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Negotiations for Tejas aircraft engines soon

Negotiations for Tejas aircraft engines soon

Ajay Sukumaran
Posted: Saturday, Jun 19, 2010 at 0104 hrs IST
Updated: Saturday, Jun 19, 2010 at 0104 hrs IST

Bangalore: The Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) is set to start commercial negotiations with aircraft engine makers Eurojet Turbo GmbH and General Electric Aviation for 99 aircraft engines for the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas.

The two engine manufacturers had been shortlisted after expressions of interest for an alternate engine for the LCA were issued last year. Eurojet, a European consortium, is offering its EJ200 engine, which powers the Eurofighter Typhoon fighter plane while the American firm has put in bids for its GE F414 engine used in the Boeing F/A-18 E/F Superhornet. The new engine will power the Mark II variant of the Tejas, which currently runs on F-404 engines made by GE.

“Soon, we should be starting commercial negotiations, probably in a couple of weeks,” said PS Subramanyam, director, ADA. “The technical evaluation is over. I think both of them (companies) are good candidates.” The Tejas aircraft ,with its current engine and configuration, is expected to be inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF) from March next year with state-run military plane maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd supplying 20 planes initially. The proposal for a second batch of 20 planes has been cleared by the defence ministry and negotiations are on, Subramanyam said.

The IAF has indicated the need for five squadrons of the Mark-II, which will feature the alternate, more powerful engine and upgraded electronics. “Wherever there is obsolescence setting in, in terms of advancement of electronics, we are going for state-of-the-art electronics in the Mark-II,” said Subramanyam. Even as the process of procurement of engines is on, ADA has begun two tracks of design based on the shortlisted engines so as to not lose time:agree:, he added. Meanwhile, a proposal by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to co-develop the indigenous Kaveri engine with French engine house Snecma, is under consideration.

An upgraded and more powerful Kaveri engine is being seen initially as a replacement engine for the first batch of Tejas aircraft, Subramanyam added.

“Every aircraft in its lifetime needs two replacements. Some of those engines are already looking for that. By the time Kaveri gets developed and demonstrated, those engines can start coming as replacement engines for the first 20, 40 (aircraft),” he said. “There is full scope of what their profile is. It is very clear in our mind. The Kaveri engine profile for the next 30 years has a very strong dovetailing into the LCA programme,” he added.
 
Even as the process of procurement of engines is on, ADA has begun two tracks of design based on the shortlisted engines so as to not lose time

well that show learning from past mistakes and be proffesional in your work.

Also next order of LCA of MkII version will be around 100. :smitten:
 
^^ 100 is not PRETTY SMALL, however its not big also...dont forget that LCA is somehow increasingly becoming test bed for techs which will be used in AMCA..
and it will take atleast 6-7 years to produce 100 LCA MK-2..who knows we might be testing AMCA by then...
 
^^ 100 is not PRETTY SMALL, however its not big also...dont forget that LCA is somehow increasingly becoming test bed for techs which will be used in AMCA..
and it will take atleast 6-7 years to produce 100 LCA MK-2..who knows we might be testing AMCA by then...

lca was supposed to be the no.s fighter ...and when u have 300 air sup fighters .....i strongly feel lca should be lot more than that.....

take a luk at usaf ....nearly half of their af is comprised of f16 versions !!!!!!

i am not comparing iaf to usaf ..... but u ought to have a structure like that to pack the maximum punch !! :sniper: :sniper:
 
the thing is that aircraft nowadays are evolving with each passing day..so there is no need to induct aircrafts just for the sake of it..its better to induct in small numbers like this and in the meantime keep improving tech. and keep installing them in new batches...
 
the thing is that aircraft nowadays are evolving with each passing day..so there is no need to induct aircrafts just for the sake of it..its better to induct in small numbers like this and in the meantime keep improving tech. and keep installing them in new batches...

no matter how much advanced tech u have ....you need to have suitable no.s to get the max advantage out of that tech......

hope u understand me this time .....

and seriously i don't think IAF will be stopping at just 100 .... u need to replace all those migs with aquality fighter !!!
 
and seriously i don't think IAF will be stopping at just 100 .... u need to replace all those migs with aquality fighter !!!

Yes, nobody is saying that IAF will stop after 100 ...... by the time order of 100 complete, kaveri will be ready so the next batch will be with kaveri, may be in larger number.
 
^^^^or, maybe MK-3/AMCA will already be decided by then...and the production of them starts....
having said that i would like to be the no. raised to atleast 150..
 
Yes, nobody is saying that IAF will stop after 100 ...... by the time order of 100 complete, kaveri will be ready so the next batch will be with kaveri, may be in larger number.

I agree with MkII and remember their are option available for buy 49 more engine.
 
sorry ......i'll do that

thats pretty small my friend !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You have to consider Rate of production , Infrastructure , training , personal , when making orders.

Think about how many other types of Aircraft we are inducting.
How many production lines are there , how many pilots can we have to fly these planes and all such factors.

and of course our budget

You will realise that 100 planes is a fairly substantial commitment , no doubt , more orders are to come , but that will depend of rate of production, The quicker the production line can clear up the more they may order.

Keep in mind by the time we make 100 MkII , it will be around 2020.

If the production line can be cleared up sooner , then IAF will purchase , to meet it's squadron short Fall .

IAF want's 42 squadrons , and has 35 squadrons right now optimisticly speaking.

IAF is already acquiring ~500 new fighter aircraft(that is almost the size of our entire fighter force right now.) this decade ,
between the 200 MMRCA , another 100+ Su-30 MKI to be delivered , 140 Tejas MKI and MKII , at least ~40(2 squadrons) of FGFA/PAk-FA .
This increase in force levels is offset by the fact we would also be retiring ~200 Mig 21 and some Mig-27( but more tejas MKI may be ordered to offset this).
 
any idea how may lca's can be made in a year by hal ...is it around 18-20 per yr or even less ??

once the mk2 is ready.. i think hal will open more production lines to increase the rate as current rate is quite low..
 
initially it was 8 per year and was being said that it can be increased to 12 per year..
 
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