India’s next target is to build fifth generation fighter aircraft: H Siddesha

Vadodara: After building light combat aircraft (LCA) – Tejas – India’s target is to build fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) indigenously. This is what H Siddesha, project director and technology director of LCA at the Aeronautical Development Agency of Ministry of Defense said here on Friday.

Siddesha was in the city to deliver a guest lecture on the inaugural day of Footprints X7 – Gujarat’s largest technical event organised for three days by the students of M S University’s Faculty of Technology and Engineering for the seventeenth consecutive year.

FGFA, which is under development, is very much a future requirement for the Indian Air Force (IAF) upgrade program. “It should take flight in 2028,” he said.

Talking about Tejas, which has been inducted in the IAF, he said, IAF has placed an order of 123 Tejas Mark 1. “Every year, 16 Tejas aircraft will be built on two assembly lines. By 2024, all the aircraft will be inducted in the IAF whereas Tejas Mark 2 version will be ready by 2021,” he said, adding that Tejas is superior than France’s Mirage and China’s JF-17 fighter jets.

“So far, Tejas has taken 4,000 flights and in none of them it has met with even a minor accident which is a record in itself.

The technical staff can replace engine of Tejas within 45 minutes and the cockpit and flight control system are world class,” he said, adding that although some countries have evinced interest in procuring Tejas from India, the government is yet to take the decision on whether it should be exported. On the inaugural day of Footprints, Dr Ulrich Bez, former CEO and current non executive chairman of Aston Martin also delivered a guest lecture while a workshop of ‘Biped Robotics’ where participants were taught how to make an autonomous robot capable of running, walking and even doing 180 degree split was taught to the participants.

Source:- TNN

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