Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) model exhibited at Aero India 2019

 

Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft displayed at Aero India 2019

The Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) is an Indian single-seat, twin-engine, all-weather fifth-generation stealth, multirole combat aircraft being developed for the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy. AMCA is designed as a single-seat, twin-engine combat aircraft. The AMCA is currently the only 5th generation fighter under development in India.

• The AMCA Mark 1 will come equipped with 5th generation technologies.
• The AMCA Mark 2 will have the incremental 6th generation technology upgrades.

Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft model exhibited at Aero India 2019

DESIGN:-

The AMCA is designed with shoulder mounted diamond shaped trapezoidal wings, a profile with substantial area-ruling to reduce drag at transonic speeds, and a stabilator V-tail with large fuselage mounted tail-wing. Flight control surfaces include leading and trailing-edge flaps, ailerons, rudders on the canted vertical stabilizers, and all-moving tailplanes; these surfaces also serve as air brakes. The cockpit features a single seat configuration which is placed high, near the air intakes and wings of the aircraft to provide good visibility to the pilot with a single bubble canopy. A leading-edge root extension (LERX), which is a small fillet, is situated on the front section of the intake and wings of the aircraft. It has a typically roughly rectangular shape, running forward from the leading edge of the wing root to a point along the fuselage. The aircraft features a tricycle landing gear configuration. The weapons bay is placed on the underside of the fuselage between the nose and main landing gear. The AMCA is designed to produce a very small radar cross-section, to accomplish this it features "S-shaped" air-intakes to reduce radar exposure to the fan blade which increases stealth, uses an internal weapons bay and features the use of composites and other materials. The flight control surfaces are controlled by a central management computer system. The AMCA design has inherent radar stealth, achieved through twin-tail layout, platform edge alignment and serration, body conformal antenna and low intercept radar, diverterless supersonic inlet (DSI) with serpentine ducts which conceal engine fan blades, internal weapons bay and extensive use of composites in airframe. It will also use radar-absorbent materials wherever necessary.

AVIONICS:-

The AMCA is expected to have distributed passive sensors with Artificial intelligence (AI) assisted multi-sensor data fusion to increase situational awareness and to work in tandem with the advanced electronic warfare (EW) suite onboard AMCA. The AMCA has a distributed processing system employing fast processors and smart subsystems. The AMCA will also have an integrated vehicle health monitoring system which works on sensor fusion. AMCA will be equipped with a larger and powerful variant of the Uttam AESA Radar which will use gallium nitride (GaN) technology. It will be mounted on a mechanically steerable mount. An onboard condition monitoring system is also planned to be included in the AMCA. The platform will be equipped with a quadruple digital fly-by-optics control system using fibre optic cables to reduce weight, increase the rate of data transfer and reduce electromagnetic interference.

PROPULSION:-

The AMCA is to be powered by two afterburning turbofan engines. The plan is to equip General Electric F414 afterburning turbofan engine on AMCA Mark-1, while a more powerful joint venture (JV) engine is planned for AMCA Mark-2.

NAL Hansa

 

NAL Hansa aircraft registration VT-XIW at HAL Museum, Bangalore (Year-2021)

The Hansa is a 2 seater aircraft designed by India with a low wing and tricycle landing gear configuration constructed using composite materials. The first prototype based on Hansa-2 made its initial flight on 23 November 1993. On 11 May 1998, a second prototype, based on the Hansa-3 design, joined the flight test programme; it featured various refinements, including the use of a variable-pitch propeller instead of a fixed counterpart, and a more powerful Rotax 914-F3 powerplant. 

The initial design was Hansa-1 that adopted a pusher configuration, but was discontinued as severe problems were revealed during wind tunnel testing.

On 3 September 2021, the prototype Hansa-NG (Next generation) performed its maiden flight. This aircraft featured various improvements and changes, including the addition of a glass cockpit, digitally-controlled Rotax 912 ISC engine, electrically-operated flaps, and greater endurance.

The Hansa aircraft has been displayed frequently at Aero India Air shows held at Bangalore. The Hansa has been marketed to various sectors, including flight training, coastal surveillance, and private owner-pilots. Multiple specialised variants, including unmanned models, have also been worked on.

General characteristics of the Hansa-NG Aircraft:- 

1. Length: 7.658 m 
2. Height: 2.614 m  
3. Wingspan: 10.47 m
4. Wing area: 12.47 m^2
5. Cabin width: 1.07 m
6. Gross weight: 750 kg (1,653 lb)
7. Max cruise speed: 200 km/hr (108 KTAS)
8. Range: 926 km (500 nm)
9. Endurance: 6 hours
10. Take off distance: 450 m (1476 ft)
11. Landing Distance: 600 m (1968 ft)
12. Service ceiling: 3,048 m (10,000 ft)
13. Maximum rate of climb: 198 m/min (650 ft/min)
14. Engine: Rotax 912 iSc 3 sport

Meaning of dimensions mentioned in this article:- 1 inch = 0.0254 m; 1 foot = 0.3048 m; 1 inch = 0.0833333 foot; 1 pound = 0.453592 kg; 1 nautical miles (nm) = 1.852 km

KTAS:- Knots True Airspeed/True Airspeed (TAS) of an aircraft is the speed of the aircraft relative to the air mass through which it is flying.

NAL Hansa 'VT-XIW' exhibited at HAL Museum, Bangalore (Year-2021)

According to the website Warbirds of India, the aircraft on display VT-XIW at HAL Museum, Bangalore was the first prototype of the Hansa II. It first flew in November 93 and flew a total of 128 hours of test flying before it was ‘retired’. NAL then donated the aircraft to HAL for display here. 

Video of Hansa-NG first flight on 3rd September, 2021