Military Procurement International Vol. 19, No. 10, May 15, 2009
Copyright DAPSS S.A., 200
9, Switzerland. It is unlawful to reproduce any of this publication without written permission from the publisher.
India
to frame requirements for 5th generation Medium Combat Aircraft
Within the next 2-3 weeks, the Indian Air Force (IAF) is expected to set up a joint committee to frame the requirements for a 5th generation Medium Combat Aircraft (MCA). In addition to IAF representatives, the committee will be formed by a team of designers from the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), the National Aeronautics Laboratory (NAL), Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) and numerous Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) laboratories.
From about 2020, at least 250 of the 14-15t MCAs will be needed to fill the gap in the IAF inventory between the indigenously developed 10-11t Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) and the 20t Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) to be co-developed with Russia as the successor to the IAF’s heavy Sukhoi Su-30MKI.
If the estimated Rupees 50,000 crore (US$9.97 billion) MCA development program is successful, the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) program is likely to be capped at 126 aircraft. These will replace the IAF’s 69 current MiG-29s and 45 Mirage 2000Hs, which will become obsolete while the MCA is being developed. Once local manufacture of the MMRCA is completed, production of the MCA will start.
The designers of the MCA
plan to pursue technologies that are superior to anything currently on offer.
The ADA Director, Dr. P.S. Subramaniam, points out that “None of the MMRCA
contenders will be state-of-the-art in 2015-2017. But the MCA will. It will
incorporate the technologies of the future, which currently feature only on the
US Air Force’s [Lockheed Martin] F-22 Raptor.”
The rationale behind the MCA program is to provide continuity for the national design team that has developed the Tejas LCA. When the Tejas goes into series production in a couple of years time, there will be no other purely national combat aircraft design work left. The IAF agrees and the Rama Rao Committee, set up to restructure the DRDO, has recommended that programs must be created to provide continuity for designers.
Whether India will be able to afford the US$9.9 billion MCA development program, not to speak of the subsequent acquisition costs, remains to be seen.
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