LCA project cost more than Rs 13,000 crore over 35 years

[pkd]

LCA project to cost more than Rs 13,000 crore over 35 years

NEW DELHI: The overall developmental cost of Tejas Light Combat Aircraft has quietly zoomed past the Rs 13,000-crore mark, with the government sanctioning the extension of the fighter's "full-scale engineering development'' (FSED) till December 31, 2018.

This, in effect, means the Tejas developmental saga will now stretch across 35 years, sanctioned as the project was way back in 1983 at a cost of Rs 560 crore to replace the ageing MiG-21s.

Tejas, in fact, can now give the Arjun main-battle tank a run for its money in terms of years taken for full development. The tank project, after all, was first approved 36 years ago.

It is, of course, critical for India to boost indigenous defence production, importing as it still does 70% of its military hardware and software, but this probably is not the way.

"This is a very sorry state of affairs. Even after 27 years since LCA was sanctioned, it is yet to see light of the day,'' says the latest report of the parliamentary standing committee on defence, tabled in Parliament on Thursday.

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Aeronautical Development Agency and DRDO argue developing a supersonic fly-by-wire fourth-generation fighter from scratch, with international sanctions in place for several years, is an incredibly complex and tough task.

The project, after all, includes single-seater IAF, twin-seater trainer and naval LCA variants. With Tejas prototypes clocking 1,350 flights till now, the "final operational clearance'' for the IAF variant is now slated for December 2012.

"So, IAF should have its first Tejas squadron of 20 fighters by 2014-15. Even Swedish Gripen fighter's developmental cost was around Rs 12,640 crore,'' said an official.

India, however, is now going in for foreign engines to power even the Tejas Mark-II version after the indigenous Kaveri engine failed to pass muster after 20 years of development at a cost of Rs 2,839 crore.

Consequently, while the first 20 Tejas will be powered by the American GE-404 engines, the hunt is on for new more powerful engines for the next six Tejas Mark-II squadrons (16-18 jets in each).

The Rs 13,000-crore mark for the LCA project is breached even if the Kaveri fiasco is kept aside. For one, the FSED Phase-I, which finished in March 2004, cost Rs 2,188 crore.

The Phase-II, which was to be completed by December 2008 at a cost of Rs 3,301 crore, will now get over in December 2012, with additional funds of Rs 2,475 crore.

Moreover, in November last year, the government "accorded'' sanction for "continuing FSED of LCA till December 2018, with an estimated additional cost of Rs 5,302 crore''.

Amid all this, IAF is keeping its fingers crossed, grappling as it is with a free-fall in the number of its fighter squadrons, down to just 32 from a sanctioned strength of 39.5.

 

[KS]

y multiple threads wen many other threads for the same thing has already been started,,?

 

[gpit]

This will prompt another "expert" article – prodigality in indigenous start-up is common: Experts.

 

[KS]

u find anything wrong in that..?

 

[DeathGod]

LCA project to cost more than Rs 13,000 crore over 35 years

Is it just me or are people in Pakistan ( more specifically a particular group of people here) obsessed about Tejas?

I realise its a beauty but then you guys have you own JF-17 ... You dont need to be envious for every little thing..

I mean seriously what is the concern about us spending a few crores on a jet fighter. We have the money and whether we waste it or utilize it its upto us.

@mods: Please merge/lock this thread.

 

[zagahaga]

looks like to me people put money into their pockets ... when is this beatuiful bird ghonna be operational

 

[gpit]

u find anything wrong in that..?

Of course, buddy.

One can sense there are two type groups of bribery expert teams in India: one gets kickbacks from foreigners, such as the one evidenced via Gorshkov scam; the other receives briberies from domestic worms: the longer/bigger a project is, the fatter their bank accounts will appear.

China currently punishes/puts into jail/executes about 100,000 officials a year. If India doesn’t do the same with 200,000 a year, there’s bound to be problems.

That's is probably one of the reasons why China-India gap is becoming larger and larger day by day.

It would be too silly not to find things wrong there.

 

[KS]

looks like to me people put money into their pockets

common problem that runs in our brown blood bro.

 

[KS]

Of course, buddy.

One can sense there are two type groups of bribery expert teams in India: one gets kickbacks from foreigners, such as the one evidenced via Gorshkov scam; the other receives briberies from domestic worms: the longer/bigger a project is, the fatter their bank accounts will appear.

now pls change ur opinion abt gorshkov..The vikramaditya that is gonna come is almost a brand new one ...nd the cost also includes spares,training ,the complement of Migs etc.Of course there is a prob of corruption but whre corruption doesnt exist..?

China currently punishes/puts into jail/executes about 100,000 officials a year. If India doesn’t do the same with 200,000 a year, there’s bound to be problems.

That's is probably one of the reasons why China-India gap is becoming larger and larger day by day.

Executing 100000 ppl may be common in China but This is India. period

pls remember we started on this project with absolute zero knowledge in aircraft building and we have today landed at a beatiful 4++ gen fighter nd the technology denial regimes imposed on us didn help either.
Also more than the aircraft the knowledge gained is almost invaluable and it will help in faster completion of future projects.
case in point Dhruv(5 years) ,LCH (less than 2 yeaRS)...

i VE SEEN MANY OF UR ARGUMENTS ND I KNOW I WILL NOT CHANGE UR OPINION..BUT TRYING DOESNT HURT.

 

[Frankenstein]

errr another LCA discussion

 

[ajpirzada]

this is equal to 130bn indian rupee which equals close to 3bn US dollars

 

[gpit]

...

Executing 100000 ppl may be common in China but This is India. period

...

Do you want your blood be sucked? If you are happy with that that’s fine. But a common sense is that if you don’t get rid of the suckers, they will grow more rampant and more ferocious, and you are factual murders of those being sucked. And a poor, bleeding India will be behind China day by day, no mattering how many “bells and whistles” included in your Gorshkov scam.

Actually you might well be one of the bloodsuckers, as the bloodsuckers will always whine when their scandals are exposed

Read this incredible story:

Leadership: The Gorshkov Scam

Other Indian naval officers have already admitted that they were partially to blame for the Gorshkov fiasco. They admit that, when they signed the deal in 2004, Indian engineers had not closely inspected the Gorshkov, and agreed, after a cursory inspection, that many electrical and mechanical components, buried within the ship's hull, were serviceable. It turned out that many of those components were not good-to-go, and had to be replaced, at great expense. Shortly after the contract was signed, the Russians discovered that the shipyard had misplaced the blueprints for the Gorshkov, and things went downhill from there. Now there is growing suspicion, and some evidence, that this procurement disaster was helped along by some well placed bribes.

“Indian engineers had not closely inspected the Gorshkov” Why not? Were they bribed not to carry out their duty? If they were not bribed, they are still guilty of neglecting their duties and should be punished, jailed, even executed. And you want to set them free!

“Shortly after the contract was signed, the Russians discovered that the shipyard had misplaced the blueprints for the Gorshkov, ...” Nothing could be more facetious than this! So the Russians cheated your commanders/generals/engineers with wrong blueprints, and you gullibly signed the contract worthy billions? Even after you found it was wrong, you still swallowed that? Incredible! If you were not bribed, why would you swallow that? If Russians made the mistakes, why don’t you cancel the contract or ask them for compensation for wasting your engineers’ time and efforts? But you didn’t, instead you pay them more! Why can things go so incredible?

It is all because money talks.

Money talks, but money seems to sound louder with some Indian warlords/engineers, that makes you (plural), and you (singular) not able to heed your national interest.

BTW, if your type of mentality prevails in India, don’t expect any meaningful progress in the investigation, as all your prosecutors, military investigators, engineers, journalists, judges involved could be given a share of the 2.33 billion, i.e. the bribery. My Indian friends told me how the system works, in general.

Please PM me, tell me what is your share. I swear I'll keep it secret.

 

[gpit]

common problem that runs in our brown blood bro.

That's precisely the mentality that bogs you down.

Don’t think colored people are condemned to be inferior.

 

[KS]

That's precisely the mentality that bogs you down.

Don’t think colored people are condemned to be inferior.

i meant it in a light hearted way...
if ur white..pls note that corruption is common to all colors....


@ lca cost:

u r saying that glass is Half empty..
Im saying that the glass is Half full.

 

[no_name]

Lol we should just measuring the milk in ml rather than worrying about how it looked in a glass, which could be any size.