And regarding LCA, the delay is not much, despite of all design changes in between, it achieved first flight in 2001 & getting FOC in 2010. (|Remember EF first flight was in 1994 & FOC in 2003) It is like the case of Arjun tank, once you pitt against foreign stuff, you will understand worthness of Indian products. People who wants to make money out of defence deals are voicing for foreign purchase. And trust me the engineers who are getting selected for our defence companies are the best(the recruitment process and the parameters are very tough)
Rgds.
Come on man, I am hoping for LCA too, but we can't be so blind of proud to really believe that that development is not more than delayed, badly planed and simply overhyped. We are developing a low end 4.th to 4.5 gen fighter and not a high tech MMRCA.
Airframe - not good enough designed and causes problems in terms of AoA and drag. Overweight which led to EADS consultancy
Engine - not even close to be used on LCA, hopefully the Snecma upgrade will help, especially on the weight too
Radar - A2A modes were said to be ok, but A2G modes had to be co-developed with Israelis and the AESA development started, but according to IAF is not good enough and they need a foreign partner again
Weapons - Astra and Indian LGB succesfully tested and probably ready for induction soon
So lets look at it with a realistic point of view and without proud, all the major parts that we wanted to do alone are not ready, or the way they were pland and apart from other problems like sanctions, or adequate fundings in the early years, these mistakes are the reasons for the long delays.
And instead of getting these things done as soon as possible, ADA/DRDO... starts dreaming of AMCA.
Our indigenous capabilities in the aero field are not on the same level with Russia, the western countries, Japan, or even China. That's why we can also contribute so less to FGFA and please don't get blinded by this article, or the recent article about 5. gen techs on LCA.
FGFA will be more capable not because of Indian high techs, our knowledge of latest avionics and techs, or the high experience in developing aircrafts. But because we using the big advantage of access to foreign weapons and techs. We will add more composites and some avionics, but that's it!
Let us go step by step and take foreign co-developments as a chance and not as something bad that we have to get rid of.
Simple buying foreign stuff is the problem, but co-developments and JVs with as much Indian contribution as possible, is good for our industry (because they learn and get more experience), as well as our forces (because they get latest weapons and techs, with less dependance as in the past).
