Screaming Skull
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Hi guys,
There seems to be some serious confusion regarding the LCA project.
When the LCA project was taken up by DRDO, it s operational requirements were minimal and all requirements were well within DRDO's capabilities. Subsequently, lot of new developments happened that led to repeated upgrade of requirements from the part of the IAF. This seriously delayed the entire project. In fact till the mid 90s and early 2000 LCA was considered as a failed project by many in the IAF. It was when the first prototypes and TDs started flying, that the IAF really saw a potential in it. Till that all in IAF and the media were very sarcastic about it. Indeed, in AERO INDIA 2009 the LCA surprised many, including the top brasses of IAF and the MOD. Many realized that this unrealistic target of gate crashing into 4.5th gen aircraft set for DRDO will soon become a reality.
The LCA is very different from many conventional aircrafts. This is in keeping with the IAF s doctrine of greater radius of operation and super maneuverability for it s aircrafts. Only way to achieve this without vectored thrust is through the delta wing design. Thus, the delta wing design for the LCA (btw IAF pilots simply love the Mirage 2K. In fact they wanted to purchase 126 of them even without going for the MMRCA). Delta wing design is a very very complex technology. It makes the aircraft highly unstable, but achieves all the requirements of IAFs doctrine. In fact a great deal of training is required to fly these as it is solely up the pilot to extract 100% from the Delta design. One will be surprised to hear that the best IAF pilots fly the Miarge and not the MKI.
Also, the LCA is not simply a replacement for the Mig-21. It is expected to perform the dirty job of engaging the enemy aircraft in case of a dogfight. Thus, sch aircrafts must be cost effective and must be inducted in large nums to provide fighter escorts for other more expensive aircrafts. In case a dogfight becomes a necessity only LCA will be used. The IAF wont risk the MKIs/Mig-29 or Mirage for dog fights considering the higher costs. Again, this justifies the delta wing design. In a dogfight, a delta wing plane in the hands of a capable pilot is a very potent weapon.
The comparison of LCA withany other aircraft is simply not justifiable as different aircrafts are supposed to perform different activities. Therefore LCAvsJF-17 or LCAvsF-16 is simply foolish. LCA is there to just achieve one simple requirement of the IAF (Notice that DRDO is not wasting its time on any 4.5th gen MRCA but directly jumping to 5th gen MCA).
LCA is here to stay for a long long time. In this context one must look at LCA simply as a process and not as a product. What LCA has done to Indian aerospace industry is unimaginable. All the time when people and media kept debating about LCA as a product DRDO silently developed a whole industry around it. Believe it or not there are hundreds of small and big private and public sector companies catering to LCA in India.
With just a small step with LCA development India has taken a huge leap forward in developing its own 5th gen fighter which btw will take less than half the time taken by LCA due to the experience gained.
Another reason for so much negative publicity for LCA is due to the transparency of the whole project. While in countries like China and Pakistan defence projects are pursued with complete secrecy (in trerms of spending per project, duration, start and end time etc.), in India 90% of the projects must go through public audits. The reports of these audits are made available to anyone by the GOI. That is why every tom dick and harry in the wrld knows how much was spent on the projects and the status of projects etc. Media simply takes up these reports and kicks up a storm out of it. This is a very small pitfall of a democracy. But, really this shd be seen as a blessing in disguise as it increases accountability.
The LCA is a very big achievement for a country like India. DRDO's efforts must be applauded rather than criticized. LCA has seen contributions from some of the greatest engineers and scientists of the country (some of the indian researchers boast of degress from MIT, Caltech, Berkeley etc. apart frm IITs and IISc). DRDO has truly gatecrashed into a big technological breakthru.
There seems to be some serious confusion regarding the LCA project.
When the LCA project was taken up by DRDO, it s operational requirements were minimal and all requirements were well within DRDO's capabilities. Subsequently, lot of new developments happened that led to repeated upgrade of requirements from the part of the IAF. This seriously delayed the entire project. In fact till the mid 90s and early 2000 LCA was considered as a failed project by many in the IAF. It was when the first prototypes and TDs started flying, that the IAF really saw a potential in it. Till that all in IAF and the media were very sarcastic about it. Indeed, in AERO INDIA 2009 the LCA surprised many, including the top brasses of IAF and the MOD. Many realized that this unrealistic target of gate crashing into 4.5th gen aircraft set for DRDO will soon become a reality.
The LCA is very different from many conventional aircrafts. This is in keeping with the IAF s doctrine of greater radius of operation and super maneuverability for it s aircrafts. Only way to achieve this without vectored thrust is through the delta wing design. Thus, the delta wing design for the LCA (btw IAF pilots simply love the Mirage 2K. In fact they wanted to purchase 126 of them even without going for the MMRCA). Delta wing design is a very very complex technology. It makes the aircraft highly unstable, but achieves all the requirements of IAFs doctrine. In fact a great deal of training is required to fly these as it is solely up the pilot to extract 100% from the Delta design. One will be surprised to hear that the best IAF pilots fly the Miarge and not the MKI.
Also, the LCA is not simply a replacement for the Mig-21. It is expected to perform the dirty job of engaging the enemy aircraft in case of a dogfight. Thus, sch aircrafts must be cost effective and must be inducted in large nums to provide fighter escorts for other more expensive aircrafts. In case a dogfight becomes a necessity only LCA will be used. The IAF wont risk the MKIs/Mig-29 or Mirage for dog fights considering the higher costs. Again, this justifies the delta wing design. In a dogfight, a delta wing plane in the hands of a capable pilot is a very potent weapon.
The comparison of LCA withany other aircraft is simply not justifiable as different aircrafts are supposed to perform different activities. Therefore LCAvsJF-17 or LCAvsF-16 is simply foolish. LCA is there to just achieve one simple requirement of the IAF (Notice that DRDO is not wasting its time on any 4.5th gen MRCA but directly jumping to 5th gen MCA).
LCA is here to stay for a long long time. In this context one must look at LCA simply as a process and not as a product. What LCA has done to Indian aerospace industry is unimaginable. All the time when people and media kept debating about LCA as a product DRDO silently developed a whole industry around it. Believe it or not there are hundreds of small and big private and public sector companies catering to LCA in India.
With just a small step with LCA development India has taken a huge leap forward in developing its own 5th gen fighter which btw will take less than half the time taken by LCA due to the experience gained.
Another reason for so much negative publicity for LCA is due to the transparency of the whole project. While in countries like China and Pakistan defence projects are pursued with complete secrecy (in trerms of spending per project, duration, start and end time etc.), in India 90% of the projects must go through public audits. The reports of these audits are made available to anyone by the GOI. That is why every tom dick and harry in the wrld knows how much was spent on the projects and the status of projects etc. Media simply takes up these reports and kicks up a storm out of it. This is a very small pitfall of a democracy. But, really this shd be seen as a blessing in disguise as it increases accountability.
The LCA is a very big achievement for a country like India. DRDO's efforts must be applauded rather than criticized. LCA has seen contributions from some of the greatest engineers and scientists of the country (some of the indian researchers boast of degress from MIT, Caltech, Berkeley etc. apart frm IITs and IISc). DRDO has truly gatecrashed into a big technological breakthru.
