While the IAF is moving ahead to raise the first squadron of LCA Tejas Mk-I aircraft at Air Force Station, Sulur near Coimbatore, non-availability of training and maintenance manuals could seriously undermine flight safety.

On January 17, 2015, in a quiet ceremony at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), away from media glare, the first indigenously-built light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas Series Production 1 (SP-1) was formally handed over to Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, Chief of the Air Staff, Indian Air Force (IAF) by Manohar Parrikar, the Minister of Defence.

While this event is generally being seen as flagging a major milestone in the 32-year-long and arduous journey of the LCA Tejas programme, a somewhat disconcerting feature of the occasion as reported a month later by NDTV news channel on February 16, was that the Tejas SP-1 was handed over to the IAF without the associated training and maintenance manuals. This is despite the fact that the Tejas SP-1 had successfully completed its maiden flight in October 2014. To any professional dealing with sophisticated and high technology equipment more so in the regime of aviation military or civil, this situation would be regarded as completely bizarre and totally unacceptable. This is also symbolic of the prevailing work culture in the India aerospace major. In fact, unhappy at this lapse, the Defence Minister has cracked the whip and stipulated a deadline for providing the manuals.

The LCA Tejas programme is unique in other ways too. To catalogue some of the milestones of the Tejas programme, the first LCA Technology Demonstrator 1 (TD-1) undertook its maiden flight in January 2001 followed by the LCA TD-2 taking to the air soon after in June 2002. However, approval for Limited Series Production (LSP) of 20 aircraft for the IAF was accorded by the government only in 2006.

The LCA Tejas Mk-I is a rare example of a combat aircraft under development being accorded initial operational clearance (IOC) twice. The first time that the Tejas Mk-I received IOC was in January 2011 by which time the LSP-5 had been successfully tested. The second time the LCA Tejas Mk-I was given IOC (referred to as IOC 2) was in March 2013. This apparently became necessary as the IAF was not quite satisfied. It regarded the operational status of the platform as incomplete and hence declined to quite accept IOC granted in January 2011. However, after IOC 2, the IAF has now placed an order for 20 aircraft in IOC configuration. As per the initial estimates, with a rate of production of eight aircraft per year, HAL will take five years to complete delivery against the initial order of 20 aircraft. But there are reservations in some quarters about HAL being able to maintain a rate of production at eight platforms per year. HAL has indicated plans to step up the rate of production to 16 aircraft per year. However, given the track record of HAL, the possibility of achieving this would be somewhat remote. Right now the focus ought to be on achieving final operational clearance (FOC) which is planned for the end of this year. The rate at which the project has been moving so far, HAL may not be able to meet with this target date for FOC.

While the IAF is moving ahead to raise the first squadron of LCA Tejas Mk-I aircraft at Air Force Station, Sulur near Coimbatore, non-availability of training and maintenance manuals could seriously undermine flight safety. While experienced test pilots have been test flying the Tejas without training manuals so far, this state of affairs would not be acceptable with pilots of relatively much lower levels of experience, skill and maturity. The explanation offered by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is that the manuals used by the test pilots and HAL engineers were overloaded with far too much of technical information which pilots and technicians in the newly raised squadron would not require. As such, the manuals, both technical and flight, were being redone (or “tweaked” to quote the OEM) to suit the requirements of both flying and technical personnel manning operational squadrons. This justification for not handing over the manuals along with the Tejas SP-1, is hardly convincing.

Thanks to the low rate of production anticipated, hopefully the OEM will be able to provide the required training and maintenance manuals before the young technicians and pilots in the very first squadron catapult the Tejas into the sky!