I also guess that all the reported hacks of the JSF program traced back to China was just for fun.

http://johnltdo5455.wordpress.com/2009/04/22/russians-angry-with-chinas-copy-cat-military-hardware-technology/

The appearance of DSI on the JF-17 was not totally coincidental, no ? Industrial espionage was a known fact, with multiple suppliers of the F-35 later on found to be totally compromised, with all data stolen and servers hacked.

Will we see a Refuelling prob on the MK1 ?

It will be added after FOC is achieved.

U.K.-based Cobham is in discussions with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. and India’s Aeronautical Development Agency about retrofitting a retractable refueling probe on the current model of the Light Combat Aircraft as well as the Mk2 version.

While Cobham is not certain how the business model will be globally tendered, the company’s experience will be a definite advantage, according to Lee Griffiths, director of Cobham India.

“We will develop and design a retractable refueling probe,” Griffiths says. “LCA is a tightly packed aircraft … Unfortunately, we’re later in the design period. We will roll out the retractable [version] by 2013-14.”

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It is. It carries it on the port side under-intake hard point

Tejas hardpoint payloads are stressed for the weights as shown in the image below

I wonder if the Tejas will now get a HF-XX designation during the IOC ceremony.

Tejas IOC is just a few days away now. Will be a red letter day for Indian aviation.

The Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)Tejas on Thursday cleared its last hurdle before attaining the January 10-scheduled Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) with the aircraft’s integrated flight control system receiving the necessary documentation from the certifying authorities.

The Regional Centre for Military Airworthiness (RCMA) handed over the certification for the LCA’s integrated flight control system (IFCS) – the pilot-friendly flight controls.

The three teams involved in the LCA programme responsible for the IFCS were Control Law (CLAW), Flight Simulation team and the Parameter Identification team. “Over the years we have developed flight controls that have made the aircraft user-friendly for the pilots to do up to 8 or 9 G’s (eight to nine times the gravitation force). All the 14 test pilots who have flown the LCA over the last 10 years have said we have done a great job and there is nothing more satisfying than this,” Shyam Chetty, project director, CLAW, and the overall head of the three teams, said.

The three groups were formed separately in 1992 by former President APJ Abdul Kalam when he was the scientific advisor to the defence minister, and have been working closely since then.
Team members recalled the negative publicity the programme received in the initial years and the demands to wind it down as it was considered “more trouble than its worth”.

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Boom, first you are assuming that IAF needs 800 5G fighters. 2nd for all we know AMCA might also be a twin eng heavy. European companies have skipped 5G-read lack of funding-& seem to be concentrating on UCAV. All projects compete for money, & even India does not have unlimited cash. Does India really need to first seek US’s 6G definition? Why not take the lead in partnership with someone else? If you wait for someone else’s 6G, by the time you deploy it someone’d be close to 7G, i.e. Stil 1 step behind.

We know that the AMCA is not going to be a twin engined “heavy” fighter. It is going to be in the 20 ton category as per whatever has been published so far on it and that has been decided alongwith the IAF.

Secondly, what applies to Europe doesn’t necessarily apply to the threat scenario that the IAF is meant to handle.

6G is still way out, and for India’s aerospace industry, 5G itself is going to be a challenge. If there is no 5G program for them to work on from ground up, there will be the same situation that arose when the LCA program was taken up- the lack of skillsets, capabilities, infrastructure and experience in taking up such a complex program at that stage.

the AMCA is necessary for the IAF to be able to affordably replace the hundreds of Jaguars, Mirages and MiG-29s in the 2020s with a manned fighter.

Wow, I get back from 2 weeks of internet exile and J-20 (?) is revealed? awesome.

You’re not the only one..Deino will be in for a shock when he returns as well ! He prophesized that this would happen too ! 😀