The Indian Air Force to get yet another Made in India fighter jets soon. Tejas Mk II next variant of the Light Combat Aircraft program is likely to be rolled out by August-September of 2022. Unlike LCA the MK2 Tejas will be built under the Medium Weight Category
The HAL Tejas MK.2, or Medium Weight Fighter, is a planned single-engine, delta wing, multirole fighter designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency in collaboration with Aircraft Research and Design Centre of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for the Indian Air Force.
The first high-speed trial of the jet will start in 2023 and we expect the production to start somewhere around 2025. The HAL Chief R Madhavan said.
Versatile Design
It has a tail-less compound delta-wing configuration with a single vertical stabilizer with closed-coupled canards to provide static instability and high manoeuverability, and is equipped with fly-by-wire systems to control instability.
There is confirmation from the chief of Aeronautical Development Agency that MWF will shed its “Tejas” stamp and get a completely new name altogether during or after its first flight. The first prototype is expected to be rolled out in August 2022 with first flight in 2023.
Far superior than Tejas MK1 & MK1A:
Other than design commonalities very little major technologies has been forwarded from its predecessor Tejas Mk1/A. Instead more of its technologies are to be borrowed from whatever has been developed for the 5th Generation fighter jet program of India, AMCA.
Several radar cross-section reducing measures will be incorporated in the airframe design so that a degree of frontal stealth can be achieved, including Radar-absorbent material coating and composites making up its skin, twisted air-intake ducts.
