23.09.2009
Indian Navy command approved placing of the purchase order of six light combat aircrafts LCA, deck-based variant, says Business Standard. Estimated cost of the aircrafts makes 1.5 bln rupees ($31.2 mln), that will enable to appropriate additional 9 bln rupees ($187.1 mln) for LCA program realization.
Investments to
Tejas program are performed in accordance with Navy's plans to place light and medium fighters on decks of aircraft carriers. Deck-based LCA will supplement the park of heavy Russian
MiG-29K. The first national aircraft carrier being constructed at
Cochin Shipyard will be equipped with separate aircraft elevator and maintenance facilities for LCA equally with infrastructure for
MiG-29K. The
Tejas deck version is expected to be in service of Navy by 2014.
Developed aircraft will be distinct from the Air Force variant with undersized nose section for lighter carrier landing, strengthened body construction, tail hook and new enchanced landing gear. Despite sufficient design modifications,
Tejas will have about 80 % blocks common with the Air Force version.
Major issue of the LCA program is selection of new engine. Only new powerplant with augmented thrust will enable LCA
Tejas to be used on deck of an aircraft carrier. Currently, the contenders to deliver new engine for perspective aircraft are
General Electric company with its
F-414 and
Eurojet Turbo with
EJ200, however, the tender winner will deliver new engines only in 2013-2014.
According to P.S.Sabramanyam, Director of Aviation Development Agency (ADA) and LCA project coordinator, at the first stage of development the deck version of LCA will be equipped with
F-404 General Electric engine. That will enable to test the aircraft flight performance and to estimate structural performance for on-deck operations. After LCA is equipped with a new more powerful engine, it will be tested on deck of an aircraft carrier.
Meanwhile, the works on construction of main ground test unit at naval airbase Hansa are in progress. The test unit simulates aircraft carrier deck, catapults and aircraft arrester. The test center is planned to be ready by October, 2011. It will be used for certification of LCA deck version before it is tested on the real aircraft carrier deck. Moreover, the center is planned to be the training base for pilots and maintenance teams.
Source:
