A tailless delta wing light combat aircraft Tejas of India is set to revolutionise the Indian Air Force capabilities.Going by the book and the look, India’s Tejas is the lightweight single-engine aircraft, designed to full fill the Indian Air Force requirement to replace vintage Mig-21s in IAF inventory. But the path the Tejas set to take might sow the seeds for future generations to make use of simplistic design to combat advanced fighter jets of the future.
Tejas fighter jets are known for their sleek and compact delta wing design which can pack impressive combat characteristics. Widely known as the pride of India, also created interest among several countries in the world as well.
Unleashing the full might if Tejas Platform:
The basic variant of Tejas MK1 had several drawbacks in the start which was later rectified to an extend to allow induction into Indian Air Force. To further strengthen the capability India is working on an upgraded Tejas MK1A variant. Which will also further fix the problems and shortfalls of the MK1 variant.
The advanced version of MK1A of LCA not just rectify the shortfall but enhance the fighter with more 4++ capability and features. For instance, MK1-A variants will feature Advanced Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar over passive array radar. Giving a major advantage against 4th generation fighters.
But India is set to further enhance the platform to its limits. With the Tejas Mark-2 India is set to convert the Light Combat Tejas into a Medium Multirole platform MWF (Medium Weight Fighter). This could be India’s answer for an indigenous solution for low cost most advanced 4th generation fighter. Which can be mass-produced in large numbers. In some cases the under development Tejas Mark-2 will be superior to the Rafale fighters but cost less.
The need for Tejas Mark-2:
As per the specifications, look and feel, the Tejas Mark-2 looks similar to the Mark-1 variant with a single-engine configuration. Instead of replacing Mig-21 vintage aircraft in the Indian inventory. The Tejas Mark-2 is set to fulfil the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft requirement of the IAF. As early as 2007-2008 Indian government launched a multi-billion dollar tender for MMRCA. Contenders included all the major frontline fighters of the western world. Including F-18, Rafale, Eurofighter, Gripen and Mig-35. But India yet to ink the deal even after Rafale was chosen as the lowest bidder L1 and Eurofighter jet as L2. MMRCA requirements were for 126 aircraft.
Instead, India has gone with a small batch of 36 Rafale off the shelve purchase to meet the initial demand. In ever-expanding Chinese fighter jet fleet strength in the east and Pakistan Air Force in the Western borders, India is facing a massive shortage of fighters required to wage a two-front war scenario.Many vintage fighter have already surpassed their intended life span. This is where the under development Tejas MK2 comes to the rescue. Indian Scientists and the Indian Air Force is not leaving any stone unturned to make this fighter a monstrous platform. As per the sources, the Tejas Mark-2 will be replacing a wide range of ageing imported aircraft in IAF inventory.
Tejas Mark-2 the one stop solution:
Tejas MK-2 will be the one-stop solution to replace IAF Mirage-2000, Jaguars, Mig-29s which forms the core strike power of the Indian Air Force. For this to happen the Tejas Mark-2 must be a true multirole aircraft to undertake air superiority mission while capable of performing Ground and Sea combat mission effectively. Due to its cost-effectiveness, Mark-2 will complement the Su30 MKI and Rafale fleet for future air combats in a very large numbers for decades to come.
Race to match the Chinese superior technology:
Some of the features of the Medium Weight Fighter Tejas Mark-2 will be far superior to the current Rafale variants. India is also developing a 5th generation fighter jet called AMCA (Advanced Multirole Combat Aircraft). The technologies under development for the 5th generation fighter will widely be used in Tejas Mark-2 program. With a powerful engine, powerful AESA radars, Advanced Electronic warfare suite, Indium Oxide layer like in the US Airforce most advanced F-22 Raptor and optional manned cockpit to name a few. The attempt is to change the tide in the race to match and surpass the Chinese Air Force which enjoy technological advantage with hacked western technologies. This in turn makes this fighter the most advanced 4th generation fighter aircraft in the world.
A perfect combination to provide the Indian Air Force with a much-needed boost to match up with China in the number game. At the same time improving the technological advantage over Pakistan.
Another aspect of the Tejas program as a whole could be, improving the availability rate of jets in the IAF inventory. By replacing multiple platforms with one fighter jet, IAF will be facing less of a stress in maintenance and maintenance cost in the long run. Using the workforce used in maintaining multiple platforms, to just focus on a few. Since Tejas are made in India and has a high percentage of indigenous content we could expect India can keep the Tejas fleet with high availability rates.
Designed to win:
Aerodynamically, Tejas platforms designed as tailless delta wing fighters. Making the fighter to be simple, less weight with low drag due to which the performance is enhanced. Due to their compact size, the Tejas jets have very little Radar Cross Section. Stealth coating among other stealth, feature give Tejas Mark-2 a added advantage over its adversaries. Even after being 4th generation fighter.
Standing out design variation in Tejas Mark-2 over its predecessor are the Canards. Featuring of canards helps the jet to maximize its manoeuvrability in a dog fight scenario. Not to mention, Indian aerospace scientists have mastered the state of art fly-by-wire systems making the fighter respond quickly to the pilot’s command. Very important aspect in air combat.
By now you as a reader must have got the idea of how Tejas Mark-2 is sturdy and packs a lot of punch with super manoeuvrability. But to match and to challenge the heavy class stealth fighter of the Chinese J-20, Armament, Avionics plays a huge role.
The Chinese J-20 slayer:
The Tejas Mark-2 will feature the most advanced radar technology developed by the Indian Defense Research and Development Organisation(DRDO). The Uttam AESA radar developed by the DRDO can be scaled as per the needs and size of the nose cone of a fighter.
By making adjustments with the number of Transmitter Reciever Module(TRM) clusters the power of the AESA may either be increased or decreased. DRDO Uttam radar is known to have less power consumption with Gallium Arsenide and Gallium Nitrate tech. Which helps in packing more modules as much as possible.
As per the sources and specification of Tejas Mark-2 it is expected the radar will be capable to detect a target of 1m2 RCS at 170+ Kms. For fighters with 0.1m2 RCS for a typical stealth jet, UTTAM radar can detect these at 95 Km.
In comparison, the Chinese most advanced 5th generation fighter jet J-20 is expected to have an RCS of around 0.3m2. Which can be detected at a distance of over 120-140km by the Tejas Mark-2. Giving a major advantage to the Indian Air Force. Kindly note J-20 is China’s 5th generation stealth fighter while Indian Tejas Mark-2 is a 4th generation fighter. As I mentioned above, India is also developing a full fledged 5th generation fighter jet.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Airforce backbone fleet of J-11 (Sukoi-30 copies) has an RCS of over 3m2. Of which Uttam radars can detect them at a distance of over 170 km. Making Tejas Combat a monstrous weapon of war against the technologically advanced Chinese Air Force.
Tejas Mark-2 to Pack a ‘hell’ lot of punch:
Even though a fighter jet can be detected at a longer range. There should be long-range air to air missiles to engage the target at longer range.
With the most advanced radar, the Indian Air Force Tejas Mark-2 will be capable of detecting Chinese J-20 stealth fighter at a distance of 120 Km (at least). To engage the fighter, Mark-2 will be packed with 6500 Kg worth of weapon packages. Tejas Mark-2 has 11 hardpoints. DRDO has mastered the art of long-ranged beyond visual range missiles.
Like Astra 1 with 80 km range. And DRDO is also developing Astra Mark-2 with 150+ km range and Astra Mark 3 with over 300 to 350 Km range. All these missiles will be capable to be armed with Tejas MK2. Packs more than enough firing range to neutralise even the stealth Chinese fighter J-20s.
For close-range combat, India is developing Astra with an infrared-guided missile with a range of between 50 km with more manoeuvrability.
What is so exciting for the Indian Air Force is the addition of Brahmos NG air to surface missile. With a stand of a range of over 300 Km Tejas fighters going to be the ultimate nightmare to the adversaries.
Flying at three times the speed of sound, the Brahmos NG missile can penerate all the Chinese defence systems in use currently. The time to detect and engage Brahmos is very little due its beyond visual range firing and speed.
With Tejas Mark-2’s special capabilities as mention above in this article. Mark-2 will be the best of its kind. Giving India the much-needed capabilities to surpass the number game with China with low cast solution and defeat the much superior stealth fighter like J-20.
A Little Monster:
Tejas Mark-2 is expected to have a ferry range of over 3500 Kms. with a combat radius of over 1500 km. An impressive achievement to safeguard the Indian Air Space.
There are many more advantages of Tejas Mark-2 like the use of 90% composite material, better thirst to weight ratio, larger fuselage, strengthened airframe, canards, advanced EW suite on oar with Rafale, efficient low RCS, advanced futuristic cockpit, Smart fly by wire, Radar signal absorbing coating (RAM), AESA radar, powerful missile armaments etc. We will discuss these in a separate article as there are lots to analysis.
All in all, India is converting what started as a simple Light Combat Aircraft into a Most advanced 5th generation fighter jet slayer! Shortly a dragon slayer in the making. Tejas Mark-2 will redefine Indian Air Force capabilities for decades to come.
