“The euphoria over the success of Tejas notwithstanding there has to be a reality check, even if it seems harsh. Even union defence minister A K Antony has admitted that Tejas has reached just "the semi-final stage'' at this point.”
True, because this is IOC. Every aircraft which joins IAF has to go through this. Every aircraft including SU-30MKI went through this. And therefore, there is always a semi final for every aircraft which joins Indian air force.
“As was first reported by TOI earlier, the overall developmental cost of the Tejas project, including the naval variant and trainer, has zoomed up to Rs 17,269 crore from the initial Rs 560 crore earmarked for it in 1983. With each Tejas to cost around Rs 200 crore over and above this, India will end up spending well over Rs 25,000 crore on the programme.”
Completely misleading
. In 1983, few people (I salute to them) had meeting and decided that it will be good if India develop its own aircraft. A vary ambitious project to develop a 4th generation fighter from scratch was conceived at that time. In order to develop a 4th generation fighter jet, several research facilities and centers had to be established. I will request to the readers to go and check how many research facilities had been established to develop Tejas. Rs. 560 crore was an initial amount to start the project and not to finish the project. Just by looking at the list of research facilities which were establishes for technology development, one can easily understand that Rs. 560 crore is very low amount. The total maximum development cost (Rs 17,296 crore as written) is only one third to one fourth of what other nations have spend on developing similar technologies. The estimated price of Tejas, which is around Rs 200 crore includes its development cost. The Rs. 200 crore is not only manufacturing cost, but also includes its development cost (per piece of Tejas = (development cost + manufacturing cost)/tentative number of Tejas to be produced. Therefore, the last sentence is completely wrong and in my opinion, has been written with the intention to misinform the reader
.
“Moreover, the real induction of the first 40 Tejas jets will begin only towards end-2013, with the first two squadrons becoming fully operational at the Sulur airbase (Tamil Nadu) by 2015 or so, a full three decades after the LCA project was first sanctioned to replace the ageing MiG-21s.”
The way this paragraph has been written, it appears that these time lines are very long. This is not very long time line for a fighter jet induction. Fighter jets are not desktop computers which you can buy from the shelf. Therefore, this part is also misleading. I will request readers to go and check time line of any aircraft and compare that to Tejas’s.
“That's not all. The first test-flight of the Tejas Mark-II version, with more powerful American GE F-414 engines, will be possible only by December 2014, with its production beginning in June 2016. And even then, the Tejas will just be a medium to low-end fighter, not a high-end air dominance one.”
The paragraph starts with “That's not all”. First, the author is putting misleading (some time completely wrong) information in his article and than saying “That's not all”
. Any one can judge his intentions. Second most important thing, there is a well defined role of every fighter in the IAF. Broadly speaking, IAF has three classes of fighters. First is heavy multi-role air-dominance fighter (Su-30MKI), second are medium weight fighters with primary role for ground attack with some air defense capabilities (Mirage2000, Jaguar etc) and third is the light weight fighters with similar ground attack and some air defense capabilities (MIG-21). LCA Tejas has been designed to be in third class with aim to replace MIG-21 (and not to Su-30 MKI). Tejas is light weight fighter (not low-end fighter) and certainly has not been designed for air-dominance (IAF has Su-30 MKI for this purpose).
“ACM Naik, in fact, described Tejas as a "MiG-21 plus-plus'', and made it clear that it was not even a fourth-generation fighter at present but would be in the future, indicating it will primarily be used to plug the gap in numbers.”
When ACM Naik was asked about the capabilities of the aircrafts which were present at the ceremony, he said that since some of the on-board systems are not fully functional, these aircrafts are not truly 4th generation. He than added, once all the on-board systems are fully functional, Tejas will be true 4th generation fighter. Just to add here, some of the on-board systems require some tweaking-testing and therefore are not fully functional. These systems will be fully functional latest by June-11. All these processes come within the parameter of IOC. I do not understand what author means by “to plug the gap in numbers”.
“Consequently, India's frontline combat fighters will the 270 Russian-origin Sukhoi-30MKIs already being inducted for around $12 billion, the 126 new medium multi-role combat aircraft to be acquired in the $10.4 billion MMRCA project and the 250 to 300 fifth-generation fighter aircraft to be built with Russia in the gigantic $35 billion project.”
Those 270 Su-30MKIs will be produced by 2017-18 (now he is not mentioning the time line). There would be 200-250 FGFAs (not 250-300) and the $35 billion will be spent over 25-30 years for development and production.
“Yes, there is no getting away from the critical fact that India has to be self-reliant in military hardware and software if it wants to emerge as a superpower on the global stage. But the Tejas saga puts serious question marks on the defence indigenisation model being followed.”
India has to be self-reliant in military hardware and software if it wants save some money so that it can make its citizens prosperous (and not only to emerge as a superpower on the global stage). But the behavior of a section of media, which has no other job but to criticize the indigenous efforts at any cost and at every occasion, always trying puts serious question marks on the defence indigenisation model being followed.
“The fighter, for instance, is still only around 60% indigenous despite being 27 years in the making. It, for example, is powered by American GE engines, with the indigenous Kaveri engine failing to pass muster despite Rs 2,839 crore being spent on it since 1989.”
60% is not “only” considering 100% of this article was misleading. In most part of India, 60% means first class and certainly not fail in any condition. The author is mentioning 27 years time as assembly of Tejas started 27 years ago. An idea of developing a 4th generation fighter was conceived in 1983. Again about the Kaveri, it is not failing and Rs 2.839 crore is not too much for an engine development. A concept was put forward in 1989 and development work begun much later.
) Kota Harinarayana is the Bhageeratha behind the LCA project.He is the 21st century Bhageeratha for us,as far as our domain is concerned.The way he used to interact at review meetings was superbly encouraging.His questioning in meetings,making hard points,being forthright,was remarkable.He would adopt the carrot and stick outlook in our meetings.The interest he is taking in the project even after retirement is something for everyone to emulate.
