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India's own fighter jet Tejas to join air force Monday
Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) ^ | 2011-01-09 | Fakir Balaji

Posted on 01/09/2011 8:09:31 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki

India's own fighter jet Tejas to join air force Monday

2011-01-09 15:00:00

Bangalore, Jan 9 (IANS) India's long-delayed, indigenously-developed, multi-role combat aircraft Tejas will join the Indian Air Force (IAF) Monday for initial operational clearance (IOC) in this aerospace hub.

Considered to be the world's smallest military aircraft with a single seat, Tejas will form a 200-strong fleet for the IAF to replace the ageing Russian made MiG-21 fleet, a senior official said here.

Defence Minister A.K. Antony will hand over the service certificate of Tejas to Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal P.V. Naik to enable IAF fighter pilots to fly the light combat aircraft (LCA) for final operational clearance and its induction as the country's potent strike force by 2012, the official told IANS, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The fly-by-wire supersonic fighter, which took over a generation in the making with chronic delays and cost escalations, has been developed by the state-run Aeronautical Defence Agency (ADA) and manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) in Bangalore.

The successive delays caused by multiple factors, including sanctions by the US over a decade ago against India for conducting the second nuclear test in May 1998, led the project cost to rise to a whopping Rs.5,778 crore from the initial estimate of Rs.3,300 crore in the mid-1980s.

'Initially pilots fly four aircraft to check all its parametres, including flight controls, Mach speed and weaponisation for FOC and induction into the fleet as frontline fighter jets,' the officer said.

Under the limited series production, HAL is manufacturing eight aircraft for clearance flights and will take up the air force's initial order to deliver 20 jets to form the first Tejas squadron. It will be based at the Sulur air base near Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu.

The IAF has also placed an additional order in 2010 for 20 more Tejas for the second squadron to be raised at Kayathir near Tuticorin in the southern state where the air force is setting up a new base this decade.

'The Tejas handing over will be another red letter day for the Indian aerospace industry a decade after its first prototype made a maiden flight Jan 4, 2001,' former ADA director Kota Harinarayan recalled.

The lean and mean flying machine is powered by the F404-GE-IN20 engine from the US-based General Electric as the indigenously developed Kaveri engine is still undergoing advance trials.

The last test flight of the aircraft was carried out Dec 15 at the new aeronautical test range of DRDO at Chitradurga in central Karnataka, about 200 km from here, when its advanced prototype vehicle (PV-5) dropped a bomb successfully on target.

A naval version of the LCA for aircraft carriers of the Indian Navy is also under development.

(Fakir Balaji can be contacted at fakir.b@ians.in)


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aerospace; hal; india; lca

1 posted on 01/09/2011 8:09:36 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
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To: sukhoi-30mki

2 posted on 01/09/2011 8:10:31 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
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To: sukhoi-30mki

Delta wing, how retro.


3 posted on 01/09/2011 8:12:10 AM PST by bmwcyle (It is Satan's fault)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

Obviously, it has no stealth capability. ;-)


4 posted on 01/09/2011 8:12:59 AM PST by verity
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To: verity

Jokes aside, it is not meant to. This is a jet to fight Pakistan.

It can not and will not and was not designed for fighting frontline 4-G US Jets (like the F-16s)

It is designed to fight against the older Mig knockoffs and Mirages that Pakistan flies.

The frontline Pakistan fighters like the F-16s will be dealt with the Indian Sukhois and the Indian 4th fighter that is currently being purchased (most probably the Typhoon but with the F-18 having a good outside chance)


5 posted on 01/09/2011 8:22:37 AM PST by SoftwareEngineer
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To: sukhoi-30mki
Looks like they were influenced by the Dessault Mirage series of aircraft,


6 posted on 01/09/2011 8:23:22 AM PST by darkwing104 (Lets get dangerous)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

Looks to be about the size of an A-4, but delta winged.


7 posted on 01/09/2011 8:38:59 AM PST by wrench
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To: darkwing104

Dassault was part of the early concept definition team for the LCA project. And the IAF really liked the Mirage-2000.


8 posted on 01/09/2011 8:47:50 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
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To: sukhoi-30mki

Kinda looks like a cross between a Mirage III, and a Gripen.


9 posted on 01/09/2011 9:33:05 AM PST by 2CAVTrooper (For those who have had to fight for it, freedom has a flavor the protected shall never know.)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

That was very thoughtful of them to name it after the state of Texas. I will not criticize their nice new airplane. Hope they christened it with a bottle of Shiner Bock. May it BBQ a lot of Hajis.


10 posted on 01/09/2011 9:41:23 AM PST by DesertRhino (I was standing with a rifle, waiting for soviet paratroopers, but communists just ran for office)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

Way better range than a super hornet, just as fast. Modern electronics, much cheaper,,, meant to replace a mix of MiG-21s and Harriers,, i’d say they did a good job.

And those wacky indians, building their own things at home. It’s like they haven’t heard this is a GLOBAL economy?/


11 posted on 01/09/2011 9:55:03 AM PST by DesertRhino (I was standing with a rifle, waiting for soviet paratroopers, but communists just ran for office)
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To: DesertRhino

Tejas is Sanskrit for Radiance.

About being way better than the Super Hornet, I would’nt want to test that out. It’s only advantage is its smaller and cheaper to build. And it’s MK-2 growth variant will use the Super Hornet’s F-414 engine.


12 posted on 01/09/2011 9:58:21 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
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To: SoftwareEngineer
My comment was a jocular reference to the controversial Chinese J20.
13 posted on 01/09/2011 12:22:41 PM PST by verity
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To: verity

Yes.. yes.. I got your joke... :)

That is why I said “jokes aside”...

I knew you were being sarcastic etc... I just used your reply to put in my 2 cents


14 posted on 01/09/2011 3:28:39 PM PST by SoftwareEngineer
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To: SoftwareEngineer
"I just used your reply to put in my 2 cents."

Subsequent uses will entail a modest fee. :-)

15 posted on 01/09/2011 5:33:09 PM PST by verity
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To: verity

Fine.. fine.. I will give you a bottle of Macallan 12

Nothing else!


16 posted on 01/09/2011 5:36:36 PM PST by SoftwareEngineer
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To: SoftwareEngineer

Works for me.


17 posted on 01/09/2011 5:42:07 PM PST by verity
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