IAF to order 20 LCA, option for 20

First batch of LCA TO HAVE American GE 404 engines to be replaced by indigenous Kavery later.

The Indian Air Force will soon sign a contract to buy 20 light combat aircraft (LCA) that would be powered by the GE 404 engines that the current prototype versions were flying on.

At a press conference on Day 2 of the Aero India 2005 trade show here, the chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal S P Tyagi, said the IAF had the option to buy another 20 aircraft.

It still not known when the indigenous Kaveri engine, being developed by the Bangalore-based Gas Turbine Research Establishment, will be ready. So, the IAF would get its first batch of LCA with the American engines.

"Nothing would give us greater satisfaction than flying an Indian aircraft with an Indian engine. But till it is ready, we will use the GE engines," Tyagi said.

Each LCA will cost Rs 100 crore. "We will soon be signing a contract to buy 40 aircraft in two stages, a firm order for 20 and the option for 20 more," the air chief said.

Work on the LCA, which is the most cost-effective aircraft in its class, is progressing well. The IAF has already finalised its list of weapons and has forwarded it to the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO), according to Tyagi.

Officials from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), which would ultimately build the aircraft in series production, said the software programmes needed for integrating the weapons were ready. "We should be able to put at least the dummy weapons on the aircraft by September," they said.

HAL's Chairman and Managing Director A K Baweja said they had "learnt a lot about weapons release when we upgraded the Jaguar fighter aircraft. So there will be a lot of backward and forward integration of this experience."

The LCA is a single-engine supersonic aircraft being developed by DRDO's Aeronautical Development Agency. Two decades after it was put on the drawing board, the  LCA made its first flight in January 2001.

Two technology demonstrators and two prototype versions have since flown for some 150 hours. That figure needs to touch 1,500 before the aircraft, called Tejas, gets initial clearance for series production.

HAL will manufacture the final version. It is currently contracted to build eight aircraft (excluding the 40 which will be ordered) in a limited production series as a part of the development programme.

India bought 11 GE 404 engines from the US conglomerate, General Electrics. It will also buy another 40 that will go on the first planes the IAF will get, starting 2008.