400 projects of LCA were given to IITs, IISc: Kota Harinarayana
BENGALURU: As manyas 400 design and development projects of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) were given to Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), said the father of LCA, Kota Harinarayana, here on Saturday. He was talking at the first ever IIT-Indusry conclave that the IIT Alumni Centre Bengaluru (IIT-ACB) hosted in the city. Directors and alumni of various IITs across the country attended the two-day conclave that touched upon industy-IIT collaborations in four key areas --- Biotechnology, Information and Communications Technology, Aerospace, and Manufacturing. IIT-ACB is located in Bengaluru which boasts of the largest, approximately 15,000, IIT alumni.
Kota said that of the 400 projects, 398 were successful, which is a very good outcome. He lauded the collaboration with the academia and said that the LCA, unlike the other aircraft did not meet with a single accident.Deep interactions made the hardware, software and design software possible, he said and added that India now has the ecosystem for the next generation of fighter jets.
Panellists including Sanjay Mittal, professor, IIT Kanpur, Ajit Prabhu chairman and CEO of QuEST Global, and Dr Bala Bharadvaj, managing director of Boeing India Engineering and Technology Centre, reiterated the need to update the IIT curriculum and the need to focus on teaching fundamentals to students , so they solve any problem, using the enabler – technology – which is always evolving.
Father of the Light Combat Aircraft Kota Harinarayana said that the Indian Air Force has sought 120 aircraft of the fourth-plus generation of LCA and an additional 200 aircraft of LCA Mark-2. The IAF has also confirmed the need for fifth generation fighters of two squadrons and is keen on the sixth generation fighters -- the unmanned combat aircraft. He said that with a lot of artificial intelligence involved, technology can be developed only in close collaboration with the academia.