Tejas — India’s advanced fighter — entered service in the Indian Air Force (IAF) on 1 July this year. Tejas is not an ordinary aircraft, but a fourth-plus generation fighter embodying very advanced technologies, like fly by wire systems, all digital cockpit, advanced composites, utility management systems, open systems avionics architecture, weapons management system with an array of air- to- air and air- to- ground weapons. It is also agile, highly manoeuvrable, light weight and among the smallest fighters, comparable to the best in the world.
At the Bahrain Air Show, it won the admiration of aviation experts and visiting Air Force teams. Some countries even showed interest in acquiring the aircraft. The IAF has committed to buy 120 of these fighters. In the long-run, it and the Indian Navy will need hundreds of Tejas variants. Plus, there is a huge potential for export. It is a cost-effective aircraft with a high ‘Bangs to Bucks’ ratio. Hindustan Aeronautics has also developed a range of helicopters with very advanced technologies.
The Tejas is the latest indigenous weapon system to enter service, but the DRDO has developed a large variety of sophisticated weapon systems. A range of missiles: the Prithvi, Dhanush, Agni, Akash, Nag, have all been developed in India. New missiles like Astra, LRSAM, MRSAM are in advanced stages of development. Brahmos, the only supersonic cruise missile in the world, is in regular production with enquiries from many countries. Pinaca, a versatile multi-rocket system, has proved its efficacy and is in great demand, too. A range of radars, sonars, torpedoes, UAVs and many other EW/electronic systems have also been developed by DRDO. India still imports 60 per cent of its requirements, however, mostly to meet the immediate needs of the services. But we (the scientific community) strongly believe India can reduce its imports significantly and become an exporting country, if some of the weaknesses in our Aviation & Defence (A&D) ecosystem are corrected.
Fortunately, the situation in India is changing in the positive direction. The offset policy (that ensures that up to 30 per cent of defence deals are re-invested in India), has brought in big private players into the A&D domain. With a vast array of developed systems now available within our country and large offset commitments likely, the government’s Make in India efforts , particularly in the area of military aviation, can be accelerated if the following benchmarks are applied.
Firstly, our aviation and defence domain need an ecosystem of OEMs with Tier 1, 2 and 3 SME partners supported by specialist industries for raw materials etc., such as aluminum alloys, titanium alloys, nimonics, carbon composites.
Next, joint ventures should be encouraged and facilitated in critical areas, such as gas turbine engines, flight controls, landing gears, etc. Production of electronics components/sensor elements needs to be accelerated, as these are critical for the A&D industry growth. And the Centre should establish costly test/process facilities and make them available to SMEs.
Finally, large projects such as the LCA Tejas have helped develop hundreds of technologies/equipment and to create an ecosystem of industries, laboratories and academic institutions. For continued growth of technology and strengthening of the ecosystem, it is essential for the Centre to continue supporting such development programmes.
The author is a former programme director of India’s light combat aircraft, Tejas
Guest Author
The author is a former programme director of India’s light combat aircraft, Tejas
