I sort of disagree my poor friend. Remarkable, certainly not! Check your northern neighbours and be honest!
Some of your compatriots loathe me for this but the Tejas is not a great plane. It's a fighter plane, period!
An up-to-date fighter with low tier capacities that can serve now and for the foreseeable future.
But it is an achievement just to do that from where you began and in context, not a problem; see below ...
Tejas might not be a good plane for you, but if you look at different perception about this whole plane aka LCA project, what we were before and what we were now, the difference is makes what LCA have given us. With LCA we were able to lower down the technological gap. Before that we were mere just a buyers and with imported weapons we can win the battle not the war. LCA is not only the plane what you hear trying to get the FOC, but it is also present in the Jaguar Darlin upgrade, Mig 27 upgrade, in MKI, and the technology developed with it will be also present in the FGFA. The whole idea was to develop a plane with technical know how and to make the country self reliance and to develop the whole ecosystem in the country which was not there (now we have Reliance aerospace, tata, mahindra, godrej aerospace around 20 private aerospace company big and small).
And regarding our North friend that was the industrial investment to get the ready made product, which could be produced economically, looking at their economical condition right decission, but does that products latest version is capable equivalent to LCA tejas MK-1a and does that product is providing them the know how to build another product of their own. Second does that product was fully capable and certified from day one, or at the present.
People might think that LCA is very very delayed, but I am glad, the ADA aimed very high because otherwise it would have been killed by the powerful import lobby in our country very easily. So did we achieve our intended target.
1. Technical know how -- Yes, even I will call the Kaveri program a sucess because it did reach its intended goal
2. Provide the plane that could replace Mig-21 -- Yes, delayed yes but just 3-4 years only, also with delayed the capability of the plane increases.
Question for you -- Which country is able to build the plane from the scratch plus the institution setups in the country and the engine development running in parallel in 30 years with a mere budget of 1.2 + 2 Billion.
Rafale with decades of experience of fighter building and engine development and already developed institution takes 8 billion for rafale and m88 engine.
So what do we have now
1. Kaveri engine -- on which future engine could be developed
2. Institutions --- More than 100 setup in the country to carry on the development
3. Technical know how -- FBW, FADEEC,Composites,Engine building, Radars building.
There you are right on the money. J-17, J10, a couples squadrons of J-16s, maybe a J_20 or two.
The MKI and Rafales for the J-15+ types and the lost F-16s and LCA sweeping the rest is the idea.
Still . . .
the present and planned battle order of the IAF is not enough. If I was Indian, in exchanged for a realistic
appraisal of the TEJAS, I'd like to be given a bone or two. Bring any program to completion maybe? Fully
sourced Su-30s that HAL can maintain flying
( flying well, safe ideally ) not waiting parked by a plant? How about
that Kaveri engine? When is that due? And the AESA that does not have to translate from Yiddish? ETC.
AMCA is fine for the long run but honestly, India needs a new program now, one that works! Fund an LCA 2.0.
Be coherent but modest in demands, more than TEJAS, less than LCA. Open DRDO to collaboration with
private sector partners. Find tech advisors once and flocking stick by them until a result has surfaced.
ToT? Ask for max transcripts, translated properly, of all and any technical data as per contract. Have your people
peruse it but not your best. Keep those for work within the foreign "teacher" associated teams, be it design or production. Have them sponge up the knowledge and report.
Recon is not for dummies as I seem to remember!
That way, your present elite passes on its knowledge and at the same time is rejuvenated; your military industrial
complex refines if not redefines in your case and *
cough, cough* possible delays on AMCA are covered.
Slaps on the back are fine when you've won Gold. Qualifying for the final is merely a call to train harder!
Keep your spirits up though! There's room for improvement and no severe urgency, Tay.
P.S. To have at least one on_topic comment : Sweden did a Gripen with loads of mil avia design experience.
India did half of one starting from scratch. Why not build on that? Don't buy Gripen as LCA mark X!
Build Gripen + in your own garage instead?
Why not build Tejas on Gripen because every things comes for the cost and I don't anything significant with the SAAB which could not be developed in the country NOW which SAAB have.
1. FBW --- With 3000 accident free flights we have mastered in FBW, and SAAB have to ran to LM after its two crash.
2. Engine tech -- SAAB don't have any, even less than us.
3. Design experience -- Yes they have experience, but we too have gained with lot of hardwork. And quick turn out and short time and easy maintainability was not what LCA was designing concept, and IAF asked it in year 2009.
4. Radar -- Don't think they will go for it, instead took already developed SELEX MMR, but we have UTTAM AESA radar on development schedule to be developed till 2025.
5. EW Suite -- SAAB have better sensor fussion, but we have our own customized IDAS Mayavi EW suite developed by DARE and looking at the cost what if ADA goes for Cockpit NG proposed by Elbitis.
6. Air craft building -- In this area SAAB have the lead, but at what price. And the country who is producing MKI from raw material, do you think we need industrial know how.
7. Metallagical Knowledge -- Ironically they comes from PSU, but never explore TATA capability, because they fail to understand TATA have undertook the european CORUS who is the supplying military grade metallurgy including submarine, and warship grade steel.
What SAAB is proposing is to drop the LCA and start producing SAAB gripen as JV and I have read many
articles published by their Paid writers.
Capabilities
Gripen or Rafale is much capable aircraft than Tejas but are they developed for the IAF specific requirement -- NO
Can the provide them at the cheaper cost to replace the ageing old fleet of IAF -- NO
Does buying them and license produce them with TOT give us Self Reliance -- NO
Does they will integrate Indian subsystems and weapons developed for free -- NO
Does they are capable of our requirement in Indian conditions -- NO Infact Rafale failed in high altitude test in LEH take off with full load in prescribed short length. And does the projected specification of Rafale and Gripen are same in the Indian Conditions with Hot temp vs the ambient environment when engine thrust is drop to 10-12 percentage.
And for your views on Kaveri and Uttam AESA please update yourself tay because India have been working on the AESA modules way around 90s secretly. And for Kaveri pls read my post
what was wrong with Kaveri Engine? | Page 5
And for AMCA which is proposed by ADA, the ADA guys are asking for 2 billion for the development and prototype building, but still funds are not issued for it and do you want us to pay SAAB those 2 Billions for telling us industrial know how, and designing.
I have already written and is again repeating the
only OEM that could really help LCA Tejas is Dassault and not SAAB or GE or Boeing or Sukhoi.
4th, 4+, 4++, 5th generation designations are good for forum discussions. when the need arrives what matters is if the plane is worthy enough the opponent or not. If the opponent already employs 5ht gen fighters, how does a 4th gen fighter with external weapons perform?
There is no generation to be franked. And a F-22 could be countered with Mig-21 with better planning and strategy because no battle or war is one to one rather multiple, coordinated, and with tactical strategy.
Pls ellaborate which opponent do you forseek to deploy genuine 5th generation fighter plane that is threatening India in future 10 years. The one on our east, have a much bigger threat to face, thats why they are too desperate. How much time do you think F-35 is going to be matured with FOC and would be deployed in Deagio Garcia threatening Indian Ocean.