Indian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.
- Thread starter bd popeye
- Start date
Oh Lord they actually used it?? Man they could have used photoshop-ai to add engines before printing it
Vimaana technology right there folks.
Seriously now, what's wrong with the americans and the F-404, why do they deliver engines so slowly? Any idea what the issue is?
I think it's more of a pricing and commercial issue than a manufacturing one. Since the Tejas was designed around the F404/F414 engine family, the U.S. likely knows India has no realistic alternative because of the aircraft's design characteristics, which may have strengthened its negotiating position. That could explain reports that the latest price being sought is nearly three times higher than before.
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Here's the astonishing part: the scale of India's commitment. India has already invested around $1 billion in the F404/F414 engine program & is expected to acquire roughly 300 engines from the same family.
The AL-31 engines manufactured in India offer improved thrust and service life compared to earlier Russian-produced versions, due to upgrades incorporating technologies developed during the Kaveri engine program. However, the Indian Air Force has always sought an engine comparable to modern Western designs. Western fighter engines are generally smaller, lighter, require less maintenance, have longer service lives, and are easier to install and remove, reducing maintenance time and improving aircraft availability.
The Kaveri engine was originally intended to match these standards. Although India has now approved an approximately $8 billion program to develop a new generation of fighter engine, the Kaveri program has not been abandoned. Instead, it has evolved into the Kaveri Derivative Engine (KDE), a lightweight 52 kN dry-thrust engine intended for unmanned aerial vehicles. This is a significant achievement for India's stealth drone and future bomber drone programs, as it reduces dependence on imported engines for unmanned systems, even though India still relies on foreign engines for its manned fighter aircraft.
The Indian Air Force has also expressed interest in long-range unmanned combat aircraft capable of carrying heavy payloads. If India eventually develops a large bomber drone comparable in role to the B-52, such a platform could potentially be powered by multiple Kaveri Derivative Engines. Smaller stealth combat drones designed for air-to-air and air-to-ground missions could use a single Kaveri Derivative Engine.
As unmanned systems continue to play an increasingly important role in modern warfare, the availability of an indigenous engine for combat drones provides India with valuable strategic flexibility. While dependence on imported fighter aircraft engines remains a challenge, having a domestically developed engine for unmanned platforms offers important operational and industrial advantages as drone technology becomes a larger part of future air combat.
At least photoshop an engine into the picture-this really looks bad and cheap to their own demise-OTOH Canada will probably join the GCAP program as the Canadians do have many areas of aerospace expertise unlike some others.
...a policy as consistent as it is fruitless.
Current Indian AF build up, badly delayed, will bring IAF to a level, acceptable in 2010s. Not ideal, but acceptable.
But it'll do so by 2030 at the earliest!
It's growing a bit late for just interest, especially for a force which at this moment is lagging badly behind in terms of keeping up with global air force development...
Strategic bombers have become important for India's policy vis-à-vis Pakistan. To strike Pakistan's nuclear weapon storage sites with heavy bunker-buster munitions, India needs a strategic bomber capability. Although India has modified the Agni-5 ballistic missile to deliver heavy bunker-buster ammunition, it is always better to have a strategic bomber because missiles are expensive. A strategic bomber provides a level of flexibility, precision, and payload capacity that missiles cannot match. It can carry a variety of munitions, undertake multiple missions
Well, IAF doesn't have one and there's no realistic way to acquire one; end of story?