Thread: LCA TEJAS NEWS and discussion

LCA Tejas ( तेजस् ) is a lightweight multirole jet fighter developed by India. It is a tailless, compound delta wing design powered by a single engine. It came from the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) programme, which was begun in the 1980s to replace India's ageing MiG-21 fighters.

India's indigenous light combat aircraft - LCA was christened Tejas (Radiance) by Former Prime Minister of India - Atal Bihari Vajpayee in June 2004.

All news , updates and discussion regarding Light Combat Aircraft - LCA TEJAS will go here.

Jai Hind

BY : THE HINDU

The Bush administration seems to be dragging its feet over giving the go-ahead to Boeing providing consultancy for the light combat aircraft, Tejas, programme.

The consultancy, offered to the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), which is designing and developing the Tejas), will run for 42 months.

It envisages Boeing, which has sufficient experience on flight test programmes like its F-18 Hornet, providing the ADA with crucial inputs on flight tests that would help in avoiding unnecessary flights, saving costs and shortening of the design and development phases.
Only consultancy: ADA

Though U.S. laws concerning sale/consultancy in areas of defence have to necessarily be cleared by the U.S. Department of State, ADA officials are surprised that the consultancy has run aground. They say it is only in the form of assistance and no equipment is being sought for the Tejas.

Boeing has stipulated that the Tejas should not be sold to any other country without the permission of the U.S. government.

According to senior ADA officials, this stipulation is unacceptable, as the consultancy entails only assistance in flight testing.

Said an official: “We can’t understand why the U.S. government is making a big thing out of something like a consultancy programme in flight testing. It is strange that it is being linked to the possible sale of the aircraft [Tejas]. This does not augur well for the seriousness of American weapons/defence corporation with India.�

When contacted, a Boeing spokesperson in India said that the company would “continue to engage in discussions with the Government of India on how [they] may be able to contribute to the Light Combat Aircraft program.�

The spokesperson did not wish to comment on Boeing’s stipulation, only saying that it was “something best answered by ADA.�

The ADA, which has a firm order for 20 Tejas aircraft from the Air Force and hopes to get an order for another 20, is hoping to obtain initial operational clearance for the aircraft in 2010-11, according to its revised schedule.

The indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas will, after years of delay, soon be fitted with its primary mission sensor, the multi-mode radar (MMR).

LCA- Tejas ( Light Combat Aircraft )

BY : ANI

Union Defence Minister A K Antony today said that the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) would be delivered to the Indian Air Force by 2011.

Talking to media during his visit at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Antony said, "The final operational clearances for the indigenously developed aircraft will be given by 2010."

Antony, who also witnessed an air show in which latest aircraft including LCA, Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) and SARAS showed their capabilities and strength, said that LCA and ALH 'Dhruv' would be the prized induction in Air Force.

He also cleared all doubts about the engine used in LCA and the development of engine 'Kaveri' and the LCA prototype will take place simultaneously.

Expressing happiness over the functioning of the ALH, the Chief of the Air Staff, F.H. Major said that the process of weaponisation of the helicopter is taking place and the process is on.

At 3 pm on February 7, 2009, it was "all systems go" at the Aeronautical Development Agency in Bangalore, the organisation developing India's Light Combat Aircraft.

I sat by the runway, watching two Tejas fighters, as the LCA is named, carrying out pre-flight checks before leaving for a crucial mission.

After over 1,000 hours of test flights over several years, the Tejas was checking out its teeth and claws by dropping bombs on a ground target.

Group Captain R Tyagi, in the lead Tejas, was to fly several hundred kilometres and attack a ground target. The tarmac outside his air-conditioned cockpit was blistering, as his onboard health-monitoring systems conducted self-checks, a crucial six-minute operation to ensure that his engines, controls and electronics were functioning normally.

Just metres away, naval test pilot Captain Jaideep Maolankar, sat in another Tejas fighter, carrying out the same checks. Jaideep would perform the role of "chase aircraft", flying alongside Tyagi's aircraft and observing every step of the mission. In addition, a high-speed camera was tracking Tyagi's bomb pod, clicking hundreds of frames every second.

With a surprising lack of fuss, the two aircraft revved up their engines and taxied out to the runway. I put my hands over my ears as the fighter engines roared into a crescendo and both the aircraft took off, first Tyagi and then Maolankar in quick succession, banking to the right and then quickly out of sight.

The pilots were now physically alone in their cockpits, but they had lots of company over the radio. At the end of the runway was the Telemetry Centre of the National Flight Test Centre (NFTC), tracking every moment of the mission. Each aircraft, from the time it started up, was being monitored in detail, the data transmitting live from the aircraft over a high-speed data link.

Eleven critical aircraft systems, such as the fuel system, hydraulics and flight controls, were being watched by eleven engineers, each responsible for one particular system.

There was a senior flight test engineer, designated the test director, watching each of the two aircraft; beside him sat another test pilot, called the safety pilot, continuously monitored what the aircraft pilot was seeing. Anything went wrong and the test director would alert the pilot. In a serious emergency, he made the split-second decisions that could spell life or death.

"It's a bit like Formula One racing," explained Wing Commander Aslam Khan, the test director. "The driver, or in this case the pilot, is concentrating too hard on his mission to worry about how the aircraft systems are doing, or about what is happening outside. So we watch those and tell the pilot over radio."

As the two Tejas aircraft approached the range, the Telemetry Centre cleared Group Captain Tyagi to release his weapons. Flying just 70 metres away, Captain Maolankar watched carefully as Tyagi's bombs were released; it was easy for him to see the white-coloured bombs as they headed down towards the target. Back at the Telemetry Centre, they replayed the live footage from the high-speed camera to check that the bombs had been released cleanly.

The data would be examined in detail over days, but for now it was a successful test; the aircraft headed back to the base. One more phase of the LCA test flight programme was proceeding smoothly.

The NTFC is reputed to be among the best test flight centres in the world. So far, not a single accident has marred the LCA programme, a perfect record compared to fighter development programmes in most other countries.

"This centre has been set up entirely indigenously," explains Air Commodore Rohit Varma, who heads the LCA flight testing. "Also, unlike other countries where test pilots are retired airmen, our test pilots are all serving pilots, bringing in contemporary experience of our operating environment."

(Thanks to Rediff for an immediate update on this good news)
Reportage: Ajai Shukla on Rediff.com

http://www.rediff.com/news/2009/feb/...-its-teeth.htm

Some Great LCA - Tajes Snaps.

Hope you all like them......

Are we trying to create a good dependable fighter aircraft or a world class fighter testing centre ?. How long should we wait for a fourth generation a/c, while the western countries are already into fifth generation and CUAVs.

Originally Posted by Mirage

Are we trying to create a good dependable fighter aircraft or a world class fighter testing centre ?. How long should we wait for a fourth generation a/c, while the western countries are already into fifth generation and CUAVs.

LCA is a 4.5 gen fighter and it will be replacing Mig-21s due to retire within few years. IAF has ordered LCA-mk1, about 40 of them, for probably training purposes. LCA-mk2 will have some new perks that will replace MIG-21s. India is also working on Fifth Gen fighter as well called PAK-FA with Russia.

Originally Posted by Khalsa

LCA is a 4.5 gen fighter and it will be replacing Mig-21s due to retire within few years. IAF has ordered LCA-mk1, about 40 of them, for probably training purposes. LCA-mk2 will have some new perks that will replace MIG-21s. India is also working on Fifth Gen fighter as well called PAK-FA with Russia.

Does tejas have supercruise capability???????like eurojet typhoon and f-22 raptor

NICE :P

And Pics are MIND BLOWING