There Are Issues, But We're Reasonably Happy: IAF Vice Chief On Tejas IOC

I asked IAF vice chief Air Marshal PK Barbora this morning about rumoured issues that the service had with the LCA Tejas IOC parameters. Here's his reply in full: "Any venture of this nature, making a product from scratch always takes time. It is not only in India, even Western countries have taken 15-20 years to produce an aircraft. India's first venture has taken time. Ultimately, we are reaching the goal that we had looked for. Albeit a little late, but it's coming through and it will definitely help us move into the future. [Regarding the specific issue of IOC], there are no serious problems that we visualise that cannot be tackled. There are issues. For the IOC part of it, we are quite reasonably happy. Hopefully by the end of next year, we would have formed the first squadron. We would have flown the requisite number of hours which we have stipulated for ourselves. For stability, we are planning initially to have them in Bangalore. Teething problems will be there. But we will resolve them."

Air Marshal Barbora, an experienced fighter pilot, retires at the end of this month. Livefist wishes him the very best.

Base Image by Pavel Romsy

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