air program in Bengaluru is atmanirbharta or self-reliance in structure Indias requirement of military equipment.

Emblemising atmanirbharta is the Tejas Mark 1 fighter, which has positioned India on the map of countries that can design, establish and make innovative fighter airplane.

This is already yielding results.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited(HAL)CMD C B Ananthakrishnan revealed on Tuesday in Bengaluru that India is talking about the sale of 20 Tejas light fight aircraft (LCA)with Egypt and 15 Tejas fighters with Argentina.

But for the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO ), the real value of the Tejas Mark 1 is the function it will now play in the advancement of Indias next generation of fighter airplane that will be more technically advanced and lethal.

In the India Pavilion, committed to success stories in indigenisation, the Tejas Mark 1 fighter is lionised as the essential stepping stone to the advancement of a variety of fighters: Tejas Mark 2, the fifth-generation fighter eponymously called the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft(AMCA) and the Twin Engine Deck Based Fighter(TEDBF )that is meant to fly missions from Indian Navy aircraft carriers.

In addition, the LCA(Navy )is eulogised as an important platform for technology advancement that will power naval airplane such as the TEDBF.Business Standard spoke to Girish Deodhare, who heads the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA)-- the DRDO laboratory that supervises fighter aircraft development.LCA (Navy) Trials of landing and taking off from a carriers deck are under method in INS Vikrant and we are effectively doing those with a model LCA (Navy ), said Deodhare.

The LCA Navy prototype is showing all the native technologies coming out of our sis labs for future airplane, stated the ADA chief.

These consist of the radar, the electronic warfare systems and weapons such as the Astra air-to-air rockets. Considering that all the avionics on the Astra are native, this is quickly done.

Within months it can be made ready for testing and qualifying.

Thanks to the LCA(Navy)prototype, we are understanding how to create carrier-based naval aircraft and are progressing extremely well, said Deodhare.

The LCA (Navy)was sanctioned in 2003 and it initially flew in 2012.

It did the first ski-jump in 2014 and the very first apprehended landing in 2019.

Two months later, it graduated to a provider deck-- such was the Navys confidence in the aircraft.Tejas Mark 2The LCA Mark 2 is going to be a 17.5-tonne fighter, with substantially more weapons load and fuel carriage than the 14-tonne Mark 1.

The LCA Mark 2 will zip 2024-25 and will be ready for production by 2027, said Deodhare.

The illustrations for the Mark 2 are ready and production will soon commence.

The Indian Air Force(IAF)is looking at six squadrons of the fighter.

The LCA Mark 2 will be powered by the General Electric (GE )F414 engine, significantly more effective than the present F404 engine.

The F414 was chosen in a worldwide tender in 2012, in which it edged out the Eurojet EJ200 engine.

The Mark 2 is designed around the F414 engine.AMCA The style of the AMCA-- a fifth-generation stealth fighter-- is total and it is at the phase of critical style evaluation.

We are at the initial design phase of the TEDBF and that must move along quickly now, stated Deodhare.

Aero India 23 has actually displayed an AMCA simulator with a cutting edge cockpit.

The DRDO has likewise shown sophisticated actuators that are now being made in India and available for native usage.

We have actually also developed the internal weapons bay for the AMCA and a working design of that is on display, stated Deodhare. The AMCA is being allotted a budget of Rs 15,000-16,000 crore.

The flying force is taking a look at seven squadrons of AMCAs.

TEDBFDeodhare discussed that the TEDBF is not a fourth-generation fighter, but a generation-five minus aircraft.

Its fundamental design has been finished and ADA is at the preliminary style phase.

The fighters all-up weight will be 25-26 tonnes and it will have twin F414 engines.

Inputs are being fed in from LCA(Navy )trials from Goa and from the INS Vikrant.

The wing-folding system has actually now been settled.

The fighter can carry weapons on its wingtips in spite of the wing-folding system.

Its weaponry load will be 17.5 tonnes.

We are trying to take inputs likewise from other programmes.

We are doing everything indigenously, not even thinking of imported radar. As soon as we develop fundamental technologies it is easy to high end it for larger platforms, stated the ADA chief.