World

Indian Airforce gets indigenous fighter aircraft Tejas

India's first fighter jet, the Tejas, has been declared fit to fly. Tejas handed over to the Indian Air Force.

Express January 10, 2011

NEW DEHLI: India's first fighter jet, the Tejas, has been declared fit to fly. The Indian defence minister announced in Bangalore that the supersonic jet had won initial operational clearance, reports BBC News.

India's indigenous light combat aircraft, Tejas was handed over to the Indian Air Force on Monday for initial operational clearance.

Defence Minister AK Antony handed over the IOC Certificate to Air Chief PV Naik signaling a new phase for Tejas before it will be inducted as a squadron.

The Light Combat Aircraft project was sanctioned for an initial cost of Rs33 billion. However there have been several delays and cost escalation that has pushed the overall cost of the project to around Rs57 billion.

IAF has already placed orders with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for 40 aircrafts, which is seen as a replacement for the MIG 21's.The multi-role supersonic aircraft have undergone a series of tests.

Tejas has completed all test points for low level flights, off the coast of Goa. It has also conducted operations in the extreme climate of Leh and operated from an IAF air base in the South Western Air Command.

COMMENTS (25)

Amantullah | 13 years ago | Reply @Sanjith You are right my friend & I appreciate your comments. We all are proud of our countries & achievements (however major/minor they are) no matter what the prevailing condition is in the country and no provocation or $$$ can take that feeling away :) All I wanted to convey was my feeling towards my motherland that we are proud of the achievements that we have had, howsoever we have had it (with Chinese or Japanese or American or whatever support).

Sanjith Menon | 13 years ago | Reply @amanullah, see poor bloke, one sentence here and a hundred Indians topple over you. Its sad. But buddy, if you can be proud about your nation and your religion, we too our within our rights to be proud about our nation and our fathers religion. True this plane is not much, but it is an attempt by a third world nation to develop a fourth gen fighter plane. It is an attempt, thats fairly successful. JF 17 might be better, and nobody is denying that. But remeber both LCA and JF17 is untested in combat. when the time comes , may be w can reserve the decision till then.

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kamal | 13 years ago | Reply @amanatullah..just for you ""Indian budget airline in $15.6b deal with Airbus"" heading is from Tribune...enjoy

kamal | 13 years ago | Reply @Amanatullah,we will never attack Pakistan for its territory..never.Who will take such a huge no of militants operating in Pakistan into its own country..never it will be foolish..

kamal | 13 years ago | Reply @Amanatullah,One has to go 50 miles to see India's "actual growth",what about Pakistan???you do'nt have to go anywhere.With begging bowl in his hands Pakistan shows where it stands??And India does not any certificate from you??who cares about you??in last 6 months all 5 UN council permanent members has visited India??Why??They have not come to see Tajmahal for sure...but you keep denying,that is good for us.

SKChadha | 13 years ago | Reply I add that vehicles made by Tata (including ‘Nano’) from indigenous technology are not superior to the products made by Land Rovers. But it will help us to acquire even that entire company.

SKChadha | 13 years ago | Reply I hope HAL will soon come out with an indigenous civilian aircraft for passenger and goods transportation. The markets are not meant for only the best product but any viable, economical, marketable product has its taker in world. The Chinese sale of FJ-17 to Pakistan is an example of it. We are living in a world where international cooperation is the order of the day. Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Air Bus etc. are good examples of it. DRDO has done a commendable job. The field tests of Tejas which is just a LCA will be a good boost to learn avionics by Indian scientists. Manufacturing of such indigenous products will give India an edge in cutting costs and reduce its dependence on others. This will also increase bargaining power against costlier imports. I expect HAL to come out with a viable, economical, marketable civilian jet aircraft. Hope to hear the good news soon?

Roger | 13 years ago | Reply Its funny to see the Indians defending their indigenous aircraft and Pakistanis living in denial and imaginary greatness.

Anoop | 13 years ago | Reply @Amantullah, Go tell an Economist this and they will give you a rude awakening. I was born into a lower-middle class family and belong to upper-middle class now. With 10% growth some people are getting richer than others but nobody is getting poorer, in general terms. I can quote you IMF and World Bank figures saying the same but I doubt your intellect has the capacity to grasp it. "Militarily, we are equal if not superior." --> I guess it is the first time ever that a country with having Superior Military lost all the 4 wars with another Inferior military. This logic is beyond me. "any provocation by your people" --> Out of 4 wars India and Pakistan have fought, 3 times it was Pakistan which instigated war. The only time India started hostilities was payback for 1965. So, good luck competing with a 1.5 Trillion dollar economy by having a 150 Billion dollar economy. We can see the effects already.

Amantullah | 13 years ago | Reply @anoop - what 10% growth are you talking of my friend??? All this growth is on paper like your 'India Shining' campaign...go 50 miles in any direction of where you live and you will see the reality, most of your people still do not have adequate food to eat. Its only the rich who are getting richer. Poor are getting poorer and so is the middle class. While I agree that Indians have done reasonably well compared to Pakistan in some spheres, you have a long way to go before you can be called even an iota of a super power. Militarily, we are equal if not superior. Even if we dont have anything to eat, we will still defend our motherland and answer any provocation by your people. Make no mistake!

Anoop | 13 years ago | Reply I would advice the Pakistan who feel proud of their Martial Superiority, without having actually won ANY war with India, that Weapons are meant for defence. Economy and Economic progress is what matters. With India growing at 10% and Pakistan at 2.5%, India will have lot of other resources than Military ones while Pakistan will be unable to match India's expenditure leading to exacerbation of existing Vicious Cycle.

Manoj | 13 years ago | Reply Tejas is not an advanced fighter aircraft considering the todays war, neither it is indigeneous. It's engine has come from USA and Radar is also of foreign make. Hence, at best it is part of learning process of DRDO. We are sure DRDO must have learnt some fine arts to develope a fighter air craft during this developement and we are hopeful this knowledge will be of good use in further developement of this or more advance variant of Tejas. @ Amantullah : God is Great & Almighty, and whole nature is creation of This almighty. That is why all the human being has same body structure, one head, two legs, two hands etc. Marraige between person of two religion also produces child and with same body structure. If God of Hindu, Muslim or Christian would have been different, they would have sent us with different form of body. I am not a learned person but I believe God loves us all. He has created us, gave us common SUN, MOON, EARTH, AIR, WATER etc. Hence, we must respect HIS wish and treat all human being or rather nature as our own and protect them. This is what Indus velly civilazation taught us, to love the nature. They used to worship River, mountain, animal and every thing created by nature. Mr. Amantullah, you are inheriter of your forefathers legacy of Indus velly Civilisation. You have every right to choose your own method of worshiping GOD, but do not forget he who loves God, loves his creation.

Dinesh | 13 years ago | Reply @Amantullah. You are the crowning glory of Pakistan. Keep it up !!!

M J Akbar | 13 years ago | Reply It is funny that both countries are competeting for power in stead of Economic developement."Binaskale biparita buddhi".

singh | 13 years ago | Reply Amantullah, you are nut. Yes your armed forces are best in the world but half or of Pakistan is not under control of GOP. Army say everyday that they can not take on terrorist in NW as army spread too thin and they are not capable of fighting on different front. Your praise of terrorist demonstrate your IQ. You might be next qadri. Just writing a comment does not make you intelligent. or educated. Try to work for better Pakistan without spreading hatred among society.

Golden Horde | 13 years ago | Reply @"hamza khan" 3 years late??? is that supposed to be a joke??? Or do you mean 30 years late?? And just for your info, this plane is inferior to the mig21 it is supposed to replace. Cant even pull 6.5g. Even the IAF dont want it and their air cheif has said to. It is being shoved down their necks. Which is great. Lets all pray india inducts hundreds and hundreds of these non-performers :)

ravi | 13 years ago | Reply @Amantullah keep living in your dilusions

Dr Muhammad | 13 years ago | Reply Amantullah, give me the name of any person who was killed by the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) personally, by his own sacred hands, witnessed by his companions, for the "sin" of insulting or hurting him. Is your faith so weak that it wobbles or collapses after hearing the slightest criticism from anyone, Muslim or not? If life is a gift from Allah, then surely it is only Allah who has the right to take anyone's life the way He sees fit, without any human intervention. If Allah needs people like Qadri and you to protect Himself and the honour of His last Prophet (PBUH), then that means you are more powerful than Allah in life and death matters, true or false Amantullah? Yes, after being beaten and humiliated in all wars against India, our Pakistani armed forces are the very best in the world, capable of taking on India, USA, Russia, Israel, UK, all at the same time, without any allies. We must all salute our armed forces for being able to beat and defeat the US war machine! Fly your JF-17 Thunder to Saudi Arabia and burn your passport at Saudi immigration, whilst claiming you are Muslim first and last, and have the right to enter and live in Saudi Arabia, with no restrictions, and die there. What on earth are you doing in Pakistan, so far from Arab soil? By the way, what religion does the JF-17 Thunder profess? Since it's built mostly with Chinese assistance, so it can't possible be fully Muslim, after being built by Chinese communists, powered by a Russian engine ( Orthodox Russian Christian) and equiped with UK/Italian/German avionics (secular Godless West, Tauba Tauba!). I can't for the life of me establish if JF-17 Thunder is Muslim or not. Any help will be appreciated friends! Come to think of it, there is a hypocrisy here, we hated Godless atheist Soviets in Afghanistan, but why do we love the Chinese, are they not communists and atheists too? Dr. Muhammad, Bahrain

Amantullah | 13 years ago | Reply No one beats our JF-17 thunder. Indians & their obsolete Russian tech is no match against our superior equipment. I don't care what the world says but our armed forces are the best in the world.

hassan.asif | 13 years ago The comment by Amantullah was edited to remove hate speech

Sengathir | 13 years ago | Reply HEHEHE!!! 27 years late & 3000% cost over-run, who would believe the reliability..?

forchandan | 13 years ago | Reply Good job ADA, DRDO, HAL

forchandan | 13 years ago | Reply its ok even if its late...i want them to do it indigenous....because thats what will propel us if we want to be a developed country...

Ani | 13 years ago | Reply Finally, after 27 years of massive cost overruns India has a fighter jet. No one knows how Indian and effective it will be. HOW Indian: is it 3rd or 4th generation? DRDO claims it is between 4 and 4.5. The CHIEF of IAF, when speaking candidly, does not think it is any of that. All relevant systems like engine, avionics, radar and weapons are imported. But dont tell this to their DRDO chief. Usko gussa aa jayega. HOW EFFECTIVE: Qty. Order only 40 to be delivered in 5 to 7 years! Stationed in: South India - away from Pakistan and China. So much for cutting edge! Reliability of Supply: All major systems - dependent on foreign suppliers. Quality / Capabilities: yet to be seen. There is no independent source that confirm the claims of DRDO. A hyper nationalistic media cannot be trusted for objectivity. By the time this white elephant gets going in quality and quantity. 5th Gen fighters will be close to reality. But don't mention that to DRDO - they already have that cutting edge fighter already planned! Pakistan and China are shuddering at the prowess of this gem of innovation in their neighborhood.

hamza khan | 13 years ago | Reply good job india! only 3 years late! yeah DRDO!

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