Tejas aircraft of future: IAF Chief

New Delhi, April 27

Indian Air Force Chief BS Dhanoa has said if Pakistan’s fighter jet JF-17 is an aircraft of the present, then India’s indigenously developed Tejas is the future. JF-17 is a lightweight, single-engine, multi-role combat aircraft developed jointly by Pakistan and China.

“There is a very good article in one of the aviation journals. He (the author) says JF-17 is not as technologically advanced as Tejas. So, he said, JF-17 aircraft is of today because they have fielded more squadrons than us, and Tejas is the aircraft of the future. It has much better systems.

“It depends on how we equip it. I am sure we can come up with a better plane,” Dhanoa said on Thursday in response to a question on which one is a better aircraft.

Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, built by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), was inducted into the Indian Air Force in July 2016. It was also pressed into service during Air Force drill “Gaganshakti 2018” held this month.

Asked whether there were issues regarding Tejas during the exercise, Dhanoa responded in the affirmative. He said this could be because of moving the jets from Bengaluru, which has a temperate climate, to hot desert during the operation.

“But HAL got it up in less than six hours and thereafter, Tejas matched with other aircraft detail for detail,” he said. Dhanoa added that the Air Force was moving towards making the aircraft better. — PTI