Sunday, Feb 17, 2008
IAF-HAL team to visit Russia
Ravi Sharma
The fifth generation fighter aircraft to be discussed
Aircraft to be modelled on the lines of the BrahMos missile
It is likely to be operational around 2015
BANGALORE: Indo-Russian military-technical cooperation will get a boost next week. A team of senior officials from the Indian Air Force and the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is visiting Russia to discuss and negotiate issues pertaining to the futuristic fifth generation fighter aircraft that the two countries are planning to jointly design, develop and eventually produce.
Led by the Air Force’s Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Plans) Air Vice Marshal N.V. Tyagi, the team, which also has among its members an official from HAL’s Aircraft Research and Development Centre, Bangalore and another from HAL’s Aircraft Upgrades Research and Development Centre, Nashik, will leave for Moscow on Monday.
Under an intergovernmental agreement inked during last October’s session of the Indo-Russian Intergovernmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation in Moscow the two countries will jointly design, develop, and manufacture the fifth generation multi-role jet fighter.
Already under design by Russia’s Sukhoi aircraft company (the prototype is scheduled to fly in 2009), work on the fifth generation aircraft is to be modelled on the lines of the successful BrahMos missile joint venture between the two countries.
The funding, engineering and intellectual property is to be shared by the two sides in an equal measure. The fighter will be inducted into the air forces of both countries, besides being exported to third countries.
Official sources told The Hindu that issues pertaining to the preparation of a preliminary project report on the project, details of the work that has already been carried out by the Russian side, the eventual work share between the two sides, the work that Indian companies, especially HAL, should undertake, and costs will be discussed during the meetings.
While the Russian version will have a Russian engine, the Indian version could have a western engine. The aircraft is likely to be operational around 2015.
Both India and Russia are pining hopes on the fifth generation aircraft giving a new fillip to ties between the two countries. During the signing of the agreement, Defence Minister A.K. Antony had remarked that it marked “the start of cooperation in the development of state-of-the-art new-technology weapon systems.”
http://www.thehindu.com/2008/02/17/stories/2008021755230900.htm
this was in todays Hindu.
So this is what i make of all of the above.
- IP rights will be defined before the project, however if the project runs on the lines of the BrahMos project, then technology derived by each nation will belong to them. Unless this depends on the funds that will be shared mutually translating directly on the overall "rights" to the project?
- Brahmos project was a efficient way to get beuracratic file pushing delays out of the way, so as long as the project does not turn out to be far too expensive than the project cost, it will do fine in this area, and there will be time and or money related problems to a certain degree, that is the nature of all ambitious projects.
- If the Project will see production of prototypes in 2009, So HAL will negotiate about its share of work on what? sub-systems(??)
- The Indian version having a western engine, what are the chances of that happening?
does this not degrade the whole report, i mean why HAL-IAF involved in production of a aircraft look for a foreign engine, that just degrades the whole program and gives control to a third party.
This all could be logical if the program was facing a 2020 deadline for production or if the version being discussed was a custom based version for the IAF.
As much as i know - pure aerodinamical demonstrator (FSW concept). Nothing else was tested.
P.S. I agree, it looks very appealing and unusual. But with recent advances in avionic and A-A missiles i sometimes think something like Tu-22 with huge radar and very long range A-A missiles will be ideal fighter...
For what type of situations? Aerial combat in the coming decades seems too complex to ignore any aspects at all, you could pick up hostile threats as far out as possible, however they will also have a good look at you. And the bigger (Tu-22) you are the worse off you are.
The longer a missile has to travel the more complex the situation gets, at the long ranges that will come, knowing that a missile is coming at you from some distance away will it self compromise the missiles effectiveness, although i doubt if any one will like to hang around and see what the missile will do. It will mission kill a few planes.
