Second LCA Prototype Begins Flight Tests
Neelam Mathews. Aviation Week & Space Technology. New York: August 5, 2002.Vol.157, Iss. 6; pg. 32
After postponements and technical delays, the second technology demonstrator (TD-2) for India’s long-delayed Light Combat Aircraft has been flown at Bangalore, but the aircraft is unlikely to see service before 2010.
The third of seven LCA prototypes is due for flight testing by the end of the year in preparation for an anticipated order of eight aircraft. Once full production begins, the LCA is expected to replace India’s aging fleet of some 450 MiG-21s. They have been the subject of repeated accidents, including one three months ago that prompted a grounding of the Indian air force’s MiG-21 fleet (AW&ST May 13, p. 34).
But recent press reports saying that the government is looking for an outside vendor to supply a MiG replacement indicate that patience is wearing thin for a program that started 19 years ago. The Indian air force currently flies about 39 squadrons. It is expected to have 55 by 2020.
Once showcased as the symbol of U.S.-Indian defense friendship, the program has fallen prey to both technical and political problems.
Program Director Kota Harinarayana said the LCA is intended as a platform for India’s present light fighter needs as well as for future weapon systems. The air force also fields heavier fighters, including the Su-30, MiG-29 and Mirage 2000.
The project has been managed and monitored by the Aeronautical Development Agency and nearly 80-odd small and large defense and other related organizations under the umbrella of the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO). Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) is the lead manufacturer, with responsibility for its Kaveri engine, airframe, systems integration and fly-by-wire control systems.
Indigenization is the biggest technical challenge. An LCA official defended the program’s long gestation period as the result of politics, not design. “The project faced delays because of technological and political challenges,” he said. “As a result, we had to find solutions by developing appropriate indigenous technologies and equipment.”
The reference is to sanctions imposed by the U.S. after India’s Pokhran nuclear bomb tests in 1998. (Indian scientists working in different fields linked to the LCA project at Lockheed Martin in Binghamton, N.Y., were asked to return to India.)
But another industry observer says that’s not the whole story. “While they may say it was U.S. sanctions imposed for 2.5 years that stalled the project, they could never identify the right vendors” to supply components, he said. “They want to do everything themselves without having the necessary capabilities. With technology available abroad, does it not make sense to have sourced it?”
As an example, he said that when compressor blades were required for the Kaveri engine, negotiations were abruptly shut off with French suppliers in favor of an indigenous small supplier from Gujarat.
“The main reason for the delay is that the exact requirements [for the aircraft] were not laid out,” he said. “There has been no strategy or planning and no commitment of dates to deliver.”
Retired group Capt. Rajesh Chidambaram sees reason for concern. “In the recent MiG-21bis update, nothing much has been done to improve the engine, which had been giving problems,” he said. “The time is not far away when the LCA, too, will be manufactured by HAL. One wonders what will happen to the already worrisome safety record then.”
The project has experienced significant cost growth. “The original project cost $114 million, has gone up to $612 million today, and there seems to be no sign of a commitment to completion, as [the LCA] is politically motivated,” the industry critic said. ``The LCA project will continue to provide employment to government officials and go on and on till the cows come home.”
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