And Now, Indian MoD Flags Sharp 'Shortcomings' In LCA Tejas

The continuing saga over India's LCA Tejas Mk.1 fighter continues, with the government today putting out in new detail the "shortcomings" in the platform expected to enter service over the next one year. Here's what it told Parliament today:

The following shortcomings have been reported in Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas-Mk-I:
1. Absence of Internal Jammer affecting survivability. 2. Aircraft performance shortfalls. 3. Maintainability issues.
The above shortcomings were primarily due to following reasons:
1. Internal jammer technology at that time was based on TWT amplifier which needed about 1000 ltr volume space for integration on aircraft. Hence it could not be accommodated at the time of development of LCA Tejas, Mk-I.
2. The maintainability issues were raised by Indian Air Force (IAF) late in 2009, when design and drawings were already frozen for Mk-I. However, many of the safety critical maintenance issues are already addressed in Mk-I.
3. Government has sanctioned project for development of LCA Mk-II in 2009. Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) is the prime agency for development of LCA Mk-II with the public and private partnerships.All the above mentioned shortcomings in LCA Mk-I have been addressed in LCA Mk-II version.

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