Tejas can outgun Pakistan JF-17 fighters - Fusion - WeRIndia

According to the top Indian defence officials, the innovative Tejas light combat aircrafts have the capability to destroy the Pakistani JF-17 ‘Thunder’ fighters. They stated that Tejas are superior in terms of reach, punch and ability to kill and survive in a fight.

The Tejas can only do so when they are ready with an AESA (active electronically scanned array) radar, mid-air refuelling, long-range BVR (beyond visual range) missiles and advanced electronic warfare capabilities.

There is still a lot left to do before they aircrafts are ready as they need to undergo 43 improvements out of the 57 weaknesses which were detected during its maintenance. These improvements will ensure it can land and take off again within an hour according to officials.

According to estimations, all of these improvements will take another three years to get the Tejas ready. This means the development of the country’s first home fighter which started back in 1983 will be prolonged even more.

At this rate, all the 120 Tejas which were planned can only be inducted by 2026 that is only if defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics manages to increase its production rate to 12 jets from the current eight per year.

As for the development of Tejas Mark-II which will have a more powerful engine can only be possible by around by 2024-2025 and their production would follow after that. However, the Tejas Mark-II which was proposed for the IAF is now scrapped. They will continue for the Navy.

Currently the plan is to directly start the development of the indigenous fifth-generation fighter aircraft from the single-engine Tejas Mark-I. They are the twin-engine AMCA (advanced medium combat aircraft).

An official has stated that for now, DRDO-HAL will focus on improving Tejas and also designing the AMCA. AMCA is expected to start coming in by 2035 which is around the time the upgraded Mirage-2000s and MiG-29s are retired.

Image Credit: Bikash Das from bangalore, india / CC BY 2.0

Image Reference: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tejas_-_Made_in_India_1st_Fighter_Plane_(16413042458).jpg