LCA Tejas Impresses Malaysia In ‘Dogfight’ With Pakistan’s JF-17, Korea’s FA-50 In Bid To Bag Air Force Contract

India’s Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas is contending against Pakistan’s JF-17 and South Korea’s FA-50 Golden Eagle to bag an aircraft order of the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF), reports The Times of India.

Malaysia wants to arm its air force with a variety of different aircraft, ranging from fighter trainers to medium range combat aircraft (MRCA). RMAF will try to fill the operational and combat requirement gaps by procuring these aircraft in a two-stage process.

IAF’s Tejas which participated in the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace (LIMA ) 2019 Exhibition was widely appreciated and applauded for its agility and manoeuvrability. The aircraft got the interest of the Malaysian PM who was impressed by the neatness of the cockpit and intuitive layout.

The demo pilot of Tejas MK1Group Captain Samrath Dhankar expressed confidence that the fighters’ superior technological capability and ability to be customised to the requirements of the RMAF makes it a formidable contender and a sure winner.

He also said that, “The RMAF (Royal Malaysian Air Force) officials appeared really happy as the aircraft far exceeded their expectations. Clearly, we are not selling a product here but a capability in itself.”

India and Malaysia have a similar military strategy when it comes to using defence technologies; both countries widely use Russian, and NATO weapons systems and Tejas is built to adapt to both the systems.

He continued, “The jet’s fly-by-wire capability, air-to-air refuelling, the avionics that have been wonderfully-integrated and the open architecture computer systems, where both Russian and Western weaponry can be assimilated, are all unique and demarcates Tejas as a different generation fighter.”

It can be said that India has the edge over its counterparts as it has moved past the RFI (Request for Information) to RFP (Request for Proposal) while Pakistan and Korea are still to qualify for the RFI.

However, there is scepticism given the pro-Pakistan approach of the media and the intense lobbying by the Pakistani government to influence Malaysia and move it towards their JF-17 aircraft. India, on the other hand, is working on the deal on a strict government to government negotiation.

Interesting to note is that the deal if the deal goes through it will not only enable India in transferring its indigenous technology of LCA but also transform Malaysia’s plan of indigenous capacity in defence production, thus enhancing regional cooperation and a creating a long-term Indian ally in the region.