National pride of India …
India and Pakistan. Half a century of conflict. The confrontation gives rise to a local arms race. When the United States needed Pakistan, in the fight against Soviet troops in Afghanistan, and he openly supported it, all other Western countries did not dare to enter the Indian market. In addition, the Indian peninsula was practically in the sphere of influence of the USSR.
It cannot of course be said that the influence of Western weapons schools has bypassed the Indians. The French turned around great. The fact is that in 1966 they withdrew from the military component of NATO and, apparently, behind the scenes, the USSR did not oppose cooperation between India and France.
France began supplying helicopters Aérospatiale SA 316B, later establishing their mass production under the name HAL SA315B. Among the avalanches of licensed MiGs, HAL Jaguar I also managed to slip into production (which was already a joint development of France and Great Britain).
Great Britain also did not want to leave the former dominion. After the next Indo-Pakistani war, Indian "Centurions" showed complete superiority over Pakistani M-47s, creating the famous "Patton graveyard". The British deployed a licensed assembly of their Folland Gnat light fighters, which the Indians also used with success.
But at the end of 1991, the Soviet Union was gone. Russia was preoccupied with internal problems and foreign policy ties, which began to crack under Gorbachev, practically collapsed. In addition, Pakistan, before the imposition of sanctions on it in 1998, came out ahead in modern weapons, in particular, its aviation was armed with F-16C fighters, which India had practically nothing to oppose. There was a small batch of Soviet MiG-29s in India. The following deliveries were made in the 90s, but India was dissatisfied with the quality of MiGs, both Russian and local. During the period from 2001-2008, the Indian Air Force lost 54 MiG fighters of various modifications in plane crashes. Therefore, India has decided to buy a "second-hand" of 126 Mirage-2000 fighters. But, the ambitious plans did not merge with the budget, as a result, the Air Force received 41 single-seat variants and 10 twin-seaters. But all these steps were quite late and New Delhi did not make up for the difference in modern fighters for parity with Pakistan and China, all the more so as the "national fighter" project failed!
In general, HAL Tejas (from Sanskrit - "diamond") turned out to be as "long-term construction" as the Arjun tank. The assignment was received back in 1983. Naturally, it said that it should surpass the MiG-21MF, which were assembled in hundreds at the enterprises of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. It should have occupied a niche next to the Swedish JAS.39 Gripen, the French Mirage 2000 and the American F-16. In addition, amendments were made in 1985: it must have a naval version to replace the Sea Harrier vertical takeoff fighter. In general, the aircraft received a category: LCA (Licjhl Combat Aircraft - light combat aircraft).
France was mentioned for a reason. The French from the Dassault company were involved in this project, and they put their "tailless" here too. True, to be honest, it was best suited for a short take-off from the deck of Indian aircraft carriers and maneuvering combat in the mountains on the border with Pakistan.
Only in 1987 the first drawings appeared, and in the 90th the plane began to be embodied in metal. In 93rd, the American company Lockheed Martin received an assignment for avionics. And then stop. Only in the 96th there was a second copy of the aircraft, which took off already! at the end of 98th. One could gloat if we were not familiar with a similar situation.
In general, with the world on a thread - a naked shirt. The prototypes were powered by an American General Electric F404-GE-F2J3 engine. Tests of the power plant GTX-35VS Kaveri, took place in the 97th Zhukovsky. In general, the fighter was expensive to build. Imported components and composite materials cost a pretty penny to the Ministry of Finance. The program to create a national fighter jet cost India even then $ 1.4 billion. By comparison, the development cost of the more advanced Northrop-McDonnell Douglas YF-23 was $ 1.2 billion, at 1996 prices.
In 1998, Pakistan acquired nuclear weapons and India also rattled tests in response. The result is the US embargo and the fate of the finished aircraft is in the air. In 2001, the second pre-production aircraft with American engines and avionics took off, and the aircraft itself would only go into production in the form of production copies in 2013, exactly 30 years after receiving the assignment.
As a result, the car was outdated and did not meet modern requirements. Already in 2007, there was a requirement to modernize the still "not finished" aircraft in the Mark-2, up to level 4+. The fourth copy (LSP-4) of the aircraft received a new phased array antenna (PAR), developed with the help of Israel and domestically produced avionics.
The introduction of the JF-17 into the ranks of Pakistan in 2009 accelerated the program to bring the aircraft to mind.
In June 2010, the 4th pre-production aircraft made a supersonic flight with a full bomb load. And already in July of the same year it made its first flight (LSP-5) with a domestic power plant.
Although the contract for the delivery of the first 20 LCA Tejas was signed with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited on March 30, 2006, deliveries of the T4K have not yet begun. It was reported that by 2022 India will have 6 squadrons of LCA Tejas (2 in the Mk-1 version and the 4th in the Mk-2 version). Deliveries of Mk-1 aircraft will begin in April 2013, and Mk-2 from 2014.
The resource of the Indian Sea Harrier was extended until 2032 (who said that the Ukrainian aircraft are old), but the NP-1 prototype did not refuse the development of the naval version of the LCA Tejas, although it had a serious competitor, the MiG-29K, which bypassed it at the finish line when completing light aircraft carrier "Vikramaditya" (the Indians simply did not have time to collect their sample). India's plans to build several aircraft carriers, including nuclear ones, and the delay in reworking the Admiral Gorshkov leaves Russia little chance for this contract.
Specifications
Crew: 1 person
Length: 13.2 m
Wingspan: 8.2 m
Height: 4.4 m
Wing area: 37.5m²
Empty weight: 5,500 kg
Normal takeoff weight: 12,500 kg
Maximum takeoff weight: 15 500 kg
Fuel weight in internal tanks 3000 kg
Power point:
1 × GTX -35VS Kaverei
Non-afterburner thrust: 1 × 52.0 kN
Afterburner thrust: 1 × 90, 0 kNї
Flight characteristics
Maximum speed: 1920 km / h (Mach 1.8)
Practical range: 2,000 km
Flight duration: 2, 3 hours (without refueling)
Service ceiling: 15 950 m
Wing loading: 221.4 kg / m²
Thrust-to-weight ratio: 0.73
Maximum operational overload: +9, 0 / -3, 5 g
Armament
Cannon: 1 × 23 mm GSh-23 double-barreled cannon, 220 rounds
Suspension points: 8 (3 under each console, central and one on the left under the fuselage for containers with equipment)
Combat load: 4,000 kg of various weapons:
air-to-air missiles: Astra, R-77 and R-73
anti-ship missiles, guided and free-fall bombs, NAR
