Public sentiment regarding the Tejas Mk1A is mixed, highlighting a sense of national pride in its maiden flight as a step forward for India's defense capabilities. However, there are significant concerns about delays, reliance on foreign components—especially the engine—and skepticism about its competitive edge against modern aircraft. Some celebrate the technological progress while others call for greater self-reliance and express doubts about the aircraft's long-term effectiveness.

Indian Government

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)

Indian Air Force

Big rise in production numbers from 36 units produced in the first 9 years in total to 13 units produced in the past year or so.

Scary_One_2452

So, a question; why does India still continue with this program? Why don’t they just get what they learned and start a new program that will result in a fighter that’s not gonna be obsolete within a couple of years? 

Is Tejas just that good of a fighter or is it stubbornness to see it through?

PanzerKomadant

Wow, from the side it looks pretty much identical to the M2K, never see it that way before.

KderNacht

Hello I am a beginner . I just wanted to know how to create this blurry effect behind the plane because when I go to meetings I shoot in automatic because I don’t really know the best settings for now .

adelagua

The next batch of the Tejas MK1A will sport the superior and indigenous UTTAM AESA radar, replacing the Israeli EL/M-2025 AESA radar. It will also carry an electronic warfare suite called SRK (Swayam Raksha Kavach, literally meaning 'Self-Defense Armor') and will feature Meteor missiles in its arsenal.

WoodpeckerNo6598

[deleted]

Icy_Establishment_27

Pretty bird, this sub is so doomed. Mass downvoted by so many bots. 

Downvoting me just to help prove my point, thank you lol.

StatisticianBig2135

How about licensing the Mirage 2000? Maybe France will sell it to India at a reasonable price.

Modernized Mirage 2000 can fight on equal with the J-10.

Entire_Judge_2988

Crazy how this look like a Mirage 2000, I wonder if Dassault had any involvement.

Even the Tejas writing under the cockpit looks like the traditional Dassault jet writing

Shelc0r

hey, i commented on an another post on this sub. i would like to apologize to all fellow redditors. i was joking and had no intent to insult any community like that. Sorry :)

BAMES_J0ND

Tejas entering service just as the Mirage 2000 is exiting service...

givemethesoju

Are they on track with their goals of indigenous parts and scaling?

Wasn't their a Tejas II already as a prototype or did i trick myself?

Rooilia

I'm sorry, but what's with Indians acting like the Tejas is some global usurper in terms of aviation? Given all the specs, I'd put it about on par with early 4th Gen fighters like the F-16A or Mirage 2000. Nothing about it is remotely competitive against modern 4.5 Gen jets like the F-15E, F-16C, Eurofighter Typhoon, Rafale, etc. Like it isn't even up for debate. Like yeah it's cool India has a homegrown fighter, but this coping that it's even remotely competitive against even an 80s fighter is absurd.

Ace_of_Razgriz_77

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Absolutely makes sense. If the delivery is so late, they should focus on mk2/A instead. Or even the AMCA for that matter. 

Something that guarantees a spot for long term.

partialfuk

Great for the Chief to call a spade - what it is. Fighter jet forced upon by ministry needs to prove its worth, prior to operationalising it. With much fanfare Army had inducted Icchapore made rifle only to discard it later due to frequent stoppages which Indian manufacturers could not sort out.

Wandererinwoods

If you are trying to interpret that statement as "Chief says Tejas is only good as a trainer", then you're wrong. He's referring to LIFT, Lead In Fighter Training, somewhere along those lines. The MiG-21's trainer, the MiG-21UM was always very problematic, both for the instructor and the student. The Tejas's two seater is an excellent aircraft with very good visibility, and can be used as a LIFT aircraft to smoothen the transition from AJT (Hawk Mk132) to normal fighters like the SU-30MKI, Rafales and others.

PB_05

"We will have to think of new weapons for Tejas" is key here - he didn't say integrate existing weapons. 

The combat tactics for Tejas that the IAF has come up with requires new weapons that need to be developed. This will happen in parallel with the ten plus year timeline for delivery of the aircraft.

hrydaya

Western-Guy

Yea it's easy to operate, forgiving &amp; user friendly. Best for rookies pilots

I think I people are misreading what he meant. Tejas as it's a much newer platform and as india has full control over it's development ended up becoming a very modular and easy to fly fighter. Hence it will  be a good fighter to come from. And his comparison with the mig 21 is whaf I think makes sense. Mig 21 in comparison to other larger fighters was easier to control. 
If someone does know better do point out. Cuz as far as I can see other than some weapons not being fully integrated with it and the technically older design Tejas is still a great fighter mind you their future role will far likely just be as support and guides for autonomous fighters/ drones. And there even being non stealthy would not really matter.


Ofcourse it's old and the was came out very late. But in most counts that doesn't really matter.

izerotwo

 i disagree, tejas would make an amazing 5th gen surface to air missile cruiser

Foxtrot24_Gamer

It's a shame, really. He's so bummed because the Tejas fighters aren't what he'd hoped for. He thinks they're only good for training, not for actual combat.

its true tho, tejas' weapon loadout is weak atm with the only decent BVR being Astra and not a lot of standoff A2G weapons. But i think that can be easily fixed in a few years. All fighter jets need to evolve constantly to maintain their edge idk why this is being thrown out of proportion.

FlamingWolf8655

Once the platform is inducted in good numbers it will keep on maturing.

Vivid-Ice-1544

I don't think that's bad at all, especially coming from this guy.

I am sure he would have some better things to say about Mk1a. But we are going to need a huge fleet of warplanes in the future. 

An easy to run and easy to replace aircraft like Mk1a made in numbers like 200 to 300 would be good for our fleet strength, the pilots and our indigenous industry. But only if HAL is opened and get its guts rearranged.

ExtremeBack1427

Training or not but with a brahmos ng and a gandhiva it is going to give a bloody nose to the opponents. Remember versatility is the name of the game and the biggest pro of Tejas is the versatility and modularity it offers. It’s the era of BVR size and range of the aircraft does not matter. It’s rare to see dogfights happening with such advanced AD in contested skies.

inquisitive_doc

I think that he is saying is that fighters like Tejas Mk2 or Rafale or Sukhoi are better suited for the challenges of an attacking war … but he is downplaying the role of interceptor and air defence where scrambling the cheaper Tejas can be an effective weapons system …

MoodyBhakt

I think we're going to "Mig-21" these and the Tejas is actually a better platform for it

As the years go on, we'll likely shove an AESA into it and keep upgrading it's avionics. We're buying lots of them.

They're great missile trucks in numbers and honestly missiles dictate the odds.

shobhit7777777

You have carefully avoided the previous portion of what he said and selectively put this sound bite out.

Lololover09

What he is simply inferring to is the Tejas can be a good trainer as well - ALA MOFTU squadrons from the past. 

Tejas can carry almost all the armament in the IAF, plus being a glass cockpit is easier to reconfigure as well.

DingoHairy2194

That’s a wrecking shot, but then why is IAF spending $7B buying an advanced jet trainer?

Do they really need 300 Tejas trainer grade fighters?

I’m guessing this is start of plan to change the current Mk1A order to Mk2.

SidJag

When i called out that the shitty tejas is only good as a toy plane for training people down voted me. Facts ain't gonna change. We are gonna waste billions to but that toy plane.

BlueTreeGlass

i am genuinely happy that everyone is having a fair and open discussion. this community is so much better than the toxic shithole that indian defense subreddit has become. awesome!

VespucciEagle

yeah it will replace mig 21 

which was also doing the same when pilot used to get training in hawk later they used to complete a combat fp traning on those mig which will be done by tejas now 

easily to fly now pilots might get good at manuvering the planes at their own comfort which they used to scared during mig 21 due to its old and tough to fly manuverablity no fly by wire conventional system

OkProgrammer7637

He is absolutely correct. Given the way how us treats its allies, who knows what type of and how much control we really have on the imported GE engines. Who can guarantee that GE engines will not fail suddenly in times of crisis.

DavidUchiha42

I guess treating this version of TEJAS as a trainer for  pilots and a testing rig for our defense manufacturers is a good idea. It does not automatically imply that he is saying tejas is not  battleworthy in its current form; TEJAS is also capable. 

But imho, with the context that he was mentioning that we had different upgrades and versions of sukhois and Migs, we can also do the same with the Tejas; rather than trying to build everything at once, let the current version be a testing rig for future upgrades.

phyyas

Based on what India did on their regular tejas and amca programs, I have zero faith on these two new aircrafts. Maybe by 2050s who knows

Leslie_Jia

tactical_mouton

TEBF is a weird Rafale. Tejas is a weird Mirage. AMCA is a weird J35.

mdang104

Old specs, especially for the AMCA. The MTOW has long since been increased to 27.5tons. The model showcased in the air show is an older design, and not the one which completed the CDR. There are chances TEDBF design may undergo a few changes, given it's timeline, so it's specs may change too. The only specs which are correct are of Tejas MK2.

Youngwolff

They downgraded the stealth faceting on the nose of the  TEDBF 😭

Mlecch

TEDBF is what happens after a night out for drinks within a Rafale and a Gripen..

Prowler1111

Geforcexx

https://preview.redd.it/hc1fxd0466td1.jpeg?width=2048&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp&amp;s=c3e8275fd0fe5c94d12a80411648d07b95671fc7

A magnificent work of beauty, I saw this today in Chennai too...

dizzyhitman_007

Beautiful plane, too bad it took so long to become operational

sleeper_shark

Tejas is a great fighter and can definitely beat Pakistan's JF17 J10

Grand-Palpitation823

victoryismind

The Tejas Mk1A jet completed its maiden flight, marking a significant milestone in India's defense capabilities aimed at self-reliance in manufacturing military hardware.

Tejas Mk1A Fighter Jet Launch

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