Tejas FOC Delayed by another Six Months

[monitor]

‘LCA clearance may take time’

Dinakar Peri

NEW DELHI, JULY 30, 2018 22:46 IST
UPDATED: JULY 30, 2018 22:46 IST

The target for the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas to achieve Final Operational Clearance (FOC) is December 2018, the Government informed Parliament on Monday. However, official sources said this is likely to slip further to the middle of next year as there are several capabilities yet to be validated.

“Production for 20 LCA will be taken up after FOC by Aeronautical Development Agency, for which current target is December 2018,” Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) had signed two contracts with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, one for 20 aircraft in Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) configuration signed on March 31, 2006 to be completed by December 2011 and another for 20 aircraft in FOC standard signed on December 23, 2010 which was to be completed by 2016. The IAF constituted the first LCA squadron with two IOC configuration aircraft in 2016 and as of July 2018 only nine aircraft have been inducted. The deadline for FOC was missed again last month.

“The next target for the FOC is December, but that may likely be delayed by another six months as several parameters are yet to be validated,” an official source said.

Yet to be demonstrated

The major capabilities that are yet to be demonstrated on the Tejas are gun firing, air-to-air refuelling and new data-linked software defined radios, among others. The IAF has conveyed that its wants new data links as a standard feature on the FOC variant as communications are an essential feature for an aircraft to operate in a network-centric environment.

Dr. Bhamre said that the IOC aircraft is currently capable of “undertaking air defence operations and conventional ground attack with heavy bombs is feasible.”

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/lca-clearance-may-take-time/article24556100.ece

For gods sack why play with peoples expectations . always keep extra few months when declaring Tejas getting any upgrade or FOC because its certain you are going to miss the deadline.

 

[Mrc]

And it's already more expensive than mki

Delay shud increase cost further

 

[Windjammer]

These r your claims .Again PAF never released these type of information to public. Even if paf grounded jf17 ,you wil never know.

No, it's not the PAF that paints it's own wrecks in enemy's colours to fool the nation....the so called feel good factor....
and there is a good reason why the JF-17 is gradually taking over ADA duties from the F-16s.

 

[Ra's al Ghul]

i dont understand, i heard about FOC and thn i heard Tejas are on the demand from IAF by indians.
so thre are two things i hear here and thre. will someone have the 3rd answer for it. whats the truth ?

 

[nang2]

No military equipment audit is ever made public.

there is a good reason for that.

 

[Khamlun News Reporter]

there is a good reason for that.

Nope.
India, USA, UK, Germany, Japan routinely issue them in public.

 

[sathya]

There's only one thing left, the refueling.

Gun trials over or left it out of FOC ?

 

[SQ8]

tejas FOC late for 6 more months

PDF indians logic LETS BASH JF17

Most PDF indians are pieces of trash.. no wait.. even trash can be recycled and made good.

 

[sathya]

Well, Tejas FOC is more like nuclear fusion. It is always six months away.

Lol , same is true for user requirements .

Since we are new player , expected and arrived time line is bit stretched. We will catch up.

Hal and private players are greedy ... .. They will make more planes.

 

[Shamsher1990]

Lol , same is true for user requirements .

Since we are new player , expected and arrived time line is bit stretched. We will catch up.

Hal and private players are greedy ... .. They will make more planes.

Well, then about time all employees of HAL are fired and offered to work on contract. If they don't work their contract is not renewed. If this is important to India, India should hire few ex-Toyotas and let them put together assembly lines.

 

[nang2]

Nope.
India, USA, UK, Germany, Japan routinely issue them in public.

Of course, when you hold India and those other countries as the ultimate standard, you basically rule out the possibility that other countries may be different and they could have their own valid reasons not to make it public.

 

[Yongpeng Sun-Tastaufen]

Dude. They got Israel put electronics in that. They got America put engine in that. Still not ready?

 

[Yongpeng Sun-Tastaufen]

America could pressure India to terminate Tejas in favor of F-16 like what America did to Canada's CF-105 and Israel's Lavi.

America holds the key to Tejas. The engine. The engine is the most important component of a plane.

 

[Shamsher1990]

America holds the key to Tejas. The engine. The engine is the most important component of a plane.

They are now not the only game in the town. Plus India must have stockpiled some of these engines by now.

 

[RPK]