By flying a sortie in the Made in India light combat aircraft (LCA) from the Jodhpur airbase, Chief of staff of the US Air Force and Chief of staff of the French Air Force somehow did a worldwide brand promotion of the Tejas.
The Chiefs of the two powerful air forces were perhaps trying to give a message to the world – that the Tejas aircraft was one of the finest examples of the Make in India project. This has come as a morale booster for India.
Significantly, till now, the fighter jets involved in the IAF were bought from other countries like Russia and France. A single-engine indigenous fighter plane, the Tejas could reduce the dependence of India on other countries. The air forces of other countries have also set their sights on the Tejas. The engine in Tejas is from American company General Electric and now France has also offered to help India develop an engine.
India started the project of the indigenous light combat aircraft Tejas and decided to install the Kaveri engine developed in the country but despite attempts to develop the engine for years, Kaveri could not meet the expectations.
For this reason, India had inked a deal with Amercia’s General Electric (GE) for engines for the Tejas. At present, GE’s engine has been installed in the Tejas. Here, the Indian Air Force has so far issued orders for 83 Tejas fighters to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. In the coming years, MiG aircraft will be replaced by Tejas. So, this order will be bigger in the future and the engine may need a modification or change. France has to invest in India under the offset deal in lieu of the deal for the Rafale aircraft. French company Safran has offered the Indian government its services for developing the Kaveri engine. Under this, the company will provide technology to India and the engine will be manufactured in India. In the event of this deal worth thousands of crores, America’s GE company’s deal will end.