Indigenous jets showcase fighting abilities

The indigenous Tejas fighter jets and light combat helicopter (LCH) on Friday showcased their war fighting capabilities in an air exercise involving 180 aircraft, where Astra and Aaksh missiles were also fired.

Tejas dropped a laser guided bomb on a target whereas LCH fired 70 mm rockets, days after integration of these rockets were successfully demonstrated in a test in Jaisalmer.

The Army and Air Force (IAF) require 179 of these armed choppers that are being manufactured by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

The weapon delivery of the homegrown fighter jet and armed chopper at the IAF Chandan range near the India-Pakistan border is probably an indication of Tejas and LCH getting ready for induction into the IAF, decades after they were conceptualised.

The R-73 missile fired by Tejas, however, missed the simulated target, which was a flare attached to a parachute. IAF officials said in reality targets would be bigger with higher radar cross section. This is the first time indigenous Astra and Akash missiles were fired before a civilian audience.

Among the audience for the “Exercise Iron Fist 2016” were President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, who are responsible to find out a solution for the IAF’s depleting squadron strength because which the force admits its inability to take on China and Pakistan simultaneously.

Early induction of Tejas – developed at a cost of Rs 5,777.56 crore ($ 930 million) was conceived as one of the solutions. But arming the homegrown jet remains one of the bottlenecks of using these fighter aircrafts in operational role.

In September 2015, Parrikar informed Parliament that the IAF indicated a requirement of 100 Tejas Mk-1A but no formal order was placed as yet. The plan is to complete the manufacturing between 2018 and 2022-23.

Development of the Tejas Mk-2, though it was sanctioned in 2009, the actual work could not begin before December 2013, because of the delay in finalising the engine contract.

The first flight of the first prototype of Tejas Mk-2 was scheduled by December 2009 and operational clearance is likely to be obtained in December 2022. The Mk-2 version will have active electrically scanned array radar, unified electronic warfare suite, on-board oxygen generation system and upgraded avionics in addition to a better engine.