A heavier LCA MK2 that is Single Engine, doesn't make much sense to me.
Future is of GaN based radars which will consume lesser engine power and will provide higher output compared to older generation radars. One reason for which dual engines were required. In today's era technology is becoming more and more efficient.
Second previously Dual engines were used to provide high thrust to even cross Mach 2 barrier. But most of the countries are already limiting their aircrafts for Mach 1.8 speed only
the cold war era, Mach speed mattered the most only in getaway drive and little actually in the combat, also in the cold war era, jets were not made to last 6000 hours of airframe life nor were to be operational for 40 years. lower production cost in the 60-70s meant those jets with higher max speeds could barely last beyond 20 years before airframe stress and hairline fractures on the fuselage could have grounded them for good but when jets became more expensive due to avionics and improved technology, many countries start studies effect of high-speed stress on the airframe and it was concluded that unnecessary high speed which has little advantages in combat scenarios should be avoided to prolong the airframe life of the jets. The LCA-Tejas airframe has been engineered to achieve 1.8Mach speed and it was supposed to be tested till that speed to achieve its specification mark but that could not be done due to fear of possible FBW failure and loss of control due to excessive vibrations at that speed and max speed achieved was 1.6Mach, which now has become the gold standard of max speed in new jets to maintain a long life of the airframe and to also avoid critical premature airframe failures. India’s next two fighter jet programs like Medium Weight Fighter and AMCA will also have Max speed of 1.8Mach, but this time engineers and its developers plan to test to its limit but Pilots will always be told to keep it below 1.6Mach.
More focused is going to towards situation awareness and BVRM fights compared to close range maneuvering vrm fights.
Recent Chinese Su-27 copies Vs saab grippen showed this concept in theory.
MWF with single engine will be cheaper to operate tho only negative they will have is lesser payload but remember we have 270 SU-30 aircraft which are heavy weight aircrafts. And i don't think we are going to retire SU-30 anytime soon.
And i think manufacturing single engine jet should be easier than Dual engine jet?
