Eye on export markets, Tejas debuts in Dubai

Malaysia, Argentina, Egypt - the three countries that have evinced interest in the Indian light fighter

The Indian Air Force (IAF) and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) are making a splash at the Dubai Air Show, which began on Sunday and will run through Thursday. Two IAF aerobatics teams are catching the eye of spectators — the Suryakiran, which performs with nine Hawk advanced jet trainers (AJTs), and the Sarang, which flies four Dhruv helicopters.

In addition to these, the indigenous Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA), built by HAL, screams through the skies several times each day in aerobatics displays, flaunting its performance to possible customers.

The real audience for the Tejas displays, however, is far from Dubai. It