Indigenously designed and developed Tejas light combat aircraft(lCA) earned laurels when Singapore Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, who flew a sortie in it on Tuesday, described it as ‘excellent and very impressive.’ He also said it felt like riding in a car. His comments come in the backdrop of criticism in some quarters that the Tejas project is marred by delays.
The visiting Defence Minister, who will hold talks with his Indian counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman here on Wednesday, undertook the half-hour sortie at the Kalaikunda IAF airbase, West Bengal. The twin-seater trainer plane was flown by Air Vice Marshal AP Singh. He is project director of the National Flight Test Centre-Aeronautical Development Agency.
Praising the performance of the aircraft, Hen described the Tejas as ‘excellent and very impressive.’ The Minister also lauded the pilot saying he felt as he was riding a car and not flying in a fight aircraft. Two Tejas aircraft were flown from Bengalaru for displaying its unique features to the Singapore Defence Minister.
Asked whether Singapore is interested in buying the Tejas, aircraft, he said he is not a pilot and it is for the technical people to take a call on it. It was learnt that Singapore has evinced interest in Tejas.
During the Bahrain air show where Tejas aircraft was showcased, some countries in the Middle East had also shown interest, sources said.
Designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency and manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics limited, the Tejas powered by US made GE-404 jet engine will eventually join the IAF as a replacement for its ageing fleet of MIG-21 jets. These planes are more than 40 years old and in the last phase of their operational life.
The IAF has raised one squadron of Tejas and inducted the first two indigenously made jets two years back. One squadron has 18 to 20 fighter planes and the remaining 18 Tejas will join service by the end of next year. The squadron is known as Flying Daggers and will be based in Sulur, Tamil Nadu.
Each Tejas weighing about 11 to 12 tons and with a range of 400 kms at flying speed of 1,300 kmph will cost about Rs 300 crores. The jet is capable of firing air to air missiles and laser guided bombs. The IAF has planned to have four squadrons of Tejas by the end of 2022.
However, the Tejas project was marred by repeated delays and cost overruns since it was given the nod more than 30 years back thereby inviting criticism that the plane is sub-optimal. Naval variant of Tejas is also under development and will form part of the aircraft fleet of aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya.
The Singapore defence minister told reporters in Kalaikunda that bilateral defence ties between ‘our two countries are strong and it is getting stronger’.
He witnessed the joint exercise between air force of Singapore and India and said “I hope this will continue for long.” The first annual joint military training between IAF and the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) was held at the Gwalior air force station in 2004. Such an exercise was first held in Kalaikunda in 2007 and since then regular joint training has been held at the air force station here as Singapore has little airspace there.
For the ongoing month long exercise, the Singapore Air Force has deployed six F-16s for the month long drill.