The first squadron of indigenous Light Combat Aircraft Tejas dubbed ‘Flying Daggers’ was inducted in the Indian Air Force in Bengaluru. The two LCAs were passed from the makers Hindustan Aeronautics Limited to the IAF.
Tejas has been developed for the IAF and the Navy by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) starting 1985 and produced by the public sector aircraft manufacturer, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, both based in Bengaluru.
Here is more about this development:
- IAF’s squadron number 45, ‘Flying Daggers’, has to its credit the shooting down of a Pakistani naval surveillance aircraft in 1999 using MiG-21 Bison, some 300 kilometres northeast of Karachi, killing all 16 people on board.
- The first LCA squadron will be based in Bangalore in Karnataka for two years before shifting to Sulur in Tamil Nadu.
- Initially, it will have 2 fighters followed by six more jets by 2017 to make it fully operational.
- The first Tejas squadron will consist of 20 aircraft, with 16 fighters and 4 in reserve.
- The second LCA squadron will be raised with improved capabilities, including the critical necessity of missile firing to Beyond Visual Range.
- The IAF had ordered 40 LCA in two versions and promised to buy another 80 in the upgraded Mark 1A version. The first 20 are expected by 2018-19.
- The improved Tejas-1A will be far more superior than the first two squadrons since these will have mid-air refuelling, modern internal radar warning receiver, and external self-protection jammer pod to enhance survivability and an active electronically scanned array radar.
- In the coming years, altogether 120 Tejas jets are to be inducted, replacing MiG-21s, which performs the role of close combat support.
- Tejas is far, far better than MiG-21s in terms of safety as its fly-by-wire system is the state-of-the-art in the world.
- Remarkably, on May 17, Chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha flew the fighter in Bengaluru.
