NEWS
Media reports suggest that ‘Tejas’, India’s effort at building an indigenous lightweight fighter, known as the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) and in the making since 1983, will get an additional funding of Rs 8,000 crore to complete the development programme. The report also suggests that Tejas will obtain initial operational clearance by the year-end. The government had spent Rs 4,800 crore on the LCA programme till 2009-end. Dubbing it a total failure, experts have questioned the wisdom of continuing with the project. Designed by Bangalore-based Aeronautical Development Agency, the LCA is being touted as the most compact lightweight supersonic, multi-role, combat aircraft in its class in the world.

VIEWS
What Tejas wants, Tejas gets’—screamed media reports in response to the stated infusion of an additional massive financial dole of Rs 8,000 crore ($1.7 billion) to sustain the 27-year-old indigenous LCA project. In 1983, India had commenced a programme to develop an aircraft to replace its ageing Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-21s as the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) primary multi-role tactical fighter. The design was finalised in 1990 as a small, delta-winged warplane. The first two technology demonstrators (TD-1 and TD-2) were completed by 1995, but were kept grounded due to structural concerns. More specifically, due to troubles with the development of the ‘flight control system’ since no nation exports Fly-by-Wire technology. Eventually, US firm Lockheed Martin was brought in as a consultant. However, the commercial union was short-lived, terminating in 1998 as part of Washington’s immediate response to India’s second nuclear test. The other major problem was the indigenous Kaveri engine to power the LCA which continued to flounder in many areas of its development programme.

Eventually, the integration of the flight control laws was done indigenously by the National Aeronautics Laboratory and the aircraft mated with the GE 404 engine post lifting of some sanctions by the US. It first took to the air in 2001. Latest reports suggest Tejas is likely to obtain initial operational clearance by the year-end with possible induction into the IAF’s squadron service in 2011. But the rate at which the flight testing plus avionics and weapons integration programmes are progressing, the above time frame appears highly ambitious. In fact, there has been all-round scepticism of the project over its inordinate delay.

Defence Minister A.K. Antony has, however, strongly defended the LCA programme as recently as on February 2, stating, “Today I can assure you with confidence... I can declare at last LCA is going to be a reality.” Dismissing all criticism about the project taking close to three decades, he said agencies involved in the programme strongly believed in the LCA and that the Centre would back the programme. Admitting that the LCA had to undergo rigorous trials before it became a complete fighting machine, he emphasised that development of a new aircraft was not easy and the gestation period was very long. “Don’t expect miracles. Our expectation is to give a momentum for indigenisation,” he stressed.