Cutting across a clear and crispy cold morning, Tejas, India's first indigenously built Light Combat Aircraft, scorched the skies on Monday. The supersonic fourth generation fighter will be part of a 200- strong fleet of the Indian Air Force and replace its jaded Soviet- era MiG- 21 aircraft.
The country's first indigenous combat jet received its operational clearance nearly three decades after it was conceptualized. A galaxy of IAF and Defence official witnessed the flight. The IAF would commission its first squadron of the fighter in 2013. Though the design and body structure is indigenous, the LCA has an ' American heart' as an engine from the US- based General Electric powers it.
Indian researchers could not crack the code for developing the engine owing to denial of technology after the second nuclear test in May 1998. The indigenous Kaveri engine is yet to take off. " The indigenization level in Tejas is currently around 65 percent and will be scaled to 75- 80 percent when production is expanded to meet the IAF combat needs," VK Saraswat, scientific adviser to the defence minister, said.
After witnessing the flight, IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Naik said, " The Tejas is expected to get the final operational clearance in the next two years for induction. The squadron is likely to be formed by 2013 or early 2014." The Tejas squadron, comprising 20 fighters, will be located at the IAF's Salur air base near Coimbatore in southern Tamil Nadu as a frontline aerial combat vehicle.
Each Tejas aircraft will cost Rs. 190 crore and the squadron would cost the exchequer about Rs. 3,800 crore. " The cost of the Tejas trainer variant and Mark II version with enhanced engine will be about Rs. 210 crore each and Rs. 4,200 crore for the second lot of 20 jets for the second squadron," State- run aircraft manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd chairman and managing director Ashok Nayak told reporters.
" This is a momentous occasion that the nation has been waiting for towards building our own multi- role combat aircraft,'' State- run Defence Research and Development Organisation official K. Jayaprakash Rao said.
Designed by State- run Aeronautical Defence Agency and manufactured by HAL in its Bangalore unit, Tejas has been in the various development stages since it was conceptualized in 18 years ago.
ADA director P S Subramanyam said LCA will remain contemporary for another 15 years. " A unique aspect of the LCA is its open system architecture. It is very easy to adapt such a system to contemporary technologies because it is open. The basic design of the LCA, too, permits easy adaptability. All new generation electronics will be continuously upgraded". The aircraft is capable of carrying assorted weapon loads and drop tanks on eight hard points.
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