32 years after sanction, IAF set to get its first home-grown Tejas fighter in March

NEW DELHI: Thirty-two years after the light combat aircraft (LCA) project was sanctioned, IAF will finally get its first home-grown Tejas fighter in March 2015. But before you pop the bubbly, consider this: the multi-role jet is now ready to fly in all-weather conditions but cannot yet fire long-range missiles as well as undergo mid-air refuelling to double its strike range.
The first Tejas will be delivered to IAF at Bangalore in its initial operational clearance (IOC) configuration, which basically means it's fully airworthy now. But the fighter's final operational clearance (FOC) to make it combat-ready — with integration of all weapons like guns, laser-guided bombs and BVR (beyond visual range) missiles as well capable of air-to-air refuelling — has once again been delayed.

The Tejas Mark-II, the fighter IAF really wants with more powerful engines for greater thrust and drag reduction, will start to come only by 2021-2022. With the first preliminary design review for the Mark-II version now over, the plan is to fly its first prototype by 2017 or so.

"The first of IOC standard aircraft has been built and successfully completed its maiden flight on September 30 this year. This aircraft will be handed over to IAF by March 2015 after some upgrades," defence minister Manohar Parrikar told Lok Sabha on Friday.

"The second aircraft will also be ready by March 2015 for its maiden flight. The first 20 aircraft will be built by 2017-2018...FOC is likely to be achieved by end of 2015," he added.

The delivery of the first Tejas will certainly be a red-letter day in the project's meandering saga, with even IAF now confident of the lightweight fighter. "The handling of Tejas and other features are much better than a MiG-21 Bison. But the long delay is the problem," said an officer.

The first Tejas squadron of 20 jets in the IOC configuration will initially be based in Bangalore to resolve teething problems. It will later be shifted to the Sulur airbase in Tamil Nadu, which will also get the second squadron in FOC configuration.

Work is now underway to accelerate the development of the Tejas Mark-II, including airframe changes to take the new American GE-414 engines, which will constitute four squadrons with 80 jets. The first 40 Tejas are to be powered by GE-404 engines.

IAF has been forced to extend the operational life of virtually obsolete MiG-21s, which will now be retired only by 2025, due to the huge delay in the LCA project. The Tejas will meet the lightweight fighter requirements of IAF, which is down to just 34 fighter squadrons, while the heavyweight one is being taken care of by the 272 Russian Sukhoi-30MKIs being inducted for $12 billion. The medium range is to be met by the yet-to-be finalised $20 billion MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) project to acquire 126 French Rafale fighters.