Dwindling fighter aircraft strength, following phasing out and delay in new inductions, have forced Indian Air Force to triple its order...
Dwindling fighter aircraft strength, following phasing out and delay in new inductions, have forced Indian Air Force to triple its order for the indigenous Tejus light combat aircraft (LCA).
IAF is now preparing to order 120 of the Mark I variants, against the earlier 40 firm order placed with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
The additional 80 Tejus Mark I variants will be a more capable version dubbed the Mark 1A, that will address major capability shortfalls in the current version.
Earlier, IAF was reluctant to order the Mark I variant, citing lack of performance and banked on the improved Mark II variant under development, which will be powered by higher thrust GE F414 engine.
The Mark 1A will be lighter than the current version, making the fighter more agile and faster. More than 1000 kg will be shaved off from the heavy landing gear and dead weight.
The refinement will bring the empty weight of the aircraft to 6500 kg, enabling the current GE F414 engine with a peak thrust of 84 kN, meet the performance required for IAF.
Other improvements will include under wing mounted Electronic Warfare pod, aerial refueling capability, improved BVR capability and refinement for easy maintenance. 43 of the 57 maintenance issues will be sorted out, enabling increased sorties per day.
The order will also help HAL to keep its Tejus production line humming before switching over to Mark II production in around 2020.
IAF's current squadron strength is down to 34, against the 45 sanctioned. 42 squadrons are atleast required to fight a two front war against China and Pakistan.
Even though the last 50 of the Sukhoi Su-30 MKI air superiority fighters part of the 272 ordered will join IAF by 2019, the 200 MiG-21 and MiG-27 fleet are slated for retirement by 2020.
The growing capability gap forced India to cancel a well executed selection process for 126 fighter in its final stage and go to negotiation with the winning bidder Dassault, for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets off the shelf.
The LCA Tejus program, which began as a replacement to MiG-21 fighter, had a long development period due sanctions, technology denial and changing Air Force requirements. The fighter achieved its maiden flight in 2001. Since then the fleet of 16 flight test aircraft have clocked close to 3000 flight test hours.
The single engined delta winged Tejus features a relaxed static stability design and is equipped with a quadruplex digital fly by wire flight control system for ease of handling.
The supersonic and highly maneuverable fighter can carry a payload of 3.5 tonnes. Variants include naval and a two seat trainer.
Final Operation Clearence for Tejus Mark I is slated for March 2016.
