HAL Tejas

India's home-built fighter, four decades in the making — the Tejas (Sanskrit for "radiance") is a light, agile single-engine delta jet that finally gave India an indigenous combat aircraft after one of the longest fighter-development sagas in aviation history. The Mk1A version adds an AESA radar and beyond-visual-range missiles, and the larger, more powerful Mk2 is in development. More than a warplane, the Tejas is the flagship of India's drive for defence self-reliance — and, increasingly, a candidate for export.

Overview

The Tejas (designated LCA, Light Combat Aircraft) is a single-engine, tailless delta-wing multirole fighter developed by India's Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and built by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). It is a light, relatively inexpensive fourth-generation (Mk1A: 4.5-generation) jet — powered by a single GE F404 turbofan, reaching about Mach 1.8 — designed to give the Indian Air Force a domestically-produced fighter to replace ageing MiG-21s. After a famously protracted development, it entered service in 2016, and the improved Mk1A (with an AESA radar, electronic-warfare suite, beyond-visual-range missiles and aerial refuelling) is now in production, with the larger, F414-powered Mk2 under development. The Tejas is the centrepiece of India's "self-reliance" (Atmanirbhar Bharat) push in defence, intended both to equip the IAF and to compete for export orders.

Development

The LCA program was launched in the 1980s to replace the MiG-21, but it endured one of the longest gestations of any modern fighter — the prototype first flew in 2001, and the aircraft only achieved initial operational clearance and IAF service in the mid-2010s, per Wikipedia and Air Force Technology. The delays stemmed from the ambition of building an indigenous fighter (and indigenous engine — the Kaveri — which was ultimately not used, the jet instead relying on the American GE F404) and from technology gaps and sanctions. The IAF ordered 40 Mk1 aircraft, then in 2021 contracted 83 Tejas Mk1A (improved jets with AESA radar and BVR weapons) for around $6.5 billion, with a further ~97 Mk1A planned — pushing total orders well past 180, per Air Force Technology. The Mk1A adds an AESA radar (Israeli Elta and the indigenous Uttam), an EW suite, the indigenous Astra BVR missile, and refuelling. The larger Tejas Mk2 (Medium Weight Fighter) — bigger, with a canard, the more powerful GE F414 engine and greater payload/range — is in development as a heavier complement. Production-rate and engine-supply challenges have continued to dog the program.

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