Lol and don't we pride ourselves that HAL developed HTT 40 on their own, without government funding?
On the other side they failed to develop IJT, so we blame politics for IJT and praise HAL for HTT 40, the usual convinient way.
IJT or HTT is a small project LCA is a big project. HTT can be funded by HAL pockets but LCA can't be. Also, LCA was developed by ADA which does not have source of income like HAL.
Of all those 35 years people count LCA took in development what they don't know is that first sum of money was only release in the period of 1991-93. And LCA was on its maiden flight in 2002 despite setbacks of Pokhran.
Without IAF committing enough numbers, the ADA-HAL was not taking the project any further. There is a requirement for extra flow of money for expediting a testing process specially one with many unknowns. Developers need to place orders for systems that cannot be locally sourced. Then there is long gestation period before those systems can be delivered. Also, third-party vendors require enough orders to break-even if they are asked to set up dedicated infrastructure. Nothing could be done without sufficient order in required numbers.
Here 20 IOC + 20 FOC was hardly any numbers for building a production line with a capacity of 16 aircraft per year at HAL let alone at third party places. And in reality, ADA-HAL only started expediting the development when then DM M Parikar cut the Gordian knot with MK-1A. Supposedly it was enough to at least reach break even. Since then things started to pace up. Today we are witnessing 1 Tejas out of production every month.
As for the technical challenges. Well, nothing unusual. Team Tejas was learning and building capability at the same developing a combat aircraft with cutting-edge technologies. It is nothing short of a miracle that they completed IOC phase without a single incident let alone an accident. SAAB with rich experience to draw from had crashed Gripen twice even when they were only using a customised F-16's FBW.
As for FOC delays. Let me put an example. When EF 2000 which entered service in 2003, attained FOC with RAF in only 2008. Similarly, Tejas which acquired IOC in 2013 should be getting FOC sometime in 2018-19.
What is normal here? The plane had first flight in 2001 and till 2015 it had nothing significant of its own. Everything was imported and even today the engine and radar are imported. In addition, many other items like IRST, weapons integration was incomplete. How is this any normal? Developing engine is a crucial part of developing a plane. India had managed to develop avionics, FBW and airframe only. There was no other development.
The problem with Tejas and EF or Rafale is that Tejas does not have an engine of its own. Without engine, it is a dud. Engine development is the key to developing a plane. India also makes Al31F engines. It is really strange that India has been developing Kaveri for 20 years and still nothing has come out. Rafale was started in 1986 and inducted in 2001. This was when the computerisation was not as significant as today. The M88 engine was completed in 10 years.
India had manufacturing experience in planes been before Tejas. India made MiG21 Bisons in India including the engines. India was not specially disadvantaged. Yet, India was too slow.
Wrong, many avoidable development mistakes and over ambition were prime reason of the "development" got delayed on many levels.
No politician forced ADA to design the world's smallest fighter or DRDO to develop the largest MBT. No politician is responsible for overweight and drag issuse of the design. No politician is responsible, for the delays of IOC and FOC as explained, since all that is part of the development of ADA.
What you can hold politicians accountable to, is the selection of ADA/DRDO as the leading agency, without taking foreign partners into account, or not properly setting up the infrastructure of the Indian aviation industry, but not for any development mistakes of the programme.
It sadly took that long and it still will take nearly a decade, till we might have a version that complies to the basic requirements and just as in the past, the MK2 will be dependent on not more delays in the programme.
Keep in mind, that we selected the engine years ago, but couldn't move on with MK2, because of the IOC/FOC delays. The same delays that then led to the MK1A compromise. So although the government supported the MK2 and pushed for engine and consultancy partners to improve the development, the slow pace of certifications and ongoing development issues, keep hurting Tejas.
First, the Tejas was meant to be a light plane like Gripen C. Is Gripen C too small? May be. But that is what was also Tejas MK1 size. MBT was not the largest. Abrams and Arjun both weigh the same. So, your argument that Indian scientists botch up on size is absurd.
The IAF gave a small fighter requirement and it was made. The idea was to mass manufacture the plane. Tejas being a delta wing was also a perfect fit for that- delta wings have lower assembly time. It was not that ADA was stupid that small fighter was made. Secondly, it was meant to establish air superiority by virtue of having superior maneuverability due to low size. But today's BVR improvement and AESA radars have made this unnecessary and since the late 1990s, world moved towards multirole fighters. This was not design flaw but changing circumstances.
What foreign partners would you have wanted? What do you expect foreign partners to do? Do you think any foreign country except Russia would have given away technology transfer to India? if you are speaking of design, Tejas did use foreign help. It was designed after Mirage 2000. But, the design to make it a small fighter was decided by IAF.
Engine may have been selected years ago but no concrete specifications were given for Mk2. Just selecting engine will not automatically make Tejas MK1 get upgraded. The reason why no specifications were given was political. Delays don't happen by magic. Delays happen because the basic specifications are not provided.
Government supported MK2 and engine development only after 2014. But, unfortunately, the 10 years of blackhole meant that there was not even a specification and hence a new specification had to be drafted, which eventually resulted in MK1A as an interim measure and development of MK2. MK2 development effectively began only in 2016.
Nothing will be delayed if the politicians are supportive. It is hostile politicians that cause problems
