The 80-year-old Indian Air Force (IAF) it still waiting for its indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), which has been in the making for over 25 years now and has got delayed yet again.
With the initial operational clearance (IOC) slipping further, the DRDO is now looking for the middle of the third quarter of next year and the project is expected to cost the exchequer R6,000 crore. It was earlier expected to be delivered in 2008 at a cost of R3,301 crore.
According to the chief of IAF Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne: ?The Mark-II version of the LCA was still four to five years away. The IAF has looked at 40 of the LCA Mark-I variant on the condition that Mark-II will have a more powerful engine. A contract has been signed between the DRDO and GE for this. That programme is still four to five years away.?
However, for the first time ever, the LCA will be participating in the Iron Fist Fire Power Demonstration planned next year.
?Lack of governance and accountability has led to a situation where there is no LCA yet. While the best have been working on the project, there has been too much of mishandling of funds meant for the project,? former air chief S Krishnaswamy told FE. ?If the LCA had come, there wouldn?t have been any need for the 126 MMRCAs,? he added.
The delay in the eventual induction of the LCA is a matter of great concern. Reasons like sanctions and unavailability of requisite technologies have often been cited to divert attention from the delays. ?In any complex aerospace platform development process, three decades seem a long time. The LCA is technologically not the most advanced system, at best it is a close fourth-generation platform and should have been ideally delivered and inducted into service by the mid-2000,? explained a military aviation expert.
?The LCA?s future strategic importance is often ignored. Although it is a platform that could be considered old by the time it is eventually inducted, its system improvisation and consequent follow-up in the form of MCA (medium combat aircraft) and even HCA (heavy combat aircraft) are deeply embedded in India’s future aerospace prowess and capability,? said INDICIA Research & Advisory chairman and CEO Deba Mohanty. ?Such a strategic programme should have been ideally given top priority. It is unfortunate that development history of LCA does not show any such inclination by the planners (defence ministry, IAF), designers (DRDO), producers (HAL) and approvers (decision-makers). It is not that the wise men are not aware of this, but the will and a combined push are missing,? Mohanty added.
Often, the LCA falls into the trap of ‘indigenous’ vs ‘imported’ debate, which is unfortunate. There is limited indigenous content, all that is needed is a stable, technologically sound and competitively priced system. All that is needed is an indigenous aero-engine to formally complete the platform.
