New Delhi – India’s first locally-built combat aircraft officially took to the skies on Friday, 33 years after it was cleared for development.
The commencement of operations by the aircraft marked a long-held goal of cutting expensive imports to build a domestic industry-base defence.
Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar, who has led the drive for indigenisation, said that the fighter aircraft fleet, made up of a mix of Russian, British and French planes, is down to 33 squadrons.
He that the number of squadrons was against the Air Force’s requirement of 45, to face Pakistan and China.
Parrikar said that it was the greatest moment of national pride for the indigenously developed Tejas fighter jet to be inducted into Air Force.
“Tejas will take our air strength to new heights,” he said, adding that the single-seat Indian fighter was considered superior to counterparts like the JF-17 aircraft jointly built by China and Pakistan.
He said that Tejas had had no accident in 3,000 hours of flying and its use of composites helped lower its radar signature, making it harder to detect early.
A retired Air Vice Marshal, Manmohan Bahadur, now a fellow at the Centre for Air Power Studies in New Delhi, said that the LCA was as good as any in the world in its class.
He, however, noted that the challenge for state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, which was making the aircraft, would be to stick to the production schedule.
According to him, the air force seeks to arrest the decline in the number of planes it can deploy.
Meanwhile, a government-appointed audit committee said in a report that HAL only had the capacity to produce four Tejas planes a year.
It said that government plan was to increase production capacity to eight.
The committee revealed that India was separately negotiating for the purchase of 36 top end Rafale fighter planes from France’s Dassault Aviation.
It described the move as a scaled-back deal that had been hanging fire since 2012.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has nudged the military to accept the first version of the “Tejas” Light Combat Aircraft to make up for the shortfall, while a more powerful subsequent model is under development.
A report said that Indian Air Force officers broke coconuts and priests held multi-faith ceremonies to mark the induction of two planes in the southern city of Bengaluru.
It said that later the aircraft took off in the colours of the air force as fire tenders sprayed water on the tarmac in a military ritual.
It revealed that China said it was still testing its first stealth fighter, the J-20, but it would enter service soon. (Reuters/NAN)