The Tejas project has been in the eye of controversy for long. Besides the delay in producing the aircraft, questions have been raised about its effectiveness.
India's home-made combat plane, the Tejas, will, for the first time, fly outside the country. In six days, at the Bahrain Air Show, the Tejas-Mark 1A, a Light Combat Aircraft or LCA, will compete with a fighter jet made jointly by Pakistan and China. Both jets are scheduled to fly and display their capabilities.
Two Tejas planes have already landed in Bahrain. To evaluate their performance, India has set up a special system which will collect data on their flights to collate what worked well, and what didn't.
The Tejas will take on the JF-17 Thunder- the multi-role-fighter jet- that has been built by China and Pakistan.
A Defence Ministry source told NDTV, "The Tejas can fly longer distances - 2,300 km in contrast to the JF-17 Thunder's 2,037 km. Also, the Tejas can about 2,500 kg of fuel in comparison to about 2,300 kgs that JF-17 Thunder carries. The engines of the two planes are at par as well." The Tejas can be refueled mid-air, which the JF-17 cannot. This further increases the range and the endurance of the Tejas, which can also get airborne faster than the JF-17.
But the Tejas, nearly three decades in the making, has been seen as a problem child by the Air Force. Cleared by the government in 1983, the Tejas, designed by the government's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), was meant to be the backbone of the air force due for induction in 1994. Instead, it suffered years of delay and chaos with scientists trying to build the world's most modern light combat aircraft from scratch, including the engine.
The prototype flew in January 2001. The DRDO eventually scrapped developing engine in its and instead turned to GE Aviation. The Tejas is scheduled to replace the aging Russian MiG 21 fighters. Final operational clearance (FOC) is expected in 2016. The IAF has agreed to induct a squadron of the Texas.
Pakistan in the meantime turned to China in 1999 to help close the gap with the Indian Air Force, jointly collaborating in the production of the JF-17 Thunder light fighter. The first prototype of the JF-17 Thunder flew in 2003. The plan is to induct 250 of these planes in the Pakistan air force.
The JF-17 uses a Klimov RD93 engine
An independent investigation by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India into the Tejas LCA programme last year identified 53 "shortfalls" in the plane.
But K Tamilmani, the DRDO's aerospace chief, has said the modified version of the Tejas addresses most of the air force concerns. These include electronic warfare system, flight computer, radar and maintenance problems. State-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited would be able to ramp production to 16 a year by 2017 to meet the air force's demands, he said.
Air Force officers have said India requires 44 fighter squadrons to counter a "two-front collusive threat" from Pakistan and China. But Indian only has 35 active fighter squadrons, parliament's defence committee said in a report last year, citing a presentation by a top air force officer. With the drawdown of Soviet-era MiG 21 and MiG 27 by 2017 under way, the air force would be down to 21 squadrons.