Tejas will be world's cheapest fighter jet
RAJAT PANDIT

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, MAY 03, 2005 11:56:02 PM ]

NEW DELHI: The new American F/A-22 Raptor stealth fighter costs Rs 480 crore. The Rafale multi-role jet being inducted into the French Air Force and Navy, in turn, notches about Rs 270 crore. The price tag for the French Mirage-2000 and the Swedish JAS-39 Gripen also hovers between Rs 130 crore and Rs 160 crore.

In contrast, despite huge time and cost overruns, the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft "Tejas" will cost only Rs 100-110 crore. And perish any thought of Tejas becoming "obsolete" by 2010 when it will be inducted into the IAF. Its "open-architecture" avionics and "glass cockpit" systems ensure it can be constantly upgraded.

This was the basic message delivered by defence minister Pranab Mukherjee, defence secretary Ajai Vikram Singh, DRDO chief M Natarajan and others to the Parliamentary Consultative Committee on Defence on Tuesday after members expressed serious concerns about the long-delayed project.

The MPs were also told that Tejas, which will be the world's smallest, lightweight and relatively cheapest frontline combat aircraft, had excellent "export potential". Sources said Brazilian aviation major Embraer - India has ordered five Legacy VVIP jets from it for Rs 727 crore - has already shown interest to jointly market Tejas worldwide.

The development cost for Tejas, which has now completed 395 test flights and even crossed the 1.4 Mach supersonic speed barrier, is currently pegged at Rs 5,489 crore. This again is quite low compared to Gripen's development cost of around Rs 12,640 crore.

The LCA project, of course, was sanctioned way back in 1983 to replace India's ageing MiG fleet. The project cost was only Rs 560 crore then. The parliamentary standing committee on defence has, in fact, asked the government to "fix responsibility" for the inordinate delays in the project and the indigenous Kaveri engine.

The snags in Kaveri has meant that the first two Tejas squadrons will be powered by the American GE-404 engines. The IAF has projected a requirement of 200 Tejas fighters and 20 trainers at present.

Defence officials say Tejas incorporates several "new" technologies like "unstable aerodynamic configuration" to achieve higher agility, fly-by-wire flight control system, digital integrated avionics, advanced optroncis, multi-mode radar and composite airframe.

Di ba yun Sukhoi gumawa ng maliit na version ng Su27? Meron rin di ba on the works ang MiG? Baka mas ok yun ganun design. Palitan na lang natin ng avionics at engine. Ok naman na mura yun Indian jet pero from what I hear ay daming kapalpakan. Baka disappointing like lang like their Arjuns.

The best thing would be for us to wait and see more results regarding how good this model is. A little more research and time wouldn't hurt because only time will tell.

okay now

there is the jf17 and also j10 and mig29 which are far more cheaper depending on the models


i dont how do they say cheap

and stuff from the planes are frm different countries it is also risk

Indian MoD Reviews LCA Program

by Pulkit Singh
May. 6, 2005

Indian Defense Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee recently expressed the hope that the Light Combat Aircraft, being developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), will be able to meet the country's defense requirements.

Addressing a meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee for the Indian Ministry of Defense (MoD) on May 3, Mukherjee discussed the ongoing trials of the LCA before induction into the Indian Air Force.

The LCA has now completed 395 test flights and has broken the sound barrier (Mach 1.4). Some $1.3 billion has been spent on the project so far. The LCA is expected to meet most of the needs of the Indian Air Force, even though the project is about 10 years behind schedule. The Indian Air Force needs around 200 LCAs, and state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) (Bangalore, India), which will produce the aircraft, is expected to be able to build around 50 LCAs each year during the 2012-20 timeframe. Initially, HAL would produce eight aircraft per year so that the LCA would be ready for induction into the Indian Air Force in 2007. An Indian Air Force official said the LCA would be declared operationally fit in 2009 after user trials start in 2007.

it need to complete 2000 more hrs before full production

Indian Built Fighters On Indian Built Carriers

September 23, 2009: The Indian Navy is buying six of the new LCA (Light Combat Aircraft, or "Tejas") fighters to fly from the new carriers they will enter service in the next five years. This is an experiment to see how the LCA will do as a carrier aircraft. The navy has already bought navalized MiG-29s for these carriers. The navy LCAs will also be navalized (mainly stronger landing gear, a tail hook and different cockpit electronics.) The MiG-29K weighs 21 tons (16 percent weapons), while the navalized LCA weighs 13 tons, 34 percent of that weapons. The MiG-29 is a better fighter, but the LCA carries a little more (4 versus 3.5 tons) armament, making it a cheaper way to attack ships or land targets with missiles and bombs. A land based carrier deck is being built, so the naval LCA can begin tests, and training pilots, within two years.

The LCA is only now preparing to enter mass production. Five prototypes already exist, and another ten pre-production models will be built next year. By 2012, mass production (at least 20 aircraft a year) is to begin, no matter what. Or at least that's the plan. For over two decades, India has been trying to design, develop and manufacture its own "lightweight fighter." India calls it the LCA, and the project has been a major disaster.

The U.S. F-16 is probably the premier "lightweight fighter" in service, and entered wide service about the time India began thinking about creating their own. Both the F-16 (at least the earlier models), and the LCA, weigh about 12-13 tons. But the F-16 is a high performance aircraft, with a proven combat record, while the LCA is sort of an improved Mirage/MiG-21 type design. Not too shabby, and cheap (about half the cost of an F-16). Also, for all this time, money and grief, India has made its aviation industry a bit more capable and mature.

When work began in the mid-1980s, it was believed that the aircraft would be ready for flight testing by 1990. A long list of technical delays resulted in that first flight not taking place until 2001. Corners had to be cut to make this happen, for the LCA was originally designed to use the Indian built Kaveri engine.

For a jet fighter, the engine is the most complex part of the aircraft, and the Kaveri has had its share of setbacks. Fortunately, there was an American engine, the GE 404, that fit the LCA, and could be used as a stop-gap. The Kaveri engine is not expected to be ready for flight tests until later this year, or thereabouts. The American engine has been used in the meantime.

For all this, India only plans to buy 200-300 LCAs, mainly to replace its aging MiG-21s, plus more if the navy finds the LCA works on carriers. Export prospects are dim, given all the competition out there (especially for cheap, second-hand F-16s). The delays have led the air force to look around for a hundred or so new aircraft (or even used F-16s) to fill the gap between elderly MiG-21s falling apart, and the arrival of the new LCAs. However, two decades down the road, the replacement for the LCA will probably be a more competitive, and timely, aircraft.

The LCA was not the first attempt to produce an Indian jet fighter. The HF-24 was an earlier attempt at developing a modern fighter. Designed by Kurt Tank (who also designed the FW-190 and Ta-152), the HF-24 was a failure because India could not develop a powerful enough engine. Thus the 147 HF-24s built, served from the 1960s, to the 1980s, as a ground attack aircraft.

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htnavai/a...s/20090923.aspx

At 100~110 Rs crore (10 million), each Tejas would cost more than $20 million each assuming (48 Rs = USD) or about half the price of a brand-new F-16.

I'd rather have a dozen F-16's than 24 of these Tejas.

whys that?,

mav,

Would you rather have 12 Toyota Corollas or 24 indigenous cars from Tata Motors?

o?,so you think that this HAL Tejas is weaker than F-16?.prove that will ya!