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The airframe of tejus was designed by Dassault, the avionics are a hodgepodge of Israeli, french and Russian kit. Begging for help and buying kit from the four corners of the world and painting it safron in India doesn't make it "indigenous".Although India was not able to develop the 90 kN-class turbofan engine originally intended for the Tejas, the experience gained through the Kaveri programme has produced something much more valuable in the long term. India has since developed the Kaveri dry engine for 15-ton-class UAVs, the HTFE-25/40 engine family for trainers and UAVs, as well as turboprop and turboshaft engines for various applications.
Developing the airframe and avionics of a fighter jet is no longer a challenge for India. India demonstrated that with the Tejas programme. The engine, however, remains the most technically demanding and strategically critical component and it is precisely where India still needs to build complete mastery.
The 40 years India has invested in the Kaveri programme were not wasted simply because the original engine failed to meet all the required parameters. The programme generated invaluable design data, trained generations of engineers, created testing infrastructure, developed suppliers and built an industrial knowledge base. Those capabilities are now bearing fruit and will continue to strengthen India’s ability to design, develop and manufacture advanced fighter engines.
In the long run, the Kaveri programme will prove to be one of the most important foundations for India’s future aerospace-engine industry.
That is simply not how the Tejas programme happened. Dassault provided consultancy during the early stages, but it did not design the Tejas airframe. The aircraft was designed and developed in India under the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), with HAL, DRDO laboratories, NAL, the IAF and Indian industry contributing to the programme. The government itself identifies ADA/DRDO and HAL as the design and manufacturing agencies for the LCA Tejas.The airframe of tejus was designed by Dassault, the avionics are a hodgepodge of Israeli, french and Russian kit. Begging for help and buying kit from the four corners of the world and painting it safron in India doesn't make it "indigenous".
Sure buddy, whatever floats your boat, call it "consultancy" all you likeThat is simply not how the Tejas programme happened. Dassault provided consultancy during the early stages, but it did not design the Tejas airframe. The aircraft was designed and developed in India under the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), with HAL, DRDO laboratories, NAL, the IAF and Indian industry contributing to the programme. The government itself identifies ADA/DRDO and HAL as the design and manufacturing agencies for the LCA Tejas.
And calling the avionics a “hodgepodge” conveniently ignores what India actually developed. India developed major elements of the flight-control system, mission computer, electronic warfare architecture and other avionics. The Mk1A's Digital Fly-by-Wire Flight Control Computer, for example, was indigenously developed by DRDO's ADE and successfully flight-tested.
Most importantly, India developed Uttam AESA, an indigenous active electronically scanned array radar specifically developed for applications including Tejas. DRDO has explicitly described Uttam as an indigenous radar for the LCA Tejas, and later Mk1A aircraft are being equipped with it.
Yes, Tejas uses some foreign components—most importantly its GE F404 engine and, in the initial Mk1A batch, an Israeli AESA radar. Nobody serious disputes that. But using foreign components does not make the entire aircraft foreign. Modern fighters routinely incorporate components from international suppliers.
The real test of indigenous capability is whether India can design the aircraft, integrate the systems, develop the flight-control architecture, develop its own radar and EW systems, conduct flight testing, certify the aircraft and continuously evolve it domestically. Tejas has demonstrated precisely that.
The biggest indigenous gap is the fighter engine. That is a legitimate criticism. But “Dassault designed it and India painted it saffron” is not a serious description of the programme—it is simply a slogan that ignores four decades of Indian aerospace development.