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| A Tejas Mk 1 Aircraft from Wikimedia Commons |
Well as I post this Article, it is already July 2022, and with no News of the Tejas Mk 1A making its first Flight during the entire Month of June 2022, then it has missed that Schedule … again.
Actually this the is second time this Year that the Plane has missed its first Flight Schedule, last Year in August 2021 it was reported that it was supposed to fly in March 2022. It missed that and the flight was moved to June 2022, and now it has missed that also.
I have nothing against India or the Tejas, in fact I think highly of the Tejas Mk 1, but missing Schedules like these doesn’t really give a lot of confidence in their Products, especially to Countries they are offering the Aircraft to.
Methinks that India needs to stop hyping and fantasizing too much on the Specifications of their locally-made Aircraft and just focus first on the ones that do work.
For example, why not focus first on the Mk 1 which is here right now and I think is better than the FA-50 based on its ability to carry more types of Equipment and Weapons?
Or, just like the BrahMos Missile, why not focus on their Missiles like their Astra Air-launched Anti-Air Missile which seems to be doing well right now? I read they are planning to make a Ground-launched version of it which could be more competitive in terms of price compared to similar Systems?
As for the Tejas Mk 1A, I think we wil need to just take a Wait and See Attitude towards it for now. It is scheduled to start delivery to the Indian Armed Forces in 2024, so let’s just see how that will go.
* ‘Light Combat Aircraft MK-1A to take flight in June’ {Archived Link}
* LCA Mk-1A to take first Flight by March, says HAL Chairman {Archived Link}
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HAL was overambitious, and the Tejas Mk 1A paid the price- engineers are too busy working on the Tejas Mk 2 (HAL's Saab Gripen analogue) and the TEDBF (the company's Dassault Rafale analogue) to work on the Mk 1A.
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