HAL Tejas Mk2: Difference between revisions

It has been suggested that this article be merged into HAL Tejas. (Discuss) Proposed since September 2019.

The Tejas Mark 2, is a proposed Indian single-engine, delta wing, multirole Medium Weight Fighter (MWF) designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force. It is a further development from the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) programme, which began in the 1980s to replace India's ageing MiG-21 fighters. Along with LCA, the MWF is being designed to replace existing fleet of SEPECAT Jaguars in Indian Air Force, folowing which it will start replacing the older Dassault Mirage 2000-5 and Mig-29UPG.^[1]

Tejas Mark 2 has a tail-less compound delta-wing configuration with a single vertical stabilizer with closed coupled canards.

One of the most striking feature of Tejas Mark 2 is addition of canards.

In 2009, the Tejas Mark 2 was sanctioned as an improvement over Tejas Mark 1. The current General Electric F-404IN engine employed by Tejas was to be replaced by a more powerful engine.

For the powerplant, GE F414 and Eurojet’s EJ-200 were evaluated. In October 2010, GE 414 was selected as engine for Tejas Mk2.^[2]. Final deal for 99 aeroengines worth $822 million was signed in late 2012 or early 2013^[3] with an option to an option for 49 more could be exercised later. As per the agreement,8 engines will be bought off-the-shelf, while other 91 will be built in India under ToT.^[4]

During 2009-2013, IAF revised its requirement and added additional capability for Mk2 programme.^{[citation needed]} In 2014, when the Tejas Mark 2’s preliminary design review (PDR) was being conducted and the aircraft's fuselage design was stretched by half a metre and it became 1.5 tonnes heavier to accommodate the bigger GE F414 engine.The payload capacity was increased from 3.5 tonnes of Tejas Mk1 to 4.5 tonnes. To address immediate challenge of Mk1's shortfall, the IAF and HAL conceived an interim upgrade over Tejas,called the Tejas Mark 1A, with additional capabilities like an active AESA radar,an advanced electronic warfare suite and Air to Air refueling capability, while retaining all the design and features of Tejas Mk1.^{[citation needed]}

By 2017, the IAF demanded further capability addition to original Mark 2 version. In 2017, Tejas Mark 2 became 1 m longer than Mk1 version with all-up weight of 16.5 tonnes and a payload of 5.5 tonnes; the Mk2 was struggling to keep itself in light fighter category. IAF also demanded that it carry 3.3 tonnes of internal fuel, almost a tonne more than the original Mk2 design that was originally planned in 2009.

In 2018, the Tejas Mark 2 transitioned itself from being a "Light Combat Aircraft" to a "Medium Weight Fighter" (MWF). MWF is now planned to be 1.35 metre longer original Mark 2, and will carry 6.5 tonnes of payload – more than double the original plan.^[5] Tejas Mk2 Medium Weight Fighter was revealed to public on 20 February 2019 at Aero India Show 2019 held at Bengaluru.^[6]

The Tejas Mk2 is a proposed single-engine multirole fighter which features a tailless, compound delta wing with closed coupled canards and is designed with "relaxed static stability" for enhanced maneuverability.

The Tejas Mk2 is designed to replace all the existing single engine 3rd and 4th gen fighters currently serving the IAF viz. MiG 27, Jaguar and Mirage 2000.

MWF like Tejas carried forward the basic design of the airframe.The noteworthy addition is addition of canards in close-coupled configuration. The increased length of fuselage to accommodate bigger and more powerful F414 engine necessitated the wing redesign since it would shift the shift in the center of lift (CoL). The addition of canards also eliminates the need to redesign of the wing. The canard are placed at slightly dihedral angle.

The canards in MWF are positioned behind the cockpit in close-coupled configuration and are positioned slightly ahead and above the wing plane for optimal wing-canard interaction.^[7]

In October 2010, General Electric F414 was selected as engine for Tejas Mk2^[8]. Final deal for 99 aeroengines worth $822 million was signed in late 2012 or early 2013^[3] with an option to an option for 49 more that could be exercised later. As per the agreement,8 engines will be bought off-the-shelf, while other 91 will be built in India under ToT.^[4]

The F414-GE-INS6 has dry thrust of 13,000 lbf (57.8 kN) and 22,000 lbf (97.9 kN) of wet thrust^[9]. F414-GE-INS6 features a Full Authority Digital Electronic Control (FADEC) system^[10].

General Electric has also offered the latest version of F414, the F414 Enhanced Engine for MWF and HAL AMCA ^[11]. F414 Enhanced Engine delivers 116 kN of wet thrust which is ~18% higher than what GE-F414-INS6 deliver.

MWF is likely to carry forward the Tejas's night vision goggles (NVG)-compatible "glass cockpit", consisting of CSIR-CSIO developed HUD, three 5 in x 5 in multi-function displays, two Smart Standby Display Units (SSDU), and a "get-you-home" panel providing the pilot with essential flight information in case of an emergency. The displays provide information on key flight systems and controls, along with basic flight and tactical data.

The CSIO-developed HUD, Elbit-furnished DASH helmet-mounted display and sight (HMDS), and hands-on-throttle-and-stick (HOTAS) controls reduce pilot workload and increase situation awareness by allowing access to navigation and weapon-aiming information with minimal need to spend time "head down" in the cockpit.

Tejas Mk 2 is expected to be equipped with DRDO developed Uttam AESA Radar^[12]. It features look-up/look-down/shoot-down modes, low/medium/high pulse repetition frequencies (PRF), platform motion compensation, doppler beam-sharpening, moving target indication(MTI), Doppler filtering, constant false alarm rate (CFAR) detection, range-Doppler ambiguity resolution, scan conversion, and online diagnostics to identify faulty processor modules. Uttam has capabilities like, Identification friend or foe (IFF), electronic and communication support measures, C-band line-of-sight and Ku-band SATCOM datalinks, etc., similar to those on the AWACS and Conformal Airborne Early Warning & Control Systems (CAEW) systems^[13]. UTTAM AESA has a detection range of 150 kms for 2${\displaystyle m^{2}}$target and has the capability to track at least 20 targets airborne and engage 6 targets with high precision at a time.It can search 100 targets, track 20 and pock on 1 target at a time^[14].

MWF is expected to carry forward the Mayavi EW suite developed by the DARE and DLRL^[15]. It features a radar warning receiver (RWR), Missile Approach Warning (MAW) and a Laser warning receiver (LWR) system, Infrared & Ultraviolet Missile warning sensors, self-protection jammer, chaff, jaff and flares dispenser, an electronic countermeasures (ECM) suite and a towed radar decoy (TRD).

Tejas MWF will feature internally mounted IRST sensor,^[16] indigenously developed by BEL. IRST system under development will have a detection range up to 100 km. The indigenous IRST system is being designed to replace the Russian OLS-30 currently used on Su-30 MKI Fighter jet^[17]

Indian Air Force currently uses various kind of missiles from different manufacturer and different country of origin. One of the prime concern of Indian defense setup is lack of synergy between different component makers. Russian OEMs doesn't encourage involvement of Western System in their platform^[18]. MBDA had earlier refused to integrate Meteor missiles on either HAL Tejas since it uses Isreali EL/M-2052^[19] radar nor the Russian origin Su-30MKI^[20].In order to bring synergy within its armaments,avionics and radar, India has been developing their own system to replace existing system currently employed in their aircraft.

DRDO is currently developing Uttam AESA Radar for Tejas and HAL AMCA^[21]. Deployment of indigenous avionics would allow IAF to use multiple weapon platform seamlessly.

General characteristics

• Crew: 1^[22][23]

Performance

• g limits: +9g/-3g

Armament

• Hardpoints: 11 , with provisions to carry combinations of:
  • Missiles:
    
    • Air-to-air missiles:
      • Derby^[24]
      • Python-5^[25]
      • R-73^[26]
      • Astra(expected)^[27]
      • ASRAAM (expected)^[28]
      • Meteor(expected)^[29][30]
    • Air-to-surface missiles:
      • BrahMos-NG (expected)^[31]
      • DRDO Anti-Radiation Missile (expected)^[32]
    • Anti-ship missiles:^[26]
      • BrahMos-NG (expected)^[33]
  • Bombs:
    
    • Laser-guided bombs^[34]
    • Glide bombs^[34]
    • Cluster weapons ^[26]
  • Other:
    
    • Drop tanks for ferry flight/extended range/loitering time
    • LITENING GR4 targeting pod^[25]

Avionics

• Uttam AESA^[35]

The HAL medium weight fighter (MWF) is currently being named as Tejas Mk2 for operational reason. Renaming the MWF project would make it a different project altogether which would need fresh clearance from MoD and can delay the project.

The MWF is expected to get a new name instead of Tejas^[36]. However there are no clarifications has been made by either ADA,HAL or IAF.

Media often use Tejas Mk2 and MWF interchangeably.