Mumbai: India’s indigenously developed light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas appears to have got a new lease of life, with Defence Minister A. K. Antony stating that final operational clearance would be in place by the end of next year.
The LCA programme is meant to boost the country’s aviation industry. Tejas was mooted way back in 1983, at a cost of Rs 560 crore, to replace the Indian Air Force's ageing MiG-21s.
Other than cost overruns, the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), Hindustan Aeronautics and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) have maintained that developing a supersonic fly-by-wire fighter from scratch has been a tough task given the current international sanctions.
Though production of the LCA Tejas was supposed to begin at the end of 2012, several technical problems had posed a hurdle.
05/06/13 Business Line
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The LCA programme is meant to boost the country’s aviation industry. Tejas was mooted way back in 1983, at a cost of Rs 560 crore, to replace the Indian Air Force's ageing MiG-21s.
Other than cost overruns, the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), Hindustan Aeronautics and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) have maintained that developing a supersonic fly-by-wire fighter from scratch has been a tough task given the current international sanctions.
Though production of the LCA Tejas was supposed to begin at the end of 2012, several technical problems had posed a hurdle.
05/06/13 Business Line
