{"id":3563,"date":"2025-07-24T13:56:28","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T13:56:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vayuacademy.com\/blog\/?p=3563"},"modified":"2025-07-24T14:09:21","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T14:09:21","slug":"light-combat-aircraft-tejas-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vayuacademy.com\/blog\/light-combat-aircraft-tejas-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The LCA and the Curious Case of India\u2019s Flying Paradox"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I was leisurely going through the morning paper, reading about IAF force structures and the news on the additional 97 LCA Mk1A aircraft contract. My mind took me back to 2012, the year I found myself seconded to the Aeronautical Development Agency \u2014 a body whose very name manages to sound both impressive and faintly fictional. I was a Joint Director occupying the last cabin, down a dark and shady looking corridor in ADA. I was tasked with the noble duty of monitoring progress on India\u2019s indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) program. I say ‘monitoring’ in the loosest sense, since the project itself was already enjoying a leisurely multi-decade meander through layers of committees, subcommittees, and what one might politely describe as selective optimism. I got a lot of time to read books, journals, articles on the historical journey of this aerial platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, the LCA\u00a0was conceived\u00a0in the 1980s to replace the venerable but exhausted MiG-21 fleet. What followed was a textbook case of ambition taking the elevator while execution politely walked up the stairs. Our requirements\u00a0were spirited: a lightweight, supersonic, highly manoeuvrable fighter, with advanced avionics, fly-by-wire controls, short-field capability and ideally, the ability to land on an aircraft carrier and attend Republic Day parades without further modification. Basically, Copy,\u00a0iterated and Pasted MIL SPECS from US and Russian sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short, we asked for a kind of airborne Jeeves \u2014 supremely capable, endlessly reliable, and unflappably elegant. What we got was \u2026 Bertie Wooster. Endearing, full of potential, but prone to getting into avoidable scrapes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One particular episode comes to mind. The aircraft\u2019s front canopy, understandably, had to be bird-strike resistant. The original specification required it to withstand an impact at 125 metres per second \u2014 a perfectly respectable benchmark in line with global norms. When the test results came in, however, the figure had been curiously translated into feet per minute. This gave the number a certain dignity \u2014 it looked more impressive, you see \u2014 while carefully obfuscating the fact that the performance had not, in fact, met the original metric. It was, in essence, the aeronautical equivalent of saying one ran a marathon in ‘furlongs per lunar cycle’ \u2014 technically true, but unlikely to earn you a place at the Olympics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another charming sleight of hand involved the shift from the International Standard Atmosphere (ISA), where sea-level temperature is pegged at a brisk 15\u00b0C, to something called Indian Reference Temperature (IRT), which comes in somewhere around 20\u201325\u00b0C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This gentle increase in ambient temperature has the unfortunate side effect of degrading engine thrust and aerodynamic performance. It\u2019s rather like rating a racing car\u2019s performance on a test track made of treacle, then wondering why it doesn’t win at a Grand Prix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most delightful aspect of the entire program, however, lies in its institutional structure \u2014 a kind of bureaucratic souffl\u00e9.\u00a0You see, the\u00a0aircraft\u00a0is manufactured\u00a0by HAL, designed by ADA, certified by CEMILAC, and quality-assured by DGAQA. On paper, it sounds like robust oversight. In practice, most of these bodies\u00a0are so intimately connected\u00a0that independence becomes more theoretical than actual.\u00a0It is\u00a0not uncommon\u00a0for someone to serve as auditor in the morning and return to their parent organisation \u2014 the one\u00a0being audited\u00a0\u2014 by teatime. Then there is the matter of flight testing. Under the pressures of deadlines, there have been occasions when testing phases were \u2014 how shall I put this \u2014 streamlined.\u00a0Trials\u00a0were merged, protocols relaxed, and results presented by the Agency,\u00a0with a degree of rhetorical flourish.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Somewhere along the way, the\u00a0aircraft\u00a0did fly \u2014 and that, one must concede, is no small thing.\u00a0The pilots, to their eternal credit and hard work, genuinely love flying the LCA. Its carefree handling and agility have earned admiration. But while flying may be carefree, reporting on the same should not be. We must not confuse number of sorties with operational maturity, nor PowerPoint enthusiasm with actual engine thrust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Underpinning all of this is a deeper cultural malaise: the unquestioning deference to hierarchy. The ‘yes\u00a0sir’ reflex, hardwired into generations of uniformed and civilian personnel alike, ensures that inconvenient truths\u00a0are often rephrased, postponed, or gently removed altogether.\u00a0In the corridors of our strategic establishments, doubt is too often treated as disloyalty, and critical thinking as some foreign import requiring customs clearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One might suggest that true national capability, in aviation or elsewhere,\u00a0is not built\u00a0on blind affirmation, but on the sturdy scaffold of scepticism, rigour, and the occasional, well-timed,\u00a0‘No, sir,\u00a0that won\u2019t fly.’<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

India\u2019s aerospace talent is vast. Its ambition is real. But if we are to produce truly world-class\u00a0aircraft, we must not merely demand performance from our machines,\u00a0we must demand honesty from our processes.<\/em>\u00a0This means independent certification agencies, verifiable metrics, third-party audits, and the cultural maturity to accept inconvenient truths without being\u00a0defensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let the next chapter in India\u2019s aerospace story\u00a0be written\u00a0not in inflated metrics and interdepartmental handshakes, but\u00a0in the\u00a0unambiguous ink of engineering integrity. After all, a fighter\u00a0aircraft\u00a0must fly in clear air \u2014 but its development must fly in clearer conscience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jai Hind. Or as the British say, \u201cCarry on, chaps\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

24th<\/sup>\u00a0July 25\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Akshay<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

References<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Ministry of Defence, Government of India. Annual Reports and Statements on the LCA Tejas Programmeme (1983\u20132023).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. ‘Bird Strike and Canopy Testing Standards for Combat Aircraft’, Journal of Aerospace Safety, Vol. 22, Issue 4, 2011.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. DRDO Publications on Indian Reference Temperature (IRT) and Comparative Aircraft Performance Standards, 2008.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Reports on the HAL and ADA Oversight Processes, Report No. 17 of 2015.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. ‘Aero India’ Conference Proceedings, 2007\u20132023: Publicly Presented Data by ADA, HAL, and CEMILAC.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. K. R. Somasundaram, ‘The LCA Tejas: Developmental Challenges and Operational Readiness’, Indian Defence Review, 2017.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence: Reports and Observations on LCA Programmeme Delays and Certification Bottlenecks, 2013\u20132021.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. ‘India\u2019s Quest for Indigenous Aerospace Capability’, IDSA Issue Brief, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, 2020.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. Interview Transcripts with Senior Test Pilots and Engineers (Redacted), internal ADA documentation reviewed during 2013\u201314.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. ‘The Certification Challenge in India\u2019s Military Aviation’, Aviation Week India, Special Edition, 2019.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Editors Note: Everyone has a story or insight worth sharing. I sincerely thank Capt Akshay for sharing this. While most of us let our attention be absorbed by phones. By doing that we miss out on chance to share, learn and absorb inspirations from unexpected sources. These insights would bring changes. One persons can not tell it all. We need to trust the power of story telling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Be safe. Fly safe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n

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