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Fakir Chand in Bangalore
A technical snag has further delayed the test flight of the second technology demonstrator (TD-2) of the Light Combat Aircraft.
"A hydraulic snag leading to oil leakage is holding up the test flight of the multi-role fighter aircraft's second prototype," Dr V K Aatre, scientific adviser to the defence minister, told rediff.com in Bangalore on Monday on the sidelines of a workshop on satellite-aided search and rescue organised by the Indian Space Research Organisation.
While admitting that the second test flight should have been accomplished by now, Aatre declined to give a new date. The much-touted TD-2 had failed to take off in February as well, which itself was the revised schedule.
"I am embarrassed to say that a minor problem is holding up the test flight," Aatre admitted. "We are trying to locate where and how the oil leakage is taking place. Once it is rectified, the LCA will be airborne again for testing additional parameters. We hope it will take place at least by next month."
The Aeronautical Development Agency has short-listed two other test pilots for the second flight as the first pair, including Wing Commander Rajiv Katiyal who flew the first prototype, has been transferred. Aatre, however, did not disclose the names of the new pilots.
At the time of the LCA's first test flight (TD-1) way back in January 2001, officials of the ADA had proudly claimed that the TD-2 could take place as early as September that year. But subsequent developments and the need for additional critical tests have led to its postponement by six months.
After the first prototype was flown over a dozen times, the ADA began work on the second one with experts from the Defence Research and Development Organisation and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited pitching in to help upgrade the aircraft's fuel system and other 'fly-by-wire' parameters.
"Once we are through the teething problems, we hope to take up the next three test flights of the LCA's technology demonstrators by this yearend. After due diligence, including certification for airworthiness, the LCA will be taken up for production by HAL to replace the ageing MiG fleet of the Indian Air Force," Aatre affirmed.
Though the LCA prototypes will be fitted with GE-404 engines and critical parts from abroad, the ADA has taken up an ambitious programme to indigenously produce its own engine named Kaveri and indigenise components in the run-up to production.
"We are sending the prototype Kaveri engine to Russia for altitude testing under simulated conditions. Their induction will be gradual after statutory clearances," Aatre said.
The entire LCA project, including the upcoming prototypes, will cost the Indian exchequer around $1billion (Rs 48 billion), half of which has already been spent in its design and development over the last decade-and-a-half.
Defence officials are hopeful of inducting the LCA in the IAF by 2010. It will cost around $17 million per aircraft at the current price. Till date, it is 70 per cent indigenous with the rest coming from different countries.
The LCA's flight test programme (FTP) will be carried out over the next few years with prototypes taking to the skies to demonstrate their capabilities, required by the three defence forces. "The purpose of the FTP is to validate a number of advanced technologies incorporated in the LCA. These include unstable configuration, quadruplex, fly-by-wire digital flight control system, integrated avionics with glass cockpit, advanced composite materials for primary structure, and a novel utility systems management system," Aatre affirmed.
According to ADA director Kota Harinarayana, the LCA is an advanced technology, single-seat, single-engine, supersonic, lightweight, all-weather, multi-role, air-superiority fighter, designed for air-to-air, air-to-ground, and air-to-sea combat roles.
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