The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) has approved Tejas Mark-2 Project. The CCS has sanctioned 6,500 crore rupees for designing and developing of Tejas Mark-2 fighter jet with prototypes, flight testing, and certification. The allocation comes in addition to the existing 2500 crore rupees sanctioned to HAL.
The advanced version of Tejas LCA will feature a series of additions to its flight and fight capabilities. Tejas 2.0 will be equipped with more powerful GE- F414 engines in the 98 Kilonewton thrust class, which will allow it to extend its flight range and carry additional payload and weapons as compared to the existing version. The payload capacity of the Tejas Mark-2 jet will be four tonnes as compared to three tonnes of the existing version. In addition to this, the new jet will also be equipped with an indigenously developed Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, which will be a major upgrade from the existing ELTA’s EL/M-2032 multi-mode radar.
Speaking to a news agency, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari said, Tejas Mark-2 will fill a critical capability void. He said, therefore, it is essential that all stakeholders should need to work in tandem to ensure the timely induction of this aircraft into IAF.
Air Chief Marshal said, in the view of rapidly depleting strength of fighter squadrons of IAF and phasing out of the MiG-21 aircraft in coming years, it is essential that laid down timelines for the projects are adhered to. Air Chief Marshal said, this decision will give a tremendous boost to the indigenous design and development of next-gen fighter aircraft. He highlighted that it would further Atmanirbhar Bharat’s initiative in the domain of aircraft manufacturing.
