{"id":15384,"date":"2015-11-12T22:01:20","date_gmt":"2015-11-12T22:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2015\/11\/12\/india-to-boost-lca-order-af-questions-its-capabilities\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:31:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:31:42","slug":"india-to-boost-lca-order-af-questions-its-capabilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2015\/11\/12\/india-to-boost-lca-order-af-questions-its-capabilities\/","title":{"rendered":"India To Boost LCA Order; AF Questions Its Capabilities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEW DELHI \u2014 The Indian government has decided (No specific date) to <\/span>will increase orders for its on the<\/span>home <\/span>homegrown Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), called\u00a0Tejas, which is still in development, stage, <\/span>from 20 to 120,\u00a0but Air Force officials question the plane’s capabilities, and the scheduled arrival of a more advanced model remains murky.\u00a0to check the falling fighter aircraft fleet strength.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Indian Air Force (IAF) <\/span>officials said\u00a0in private that <\/span>the move (increase in order ) <\/span>to increase reliance rely heavily <\/span>on the Tejas, delayed by over <\/span>more than 15 years, would can <\/span>severely compromise India’s combat worthiness because this would lead to total dependence on state owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. imited<\/span> (HAL), which the officials said\u00a0has a poor record of delivery and quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides, LCA-Mark1 will be able to meet only the low end of Air Force requirements, of the IAF, <\/span>a senior Air Force IAF <\/span>official said. say in private.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Ministry of Defence (MoD) <\/span>official, however, said the Air Force\u00a0IAF has <\/span>ordered additional increased numbers of <\/span>LCAs with additional <\/span>features more advanced than the\u00a0over <\/span>LCA-Mark 1, and <\/span>including\u00a0a self-protection jammer, an active electronically scanned array\u00a0(AESA) radar to be procured from Elta of Israel, and air-to-air refueling capability. This version of the aircraft would be labeled\u00a0\u00a0, and will meet the requirements of the IAF. LCA with increased features is named <\/span>LCA-Mark 1A, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But an Air Force IAF <\/span>official said in private that <\/span>the decision to boost the order for\u00a0increased numbers of<\/span> LCA-Mark 1s was forced has been thrust <\/span>on them by in line with <\/span>the government to support its policy of “Make in India” defense projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A decade ago, Air Force\u00a0officials said\u00a0IAF had said a decade ago <\/span>that its combat needs would will <\/span>be met only with the LCA-Mark 2, which will be powered by\u00a0a higher thrust GE 414 engine,\u00a0compared to the GE-404 engine currently powering the LCA-1 and LCA-1A.\u00a0, the official added. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

HAL not only has a poor delivery <\/span>record or delivering on time, the Air Force officials said,\u00a0<\/span>but produces gives <\/span>inferior products, the Air Force official said. , the IAF official said.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Retired Air Marshal of IAF <\/span>Subhash Bhojwani\u00a0said\u00a0that while the AESA radar jammer <\/span>and air-to-air refueling capability would compensate for make up <\/span>most of the LCA’s operational deficiencies, of LCA,<\/span> “with regard to day-to-day line maintenance I understand Tejas is still an engineer’s nightmare.“<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Explaining further Bhojwani said,<\/span>“I have yet to see any HAL aircraft where the canopy of one aircraft fits another without a lot of adjustments, the same for any other airframe component. Each aircraft seems to be ever so slightly different;\u00a0this is a major shortcoming. US-\u00a0and French-origin aircraft are designed from drawing board onwards to be easy to repair and parts are freely swappable. If HAL has made Tejas more maintenance-friendly than its predecessor products, then my stated opinion would need to undergo modification,”\u00a0Bhojwani \u00a0said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysts, however, said\u00a0purchase of additional increased numbers of <\/span>LCA-Mark 1As might could <\/span>be the best solution to meet immediate the pressing <\/span>fighter aircraft requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“With the IAF’s fixed-wing fighter fleet witnessing an alarming decrease, the homegrown LCA-Mark 1A seems to be the quickest solution to arrest this decline. However, a more long-term solution needs to be found in terms of offensive capability,” creation,” <\/span>said\u00a0Ankur Gupta, a defense analyst with Earnest and Young India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nitin Mehta, a New Delhi-based defense analyst, said, “After canceling the\u00a02007 tender for the purchase of 126 medium multirole combat aircraft\u00a0(MMRCA) <\/span>and purchasing 36 French Rafales instead, combining\u00a0with an increase in orders for the LCA-Mark1A is the best decision to check the falling fleet strength of fighter aircraft.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another Air Force IAF <\/span>official (another one) <\/span>said in private said <\/span>that HAL cannot be relied on to deliver the additional increased numbers of <\/span>LCA-Mark 1As in a timely fashion., given their track record adding that the quality of the HAL product is also satisfactory.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It would have been much better to either procure fighter combat aircraft from overseas on a fast-track basis or set up another aerospace agency other than HAL to manufacture the increased numbers of LCA-Mark 1A,” the official said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hal officials have said they do not respond to such criticism, and that but say <\/span>they will meet the delivery schedule.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\u00a0HAL official said the Air Force , IAF <\/span>has given an initial\u00a0order of 20 LCA-Mark 1s with the Initial Operational Certification (IOC) <\/span>and thereafter more than\u00a0over\u00a0<\/span>100\u00a0LCA-Mark 1As will be ordered after the <\/span>final operational clearance is achieved,\u00a0(FOC) <\/span>expected next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The official said HAL will increase production capability from the current level of four aircraft\u00a0to eight. <\/span>Over the next three years, the HAL official said, the company will increase production capability will be increased <\/span>from the current level of four aircraft annually to seven\u00a0in 2016-17\u00a0and eight in 2017-18. Afterand all the 20 LCA with IOC certification will be executed by 2017-18. From<\/span> 2017-18, HAL will boost its capacity to\u00a016 each year. at a cost of $200 million.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I can only presume that the Tejas [upgraded with better sensors and avionics]\u00a0now meets the low-end needs of the IAF, although I think it will be largely utilized in its own airspace, thus freeing up more capable platforms to do the more challenging cross-border missions,”\u00a0Bhojwani said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The low-end\u00a0needs refer\u00a0to certain mission requirements being more challenging than others, i.e. requiring more on board resources to meet operational tasks and objectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Air Force IAF had earlier said that its combat needs will be fulfilled only by\u00a0LCA-Mark2 which will be powered by a higher thrust GE 414 engine compared to the GE-404 engine currently powering the LCA-1 and LCA-1A.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With increased orders for LCA-1A, the fate of LCA-Mark 2, still in development stage, is now uncertain, the Air Force official IAF <\/span>official said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“To the best of my understanding, the LCA-Mark 2 is many,\u00a0many years away.\u00a0I don’t think a single prototype has been built yet so the earlier projected timelines do not stand true,” Gupta said. Initial operational certification (IOC)\u00a0<\/span>and thereafter more than\u00a0over\u00a0100\u00a0LCA-Mark 1As will be ordered after\u00a0the\u00a0<\/span>final operational clearance for\u00a0is achieved,\u00a0(FOC)\u00a0\u00a0The IOC and FOC (of <\/span>LCA Mark-2\u00a0could stretch well into 2025,\u00a0says<\/span> Gupta said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MoD official, however, said with the addition of an\u00a0AESA radar, a jammer and air-to-air refueling capability, the LCA-Mark 1A\u00a0should meet\u00a0has met <\/span>the operational needs of the Air Force, but declined\u00a0IAF but refused <\/span>to say when the LCA-Mark 2 will be completed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Email:\u00a0vraghuvanshi@defensenews.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Indian government will increase orders for its homegrown Light Combat Aircraft, called Tejas, from 20 to 120<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":29070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":7,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[7,33],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3390],"class_list":["post-15384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air","category-home"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"PU7BI6JMN5EB7O5DFT7LQVQ44U","arc_canonical_url":"\/air\/2015\/11\/12\/india-to-boost-lca-order-af-questions-its-capabilities\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\nIndia To Boost LCA Order; 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