Tejas Mk 2 With Kaveri Engine
We are reaching the goal of making our own Multirole fighter with Tejas Mk 2. At present it has been designed to be a single engine jet with General Electric F414-GE-INS6 turbofan engine. This engine has 58.5 kN (13,200 lbf) dry thrust and 98 kN thrust (22,000 lbf) with afterburner.
The present expected weight of Tejas Mk 2 is as follows:
1. Gross Weight: 11,300 kg
2. Max Take Off Weight: 17,500 kg.
That means payload capacity is 6,200 kg.
Now this General Electric F414 engine has a dry weight of 1,110 kg. Its thrust characteristics are sufficient for our expected Tejas Mk 2 aircraft.
But if we have a twin-engine version then the range and reliability of the aircraft can be increased along with its size. The present wing area is 44 sq.m.
Let us consider if we use our own Kaveri GTX-35VS engine. Its weight is 1,236 kg. With two engines total weight of engines will increase to 2,472 kg.
While total thrust will be 104 kN dry to 162 kN with afterburner.
This makes the max take off weight to 17,500 - 1,110 + 2,472 = 18,862. But this calculation is wrong as it does not take into account increased fuel and fuselage size requirement for the aircraft with 2 engines. It is likely to increase gross weight by 25% due to increased airframe size. So likely max take off weight is going to be: 23,237 kg.
This results in a pretty good thrust to weight ratio of 0.988*104/100.08*24500/23237 = 1.08.
Here Dassault Rafael has been taken as reference aircraft with Snecma M88 engine, similar to the Kaveri engine. The M88 engine has 50.04 kN dry thrust and Rafael has max take off weight of 24,500 kg. The thrust to weight ratio is 0.988.
To summarize, Twin Engine Tejas Mk 2 can be made with our own engine GTX-35VS-Kaveri. As the reliability of this engine increases with research and development, the aircraft can take on more roles. To start with, it can play the role of a super-cruise patrol aircraft in peacetime.
The spin-off of this platform can also help us to make TEDBF fighter for our Navy as Tejas Mk 2 flight envelope increases with full operational clearance. This is similar to the ORCA fighter planned earlier. So Tejas Mk 2 can be a medium weight fighter with twin engines which can be the workhorse of Indian Air Force like F-15EX for US Air Force.
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