There are many activities which happens under Indian Aviation sector which we are unaware. All thanks to the amazing aviation photographers who are sharing some of the amazing pictures & videos which let us know about the progress being made. One such picture has been recently shared by Praneeth Franklin of LCA Tejas Mark1. In the picture we could see LCA Tejas Mark1 of IOC standard carrying 2 Astra Mark1 missiles along with 2 R-73E missiles at its wing tips. This is the first photograph of LCA Tejas carrying Astra missile.
In its Annual Report financial report for FY2021-22, ADA has reported that the ground integration activity of Astra Mark-1 missile with LCA Tejas has commenced and the LSP5 was being used for the integration. This involved ground vibration test and structural coupling test which have been completed. The next step is the flight trial of Astra Mark1A from LCA Tejas. The recent picture of LCA Tejas Mark1 with Astra is an indication that the captive trial of the Astra is either in progress or completed. The next and the final trials will be actual missile firing.
On 23rd August, the LCA Tejas LSP-7 has successfully test fired Astra BVR missile off the Goa coast today. This is a major milestone in LCA Tejas development and is going to be nightmare for the adversaries. LCA Tejas already has advantage of being small fighter jet with reduced RCS. Astra will give it a BVR capability of 110km which will give it edge over most of the modern fighter jet of 4.5th generation.
This is also expected to complete by this year as LCA Tejas Mark1A is to be rolled out in February 2024. The integration of Astra Mark1 with Tejas will give the fighter jet combat edge over Pakistan Air force aircrafts in BVR range. Apart from Astra Missile LCA Tejas been tested with Derby BVR & Python-5 missiles. The IOC and FOC both the version of LCA Tejas has been cleared to fire Derby missile in June 2021.
Another noticeable thing in the picture is the 23mm internal cannon. The ground gun butt firing of the LCA Tejas was conducted by ADA between Oct-Dec 2021. The test firing was conducted satisfactorily with 3 different gun serial numbers in various gun firing modes. With the completion of ground trial, the aircraft is ready for firing in flight. The LCA Tejas LSP7 was used for conducting the gun butt firing.
Another important integration in progress with LCA Tejas Mark1 is the Hammer missile. The ground jettison test of hammer on mid-board station of LCA Tejas was conducted successfully. The Hammer release trial was conducted from LSP7 on 31st March 2022 from LSP7 aircraft. With successful inert release of Hammer missile, the phase-1 of Hammer integration with Tejas is complete. In next phase hammer missile will be fired with warhead to complete its integration. The integration of Hammer missile is going add another feather to LCA cap. Its going to boost its stand-off weapon delivery capability.
Hammer is an all-weather smart air-to-surface weapons with range more than 70km. It has 3 qualified guidance kit which enables its to conduct precision strike from stand-off distance. These kits involve INS / GPS, INS / GPS / IR and INS / GPS / laser.
These guidance kits can be integrated with 125, 250, 500 & 1000kg bombs. These bombs are capable of flying autonomously and are insensitive to jamming. It can be launched from low altitude, over rough terrain.
The other important integration that has been completed with LCA Tejas is Uttam AESA Radar, RWR-NG, indigenous ASPJ and Israel SPJ pods. LCA Tejas Mark1A is also being upgraded with Improved Radio Altimeter. Overall, we can observe that LCA Tejas is emerging as powerful weapons platform with all the latest weapons and sensors being integrated to it. With LCA Tejas Mark1A delivery coming closer, we would see more amazing development happening with LCA.
Indian Defense Analysis 