New Delhi. 25 November 2023. Prime Minister Narendra Modi undertook a 30 minute sortie on IAF’s Tejas twin seat aircraft, from the IAF’s Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment at Bengaluru. The Prime Minister was in the city to review the ongoing work at its manufacturing facility. The prime minister will review and visit the HAL’s manufacturing facility, including the facility for Tejas jets.
He called the experience of flying in the Tejas aircraft as enriching, adding it left him with a sense of pride about India’s potential. On behalf of the IAF, CAS Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari felicitated the PM after the sortie. Post the flight the Prime Minister tweeted, “Successfully completed a sortie on the Tejas. The experience was incredibly enriching, significantly bolstering my confidence in our country’s indigenous capabilities, and leaving me with a renewed sense of pride and optimism about our national potential.”
LCA Tejas is a 4.5 generation, all weather and multi-role fighter aircraft. The aircraft is designed to be a multi-role aircraft capable of taking up offensive air support, close combat and ground attack role at ease. It is also designed to undertake Ground Maritime Operations.
The different variants of aircraft under production and development are:
• Single seater fighter for Air Force
• Single seater fighter for Navy
• Twin Seater trainer aircraft for Air Force
• Twin Seater trainer version for NavyFurther LCA Mk1A is the most advanced version of the LCA Tejas. It is equipped with AESA Radar, EW suite consisting of radar warning and self-protection jamming, Digital Map Generator (DMG), Smart Multi-function Displays (SMFD), Combined Interrogator and Transponder (CIT), Advanced Radio Altimeter and other advances features.
The technical specifications of the aircraft are tabulated below:
| Specification | Measurement |
|---|---|
| Length | 13.2 m |
| Width | 8.2 m |
| Height | 4.4 m |
| Max Takeoff Mass | 13,500 Kgs |
| Engine | GE F404 -IN20 |
| Engine Thrust (A/B) | 85KN |
| G limits | +8g / -3.5 g |
| Max Speed | 1.6 Mach |
| Service Ceiling | 50,000 feet |
| No of Hard Points | 09 |
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is the principal partner in the LCA Tejas programme with Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) acting as the Program coordinator.LCA-Production Group (LCA-PG) was establish under the aegis of HAL Bangalore Complex on 01st July 2002 to take up concurrent development and production of indigenously designed and developed Light Combat Aircraft (LCA-Tejas).The same was converted into a full- fledged production Division as LCA Tejas Division in April 2014.
LCA-Tejas Division is the prime center for manufacturing of indigenously developed LCA Tejas aircraft. Division has currently orders for 123 aircraft. The first production order for 20 LCA aircraft in IOC configuration was received in March, 2006, followed by another order of 20 more LCA-Tejas aircraft in FOC configuration in December, 2010. In 2021 Division has received an order for 83 LCA Mk1A aircraft for Indian Air Force. Division is also progressing the case with many foreign friendly countries for export orders of LCA Tejas.
Division has manufacturing capacity of eight to ten aircraft per annum which is being augmented upto sixteen aircraft per annum from 2023 onwards. In order to further enhance production capacity of LCA, a new Plant II has been created by the Division during 2021.LCA-Tejas Division is playing a lead integrator role in the production process of LCA Tejas and being supported by various business partners for the same. To overcome the production challenges, state of the art manufacturing facilities have been established at LCA Tejas Division along with a robust supply chain to support all the required areas. The Division is equipped with modern infrastructure in Plant and Machinery, state of the art CNC machines, CAD-CAM Manufacturing Engineering,Quality Assurance systems and the latest in IT support which are harnessed by a highly skilled team of officers and technicians to ensure the timely production of aircraft and other deliverables.
The key characteristics of LCA are:
· Smallest & lightest aircraft in its class Dimensionally smallest which is coupled with Extensive use of composite structure to make the aircraft lighter
· Excellent flight safety record Remarkable achievement of accident free flying.
· Compound Tail-Less Delta Increases the capacity to carry wider range of weapons like Bombs, Missiles etc
· In Flight Refueling (IFR) Probe Enhances range during mission undertaken. IFR capability has been proven for day and night operations.
· Open Architecture based Mission Computer Indigenously designed which provides interoperability, scalability and portability
· Quadruplex-Redundant Fly-By-Wire Fully redundant quadruplex digital fly-by-wire flight control system to ease handling by the pilot
· AESA RADAR Electronically Scanned Array RADAR with low probability of interception.
· Variety of Weapons LCA-Tejas is having 9 hard points and is capable to fire variety of weapons like Long Range BVR & WVR missiles, Bombs etc. with required precision and accuracy.
Other Products: Apart from the production of LCA-Tejas Aircraft, Division is also engaged with production of all the support equipment such as Tools, Testers, Ground Handling Equipment including Maintenance Simulators of different types.
