Indian Air Force Chief Outlines Fighter Jet Plans

[dee]

An Indian negotiating team is heading for Russia to finalize details of the country’s participation in development of the Sukhoi T-50, also known by the Russian acronym PAK FA and by India as the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA). India is providing half of the expected $11 billion cost to develop the aircraft, and earlier signed a preliminary design contract worth $295 million. The Indian development contract is expected to take six months to conclude, AIN has learned.

In an exclusive interview, Indian air force chief of staff Norman Anil Kumar Browne told AIN, “The contract incorporates our specifications, which are very demanding.” Browne drew a distinction between the FGFA version and the original PAK FA, three prototypes of which are already flying. “We still do not know what [our] final version will be like until we finish. What I can say is that it will be very different from the Russian version, including weapons, avionics and sensors.”

The PAK FA development program needs to complete 5,000 sorties, Browne said. “So we have work to do. The fourth prototype will fly soon,” he predicted. Government defense contractor Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) will be participating in design and development. Following signature of the contract, HAL officials and Indian Air Force (IAF) test pilots will be based in Russia for seven years during the R&D phase.

“[The IAF] will get three prototypes for testing–the first in 2014/15, the second in 2017 and in 2019 the final one, which will be the version we order,” said Browne. Russian air force commander Gen. Victor Bondarev said recently that his service would receive production aircraft in 2015.

The IAF had “preliminary thoughts” about acquiring the Lockheed Martin F-35 in 2004/2005, but signed the MoU with Russia for the FGFA in 2007. “I am confident the F-35 will be a good machine. But now we have a concrete plan. We have crossed the time [line] and cannot commit to more than one project,” said Browne when asked whether India could still consider the F-35.

India initially planned to have 166 single-seat and 48 two-seat FGFAs, but recently it decided to take all 214 as single-seaters. AIN understands that the decision was driven by the fidelity of modern simulation, as well as the additional cost of building two-seaters.




Indian Air Force Chief Outlines Fighter Jet Plans | Aviation International News

 

[faithfulguy]

Expect the first phase of the rip off to commence.

 

[ironman1]

smart move to get all single seaters , will take less time and less money !

 

[OrionHunter]

smart move to get all single seaters , will take less time and less money !

But what about the lone pilot in the cockpit? Multi tasking ain't going to be easy: Flying, navigation, target acquisition, dogfights, CAS, evasion, radio communications, ECCM and so on.....it's tough!

 

[SQ8]

But what about the lone pilot in the cockpit? Multi tasking ain't going to be easy: Flying, navigation, target acquisition, dogfights, CAS, evasion, radio communications, ECCM and so on.....it's tough!

With some of the best programmers in the world.. fusing all those into a single display should not be difficult.
Id be floored if IIT cannot produce people which can come up with something like this

 

[faithfulguy]

But what about the lone pilot in the cockpit? Multi tasking ain't going to be easy: Flying, navigation, target acquisition, dogfights, CAS, evasion, radio communications, ECCM and so on.....it's tough!

Are Indian pilots retarded? F-22 s a ingle sweater. Why make 2 person doing a job of 1 person

 

[INDIAISM]

@Orion Hunter i think that the reason why we are procuring AWACS....

 

[PoKeMon]

But what about the lone pilot in the cockpit? Multi tasking ain't going to be easy: Flying, navigation, target acquisition, dogfights, CAS, evasion, radio communications, ECCM and so on.....it's tough!

Its not like we would be the first to go through all this.

Rather than hiring double the number of pilots and dual seater fighters, we can invest more in training lesser number.

 

[OrionHunter]

Are Indian pilots retarded? F-22 s a ingle sweater. Why make 2 person doing a job of 1 person

When you know squat about flying, I suggest you keep your uninformed opinions to yourself. Have you even sat in a cockpit of a fighter? You've probably only seen it on Google.

Whether it's a Cessna or an F-22, some pilots pride themselves on how many balls they can juggle at one time. However, studies have shown that once we start juggling more than three to five tasks, depending on the individual, accuracy and effectiveness deteriorate rapidly—very much like a computer with too many programs running simultaneously. Overloaded computers lead to computer crashes and overloaded humans can lead to aircraft crashes and sitting ducks for enemy missiles.

And all this in spite of advanced avionics. A human is not a a super advanced biological robot which can perform 'n' number of tasks simultaneously. So no, Indian pilots aren't retards after all.

 

[mfreak]

When you know squat about flying, I suggest you keep your uninformed opinions to yourself. Have you even sat in a cockpit of a fighter? You've probably only seen it on Google.

Whether it's a Cessna or an F-22, some pilots pride themselves on how many balls they can juggle at one time. However, studies have shown that once we start juggling more than three to five tasks, depending on the individual, accuracy and effectiveness deteriorate rapidly—very much like a computer with too many programs running simultaneously. Overloaded computers lead to computer crashes and overloaded humans can lead to aircraft crashes and sitting ducks for enemy missiles.

And all this in spite of advanced avionics. A human is not a robot after all. So no, Indian pilots aren't retards after all.

Agree with that. But maybe its because its a stealth plane, and with BVR etc you are expected to be able to manage alone?

 

[PoKeMon]

When you know squat about flying, I suggest you keep your uninformed opinions to yourself. Have you even sat in a cockpit of a fighter? You've probably only seen it on Google.

Whether it's a Cessna or an F-22, some pilots pride themselves on how many balls they can juggle at one time. However, studies have shown that once we start juggling more than three to five tasks, depending on the individual, accuracy and effectiveness deteriorate rapidly—very much like a computer with too many programs running simultaneously. Overloaded computers lead to computer crashes and overloaded humans can lead to aircraft crashes and sitting ducks for enemy missiles.

And all this in spite of advanced avionics. A human is not a a super advanced biological robot which can perform 'n' number of tasks simultaneously. So no, Indian pilots aren't retards after all.

First Double seater cost us in terms of payload, range and stealth. Not to forget extra cost in terms of money.

Secondly when a cockpit for single pilot is designed, it takes care of 2 type of information-- critical one and status one. Status information is something not needed to be tracked all time but intemittently and the front panel shows you critical info like Radar, weaponry, Mach speed, altitude and g-rating.

Offcourse it would be more tougher for a single pilot but with intelligent design of cockpit we can minimise his task at the same time not compromising with the 5 gen features of the fighter.