01-08-2010, 09:18 AM
IMHO this is baby stepped boot-strapping.
The first Indigenous carrier can only launch aircrafts of similar class as Virat and Vikramaditya. The big daddy aircraft that carry the punch of range and payload require steam catapult.
So when IN steps into bigger shoes (this time rightfully) after graduating from building small A/C (to get experience up the belt) to something more capable and up-to date, by shifting to heavy air crafts is the right way.
In retrospect can IN have issued heavy lift fighter RFI sooner to host it on non-existent platforms? Clearly not. Thus there is a cost to play for being poor 10 years ago.
LCA is perhaps the cheapest ticket item, one that IN perhaps has budget to pay for the experience. OTOH with thrust vectoring to assist takeoff at very high AoA, the small sized LCA can have more useful payload/fuel/range envelop against the heavy set Mig-29.
The first Indigenous carrier can only launch aircrafts of similar class as Virat and Vikramaditya. The big daddy aircraft that carry the punch of range and payload require steam catapult.
So when IN steps into bigger shoes (this time rightfully) after graduating from building small A/C (to get experience up the belt) to something more capable and up-to date, by shifting to heavy air crafts is the right way.
In retrospect can IN have issued heavy lift fighter RFI sooner to host it on non-existent platforms? Clearly not. Thus there is a cost to play for being poor 10 years ago.
LCA is perhaps the cheapest ticket item, one that IN perhaps has budget to pay for the experience. OTOH with thrust vectoring to assist takeoff at very high AoA, the small sized LCA can have more useful payload/fuel/range envelop against the heavy set Mig-29.