduate to LCA MK1A level because they have standardized on a lot of things and they are planning to construct 4 TDs after which serial production will directly start. There wont be any LSP stage in LCA MK2.

But an F414 engine has only 98Kn which is just 8Kn more than F404 engine at 90kn. An increase of 8Kn and fuel capacity will increase the capacity of 6.5 tonnes? I feel some mismatch or a lack of some info.

 

[kmc_chacko]

The problem is India can't afford to wait, it needs to start inducting current variant Tejas's in large numbers and once the MK-2 becomes available orders will convert to that. Before moving to the next model the current one has to be fixed and inducted regardless of shortcomings as long as they are not putting the aircraft flight at risk.

If India buys a interim fighter like the Grippen, F-16/21, more Rafaels or SU-35, then in presence of the MK-2 the numbers will not make feasibility for the sellers or the buyer for "Make In India". And by the time the MK-2 comes online and enters service in numbers it will be facing 5th gen prospective threats just after it inducts. And knowing how things have progressed in the past it could suffer the same project creep fate of the previous version with requirement update requests delaying it further. On the plus side now it will have a fuselage large enough to offer better flexibility for future upgrades.
Its a cache 22 situation for India and HALs delays have caused it. Current Tejas needs a new thicker canopy, needs the gun vibration issue sorted and InAF has requested new MFDs plus better mission computers.
https://defenceupdate.in/tejas-mark-1a-faces-delay-as-air-force-adds-to-demands/

IAF can wait till 2025 as Mig-21s & Mig-27s are to be phased out by that time and presently IAF has confirmed induction of total 123 nos of Mk1 & MkA1 + 18 Su-30s + 36 Rafale + 21 Mig-29s in total almost 200 4th Gen fighters replacing 250+ 3rd Gen fighters which I assume can easily make up for the minimum operational level IAF requires and this is without considering any induction of MRCA 2.0 or Mk2s or Rafales or AMCA.

I strongly believe IAF will go for F-16/21 considering the engine factor, as Grippen also dependent on GE for the same. TATA has already geared up with partnership with LMs & Boeing's for producing F-16/21 locally and I do think F-16/21 flying in IAF colour will be a distant reality.

Tejas is point defense fighter and replacing lower end Mig-21s and initial issues or glitches can be taken care off while inducting MkA1, which has induction time line of 2021-22.

 

[Water Car Engineer]

 

[Sharky]

Same shitty name and ugly design. More waste of tax payers money.

 

[My-Analogous]

Its not LCA but MCA. Clearly written on plane