LCA beats F-16
The LCA beat the F-16. Or so it was observed during all test flights conducted by the IAF to date when it stalled alot better than the Falcon. The history of India's indigenous aircraft designs dates back to the late 1950s, when HAL built the HF-24 Marut, one of the first supersonic fighter jets at the time. Designed with the help of Dr. Kurt Tank, famous for his Focke-Wulf aircraft built for Wartime Germany, it fought without loss in the Indo-Pak Wars.
A HF-24 Marut(Wind Spirit) on display at the massive Deutsche Museum Flugwerft at Schleissheim, Bavaria, Germany.
The LCA should be easily comparable to an F-16XL-1. Both these aircraft have the same rate of speed and acceleration between Mach 1.8 and Mach 2.0. The LCA still is much in its preliminary stage of development and more advanced changes could be made to the plane over the years. It has a large nose cone allowing development of newer radar and avionic systems. With BVRAAMs that adorn the Mig-29s and Su-30s the LCA is more than a match for various fighters. The IAF now has its very own plane in a class of its own that could be pitted against F-16s and not just another IAF Mig or Mirage. The F-16 isnt much of a great fighter at Mach 1.9, and barely makes it to Mach 2.0 when fully loaded. It must be remembered that the F-16 was born because the USAF was shitting in its pants between 1966-72 when it lost 103 F-4s to the Viet Mig-21s. So it was for this reason - to counter those nimble Migs that the F-16 was basically made for the USAF.
The LCA was in fact designed with many inputs from the Mirage family. Hence it could very easily match the performance of an F-16C, since Mirages are of a much better lineage than the F-16s. In an air-to-surface role, an F-16 can fly more than 500 miles (860 kilometers) and deliver its weapons load which is about the same range of an LCA. LCA has the same speed and ceiling as that of an F-16XL-1 being Mach 1.8 and 50,000 ft. Infact, LCA avionics were first flight tested on a US F-16XL.
The LCA beat the F-16. Or so it was observed during all test flights conducted by the IAF to date when it stalled alot better than the Falcon. The history of India's indigenous aircraft designs dates back to the late 1950s, when HAL built the HF-24 Marut, one of the first supersonic fighter jets at the time. Designed with the help of Dr. Kurt Tank, famous for his Focke-Wulf aircraft built for Wartime Germany, it fought without loss in the Indo-Pak Wars.
A HF-24 Marut(Wind Spirit) on display at the massive Deutsche Museum Flugwerft at Schleissheim, Bavaria, Germany.
The LCA should be easily comparable to an F-16XL-1. Both these aircraft have the same rate of speed and acceleration between Mach 1.8 and Mach 2.0. The LCA still is much in its preliminary stage of development and more advanced changes could be made to the plane over the years. It has a large nose cone allowing development of newer radar and avionic systems. With BVRAAMs that adorn the Mig-29s and Su-30s the LCA is more than a match for various fighters. The IAF now has its very own plane in a class of its own that could be pitted against F-16s and not just another IAF Mig or Mirage. The F-16 isnt much of a great fighter at Mach 1.9, and barely makes it to Mach 2.0 when fully loaded. It must be remembered that the F-16 was born because the USAF was shitting in its pants between 1966-72 when it lost 103 F-4s to the Viet Mig-21s. So it was for this reason - to counter those nimble Migs that the F-16 was basically made for the USAF.
The LCA was in fact designed with many inputs from the Mirage family. Hence it could very easily match the performance of an F-16C, since Mirages are of a much better lineage than the F-16s. In an air-to-surface role, an F-16 can fly more than 500 miles (860 kilometers) and deliver its weapons load which is about the same range of an LCA. LCA has the same speed and ceiling as that of an F-16XL-1 being Mach 1.8 and 50,000 ft. Infact, LCA avionics were first flight tested on a US F-16XL.
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