News Highlight
In the next few years, the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), Tejas, will be able to carry and launch the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile.
Key Takeaway
- This will be possible once the lighter version of the supersonic cruise missile, Brah MosNG (next generation), is ready.
- The Brah Mos NG development is expected to make its first flight in two years.
LCA Tejas
- About
- The Light Combat Aircraft Tejas is an indigenous supersonic aircraft used by the Indian military.
- Tejas – meaning ‘radiant’, and It replaced the ageing Mig 21 fighter planes.
- The Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) programme
- It was started by the Government of India in 1984 when they established the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) to manage the LCA programme.
- Designed
- The Aeronautical Development Agency designed it under the Department of Defence Research and Development.
- Manufactured
- The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
- HAL developed its first supersonic fighter – HAL HF-24 Marut – in the 1960s and phased them out in 1990. After that, it developed its supersonic fighter — Tejas.
- Features
- Tejas is a single-engined, lightweight, highly agile, multi-role supersonic fighter.
- 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.
- Significance
- Tejas enables the Indian Air Force (IAF) to handle repairs or servicing at their base depot, reducing the turnaround time for mission-critical systems.
- This would enable IAF to sustain the fleet more efficiently and effectively due to the availability of repair infrastructure at respective bases.
- It will further push the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative and boost the country’s indigenisation of defence production and the defence industry.
- Tejas Mark-2 Project
- The Tejas Mark-2 is described as a 4.5-generation machine, which will not only have 70 per cent indigenisation (as opposed to the Mark IA’s 62 per cent), but will incorporate more advanced technologies to be manufactured in India.
Brah-Mos
- About
- The BrahMos is a medium-range stealth ramjet supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from submarine, ships, aircraft or land, notably being the fastest supersonic cruise missile in the world.
- Joint project
- It is an Indo-Russian joint venture that has a range of 290 km and is the fastest cruise missile.
- Brah Mos is named for the rivers Brahmaputra and Moskva.
- Features
- It is a two-stage (solid propellant engine in the first stage and liquid ramjet in the second) missile.
- It is a multiplatform missile, i.e., it can be launched from land, air, and sea.
- It operates on the “Fire and Forgets” principle i.e it does not require further guidance after launch.
- Carrying capacity: 300 Kg (both conventional and nuclear).
- Speed: Mach 3 (that is, three times the speed of sound).
- Max Range: 290 Km. Its range was extended to 450 km, and the plan is to increase it to 600km.
- New Developments
- India and Russia have agreed to double the range from 290 to 600 km.
- Earlier, India was denied access to the missile technology with a range over 300 km as it was not a member state of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). But India’s accession to MTCR allowed Russia to provide the critical systems and technology to extend the missile range beyond 300km.
Content Source: The Hindu