In one of our recent videos we looked at the hal tejas and compared it to the
jf-17 and tried to see some of the differences about this aircraft while finding some
similarities between the two but today I'm just gonna dedicate this whole video around India's made HAL Tejas fighter and
Discover a little bit more about the aircraft and find out what is unique about it. How's it going everybody?
My name is Dave Walpole and welcome to FTD Facts the channel
We're a look at people cultures and places from all around the world now today pretty excited
Because yeah, I like the hell tears
I think it's really interesting that India has its own unique fighter that kind of makes it very special
For the people who might be watching this video that are from India
but more specifically I like to do stuff that a lot of you guys recommend so
You know going into this spider seems to be something that I know you guys will really like
With that, by the way, before I get into this video if you guys are into military playlists just to let you know
Although we have a diverse amount of content here on MTV facts
If you want to know more specifically about Indian military topics
I got some playlists throughout this video that I'll put in the cards in the description box below that you guys can check out at
Any time, but I'll talk a little bit more about that because I kind of want to get into the facts
But I just want to let you guys know the kind of stuff that we do here in case you felt like hitting that subscribe
Button at any time in this video. So let's just jump right into it
So we got the Hal Tejas it is classified as a single-seat single-engine
Multi-role fighter and for the facts you might be wondering why is it sometimes called the LC a well?
There's a reason for that this is because this fighter was developed under what was known as the light combat aircraft
program which was a
development program
Conducted by India for a long time and I'm going to get into that however as for the name to jazz it didn't get this
name until about
2003 now one thing that is super important when it comes to the Hal Tejas is it is classified as a
Supersonic fighter and not only that but it is the second
Supersonic fighter that was developed by an Indian company and this company is known as the famous
Hindustan aeronautics company also not only that it's also the smallest
and a lightest
supersonic aircraft of any of its type in the entire world
And yes
When I say small it is a rather small aircraft
because for the size of this aircraft
It comes in at a height of four point four zero meters with a length of thirteen point two zero
meters and a width or wingspan of eight point two zero
Which makes it just a little bit smaller than some other craft of its type now
Let's take a look at why this aircraft was built in the first place pretty much back in the day
India knew that it needed to develop a new fighter that would replace its ever aging mig-21 because by the
1980s they eventually knew that the mig-21s would be completely outdated despite the amount of upgrades that they would receive and in the
1980s this was realistically the beginning of the light combat aircraft
program specifically actually in
1989 when the LCA program review committee was formed and for the development of its own unique aircraft by
1993 the first proof of concept for the spider was brought in as a matter of fact the first two proof-of-concept
Aircrafts that were made were known as TD 1 and TD 2 and for TD 1 it had its first flight on
January 4th
2001 in which shortly after prototypes emerged from that and the cost of this first real phase up program came to
approximately
2188 crore. So one thing when it came to the light combat aircraft
Programme India tried to develop a lot of different things on their own instead of used technology from other countries
One thing that was definitely heavily in production was India's very own
fly-by-wire program which began development in
1992 also for what? We now know as the Hal Tejas
it was originally intended to have an Indian made radar system and although that might have been developed there was unfortunately some
Compatibility issues so they had to move on to something else with that
hindustan aeronautics company went with the Israeli radar known as the Alta systems using the specific radar system known as the
LM
2032 however in
2008 that's actually changed especially
In the mark 1a version because these new healt ashes they use what is known as the e LM
2052 version however
It is still an israeli-made radar but to jump back a little bit after several tests in
2005 the indian air force put an order for 20 of these fighters
Now this actually didn't really mean it was actually cleared for the air force
A lot of testing happened after this as a matter of fact the first real maiden flight of this first limited series production
known as
LSP one took place in Hansa Goa on April 25th
2007 in which the aircraft reached a speed of mach
1.1. And it was shortly after that that the Indian Navy had intended to purchase 50 of these aircraft
however
the first prototype known as n p1 was given to them in July of 2010 and it was actually about a year after that the
IAF the Indian Air Force pretty much kind of approved the design of this fighter
This is because on January 10th of 2011
It was approved for initial operation clearance by the air force shortly after that the naval version made its first flight on April
27 2012
Unfortunately, the naval version wasn't accepted
I'm going to get into that because I'm going to talk a little bit about variants a little bit further on
Because it was around this time. That although the Indian Air Force had given initial operation clearance
This didn't mean it had final operation clearance
And that's what you really want as a fighter as a matter of fact the major campaign for final operation clearance began in
2013 but I found it very interesting. And yes also unfortunate that because of several setbacks
Final operation clearance wasn't given - the hell - yes until recent as a matter of fact, February 20th
2019
Insane that's a lot of years man
I mean that fighter is just going through the ringer and the part that I found really
fascinating about this is although it wasn't given final operation clearance until recent the IAF had all a lot of
interest in this fighter as a matter of fact in
2015 they purchased
120 of them and as a matter of fact in 2011, they had their first squadron formed
This was known as the Flying Daggers or number 45 squad
Which operated out of the yellow henkka air base in Bangalore?
I should also update you guys and let you know that this squadron has now moved to the seller air force station in
Coin Betar, as a matter of fact as of February 1st 2019 this squadron has 14 of these aircrafts
but by the end of the year its planned to have another two of the
Initially cleared fighters and they also plan to add
Sixteen of the finally cleared aircraft to join by the end of the year also
It's a rather new aircraft to the rest of the world because it was internationally debuted in
2016 and this was at the Bahrain International
Air Show so now let's just take a quick peek at versions and some of the specifications now in my previous video
I did talk about that
So I'm gonna kind of go through this one really quick because for some of you guys have already seen this kind of information
I don't want to be repeating a lot of facts
So first of all, you have your initial version on top of that there's a trainer version which is a two seater
You've also got the Navy versions which I did state in
2016 it unfortunately failed to meet the requirements in weight
basically, they found that this aircraft was too heavy for the aircraft carriers and in
2017 they're gonna get a new test to see if they will work the more recent version the mk1 a is unfortunately more expensive
However, it has new radar and a bunch of other upgrades the mk2 has been recently displayed in
2019 it is slightly bigger with a larger payload and has a more powerful engine and speaking about engine
let's take a look at speed the fastest that this thing has clocked comes in at mach 1.8 with a range of
850 kilometers and a combat radius of 500 kilometers and with that when we look at the engines one interesting fact
Is that the original aircrafts use the american-made general electric f404?
Engine. However, remember how I said the LCA was aiming to make, you know, Indian made products for these planes
Well one thing that came out of that was also an engine
Unfortunately, it wasn't the best. This was known as the Kaveri engine and unfortunately
It didn't meet the requirements but on a side note which some of you guys you know
Your plant enthusiasts might find this very interesting
The actual engine itself couldn't be tested in India and actually had to go to Russia
The reason for this is because India unfortunately
didn't have the facilities built in to test its high altitude abilities and apparently with that Russia used the
Tu-16 aircraft to conduct this test and of course when it comes to specifications
We got to talk about weapons now currently this aircraft can use nine different types of weapons
Basically, you have the 23 millimeter gun in the front and of course you have eight hard points which are located under the wings
And the fuselage and can either be bombs missiles or whatever you feel as for the entire program cost
Including its research phase one and phase two
It came in at seven thousand nine hundred and sixty five point five six crore and for an individual fighter
Let's look at the mark 1 and the mark 1a
basically the mark 1 comes in at
162 crore which is approximately 23 million dollars
And of course I'm talking us
but here let's take a look at the mark 1a it really jumps in price because the mark 1a jumps way up to
463 crore or
approximately 64 million US dollars
Which basically that's about the cost of a Saab Gripen, but either way guys
My name is Dave Walpole I want to thank you guys for tuning in and learning about the HAL Tejas
I hope you guys like this video
And again, if you really like this one, you want more, you know military content
Be sure to hit that like button because hey, that's how I know you guys are interested. Of course
I want to know what is your thoughts on this aircraft?
I also want to know what is your favorite aircraft, and I also want to know just for fun
What aircrafts can this aircraft beat? Let me know your thoughts down there
Oh, yeah, by the way
I also forgot to mention that as a matter of fact when it comes to the health issues one interesting thing over
70% of this aircraft is made in India
Forgot that fact, it's pretty cool you but thanks for watching guys
I'll see you guys in the next one and don't forget to check out our other videos
Up there down there and at the end of this video cool. Bye. Bye
Okay, guys
So you made it to the end of the video here are some great playlists that you guys can check out got some
really good stuff
Special you people from India that want to learn more about your own militaries. Yo go check it out
So you guys have yourself a good one and I will see you guys in the next video