India HAL Tejas Program

[Gessler]

News on the Mk-2!

Maiden flight approaching for India’s Tejas Mk2 light fighter

India's Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) is targeting the end of 2025 or beginning of 2026 for the first flight of the new Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) Tejas Mk2 Light Combat Aircraft (LCA).

www.flightglobal.com

Important excerpts:

India’s Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) is targeting the end of 2025 or beginning of 2026 for the first flight of the new Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) Tejas Mk2 Light Combat Aircraft (LCA). Speaking with FlightGlobal at the Aero India air show in Bengaluru, LCA Mk2 Project Director V. Madhusudana Rao says construction of the first prototype is underway, and that over 55% of the required parts have been manufactured.

The first prototype’s wings and forward fuselage are almost ready, with activities related to the manufacture of the centre fuselage already completed and production of the rear fuselage to commence shortly.

Rao says the ADA has six F414 INS-6 engines, which have been modified and qualified for use on prototype aircraft. He notes the complete propulsion system was integrated and tested on a ground testbed for the first time in January.

@Nilgiri

I wouldn't bet on the first flight any time before 2026, and that's speaking conservatively & assuming the rollout happens this year. But it's good to know the progress on construction of the first airframe. The iron bird method seems to be working out well so post-assembly testing would be comparatively minimal. The ongoing AeroIndia also had a fully-engineered cockpit simulator of the Mk-2:

Can't wait to see the rollout of the first prototype!

 

[Zapper]

Also, as per this report the number of Mk-2 models has been increased from 106 to ~200!

Just as well....we're gonna be needing a whole lot of 4.5 gen single-engine planes if we want to approach any conflict with a high sortie rate throughout. All those flashy Rafales, MKI-Upgrades & AMCAs are well & good, but without the backbone of single-engine jets which put up the bulk of sorties flying CAP & CAS, defending the airspace & preparing the conditions for Air Superiority & Strike platforms to come and exploit, that would truly make the difference in determining if we can maintain the Air war long enough to turn the tide.

I'm glad we never swayed from a Western engine (F404/414) on the Tejas platforms...we'd never be able to put up the required sortie rate & flight hours per year with a Russian powerplant.

Shouldn't we plan on having a backup with the Russian or French engines since US is known to choke supply if we ever remotely go against their interests! The # of jets we produce will highly be dependent on them and irrespective of MWF or AMCA's capabilities, we can only have numbers what the Americans think is right

With our dwindling squadron numbers, IAF should prioritize increasing the fleet size over sortie rate or flight hours at this point

I guess that is an important point. Unfortunately it is also an argument against using other non-western engines (eg Indian) in Indian-designed fighters. I guess that that without investing the equivalent of many billions of dollars in coming years, India will not be able to join the 3 countries capable of designing and building fast jet engines distinctly superior to Russian engines. It's a strategic choice: refuse to pay for sovereignty and you don't get it.

 

[Gessler]

Shouldn't we plan on having a backup with the Russian or French engines since US is known to choke supply if we ever remotely go against their interests! The # of jets we produce will highly be dependent on them and irrespective of MWF or AMCA's capabilities, we can only have numbers what the Americans think is right

With our dwindling squadron numbers, IAF should prioritize increasing the fleet size over sortie rate or flight hours at this point

Ideally, yes there should be an alternative engine. Also ideally, we should continue working on Kaveri so it can eventually replace at least the F404 during a future MLU of Mk-1/Mk-1A jets (remember, these airframes will be going through at least 2 or even 3 engines over their lifetime).

I think the reason we're avoiding Russian engines is because if we go with them as an alternative, the entire squadron rulebook & SOPs have to be changed. There'll be a drastic difference in number of flight hours. French engines will be more comparable to the US ones, but there's no French engine we can buy today in the ~100kN range to substitute F414. The M88-2 is only a 73kN engine, so even lower than F404 (85kN).

There are variants of M88 that can push as high as 100kN (F414 class), but these are unproven. It'll cost a lot to fund their testing & full-scale certification...on top of whatever it costs to certify the LCA with a new engine, which is gonna be expensive in of itself.

In short - it all comes down to money. Given how underfunded our programs are, spending large sums on certifying the LCA with alternative engines is pretty much never gonna happen unless GOI treats this as a strategic necessity.

So far, they haven't.

 

[Nilgiri]

News on the Mk-2!

Maiden flight approaching for India’s Tejas Mk2 light fighter

India's Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) is targeting the end of 2025 or beginning of 2026 for the first flight of the new Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) Tejas Mk2 Light Combat Aircraft (LCA).

www.flightglobal.com

Important excerpts:

India’s Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) is targeting the end of 2025 or beginning of 2026 for the first flight of the new Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) Tejas Mk2 Light Combat Aircraft (LCA). Speaking with FlightGlobal at the Aero India air show in Bengaluru, LCA Mk2 Project Director V. Madhusudana Rao says construction of the first prototype is underway, and that over 55% of the required parts have been manufactured.

The first prototype’s wings and forward fuselage are almost ready, with activities related to the manufacture of the centre fuselage already completed and production of the rear fuselage to commence shortly.

Rao says the ADA has six F414 INS-6 engines, which have been modified and qualified for use on prototype aircraft. He notes the complete propulsion system was integrated and tested on a ground testbed for the first time in January.

@Nilgiri

I wouldn't bet on the first flight any time before 2026, and that's speaking conservatively & assuming the rollout happens this year. But it's good to know the progress on construction of the first airframe. The iron bird method seems to be working out well so post-assembly testing would be comparatively minimal. The ongoing AeroIndia also had a fully-engineered cockpit simulator of the Mk-2:

View attachment 73484

View attachment 73485

Can't wait to see the rollout of the first prototype!

 

[hugh]

Will Tejas line be discontinued once Mk2 enters service? And how about Mk1a?

 

[Spitfire9]

Will Tejas line be discontinued once Mk2 enters service? And how about Mk1a?

I have been wondering about that for some years.

Nashik was used to assemble Su-30MKI. It is now used to assemble Mk1A. I believe that 12 extra Su-30MKI are being procured. Where will they be assembled?

I doubt that the planned annual number of Tejas has ever been produced so I am pessimistic about plans to produce 16 Mk1A a year starting this FY or next FY.

If 97 more Mk1A are ordered because Mk2 is so far behind schedule, where will Mk2 be assembled? The current order for 83 Mk1A will possibly tie up 3 assembly plants until 2030. An order for an additional 97 would mean the assembly plants would be tied up until the mid-2030's.

Exports? The time to get Tejas exports was when the MiG-21/Mirage users of the world wanted to replace their fleets. There might still be some possibility or two eg Brazil but India missed the export window. Of course, India would need to be able to deliver any export aircraft within a reasonable time. What chance is there of that?

I would say that with TOT from HAL, a private company should have started being included in Tejas assembly 10 years ago so that by now there would be 2 companies able to assemble fast jets. That was not done but can still be done. The monopoly of a single company in fast jet assembly is not a good idea, particularly the monopoly of an inefficient state-owned company.

If the current HAL monopoly on assembly continues, Mk2 can be expected to meet the same problems that afflicted Tejas/Mk1A.

If you don't change things for the better, things don't change for the better.