Why
India needs to invest in Flying Test Bed for its Engine program, Kaveri Engine
to be tested on IL-76 Transporter in Russia
Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE) developed indigenous Kaveri Dry engine will be heading to Russia soon to be tested from a Modified IL-76 which it uses as a Flying Test Bed at Gromov. India lacks High Altitude flight test facility that includes a Flying Test Bed for its military afterburning turbo fan projects due to which it needs to depend on France and Russia for testing of experimental engine programs that are vulnerable to external espionage and even after repeated demands from the GTRE it has fallen into deaf ears.
Heading
to Russia or some other country is not only a time-consuming process but also
costs a country lot of money since thousands of hours that needs to be before
an engine can be validated can get us a Flying Test Bed of our own. Flying Test
Bed can validate engine performance at 40,000 to 50,000 feet above the ground
and also highlights any serious issues with the program that needs to be fixed.
DRDO
successfully conducts flight test of indigenously developed High speed
Expendable Aerial Target Abhyas
DRDO
on Thursday successfully conducted the flight test of indigenously developed
High speed Expendable Aerial Target Abhyas today from Integrated Test Range Chandipur
off the coast of Odisha. During the flight trial, a high subsonic speed
trajectory at a very low altitude with high endurance was demonstrated. Two
boosters provided initial acceleration during launch & a small turbojet
engine is used to sustain high subsonic speed with long endurance. The
indigenous data link designed by a Bengaluru based industry partner has been
successfully flown and tested during the flight. The performance of Abhyas
during the entire flight duration has been confirmed from the data captured by
various instruments deployed.
The
system has been designed to meet the high speed aerial target requirements of
the Indian armed forces. According to information available in the open domain,
the aircraft is controlled by a navigation system operated with the help of a
flight control computer. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that the successful
flight test of HEAT displays a synergy between the scientific community and the
industry. The development may be viewed as a step in the direction of achieving
self-reliance in defence, in line with the government’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat
policy.
Sixth Generation
Jets Coming Soon as US China Look To Arm Their Fighter Jets With ‘New Age
Weapons’
US defense giant
Lockheed Martin is reportedly developing a mini version of The High Energy
Laser with Integrated Optical dazzler and Surveillance HELIOS, small enough to
be fitted in a fighter jet.
The HELIOS, which
is being developed for the US Navy, is to be deployed aboard an Arleigh Burke
class guided missile destroyer by the end of 2021.
The US sixth
generation fighter jet, called NGAD or Next Generation Air Dominance fighter,
could be the potential host of the shrunken laser system.
A laser system has many advantages as it provides
more accuracy than a gun and offers “unlimited munition” compared with the
limited number of missiles being carried by a fighter jet.
Lasers could
potentially make the traditional air to air dogfighting obsolete, since a fighter
with a laser weapon could destroy a target instantly without having the need to
do a follow up shot.
However, an aerial
laser is much more delicate and complex than a ground based laser system,
especially when they’re attached to a supersonic fighter jet. Operating aboard
a jet, a laser weapon would require more amounts of electricity and regular
maintenance due to passing through dust, water, and ice particles.
The current laser
in question is the HELIOS, which Lockheed Martin describes as more than just a
high energy laser. The HELIOS system’s multi mission capabilities include long
range Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Counter Unmanned Aerial
System mounted ISR Dazzler.
Navy to prioritize
Tedbf over Foreign Jets and even Naval AMCA
The TEDBF (Twin
Engine deck Based Fighter) program will soon be taken as a priority mission
after Navy decided to drop plans to procure 37 Deck based fighter jets from an
International vendor for operations from aircraft carrier as Aeronautical
Development Agency and Navy are close to finalizing the final design
specifications of the proposed 4.5++ Generation Deck based fighter program to
be called as TEDBF that will replace Russian Migg-29K from 2035.
Aeronautical
Development Agency has estimated that the TEDBF Research and Development
program cost will be around 13000 crores that first needs to be cleared from
the Defence Acquisition Council out of which 60% will come from the Government
and 40% from the Navy’s Budget for which Aeronautical Development Agency and
Navy need to first agree on minimum order unit of the jet that will go into
production.
Aeronautical
Development Agency ADA Navy will settle on 100 units of TEDBF that will be
enough for three carrier strike groups. ADA at Aero India 2021 had said that
the rollout of the prototype will happen in 2025 and the first flight has been
scheduled for 2026 and production in 2029 to 30.
DRDO chief has
confirmed that prototypes of the TEDBF will be powered by the American F414
GE-INS6 but the production batches will switch to a new high powered 110 kilo
Newton thrust class engine that GTRE jointly plans to develop with the Rolls
Royce. In a bit of new development, the Navy has not ruled out the development
of a Naval AMCA that may or may not be used as a deck based fighter jet in very
small numbers.
