The Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) of India has recently issued a tender inviting bids for critical analysis work on the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mk1A. The primary focus of this project is the seamless integration of new air-to-air missiles and other advanced weaponry onto the upgraded Tejas Mk1A variant.
The selected contractor will be responsible for conducting comprehensive analyses to ensure the safe and effective integration of these new weapon systems.
Key tasks include AeroServoElastic (ASE) analysis, which examines the interaction of aerodynamic, structural, and control system forces; Static Stability and Controllability (SCT) analysis, which evaluates the aircraft's stability and handling characteristics; and the calculation of maximum allowable response envelopes, which define safe operational limits for the aircraft when carrying new weaponry.
The project specifically involves analyzing the impact of integrating a single Advanced Short-Range Air-to-Air Missile (ASRAAM) onto the LCA Mk1A, followed by an assessment of the flight dynamics with two ASRAAMs. Notably, the scope extends beyond ASRAAMs to encompass analysis for integrating other unspecified new weapon systems onto the Tejas Mk1A.
The project will be executed in five distinct milestones, each carrying a 20% weightage towards the final contract value. These milestones involve generating finite element (FE) meshes for various weapon configurations, performing ASE and SCT analyses, calculating servoelastic responses, and correlating test data with analytical findings.
This project is part of a broader effort to upgrade the Tejas Mk1A's weapon systems. The integration of the ASRAAM, a highly agile and accurate short-range missile, is expected to significantly enhance the Tejas' dogfighting capabilities. The project's scope to include other unspecified weapon systems indicates that the Tejas Mk1A's arsenal could be further diversified in the future.
