This is what the Navy LCA Mk2 will look like although the MLG design may be modified as per Capt Maolankar

Some more information on the IAF Tejas Mk2 version from a poster Merlin on BRF, gleaned from AI-11.

Another few tidbits

1. Mk2 plan is to have 3 6″x8″ AMLCD MFD instead of the 5 now (2xSSID, 3 MFD). With all of the MFDs from Samtel. Currently the centre 3 MFDs are imported with the 2 standby units Indian (hardware and software). Again only a plan.

2. 500 mm length increase behind cockpit will give more room for avionics, its jam packed now and difficult to replace LRUs. DFCC optimization will be done with an all new DFCC with new hardware. FCS will be changed a little.

3. Tejas Mk1 officially cleared to +6G, unofficially reached +6.9G, at AI11

4. There are a total of 750 odd combinations of all stores grouped into 30. The most important ones are tested. Nobody does all combinations.

5. Some changes for lightening protection use BARC developed Shape memory alloys. Shrink when heated instead of expanding. Got some gyan here which went over my head, was already saturated with info by this time and I had only moved 3 stalls in 1.5 hours.

6. 20 Tejas on deck + 17 in hanger below for IAC-1. 5 + 10 helos. IAC-1 can take both MiG-29 and Tejas.

7. Flutter tests done with both combat clean configuration and with heavy stores.

8. FCS does asymmetric loads with ease.

9. Twin firing of R-73 done which means after both were fired, the wing was totally clean (without the safety R-60/R-73 missiles)

10. Claimed AF is fine with +8G

11. Flys without the gun

So the winner is to be announced in 2 WEEKS ?!!:eek: Can this possibly be true !?

Electrifying aerospace vendors at Aero India 2011 in Bangalore, Indian Air Force chief, Air Chief Marshall PV Naik, announced today that New Delhi would decide within two weeks about which medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) it would buy, and actually sign the US $10 billion contract by September.

“The CNC (Cost Negotiation Committee) is likely to start in a week or two. Taking that as the datum and giving [the CNC] another 6-8 months, the contract is likely to be signed in September”, declared Naik.

The CNC is a group of officials that negotiates, between the Ministry of Defence and the winning vendor, a final price for the sale.

Naik’s boss, defence minister AK Antony, had stated at Aero India 2011 yesterday that the globally-watched contract would be finalised by the end of the next financial year 2011-2012, i.e. by March 2012. By setting the deadline six months earlier, Naik appears to have put the MoD under pressure.
[b]
Asked for a clarification by Business Standard, Naik’s officiating deputy, Air Marshall RK Sharma, confirmed his chief’s announcement. Sharma clarified that the winning vendor would be issued an invitation within two weeks to appear for cost negotiations, while the CNC would actually meet within two months. An invitation to a vendor to appear in a CNC is tantamount to announcing the winner of a contract.

“The DAC (the MoD’s apex Defence Acquisition Council) will formalise the winner soon; we will then invite that company for negotiations”, said Sharma.
[b]
Six fighters are competing for the IAF contract: Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet; Lockheed Martin’s F-16IN Super Viper; the MiG Corporation’s MiG-35; Saab’s Gripen NG; Dassault’s Rafale; and a four-nation European consortium’s Eurofighter. Executives from these companies say they are baffled by Naik’s announcement. Asked in late-2010 to rework their offset bids, and with no date yet given for resubmission, the MoD does not have a key element needed to decide a winner.

“Is the MoD going to decide the contract winner without examining the offset bids?” asks a bemused executive, from one of the competing aircraft manufacturers.

While no answers are currently forthcoming to these questions, the air chief did explain why little appears to have happened since July 2010, when the IAF submitted its flight trial evaluation report to the MoD. Naik revealed that the last six months had gone by in explaining to the MoD the technical nuances of the flight trials.

“There have been a lot of queries and counter-queries [between the MoD and the IAF]. It is such a complicated deal, and there is so much of technical detail involved… so there was a lot of, shall we say, education to be done so that the report was clearly understood in all its manifestations,” explained Naik.

The air chief also voiced his apprehension that the contract could be delayed by “dissatisfied vendors (who) put a spoke in the wheel”, using allegations of wrongdoing to trigger long-running probes by investigation agencies.

Yesterday, a defensive Antony had announced that political considerations would play no role in deciding the winner. That seemed to suggest that the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), which will be required to approval the contract after the CNC negotiates a final price, would merely rubber-stamp the IAF/MoD decision.

Other than the impending contract for 126 medium fighters to boost the IAF’s dwindling numbers, the IAF chief also announced the impending conclusion, “within this financial year”, of the contract to upgrade the air force’s 20-year-old fleet of 52 Mirage-2000 medium fighters. This upgrade, which has been the subject of bitter negotiations between the IAF and French contractor, Thales, will give the Mirage-2000 another 20 years of service life by fitting on a new radar and a modern cockpit with state-of-the-art avionics and electronic warfare equipment.

While Thales had initially demanded US $52 million per aircraft, the deal has been concluded, say IAF sources to Business Standard, at US 39 million per aircraft.

link to Ajai Shukla’s blog

How is that passing off my opinion as IAFs ? :rolleyes:

We all know that you do that. I wont argue any more though since I don’t want this thread to be derailed.

It is compared to what it set out to do ie. replace the IAFs MIG 21 fleet.

Ah. So now you change goal posts.

The order would be “token” if the entire Tejas production ended at 40. Otherwise, its just like the Eurofighter production which was carried out in Tranches, with each Tranche progressively adding more and more capability. or like the Rafale which was ordered first in F1 capability and now is at F3.

OR is that too hard for you to understand as well ? In your eagerness to criticize the LCA program, you forget to look around and see that not having the most capable and agreed upon fighter available right at the beginning of deliveries is COMMON !!

But nevermind, I don’t think that facts should stand in the way of your discussions.

Its been widely acknowledged by a host of defense journalists from many publications (quite reputed ones like Aviation week and flight global even) that the MRCA deal is more than likely to go beyond the intial 126. Which is better than the gusses made by us arm chair generals.

AW&ST has made some big bloopers. Neelam Matthews’ reporting has not covered itself in glory for all intents and purposes.

It will depend on how the MK2 comes off. The Akash for example done well so subsequent orders were placed, the MK1 did not turn out that well so only a token number was ordered. I doubt the IAF will have the LCA in mind when they are making the MRCA decisions.

so 40 aircraft is a token order. Guess how many Mirage-2000s the IAF operated to date ? And what about MiG-29s ? And the IAF only ordered 40 Su-30MKIs initially from Russia. So all these are “token” orders ? :rolleyes:

You are the one stating opinions as facts which will not make them so. 83 MK2 is what is confirmed that is fact.

You think they MAY order more that is opinion.

But you are the one claiming that they will order only 83. Others accept that given the manner in which the IAF places orders in tranches or batches, there is a good chance that the Tejas Mk2 order size will increase as well, since they have officially asked the MoD to increase their squadron size to 45.

I am sorry I meant MRCA competitor. The MRCA winner is almost certain to have more orders than the 126 because the Tejas MK2 is limited to just 83 orders.

40+83 = 123 < 126 MRCA initial MRCA anyway but that was not my point.

you do know that the GE F414 engine deal was for 99 engines + 49 options right? So if there is any chance that the MRCA options may be exercised, then there are chances that the Tejas Mk2 options may also get exercised.