Tejas Mark 1A faces delay as air force adds to demands

While some of these systems can be bought off the shelf, integrating these on to the Tejas would require comprehensive redesign of the fighter's mission computer

A key reason for delays in indigenous weaponry such as the Tejas fighter and Arjun tank has been the military’s tendency to repeatedly enhance specifications, preventing weapon systems from leaving the drawing board and entering production.

This is now happening with the Tejas Mark 1A fighter.It was to enter production in 2020-21 with five specific enhancements. But, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has demanded additional features and the fighter could be entering a time-consuming development spiral that takes another three to four years.

Tejas Mark 1A was conceived specifically to bring the Tejas into production. In early 2015, the IAF, defence ministry