I did consider the fixing, adjusting time, but in a different way, i mentioned a very superficial & URGENT timeline with shift duty.
- After 3x500 days or 4yrs i added another 3yrs.
- I'm not considering our GoI/MoD/DoD late & sorry attitude so far post independence, be it with funding or metallurgy engineering colleges, etc. After developing 1st version of Kaveri we are not noobs anymore.
- Moreover, every maker works on many types of engines for cargo, passenger, military. Time is distributed among products. But if work force is not increased then timeline further gets extended.
- Like i said at least 2-3 engines would be made perhaps with slightly different set of parameters, so that if 1 stalls others can continue.
Our industry is not mature enough to have that many engines. Even the Chinese have just 1.
It seems NGAD engines concept began in 2007 with VAATE/ADVENT program.
In 2016 GE & P&W started building XA-100 & XA-101 respectively for NGAD & also possible candidate for F-35.
In just 1 year itself by 2017 P&W took F135 core & put additional 2 stream shell around it & created a demonstrator.
XA-101 ground testing began in 2021.
Then they decided not to change the complete F135 engine for F-35 but there are doing some kind of MLU.
View attachment 35650
View attachment 35652
ADVENT started in 2007, but before that was another program that ran internally until 2007. Then came AETD and then AETP. So they keep closing programs after milestones are achieved and starting new ones with new objectives.
That's the Kumbhakaran version which won't reduce the gap with West a bit. It is the engine & geopolitics dictating everything since LCA days. But things are different now. If EU can dump 5gen & we are ready to use present engines by Russia or USA then AHCA can be prototyped along with AMCA till new engines are made for both. It is like diff. b/w F-18 class to F-15 class. If AHCA can be made then AMCA can be exported like reduced version of AHCA. Russia & China cannot match Western standards yet, but they don't sacrifice their R&D with whatever they have. Otherwise we re looking at HMRCA tenders.
- We are in the era of advanced CAD S/w which can speed up the soft part.
- When we have expansion of products & platforms in our arsenal & also export potential then we definitely need a larger work force & infrastructure. It will give more employment opportunities.
Our only future replacement program is MKI and its from 2055 onwards. The IAF is set until the mid to late 2040s with AMCA.
The thing is the IAF realized that they don't need a very big and heavy MKI-style jet for enemies at the border. They need Rafale/AMCA-sized jets because the main criteria is operational availability and turnaround time. So 100 AMCA will be superior to 270 MKIs in the main criterias.
I think there is still confusion here.
I'm speculating about Naval AHCA in 2040s & you are talking about adding a SCRamjet to it bcoz USA & Russia have UNREVEALED SR-72 & PAKDP. There is no news on Naval SR-72 or even high-supersonic Naval MiG-41 PAKDP.
I'm not talking about that being a naval requirement. The IN only needs an AMCA++ in the 2040s. So the industry will take it up after TEDBF. But IAF will want its MKI replacement to be ramjet/scramjet capable in 2055.
What I'm saying is the next IAF jet ADA develops to replace MKI will not be NGAD, FCAS, GCAP class, it will be Mig-41++/SR-72++ class.
> If you say that a regular turbofan engine or its 3 stream VCE will itself take 20-30 years then imagine how much a Ramjet, then a SCRamjet R&D would/should take with full safety & good efficiency.
AMCA's engine will give us all that. AMCA and N-AMCA will require a turbofan, with or without VCE, whatever the forces want. This will serve our needs for 50+ years.
For AHCA, we will need turbofan/turbojet + ramjet/scramjet.
- RLV is still downscaled TD of the actual spaceplane which would be size of USA's Space Shuttle.
- RLV is testing SCRamjet, not Ramjet. Big difference.
- Having few Spaceplanes & having 100s of SCRamjet Fighters, mamoth cost difference.
So we won't have a fighter jet in 2040s with SCRamjet long after USA has SR-72 like thing.
2055, not 2040s.
Russia will have Mig-41 by 2030, ramjet-based. US will have SR-72 by 2030 as well, scramjet-based. RLV is a TD for a space shuttle, but a smaller version will also be developed for unmanned missions to launch satellites and run experiments.
Anyway, this is irrelevant to the discussion. My point is we will have ramjet/scramjet on an aircraft by 2030-35 as well, which can translate into a militarized engine for use on AHCA through the 2040s with introduction after 2050.
The next air superiority fighter will require stratospheric performance. You can quite literally say that MRFA and AMCA will deal with 18 km and below and AHCA will deal with 15 km to 80 km. Adding something between the AMCA and AHCA is just a waste of resources, we can instead just make an AMCA Mk2.
So my development goals for
IAF: LCA > AMCA > AHCA (stratospheric class)
IN: N-LCA > TEDBF > TEDBF 2.0 (NGAD, FCAS class)
ADA: LCA > TEDBF > AMCA > TEDBF 2.0 > AHCA
The IAF and IN will ultimately have 3 indigenous types, with only Rafale being common to both.
Of course, I'm not sure yet if LCA Mk1/A will see a direct replacement. It could all get subsumed into AHCA + drones.
> Like i said, a Hypersonic aircraft will need massive fuel, 2 types of engines, good payload. Even the YF-12A empty weight was 27.6 tons & MTOW 63.5 tons. So it will be not just heavy but super-heavy category, not that of AHCA but much beyond it.
So SCRamjet development cannot be bridge b/w AMCA & AHCA.
Mig-41 should give us a clue in the future.
AMCA++???... reminds me of C++
but that was much better than C.
> AHCA won't be just "slightly" bigger & heavier. it needs to carry customized naval strike weapons internaly. For now we should initially assume it to be like NGAD, F/A-XX.
> If bigger jet is bit more stealthy than a smaller jet then it is a big achievment. F-22 is 10x less RCS than F-35, that's awesome.
> Sometimes i feel that IAF's liking/disliking has also contributed to problems. Feedback from pilots is taken for improvements & upgrades but, 1000s of pilots may also differ in their likes/dislikes w.r.t. cockpit design, controls, screen GUI, etc.
But if AHCA can be created by 2040s then IAF & IN won't have any reason of disliking it.
I believe drones will be made to carry heavier weapons, while the fighters themselves will be more sensor and fuel-heavy with smaller weapons bays. 'Cause it's pretty cheap and fast to fly a drone and fire off standoff munitions.
Neither of the JSF were designed to be more stealthy than F-22 bcoz they were JOINT strike fighter meant also for allies while F-22 was made with export ban, not even to closest allies. The Boeing X-32 was a loser from begining due tomany factors including exposed engine or blocker if any.
View attachment 35669
As per General Hostage, who was the commander of USAF's ACC, the F-35 has lower RCS than the F-22.
People are confused about it because they are comparing the F-22's achieved RCS to the F-35's goal. But the F-35 also surpassed its goal.
May i know - Are you Russian?
> Scientists & engineers in USA, Russia, France, UK, Sweden, China, Turkey, S.Korea, they all know what they are doing. But -ve points are found on all their jets. We have to try to avoid all those. The ultimate result is that Su-57, J-20 have not reduced their RCS near F-22's. So exposed blocker can also be contributing reason. And if angled blocker alone is so effective then R.I.P. all those geometric stealth concepts. And the blocker should then be installed on 4.5gen jets also, major problem solved.
Why should we take chance with our future concepts bcoz of other countries?
Indian.
We are not doing anything fancy, our main goal is success. The Russians are far more experienced than India is, and they are bound to know more than we do right now, way more.
Never heard that in American documentaries, articles on ATF, JSF. Like i said, an export jet cannot be more stealthy than the one with export ban & the reasons are clearly visible in design. F-22 doesn't have IFR probe door, ladder, EOTS, too many bumps, etc. It is apparently using more RAM. Obviously there are more secrets which world doesn't know.
F-35 being a newer jet has some better sensors, fusion, cockpit, HMDS, networking.
AFAIK, the F-22's export ban wasn't because of stealth. It carries other unique technologies that they did not want to leak at the time.
Although F-22 practiced with SE Asian Flankers, If not photoshoped then this is the pic of the decade.
It is labled as of 2018, posted in 2022 on Reddit.
