First Tejas squadron to come up by July; IAF chief to fly indigenous jet today
NEW DELHI: It will be a routine sortie of the Tejas light combat aircraft, which has clocked well over 3,050 flight tests since its first prototype took to the skies in January 2001. But the message will be significant: India’s first home-grown fighter has finally come of age after a meandering developmental saga of 33 years.
Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha will become the first IAF chief to fly in the multi-role supersonic Tejas at the Hindustan Aeronautics facility in Bengaluru on Tuesday morning. “The twin-seat Tejas trainer will undergo a full-profile sortie. It will convey IAF’s confidence in the indigenous fighter,” said HAL chief T Suvarna Raju.
That is certainly true. After years of being highly critical of the excruciatingly slow progress in developing the fighter, which was supposed to replace the virtually obsolete MiG-21 but kept on missing deadlines, the IAF finally has something to cheer about.
The force, after all, is down to just 33 fighter squadrons (each has 16-18 jets), which includes 11 squadrons of old MiG-21s and MiG-27s with poor serviceability. This when 45 squadrons are needed to counter a two-front collusive threat from Pakistan and China.
The first Tejas squadron with four jets is slated to come up at Bengaluru by July. “It will operate from a dedicated HAL hanger, with designers and manufacturers being close by to resolve teething problems. The squadron will shift to its earmarked airbase at Sulur after a year,” said an official.
The single-engine Tejas, of course, is still not combat-ready. Its final phase of weapon trials, including firing of BVR (beyond visual range) missiles, is currently underway. Moreover, the fighter has to get an AESA (active electronically scanned array) radar and advanced electronic warfare (EW) suite, apart from becoming capable of mid-air refuelling, for its Mark-IA version that the IAF actually wants.
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