It has taken India 37 years to put in place a military-technical base for conducting R & D on various types of guided missiles and precision-guided munitions, and 23 years (starting from 1998) to create the related sustainable and proficient military-industrial base.
Tejas Mk.1A L-MRCA Updates
At least two Tejas Mk.1A LSPs will be required to undergo 24 months of flight-testing (starting this June) for loggong in the mandated 250 flight-hours, following which the L-MRCA will receive its certificate of airworthiness from CEMILAC. The first three SP-series Mk.1A L-MRCAs are due for delivery by late 2024, with the deliveries of all 83 Mk.1As (73 single-seaters and 10 tandem-seaters) being delivered by 2029 as per current projections.
Tejas Mk.2 Medium-Weight Fighter (MWF) Updates
This will be a medium-MRCA whose first flying LSP-series unit is scheduled for rollout in early 2023, followed by first-flight in 2024. The MWF being a brand-new design, a total of 2,000 hours of flght-testing will be required for attaining airworthiness certfication. Consequently, a minimum of three flying LSP-series aircraft will be required, along with a single aircraft for ground-based fatigue-tests. To date, GE Aero Engines has delivered 16 F-414INS6 turbofans, with deliveries beginning in September 2015.
The following taskings will have to be fulfilled as part of the flight-test programme.
The following poster explains the R & D efforts of GTRE that involve the usage of ceramic-metal composite (CMC) structures.
Finally, the AT-4 LAWs have been ordered for the Indian Army and Indian Air Force for replacing the Instalaza-supplied C-90 LAWs that were procured almost 20 years ago.
