Strike by even a midget nuke will invite massive response, India warns Pak

India will retaliate massively even if Pakistan uses tactical nuclear weapons against it. With Pakistan developing "tactical" nuclear warheads, that is, miniaturizing its weapons to be carried on short-range missiles, India will protect its security interests by retaliating to a "smaller" tactical attack in exactly the same manner as it would respond to a "big" strategic attack.

Articulating Indian nuclear policy in this regard for the first time, Shyam Saran, convener of the National Security Advisory Board, said, "India will not be the first to use nuclear weapons, but if it is attacked with such weapons, it would engage in nuclear retaliation which will be massive and designed to inflict unacceptable damage on its adversary. The label on a nuclear weapon used for attacking India, strategic or tactical, is irrelevant from the Indian perspective." This is significant, because Saran was placing on record India's official nuclear posture with the full concurrence of the highest levels of nuclear policymakers in New Delhi.

Giving a speech on India's nuclear deterrent recently, Saran placed India's nuclear posture in perspective in the context of recent developments, notably the "jihadist edge" that Pakistan's nuclear weapons capability have acquired.

Saran argued that as a result of its tactical weapons, Pakistan believes it has brought down the threshold of nuclear use. "Pakistani motivation is to dissuade India from contemplating conventional punitive retaliation to sub-conventional but highly destructive and disruptive cross-border terrorist strikes such as the horrific 26/11 attack on Mumbai. What Pakistan is signalling to India and to the world is that India should not contemplate retaliation even if there is another Mumbai because Pakistan has lowered the threshold of nuclear use to the theatre level. This is nothing short of nuclear blackmail, no different from the irresponsible behaviour one witnesses in North Korea," he said.

One of the main reasons for Pakistan miniaturizing its nukes is actually to keep its weapons from being confiscated or neutralized by the US, a fear that has grown in the Pakistani establishment in the wake of the operation against Osama bin Laden. "Pakistan has, nevertheless, projected its nuclear deterrent as solely targeted at India and its strategic doctrine mimics the binary nuclear equation between the US and the Soviet Union which prevailed during the Cold War," Saran said.

However, warning Pakistan, he added, "A limited nuclear war is a contradiction in terms. Any nuclear exchange, once initiated, would swiftly and inexorably escalate to the strategic level. Pakistan would be prudent not to assume otherwise as it sometimes appears to do, most recently by developing and perhaps deploying theatre nuclear weapons."

There have been significant shifts in Pakistan's nuclear posture recently. First is the movement from uranium to a newer generation of plutonium weapons, which has enabled Pakistan to increase the number of weapons, outstripping India in weapons and fissile material production. Although they are still to be verified, Pakistan has claimed it has miniaturized nuclear weapons to be used on cruise missiles and other short-range missiles. The newer generation of Pakistan's weapons are also solid-fuelled rather than liquid, making them easier to transport and launch.

Times of India

INS Sindhurakshak arrives in India

The kilo class submarine, which was retrofitted in the Zvyozdochka shipyard, in Severodvinsk arrived in the Mumbai port on Monday.
The INS Sindhurakshak, a diesel-electric submarine of the Indian Navy that underwent interim overhaul and modernisation at the Russian Severodvinsk-based Zvezdochka shipyard, arrived at the Mumbai port today, a senior Russian naval official said. “The submarine reached Mumbai this morning,” Rear Admiral Aleksandr Litenkov told RIR.
The modernised submarine arrived in Mumbai through the Northern Sea Route and stopped in ports, such as Cartagena, Spain, and Alexandria, Egypt.
The kilo class submarine was retrofitted in the Zvyozdochka shipyard in Severodvinsk, north-west Russia. In the course of refit it was armed with modern Club-S cruise missiles, Porpoise radar and its cooling system was modernised. “It was a very wise decision on the part of the Indian Navy to completely modernise and retrofit the submarine in the Zvyozdochka shipyard,” Litenkov told RIR, adding that the shipyard would be ready to assist India in modernising its naval fleet.
The contract for intermediate overhaul and modernisation of the large diesel-electric submarine (project Type 877EKM Kilo) was signed between the Zvyozdochka ship repair centre and the Indian Ministry of Defence in June 2010. The submarine arrived in Severodvinsk and was accepted for repairs in August of that year.

The INS Sindhurakshak is the fifth Indian submarine to be repaired and modernised at Zvyozdochka. The first vessel, INS Sindhuvir, was handed over to the Indian Navy after repairs and modernisation in 1999.
A typical kilo-class submarine has a displacement of 2,300 tonnes, length of 72.6 metres, a submerged speed of 19 knots (about 35 kilometres an hour), a test depth of 300 metres, a crew of 52 and endurance of 45 days. These submarines are armed with six 533 mm torpedo tubes.
The modernisation arms the submarines with additional state-of-the-art Russian Club S anti-ship missiles (designed by the Novator bureau) with a range of about 200 kilometres. Supplementary Indian-made equipment includes a USHUS hydro-acoustic unit and CCS-MK communications system.
INS Sindhurakshak was built in 1997 by the Admiralteiskie verfi shipyard in St Petersburg for the Indian Navy.
Zvyozdochka has become a leading partner of the Indian Navy in maintaining the combat readiness of the kilo class submarines, experts in Moscow and Delhi say. Zvyozdochka provides its services not only at its Severodvinsk shipyard, but also at the home station of the Indian submarines. The shipyard has two covered ship-houses with seven building berths designed for repairing and building vessels weighing up to 18,000 tonnes. United Shipbuilding Corporation controls 100 percent minus one share in the shipyard through its subsidiary OAO Northern Centre for Shipbuilding and Ship Repair.

 indrus.in

INS Vikramaditya poised to meet latest deadline

The INS Vikramaditya has undergone a complex operation at Russia’s Sevmash shipyard ahead of the final stage of trials and delivery to the Indian Navy later this year.
With 10 weeks still left until July 3, 2013, when the final sea trials are due to begin, tug boats carefully manoeuvred the giant ship to a drainable pool. There the Vikramaditya will once again be put on a frame. Once the water has been drained, engineers will inspect the hull of the ship and all its outboard parts and components.
According to the head of the commissioning team, Igor Leonov, all the procedures in the dry dock - which are compulsory for a ship after repairs - will take two months. So far, the project remains strictly on the latest schedule.The April 25 deadline for putting the ship in the dock has been met, Leonov said.
Ekaterina Pilikina, spokeswoman for the Sevmash shipyard, gave the media details of the elaborate operation. The main complication was that there were only a few centimetres to spare between the hull of the enormous ship and the sluice gate. To make matters worse, the team worked in strong winds and had only an hour at the peak of the high tide to complete their task.
The operation was observed by senior Sevmash executives; the head of the White Sea naval base, Vladimir Vorobyev; the captain of the Indian crew of the Vikramaditya, Suraj Berry and the head of the Indian observation team, Kudaravalli Srinivas. Both Indian representatives were impressed with what they saw.

Srinivas said this was the second time he saw such an operation. The first was back in 2008, when the ship was being taken out of the drainable pool after repairs. “Now Sevmash specialists have once again demonstrated their professionalism,” the Indian representative said. “They have coped very well with their task.”
The chief executive of the shipyard, Mikhail Budnichenko, expressed confidence that all the remaining work in the dock “will be done well and on schedule.” Sergey Novoselov, head of defence export projects at Sevmash, explained the nature of that work: “In accordance with the contract, we must inspect the state of the hull, the propeller-rudder system, and the sea valves. We will also restore the paintwork below the waterline, if necessary.”
 Novoselov added that most of the problems identified during the sea trials have already been fixed. The ongoing refurbishment of the main boilers involves specialists of the companies which designed and manufactured them. The refurbishment is scheduled for completion in May. All the interim results of the project are inspected by the Indian customer and by the Russian MoD.
Before the Vikramaditya can take to the sea once again, the Sevmash quality assurance specialists will be asked to present their findings on 435 separate items covering almost the entire ship, including tens of thousands of individual parts and components. In addition, much of the interior finish has yet to be completed.
 “There are more than 2,500 compartments in the ship,” Novoselov says. “That includes combat stations, bays, cabins, engine and boiler rooms, power plant compartments, and a 120 metre-long hangar, which is about the same length as a football pitch. We must paint all these compartments, install the hardware, properly insulate all the piping and frame elements, and present the whole thing for the customer's inspection. In addition to the engineers setting up the main equipment, we also have painters, joiners, fitters, insulation technicians and other specialists working on the Vikramaditya.”

In the autumn of 2012, the Vikramaditya was forced to return to Sevmash, where it had previously been repaired and refitted, to replace the fire-resistant insulation of the boilers, which began to deteriorate during trials in the Barents Sea. This and several other problems with the hardware had forced Russia to postpone the delivery of the Vikramaditya to the Indian Navy, which was previously scheduled for 2012.
The new delivery deadline is November 2013. Eight boilers must be refurbished before the end of May if that deadline is to be met. The ship is scheduled to take to the sea once again on July 3, so there will be a month left to test all the boilers of the main power plant, including operation at the maximum load. The next stage of the trials, which involves the planes and helicopters based on the Vikramaditya, is scheduled for August 3.
In mid-October the ship will return to Sevmash, where specialists will spend another month preparing it for the voyage to India.

Trials schedule: Every day counts
Sergey Novoselov, Head of defence export projects at Sevmash

“On July 2013 the aircraft carrier will begin sea trials in the White Sea; we will spend a month testing all the boilers of the main power plant under various loads. The next stage of the trials will commence on August 3 in the Barents Sea, and end on September 30. It will involve the planes and helicopters based on the carrier; the aim is to test the operation of the entire carrier-aircraft complex. One of the critical parts of the trials is aircraft landings on the deck of the Vikramaditya during night-time. These flights will begin in late August or early September, once the midnight sun period north of the Polar Circle is over.
 Then the ship is scheduled to return to Sevmash in early October to begin preparations for the voyage to India. November 15 is the deadline for the aircraft to be delivered to the customer and (for the ship to) set sail for its new home in India. Incidentally, we are planning a shorter route for that journey, via the Suez Canal rather than around Africa. In accordance with the terms of the contract, Sevmash engineers will perform repairs and maintenance during the initial 12-month warranty period, and then provide their services for another 20 years once the warranty has expired."

 indrus.in

Two new Army units for deployment near China border

New Delhi: Against the backdrop of China strengthening its capability to airlift soldiers, India is planning to raise around 1,500 more airborne troops for deployment in the northeast along the China border.

Under the 12th Defence Plan, India is planning to raise two new battalions of the airborne troops with around 1,500 personnel under the elite Parachute Regiment of the Army, Defence Ministry sources said here.

The new raisings would be apparently used to check any move by any adversary to airdrop their troops within Indian territory and capture that area, they said.

The new units would also be used for the conventional roles in counter terrorism and counter insurgency operations in that area and would also be capable of being dropped behind enemy lines in case of any future war, they said.Recently, the Army raised the 11 Para (SF) that is being deployed under the Tezpur-based 4 Corps and 3 Corps in Dimapur which are two of the Army's main formations looking after the border with China in the northeast.

The Parachute Regiment has 10 units under it of which eight are Special Forces units while the rest are Para Commando units with capability of launching airborne operations.

Seven among them have already been trained and classified as Special Forces, which are supposed to carry out counter- insurgency operations during peacetime and sabotage enemy installations beyond enemy lines during wars.
 They are deployed in different sectors of the country and have also been given the responsibility to handle 26/11 type attacks near their area of deployment.

China in the recent past has significantly enhanced its capability to launch airborne operations and according to some reports, can air lift more than 3,500 soldiers for operational deployment in one go.

PTI / zeenews

IAF to get 9 new planes

A top decision-making body of the Defence Ministry has cleared an Indian Air Force (IAF) proposal to buy nine aircraft for Rs 1,100 crore to boost its signal intelligence gathering capabilities.
Officials said the Defence Acquisition Council, chaired by Defence Minister A K Antony on Saturday, approved the proposal for procuring the nine planes that are likely replacements for the now phased-out Canberra fleet.
“The IAF will now  issue a Request for Proposals for buying these planes,” officials said.

 By New Indian Express

Russia ready to negotiate with India on MiG-35 fighters

Russia is keen that India buys its MiG-35 fighter aircraft, a top Russian official said.
The Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG (RAC MiG) has proposed to India to consider the possibility of concluding a contract on the supply of the MiG-35 multipurpose fighter jet, RAC MiG Director General Sergei Korotkov told Itar-Tass in an interview. "Despite the fact that we lost the tender for the supply of 126 multipurpose fighters to the Indian Air Force, the RAC MiG fulfilled all the requirements set the tender committee," Korotkov said. "The aircraft has demonstrated good results, sometimes even exceeding expectations."

According to him, the corporation hopes that "India will consider the possibility of concluding a contract on the supply of the MiG-35 fighters."

"And we will have the opportunity to implement it," he said. "Within this bundle of knowledge that India received during this tender, I would like the MiG-35 issue to be continued against the background of our common history and 50 years of partnership."

According to preliminary information, the winner of the tender for the supply of fighter aircraft to the Indian Air Force was the French Dassault Rafale. However, neither party has announced the official timeframe of the contract conclusion.

"This year the next batch of four aircraft will be delivered," said the head of the MiG Aircraft Corporation.

He also took part in the celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the start of the Soviet MiG-21 fighters' deliveries to the Indian Air Force.

The agreement on the supply of the MiG-21 planes to India was signed in 1962, and the deliveries began a year later. In 1967, the Indian company Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) handed over to the Indian Air Force the first MiG-21 fighter that was built here under the USSR license.

IANS/ Zeenews

Chinese incursion: India likely to send Army contingent to Daulat Beg Oldi sector

With Chinese forces intruding nearly 10km inside Indian territory in Ladakh, India is likely to send an Army contingent to the area to be on guard even though it wants to avoid a confrontation.

Indian Army had earlier sent a team of Ladakh Scouts — an infantry regiment specialising in mountain warfare — to the Daulat Beg Oldi sector, manned by the troops of Indo—Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) — soon after it was discovered that the Chinese troops had set up a camp there.

Additional troops may be deployed in the area if the situation does not de-escalate and Chinese troops do not go back to their old position, sources said here on Tuesday.

A platoon—strength contingent of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) had come 10km inside the Indian territory in Burthe in DBO sector, located at an altitude of about 17,000 feet, on the night of April 15 and established a tented post there.

A Chinese Army Platoon usually consists of around 50 troops.

India and China on Tuesday conducted second round of flag-meeting in the area since the incursion was reported and India asked the Chinese side to revert to the status quo position. The first meeting was held on April 18.

On earlier occasions, the Indian and Chinese troops had transgressed into each other's territory due to differences in perception of the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The Defence Ministry had earlier also maintained that the LAC is not properly demarcated in some areas.

ITBP troops have also established a camp approximately 300m opposite the Chinese location and is monitoring the development.

DBO, located in northernmost Ladakh, is an historic camp site and located on an ancient trade route connecting Ladakh to Yarkand in Xinjiang, China.

times of india

Three Nuclear Subs to Join Russian Navy by Year end

(RIA Novosti) - The Russian Navy will take delivery of two Project 955 Borey-class ballistic-missile submarines, the Alexander Nevsky and the Vladimir Monomakh, and one Yasen-class attack submarine, the Severodvinsk, by the end of the year, a Defense Ministry official said on Tuesday.
Everything is going according to plan and there will be "no delays," said Andrei Vernigora, director of the ministry’s state defense contracts department, refuting reports the Alexander Nevsky would only be put into service only in 2014.
Alexander Nevsky is due to be commissioned with the Navy in September, he added. The boat has been undergoing trials at the Sevmash shipyard since 2012. A Bulava ballistic missile will be test-launched from the submarine in the summer, a Navy official told RIA Novosti in late March.
Alexander Nevsky is the second Borey-class submarine. The first, the Yury Dolgoruky, entered service with the Northern Fleet in January, and the third, the Vladimir Monomakh, was floated out last December and will start trials in the White Sea in June, United Shipbuilding Corporation President Andrei Dyachkov said earlier this month.
The Sevmash shipyard will start construction this year of two more Borey-class Project 955A submarines - the Alexander Suvorov and the Mikhail Kutuzov.

Severodvinsk nuclear attack submarine

Borey class submarines are to become the mainstay of the Navy's strategic nuclear deterrent, replacing the ageing Project 941 (NATO Typhoon class) and Project 667 class (Delta-3 and Delta-4) boats.
A total of eight Borey-class submarines are to be built for the Russian Navy by 2020.
Sevmash said in August it hoped to hand the Severodvinsk attack submarine over to the Russian Navy by the end of 2012.
The Severodvinsk carried out a series of cruise-missile test-firings in November earlier including the test-launch of a supersonic cruise missile at a land target. Laid down in 1993, Severodvinsk is one of eight Yasen-class boats being built for the Russian Navy.
The multirole attack submarine has a submerged displacement of 13,800 tons, length of 119 meters, speed of 31 knots, and can dive to 600 meters. It has a crew of 90 including 32 officers.
It is armed with 3M55 Oniks (SS-N-26) and 3M54 (SS-N-27) Kalibr cruise missiles, torpedoes, and mines.

China concerned over India’s naval prowess, says expert

China, concerned over India’s policy on Indian Ocean, wants to establish posts in countries like Sri Lanka and Seychelles, said Dr. Lora Saalman, an American expert on arms control.

Dr. Saalman is an associate at the Nuclear Policy Program of the Carnegie Endowment and is based at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy, Beijing. Her research focuses on Chinese arms control policies, and Sino-Indian and Sino-Russian strategic relations.

In an interaction with media persons here on Monday, she said some of the experts in China felt India was either on par with China or even surpassed it on naval power. Referring to strengthening of Indian Navy in recent years, she said the Chinese felt India might use its policy to control the Indian Ocean. “It is the first and foremost on their mind.”

Observing that the posts could be used as refuelling points by the Chinese, Dr. Saalman however added that not all engagement was negative as military could also be used to shore up economic interests in the region.

Dr. Saalman said China was also increasingly focusing on India and looking at where India was heading in the wake of the latter’s defence modernisation programme.

The Chinese viewed the India-U.S. partnership as a strategy to counter China in the region, she said, adding India could become part of the United States alliance consisting Japan and Taiwan. China was also looking with interest at the shift in export controls and the easing of restrictions on technology imports by India and was interested in engaging the U.S. in technology trade as they do not have anything comparable to India, Dr. Saalman said.

the hindu

600 border violations by China along LAC since 2010

China's "deeper" troop incursions into Ladakh have set the alarm bells clanging in the Indian security establishment, even as defence minister A K Antony on Monday asserted that all necessary steps would be taken "to protect the country's interests" in the continuing face-off between rival soldiers in the Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) sector.

India has recorded well over 600 "transgressions" - the government's euphemism for cross-border intrusions - all along the unresolved 4,057-km Line of Actual Control (LAC) by the People's Liberation Army over the last three years.

While the sheer number of the incidents itself is disquieting, the Indian establishment is more worried about the "brazen military assertiveness" being shown by the PLA in all the three sectors of the LAC -- western (Ladakh), middle ( Uttarakhand, Himachal) and eastern ( Sikkim, Arunachal) - in recent times.

"Ladakh in particular — in DBO and Nyoma sectors as well as Trig Heights and Pangong Tso lake — is being targeted. Though Chinese troops usually go back after marking their presence, they are increasingly coming deeper and deeper into our territory with the aim to stake claim to disputed areas," said an official.

This comes in the backdrop of a PLA platoon setting up a temporary camp, with soldiers pitching tents to coolly settle down, around 10 km inside Indian territory in Burthe area of the DBO sector last week, as was then reported by TOI.

India also moved forward a platoon of Ladakh Scouts to station them just about 500 metres from the Chinese tented position, which is at an altitude of 16,800 feet. "Our soldiers are conducting 'banner drills' (waving banners and placards at the Chinese troops to show it is Indian territory) through the day," said another officer.

"We held a brigadier-level flag meeting with the Chinese troops on April 18 to resolve the issue but nothing much came off it. We have asked for another flag meeting," he added.

India is also working the hotlines of the new bilateral boundary coordination mechanism, which became operational last year after the 15th round of border between national security advisor Shivshankar Menon and his Chinese counterpart Dai Bingguo, to resolve the stand-off.

"We are in touch and flag meetings are going on. There is more information to come. We will factor all that and then take a final view," external affairs minister Salman Khurshid said.

But the fact remains that India has become extremely wary of China's cartographic aggression, coupled with the Beijing-Islamabad nexus, in the region. Pointing this out, Antony had warned at the recent Army commanders' conference that this hardening Chinese stand on the boundary issue was "not likely" to change even with the new leadership led by Xi Jingping taking guard in Beijing.

"Therefore, there is a need to constantly develop our capability to achieve minimum credible deterrence, even while we seek a peaceful resolution of the issue," he said. 

times of india

New aircraft deal crucial for IAF: Browne

The Indian Air Force (IAF) chief NAK Browne on Monday indicated that the medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) deal, pertaining to acquisition of 126 aircraft at a cost of around Rs 45,000 crore, was crucial in the wake of the fact that the Mig-21 aircraft were being phased out. The phasing out of all the four variants of these aircraft will be over by 2019-20.
Browne was visiting the headquarters of the Central Air Command (CAC), Bamrauli, here for the two-day annual conference of the CAC commanders, which began today. Addressing the press, Browne said: "To replace the phased out aircraft, it must be understood that we will need new aircraft by 2019-20. If the MMRCA deal is signed this year, we will be having adequate number of aircraft by the time the old ones are all phased out."
Out of the four Mig-21 variants, the first, Type-77, would be phased out by 2014. The other three variants (Type-96, Type-75 and Bison) would be phased out between 2016 and 2019, Browne said. There were a total of 874 such aircraft and the last one rolled out in 1987, he added.
Maintaining that there was adequate support from the ministry and the government on the issue, Browne said, "Everybody agrees this is the right approach. This will have to be done," he said. The Air Force Chief further added that the IAF would become fully modernised and networked Air Force by 2022.
In the past couple of months, the MMRCA negotiations had hit roadblock with the French company Dassault, which will be providing the aircraft, seeking some changes in the terms of engagement.
Browne informed that, as part of the long-term integrated perspective plan envisaged in 2005-06, a total of 318 contracts worth over Rs 1,51,000 crore have been finalised. "That plan is now unfolding and we are getting deliveries," he said.

The indian express

Tejas grounds Medium Combat Aircraft project

Troubles in India’s ambitious Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) project has inflicted gaping wounds where it would hurt the Indian Air Force (IAF) the most—the future plans for an Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA).
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has “put on hold” the AMCA project that is being spearheaded by Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA).
The reason for the sudden decision to send the AMCA project—which began in right earnest in 2006 as the Medium Combat Aircraft (MCA) development in 2006—to cold storage is to help ADA to focus all its energies to first work on completing the much-delayed LCA project. “The AMCA has been put on hold for the moment. This decision was taken recently to let the ADA focus on the LCA project,” top Defence Ministry sources told The Sunday Standard. The AMCA project, for which the IAF provided the final Air Staff Qualitative Requirements (ASQR) in April 2010, may be taken up at a later date, sources said. But that will still be far away in the future.
India will buy Rafale planes from the French Dassault Aviation as part of its 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA); in the tender there is a provision to buy another 63 as a follow-on order. That apart, India is working on the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) in collaboration with Russia. With the final agreement on the design and development of the FGFA three months away, India will get at least 140 FGFAs for induction by 2027. Considering that most of the capabilities of AMCA will be covered by the MMRCA and FGFA planes, the revival of the AMCA will be a well thought-out one, sources said.
The AMCA’s envisaged features include stealth, multi-role operations, adequate precision strike capabilities, including critical first-day missions such as Suppression of Enemy Air Defence (SEAD) and Destruction of Enemy Air Defence (DEAD).
The much-touted Tejas has taken 30 years already, at an escalated project cost of Rs 5,489 crore. Since the LCA project was sanctioned in 1983 at a cost of Rs 560 crore, the time overrun has resulted in a 10-fold increase in the project cost. The plane is yet to get even its Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) so that the IAF could take the plane for a spin. But sources pointed out that the LCA still lacks certain critical capabilities, including a reliable radar, and is deficient in at least 100 technical parameters. “The plane cannot fly on its own. It needs a lifeline in the form of support and monitoring of its systems from the ground by technicians,” they said.
The LCA, in fact, gave creditable flying displays during the AeroIndia show in Yelahanka in Bangalore in February this year, and followed it up with weapons firing to hit both ground and aerial targets during the Iron Fist fire power display by the IAF in the Rajasthan’s Pokhran ranges, again in February this year. “The common man thinks the plane is doing fine, its engine sounds great and the manoeuvres are perfect. But those flying and weapons firing displays are done with ground monitoring and support. The plane is still not ready to flying on its own,” sources stressed. Their guess is the LCA may not meet its schedule of obtaining the IOC before July this year and it could take till December this year or early next year before it is ready. To give an example of LCA’s troubles, the sources noted that LCA was grounded for three months between September and December 2012 following problems with its landing gear. “Normally, a combat plane is ready for its next sortie following a 30-minute attention from ground service personnel soon after it has returned from a mission. In the case of LCA, after a single sortie of about an hour or so, it needs three days of servicing before it can go for its next sortie,” they said.
At present, the IAF has placed an order for 40 LCAs Mk1 to raise two squadrons by 2016-17 with HAL which is the nodal agency for production of Tejas. But these will be delivered with the American General Electric F404 engines which provide only 80 Kilo Newton power.
Later, 80 more LCAs of its Mk2 version will be ordered for raising four more squadrons. The LCA Mk2 will be powered by the GE F414 engines that provide a 90 Kilo Newton thrust.

 The Sunday Standard