Light Combat Aircraft (LCA):India
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History of Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)
1983-2014
The Times of India, December 20, 2014
See Graphic, History of the LCA: 1983-2014; targets: 2014-2022
1983- 2020 Feb
From: Rajat Pandit, February 17, 2020: The Times of India
See graphic:
The Tejas project, 1983- 2020 Feb
1983-2025
Chethan.Kumar, January 4, 2026: The Times of India
On Jan 4, 2001, a compact fighter rolled down a Bengaluru runway and lifted something far heavier than its own weight. Entwined in those 18 minutes aloft were decades of ambition, argument, delay, improvisation and quiet resolve. Twenty-five years later, the Light Combat Aircraft Tejas stands as the only indigenously developed fighter to enter service with Indian Air Force: as much a technological milestone as a reminder that India’s long quest for self-reliance in combat aviation remains unfinished. But at HAL’s airport in Bengaluru that Thursday morning, all that was running through Wing Co Rajiv Kothiyal’s head were the meticulously worked-out details of the first tech demonstrator of the LCA programme. Aged 42 then, the IAF test pilot stepped confidently on to Runway 09 at the National Flight Test Centre, ready to attempt something that had never done before. But there was unease, too. This was uncharted territory.
First Test Flight
The flight went largely to plan, though minutes after take-off the telemetry auto-tracking system failed. In the monitoring control room, all 16 screens began flashing incorrect data. Kothiyal pressed on. “I knew she was doing fine and we continued,” he later recalled.
The day had begun early. At 8am, Kothiyal conducted a detailed flight briefing, laying out the sortie profile and speaking plainly to the crews of the two Mirage-2000 chase aircraft about their roles if anything went wrong.
Although take-off was scheduled for 10am, Kothiyal had strapped in by 9.15am. As cockpit checks began, he mentally rehearsed manoeuvres he would execute, many practised repeatedly during hundreds of hours in a Mirage simulator. The GE-F404 engine powering LCA was gunned up soon after for lengthy after-start checks.
By around 9.40am, the aircraft entered a 12-min automatic built-in test. During this sequence, the flight control computer ran through a pre-programmed set of checks. On an operational fighter, the process would take about a minute. For the demonstrator, it was non-negotiable.
Eventually, he got a “GO”. At 10.18am, Kothiyal eased the aircraft down the runway and lifted India’s longheld fighter ambitions into the sky on a machine till then unnamed. It was only in 2003 that then PM AB Vajpayee gave LCA its name: Tejas.
From a thought in the late 1970s to an aircraft in service now, Tejas has travelled a long and uneven road. It has moved from paper drawings and tech demonstrators to prototypes and, finally, induction. Yet, debates about its operational value surface regularly. The programme has drawn both criticism and praise, and its history has several chapters worth recording.
Growth, Concerns
The commonly cited starting point of the LCA journey is 1983. The push for that came earlier though, in the late 1970s, when India realised that further development of the HF-24 Marut was not feasible, largely because of the absence of a suitable engine. Marut had been designed by Kurt Tank, the German engineer behind the Focke-Wulf, who relocated to India after WWII.
In 1979, Prof Roddam Narasimha conceived an aircraft with limited range but maximum performance and presented it to IAF. Backed by Prof Raja Ramanna — nuclear physicist who’s known as the ‘father of India’s nuclear programme’ — the proposal moved through govt. “The idea was not to just have an aircraft, it was to create capabilities,” Roddam later said.
The first shot of funding, of Rs 560 crore, came in 1983. With no single organisation in India capable of developing the jet on its own, govt created ADA (Aeronautical Development Agency) in 1984. ADA was tasked with design and development, while HAL became the principal production partner.
Saving The Baby
Progress was slow and uncertain. By the early 1990s, the programme came close to being shut down. At a critical moment, industrialists Ratan Tata and Rahul Bajaj stepped in. Air Marshal Philip Rajkumar has recalled how Tata said he would take over the programme if it were to be abandoned by govt.
In 1991, then defence minister Sharad Pawar set up a high-level panel — it included Tata and Bajaj — that visited ADA and other centres in Bengaluru to review tech demonstrations. Former LCA project director Kota Harinarayan later said the project survived because Tata, Bajaj and Air Marshal Idris Latif stood by it when many others expressed doubt. Tata reportedly was of the view that shelving the project would be “a shame”.
Forex Crunch, Sanctions
But the project ran into compounding difficulties. India’s foreign exchange crisis in 1991 forced a shift in strategy. As former ADA chief P S Subramanya recalled, plans for foreign tie-ups had to be abandoned. PM P V Narasimha Rao insisted the programme go fully indigenous. That meant developing systems from scratch, often without adequate funding. On June 23, 1993, Centre allocated another Rs 1,628 crore. Many involved say even that was insufficient. Just as momentum built, sanctions followed India’s Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998, cutting off access to key technologies.
Airborne, At Last
Tejas took another decade after its first flight to achieve ‘initial operational clearance’, or IOC. Even then, it fell short of several IAF requirements, leading to a second IOC. On Jan 10, 2011, then IAF chief P V Naik publicly noted that it was not yet a fourth-generation aircraft and needed more work. Concerns persist. Despite multiple govt orders, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal A P Singh said in Feb 2025 that he had “no confidence” in HAL, citing delays in improvements and deliveries.
India also attempted to develop its own engine. But the Kaveri programme, begun in the 1980s, failed to deliver an operational engine. Tejas continues to fly with the GE-F404, with newer variants set to use the GE-F414. The naval variant followed a similar arc. Approved for operations on aircraft carriers, the LCA-Navy rolled out in 2010. Its first prototype flew on Apr 27, 2012, and completed shore-based trials in 2013. Delays, however, pushed the Navy to look elsewhere for its immediate needs.
Over 25 years of flying, Tejas has suffered only two crashes, including on Nov 21 last year in Dubai, when a pilot was killed. In 2024, a crash had occurred near Jaisalmer from which the pilot ejected safely. Tejas’ story is neither of triumph nor failure alone. It’s a record of what India learned the hard way, and of how much remains to be done before the country can truly claim mastery over combat aircraft design.
Milestones
2001-15
The Times of India Jan 19 2015
Chethan Kumar
Over 80 trial flights to test systems cancelled in 2014
As Team Tejas burns the midnight oil to integrate new weapon systems and upgrade other capabilities on the light combat aircraft (LCA) as mandated by the Indian Air Force (IAF), bad weather has taken away many flying hours, critical for testing such systems before certification. From January 4, 2001, when wing commander Rajiv Kothiyal flew the first LCA prototype to January 17, 2015, the day the first aircraft was handed over to the IAF, 2,850 trial flights of LCA have taken place. Notwithstanding the nature of tests each of these flights carry out, ranging from weapon delivery to navigation, trial flights are crucial, senior IAF officials say.
However, Team Tejas was forced to abandon 80 scheduled flights last year, some attempting to even test the Russian Gun integrated with an LCA prototype. IAF has been pressurizing Aero nautical Development Agency (ADA) which has designed LCA to have this feature on the plane.
ADA chief PS Subramanya told TOI, “Last monsoon saw 80 of our trial flights get cancelled, making them fly this year to check its efficiency.“ Without these test flights, ADA cannot guarantee IAF of the performance, nor get certification. In 2014, a total of 350 test flights took place, about 150 less than 2013. “...A few flights also had to be postponed due to technical reasons,“ Subramanya said.
The team, currently working on integrating mid-air refuelling capabilities on Tejas, is looking at achieving more than 500 flights in 2015, with a final operational clearance for LCA expected in 2016.
About 15 LCAs lie in the hangers of HAL, including the seven Limited Series Production (LSP) aircraft, two Technology Demonstrators, three Fighter Prototypes, two Trainer Prototypes and one Naval Prototype.
2015:IAF finally receives first series
Jan 18 2015
Chethan Kumar
After a 32-year wait, the Indian Air Force (IAF) received its first series production version of the Light Combat Aircraft Tejas (LCA-SP1). Its induction into a fighting squadron, however, will take longer. The IAF, sources said, is looking to raise the first squadron with a fleet of six to eight LCAs. Given the inadequate number of aircraft, this cannot be done before 2016.
A squadron, according to a retired Air Marshal, generally comprises 18 pilots. It has a service aircraft, a standby platform and a trainer.“However, the number could vary depending on the aircraft and other variables.“
Sources said that neither the SP-1 nor the SP-2 will make it to a fighting squadron; versions from the SP-3 and later will be considered.
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) chairman R K Tyagi, however, told STOI: “...The SP-1 has been handed over to the IAF by the defence minister. They have accepted the aircraft. Where but in the squadrons is its place?“ The SP1, which first flew in October 2014, has had only five flights and needs more hours before induction. Also, an initial operational clearance (IOC) configuration without the latest electronic warfare suite, long-range missile capabilities and mid-air refuelling means there may be further improvements required before it is finally in ducted into a squadron.
Saturday's ceremony was only symbolic, according to sources. “India can truly claim the LCA as a success only after the aircraft get commissioned into a squadron,“ the Air Marshal said. The IAF has placed an initial order of 40 aircraft, 20 of which will be in the IOC configuration. HAL can produce eight aircraft a year.
“After the second one reaches the IAF in March, the remaining six will be delivered before March 31, 2016; three out of these six will reach the IAF before June, 2015,“ Tyagi said. The cost of one SPstandard LCA could touch about Rs 160 crore, thanks to the delays; an earlier estimation was about Rs 120 crore.
Defence minister Manohar Parrikar and chief of air staff Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha were in Bengaluru for a meeting of the panel that looks into the progress of LCA. While there was no news on what happened at the closed-door meet, sources said the handing-over ceremony was squeezed into Parrikar's schedule.
2018: Tejas misses another deadline
Rajat Pandit, July 9, 2018: The Times of India
From: Rajat Pandit, July 9, 2018: The Times of India
The indigenous Tejas fighter, first approved in 1983, has missed yet another deadline to become fully combat-ready. After several target revisions, the government had repeatedly declared over the last couple of years that the jet would get its final operational clearance (FOC) by June 2018.
But the single-engine Tejas is still far away from achieving the FOC, amidst galloping costs and operational concerns, say defence ministry officials. The estimated overall development and production cost of the first 123 light-weight Tejas – only nine delivered till now in their initial operational clearance (IOC) configuration – has also zoomed past Rs 75,000 crore.
India desperately needs its own home-grown fighter, with IAF down to just 31 fighter squadrons when at least 42 are required to tackle Pakistan and China. The fall in numbers will continue due to progressive retirement of 10 squadrons of old MiG-21s and MiG-27s.
India also relaunched its Rs 1.25 lakh crore project to acquire 114 fighters, the bulk of them to be built domestically, in April. But it’s still early days for this long-drawn contest among F/A-18 and F-16 (US), Gripen-E (Sweden), MiG-35 (Russia), Rafale (France) and Eurofighter Typhoon, for which the six aviation majors submitted their initial bids last week.
Consequently, the continuing delay in Tejas remains a big operational worry. In 2011, DRDO had grandiosely announced Tejas would get FOC — which means the jets are ready for battle -- by 2012. Six years down the line, it remains a pipe dream.
“The entire project management of Tejas needs to be overhauled. Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd is far away from delivering 16 Tejas per year as required. MoD is also examining the Rs 50,000 crore being demanded by HAL for producing 83 Tejas Mark-1A fighters, with 43 improvements over the existing version,” said an official.
For now, Tejas needs to demonstrate its “engine relight and air-to-air refuelling” capabilities as well as firing from its twin-barrel GSh-23 cannon.
Though Navy has rejected its aircraft carrier-capable variant, IAF has put its weight behind Tejas. In addition to the “committed” 123 jets, it is open to inducting another 201 Tejas Mark-II jets if they are entirely new fighters with much better avionics and radars, enhanced fuel and weapons carrying capacity, and more powerful engines, as earlier reported by TOI.
2020: first desi jet to land on aircraft carrier
January 12, 2020: The Times of India
From: January 12, 2020: The Times of India
NEW DELHI: The naval variant of the Tejas light combat aircraft successfully conducted an “arrested landing” for the first time on the deck of aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, in a significant milestone for the indigenous fighter.
The naval Tejas, being flown by Commodore Jaideep Maolankar, made the landing on the carrier with arrestor wires – which abruptly stop fighters soon after landing on the deck because of limited runway length – just after 10 am. The Tejas had earlier completed extensive trials on the shore-based test facility (SBTF) at Goa.
“This is the first time an indigenous fighter, which has been designed and developed by DRDO, has made arrested landing on an aircraft carrier in India,” said an official. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited chief R Madhavan added, “HAL contributions included the landing gear, arrestor hook and support staff controlling at SBTF along with the Navy.”
But much more will be required for the naval Tejas prototype to become operational on the 44,400-tonne carrier INS Vikramaditya, as also the under-construction 40,000-tonne INS Vikrant. At present, the Navy operates 45 MiG-29K fighters, acquired from Russia for $2 billion, from INS Vikramaditya.
The Navy in the past has rejected the single-engine Tejas, stressing the “overweight” fighter cannot optimally operate from aircraft carriers. In December 2016, for instance, the then Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba had said it did not meet the “thrust-to-weight requirement to take off with a full fuel and arms load” from an aircraft carrier’s deck.
2024/ Mark-1A: India-made digital flight control computer
February 21, 2024: The Times of India
New Delhi: Tejas Mark-1A prototype flew with digital fly-by-wire flight control computer (DFCC) for the first time on Tuesday, just days before the deliveries of the “improved” indigenous fighter are supposed to begin to IAF.
Under the Rs 46,898 crore contract inked with Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) in Feb2021, 83 Tejas Mark-1A have to be delivered to IAF in Feb 2024-Feb 2028 timeframe. Officials admit there is “a slight delay” but say at least two jets are likely to be delivered by March-end, with a few more to follow by year-end. Defence ministry said DFCC, developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment, was integrated in “Prototype LSP-7”
and successfully flown on Tuesday, which is “a significant development” towards Tejas Mark-1A programme. “All critical parameters and performance of the flight controls were found satisfactory,” it said. IAF has so far inducted 40 Tejas Mark-1 jets. The improved Mark-1A version of the single-engine jet includes advanced mission computers, high performance DFCCs, smart multi-function displays, advanced electronically scanned array radars and advanced self-protection jammers.
