The US always spends big bucks on projects compared to everyone else. eg. Ford spent $2 billion to design and launch the Contour while the Indian company Tata spent $50 million to design and launch the Indica. Does that mean the Contour is 40 times better? Operating costs, efficiency all contribute to design and production costs. The Russians fell behind on Aesa Radars because they went through some lean times and didnt have the money to invest in Aesa research but their Pesa radars built when they had enough money to compete are world class.
The J-10 very likely has a AoA limit like the JAS-39
That is precisely my point. Everything you know about the J-10 is based on pure speculation. I wouldnt take an article in the Hindustan Times as the gospel truth either. The media in India publish a lot of good stuff along with a lot of unverified stuff. I wouldnt believe it unless it is from the ADA or official sources and as far as I know ADA or the IAF have not commented on the AOA. An airplane design is based on many factors. If it all came down to canards every plane would be having one. How come none of the American planes like the F-16, F-22 and JSF have one. Canards may or may not help based on the rest of the design and other factors.
It is very difficult to compare a plane like the LCA which is pretty much an open book (of which a lot is known from official sources as well as reliable and unreliable news sources) as compared to a plane like the J-10 which is a closed book and all that is known is based on pure speculation by the J-10 fan club. So to say one is superior to the other without relevant verifiable information is a total waste of time in my opinion. Even saying one is superior to the other just based on the existence of things like canards is ridiculous. (By the way canards were considered and modeled on the LCA and were discarded as they were deemed to not improve performance in any of the flight regimes)
By law manufacturers are not allowed to sell to other countries for less than what they charge the US armed forces. If the USAF is paying 100 million a pop I doubt export customers will get it for less.
One of the senior people at ADA recently commented that it is easy to meet the requirements for IOC but the difficult part was to meet the ASRs of the IAF which constantly demands the latest and greatest. I guess the the only silver lining is that in trying to incorporate the latest and greatest India gets to improve its technological base and catch up with the west.
Tejas at IOC (circa 2010) will have full A2G role (with LDP and PGM capability integrated), in flight refueling and of course full A2A and EW package. In short it will debut as a full multi role fighter from day 1!.. That is the big difference when compared to the development of the Eurofighter and Rafale which entered into service with basic gun and minimal A2A capability integrated and gradually included A2G in tranche (Eurofighter didnt even have it when participating in the Singapore square off). If the IAF didnt have such stiff demands and “definitions” of IOC this baby would be participating in airshows around the world.
After how many years?? 30 years!!! Anyone can design and build plane or even cruise missile( remember the NZ DIY?) as 95% is the most easy thing to do, the last 5% is one which differentiate between armature and professional build.
Hope you got the point……why GTX aka Kaveri is stuck at that point for the past 20 years:cool:
Things like building an aircraft engine from scratch takes time especially if you have not had any prior experience. Different from buying it on the sly and painting it green and calling it indigenous.
Precisely the reason countries like India, Brazil and South Africa have shied away from buying US goodies despite being democracies and having a lot in common with the US. No country wants to be held hostage to another countries whims and fancies.
I think the Tejas with the F404 IN is more than adequate as a replacement for the Mig21 and the IAF has accepted it as such. But looks like IAF has upped the ante and is requesting an improved version stuffed full of electronic goodies requiring a more powerful powerplant. DRDO has agreed to it as long as the IAF is willing to accepts the first 2 squadrons with the the 404IN engine. The subsequent planes would have the more powerful engine. As to what this engine would be is open to speculation. Will it be the joint venture improved Kaveri with Snecma or the EuroJet with full Transfer of Technology? The EuroJet would be the quicker solution and probably the preferred solution by the IAF while the joint venture improved Kaveri is probably the preferred solution of DRDO and ADA. It should become very clear in the near future which way they will go.
I think very few people know the real facts on the progress of the Kaveri. A lot of rumours floating around that are spouted as facts. One of the rumours making the rounds was that the IAF was unhappy with both the French and Russian proposal for collaboration as the neither could get it to the desired thrust. I would take anything anyone says (including the press in India) with a grain of salt till official pronouncements are made.
You don’t believe the LCA is equivalent to the F-22. So, how would you compare it to the Gripen???
I wouldn’t make any comparisons to any aircraft till it gets certification and is operational with the airforce. Only then will we get a true measure of its capabilities instead of speculations and idle boasts.
Tejas is required to build up the squadron strength to what the airforce deems is necessary to defend the country. It is too expensive to do that with he MKI or the MRCA. Tejas was meant to replace the Mig 21 and I believe even in its current incarnation would do so very well. The Air Force wants more than a Mig21 replacement, They want it to be a multipurpose fighter. Not sure what the issues are with it are at this point. There are too many rumours and speculation floating around and not enough facts. Whatever they are I dont think they are show stoppers and hope they will be resolved soon.
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