Till date, over 2,450 sorties have been flown to achieve initial operational clearance which coincidentally is timed with the retirement of the MiG-21 FL fleet. While the air warriors of the IAF can now begin to savour the new machine, the next and equally critical step in the Tejas development programme would be its final operational clearance.

December 20, 2013, was indeed a red letter day for the Indian Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the Indian aerospace major the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and the Indian Air Force (IAF), the fourth largest in the world and the pride of the nation. It was a day when the national aspiration of indigenously building a modern and contemporary combat aircraft was fulfilled when in an elaborate and high-profile ceremony at Bengaluru, the light combat aircraft (LCA) christened in 2001 as ‘Tejas’, was formally granted initial operational clearance (IOC), paving the way for the induction of LCA Mk 1 into operational service.

The programme to develop a multi-role, light weight aircraft primarily to replace the ageing fleet of MiG-21 aircraft, whose induction into the IAF had commenced in the 1960s, was initiated in 1983 with the government sanctioning Rs. 560 crore for a ‘Programme Definition Project’. A number of objectives were stipulated for the exercise which included evaluation of the capability of the Indian aerospace industry and the supporting scientific institutions in the country to design, develop and manufacture a combat aircraft through industrial and technical capability available at their disposal; suggest a configuration for the platform; make an assessment of the likely challenges the DRDO would be confronted with in the execution of the project and the possible solutions to cope with these. In 1984, the government established the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) under the DRDO to take charge of the LCA programme. The other and equally important objective of this programme was to spur the development of the Indian aerospace industry and build up all-round capability to achieve a high degree of self-reliance in this regime.

Based on the project report, the Air Headquarters drew up and finalised the Air Staff Requirements (ASR) in 1985. Thereafter, in 1988, the government sanctioned another instalment of Rs. 1,628 crore for the design and development phase of the LCA. However, it was only a decade after the ‘Programme Definition Project’ was initiated in 1983, that the proposal for the development of a LCA was finally submitted to the government.

The LCA programme was led by ADA with HAL as its principal partner. A large number of laboratories under the DRDO and the Central Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), certification agencies, the IAF, academic institutions as well as private and public sector undertakings, participated in the programme to develop the aircraft. As a result of the combined effort of all these agencies, the prototype of the LCA undertook its maiden flight on January 4, 2001, good 18 years after the LCA programme was commissioned. It was on this occasion that Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the then Prime Minister of India, formally named the LCA as ‘Tejas’ meaning ‘radiance’.

The LCA Tejas has a pure delta wing configuration with no tail plane or fore plane, has a single dorsal fin and has technologies such as fly-by-wire flight control system, multi-mode radar, integrated digital avionics system and major airframe structures made of composite material. The aircraft is powered by the F 404 IN20, a well proven turbofan engine, designed and manufactured by the General Electric Aircraft Engines of the US. ADA was responsible for the design and development of the aircraft’s avionics suite and its integration with the flight controls, environmental controls, aircraft utilities systems management as well as stores management system. As the prime contractor, HAL was responsible for design of the LCA, systems integration, manufacture of the airframe, final assembly of the platform, flight testing and service support.

Till date, over 2,450 sorties have been flown to achieve IOC which coincidentally is timed with the retirement of the MiG-21 FL fleet. While the air warriors of the IAF can now begin to savour the new machine, the next and equally critical step in the Tejas development programme would be its final operational clearance (FOC) for which the deadline stipulated by the Minister of Defence A.K. Antony is December 2014. FOC will equip the Tejas with in-flight refuelling capability, beyond visual range missiles, a new close combat missile, an integral gun, additional weapons and new drop tanks for supersonic flight.

To what extent would the Tejas help in arresting the rapidly eroding operational potential of the IAF? For some views on this vital question, turn to Forum.