ABSTRACT

This paper deals with the highlights of the progress made with in the country and in particular by Aeronautical Development Agency(ADA) in the various fields of the fighter aircraft technologies and the road map ahead. Many technologies have been developed successfully and incorporated in making of Light Combat Aircraft(LCA). The recent technology developments in the field of aeronautics have made the new generation fighter aircrafts more efficient,lethal and combat effective. India also needs to keep its pace with advancing technology. It requires enormous amount of effort from the scientific and engineering community in india to keep the pace with advancing technology. In this perspective, ADA in collaboration with DRDO and other organizations has initiated R$D activities for the development of these demanding technologies required in the future fighter aircrafts. This paper discusses some of the important technologies already developed and incorporated in LCA and some other ongoing technology developments. INTRODUCTION One of the major thrusts in the next generation aircraft is about reducing the signature. As signature of an aircraft is influenced by aircraft shape, Materials, Electromagnetic Radiation and IR,the platform design is driven by these needs along with aerodynamic requirements. AERODYNAMICS In aerodynamic analysis,both experimental and computational methods are extensively used. In experimental methods,various wind tunnel models are designed and fabricated for testing over wide range of aerodynamic aspects. Computational methods are extensively used in the LCA program for fuselage shape optimization, wing design, Aerodynamic loads estimation in complete flight envelope

,pylon shaping for reduced interference drag,optimization of leading edge devices,external stores separation,performance evaluation of intakducts,etc.

AIRFRAME TECHNOLOGIES The LCA, lightest and smallest fighter aircraft in the world has a tailless Compound Delta configuration.The extensive usage of composites and light weight metallic alloys in the aircraft structure has helped in keeping its weight low. STEALTH AND AERODYNAMIC ASPECTS OF AIRFRAME With the advancement of technology and development of new materials, the airframe design became more focused on lightweight structure to enhance the aircraft performance.Introduction of relaxed static stability and stability augmentation in flight control system helped in reducing control surface sizes.The recent concept is on Control Configured Vehicle(CCV) in which the airframe configuration is driven by controllability aspects with aerodynamics right from the conceptual design stage. Stealth aspect has become the primary design driver for the next generation fighter aircrafts. Stealth is achieved by reduction of Radar, IR and the visual signatures. The airframe shaping for better aerodynamic characteristics and low Radar signature often contradict each other. Hence, it is important that these issues are considered at the conceptual design itself through Multi-disciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) to achieve the best overall objective of mission effectiveness. Designs of serpentine air intake duct, internal weapons bay design are other design options for reducing the aircraft signature

REFERENCES
1.Journal of Aeronautical Society of India 2.Janes International Magazine 3.wikipedia encyclopaedia