Will LCA Tejas Mk-2 be outdated by the time IAF gets it in numbers while fifth, sixth gen fighters rule skies?

As countries, including Pakistan, advance their fifth and sixth generation fighter programmes, questions are being raised over how operationally relevant India's fourth-generation Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mk-2 will be by the time it enters service in significant numbers.

Former IAF Vice Chief Air Marshal Nagesh Kapoor, who retired a few months ago, has argued that while fourth-generation fighters such as the Tejas Mk-2 will continue to have a role, they will no longer represent the cutting edge of air combat as fifth and sixth generation aircraft increasingly dominate the airspace.

It is to be noted that India currently does not possess either fifth or sixth generation fighter aircraft.

His comments also come amid delays by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in delivering fighter aircraft to the Indian Air Force.

During a recent interaction with NDTV, Kapoor was asked whether it made sense for India to induct a fourth-generation fighter around 2035 when China has moved towards sixth-generation fighter systems, and Pakistan is considering acquiring fifth generation aircraft.

"No, operationally, definitely no," Kapoor responded.

The concern assumes significance as the Tejas Mk-2 is expected to begin entering service in large numbers only around 2030. By then, according to Kapoor, the operational relevance of this fighter jet would have diminished.

However, Kapoor does not believe this means fourth-generation fighters will become redundant.

"You can have a certain number of those fifth generation and sixth generation fighters, but given the size of the country, you won't be able to deploy them everywhere. So those gaps which continue to remain to be filled will have to be filled by this class of aircraft," he was quoted as saying.

His remarks reiterate the fact that Tejas Mk-2 would continue to perform a significant, although non-cutting-edge, role by filling operational requirements that cannot be met entirely by limited fleets of more advanced fighters.

Criticism of HAL

Kapoor also came down heavily on HAL over delays in providing aircraft to the IAF, questioning why the force should continue waiting for capabilities promised years earlier.

"Why must it be that a machine that was promised to us so many years back with a certain set of capabilities continues to be denied to us on one pretext or the other?" he asked.

"Why must we be hamstrung because someone somewhere has not been able to keep their promises?"

Kapoor argued that there was a significant difference between the urgency felt by the IAF and that displayed by HAL.

"Their (HAL's) sense of urgency is not equal to the sense of urgency of the Indian Air Force," he said, according to NDTV, adding, "The kind of urgency that they show for the job that they do is way far lesser than what we would like to have in the Indian Air Force."