It's 20 IOC + 20 FOC + 80 Mk1A
IOC - MMR (2015-2018)
FOC - MMR + IFR (2018-2020)
Mk1A - AESA + IFR + Inbuilt EW suite + Weight reduction + Maintenance refinements (2020-2021/2)
Personally, we should have gone for an all 2 seater arrangement for 20 IOC + 20 FOC. This way these aircraft cold be used for future LIFT requirements once Mk1A begins to roll out steadily. Converting the IOC and FOC aircraft to Mk1A standard is again a time consuming and expensive affair which could be utilised for production of more Mk1A airframes.
MMR - Multi Mode Radar ( Isreali EL/M-2032 ) It is an advanced pulse Doppler, multimode planar array fire-control radar which has a maximum range of around 150 km. HAL has also integrated the Israeli Derby and Python air-to-air missiles, and a data link that digitally interconnects between all the hardware elements.
IFR - In-Flight Refuelling (Cobham)
AESA - Active Electronically Scanned Array radar(
Isreali EL/M-2052 for initial batches)
The EL/M-2052 is based on a fully solid-state active phased array technology which has a longer detection range, high mission reliability and a multi-target tracking capability of up to 64 targets. In Air-to-ground missions, the radar provides very high resolution mapping (SAR), surface moving target detection and tracking over RBM, DBS and SAR maps in addition to A/G ranging.
Weight reduction - HAL envisages the Mk 1A as being around 1,000 kg lighter than the Mk 1, which weighs 6,500 kg. It aims to achieve this weight loss by shedding 200-300 kg of ballast secured in the aircraft's nose to stabilise it and another 700-800 kg by reducing its heavy and 'over-engineered' landing gear.
Maintenance refinements - Repositiong of several LRUs for easy maintenance access. Combining several small LRUs into single LRUs. Uniformity among panels to facilitate interchangeability.
Inbuilt EW suite - EW suite will be integrated to the airframe in contrast to previous version where an external pod will have to be carried.
Good Day all!