A few years from now, India will have its own set of indigenously-built fighter aircraft, and the spread of fighters will address all the needs of the Indian Air Force, right from the light and fast inceptor fighters to deep-strike fighter planes, says Kota Harinarayana, former programme director and chief designer of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), which is now called ‘Tejas’.
Speaking to The Hindu here on June 10 (Saturday), Dr. Harinarayana said that the country had already successfully launched and commissioned the LCA MK-I (Tejas MK-I), while LCA MK-II was undergoing advanced trials.
“While Tejas MK-I is a fourth generation fighter, the MK-II will be the fifth generation fighter with more stealth features,” Dr. Harinarayana said.
“We also have the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), for which trials are going on,” he added.
According to him, while MK-I is a highly sophisticated fighter, which is between the fourth and fifth generation fighter planes, MK-II will be the fifth generation fighter with more stealth features and deep-strike capabilities. The AMCA will be the fifth generation tactical deep-strike fighter aircraft.
“Once all are operational, we will have a ‘buffet’ spread of indigenously-built fighter aircraft, which will serve all the needs of the Indian Air Force. More importantly, they will replace the existing and ageing fleet such as the MiG 21, 27 and 29, and the deep-strike aircraft such as the Mirage-2000 and the Jaguar,” he said.
“While the successful development and commissioning of Tejas is one part of the success story, the main part is that the LCA programme has enabled the country to develop an ecosystem, which is on a par with any of the top aeronautical companies in the world. ”Kota HarinarayanaFormer chief designer of LCA
Tejas a game changer
“The Tejas is a game changer. While its successful development and commissioning is just one part of the success story, the main part is that the LCA programme has enabled the country to develop an ecosystem, which is on a par with any of the top aeronautical companies in the world. Today, our design systems are used in A-350 and A-380, and now we also have the infrastructure to develop the fifth and sixth generation aircraft,” Dr. Harinarayana explained.
Going down the memory lane, he said the need for developing indigenously-built fighter aircraft had come, as the IAF wanted to replace the ageing second generation MiG-21 fighters.
The specifications given by the IAF were of very high standards, and they wanted to leapfrog from the second generation fighter to the fourth generation one, he added.
“The government has made its intention clear by giving the in-principle nod to an initial funding of ₹500 crore and by setting up the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) in 1983,” he observed.
For the first time, a “problem definition” had come from the government, and we were tasked to work on it.
The success rate at that time looked to be around 1%, but that was the challenge. We decided to pool resources, as it was not possible for one agency to build a highly sophisticated fourth generation fighter, without even having the basic infrastructure, he said.
Team-building
“Building a team was important, and hence we had decided to pool the best brains and resources from various agencies such as HAL, NAL, DRDO and ISRO. We had even roped in the best brains from the top IITs, who had come on a sabbatical, and there were a few who left lucrative jobs abroad to join us,” Dr. Harinarayana reminisced.
“Tejas was the outcome of the cooperation between different organisations and departments, and the best minds to develop India’s first fourth generation aircraft, and the elements of passion, patriotism and teamwork had synergised,” said Dr. Harinarayana.
According to him, India is way ahead in systems design and digital technology, and Tejas is one of the best and sophisticated fourth generation fighter aircraft in the world that can match the standards of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning.
“Digitally, we are on par, but the F-35 is more stealthier,” he added.
‘Drones are the future’
Dr. Harinarayana also said that India “is now working to develop the sixth generation unmanned fighter aircraft and an Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) system. A few teams are already working on them, and very soon we will have them on the platter.”
He further said that drones would be the future, and there was a huge scope for startups in the sector.
