IaF chief seems to have given time line for induction...
Tweets are buzzing.
Mk1A by 2023 , Mk2 LCA by 2026...etc.
ANI suddenly tweeted 5 years for mk1A.. ..
Then delibration about issuing AoN for 114 MRFA or to buy addition al rafales..
The TL is given here though whether it's for the first flight or FOC cum induction of the first fighter planes of a particular class isn't clear. The photograph in the tweet mentions LCA Mk-2 as 2026. It's first flight can't be so delayed yet if that's the date of the FOC cum induction it goes against conventional wisdom which normally sees a gestation of at least 5 years to test in all weather all conditions & sort out all the kinks. Yet the Mk-2 is expected to make it's first flight in 2023-24.
Coming back to your query, even if the tender for the MMRCA-2.0 is floated in this fiscal it'd be at least 2023 before we sign the contract assuming MoD would be aggressively pursuing this which in turn means the first planes can be expected by 2026-27 , assuming it's imported. How that translates to 114 by 2030 is anyone's guess.
Further even if we assume, FOC for LCA - Mk-2 by 2026 , we may induct some 40-50 aircrafts by 2030.
Which leaves us with what we have in hand - some 19 MiG-29 + 12 Su-30MKI, 36 Rafales, 120 LCA Mk-1 / Mk-1a. That's some 200 odd aircrafts.
My gut feeling is that once the package for the Super Sukhoi is finalised, the IAF may go in for further numbers of the Su-30MKI. PKS has been stating consistently since a long time that we'd be inducting 350 Su-30MKI. That's an additional 75 more taking the tally of new fighters in the IAF to some 275 .
You can throw in another complement of 36 Rafales though if we're coming out with thev MMRCA-2.0 tender shortly it may or may not fructify. That's a total of 300 fighters give or take a few.
I can't see how we can go up to 450 . There aren't any other programs on the anvil either undergoing development or under consideration of import / MII.
40 TejasMk1+83Mk1a+around 300 Mk2 +another 36 follow on rafale. I think mmrca2 is a dead end now.
And its literally shooting our own leg, a 400+ mig21 type aircraft for two front war.
Power output has been scaled down from 52 KN to 46 KN. Probably due to optimizations for usage on the Ghatak UCAV. It is easier to optimize a low powered engine to deal with inlet pressure distortions caused by serpentine intakes. Also once the platform matures power can be scaled up to previous levels.
Though I am not sure we need 52KNs for a UCAV. Seems a little overkill. If they can get some sizable weight reduction that would be more beneficial than higher thrust.
More images of the Kaveri dry engine :
Looks very clean. Everything tucked in, no random wires dangling about.
Looks very clean. Everything tucked in, no random wires dangling about.
1180 kg for a 46kN engine is a bit much dont you think? Wouldn't the afterburning variant be even heavier?
Previously it was 52 KN thrust for 1236 kg engine. So a 6 KN decrease in dry thrust for 56kg reduction in weight. Very puzzling indeed. The afterburner section should be heavier that 100 kg. A dry engine obviously doesn't have the afterburner section at all. I expected a dry Kaveri to retain its dry thrust output while loosing around 120 kg of weight. Maybe the new distortion tolerant fan is heavier than the older fan. DRDO did say that the new fan will need to be mechanically much stronger.
We don't know enough frankly.
India may take a decade to develop fighter jet engine: BN Kalyani, Bharat Forge
To make a fighter engine, you need a consortium of industry partners to participate in this, as it involves a lot of capital, it involves a lot of talent and it involves multiple technologies, Kalyani said.
www.livemint.com
First consignment of parts for Kaveri engine
Hyderabad News:First consignment of parts for Kaveri engine
Cave VR. Virtual Reality seems to be the norm.
No new development happened in the last two months. MoU with GE is from aero India and Indian High Commissioner letter (Post #686) from last October. Recycling the same stuff.