| The
flight was preceded by a flawless ground run and various preflight checks before
HAL’s Chief Test Pilot Air Cmde KA Muthanna pushed the throttle and took
the milestone aircraft to the skies for about an hour and landed back with confidence
after several manoeuvers. Keenly watching on the ground were HAL chairman RK Tyagi
and Mr T Suvarna Raju, Director of the state-run company for Design and Development. Mr
Raju, who is in charge of HAL’s ambitious aircraft and helicopter projects,
told India Strategic
that the aircraft met the Indian Air Force’s initial design expectations
and could be described as a Mig 21++.
HAL has a modern assembly line for the
Tejas, and production can be increased as desired depending upon the IAF requirements.
There have been complaints in the past of lack of precision in production. For
instance, the canopy of one Kiran Jet Trainer would not fit another. That is not
so now, thanks to the entirely new setup, funded together by HAL, IAF and Navy. As
of now, IAF has ordered 40 Tejas Mark-I aircraft to form two squadrons. Both
these would be based at Sulur but as HAL is yet to provide flight manuals, IAF
is designating senior, experienced pilots to fly them. Gradually, a younger lot
would be brought in, defence analyst Air Marshal M Matheswaran (Retd) observed.
But it is good that the long-awaited LCA is now into production. There is
scope for improving upon LCA Mark-I’s avionics over time, and the Israel
Aerospace Industry (IAI), which has sold its El/M 2032 Multimode Airborne Fire
Control Radar, has promised the much-advanced AESA (Active Electronically Scanned
Array) radar by the time LCA Mark-II is developed over the next couple of years. The
Mark-II version will be propelled by the more powerful GE 414 engines, the same
used by US Navy’s F/A 18 Super Hornets instead of the GE 404 engines which
are being used for the Mark-I series. The Mark-II will be used both by the
IAF and Indian Navy. In fact, the naval variant, whose first prototype version
is already flying, will be heavier. An aircraft for carrier operations has to
land at near crash speed on the deck, and if its tail hook fails to latch into
one of the three arrester wires on board, it has to take off immediately in the
same run and then attempt another landing. The speed is also kept high,
about as much as for standard takeoff. The naval variant has been due for
a flight test from the 14 degree ramp at INS Hansa in Goa for some time, and should
be flown by a naval pilot in another few weeks by end-2014. The ramp has been
built out of the LCA project, but is also being used by the Navy’s Mig 29K,
acquired for INS Vikramaditya and INS Vikrant which is under construction indigenously
for delivery in 2018. LCA Mark-II will have better avionics, and the required
power for them. There is not much design change but as the bigger engines would
consume more fuel and the aircraft is heavier, its range would be compromised
to an extent. Extra fuel tanks can always be carried on the wings, but there a
cost; the aircraft has to lose its weapons load proportionately. Notably,
both the LCA Mark-I and Mark-II are keenly awaited. The Navy in fact has already
factored the LCA in its future carrier operations. Overall, more than 200
LCAs are likely to be made in India. Mr Raju, who has been selected as the
next Chairman from January 2015, said he would be keenly watching the Series Production-I
aircraft and afterwards, and that HAL would strongly cooperate with IAF to get
the best products and the best result. | 
