Photo Credit: http://www.tejas.gov.in/
There has been a disturbing trend of late in the media of disparaging the Government of India for forcing the LCA Tejas down the throat of the Indian Air Force. The very first article I recall seeing is from a respected foreign worldwide news agency. I was quite shocked and dismayed to read how the authors damned this aircraft. The word used was obsolete. Worse was how there are retired and serving military officers who are condemning this aircraft.
India is one of the world's leading importers of weaponry for its armed forces. It spends billions of dollars annually in purchasing foreign made military equipment in order to equip its men and women with the very best that it can afford. One of the highest chunks of this goes to equip our Air Force. The brave pilots as well as the brilliant support staff who fly, work on and maintain the planes have an unparalleled dichotomy in the fleet of fighter planes used by the Indian Air Force - the Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-21 (albeit in its upgraded Bison form) and the Sukhoi Su-30MKI. In fact the MiG-27 also comes into the category of the MiG-21 considering its age and electronic suite. So we have 330 aircraft in the Indian Air Force that are, on an average, 30 years old. Outdated engines, inefficient aerodynamics (by today's standards), obsolete electronics and aging airframes are some of the very real problems faced by the brave men and women who fly and work on these planes.
While I can understand the reasons behind foreign news agencies belittling an indigenous fighter, i cannot fathom why the national newspapers are doing so. Two of the very few people who seem to have a positive take are Ajai Shukla of the Business Standard and Shiv Aroor of India Today (Links to their blogs are below). Most others seem to be bashing the Tejas instead of taking pride in it.
It would be foolish to say that the Tejas has been a monumental success or that it is a poster boy for good defence procurement. However some amount of momentum is required for any advancement.
The Tejas is much like the Arjun MBT of the Indian Army. There are just not enough being ordered for the development agencies to take any interest in upgrading them. The Government of India has just provided such an impetus for HAL and the ADA. The proposed Mk-1A version fixes a lot of large problems of the Tejas:
- An Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) Radar
- An advanced Electronic Warfare system housed in a pod
- In-Flight Refueling
I'm not well informed on the weight reduction program so I will not comment on it but it is widely reported that the Mk-1A will get a 600-1000 kg reduction in empty weight.
What my entire rant is built around is this one point - The LCA will be far superior than the MiG-21s and MiG-27s that the IAF is currently flying. Further it will be cheaper and there is scope for improvement as it begins to go online in squadron service. The F-16 Fighting Falcon is one example that comes immediately to mind. It was designed as a lightweight Air to Air fighter. Over the years it has been modified and is now a brilliant medium omnirole aircraft serving in tasks from Aerial Interception to Suppression of Enemy Air Defense.
I am not saying that the Tejas will definitely become the F-16 of the Indian Air Force. But it is required that the platform be given into proper active service so that it can mature. Testing and Prototyping is all very well but till the airframe isn't put into active service with all the wear and tear of regular use no one will discover its potential or lack of it. Any and all insights gleaned from its service will also be invaluable in the design of the 5th generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA).
- ArmchairMilEnthusiast
Ajai Shukla - http://ajaishukla.blogspot.in/
Shiv Aroor - http://www.livefistdefence.com/
Disclaimer: The photograph is from the official website of the Tejas program and does not belong to me. I have no association with the reporters mentioned above, Their blogs are listed as they are well written and detailed sources for the dissemination of information on the Indian Armed Forces. Apologies to Lord Tennyson for borrowing from Charge of the Light Brigade. Please do inform me if I am violating any copyright and I shall remove the same immediately.
No comments:
Post a Comment