India makes a breakthrough in LCA

India finally seems to be on the threshold of making it to the exclusive club of countries that boast of having the technology to manufacture combat aircraft indigenously.

India's light combat aircraft (LCA) programme, launched in 1983 with the dual goals of replacing the country's aging MIG fighters as well as a general advancement of our aerospace industry, became the subject matter of derisive debates largely due to the fact that it took us over two decades to prototype it.

So, it was interesting to read in today's Times of India that the LCA was well on course for the final clearances having completed the landmark of 850 successful test flights over the Bangalore skies without a single hitch. The next stage obviously is to obtain final operational clearance which would probably require another 1000-plus hours of flight trials.

The newspaper quoted Air Marshal Raj Kumar to say that a minimum of 1500-2000 flying hours are mandatory before a final clearance comes forth. With an average of 25 tests per month, he claimed that the LCA, also known as "Tejas", would get the nod within the next two years and make it ready for induction in 2010-11.

India's LCA programme has a chequered history, having begun with Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru's vision of the country becoming self-sufficient in weaponry immediately after Independence. It all began in 1955 with the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) decided to take up the challenge of an LCA based on their experience with production of the de Havilland Vampire FB.52 and T.55.

The result was India's first aircraft the HF-24 Marut which flew in June 1961 but had to wait till 1967 to make it to the IAF. Then came the modified Gnat called Ajeet and the turbojet trainer Kiran in 1968. It was a year later that the HAL obtained permission to develop an advanced fighter aircraft with proven engine technology sourced from outside.

Though the project fell through for want of engine technology, in 1983 the DRDO came up with the idea of a Light Combat Aircraft of LCA as it came to be known. Government set up the Aeronautical Development Agency with HAL holding responsibility as the prime mover for design, systems integration, testing etc.

What was different this time round is that the ADA was asked to develop not just the aircraft but also the flight control systems, the radar and the engine. Though the project was conceived in 1983, it got delayed by two years as the IAF could not finalise its requirements for the LCA till 1985. Thereafter, the project definition began and got completed in 1988.

The design was finalized in 1990, while development of the engines got off the blocks four years ago. The testing continued till 1998 and initial flights were planned a year later, when the Nuclear Tests and the sanctions that followed delayed the process once again. Continued snags here meant that the government went ahead and ordered engines from General Electric. The first prototype called Tejas PV-1 flew in November 2003. Thereafter PV-2 and PV-3 underwent trials at sea-levels to test reliability under hot conditions.

Finally, it was on September 7, 2007 that the LCA made its successful maiden flight and a month later a missile was fired from it. Last February, the Tejas made a sortie lasting an hour and 24 minutes using two drop tanks carrying 800 litres of fuel. The LCA was scheduled to debut at the Paris Air Show in 2007 and at the Singapore Air Show earlier this year, but failed to make it due to test schedules.

It remains to be seen whether the Tejas would be unveiled at any of the upcoming Air Shows. However, it has proved beyond doubt that India does have the potential to develop an LCA and may be also an indigenous power train in the years ahead.