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February 24, 2013, (Sawfnews.com) - For the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) Stealth fighter, ADA has developed a design that is sans canards, based on in-house signature reduction and performance studies and simulations.
ADA's decision to not use canards was a bold one. Europeans fighter aircraft manufacturers are heavily into canards the Eurofighter, Rafale and Grippen all have them.
The Russian MiG I.42 super cruise fighter developed in parallel with the T-50 also featured canards.
Canard wings are associated with better supersonic performance and maneuverability, and the combination of good stealth and good supersonic performance is essential for penetrating enemy defenses safely. Everything else about fifth generation fighters super maneuverability, sensor fusion, etc. is secondary.
When the Chinese unveiled their Chengdu J-20 heavy stealth fighter in January 2011, it too had canards!
The J-20 is widely believed to be as stealthy as the F-22 from the front, and it should have as good supersonic performance as the F-22.
China's use of canards in its stealth aircraft rattled ADA.
ADA acknowledges that China is well ahead in the game of fighter aircraft design in general and stealth aircraft design in particular. One good reason being, the Chinese programs are very heavily funded as compared to ADA's.
China's Chengdu worked with canards while developing the J-10, but their use of canards on the stealthy J-20 made ADA scientists wonder if they had made the right choice.
ADA must have taken solace from the fact that the Americans have dismissed canard fighters with some disdain, and stuck with non canard fighters. Both their stealth designs - F-22 and F-35 are non canard and the F-22 has excellent supersonic maneuverability as well as stealth characteristics.
But then, America also has unmatched engine and signature suppression technology, which India doesn't.
ADA Design Vindication
When China unveiled its second stealth fighter, J-31 (F60), in late 2012 ADA's choice of a non canard design appeared to have been vindicated.
Developed by the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, the medium weight J-31 has no canards. Clearly, the Chinese had their own doubts about canards.
The J-31, is modeled on the F-35 just like ADA's AMCA - medium weight and not very stealthy. However, the J-31 closely resembles the F-35, while the AMCA doesn't.
Indeed, there is a school of thought that China developed the J-31 using design files of F-35 stolen by hacking Lockheed computers.
No one doubts that like the LCA, the AMCA is a home grown solution.
A senior DRDO scientists associated with the AMCA project told me that the ADA team is proud that they made the right choice at a very early stage.
Likewise, the country is proud, I think. Wouldn't you agree?
ADA's AMCA Stealth Fighter: Some Canard?