BAE Systems is to resume delivery of flight control components for the Indian Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), halted in May 1998 by the US embargo imposed after India's nuclear tests. The company's US arm has received a $20 million contract to supply six shipsets of sensors and actuators for "four or five" production-representative LCAs planned by India's Aero-nautical Development Establishment (ADE).
BAE Systems Controls (formerly part of Lockheed Martin) was jointly developing the fly-by-wire flight-control system with ADE when the embargo was imposed. The Indians completed development of the digital flight control computer. "They did an awful lot of work themselves," says BAE's LCA programme manager John McGrath.
ADE has flown two LCA technology demonstrators using sensors and actuators supplied before the embargo. Deliveries of the air-data and inertial sensors will resume in mid-2003, while actuator shipments will restart late in the year or early in 2004, says McGrath. Under the new contract, subcontractor Moog will complete environmental qualification testing on the actuators, which was interrupted when the embargo took effect.
McGrath expects India eventually to order additional sensors and actuators for the LCA production phase, while continuing to build the computer locally. The agreement with ADE provides for licence manufacture of the equipment in India, but there have been no talks yet on production, he says.
The embargo delayed the LCA first flight by five years to January last year. The second aircraft made its maiden flight in June this year. Eight production aircraft have been ordered for delivery from 2006.
Source: Flight International