인도의 5세대 스텔스 전투기 AMCA 개발 소식...

 

인도가 러시아 Sukhoi 社가 개발하고 있는 5세대 스텔스 전투기 PAK-FA (T-50) 를 기반으로 하는 FGFA (Fifth-

Generation Combat Aircraft) 개발에 이어, 독자적으로 5세대급 중형 스텔스 전투기 AMCA (Advanced Medium

Combat Aircraft) 개발을 진행할 것이라는 AW&ST 紙의 기사를 소개 합니다.

 

기사에 의하면, 향후 3년간 최소 20억불 이상의 개발비를 투입하여 2대의 기술실증기와 7대의 시제기를 제작할

계획이며, 2017년에는 초도비행을 실시할 계획이라는 내용 입니다.

 

또한 인도가 자체적으로 개발한 Kaveri 엔진을 쌍발로 채용하고 약 44,000 파운드의 출력과 추력편향노즐 (TVN,

Thrust-vectored nozzle) 을 적용할 것이라 합니다. 기타 항전장비 및 스텔스기로써 요구되는 복합소재 적용은

아래 기사를 참조하시면 됩니다.

 

한가지 흥미로운 부분은, 기사 내용과 같은 5세대 스텔스기 개발을 위해 스웨덴 Saab 社와 기술적 협력을 모색

하고 있다는 점 입니다. 인도 정부를 포함한 개발 관련 기관이나 Saab 社로부터 이와 관련된 어떤 내용도 확인

된 바 없습니다만, 현재 KFX 사업을 인도네시아, 터키등과 공동개발을 추진하고 있는 우리 대한민국으로써는

나름 관심이 가는 흥미로운 기사로 생각 됩니다.

 

아래 소개하는 사진은 2009 DEFEXPO 에 전시된 AMCA (or MCA) 모형 입니다. 사진의 출처는 사진속에 표기

되어 있습니다. 또한 AW&ST 지 원문 역시 참고로 붙입니다.

 

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Taking Flight

Work on India’s AMCA design will last into next year as funding commitments grow

Aviation Week & Space Technology, 11/29/2010

 

The Indian government is finally pressing ahead with work on an indigenous stealth fighter after a funding crunch stalled the project for several years.

 

The Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) program is due to receive $2 billion in various increments over the next three years, with expectations the figure will grow. The money is being allocated to complete the design concept study and build a pair of technology demonstrators as well as seven prototypes. An official timeline suggests that the first AMCA prototype will fly in 2017.

 

The Indian air force hopes to begin taking deliveries of at least 150 of the twin-engine, 20-metric-ton (44,000-lb.) stealth jets toward the end of the decade.

 

The project is advancing despite India’s recent commitment to work together with Russia on developing a fifth-generation fighter derived from the Sukhoi T-50 (or PAK FA).

 

The AMCA will ostensibly fill a capability void that will progressively form between the light Tejas and heavy Su-30MKI, and operate alongside the type chosen in India’s ongoing Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) competition.

 

Sources at India’s Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), which overseas the program, reveal that the Indian navy has expressed interest in an AMCA version and is prepared to partially fund the development; the requirement is now an official part of the program.

 

At a recent meeting on the fighter project, the Indian air force stressed that it could not tolerate delays and cost overruns like those that have dogged the Light Combat Aircraft; the latter will begin squadron service next year, almost three decades after the effort was initiated.

 

Program officials indicate that talks have begun with Sweden’s Saab on a technology consultancy and partnership, although the company refused to comment.

 

While aerospace scientists associated with the program have variously indicated that the AMCA will be a “fifth-generation” fighter, the aircraft’s qualities and capabilities are still quite fluid and will not be frozen until the end of 2011.

 

So far, the only official specifications released about the platform are: a stealthy airframe (as indicated by the conceptual wind-tunnel model revealed last year), internal weapons bays, serpentine intakes to block the fan face from radar, supercruise capabilities, thrust-vectored engine nozzles and advanced sensor fusion centered around an all-Indian active, electronically scanned array radar. However, newer information provides a greater level of detail.

 

India’s Defense Research and Development Organization hopes to power the AMCA with a pair of indigenous Kaveri turbofans. The engines are based on the Snecma M88 Eco core. Program sources reveal that Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. has been asked to work on thrust-vectored-nozzle technologies, possibly in consultation with Russian industry.

 

The AMCA team is working to give the platform a cockpit with a panoramic active-matrix display as the centerpiece of its man-machine interface. Most switches, bezels and keypads will likely be replaced with touch-screen interfaces and voice commands. Pilots who fly the AMCA will also likely have a helmet-mounted system that eliminates the need for a head-up display.

 

With lessons from the Tejas program, engineers developing the aircraft are working to give it an entirely new ­avionics architecture centered on functionality-based individual computer systems connected on Mil-Std-1553B buses and RS 422 links. The communication system will be based on software- programmable radios covering UHF to K bands, with links for digital data/voice data and video.

 

As part of the detailed design studies that will be refined over the next 18 months, stealth features will include further-optimized airframe shaping, edge matching, conformal antennas and a low infrared signature through nozzle design, engine bay cooling and work on reduced exhaust temperature. Radar-absorbing material and paints, other coatings for a polycarbonate canopy and precision manufacturing will all be part of the effort to make the AMCA India’s first stealth aircraft. Work on special materials has been allocated to two state-owned aerospace laboratories and a private company.