MILITARY AVIATION AND SPACE TECHNOLOGY NEWS: 'LCA is completely Indian'
Aeronautical Development
Agency (ADA) director P S
Subramanyam is an elated
man. In less than 24 hours, the
man and his entire team will
showcase their creation to the world: the Tejas Light Combat
Aircraft (LCA), which is set for
initial operational clearance
(IOC) on Monday. Ahead of
this
aerospace milestone, Subramanyam spoke to STOI
on Saturday: Q. People say
India took 27
years to develop the LCA. Is
that a right assessment? A.
That would be an unfair assessment. It is true that the
project was conceived in 1983
with initial funding of Rs560
crore. In 2001, we launched an
operational aircraft and test
flights. Ten years later - 2011 - we have the vehicle ready for
initial clearance. If the date of
flight testing and launch of
operational aircraft is taken
into account, the LCA has
been developed in 10 years. The technology
demonstration
kick-started in 1993 but the
money came in 2001. We
have demonstrated that we
could build an aircraft within a decade. Have these
technologies been
completely developed by
India? Yes. Indian scientists
have proved through the LCA
that they have mastered and demonstrated fourth
generation-plus technologies
deployed on fighter aircraft.
There is foreign involvement
for small components. To
what extent is LCA indigenous? LCA is 70-80%
indigenous. The
foreign/imported component
in LCA involves the engine,
radar, some navigation
technologies and some displays. The design,
development, testing,
certification and mastery of
the system engineering is
completely Indian. There are
just six to eight countries in the world that can design,
develop, test and certify a
fighter aircraft -- India is now
one among them. Can we
make the LCA 100%
indigenous and when? We expect to go 100%
indigenous on the LCA in five
years. Advanced plans are
already in place and work is
on. We expect to indigenize
the engine, radar and a few components in five years. A
higher variant of the present
LCA will be launched by 2014.
Is the present LCA
contemporary and for how
long? LCA is contemporary and will remain so for another
15 years,till 2025. In all, Mark I
and Mark II versions of the
LCA will be contemporary
even as we touch 2030. Which
aircraft can you compare the LCA to? Swedish
Gripen,Chinese-Pak
J-17 Thunder, Korean T-50.
The LCA is as good if not
better than these. How many
LCAs are you looking at in terms of order? We have
suggested 200 in all
for the IAF. We have received
an order for 40 now -- 20 will
go in soon, 20 three years
later.