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Tejas LCA
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India’s fighter strength has been declining in recent years, as the MiG-21s that form the largest component of its fleet are lost in crashes, or retired due to age and wear. Some MiG-21s are being modernized to MiG-21 ‘Bison’ configuration, while other current fighter types are undergoing modernization programs in order to maintain the fighter force until replacements can arrive. On which note, an ongoing tender has Russian, French, American, Swedish and European manufacturers dueling for the MMRCA, a multi-billion dollar, 126+ plane light-medium fighter sale.

This still leaves India without a low-end solution to the twin problems besetting its overall fleet: numbers, and age. The MiG-21bis program adds years of life to those airframes, but that extended lifespan is still quite finite; by 2020, it is very unlikely that any MiG-21s will remain. MMRCA may replace some of India’s mid-range fighters, but that still leaves replacement of the MiG-21 fleet. Hence the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) project’s importance to the Indian Air Force’s future prospects. Choices made in the LCA’s design will also affect the lightweight fighter’s export potential, which feeds back into the overall program’s lifetime costs and viability.

As time presses, India’s rigid policies are gradually being relaxed, in order to field an operational and competitive aircraft. Locally-designed engine and radar projects have been shelved in favor of popular foreign alternatives. One immediate payoff is renewed interest and funding for a naval variant – but the American government’s red tape may be about to cost Lockheed Martin a related contract…

• LCA Tejas: India’s Lightweight Fighter
• LCA Tejas: Program Future and Prospects
• Updates and Events [updated]
• Appendix A: DID Analysis & Op/Ed (2006)
• Appendix B: The Kaveri Engine: Keystone, or Killer?
• Appendix C: Additional Readings & Sources

Subscribe here, and keep reading DII’s coverage of news and events involving India's program to field a locally-designed lightweight fighter. Our cross-linked article network and reference materials include:

• A look at the LCA Tejas' program goals, and the force structure imperatives driving this program.
• Expected equipment and performance characteristics of the new fighter - which are changing as more foreign-made equipment is substituted.
• India's locally-designed Kaveri engine project, its progress, and its effect on the LCA Tejas program.
• The aircraft's prospects, in India and beyond.
• Ongoing developments and contracts, from 2006 to the present, that let you track the program's evolution, development, and obstacles.
• Numerous photos, and links to related documents and reference materials.

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