India to go slow on AMCA ??

[sudhir007]

India to go slow on AMCA ?? | idrw.org

As per sources close to idrw.org , have told us that ADA and MOD along with IAF are seriously considering give more development time for AMCA India’s First 5th generation fighter aircraft project . Sources working for the aeronautical agencies have told idrw.org that ADA had earlier planned for AMCA first flight by late 2018, but the first flight may see some delays by a year or two, due to various reasons.

Key technologies related to the Avionics for the AMCA are still in preliminary design stage, and other development of key avionics for a 5th Generation fighter is yet to start, sources have not provided more information on the avionics which they were referring too. But defence expert Vinayak shetty (Admin of www.lca-tejas.org) informed idrw.org that, Aesa Radar for Tejas MK-2 has been pushed back for AMCA to avoid delays in development of Tejas MK-2 which already has seen considerable amount of delays and have stuck with same Indo-Israeli developed MMR Radar, current AESA radar in development will also get some further improvement worthy for a 5th generation fighter and other Tejas (MK-1 and MK-2) will get similar AESA Radar when MLU (Mid life upgrade) for this aircrafts are due.

On Engine front it is clear that Kaveri-2, which will be developed with technical joint venture with French engine major Snecma and GTRE, but the deal, is yet to take off and since Tejas program has been delinked from the Kaveri engine program, the whole process of developing a Kaveri-2 with Snecma M-88-3 core was put in backburner until IAF and MOD cleared proposal for development of AMCA . GTRE is evaluating and working with ADA to make changes to the original proposal of Kaveri-2 to enable it develop a engine for a next generation fighter like AMCA , negotiation are on with French Snecma to develop a Kaveri-2 for a fifth generation fighter aircraft and the contract for the same should be signed in next one year and another variant of the same engine will power Tejas MK-2 replacing its current American Ge Engines when the aircrafts are due for MLU .

GTRE is also determined to fully carry out development work on its current Kaveri engine , which also includes integration of Kaveri engine with Tejas MK-1 platform which should take place by mid o f 2012 with an earlier prototype Tejas aircraft .

 

[rockstarIN]

There is no immediate need for AMCA for IAF. There will be PAK FA & FGFAs for 5th Gen with Rafale/EF, Upgraded MIG-29 & M2k + LCAs.

Where will this AMCA fit in? probably as a replacement of Migs & M2ks, which will be in 2022-25. So enough time for IAF

 

[Paan Singh]

कुछ भी नहीं होना इन सालो से ....

 

[marcos98]

More prudent idea imo.
The technologies we will get from MMRCA. PAKFA program will have enough time to be integrated into the AMCA.
For our immediate 5th gen aircraft need ,we have the PAKFA.
ADA, HAL et al have learnt well from the tejas program and by the looks of it ,AMCA is going to be a very ambitious project.

 

[Veeru]

The red tape and pathetic political leadership is the reason. They need to speed up the things tie-up with french and Israel we have money and the manpower but the political will is not there.

They keep on dragging their feet till doomsday.

 

[Omega007]

Well,we can endure delay of 1-1.5 year delay for the AMCA as the FGFA will enter in IAF operational service by 2017 and the Jags and Mig 29s will remain in service till 2026 or so.So a delay of 1 or 2 yearphould not be a huge problem but they must wath out that the delay not becomes 3-4 years or more.After all we are talking about a stealth fighter. These projects do take time.It seemed(to me) to be too ambitious to build the first technology demonstrator in just 7 years.This revised timeframe seems to be much more realistic.Recently Dr VK Saraswat had stated that LRDE had successfully developed GaN t/r modules which are main components of modern AESA radars and barrage jammers.Besides there was also a news that DARE had developped a next generation barrage jammer which used AESA transmit modules as its emitters and was undergoing testing onboard a Mig 27.Samtel group is working on high definition LCD displayes for cockpit use.Hope these techs get ready in time so that they can be intigrated to AMCA.
Let's hope for the best...................

 

[Dash]

This is the right path to avoid delays. First we need to get a working AESA for Mk2 and make other avionics ready and then we need to focus on AMCA. We need Mk2 badly than AMCA.

 

[shuntmaster]

Even if they tried, can they go any slower? LCA took 30years.. may be AMCA will take 40years..

 

[Black Widow]

Even if they tried, can they go any slower? LCA took 30years.. may be AMCA will take 40years..

Are you a false flagger???

 

[angeldemon_007]

I am happy that both AESA and Kaveri 2 project are reconsidered according to a 5th gen ration fighter requirement. Earlier DRDO was going to put the same old engine (K-10 which was proposed for Tejas) and same old aesa which were actually meant for 4th gen Tejas into the 5th gen fighter jet. Considering that work on both AESA and Kaveri 2 (K-10) has not yet started it was the first time that authorities have taken a right decision at the right time.

Earlier we would have made a poor quality aesa and engine and we would have even used it on our 5th gen aircraft under the name of indigenisation thereby affecting the capability of AMCA.

The problem with this approach will be again the same, we will be directly building a new generation aesa and engine .

 

[Ryuu]

thing i hate most if this article is true

is no AESA for mk2 version of lca WTF

with JF-17 block II coming with chinese AESA.we need elta 2052 or further,current MMR is developed from elta 2032

 

[Jon Snow]

Great- Project hasnt even started and we get our first delay...... still all we can do is hope that its also the last

 

[shuntmaster]

Are you a false flagger???

NOPE.
Why do u ask? Because, I stated an unpleasant fact?

 

[nForce]

how much more slow??...

I will plant another mango tree in the backyard..This will bear fruits as well before AMCA gets inducted.

 

[sancho]

Where will this AMCA fit in? probably as a replacement of Migs & M2ks, which will be in 2022-25. So enough time for IAF

Not into IAF!

M2K, upg Mig 27, Mig 29 and even the Jags will be replaced by FGFA in numbers (around 250 fighters), while the roles of the older fighters will be taken over by LCA, MMRCA, or MKI.

More prudent idea imo.
The technologies we will get from MMRCA. PAKFA program will have enough time to be integrated into the AMCA.
For our immediate 5th gen aircraft need ,we have the PAKFA.
ADA, HAL et al have learnt well from the tejas program and by the looks of it ,AMCA is going to be a very ambitious project.

Just like Kaveri engine, or an indigenous radar and we know where these ambitious projects ended right?

First we need to get a working AESA for Mk2 and make other avionics ready and then we need to focus on AMCA. We need Mk2 badly than AMCA.

We need to work on an engine as well, not to forget about stealth design, so basically, we have to improve waaaaay more in all key fields if we want to develop a 5th gen fighter and that is only possible by getting LCA ready and learning as much as possible from MMRCA and FGFA.
I totally agree that we need MK2 more badly than AMCA, but the decision makers at ADA, DRDO and our forces seems to see it differently, otherwise they would speed up things for LCA and focus on the important parts of the development to be done (decisions on Kaveri - Snecma engine and a co-developing partner for the AESA radar), instead of wasting time and money for developments that are useless at the moment (N-LCA, AMCA).