BENGALURU: Even after the induction of Tejas into the IAF, some defence observers are in private questioning its combat readiness.
That is not fair, according to Commodore C D Balaji, Director, Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA).
“It is combat-ready, but it is not correct to expect it to match up to the Sukhoi-30MKI. The shortfall that people are talking about is a perceived one, and you have to look at the larger picture,’’ he said.
Excerpts from an interview:
It Tejas fully combat-ready?
Yes, it is. We have tested many missiles and bombs, including those required to be tested at the FOC stage. We will be doing accuracy improvement soon. It involves tuning the software and testing it by dropping bombs.
Improvement in Mark1A?
In Mark1A we will be changing the radar, and bring about maintainability improvements that help in the aircraft’s turnaround. We will build electronic warfare capabilities. Those are available in the Air Force and Naval inventory.
Issues with landing gear and angle of attack?
Those issues have been sorted out. We went through the process and have taken corrective measures. It’s good we noticed a landing gear issue early and made our design robust. On the angle of attack, it was 20 degrees for IOC, but in FOC we are clearing 24 degrees. That’s been sorted out.
Tell us about the naval variant of Tejas.
Two naval variants have done 115 sorties and the performance is better than our expectation. In May, we did night ski jump and landing tests. We were conservative in performance estimation, but the aircraft is doing very well.
What’s the timeline?
There is nothing like a timeline for the naval variants. We need to do a carrier-compatibility demo and limited IOC demo that involves ski-jump launch, arrested recovery. We plan to complete that by middle of next year. After that we’ve to wait for a carrier demonstration.
What about hot refuelling?
It is the only aircraft in India to have hot-refuelling capability, in which the pilot is in the cockpit and engine is running when aircraft is refuelled. We did that three times. It is a capability enhancer and not a replacement to air-to-air refueling.