Aero India 2023: Argentina, Malaysia Show Interest in India-Made LCA Tejas Fighter Jet

Aero India 2023's "India Pavilion" will be anchored by a full-scale Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas in final operating clearance (FOC) configuration. On Monday, the fighter jets executed a number of manoeuvres, including the show-off, take-off, hesitation roll, and vertical pinchback. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who on Monday opened the international airshow, praised the manoeuvres.

According to sources, Argentina and Malaysia have evinced interest in importing the LCA Tejas MK 1A, a product of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). LCA Tejas is a single-engine, lightweight, highly agile, multi-role supersonic fighter aircraft. It has a quadruplex digital fly-by-wire Flight Control System (FCS) with associated advanced flight control laws.

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The aircraft with a delta wing is designed for `air combat` and `offensive air support` with `reconnaissance` and `anti-ship` as its secondary roles. Extensive use of advanced composites in the airframe gives a high strength to its weight ratio, long fatigue life, and low radar signatures.

Tejas is equipped with state-of-the-art features like a glass cockpit, zero-zero ejection seat, inflight refueling probe, jam-proof AESA radar, UEWS with SPJ, CMDS, HMDS DashV, BVR missile capability, and many more which make the aircraft more lethal.

The LCA has come a long way in terms of development and is presently available in Air Force fighter and twin-seater and LCA Navy fighter and twin-seater variants. Other variants like LCA LIFT (Lead in fighter trainer) and MK-2 are being developed for LCA Tejas.

LCA Tejas Unique Qualities:

One of the smallest and lightest aircraft in its class; excellent flight safety record; available in all four variants to meet customers` needs.

Composite constitute 90 percent by area and 45 percent by weight; supersonic at all altitudes with minimalistic RCS; quad-redundant fly-by-wire aircraft.

Payload carrying capacity up to 30 percent of AUW (all up weight); open architecture enables customised weapon integration; maintenance-friendly with low operating cost.

The 14th edition of Aero India will have a separate `India Pavilion`, which is based on the `fixed wing platform` theme to showcase India`s growth in the area, including the future prospects for the same.

The India Pavilion will also showcase the growth of India in developing an eco-system for fixed-wing platforms which includes the demonstration of various structural modules, simulators, systems (LRUs), etc. of LCA Tejas aircraft being produced by private partners.

There will also be a section for defence space, new technologies, and a UAV section which will give an insight into the growth of India in each sector. LCA Tejas is seen as the biggest achievement of HAL and is expected to put Indian defence capabilities on a global map.

With IANS Inputs