All about our Indigenous combat Aircraft our lovely *TEJAS*

The HAL Tejas is an Indian single-engine, fourth-generation, multirole light fighter designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) in collaboration with Aircraft Research and Design Centre (ARDC) of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy. It came from the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) programme, which began in the 1980s to replace India's ageing MiG-21 fighters. In 2003, the LCA was officially named "Tejas".Tejas has a tail-less compound delta-wing configuration with a single vertical stabilizer. This provides better high-alpha performance characteristics than conventional wing designs. Its wing root leading edge has a sweep of 50 degrees, the outer wing leading edge has a sweep of 62.5 degrees, and trailing edge has a forward sweep of four degrees. It integrates technologies such as relaxed static stability, fly-by-wire flight control system, multi-mode radar, integrated digital avionics system and composite material structures. It is the smallest and lightest in its class of contemporary supersonic combat aircraft.

The Tejas is the second supersonic fighter developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) after the HAL HF-24 Marut. Production of the Tejas Mark 1 for the Indian Air Force (IAF) began in 2016, at which time the naval version was undergoing flight tests for Indian Navy (IN). The projected requirement for the IAF was 200 single-seat fighters and 20 twin-seat trainers, while the IN expected to operate at least 40 single-seat fighters. The first Tejas IAF unit, No. 45 Squadron IAF Flying Daggers was formed on 1 July 2016 with two aircraft. Initially stationed at Bangalore, 45 Squadron was later relocated to its home base at Sulur, Tamil Nadu. The Minister of State for Defence, Subhash Bhamre, reported to parliament that the indigenous content of the Tejas was 59.7% by value and 75.5% by number of line replaceable units in 2016.

As of 2019, the Indian Air Force has planned for a total of 324 Tejas in several variants.The first batch of 40 Mark 1 aircraft consists of 16 Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) standard that were delivered in early 2019.The delivery of the second batch of 16 Full Operational Clearance (FOC) standard aircraft commenced in late 2019 and led to formation of the second Tejas squadron — No. 18 Squadron IAF Flying Bullets — in Sulur on 27 May 2020. The IAF will also go on to receive eight twin-seat trainers.The next 83 are to be to the upgraded Mark 1A standard.By the time these first 123 are delivered, the Tejas Mark 2 is expected to be ready for series production by 2025–26.Kota Harinarayana was the original Programme Director and Chief Designer for the Tejas Programme.

On 26 February 2016, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said in the Lok Sabha that the Indian Air Force would accept 3–4 Tejas (IOC version) that year and eventually stand up a total of 8 squadrons within 8 years. He also said, "We are also in the process of approving the second line of manufacturing to the HAL so that they can produce 16 aircraft per year." In October 2015, IAF Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha confirmed that the air force plans to order 123 (six squadrons) of Tejas Mark 1, triple the 40 aircraft it had previously committed to buying. Later it was declared that those 83 additional Tejas ordered would be the upgraded Mark 1A version.On 7 November 2016, Parrikar approved procurement of 83 Tejas for the IAF, at a cost of ₹50,025 crore (US$7 billion).The order for those is expected to be placed by the end of 2019, after the unit price was negotiated between ₹250–₹275 crores (around $40 million) per unit.By March 2020, the HAL, hoped to expand its production capacity to at least a squadron (16+) of aircraft every year to meet delivery timelines.HAL is setting up a second assembly line in collaboration with private industry to increase the production rate of the LCA from current eight to 16 however the March 2020 deadline has been missed.

In 2018, IAF formally committed to buying 324 Tejas aircraft of all versions, if HAL and Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) could deliver an acceptable quality Tejas Mark 2 in time.The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) on 18 March 2020 cleared the ₹390 billion ($5.2 billion) procurement deal for 83 Tejas Mk.1A, including 73 single-seat fighters and 10 dual-seat trainers. HAL will now finalise the contract and the proposal will be reviewed by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS). According to HAL, the first Tejas Mk.1A will fly by 2022 with serial production starting in 2023. The first squadron of Tejas Mk.1A will be delivered by 2025 and delivery of all 83 aircraft is to be completed before 2029. The Tejas Mk.1A will support the R-77 and Python-5, along with the Astra Mk.1. The IAF also want strong aircraft maintenance package and aircraft panel inter-changeability that can be carried out at squadron level in a minimum amount of time using quick-release fasteners to reduce foreign object damage (FOD). Line-replaceable units (LRU)s are also expected to be pre-positioned.To meet air staff qualitative requirements (ASQR) of the Indian Air Force (IAF), ADA had to make substantial changes to the basic Mark1 and Mark 1A air-frame to improve payload and performance in the more advanced upgrade called Tejas Mark 2. Initially they had planned to simply elongate the Mark 1 with a 0.5 m fuselage plug to hold more fuel, while fitting a more powerful General Electric F414-GE-INS6 engine with 64–98 kN of thrust.

To be renamed eventually,the Mark 2, which is now classified as a medium-weight fighter, is also to feature an indigenous integrated life support system-onboard oxygen generation system (ILSS-OBOGS) weighing 14.5 kg which uses pressure swing adsorption technique and a built-in integrated electro-optic electronic warfare suite among other improvements to avionics. The oxygen generation system is developed by Defence Bioengineering and Electromedical Laboratory (DEBEL).It will have an infra-red search and track (IRST) system and a missile approach warning system (MAWS).An increase in payload capacity to 6,500 kg (14,300 lb), and an increase in number of weapons stations from 7 to 11, will allow the MWF to carry more weapons. Defence Institute of Advanced Technology (DIAT) is developing aircraft health and usage monitoring system (HUMS) to integrate various sensors onboard Tejas Mark 2.December 2009, the government sanctioned ₹8,000 crore to begin production of the fighter for the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy.The Indian Navy has a requirement for 50 Tejas aircraft and the first prototype, NP-1 was rolled out in July 2010. The Naval LCA made its first flight, almost two years after being rolled out, on 27 April 2012.In December 2012, the Indian Navy expressed interest in procuring 8 Tejas aircraft,which did not materialise. 

December 2014, the LCA Navy successfully conducted ski-jump trials at SBTF, INS Hansa. The navy variant has a special flight control law mode. It controls a hands-free take-off, which reduces the pilot workload, as the ramp launches the aircraft on an upward flight path.

In December 2016, the Indian Navy (IN) announced that the naval variant of the fighter is overweight, and they will look for other alternatives.The Indian Navy eventually issued an RFI for 57 naval multirole fighters.However, despite rejecting the Tejas initially for being overweight, the Navy restarted testing with the NP-2 (Naval Prototype 2) in August 2018; the naval variant of the Tejas conducted its first "taxi-in" engagement on a naval platform in Goa to prove its hook-arrester system. The Indian Defence Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman's backing of the Tejas programme allowed the restarting of tests and gave its naval variant a fresh lease on life.The first mid-air refueling of the Naval Tejas took place in September 2018.

A two-seater naval variant of Tejas successfully completed its first arrested landing on 13 September 2019 at the Shore Based Test Facility (SBTF) in Goa. Once the aircraft completes several successful trials on the SBTF, it would demonstrate a landing on the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya. On 11 January 2020, the Naval LCA Tejas successfully carried out its first arrested landing on the aircraft-carrier INS Vikramaditya.On 12 January 2020, the Tejas performed its first ski-jump assisted take-off from the aircraft-carrier.

The experience gained in operating the Naval Prototype will help in proving input to the development of Twin Engine Deck Based Fighter (TEDBF) aircraft.The TEDBF will be powered by two General Electric F414 and will carry higher and heavier payloads and range. Labelled as the Omni-Role Combat Aircraft it is to sport two engines, elongated fuselage and an expanded wing-span, Diverterless supersonic inlets, Conformal Fuel Tanks etc.The Tejas is a single-engine multirole fighter which features a tailless, compound delta wing and is designed with "relaxed static stability" for enhanced manoeuvrability. Originally intended to serve as an air superiority aircraft with a secondary ground-attack role, its flexibility permits a variety of guided air-to-surface and anti-shipping weapons to be integrated for multirole and multimission capabilities.The tailless, compound-delta planform is designed to be small and lightweight.This platform also minimises the control surfaces needed (no tail-planes or fore-planes, just a single vertical tail-fin), permits carriage of a wider range of external stores, and confers better close-combat, high-speed, and high-alpha performance characteristics than comparable cruciform-wing designs. Extensive wind tunnel testing on scale models and 

complex computational fluid dynamics analyses have optimised the aerodynamic configuration for minimum supersonic drag, a low wing-loading, and high rates of roll and pitch.The Tejas made its international debut on 21 January 2016, when two aircraft flew in the Bahrain International Air Show.On 21 November 2016, the Indian Ministry of Defence proposed exporting the Tejas, with preliminary talks taking place with several friendly countries.

The jet has solicited interest with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with some discussions made during a visit by UAE Minister of State and Defence Mohammed Ahmed Al Bowardi Al Falacy during a state visit in October 2018 as part of growing defence relations between India and the UAE.In January 2019, the Royal Malaysian Air Force issued a request for information to HAL regarding the Tejas for their light combat aircraft requirement. In November 2019, Malaysia announced its interest to purchase the Tejas despite differences with India over Kashmir.

THANKS FOR READING.. . 

Source :-Aeronautical Development Agency and Indian Airforce.