Hal Tejas or LCA has been inducted into the Indian Air Force.This is the first fighter
jet India has developed. It has been the centre of considerable attention in India as well around the world.
It has received lots of criticism also , due to the extended development
timeline of 30 years. Make no mistake, this video is not meant to justify that , we believe it should have been flying much earlier.
In this video, we will look beyond the buzz & analyze
what Tejas really mean for India and why it is important.
We have broken down the different aspects in 5 points.
In times of war, it is foolish to expect that even the most reliable of our allies can help
us with jet fighters ,even if we are ready to pay. The reasons are as follows:
1. No manufacturer build jet fighters in bulk for immediate sell, they are too costly for that.
2. There will be lot of international pressure
not to provide weapons to nations in wars as this will be perceived as putting petrol in fire.
3. Even if some manufacture is able to provide
the jets , it will be logistical nightmare to transport them to India. These will take
weeks and there will also be a possibility that they will be intercepted by enemy nation
before it reaches India.
Keeping all this in view , we can safely say that there is no genuine alternative to indigenous
development, self reliance is the key.
High tech technology items are very costly imports. The countries selling the items add
these following aspects to the cost: 1. The material & manufacturing cost
2. The R&D cost 3. Profit margins
The profit margins tend to be on the higher sides for these type of items.
Also even with Transfer of Technology (TOT), a buyer is at a big loss as it not gaining
much in-terms of R&D experience.
Indigenous development enable fighters to be developed at a much cheaper cost and is
customized as per the specific requirements suitable for India’s use. The cheaper cost
results in higher numbers of fighters that can be deployed.
We have seen that India has faced issues with fighter availability. Availability here means
the % of fighter which are actually ready to fly.
This % is dependent on the following factors: 1. Spare parts availability
2. Maintenance issues which crop in over time.
These factors are often encounter when high tech items are imported. The post sells service
tend to be unreliable , India has many such experiences.
India on many instances even had to cannibalize parts from aircrafts to keep flying.
Maintenance of foreign made fighters is also problematic as the technicians don’t have
inside out knowledge. Indigenous fighters won’t have these nagging issues.
Tejas is not just a fighter jet but a technology demonstrator. The technologies required to
build a fighter jet is not available out of the selves, but need to developed from scratch
with lots of R&D effort.
This drives a lot of innovation and learning which can never be acquired in case the jets
are imported from other countries. The experiences gained are invaluable and
will hold India in good state for planned development of Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA).
AMCA is a fifth-generation single-seat,
twin-engine, stealth super-maneuverable, all weather, multirole fighter.
It is being developed by an aerospace industry team which consists of the Aeronautical Development Agency as
the design firm with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) as manufacturer.
Sources said enquiries by foreign countries were received during the Bahrain air show
in January, the very first time that Tejas flew outside the country.
As per the report Sri Lanka & Egypt have shown interest in the aircraft.
This is exactly the direction to which India will like to move, from being a 'importer' to
an 'exporter'. Export will bring in foreign exchange, which
can be used to drive further R&D .
This cycle is important as the country can set up an ecosystem were fighters can be
developed , produced and deployed with high efficiency.