A p r i l - A u g u s t 2 0 0 3

LCA is now Tejas!

Tejas goes supersonic!

The flight of the Silver Bat

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Monthly Newsletter fromAeronautical Society of India

Vol: 2, No: 4-8, Apr-Aug 2003

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Chief EditorDr Srinivas Bhogle, NAL

Feature EditorsDr R Balasubramaniam,

Editor, AeSI Journal(Technology).

Prof K Sudhakar, IIT,Mumbai (Academics)

Prof P R Mahapatra,IISc, (Student Activities)

Gp Capt HC Bhatia (retd)Secretary (Admn) (HO

and Branch Activities)Mr Ajay Kumar, Secretary,

AR&DB (AR&DB)Mr V P Mathur, HAL,

Bangalore (Industry)Mr Devanandham Henry,

ADA (ADA)Ms R Swarnalatha, NAL

(NAL)Mr Shivanandan, Jet

Airways (Airlines)Mr Lalit Gupta, DGCA

(DGCA/AAI)Mr B H Malkani, Max

Aerospace & AviationLtd. (Mumbai Centre)

Mr Janardhana, VSSC(Space)

AM S K Jain AVSM,VSM, HQ, TC, IAF,

Bangalore (ArmedForces)

Design EditorMr A S Rajasekar, NAL

Aeronautical Society of India

13-B Indraprastha Estate

New Delhi 110 002, India.

Phone: 91-011-23370516

Fax: 91-011-23370768

E-mail: aerosoc@bol.net.in

www.aesi.orgNot long ago, Aerospace America noted in areview of Asian aerospace that ‘India isemerging as the region’s most powerful aircraftmanufacturing nation’. The widely read USweekly, Aviation Week and Space Technology,lauded India for running its successful spaceprogramme on a ‘shoe-string budget’. So, hasIndia arrived on the global aerospace scene?

Not quite yet, I am afraid, but few realize howclose we are. Watching Aero India 2003 heldso professionally in Bangalore, and the visiblyincreasing presence of Indian aerospaceproducts there and everywhere, one cannotavoid the thought that Indian aerospace is farmore mature than many think.

The breadth of India’saerospace pro-grammes — HAL hasproduced 23 types ofaircraft, including 11Indian designs, Dhruvis matchless in itsclass, the LCA (nowTejas) is likely to bethe most affordablehigh performancesupersonic fighter,SARAS is gettingready to fly, HJT-36 isprojected to enterservice in 2005,ISRO’s PSLV is now areliable workhorse —would be remarkableanywhere in the

world. China has bigger missiles and launchvehicles, Brazil has a more vigorous civil aircraftindustry, Israelis have some fancy technologies,but none of these covers as broad a spectrumas India.

Indian aeronautical programmes have, ofcourse, usually taken very much longer thanprojected for a variety of reasons. But the netresult of this long drawn-out process has beenthat we find ourselves now with an unusuallysound base of research, development, designand manufacture in the country. Indiancapabilities, like Indian products, are now trulyspread across the board.

Almost all the ingredients needed for a boomare therefore now in place. This boom, however,cannot happen without the will of the State.R&D and industry have also to be able to defineprojects with development times of the orderof five to eight years. Such time frames requirea totally different kind of decision-makingprocess, and would have to involve privateenterprise within India and in some cases,abroad. Indian aerospace products now haveno global brand equity and the best way toacquire it quickly is to team up withinternational companies that already have it.

We require more ‘Indo-X’ products, where Xcan be a suitable brand owner from elsewherein the world. From this point of view theBrahMos cruise missile and the avionics andmarketing agreement between HAL and IsraelAircraft Industries seem to be the rightdirections to pursue.

Roddam Narasimha

China has biggermissiles and

launch vehicles,Brazil has a more

vigorous civilaircraft industry,

Israelis havesome fancy

technologies, butnone of these

covers as broad aspectrum as

India.

Chief Editor’s noteChief Editor’s noteChief Editor’s noteChief Editor’s noteChief Editor’s note Copies of AVIA in sufficient numbers will now be transferred to all branches. Members can

pick up their AVIA copy from the Society’s Branch offices. The newsletter is also available online at www.aesi.org or

www.nal.res.in or http://www.casde.iitb.ac.in/we-also/.

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TTTTTejas goes superejas goes superejas goes superejas goes superejas goes supersonicsonicsonicsonicsonic

LLLLLCA is noCA is noCA is noCA is noCA is now Tw Tw Tw Tw Tejasejasejasejasejas

The Prime Minister Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayeenamed the light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejason 4 May 2003 at Bangalore. In a trulymemorable function the TD1 and TD2 flewin formation, piloted by Gp. Capt R K SBhadauria and Sqd Ldr Suneet Krishnarespectively. The PV1 aircraft was also rolledout. /Devanandham Henry

An importantmilestone of theTejas aircraft flighttest programme wasachieved on 1August 2003 whenthe TD-1 aircraft,piloted by Wg CdrVikram Singh, flewat a speed greaterthan the speed ofsound (Mach 1.0).The aircraft reached 1.08 Mach at an altitudeof 11 km. This was the 33rd flight of the TejasTD-1 aircraft.

Five days later, on 5 August 2003, during its34th flight, the Tejas TD-1 aircraft, this timeflown by Gp Capt R K S Bhadauria, againreached 1.15 Mach at 11 km altitude.

During supersonic flight, the unstable (atsubsonic speeds) aerodynamic configu-rationbecomes stable. The air data probes, thatsense air pressure and indicate aircraft speedand height, face a significant change in theflow field and pressures at supersonic speeds

due to the formation of shocks.

The aircraft air-intake also faces a stern testat supersonic speeds: it must give a goodperformance and ensure that supersonic buzzdoes not occur. Other challenges are posedby the drag of the aircraft; drag increasessharply at supersonic speeds and the aircraftrequires much more thrust to overcome thisair resistance. The aircraft structure must alsobe ‘flutter safe’ at supersonic speeds.

After completing 61 safe test flights, the TejasTD-2 aircraft is an being upgraded to enableit to operate in an expanded flight envelope. /DH

School Out rSchool Out rSchool Out rSchool Out rSchool Out reacheacheacheacheachPrPrPrPrProgrammeogrammeogrammeogrammeogramme

“I gave a presentationto the students andstaff of classes IX andX of The Bishop’sSchool, here in Pune,on Monday, 30 June2003. There wereabout 485 boys andteachers present andthe presentation wasvery well received.However, I do feel thatit was too large acrowd and personalinteraction was notpossible. I would thinkthat the ideal sizewould be around 150.I also showed a clip ofan IAF film that I hadbeen able to lay handson. The clip was agreat hit”.

Air Marshal S SRamdas.

Next month: SonalGopujkar on how shegot hooked to theSchool Outreachprogramme.

The AThe AThe AThe AThe Agrgrgrgrgra meetinga meetinga meetinga meetinga meeting

The 181st Council Meeting of the Society’sGoverning Council was held on 26 July 2003at ADRDE, Agra. Mr N R Mohanty, Presidentof the Society, chaired the meeting. A numberof issues concerning policies, promotionalactivities like Air Race India-2003, the criteria

for the Associate Membership examinationand plans for the forthcoming AGM atBangalore came up for discussion. It was alsodecided that AVIA will henceforth have itse-avtaar; the newsletter will be posted on theSociety’s website.

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Indian aeronautics had a flying start in the yearsimmediately after Independence.

Actually even a little before Independence –during World War II – when the Governmentof India took over Hindustan Aircraft Limited(HAL), from the Mysore Government andWalchand Industries. HAL became a repair basefor the South East Asia Command during theWar and, when the War ended, startedconverting war surplus DC 3 aircraft forcommercial aviation. These planes became apart of the Indian Airlines fleet.

When did indigenous civil aircraft developmentstart?

I think the beginnings were made with theappointment of Dr V M Ghatage as HAL’s chiefdesigner. Ghatage’s team developed the HT2trainer. The trainer was even productionised.That was a wonderful early effort.

What about military aircraft?

HAL was also producing a number of militaryaircraft and engines – but only in the licenceproduction mode. The first indigenoustechnology development effort happened onlyin the late 1950’s.

The HF 24?

That’s right. Dr Kurt Tank, a German designer,and his group of designers of the HAL DesignBureau, developed the HF 24 (or Marut, as itwas called). It was quite a special project – Indiawas trying to come to grips with the design anddevelopment of a fighter aircraft for the first

time! Marut’s aerodynamic design conceptswere comparable to those of the developedworld, but it failed to achieve its designsupersonic performance because the enginearound which it was designed was noteventually available.

Why, what went wrong?

It’s quite a long story. The idea was that HF-24would use a reheat version of Bristol Siddley’sOrpheus 703. Bristol Siddley, at that point oftime, was offering this version both to India andthe NATO countries. But NATO unexpectedlydropped their project. Bristol Siddley thenoffered to develop the reheat version for Indiaat a cost of Rs 5 crores. The offer was rejected.This was a serious blunder.

What were the positives from this experience?

The HF-24 development highlighted theimportance of a strong R&D base inaeronautics. This experience resulted in thecreation of NAL, GTRE and ADE around 1959-60. Soon there after, based on therecommendations (1964) of a committee ledby Dr Satish Dhawan, all the IIT’s createdDepartments of Aeronautical Engineeringoffering both teaching and researchprogrammes in aeronautics. Thesedevelopments considerably strengthenedIndia’s aeronautical base.

There was also much excitement when theSubramaniam Committee was established in1969-70 to review Indian aeronautics.

Yes, indeed, and with good reason. Mr C

Srinivas Bhogle, Chief

Editor, in conversation

with Dr S R Valluri. Dr

Va l lu r i who was

Di rec to r, NAL f rom

1965-1984 , was the

President of the Society

in 1977.

“We started very well”

Dr S R Valluri on Indian aeronauticsin the 1950’s and 1960’s.

Perhaps thesingle greatestcontribution to

Indian aeronauticscame from AirChief Marshal

Latif. His decisionto support an

indigenous fighteraircraft

developmentprogramme

completely turnedthings around.

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Subramaniam was a truly outstanding Indianleader and thinker. Recognising the importanceof creating a strong aeronautics base in thecountry, the Committee recommended, amongother things, the creation of an AeronauticsResearch & Development Board (AR&DB). TheAR&DB was set up in 1971 and continues to beactive. Even in its early years the AR&DB couldsanction funds up to Rs 2 crores every year.This wasn’t a small amount; but it wasn’t verylarge either – certainly insufficient for a majornational thrust in aeronautics.

So that was a bit of a lull.

You could say so. Although there was one lasthurrah: the HJT-16 (Kiran), India’s first and truly

indigenous jet trainer, successfully entered intoproduction at about the time the Subramaniamrecommendations were presented.

What was it like in the 1970’s?

It was a trying period because the IAF didn’thave enough confidence in the Indian industry;neither was the climate sufficiently conducivefor industry and R&D to work together.Fortunately Air Chief Marshal I H Latifintervened decisively to eventually break theimpasse. A major change in the situationdeveloped after he strongly supported thedecision to build an indigenous fighter aircraft.The LCA programme eventually went on tointegrate the IAF, industry and R&D labs .

While editing a pagefor a project documentin MS Word, I initiateda spellcheck on a parathat contained thesentence “Then byintegrating thesestructural componentsalong with rearfuselage, the dynamicanalysis of SARASempennage is carriedout”, MS Wordhelpfully suggested:“.........the dynamicanalysis of SARA’sempennage is....”.

R Swarnalatha

Mr C Subra-maniam was a

truly outstandingIndian leader and

thinker.

TTTTTwwwwwo neo neo neo neo new prw prw prw prw promotional activitiesomotional activitiesomotional activitiesomotional activitiesomotional activities

The Governing Council of the Society hasapproved two more promotional activities —a national aero quiz and an aviation photoexhibition — as part of the centenarycelebrations of manned flight. The ChandigarhBranch would be the nodal agency for boththese activities.

The national aero quiz will generateinterest and awareness on aeronautics andaviation among school children. Thepreliminary rounds will be organised by allthe Branches at their respective locationsduring August-September 2003. The twosemifinals and the final will be held at

Chandigarh. The Society will bear the traveland lodging expenses of the participatingteam members.

The aviation photo exhibition is also targetedat school and college students. The exhibitionwill be organized at every branch city for 2-3days, starting end- October 2003.

We welcome suggestions telling us how tomake the two events more informative andinteresting. Please contact Wg Cdr H CChaudhary, Honorary Secretary, AeSIChandigarh Branch (tel: 0172-659434, e-mail: aerosoc@sify.com).

StrStrStrStrStratatatatatospheric airospheric airospheric airospheric airospheric airshipsshipsshipsshipsships

their merits over other platforms like aircraftand satellites and discussed the applicationsof airships both in the civil and defence sectors.

The presentation was well prepared andevoked a very encouraging response from theaudience. Mr K V S S Prasad Rao, Distin-guished Scientist and Chief Controller (R&D),DRDO presided over the function.

A presentation titled “Stratospheric airshipsfor defence and civil applications” by Lt. Gen.James A Abrahamson, formerly of the US AirForce and now the Chairman and CEO ofStracom International, USA was organized bythe Delhi Branch on 19 July 2003.

In his presentation, Gen Abrahamson discus-sed the basic principles of airships, explained

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NeNeNeNeNew corporw corporw corporw corporw corporate memberate memberate memberate memberate membersssss

The following new establishments havejoined as “Corporate Members” of theSociety.

" BAeHAL Software Ltd., Bangalore. Thecompany specialises in simulation, ERP andmultimedia software. It is also involved incontent creation.

" VEM Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Hyderabad.The company specialises in solutions forstrategic applications.

" Hi-Tec Systems, Inc, Gurgaon. Asubsidiary of Hi-Tech Systems Inc. USA,specialises in CNS/ATM, aviation safely andIT.

" Taj Air Ltd, Mumbai. The company is anonscheduled air transportation serviceprovider.

" ECIL Hyderabad. The companyspecialises in design and manufacturing ofelectronic systems, including airborneapplications.

" United Technologies InternationalOperations, Mumbai — represents UnitedTechnologies Inc. and its Pratt & WhitneyDivision in the country.

New Fellows of the SocietyNew Fellows of the SocietyNew Fellows of the SocietyNew Fellows of the SocietyNew Fellows of the Society

The following members were elected Fellows of theSociety on 12 May 2003.

" Mr A S Reddy, Additional General Manager (QCDept), HAL, Koraput. A graduate from OsmaniaUniversity and post-graduate from IIT, Kharagpur, MrReddy specialises in design, development and defectinvestigations of aero-engine components andsystems.

" Air Cmde Sajjad Rahim, VSM. A graduate ofDefence Services Staff College and a post-graduatein aerospace engineering, he specialises in highexplosive weapons.

" Mr Lalit Gupta, Deputy Director, Directorate-General of Civil Aviation, is actively involved in thetype certification of the HPT-32, Dhruv and SARASaircraft. He specialises in aircraft investigation andhas authored a number of books including “AdvancedComposite Materials”.

" Mr Ravi Menon, Director, Air Works India Engg.Pvt Ltd. Mumbai — the largest aircraft maintenanceorganisation in the private sector that maintains 24different types of aircraft. Mr Ravi Menon is also ViceChairman of the Society’s Mumbai Branch and amember of its Governing Council.

" Prof E Rathakrishnan, academician and facultymember of IIT, Kanpur. He is also the recipient ofthe “Excellence in Aerospace Education Award”for the year 2002.

Graphic designer:Vaishali Vinay

Circulation andlogistic support:J VinayagamChandrika R Krishnan.

Address for

correspondence:

Aeronautical Society of

India, New Thippasandra

Post, Bangalore 560075.

Phone: 91-080-5273851

Fax: 91-080-5297159

AAAAAGM oGM oGM oGM oGM of Delhi Brf Delhi Brf Delhi Brf Delhi Brf Delhi Branchanchanchanchanch

V Patkar as advisors to the ExecutiveCommittee. Mr O P Sharma and Mr Lalit Guptawere re-elected Hon. Secretary and Hon.Treasurer respectively.

On this occasion, the Branch had alsoorganized two important lectures. Mr JerryWilmot and Ms Heather Beeby of BAe Systemsspoke on “Air Traffic Management” and CaptD V Singh, Director, Flight Safety, IndianAirlines, spoke on “Pilot’s Perspective onSafely Management at Airports”.

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of theDelhi Branch of Aeronautical Society of Indiawas held on 12 April 2003 under theChairmanship of Mr Satinder Singh. Besidesreviewing the working of the Branch in thepreceding year, the audit report for 2002-03was passed, and a new Executive Committeewas elected. Mr Ajai Kumar, Director ofAeronautics, DRDO, was elected Chairman,AVM Rajkumar and Prof G S Bhatura wereelected Vice Chairmen. The AGM alsonominated Mr H S Khola and Air Marshal A

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The flight oThe flight oThe flight oThe flight oThe flight of the Silvf the Silvf the Silvf the Silvf the Silver Bater Bater Bater Bater Bat

19 March 2003 was a day with clear skies in Bangaloredespite the previous evening’s rain. On the far side of Jakkurairfield at 6.30 in the morning a crowd of almost 30 personshad gathered. The group included Mr N R Mohanty,Chairman, HAL (and President, Aeronautical Society ofIndia) and his colleagues, Dr B R Pai, Director, NAL, Lt.Gen. V J Sundaram, Prof. S P Govindaraju and his teamfrom IISc and a number of aviation enthusiasts.

In the midst of this group was a person holding a strangelooking contraption. This object had a pair of bat-like wingswith a span of about 4.5ft covered in thin silver colouredfoil with a rudder and elevator at the back mounted on aslim ‘fuselage’. While every one looked on, a tiny switch onthis contraption was turned on and it was launched by hand.To the sheer amazement of the audience, the model beganbeating its wings just like a bird and started flying! After abrief flight, it glided back to land. Some trim adjustmentswere made and the model was off once again flying incircles, soaring up and swooping down. The flight was sorealistic that immediately a pair of kites began followingthe ‘Silver Bat’!

This strange model is the creation of Mr K Nanda Kumar, a35 year old aviation enthusiast from Chennai. NandaKumar’s profession involves servicing electronic andcommunication equipment in ships. His original hobby wasto operate an amateur radio, but, about five years ago,Nanda Kumar got bored of it and switched his attention tobuilding and flying radio control airplane models with helpfrom Mr Sridhar of Chennai. It was while watching a featureon the National Geographic TV channel that Nanda Kumarcame to know about ornithopters - machines that fly bybeating their wings — and started dreaming of buildingone himself.

Unlike thec o n v e n t i o n a lradio controlledairplane modelsthat use a tiny ICengine for propulsion, the ornithopter model has an electricmotor and batteries. The motor turns an eccentric crankthrough a reduction gearbox to which are attached the wingsthrough linkages.

There were many trials andmodifications to the design of hismodel before Nanda Kumarachieved first success in the formof a mere two-second sustainedflight! However, once the model flewon its own, refinements came fast -the two-second flight stretched to22 seconds within a few days andthen to a whopping four minutes!Nanda Kumar took almost twoyears to perfect his ornithopter involving experi-mentationwith 10 different types of wings, five fuselages, 20 differentvarieties of motor and five types of gearbox! Except for themicro servo actuators, all other components have been totallybuilt from scratch or extensively modified. For example, smallmotors available off the shelf didn’t have the necessary power;so a motor was modified by rewinding the rotor. A gearboxwith the required reduction that would fit within the smallspace was not available and Nanda Kumar designed his owngearbox and got the gears machined and assembled. Eventhe tiny radio receiver required for this model was completelybuilt by him, as these are not available in India and prove tobe very expensive if imported.

Nanda Kumar also used an innovative technique to gaugethe thrust developed by his model. He used the smoke fromlighted incense sticks in a room and by observing themovement of smoke when the model started flapping itswings, he could make a comparison of the capabilities ofvarious configurations.

Needless to say, all this effort has cost him more thanRs.30,000 — that he has spent from his own pocket!

K S Raman

K S Raman, Scientist, NAL, passed away suddenly on 16 July 2003. This

article was received in April 2003.

Vital statistics of the Silver Bat

Wing Span 52"Total weight of model 438 gMaximum altitude flown 100 ft.Maximum endurance so far 4 minutes.Power Electric motorRadio Three-channel

(motor speed,elevator, rudder)

To the sheeramazement of the

audience, themodel began

beating its wingsjust like a bird

and started flying!

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