A decade after its first prototype flew, India?s homegrown light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas on Monday received a crucial certification that paves the way for its induction into the Indian Air Force (IAF) starting June.
By December, four aircraft of the total 40 ordered by IAF are expected to be delivered by the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics which is targetting a production rate of 10 aircraft per year, each priced at around Rs 180-200 crore. The IAF will raise two squadrons that will be located at Sulur near Coimbatore.
The Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) meanwhile will continue the integration of additional weapons and fine tune other parameters to achieve a final operational clearance for the Tejas by 2012.
?Today it is a historic occasion. After 27 years of long wait, we have reached the semi-finals,? Defence minister AK Antony told reporters in Bangalore after handing over the aircraft?s ?release to service? certificate to the chief of air staff PV Naik. ?This year onwards we are going to give a thrust to indegenisation,? he said, adding that a new policy would be unveiled this week.
LCA was conceived in the early eighties as a replacement for the Russian-made MiG-21 aircraft which has been the IAF?s workhorse since the 1960?s and is still in service. While the first 20 aircraft are targetted for delivery by 2013, ADA recently selected a more powerful GE414 engine made by American firm General Electric to power a Mk-II version of the Tejas which it plans to fly in 2014. The initial demand for the Mk-II from IAF is estimated to be around 83 aircraft.
?There is a scope for supplying more of Mk-II variants of Navy and Air Force. The estimation is that the nation needs about 200 of Tejas aircraft,? Antony said.
?I?m sure this will be a MiG-21 plus plus kind of an aircraft,? said Naik. ?You need high-end aircraft, you also need medium and low-end aircraft in big numbers. I?m sure the LCAs will meet that requirement.?