ADA Tejas Mark-II/Medium Weight Fighter

[Bhartiya Sainik]

Yeah su30 makes sense.. has whole lot of fuel and can play the hot/cold game longer than the light fighters. The lighter ones should have just enough to engage and basically fire what they have till their fuel lasts and rtb. With heavier missile load on them the combat rad will also reduce.. so every aircraft type should just have the optimum number for each mission type.

Agreed bcoz it is simple maths of TWR (Thrust to Weight Ratio) & aerodynamic design, hence i don't even favor light jet, sometimes medium jets. We are in a quicksand bcoz we loved importing, didn't do timely R&D so now we have to tolerate these light & medium 4gen jets when world is racing for 6gen.
I even approximately calculated & made a table of light/medium/heavy class stealth jets where light jet should carry 4 AAMs internally, but with same TWR a heavy jet can have 8-10 AAMs.


But a 4gen not caring about stealth can enjoy some more AAMs hanging out. So if Rafale can have 12 AAMs with 2 fuel tanks then MWF also. The following are original idea of creator:

 

[Bleh]

Yeah su30 makes sense.. has whole lot of fuel and can play the hot/cold game longer than the light fighters. The lighter ones should have just enough to engage and basically fire what they have till their fuel lasts and rtb. With heavier missile load on them the combat rad will also reduce.. so every aircraft type should just have the optimum number for each mission type.

IAF may have 8AAMs on Su-30, but the number is 6 for medium & 4 for light fighters.

 

[Bleh]

So my idea that heavy fighters would be replaced by large stealth BVR & SOW based fighter-bombers seems to be agreeing with the Chinese philosophy as well.


On the light-medium front however Turks have it right. From early on they'd planned out creation of a large-ish fighter complemented by a cheaper light 5th Gen fighter FX-6 based off on KAAN, that can be afforded on okay numbers.

I'm afraid MWF is going to be the "Jaguar of tomorrow" coming after 2030, a high-payload jet that'll excell in strike missions in safer skies controlled by us but will have terrible against stealthy 5th Gens that'll become common in its time.
After 2040, we need an ALCA as much as weed need an AHCA sniper-bomber, a stealthy Tejas Mark 3. And for that to happen we need to start now!

 

[Bhartiya Sainik]

Since DFI days i have emphasized that 4gen can be MLUed till a limit. A gen leap is said to occur when airframe cannot bear more MLU, the newer tech require more space or re-positioning/replacement of certain components. And missiles will also evolve smartly with multi-spectral seekers.
So all-aspect stealth becomes important otherwise a jet simply becomes a mosquito waiting to be shot down. That's the fate of any older gen in front of newer gen. And this is why i don't waste my time going to LCA thread in any forum. I don't even talk about Gripen or even Rafale, EF-2000 bcoz these jets have seen sufficient service & their creators are skipping 5gen with GCAP & FCAS. Once they come in a decade then future versions of Eurocanards will only do brooming & mopping & will be exported to R&D-less countries.
So MWF also needs to evolve. The entire project management needs to evolve & fast track.
Only changing cockpit & some internal components is not enough, a geometrical treatment is required. The 1st few battles will be fought in stealth mode, then beast mode will come.
If team size is short, hire more. If facilities are short, expand. It is now or never.
The following is what i shared on DFI:


In pure AA mode, may be 3 BVR-AAMs can fit in its center IWB.