Tejas successfully completes drop tank jettison trial
BANGALORE: India's light combat aircraft Tejas has successfully completed the 'drop tank jettison trial' over the recently commissioned air-to-ground range of National Flight Test Centre at Chitradurga .
The 1,200-litre drop tank jettison trial was conducted yesterday at a critical point in the jettison envelope on Tejas LSP-3 aircraft, piloted by Group Captian Suneet Krishna, P S Subramanyam, Programme Director (CA) and Director of the Aeronautical Development Agency, said in a statement here.
Jettisonable drop tanks are carried by a combat aircraft, after completing the mission and are required to be dropped from the mother aircraft for a quick getaway from the enemy territory and other emergency situations.
To ensure safety of flight, clean separation of the tank with adequate clearances from the mother aircraft or neighbouring stores are needed to be established from flight test.
The trial aircraft was escorted by another Tejas PV-2 which captured the external video picture of the drop tank trajectory after release.
The theoretical predictions were further verified through 'Pit drop tests', conducted on a test specimen using specially designed test rig with part of the aircraft system and high speed photography system integrated with it.
The test cases covered a number of conditions such as empty, partial and full drop tanks as well as different Ejector Release Unit (ERU) settings.
The flight tests were planned by National Flight Test centre, Aeronautical Development Agency, "at certain representative critical release condition."
Considering the critical nature of this test, a safety review was conducted at NFTC to ensure all foreseeable safety issues were taken care of before embarking on this important test.
Prahlada, CC-R&D (Ae-SI) of DRDO said "with such test experiments made by the team, the aeronautical test range facility at Challakere has paved the smooth way for subsequent trials of different natures."
He said if this facility were not to be commissioned at Challakere, all such flight tests would have to be carried on either at Hyderabad or Pokran.
In view of the close proximity to Challakere to Bangalore it was more comfortable in conducting the test flights by the dedicated team the process of which could be monitored from Bangalore,he said.
Tejas successfully completes drop tank jettison trial - The Economic Times
Tejas Completes Drop Tank Jettison Trials
BENGALURU, India Indias Tejas Light Combat Aircraft successfully completed a drop tank trial over the Aeronautical Test Range at Challakere in Chitradurga, near Bengaluru, on Dec. 17.
P.S. Subramanyam, chief of the Aeronautical Development Agency, tells Aviation Week that a 1,200-liter drop tank was jettisoned from a Tejas limited series production (LSP-3) aircraft piloted by Group Capt. Suneet Krishna.
We flew a Tejas PV-2 as an escort to capture external video images of the drop tank trajectory after release, Subramanyam says.
Jettisonable drop tanks are critical for a fighter aircraft for getting on to a swift mission mode during emergency situations.
The theoretical predictions were further verified through pit drop tests conducted on a test specimen using a specially designed rig with part of the aircraft system and a high-speed photography system integrated with it. The test cases covered a number of conditions such as empty, partial and full drop tanks, as well as different Ejector Release Unit settings, Subramanyam says.
The flight trials were planned by the National Flight Test Center (NFTC) in Bengaluru. We looked into the safety from all angles. A review was conducted at NFTC to ensure all foreseeable safety issues were taken care of before embarking on this important test, a NFTC source says.
Indian media are keeping a close watch on the program, which has been hampered by time and cost overruns. With a Dec. 27 deadline looming to complete the certification process, ahead of its scheduled initial operational clearance (IOC), the focus now shifts to New Delhi for a crucial review, scheduled on Dec. 21.
The Indian air force (IAF) chief is expected to make a final decision on IOC at this meeting, which would signal IAF pilots to fly Tejas to check its handling qualities and other advanced features. This would also pave the way for its squadron formation sometime in mid-2011, by the time the remaining platforms (LSP-7 and LSP-8) would have joined the flight line.
Series production (SP) is expected to start next year. The onus will then shift to Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. to stick to the delivery schedules and roll out the first SP block of 20 Tejas, a source says. These fighters will get into the first squadron.
Tejas Completes Drop Tank Jettison Trials | AVIATION WEEK
BANGALORE: India's light combat aircraft Tejas has successfully completed the 'drop tank jettison trial' over the recently commissioned air-to-ground range of National Flight Test Centre at Chitradurga .
The 1,200-litre drop tank jettison trial was conducted yesterday at a critical point in the jettison envelope on Tejas LSP-3 aircraft, piloted by Group Captian Suneet Krishna, P S Subramanyam, Programme Director (CA) and Director of the Aeronautical Development Agency, said in a statement here.
Jettisonable drop tanks are carried by a combat aircraft, after completing the mission and are required to be dropped from the mother aircraft for a quick getaway from the enemy territory and other emergency situations.
To ensure safety of flight, clean separation of the tank with adequate clearances from the mother aircraft or neighbouring stores are needed to be established from flight test.
The trial aircraft was escorted by another Tejas PV-2 which captured the external video picture of the drop tank trajectory after release.
The theoretical predictions were further verified through 'Pit drop tests', conducted on a test specimen using specially designed test rig with part of the aircraft system and high speed photography system integrated with it.
The test cases covered a number of conditions such as empty, partial and full drop tanks as well as different Ejector Release Unit (ERU) settings.
The flight tests were planned by National Flight Test centre, Aeronautical Development Agency, "at certain representative critical release condition."
Considering the critical nature of this test, a safety review was conducted at NFTC to ensure all foreseeable safety issues were taken care of before embarking on this important test.
Prahlada, CC-R&D (Ae-SI) of DRDO said "with such test experiments made by the team, the aeronautical test range facility at Challakere has paved the smooth way for subsequent trials of different natures."
He said if this facility were not to be commissioned at Challakere, all such flight tests would have to be carried on either at Hyderabad or Pokran.
In view of the close proximity to Challakere to Bangalore it was more comfortable in conducting the test flights by the dedicated team the process of which could be monitored from Bangalore,he said.
Tejas successfully completes drop tank jettison trial - The Economic Times
Tejas Completes Drop Tank Jettison Trials
BENGALURU, India Indias Tejas Light Combat Aircraft successfully completed a drop tank trial over the Aeronautical Test Range at Challakere in Chitradurga, near Bengaluru, on Dec. 17.
P.S. Subramanyam, chief of the Aeronautical Development Agency, tells Aviation Week that a 1,200-liter drop tank was jettisoned from a Tejas limited series production (LSP-3) aircraft piloted by Group Capt. Suneet Krishna.
We flew a Tejas PV-2 as an escort to capture external video images of the drop tank trajectory after release, Subramanyam says.
Jettisonable drop tanks are critical for a fighter aircraft for getting on to a swift mission mode during emergency situations.
The theoretical predictions were further verified through pit drop tests conducted on a test specimen using a specially designed rig with part of the aircraft system and a high-speed photography system integrated with it. The test cases covered a number of conditions such as empty, partial and full drop tanks, as well as different Ejector Release Unit settings, Subramanyam says.
The flight trials were planned by the National Flight Test Center (NFTC) in Bengaluru. We looked into the safety from all angles. A review was conducted at NFTC to ensure all foreseeable safety issues were taken care of before embarking on this important test, a NFTC source says.
Indian media are keeping a close watch on the program, which has been hampered by time and cost overruns. With a Dec. 27 deadline looming to complete the certification process, ahead of its scheduled initial operational clearance (IOC), the focus now shifts to New Delhi for a crucial review, scheduled on Dec. 21.
The Indian air force (IAF) chief is expected to make a final decision on IOC at this meeting, which would signal IAF pilots to fly Tejas to check its handling qualities and other advanced features. This would also pave the way for its squadron formation sometime in mid-2011, by the time the remaining platforms (LSP-7 and LSP-8) would have joined the flight line.
Series production (SP) is expected to start next year. The onus will then shift to Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. to stick to the delivery schedules and roll out the first SP block of 20 Tejas, a source says. These fighters will get into the first squadron.
Tejas Completes Drop Tank Jettison Trials | AVIATION WEEK
(no pun intended just wondering)
