Light combat aircraft was conceived as an extremely ambitious project for Indian Air force in the late 80's. India's HAL had previously produced the promising HF24 Marut with the help of the legendary designer Kurt Tank. With the romance of the giant slayer Folland Gnat embedded in the minds of the IAF brass, the concept of Light, Agile and nimble fighter of the 4th generation was envisaged. To design such an aircraft an entire aeronautical eco system was needed, and thus was born the ADA within the DRDO sphere of Labs, bypassing the HAL the largest and only aircraft manufacturing organization in the country which in retrospect might have been a poor decision.
So what went wrong? Pretty much most of it except the structure of the aircraft. By the time IAF was highly impressed with Mirage 2000, the goal became to produce comparable version of the same with an indigenous turbofan engine, a PESA multimode radar, Electronic warfare suite by the early 2000. The first prototype took to the skies 2001, with a GE F404 engine, meanwhile the kaveri engine project did not yield any substantial results. Similarly, the PESA radar did not take shape either. What did work was the state if the art composite airframe, control avionics and the fly by wire system for the system.
Meanwhile while ADA/IAF was struggling to get the LCA operational, Mig 21's were running out of life, and started getting the undeserved nickname of the widow-maker. These airframes should have been retired a ling time ago, but due to delays of the LCA- Tejas, the life was being extended, in some instances not so successfully.
By the mid 2000's, IAF had again started changing it's mind from Light agile fighter to a light multirole aircraft capable of not only replacing the mig21's but also supplement Mig27's CAS missions and medium range air interdiction role. Knowing that LCA Tejas in it's current iterations wont be able to do so, MRCA (Mirage as stopgap) and subsequently ballooned into the MMRCA as a top tier omnirole Squadrons with LCA as the second tier Area defense system.
One look at the IAF fleet and it will show signs of heavy concentration on Air Superiority, most of it's platforms like the Su 30 MKI, Mig29, Mirage 2000's are exceptional Air superiority platforms, even the LCA was designed to be a nimble and agile dog-fighter. With success of the 4.5th generation multi-role aircraft’s, LCA's intended purpose too was modified to become the multi-role system in the avatar of LCA MK2.
So who is to blame for the delays in the project? Three main reasons seem to be Changing goal posts for the LCA from the Air Staff HQ; The disconnect of ADA/DRDO from it's own technology base and lack of the IAF's ownership of the project have been the biggest contributors for the delays of this indigenous light combat aircraft system. One cannot rule out intentional misdoings in the ministry of defense to ensure that the project was starved for funds and intentionally mismanaged due to pressures from foreign aviation companies as has been alleged in quite a few quarters.
With dwindling squadron owing to already decommissioned Mig 23 and Mig 21 F/S/FL series air crafts along with Mig21 bison’s and Mig 27's on the verge of being decommissioned soon, LCA Mk2 is one of the most important projects for India, even more important to the national security of India than the FGFA or AMCA. With a heavy air superiority fleet of MKI , Mig 29's and Mirage 2000, India's air interdiction and Area defense gets weaker due to lack of internal cover of an area defense fighter like the LCA. With sufficient numbers of LCA being the work horse, it frees up the MKI's and Mig29 protecting trombay high and other installation to do their real jobs of taking the fight to the enemy.
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