INDIA: Fighter Plane Flies, But Yet To Take Off

By Ranjit Devraj Reprint | | Print |

Ranjit Devraj

NEW DELHI, Jan 8 2001 (IPS) - India has joined a select group of nations that can make fighter aircraft, but defence analysts are questioning this claim after the early January flight of the first model.

For a start, the so-called light combat aircraft, better known as LCA, is not really indigenous, they point out.

The maiden flight of the delta-wing aircraft was powered by a U.S-made engine, which was very nearly returned to its makers, following the U.S. technology sanctions slapped on India after its May 1998 nuclear tests.

Indian defence experts are working on the indigenous ‘Kaveri’ engine to replace the U.S. engines made by the General Electric company.

But the first of these engines is not likely to be ready before the year 2005, say analysts.

According to V.K. Atre, scientific adviser to the Indian defence minister, operational clearance for making the plane could come in five years.

A final clearance is expected in eight years and the aircraft is expected to be ready for mass production in the year 2015, with each plane costing around 20 million U.S. dollars.

The project has been on the drawing boards for nearly two decades.

“Prudence demands that we plan for a proven (possibly Russian) engine for the first 50 to 100 LCAs, while the Kaveri undergoes extensive and extended testing,” says leading analyst Jasjit Singh.

Singh, a former senior Indian Air Force officer, who heads the prestigious Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, warns that the LCA could face the same snags that hit an earlier combat aircraft project.

Writing in the leading national daily, ‘The Times of India’, Singh said that both a Swedish-assisted and an Anglo-German- Italian light combat aircraft, faced problems with their digital flight controls.

The LCA project suffered a major reverse when the United States ‘seized’ avionics software jointly developed by Indian government aeronautic scientists and the U.S. aircraft company Lockheed- Martin, at the latter’s laboratories.

The action was taken following the imposition of U.S. technology transfer curbs on India after the May 1998 nuclear tests.

In keeping with its declared goal of self-reliant defence development, India has been working hard to shake off the U.S.-led sanctions.

It had met with success even before the 1998 nuclear tests as some key technology transfer curbs date back to the year 1974, when India first exploded a nuclear device.

India is also trying to pressure other technology suppliers. New Delhi has thus insisted that Britain obtain a waiver from Washington on spares for naval equipment as a condition for India’s purchase of the British Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer.

Half of the Indian navy’s helicopter fleet, made up of British Sea Kings built by GKN Westland, had to be grounded for want of spares.

The spare supply was snapped because Westland’s parent company, the U.S-based Sikorsky, revoked the license while complying with the sanctions.

India is also looking for British spares for its a fleet of Jump Jet Sea Harriers.

According to an Indian government spokesman, British Secretary of State for Defence, Geoffrey Hoon, during a visit here late last year, assured India that Britain would work for a waiver by Washington on essential defence spares.

Meanwhile, India has fallen back on its traditional source — Russsia — for its air defence needs.

In November, New Delhi and Moscow confirmed a 1.3 billion- dollar deal for the licensed production of 150 Su-30MkI attack fighters.

Another 650 million-dollar deal was concluded for the 44,000 tonne Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov.

Ironically, the deal with Moscow could tie up production lines at the government aircraft maker, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), which is supposed to produce the LCA.

Serial production of the LCA could also be delayed because India lacks the necessary supporting industrial infrastructure, say experts.

According to Vice-Admiral Madanjit Singh, director-general of defence planning, the trust between India’s armed forces and the government’s defence research establishment, does not extend to the private sector.

“We need greater synergy between the forces, defence research and the private sector,” he says.

Another area of concern is the fact that the LCA, as the world’s first combat aircraft, uses light-weight, but unproven composite materials.

These have been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, which is also in charge of the country’s nuclear and missile programmes.

“We will need to institute structural testing schedules to ensure that the aircraft will be able to withstand the pressures of operational flying,” says Jasjit Singh.

But the LCA’s worst enemy could be the continuing delays to the project.

“By the time LCA finally comes out, the technology it uses would be outdated by 32 years,” The ‘Indian Express’ newspaper quoted senior, unnamed Indian Air Force officials as saying.