Chapter 964: Indian Designer Who Doubts Life

If he could turn back time, he would definitely go back ten minutes ago and stop himself from blindly making cakes.

What MK1A?

What upgrade plan?

does not exist.

Just this thing, love or not.

Mainly, Dr. Kota Naraya never expected it.

How can people be so shameless——

Transfer canceled orders to the improved version.

It sounds like there is no problem.

But that’s only ok if this “improved model” already exists.

Now the basic MK1 has not even been built yet, so the orders have been cut by three-quarters, which is like a bolt from the blue for the development of the project.

It is true that Stan Airlines is a state-owned enterprise. If the Air Force now wants a more advanced MK1A upgrade, it will definitely need to allocate additional funds, and it will not require them to raise funds themselves.

However, many problems in the equipment research and development process cannot be solved immediately with money.

The overall design of the LCA draws on the Mirage 2000 to a considerable extent, and even a considerable part of the work was completed by the French.

Therefore, in this nominally "self-research" project, the problem faced by the technicians is not only to accumulate experience, but also to make repairs while repairing the French in the Grand Triangle. Some details on the wing design need to be thoroughly understood.

Only after all these processes have been completed through the development and production of the MK1, will it be possible to improve the new machine.

Otherwise, if something goes wrong in the middle of the process, it will be difficult to even investigate the cause, let alone solve the problem.

This is just a technical issue.

What’s even more troublesome is that LCA is a project that dragged on for nearly 20 years before completing its first flight. Although the intensity of self-research is not enough, it is still the hard work of tens of thousands of people in the Indian aviation industry.

And judging from the test results of the demonstrator, even the MK1 model can achieve the original design goal of "mainly focusing on air control tasks and replacing the MiG-21 and MiG-23MF".

However, when success was just a step away, the orders promised by the Ministry of National Defense not only did not expand, but also shrunk.

This is an extremely serious blow to the morale of the R&D team.

It's like you tried your best to finally complete the KPI of your superior. Not only did you not see the bonus, but you were scolded by your stupid boss, and a higher KPI was set next month.

No one can survive it.

Thinking of this, Naraya calmed down and decided to try to persuade the other party.

"General Tipnis, I wonder what combat goals the Air Force hopes the new model of MK1A can achieve?"

At this time, there must be no conflict with Party A’s eldest father.

Therefore, the doctor chose a relatively roundabout strategy.

"Our new aircraft cannot be used only as a defensive model, but should have sufficient offensive capabilities, such as launching active mid-range bombs and the ability to use precision-guided weapons..."

Tipnis danced in front of the TD2 verification machine and said:

"Of course, there is also a longer range and a larger bomb load, which can support the aircraft to operate in the air for a longer time, instead of landing half an hour after taking off..."

Now, Naraya understood a little bit——

Isn’t this exactly the J-10A that wants to compete with its northern neighbor...

While secretly cursing the other party's completely unreasonable desire to compare, he began to organize words quickly in his mind.

"But your Excellency General, the original development goal of LCA is just to replace old aircraft like the MiG-21."

Naraya argued with reason:

"As far as I know, the main mission of these fighter jets in the past was only to fight for air supremacy, or to cover attack aircraft for low-altitude and short-range raids, which are the parts that LCA is good at."

"If it is to carry rockets and ordinary bombs for emergency response, then the LCA in the MK1 technical state can also do it, and because of the bomb delivery computer, the accuracy is higher than the old model."

"Moreover, even if multi-purpose capabilities and sufficient range are required, we are already equipped with Mirage 2000C and Su-30MKI, leaving little room for LCA to carry out such ground strike missions..."

Hearing Naraya's answer, Tipnis's face changed slightly.

"Doctor, what I just said are the opinions of His Excellency Vajpayee."

"If LCA cannot meet these requirements through upgrading, then we can only consider spending funds on purchasing foreign aircraft in the future, such as the newer model MiG-29, or the JAS39 that uses the same power system as LCA..."

Naraya's heart couldn't help but sink.

This is also a problem that has been bothering him.

Due to the extensive use of foreign parts and the inefficiency of the entire aviation industry, LCA, as a domestic aircraft, has no advantage in terms of cost.

If you just calculate the economic calculation, the MiG 29UPG is a more cost-effective choice.

Looking at Naraya who lowered her head and remained silent, Tipnis continued:

"Moreover, since China can modify the design of the J-10 and turn it into a multi-purpose fighter, can't we do the same?"

The original intention of his words was probably to use a provoking method.

However, it was better not to say it. Once he said it, it made Naraya even more angry——

Do you want to take a look at how big the difference is between our two countries’ actual situations?

Before LCA, Stan Aviation's only experience in the field of design and development was the unsuccessful HF-24 "Aeolian".

Not only is the amount of equipment small, but the aircraft design also fluctuates back and forth amidst changing requirements.

Just like LCA now.

Before the Chinese developed the J-10, they had successfully made in-depth improvements to the MiG-19 and MiG-21, so much so that even the MiG Design Bureau would not recognize them when they came. They also independently developed a larger second-generation interceptor aircraft.

Taken together, the total production volume for these models has reached four figures.

Apart from being called a "Third World Power", both sides have nothing in common.

Of course, these things are just to be complained in the mind, saying that it is impossible to say them out.

"Of course...it can be done."

Naraya drew the cake himself, and at this time he had no choice but to nod his head:

"Just modifying the plan will inevitably take several more years, and upgrading the aircraft is not only the work of our design team, but the engineers and workers on the production line also need a certain amount of work to maintain proficiency..."

"so."

Before the doctor could finish speaking, Tipnis answered first:

"Don't we still have orders for 18-24 aircraft?"

"But the quantity is too small, and the production line cannot be maintained for a few years..."

"But the early version of the Chinese J-10 first flew in 1997. It has only been four years since the upgraded model has already been put into service."

Tipnis has no longer concealed his true thoughts of hoping to compete with China:

"If we maintain low-speed production, about 20 aircraft should be enough for 5-6 years of production, right?"

"?"

Naraya felt that her blood pressure was about to explode.

He could even clearly feel that the blood vessels on his forehead were beating loudly.

It must be admitted that there is definitely a reason why this kind of rhetoric of "other people's children are like that" can be passed down from generation to generation.

If nothing else, it's definitely useful for gagging.

At this time, Naraya was in such a state of unspeakable suffering...

…

In the end, Dr. Naraya failed to convince Tipnis to change his mind.

Of course, perhaps, as the latter said, this is actually Prime Minister Vajpayee's opinion.

If this is the case, then the Air Force Chief of Staff is indeed helpless.

"Boss, what should we... do next?"

Standing at the gate of the factory, Naraya's assistant Sara Gupte asked him.

There was a bit of confusion in his eyes.

"We will keep the original plan unchanged and continue to prepare for the first flight of TD2 and the final assembly of TD3."

Naraya forced herself to calm down:

"If we interrupt the testing of the MK1 now and start the upgrade project directly, we will face very big difficulties."

Gupt sighed helplessly, then nodded.

For a moment, the two looked at each other in silence.

After a moment of silence, Gupt spoke again:

"But speaking of it, why is it that China..."

His question had just begun, but he was interrupted by Naraya with a wave of his hand:

"We don't need to care about the situation in China."

"It does no good to ourselves to focus on others..."

Having said that.

But in fact, Naraya has really been wondering in recent years what kind of miracle medicine the Chinese people have taken, and they have taken out all kinds of strange and advanced technologies from their pockets like magic tricks.

In the past, although there was a gap between the two parties, they were still able to sit at the same table and eat together.

But in just five or six years, others are already on an equal footing with those established aviation powers.

Especially before, he tried to use Snecma's M88 engine as a bargaining chip to put pressure on General Electric to lower the purchase price of the F404.

As a result, the response given by the former shocked Naraya.

It stated that due to relevant regulations on cooperative research and development, it was unable to sell M88 engines or related technologies to Stan Aeronautics.

Originally, many people still held a half-belief and half-disbelief attitude towards the statement that "France and China jointly developed the M88".

In particular, China's level of participation is generally considered not too deep.

However, this is obviously not the case...

Naraya shook his head, forcing himself to stop thinking and focus on the trouble in front of him.

The only solution he can think of now is to let his local technical staff continue to be responsible for improving and thoroughly understanding the design of the LCA MK1, and at the same time go to Dassault to let the French design the model based on the existing ones. A major modification was made to meet the Air Force's new requirements for this model.

Although the participation of foreign designers is bound to mean higher costs, at least it is technically less risky.

LCA has already reached the edge of the cliff. If there is an accident such as a machine crash and fatalities at this juncture, it will most likely be completely destroyed.

Furthermore, after all, it was Party A who took the initiative to modify the product requirements, so the funds would naturally have to be passed on to them...