LCA TEJAS

LCA TEJAS

Subject: Defence

Context: Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) is actively looking for exports of the Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA) with countries in South East Asia and West Asia showing interest in buying it.

Concept:

• The Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) programme was started by the Government of India in 1984 when they established the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) to manage the LCA programme.
• It replaced the ageing Mig 21 fighter planes.
• Designed by: Aeronautical Development Agency under the Department of Defence Research and Development.
• Manufactured by: State-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

Features:

• The lightest, smallest and tailless multi-role supersonic fighter aircraft in its class.
• Designed to carry a range of air-to-air, air-to-surface, precision-guided, weapons.
• Air to air refuelling capability.
• Maximum payload capacity of 4000 kg.
• It can attend the maximum speed of Mach 1.8.
• The range of the aircraft is 3,000km

Variants of Tejas:

• Tejas Trainer: 2-seater operational conversion trainer for training air force pilots.
• LCA Navy: Twin- and single-seat carrier-capable for the Indian Navy.
• LCA Tejas Navy MK2: This is phase 2 of the LCA Navy variant.
• LCA Tejas Mk-1A: This is an improvement over the LCA Tejas Mk1 with a higher thrust engine.