It certainly will, just a matter of time. Even after kargil war fiasco India has such taken such terrible decision just to meet the project requirements, irony is that all these will end up becoming dead weights without spares in future in case of US decides to impose sanctions.
LCA Tejas Mk1 & Mk1A - News and discussions
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As if you could say anything else, if you could your govt wouldnt have allowed you to be on internet.
when did communists start believing in god ? or is it Xi you are referring to.
It seems that the contract for the supply of 99 F414s to power the LCA Mk1A was ordered in 2021 and that no engines have yet been delivered. Furthermore, GE's only commitment is that the 99 F414s will be delivered in 2029. If they were to start delivering in 2024, that would mean 20 a year, which is less than the production planned for the LCA Mk1A, but we don't know when they will start delivering. Finally, you really need more Rafales: the UAE, which has already ordered 80 from us, wants more, and also drones. We're going to be saturated, or we'll set up a production line in another country for export.
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GE was a mistake from day 1. You don't buy things from someone who wants something besides money in exchange.
Wouldn't this be the situation with every engine currently including Russian/French.
Although US has a pretty bad track record so thats a different matter.
I don't think engines will cause any bigger delays in the long run. The unavailability of GE engines may delay their timely delivery to the IAF in the short term, but if HAL can manufacture the fighters and keep them ready with them... once GE supplies the engines in blocks, they will be able to deliver these fighters in blocks. The replacement of engines on aircraft does not take much time, so HAL can test all the aircraft and keep them ready.
The question is: how many MK1A aircraft are ready with HAL without engines?
ADA got some activity planned for both mk1a and mk2 starting from November 2024 till 3 more years or PDC whichever is earlier.
I don't think engines will cause any bigger delays in the long run. The unavailability of GE engines may delay their timely delivery to the IAF in the short term, but if HAL can manufacture the fighters and keep them ready with them... once GE supplies the engines in bulk*, they will be able to deliver these fighters in bulk*. The replacement of engines on aircraft does not take much time, so HAL can test all the aircraft and keep them ready.
The question is: how many MK1A aircraft are ready with HAL without engines?
Typo error* in previous post
It's not a great idea to manufacture large quantities of airframes without deliveries of the engines assured. We'd be locking up the funds in WIP/unusable inventory, and this will amplify the effect of American arm-twisting.
For MK1 and Mk1A, GE F404 was literally the only option until Kaveri became ready(for which we're still waiting). Don't think there is any fall-back option for us now.
However, going for GE F414 even when EJ200 was available can be problematic for us in the long run. Hope Trump wins and Indo-US relations resume correct track.
Nope. With French/Russian weapons/wares; we're free to use them as we please. With American ones, they come with "strings attached" which a country of free-will like ours, absolutely abhors!
Problem is that US still has the best defence tech. US engines are also by far the best. Europeans are a shade behind in Jet-engine tech while Russians are not even in the same ballpark. Only AL-51F1 is worth consideration for MKI upgrade and Su-60MKI(hopefully), but that doesn't solve the Tejas/TEDBF/AMCA problem for us.
and you think we should feel safe & secure in such a situation ? obviously once most of the assembling is done based on GE is engine , it gives US more leverage to pull the plug. we are just walking into a royal screw up.
If we want to export LCA then US engines are not a safe bet , last time Argentina just ejected bcos of those british seats. For a non-West aligned customer we still have chances of selling it with a underpowered russian engine, with US engine probability of that goes down to zero.
What we should be doing is getting Kaveri up to speed, by spending money and getting a tie-up in place if required. This same saga will repeat else in the next gen of engines.
The Americans are one of the most undependable partners if you are not part of 5i .
Remember what they did with the Pakistani F-16s? Never got delivered. Not saying, the same thing will happen. But it is a possibility.
Absolutely agree
. Kaveri needs to be realized at any cost. Period. Russian engines are a no go as far as IAF is concerned for Tejas. M-88 or EJ200 would be slightly larger for MK1A.
Having said the above, we need to engage with the Muricans for novel defence tech. Let's see.....
Absolutely agree
Russian engines are a no go as far as IAF is concerned for Tejas. M-88 or EJ200 would be slightly larger for MK1A.
Having said the above, we need to engage with the Muricans for novel defence tech. Let's see.....
We should simply get a collaboration to fix the core issue. Let the company which helps fix it, have part of the IPR for the same. We close this and use the learnings for next generation. Start spending the R&D towards that, instead of splitting the costs.
My opinion as an outsider. More knowledgeable folks of course can point out where am mistaken.
IMHO India should ask Russia to create a downsized version of I-30 engine with a max thrust of about 130/140KN. Let it be a JV between GTRE and Russian company. This engine can easily be in the class of TWR of 12:1 and have the size of present RD-33 engine while being lighter than it. The tech in this new Su-57 engine is far superior to anything the west has.
The immidiate replacement for GE F404 is M88 augmented to 60/90KN. It was tested about 5 yrs back and it can b easily fitted into LCA due to its size being smaller than F404. India must ask Safran to handover one replica of M-88 for trying its fitment into LCA.