Even while the LCA Navy Mk.I prototype flown by magnificent test pilots of the NFTC, is making headlines, the inimitable designers at ADA are working on the LCA Navy Mk.II, referred to as the twin-engine deck based fighter (TEDBF). Vishnu Som has accessed some early concept drawings and this is his report:
In twelve years from now, a twin engine variant of the TejasLCA fighter could start supplementing Russian-origin MiG-29K jets deployed on board the Indian Navy's aircraft carriers INS Vikramaditya and Vikrant, the latter yet to be commissioned.
Detailed concept drawings of the fighter, dubbed the Twin Engine Deck Based Fighter (TEDBF), accessed by NDTV, are being studied by the Aeronautical Design Agency (ADA) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) which would eventually build the fighters if their development is funded by the government. In parallel, the design of an Air Force variant of the jet, the Omni Role Combat Aircraft (ORCA), with significant design differences, is also being studied. This variant would weigh a ton less than the Naval variant since it would not need heavy reinforced landing gear required for punishing operations from the deck of an aircraft carrier.
Sources close to the project have indicated that the total design and development costs for prototypes of the LCA Mk.IIwould cost less than Rs.13,000 crores with each fighter for the Navy being in the range of Rs. 538 crores.'' The Indian Air Force variant of the fighter would cost between Rs 35 crore and Rs.71 crores less than the Navy variant. The development time-scale for the project has been forecast at six years from the time initial funding has been provided.
Project designers say they could ''very comfortably develop'' the new twin engine LCA Navy Mk.II based on the experience they have gained in testing the Naval prototype of the Mk.I fighter, the prototype of which landed and took off from the deck of INS Vikramaditya, on 11 and 12 January 2019. The LCA Navy Mk.I
is powered by a single US-origin General Electric F404-GE-IN20 turbofan engine which is not seen to be powerful enough to justify serial manufacture of the Naval LCA in its present avatar other than in very limited numbers for further flight testing. The significantly larger twin engine LCA Navy Mk.II now being proposed would be fitted with two more powerful General Electric F414 engines and would have a significantly higher weapons payload and range. The additional thrust provided by two engines would also guarantee a larger safety margin for pilots while taking off and landing in hot and humid tropical weather conditions out at sea in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal.
Considerably heavier, the LCA NavyMk.II (or TEDBF) would be significantly larger than the 13.5 ton LCA Mk.1 fighter which has entered squadron service (in IOC configuration) with the Indian Air Force and even the 17.5 ton Tejas Mk.1A which is subject of development and ordering by the Indian Air Force. The fighter would be about the size of the MiG-29K currently being operated by the Indian Navy on its aircraft carrier, the INS Vikramaditya and would have the ability of carrying a weapons payload of nine tonnes, and feature folding wings as per carrier aircraft norms.
Both the Navy’s Twin Engine Deck Based fighter and the Air Force’s Omni Role Fighter would incorporate several indigenous sensors and avionics,some of which are now at an advanced stage of development. These include an Active Electronically Scanned Radar (AESA) which can simultaneously track targets in the air and out at sea or over land with great precision. All the fighters would have indigenous data links and communication systems which would enable the fighters in a formation to securely exchange critical sensor information during a mission. A host of made-in-India weapons including the BVR Astra air to air missile which has recently been in air launched tests, would equip the aircraft.
ADA designers refer to the fact that neither of the future variants of the LCApresently being studied are part of the Navy or Air Force's official procurement plans. However, ''more than 750 aircraft will need replacement between 2030 and 2050.'' By 2040, several older aircraft in service with the Indian Air Force, including the SukhoiSu-30MKI, presently the largest type in numbers with the IAF, would be phasing out. Development of a larger, twin engine variant of the LCA, ADA designers feel, is an incremental step forward as they simultaneously proceed with the design and development of the fifth generation stealth fighter, the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), which is both larger, more capable and more expensive than variants of the LCA. The AMCA is expected to start entering squadron service with the IAF from 2040 – all being in order.
''A twin engine variant of the LCA would be in the class of the Rafale, extremely nimble with excellent sensor fusion,'' opine designers working on the plans for the futuristic fighter. ''This fighter would be extremely nimble with excellent sensor fusion. The fact that this would be entirely designed and developed in India would be a huge boost for our ambitions in becoming an aerospace power.''
Vishnu Som