Alright folks, the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)
Tejas Mk-I is all set to achieve Initial Operational Clearance-2 on
December 20. Forget the critics, this combat jet is now all set to be
flown by serving pilots of the Indian Air force (IAF) who are going to
miss the Mig-21 FL a lot less once they get their hands on this baby.
For
a mere Rs 7000 crore India now has a credible aerospace industry thanks
to the indigenous Tejas programme, which is compelling the Russkis to
give us much greater work share in the Sukhoi/HAL fifth generation
fighter aircraft (FGFA) program especially on the materials side and has
even made the cavity searching Americans offer India late entry into
the F-35 effort.
The Americans can
perhaps soul search for the time being while the Defence Research and
Development Organization(DRDO) celebrates the culmination of one of its
much maligned(rather unfairly in my opinion) programs.
Series
production has started at eight a year for the 40 aircraft that are on
order with 16 aircraft being produced in 2017-18 in the new 28,000
square metre facility set up by HAL to support the Mk-I production line.
Now
taking into account the Mig 21 FLs that were retired recently, IAF had
some 264 Mig-21s of all types in service at the beginning of 2013. This
in my opinion is the minimum number of IAF Tejas that we will end up
seeing in service.
While it is
generally believed that it is the enhanced Tejas Mk-II that will make up
most of this number in the future it could well be that the IAF orders
another 20-40 Tejas Mk-I itself while it awaits the Mk-II which will
enter the test phase in 2014.
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