The Indian Air Force is about to welcome a new member, that is, the domestic light fighter LCA "Brilliant", which has been developed for more than 40 years. It is reported that the Indian Air Force will set up its first squadron of "Tejal" fighters in February or March 2024, stationed at the Nar Air Base in western India, close to the India-Pakistan border.
The Chief of Staff of the Indian Air Force, Gen. Chaudhari, said it was a "landmark event". The Indian Air Force has long relied on imported fighters, and it is undoubtedly a major breakthrough to be able to equip domestic fighters, although the localization rate of "Tejal" fighters is only 65%. This is just the beginning, and the Indian Air Force plans to purchase a large number of Tejas fighters in the future.
The Indian Air Force's goal is to gradually replace the aging Russian MiG-21 with Tejas fighters, and possibly even MiG-23, MiG-27, Puma and Mirage-2000. In order to achieve this goal, India will continue to produce 180 Tejas Mark-1A, in addition to the 40 already produced.
It is expected that in the next 8-10 years, the total number of Tejas fighters will reach 220 units, and 10 squadrons will be formed. At the same time, India is also working to improve the Tejas fighter to the level of the Mark-2 and build 12-13 squadrons with this as the main force.
In this way, the Indian Air Force's 10-year-long tender program for light fighters can come to an end. But to be honest, the performance of the "Brilliant" fighter is not outstanding, and the maximum speed is only 1Mach 8, with a range of only 1,850 kilometers, an ceiling of only 16,000 meters, and a limited payload capacity, depending on the mission, a variety of ** from Russia, Britain, Israel and India are used.
Such performance is not worth the high price**. According to the 2021 agreement, India spent 480 billion rupees, or about $5.8 billion, to buy 83 Tejas fighters, with an average of $70 million each, which is not much different from the American F-35A. The F-35A is at least a fifth-generation ** fighter, and the "Brilliant" can only be regarded as a fourth-generation aircraft with a "third-generation aircraft skin".
The performance of the Tejas fighter was not good, and the production capacity was insufficient. India will not be able to achieve the level of 24 aircraft per year until 2025, and it is not known when it will have to complete the order of 220 aircraft.
The Indian Air Force is not satisfied with its own domestic fighters, but they have no other choice. On the one hand, they need to replace a large number of old fighters, and on the other hand, they also need to support the domestic military industry. Under such pressure, the Indian Air Force can only reluctantly accept the "Tejli" fighter as the "main fighter" in the future.
Since it is unable to change the status quo, the Indian Air Force can only find a way to deploy Tejas fighters. Based on the current situation, the Indian Air Force intends to deploy most of its Tejas fighters in the west, on the India-Pakistani border. Perhaps, the Indian Air Force also knows that it is self-deprecating to let the "Brilliant" fighters confront the J-10, J-16, J-20, and even the possible J-35 of the Chinese Air Force on the eastern border.
In contrast, the Pakistani Air Force is much weaker, so the Indian Air Force sees it as its only opponent. However, such a deployment plan of the Indian Air Force may be more like "pulling a tall man out of a stick". Because, even with Pakistan's current strength, the Tejas fighter is not enough to pose any threat.
After years of development, the Pakistan Air Force has introduced two fighters, the FC-1 "Thunder" and the J-10CE "Raptor" from China.
More importantly, Pakistan has mastered a lot of aviation technology, unlike India's "Brilliant" fighter, the "Thunder" has developed to the third generation, especially after obtaining the technical support of the J-10C, this fighter is already comparable to the "four and a half generations" fighter.
The Thunder Dragon 3 is already equipped with the KLJ-7A active phased array radar and the Thunderbolt-15 missile, which allows this light fighter to confront the Indian army's Su-30 at a long distance, not to mention the mediocre performance of the "Brilliant" fighter. Compared with performance, the output and cost performance of the "Thunder" fighter are also beyond India's reach. The current annual production capacity of the "Thunder" 3 has reached 20 aircraft, and the cost is only half of that of the "Brilliant" fighter. Such a comparison is a difference of several times.
In India's ** Kuri, the only fighter that can suppress the "Thunder" 3 is the "Rafale" fighter equipped with the "Meteor" missile. But this fighter from France, India has only 36 units, and the purchase cost is as high as 8.8 billion US dollars. India has neither the ability to buy on a large scale nor the ability to imitate research and development, which can only be said to be a drop in the bucket.
What's more, the Pakistan Air Force also has a sharp weapon against the "Rafale", that is, the "Raptor" J-10CE from China. Technically, Pakistan's J-10CE and India's Rafale fighters have their own merits. However, considering that the Indian Air Force lacks AWACS aircraft and information-based combat systems, Pakistan has established a complete air combat system with the help of China's ZDK-03 AWACS aircraft. Under such conditions, the Pakistani army's J-10CE will definitely be stronger than the Indian army's "Rafale" fighter in terms of comprehensive combat capability. If the Pakistani military uses the J-10CE to deal with the "Brilliant" fighter, it will be a "bad honor" for the "Brilliant" fighter.
As a matter of fact, without the "Ssangyong" duel in the air, it would have been difficult for the "Brilliant" fighters to break through Pakistan's air-ground integrated air defense network.
Although the "Brilliant" fighter uses the American GE-404 engine, its actual combat radius is only about 500 kilometers. Coupled with the lack of over-the-horizon strike capabilities, if you want to carry out air strikes against Pakistan, or go deep into Pakistan's airspace to seize air superiority, you have to face the threat of Pakistan's surface-to-air missiles.
Pakistan now has ground-to-air missile systems, at least two of which are Hongqi-9P and Falcon-80, which can inflict a lethal blow on Tejas fighters. Among them, the Hongqi-9P can reach a range of 200 kilometers and can intercept a variety of air targets such as aircraft, cruise missiles and out-of-zone launches at a distance of 100 kilometers.
And the "Falcon-80" is the export version of the Chinese Hongqi-16, which has a maximum range of 50 km, a combat altitude of up to 20 km, and a flight speed of Mach 3, which is more than enough to deal with the "Brilliant" fighter. In addition, Pakistan also has FM-90 missiles, PG-99 twin 35 anti-aircraft guns, PG-59 57mm anti-aircraft guns, and portable missiles such as the Qianwei-1, forming a dense air defense network. Once the Tejas fighter enters the range of Pakistan's air defense, there may be no turning back.
The Indian Air Force's attempt to use Tejas fighters against Pakistan on the western border is actually a self-deceptive approach. Even if the Indian Air Force is equipped with 220 "Tejli" fighters in the future, it will not be able to break through Pakistan's air-ground integrated air defense network, which can only be described as "wishful thinking and whimsy" of the Indian Air Force.