Carpet bombing: Tejas to demonstrate fire power ahead of FOC
Bengaluru, June 29: The Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas is all set undertake critical test flights carrying an array of missiles and bombs to complete its scheduled weapon trials.
Top sources with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed to this Correspondent that the integration of Russian-made Close Combat Missile (CCM) R-73 has been completed.
The ground integration of the Israeli-made CMM Python-5 too has been completed ahead of the flight trials. The Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missile Derby has also been integrated on to the aircraft.
Tejas can carry two CCMs with a range of 15 km at the extreme end pods. These missiles can home on to the enemy aircraft based on their heat signature.
The Derby (two missiles) is being integrated on the mid-board-pods of Tejas and they have a range varying between 80 and 100 km.
The
home-grown
fighter
carries
the
laser-guided
bomb
(LGB)
Griffin,
which
has
a
range
of
5-6
km.
Tejas
will
also
carry
LGB
Paveway,
which
according
to
sources,
has
already
demonstrated
its
capabilities
with
an
accuracy
of
1
meter.
"These
missiles
have
demonstrated
their
capabilities
to
strike
with
precision
during
day
and
night,"
says
an
official.
BVR missiles to be tested in July
The laser-designator pod also has been integrated on to the aircraft. "Tejas can carry drop tanks with 1200-litre and 800-725-litre capacity. The R-73 has completed flight trials in Goa, Jaisalmer and Jamnagar over 10 times. The LGB has been tested for six times now," the official said.
The BVR testes scheduled to be held in May has now been fixed for July at forward bases. "The CCMs and BVRs used on Tejas are capable of SSKP (Single Shot Kill Probability). In a war scenario, the pilot can increase the kill probability by opting for firing both CCMs, or both BVRs together," the official added.
The integration of Russian-made gun for Tejas Gsh-23 has been completed. The gun has been already ground tested at a facility in Nasik.
FOC may spill over to March 2016?
When asked whether Tejas would skip the December 2015 deadline for Final Operational Clearance (FOC), the top MoD official said: "There are still some passing clouds hanging around. But the teams from Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) are confident of beating the deadline."
However, another official told this Correspondent that the programme might skip the December deadline by maximum three months.
"May be it will spill over to the last quarter of this FY. The FOC will be in by March 2016," he said.
Refueling probe, nose cone radome awaited
To complete the FOC points, the air-to-air refueling probe from Cobham hasn't arrived yet. The nose cone quartz radome too is being awaited.
There are already some rumours floating around in the corridors of HAL and ADA over the delay in accessing these pending foreign systems.
A
Defence
Research
and
Development
Organisation
(DRDO)
official
says
that
they
are
hopeful
of
thrashing
the
issue.
"Definitely
there
are
concerns.
But,
we
are
hoping
to
get
clarity
by
July.
Hopefully,
we
should
have
access
to
all
hardware
within
a
month.
We
don't
see
any
more
technology
challenges
after
the
integration
of
these
pending
items,"
says
the
senior
DRDO
official.
ADA says that almost 75 per cent of work related to FOC has been completed. The siblings of Tejas have completed 2971 flights so far logging around 1909 hours, at the time this piece went live on the web.
(The writer is a seasoned aerospace and defence journalist in India. He is the Consultant Editor (Defence) with OneIndia. He tweets @writetake.)
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