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Editorial

LCA Navy clears Ramp Test Flight

Published: December 2014

Dabolim, Goa. The naval variant of India’s indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA – Navy) cleared its first ramp test December 20.

Designed for carrier-based operations, the aircraft’s first prototype designated NP1 (or Navy Prototype 1) took off from the shore-based test and training ramp at the INS Hansa naval base here at 12:34 pm and majestically flew into the sky over the Arabian Sea. The ramp, with a 14 degree incline to simulate the deck of aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, enables an aircraft to take off within a 200-metre run instead of the normal run of about 1,000 metres.

The ramp, set up as part of the LCA Navy development programme, has the necessary testing sensors and paraphernalia to monitor the flights and was specifically built as part of the indigenous LCA-Navy development programme. As a national asset, it is shared by the Navy’s MiG-29Ks, already operational on INS Vikramaditya.

Notably, Navy’s indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant which is under construction at Kochi shipyard and due for delivery in 2018 has a similar ramp and will fly both the MiG-29Ks and LCAs.

The LCA (Navy) is designed with higher and stronger landing gears than those of the Indian Air Force (IAF) models to absorb forces exerted by the ski jump ramp during takeoff and then for deck landing. Notably, landing an aircraft on the deck is always at high speeds – nearly as good as a crash landing – so that if an aircraft misses one of the three arrestor wires to stop and hold it, then it should be able to take off immediately and come back again for another attempt.

The maiden ramp test flight of LCA Navy was operated by Commodore Jaideep Maolankar the Chief Test Pilot of National Flight Test Centre, and it was described as “a perfect flight with results matching the predicted ones to the letter.”

The launch was orchestrated by the Test Director Cdr J D Raturi and Safety Pilot Capt Shivnath Dahiya supported by Gp Capt Anoop Kabadwal, Gp Capt RR Tyagi and Lt Cdr Vivek Pandey.

LCA and is variants are made by the state-run HAL, and its Executive Director P S Roy, coordinated the effort.

DRDO has played a lead role, and DRDO chief and Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister, Dr Avinash Chander congratulated all the team members for the textbook launch of the aircraft from the ramp. In a statement, DRDO described the flight as “a defining moment” in the aircraft’s development programme.

Indian Navy released still and video pictures of the successful flight of the aircraft from the ramp.

Dr Chander specifically congratulated his colleagues, Dr K Tamilmani, Distinguished Scientist and Director General Aeronautics and his team, saying: “A complex task of Ski Jump of NP1 Executed beautifully”.

ADA Programme Director Dr P S Subramanyam and LCA Navy Project Director Cmde CD Balaji assured that the stringent requirements for the aircraft are laid down and complied with right from the beginning.

The high landing gears have been made by HAL in coordination with DRDO’s Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA). The Shore Based Test Facility (SBTF) has been created to replicate the aircraft carrier with a Ski Jump for takeoff and arresting gear cable for arrested landing by ADA with the participation of the Indian Navy, Goa shipyard, CCE (R&D) West, Pune, R&D Engg (E) Pune. There has been assistance from Russia, which has sold 45 MiG-29K aircraft to the Navy, for design support and specialised equipment.

Besides the MiG-29Ks, some half of which have been delivered already, the Indian Navy has planned to use the indigenous LCA extensively. The aircraft is described as MiG-21++ but with modern weapons. It has Fly-by-Wire controls, a glass cockpit, and will be equipped with indigenous weapons.